More quilts and more boxes

Remember the stack of fabrics I showed you a couple of weeks ago? I added a few more, all from my stash. Some of them I had for at least 15 years, if not longer. It gives me satisfaction to be able to include those fabrics with my newer ones and to see how well they go together. For the time being this quilt is going to join the pile of tops patiently waiting to be quilted.

Luckily this quilt is now finished, thanks to a nice lady with her new long arm quilting machine. I like how it turned out and love the variegated thread she used. The only thing left to do is to wrap it up and send it to Australia where hopefully it will brighten someones day.

These boxes, or should I say trays, were produced during our weekly craft session.

This little beauty my friend made. She covered and lined it with raw silk and it turned out lovely











And this red one is mine. I covered the edged with book linen and the outside with Japanese paper, then lined it with Chines silk. These little trays are perfect to keep jewelery in or for displaying collectibles.



















Take care
Vreni 

Boxes, Pincushions and Quilts for Japan

Liv and I had another lovely day last week crafting together. Here are the two tea boxes we've made.

I tried a new way of making the separators which I saw at Hilde's and it worked beautifully!

Talking about Hilde: she and her friend Hilde (yes I know, a bit confusing) are organizing a pin cushion swap. You'll find all the information here. Why not take a look and maybe join in the fun.

If you want to do something to help those poor people in Japan, visit Janet.  She has all the information needed if you would like to donate a quilt. Of course there are many organisations collecting money; but is there a more personal way of showing that you care than giving a quilt to someone who has lost everything?


Vreni

"One Block" and other "Wonders"

I have two of Maxine Rosenthal's books - one Block Wonders and One Block Wonder Encore - and always wanted to make one of her quilts. But only after I've seen my friend Hilde's quilt I finally got serious. The beauty of making these quilts is that you only need one fabric (and a contrast for the border). It's fun to see how each hexagon makes a new pattern.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I haven't decided yet how I will quilt it. I'm tempted to hand quilt it myself as I haven't done any hand quilting in while.

My friend Liv and I are meeting one day a week to work on our tessellation quilts. We both first fell in love with "tessellations" when we saw Giselle's BOM organized by Material Obsession. The idea is that we choose the fabrics and cut all the pieces for one block when we meet and then sew it at home. We had fun digging through each other's stash and what a stash this girl has. Do you know that saying about "who dies with the most fabric wins"? Let me tell you, it would most definitely be her. 

These are my first four blocks.  I haven't decided on the background fabrics yet.

And here are Liv's. While my blocks are quite bright,  Liv's are more muted. 

As you can see, Liv has already eight blocks finished while I have only four, although we jumped off the starting block together. But that's neither here nor there :)

This book and the charm pack  arrived here last week. Marnie from the  Smith Mountain Lake Quilting Store  was kind enough to sponsor the Valentine quilt contest (which I won), organized by the Quilting Gallery . Thank you very much Marnie!

And if that wasn't enough I also got this lot, which was a gift from me!

I, like so many others, just love the Dr. Seuss fabrics and I'm intending to make a quilt for my daughter who is a brand new primary teacher. The solid coloured charm packs I want to combine with the charm packs I recently won at an auction. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the Little Menagerie Fat Roll, but that's beside the point. I just wanted it, and that is rather that ;).

And now to my next project. I've decided I won't buy any fabric for it and only use my stash. This is what I found:

I hope I'll be able to show you more next time.

Till then, take care.

Vreni

Freestyle

Once in a while I like to make quilts that way. I just start somewhere and see where it takes me. I've made this quilt top for this cause. I've decided to have it machine quilted by a new local longarm quilter. I thought I would call it "Finding Order in Chaos" (as it does look a bit chaotic).

And this is what I made with the "leftovers"

If you remember, I took part in the Another Little Quilt Swap 5. This little quilt arrived this week and by chance it was made by my good (blog) friend Jess in Australia. I love the colour combination - blue and brown - gorgeous. From all the lovely quilts made for the exchange, this was my absolute favorite one. Aren't I lucky!

Jess also made this little needle envelope for me (I've admired it a while ago on her blog) and she put in an extra piece of fabric. Thanks so much Jess.

My offering has arrived at its destination as well, see here. By the way; I won first place with it at the Weekly Themed Quilt Contest.  Thanks for your votes!

Other than that; I went to see "The King's Speech" yesterday and loved it. Oh yes, we also had our 30th wedding anniversary this week (of course I was a child bride, I kid you not ;), and this February marks 25 years since we left Switzerland. Our daughter was just one year old when we moved to Australia and as you can imagine, the grandparents weren't best pleased. During our years in Australia our son was born (yes, he's the Aussie in our family) and from there we moved to Taiwan, then Indonesia, then back to Taiwan, to Singapore, to Shanghai in China and a year ago we moved back to Singapore. I often wonder how our lives would have turned out if we'd stayed at home. The kids wouldn't be speaking  Swiss German with an American accent but most probably English with a Swiss German accent ;). On the other hand they would also speak French and maybe Italian instead of  Chinese.  But non of us would want to change a thing and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in so many different cultures.

That's it for today.

Vreni

Comings and Goings

Singapore Post has had a busy day yesterday! First it had to deliver a package to my doorstep with all these wonderful goodies inside.

It's from retro mummy in Sydney. She held an auction a couple of weeks ago for the Queensland Flood Appeal and I was the winner.... yay....! Corrie was so kind to put in an additional piece of fabric. Wouldn't this be perfect to make a little sewing box with?

Then there's this package with my little offering for "Another Little Quilt Swap 5" which is on its way to..... no, I'm not telling yet. But I can tell you that the name of the quilt is "My Valentine Tree". I thought it quite fitting as Valentine's day is coming up very soon.

Incidentally, I've also admitted this quilt  to the Weekly Themed Quilt Contest as this week's theme is Valentine's Day. Go over there and take a look.

Have a great weekend.
Vreni

By the skin of my teeth....

....did I make the deadline for this round of  "Another Little Quilt Swap" which is tomorrow! This time the quilts are quite literally "little" as they are not bigger than the size of a A4 paper. Mine turned out to be 8.5 by 11.5 inches.

.

I used Japanese fabrics and raw edge appliquéd it and then quilted it by machine. I added some flowers and small beads. 

Let's see where this little quilt is going to live. 

Happy Quilting

Vreni

I've lost my steam....

.... and I don't really know why. After moving house and then having family here for Christmas, I somehow have a hard time getting back into a blogging routine.


I have managed to organize my new sewing room though. It's quite small - again - and I had to arrange and rearrange a few times to make sure I made the most of the space I have. I think I'm now satisfied. This is one side of the room....

and this is the other. The room is very bright, which is good for working but not so much for taking photos. 

My lovely medicine cabinet, which holds all my treasures, is now in the hall just outside my room.

I also have managed to do a bit of sewing. I'm taking part in "Another Little Quilt Swap" again. This time the quilts have to be the size of a sheet of A4 paper. I've been playing around with a couple of trees. Don't know yet which one I'll submit though. 

I have also committed to make a few blocks for "Quilts for Queensland"  and this is my offering so far. I'm might make a few more blocks and then send a finished quilt top but I have to see how I get on.

Sorry, for the quality of the photos. I really, really need a new camera. I would have bought one a long time ago, if I knew what I wanted. I'm not really into photography (DH was always the one taking the pictures in our family) and therefor I really have no clue. On one hand I need something fairly easy to use but on the other I also want to get some good quality pictures. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. 


Cheers
Vreni