New book inspiration

I just bought a new Japanese book: "Quilt Works" by Hitomi Hanaoka. It is full of those lovely taupe handbags that Japanese craft designers do so well, and there are several styles I wouldn't mind having a go at. With well illustrated instructions and metric measurements

they aren't too hard to work out, although there will always be some guesswork, my Japanese language skills being what they are: non-existent! What really got my creative juices going though, was this quilt. There is no pattern, but I just loved the idea. The quilt seems to be made of men's suits and shirts - lots of lovely wool fabric, some shirts, buttons, a tie and even a belt. In the lower right end corner, buttons from these items of clothing are gathered in a little shimmering cloud. Here and there you find little stitched sketches of everyday items from a man's wardrobe and everyday life: a journal, a watch, shoes, slippers, a coat, a shirt... You get the sense that this is a tribute to a man who has meant something special to the quilter. A quiet, subdued tribute to an unassuming man, a husband, father, brother. I read a lot of love in it - hours spent thinking about him, coming up with ideas, gathering material, handstitching and putting it all together into an interesting piece of work. I might be putting too much into it - that's one of the things that may happen when you try to traverse a language barrier. But somehow that's part of the charm too - I don't understand the words, so I can make up my own story about it.

And the thing is that this has inspired me to start planning a quilt as a tribute to a special man in my own life - my grandfather. He was a wonderful man who put a lot of sunshine into my childhood, and once the idea of a special quilt struck me, I was amazed that this has never occured to me before. From the thoughts that have been spinning around in my head the last couple of days I already know that my quilt will end up being very different from this Japanese one - more colours, quotes of thing he used to say, memories of stories he would tell and episodes from the sweet, wonderful and happy times we had, cooking, singing, chatting, travelling... I started talking to my mother about it on the phone today and together we came up with lots of memories of things I might include. While writing this it has dawned upon me that my grandfather has been dead for almost thirty years, and yet he is still part of my everyday life - his love, his ideas and most importantly: his sense of humour is always there inspiring me. I have a feeling that creating this quilt will be a slow process, but one I will enjoy a lot.

Time to smell the flowers

The last traces of Christmas have been hidden away and we are half way into a hectic January. The last week has been frantic, and I'm going to spend some quiet, reflective time at home this weekend. I will do a little sewing if I feel like it - the first panel of my autumn quilt is almost done after a few bursts of sewing activity. There has been little time for that alas, but I have decided not to obsess about it - I will sew if I feel like it or do something else if that strikes my fancy - I have no deadlines looming, and that feels good.
Maybe I'll take some time to jot down a few ideas and sketches of things I want to make. I have a few ideas for handbags, and there is a blue and white quilt lurking in the wings of my mind. I might even get over the initial hesitation and place the first pencil marks in my new journal. I just couldn't resist the flocked design of this Tricia Guild journal - beautiful colours, interesting texture, pretty striped ribbons - what's not to like? It's just the idea of ruining its pristine beauty that is stopping me for a little while - it is so pretty that it should only be used for pretty thoughts...
Oh, well... who am I kidding? My thoughts are rarely pretty, but hopefully colourful and creative, and I will put this journal to good use once I get started, I'm sure. In the meantime I'll spend some quiet time curled up under a quilt and

smell the flowers. Ranunculuses have such gorgeous flowers, don't they? Like the layers upon layers of skirts and petticoats of a fairytale ball gown - who would have thought they were related to the humble buttercup?

Creating

Lots to do lately and not much time for creating, but at least I have some work up on my design wall. The advantage of using wall space like this while working on a quilt is that you can spend a few minutes every now and again moving pieces about and gradually getting to a pleasing layout. While passing through the room something will catch my eye and I'll see that one area is not working, move a few pieces, and with a sigh of content tell myself: "yes, that's better". So, little by little, the design is coming together.

There is one problem with my cramped living conditons, though - my design wall doesn't have enough room for the entire quilt. I have two panels up on the wall now and there is a third to go.

Here's my plan: I'm going to stitch the pieces for the left panel together, move the pieces of the center panel to the left and put up the pieces of the third panel when that's done. Think it will work?

I have made sure that I have squares of all sizes in a variety of colours, so I should have what I need to make the third panel interesting, and I'll be able to do a little shifting of pieces between panel 2 and 3 while I'm at it. Looking on what I have so far, I see that there is still some room for improvement before I start stitching, but I can hardly wait. It looks sooo much better in real life too, so I believe it will turn out all right in the end.

I decided to go with the leaf prints, but not the turquoise. The black in the leaf prints will echo the black in the border, so there will be a relationship between them. The turquoise will find it's way into some other project eventually - there is hardly a quilt without it here...

On the wall

The first part of the new quilt is up on my design wall and I'm beginning to reconsider. The fabrics are lovely in rich autumny colours all designed by Lonni Rossi. I usually mix and match fabric from all sorts of different collections and makers, but these just seemed to belong together with their bountiful harvest theme. The design is from Kaffe Fassett's book "Kaleidoscope of Quilts" and consists of three different panels of squares in three sizes.
The colours of these photos are a bit more matte than in real life, and the green does looks better with the rest of them. But after looking at it from a distance the thing still seems a bit bland. And as luck would have it, I didn't have enough fabric for all the small squares, so I'll have to come up with something.
I have a couple of fabrics with autumn leaves, which fit in with the theme and colours, but might be just too detailed compared to the rest.
I was thinking of adding a border in black, and in fact I do have a black version of one of the fabrics and that might work. Maybe I should add some black squares as well? Or maybe I should use a black without brown in it?
I have been tempted to add a few turqoise squares - like water glimpsed through the leaves...? But that might just be too much...

I will just have to keep the squares up on the wall and mull it over for a few days. That usually helps, even if my design wall is just a flannel sheet with grommets in two corners, hooked up on my bedroom wall...

Looking back

As I sit back and contemplate the year we've just left behind and how quickly it has passed, it's only natural to think about what I have achieved, isn't it? I won't go into the achivements on the work front, only say that more success means more time and energy spent there and less quilting time. Sigh. You can't have everything, can you ;-)

Looking on the picture of the three stems of Amaryllis (or is that Amarylli in plural?) I realize that I neglected to post much about my redecorating project this summer. The view from this angle is very different from last January with the dark blue, rag rolled walls and bright colourful curtains. The look now is also colourful, but maybe a bit more subdued. I wasn't quite sure to begin with, but I really like the new wall colour and my IKEA curtains (one wouldn't normally call them subdued of course, but compared to their predecessors...) The redecorating was a huge undertaking for me, having to move a whole wall of books and paint each and every shelf and let them dry before the wall unit could be reassembled alone took the best part of a week. And then there was the rest of the room. And the decluttering. It seems to me I've spent months on this! And I did it all singlehandedly. I have always had help from friends during previous redecorating and moving stunts, but it is easier when you have an empty room to paint. Because of lack of space to put all my stuff in, I knew I had to deal with one corner of the room at a time and move everything back before I could deal with the next area, and that would mean my friends would have had to keep coming back, helping out in small bursts at a time, which seemed too much to ask for. Not that they wouldn't have done it, mind you - and I knew that if I had breathed a word of my plans they would have been 'round in their overalls with paintbrushes at the ready in no time. Instead I chose to do it while everybody else was away on holiday, creating quite a stir when they visited afterwards and saw what I had done. That was fun!
I'm going on and on about this now, and I was really going to talk about my quilting efforts in 2007. Well, this is it:

-more or less, anyway. I think I have written about most pieces as I have been working on them, so I won't go there now, but it doesn't look too bad now, does it? And come to think of it there have been some knitting and embroidery projects too, some of which are still WIPs of course. So all in all I think 2007 has been a productive year for me. And there will hopefully be more to come in 2008. On the quilting front I have at least three projects on the go at the moment, my Grandmother's Garden quilt, the Autumn Window and the just started Autumn Garden. I will have pictures of that in the next post.

Small surprises

My mum is off on holiday tomorrow, and here's a folder I just made for her to keep things like tickets, passport, insurance card etc. in. I made one for myself a while ago, and find it very handy to have everything in one place - it's easy to whip out of your bag to find just the right document while struggling with your luggage at the airport. While searching for the right fabrics I came across a half yard of bathing beauties fabric I've had for years. It was a gift from a friend, and it is sooo cute that I have been reluctant to cut into it. But I was in the right kind of mood, so I just got on with it and whipped up this little bag for mum while I was at it. Perfect for carrying your suntan lotion and whatever down to the pool, isn't it?

Here's a view of it inside out to show the binding that finishes it off and makes that nice square bottom so that it can stand upright. It turned out that I didn't have enough of that orange fabric (an old IKEA-print - funny how I remember where all the pieces of fabric in my stash come from - obsessive or what?), so I had to join it with another. I didn't explain that it wasn't careful measuring and trimming, just pure luck that the join ended up just at the right place so you get a dark bottom and bright sides inside.
Mum was quite chuffed with her surprise presents - I really will try to make the effort to make small surprises like that for people more often - it doesn't take that much time and gives so much pleasure!

I have also been busy cutting lots of squares from that autumnal series from the last post, but I'm beginning to realize that I mightn't have quite enough fabric for the quilt I have in mind, so I will have to come up with a clever solution there. I will get the pieces up on the design wall tomorrow, and then we will see...

It's 2008 - let's create!

Happy New Year !

I woke up this morning (well, noonish...), eager to create, and this spread of fabric was what I had in mind. So in between phone calls and chores I have been cutting squares to start a Garden Quilt. The pattern is in Kaffe Fassett's book Kaleidoscope of Quilts. There is a Tapestry Garden Quilt and a Morning Garden Quilt. Mine will be an Autumn Garden Quilt, of course, with the lovely Lonni Rossi fabric I have had lying in wait for quite some time. There is also a bit of green and some brown/black to go with it.
I have several quilts in mind with all the fabric sorted, ready to go, so if I am to have any kind of new year's resolutions it is to get those plans off the drawing board and actually create something.
Let my motto be: "It's 2008 - let's create!"

Playtime

I ordered some fabric from The Glorious Color Shop that arrived just before Christmas, but I was almost too busy to look at it. I have just been casting glances in the direction of that pile during the last week and felt a surge of joy every time - funny that one can react to colour and pattern that way, isn't it! The first one is a Martha Negley design, then there is a Philip Jacobs design in two different colourways - I just couldn't decide which I liked the most... -and then of course, the man himself, Kaffe Fassett, his Verbena and Spots in two colourways. I had no plan whatsoever for these when I ordered them, it was just a case of "I have to have!"

Imagine my joy then, when I picked up my latest order from Amazon, including this great book, and discovered that there are several quilts in there which might work very well with my fabrics. I can't wait to get started now, and thought I'd spend the day sewing. But it was not to be - a friend invited me for lunch, and I couldn't very well turn down the opportunity of spending a pleasant day with friends now, could I? But soon...!
I also ordered these fabrics from a different outlet - a bit late it seems, I had to search all over for them - they were all over the place last year, but didn't tempt me then, but then I saw a great quilt in the latest issue of Quilt Sampler and suddenly felt the urge to make something similar.

It's good to have plans isn't it - now where is that website where you can purchase extra time?

Knitted heart

We've had a very peaceful few days here. For the first time in ages I have the whole week between Christmas and New Year off and it has been wonderful to

relax, spending time with family and friends. The last few days I have been so idle that I was beginning to forget how to get up from the sofa... The mere thought of going into my sewing room to start a new project, or heaven forbid, finish something, was enough to make me feel faint.

I had some knitting wool and a few needles handy, though, and found this pattern via Melody Johnson's blog, and just had to have a go. I might have stuffed the heart a bit too much, and I must say I prefer Melody's version. I only just realized that is because she has knit her squares in stockinette stitch, whereas I followed the pattern slavishly and knit every other row on the back in knit instead of purl. Hers has a much smoother finish, so if I were to try again, I would do that. The pattern claims that once you have tried these hearts you will want to make lots, but I'm afraid not. It was fun to have a go, but with me it's all "been there, done that" so I'm off searching for something new.

The yarn, by the way, is Regia and is a leftover from my first attempt at knitting a pair of socks since my schooldays. The result was disastrous, however, so I'm not going to show them here! I can't be bothered to unravel and reknit, so I have cast on for a new pair - different colourway, different pattern. Maybe I'll have something to show at the end, or maybe not...

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Merry Christmas to one and all!
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

Deck the halls

Christmas for me is all about traditions, seeing family and friends and also adding something new every year. These little fellows have been a part of my Christmases for as long as I can remember. They used to grace my grandmother's dinner table all set out on a mirror tile surrounded with cotton wool - a frozen pond surrounded by snow in my imagination.
My dear gran has long since left this world, but I inherited these figurines and feel like I'm greeting old friends every December when it is time to let them out of their little box. They have been joined this year by a sequin tree my cousin's youngest girl made for me last Christmas - a mix of old and new.
I love Christmas and all the hustle and bustle it contains. I thought that this year I had it all down pat, though - no stress, not too many unnecessary tasks. I'd keep it simple, just enough effort to make it a special few days...
But wouldn't you know it - once the Christmas preparation snowball starts rolling it grows, and grows...
You know how it goes: "I'll just make a few homemade presents this year, no stress at the last minute!". Well, I've only just finished the last piece of hand stitched binding on the last present...

And then it is the baking. "I'll just make some ginger bread and buy the rest."

Sure! But I always make brownies, must make some this year too. And now that I'm at it I may as well make those lemony coconut squares. And maybe some candy? Before you know it the tins are full, and your arms are ever so slightly longer from having carried all those shopping bags of ingredients home...

"Well, it will be dark when the guests arrive, I needn't bother too much about that dusting... "
- Yeah, right - a day off from work and seeing the place in sunshine and there's no doubt about it - cloths and dusters to the rescue. Better shine those windows too...
"Well at least I won't spend that much time shopping this year".

Who am I trying to fool - of course I find myself braving the crowds as usual trying to find just the right things for everybody.
And just when you think you are ready, there's always someone you haven't thought of who suddenly pops in with a present, and you have that mad dash to find something, while pretending you had something already prepared...
So why do we bother? 'Cause it's also a lot of fun! Getting your decorations down from the attic. Making your home shine in all it's glory and gathering your friends and loved ones around you - it's a wonderful time of year really! - fa la la la la la la!

Getting there, slowly, slowly

Well, at least I have started my Christmas shopping now. The first couple of presents are bought - one is all wrapped up and ready for a special friend - shh, don't tell!
I couldn't resist this tin decorated with vintage photos - such a sweet litte boy! It might become part of a Christmas gift, if I'm able to part with him, that is... Some pressies are in the making as well:

I was tidying up the other day and in a pile of computer printouts I found this little stitchery I made ages ago. I remember scanning it to post a picture, and then I must have forgotten all about it. It didn't even need seeing to with a hot iron - the weight of the paper had made it nice and smooth... (A great way to press one's work for someone who thinks the definition of housework is to sweep the room with a glance...)
I added a border and some quick quilting and voila: a finished present! Sorry about the blurred photo - I never seem to find myself at home during daylight hours these days... I'm also working on a sewing basket for my mother. I have combined a couple of different patterns from some Japanese books. The instructions are well illustrated, but as for the rest you have to read between the lines, so I'm kind of making it up as I go.
It has an inner basket with three compartments, and I'm going to add some stuffed yo-yos inside the bigger basket for the small one to rest on so that you get a big compartment in the bottom. I'm not explaining this very well, but there will be more pictures later! I have also made a lid and there will be zippers...
I'm going to add some more bits and pieces to it - so do come back: all will be revealed!

I have been too busy lately, but I'm going to make some time to relax now and create more of a Christmas mood here. Tomorrow I'll venture up into the attic to see if some of my Santas and snowmen would like to come downstairs, and to look for some stripy fabric for elf stockings: I have every intention of trying my hand at Calamity Kim's Christmas Elf - she is generously providing the pattern to download - go and see for yourself - it's great!

Looking for last year's Christmas decorating post, I realize that I was even later last year, and Christmas did arrive anyway, so according to my personal schedule I'm actually early this year!

December inspiration

I came across a copy of the latest issue of Marie Claire Idées yesterday. Like many bloggers I have discovered that this magazine is just full of inspiration, and the latest issue is no exception. I have spent a happy afternoon with a cup of tea and a lot of eye candy - there are just so many things to be inspired by, cute angels, stockings, embroidery, baked goods - I haven't really got my head around the fact that Christmas is approching, but this magazine is giving me a kick start. Click on the picture above to go to Flickr for a closer view.
I love this yo-yo throw in silky fabrics and with huge yo-yos (the green ones are made from 21 cm/8" circles!)

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of advent and weather permitting, time for a pre-Christmas market. That should help my Christmas spirit along...

For a new arrival

I bought some fabric this summer while visiting a quilt shop which wasn't "quite me". All their fabric was pastel coloured wheras I tend to go for more bright colurs . There was one bundle of fabric which called out to me to have another look, though, and I ended up buying it to challenge myself a bit. The idea was to mix the fabric in among the rest of my stash to add some contrast, but the bundle has been lying on my shelf ever since.
When a rather mature friend of mine announced that she was expecting her first baby, I knew I'd make a quilt, but I was superstitious enough to push it off until I knew that everything was all right. Her little baby girl was delivered a forthnight ago and thankfully, all was well.
I really had no idea about what to make, but my eyes came to rest on that little bundle of fabric on my shelf, and I realized they were perfect for a little girl. I chose a very simple pattern of squares and rectangles and quilted with an allover pattern of floral swirls. Nothing original - it is in fact the same pattern and the same quilting as on my Amy Butler quilt, but it lets the fabric show itself in all its glory. It is sweet, but not the usual girly pink one might choose for a baby although one fabric - the white with red flowers that you see on the very left here looks pink when seen from a distance - all the colours are slightly "off" , which is why they never seemed to want to play with anything in my stash.


I chose a salmon pink thread for the quilting and it blends in well with all the other colours. I pieced the back of the remaining strips of fabric, so there is nothing left to go in my stash, but who cares - from my pictures yesterday you know there's quite enough there already, right?

Gray day - with lots of colour

The weather today didn't tempt me into venturing outside. The wind has been howling around the corners of the building carrying fistfuls of sleet. I had planned on taking lots of photos today, but the light wasn't really up to it.
I started a project I have been putting off for a while instead: tidying and putting away fabric. The plastic crates I keep them in (mushroom crates, free from the supermarket) were a mess, so I spent some time sorting through them, rediscovering lots of gems and making decisions about new projects. A sewing basket for my mother and a folder for travel documents (like this) are among them.
Even though I probably have enough fabric for a lifetime of projects, that didn't stop me from buying some more. The temptation from Jane's post yesterday was too great, and I just had to order some of this!
Having sorted through all my fabric and put everything back in it's place again, under a wide shelf underneth the window (sorry, the direct light made it difficult to take a good picture, but you get the idea) I spent some time working on this (second picture). It's almost done now! I also finished my table runner and the baby quilt yesterday, so all in all I have been rather industrious lately, haven't I? Pictures tomorrow. And what started out as a gray day became quite colourful after all!

Off days

I have taken some days off from work, looking forward to days of pottering about at home, shopping for Christmas and visiting friends, but wouldn't you know it: I woke up on Monday with a runny nose, and thigs hab beed gedding steadily worse since then. My mother called a little while ago and thought she had gotten the wrong number, she didn't recognise my voice.
Needless to say, there has been little shopping and visiting so far, but a lot of pottering about...
Yesterday evening was spent curled up under a quilt watching old Seinfeld shows. I had several projects within reach, but couldn't be bothered to do a stitch in either knitting, quilting or embroidery project - I'm usually unable to just sit and do nothing with my hands, but for once it was just what I needed: Some quiet time, doing nothing.

Apart from the stuffy nose I'm more energized today, and have been quilting on a little something for a new arrival. I finished the top during the weekend, and cleaned and prepared my sewing machine yesterday, making it ready for a serious quilting session. Or so I thought. I had found the perfect salmon pink rayon thread to go with all the colours in the quilt, but within the first inch of stitching it snapped. I rethreaded the machine and tried again. Same result. I tried quilting on a quilt sandwich I keep by the machine for testing tension and stitches and it worked all right. Back to the quilt. The thread snapped. "Oh, well it was an old spool, maybe it's too old, I'll try another one." I found a pale yellow that might work - not as well as the salmon one, but still... Same result.
I thought I had cleaned the machine thoroughly yesterday, but I removed thread, needle, spool and all and used a can of compressed air to blow behind the spoolhouse and lo and behold, a small clot of dust and grime popped out. Everything was put back together again, and the quilting was just fine, salmon thread and all! There has been a lot of discussion in my guild about using compressed air to clean sewing machines. Some say that it may be harmful to the machine, pushing dust into areas where you can't get at it, but I don't know, I have found it helpful at more than one occasion, so I guess I will continue using it...

Trientalis europaea

I have been struggling with some crazy log cabin flower blocks lately. It took a while to get my head around the concept - starting with an uneven triangle and stitching wedges and uneven strips around it in a haphazard log cabin fashion, having to discard a lot of offcuts, seemed to go very much against the grain (pardon the pun!) of my early lessons in quilting where following the grain of the fabric, cutting precisely and making good use of even the tiniest scrap of fabric has been the most important rules of all. After a while I got into the spirit of it all and it became a lot easier and more fun along the way, so here they are, my three flowers stitched together to form a table-runner.
It started out as a christmassy thing with the flowers being white poinsettias, but I couldn't resist adding some blues and teals, and in my mind the flowers have now become Arctic starflowers, making the runner suitable for all year usage. Never mind that the real ones have six petals and mine only have four - I'm allowed some artistic freedom, right? ;-)

I was going to crop the picture, but why not leave some hints around the edges of what is going around outside my quilting realm. A bit of laundry waiting to be dealt with, some wine wanting to be drunk (although some of the bottles are empty already...) and my craft box of paints and brushes waiting under the table for when inspiration strikes. A wider angle would have revealed a lot more mess, but I'm slowly, slowly bringing my home into some semblance of order - throwing out stuff I never use and pairing down to get more room for the things I really want to spend time on. I have some great projects in mind that will bring that box up on the table soon, but first I'llhave to deal with some of this domestic mess that seems to accumulate out of nowhere... I am going to spend some time quilting my flowers first, though. I have added some french knots to the centers, but it looks like it needs something more, maybe some beads? I'll

do the quilting first, and see what it tells me.

Kaffe knits again

-and so do I! I have been inspired by Kaffe Fassett since I came across his first knitting book and always loved his way with colours. Here at last was somone who didn't frown at using all kinds of bright colours together - the more the merrier. My sense of colour has never been of the subdued "tasteful" variety, and it was a relief to find someone who said it was OK to use bold colour and even said so In A Book! (And we all know that if a book says so, it's true, right?) Not only did the guy knit, but he alsa made the most wonderful tapestries. My bookshelves have gradually been filled with new books by this wonderful designer over the years. My interest in knitting waned for a while after I got a new passion: quilting. These days I consider myself a quilter more than anything else, but slowly, slowly knitting has been sneaking up on me again. Inspired by numerous blogs I decided to try my hand at a pair of toe-up socks with short row heels. I'm always up for a challenge, and this way of going about it just had to be tested. I found the perfect yarn for it - Regia self striping in a colourway designed by none other than Kaffe Fassett - who could resist it?

I tried several patterns and the toe was knitted and unravelled three times before I got a shape I liked. This formula at Knitty helped a great deal. My knitting doesn't seem as even as it used to be, but I suppose practise will make better, if not perfect. It took a while to get the heel right, but I think I have mastered it at last, and my first sock is almost done. I will make an effort to finish the other one as well ;-)

Today's arrival may slow me down a bit, though - this exciting book arrived today, and I'm looking forward to spending some time curled up under a quilt with it.

Within sight of this lovely cushion - it's far too new and precious to be used

yet! I bought the kit at Ehrman's in London years ago. It's designed by Elian McGrady who apparently worked with mr. Fassett before she started making her own designs. You can see the influence, but she creates lovely work in her own right. The kit had been languishing on my shelf for ages before my mother came to the rescue a year ago, and last week she had finished it! It looks just wonderful, doesn't it? Thank you mum!