"Quilt"

I feel a bit of an impostor saying I made a quilt! Like her brother's two years ago (and this was almost that long in the making, err, UFO-corner) DD's quilt is twin bed-sized, made from big scraps, and quilted in the ditch (not all over, just enough to hold it together).

Some fabrics I used:

• scraps from the lining of her festive dress
• scraps from a napkin set for DD's uncle
• scraps from the library bag
• scraps from my matryoshka bag
• scraps from DD's summer dress
• scraps from the sun hat I made my best friend's daughter
• and again, curtain fabric scraps from DH's and my first apartment (18 years ago, oh.my.)

It's still a bit big for her 5-foot-bed, but she'll grow into it :-).

Happy sewing!

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Endlich habe ich auch die Patchwork-Decke für meine Tochter fertig, nach ungefähr zwei Jahren, nun ja. 

Im Prinzip ist sie genauso aufgebaut wie die Decke, die ich unserem Sohn genäht habe. Die Maße entsprechen ungefähr einem Einzelbett mit ein bisschen Überhang, die Rechtecke sind großzügig bemessen (bei einem echten Quilt müsste ich mir leider wegen der Fitzelchen und aus nervlichen Gründen alle Haare ausreißen), das Futter ist ein altes Flanell-Bettlaken, Umrandung und Rücken sind aus Stoff&Stil-Baumwolleinen. Durchgesteppt (gequiltet) habe ich nur ein paar Rechtecke in der Naht, damit das Ganze nicht verrutscht.

Die einzelnen Rechtecke repräsentieren ein bisschen Näh- und ein bisschen persönliche Geschichte:

• Reste vom Futter für Töchterleins vorletztes Weihnachtskleid
• Reste eines Serviettensets für ihren Onkel
• Reste von der Büchereitasche
• Reste von meiner Matrjoschka-Tasche
• Reste von ihrem Sommerkleid
• Reste vom Sonnenhut für die Tochter meiner Freundin
• und auch hier wieder, Reste des Vorhangstoffs aus der ersten gemeinsamen Wohnung von meinem Mann und mir (18 Jahre alt. Schluck.)

Derzeit ist ihr Bett noch nicht ganz ausgezogen und die Decke etwas zu groß, aber sie wird schon reinwachsen.

Näht schön!

Cross--Stitch Ornament/Kreuzstich-Deko

I made a cross-stitch ornament as a gift. Only now do I realize I did not take a picture of the finished ornament before giving it away. Just imagine this mounted on a round backing, with a cream ribbon hanger, o.k.? The whole thing is no bigger than maybe 3 inches/7,5 cm in diameter.

(I used scrap materials and thread, so the colors etc. 

aren't exactly according to the instructions.)

I made this as a Christmas gift, and really, as a sanity-saver.

I was seriously concerned this year that all I had to finish before Christmas wouldn't get done in time and Christmas would need to be postponed to the new year. To relax myself, take my thoughts off the worry-go-round and ultimately, be more cheerful and more productive I prescribed crafting in small doses. 15 minutes a day on this ornament, 30 minutes on the Christmas dress.

(For some reason I like American kitsch better than German kitsch.

 The patterns in this issue are lovely!

It worked, and while the run-up to Christmas was the busiest I've had so far, it was also very cheerful. And everything got done. And every time I put on the holiday music and stitched my little fawn, I felt the spirit of the season!

The friend I gave it to loves it, too. Win-win-win!

Happy New Year, and happy sewing!

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Ich war vor Weihnachten ziemlich ausgelastet und fürchtete vorübergehend, die Feiertage müssten ohne mich stattfinden. Um nicht (nur) kopflos durch die Gegend zu rennen, verschrieb ich mir selber ein bisschen Handarbeitstherapie: 15 min pro Tag Sticken, 30 min pro Tag nähen am Weihnachtskleid.

(Ich habe Materialreste benutzt, daher entsprechen 

Farben etc. nicht ganz der Vorlage.)

Dazu habe ich Weihnachtsmusik aufgelegt und nicht nur alles andere fertig bekommen, sondern auch jeden Tag ein bisschen Festtagsstimmung mitgenommen. Ach, und meiner Freundin hat das Geschenk auch gefallen!

(Irgendwie finde ich amerikanische Stickvorlagen hübscher als die deutschen;

was da so an Heften auf dem Markt ist... grusel. Dieses Heft ist dagegen ganz entzückend!)

Leider habe ich vergessen, den fertigen Anhänger zu fotografieren. Ich habe eine runde Pappscheibe, ein Stückchen Weihnachtsstoff für die Rückseite und cremefarbene Kordel als Aufhänger zusammengenäht; stellt Euch das einfach vor, o.k.? Das Ganze ist höchstens 7,5 cm groß.

Ein frohes Neues Jahr wünsche ich Euch allen, und näht 'was Schönes!

Sewing for the Home/Hausnähen

Mädchenzimmervorhänge/DD's new curtains

Mein Projekt "Nähzimmer" ist vorerst gescheitert. Wohl am meisten daran, dass ein Nähraum, der sich zwei Etagen vom Lebensmittelpunkt der Familie entfernt befindet, nur unter selten idealen Bedingungen genutzt wird.

I may have mentioned my budding sewing room?! Nipped in the bud is more like it; if sewing means moving up two flights of stairs from the rest of the family (read: kids), I may as well never sew again. For the time being, it's back to (sewing on) the dining table!

Dafür haben wir aber Töchterchens Zimmer renoviert, inklusive rosa Wandfarbe und neuer Vorhänge. Ich weine noch jeden Tag ein bisschen dem alten Farbkonzept (gelb, mit gelb-grünen Toile-de-Jouy-Vorhängen) hinterher, aber wie schon gesagt, das Prinzessinnen-Syndrom fordert seinen Tribut.

Instead of fixing up my sewing room, we made over DD's new (formerly shared) room. Her highness insisted on princess-friendly pink walls and new curtains. I may or may not still be shedding tears over losing the old decorations (yellow walls and yellow-and-green Toile-de-Jouy curtains).

Für diese Vorhänge habe ich fast fünf Stunden gebraucht, incl. Messen und Zuschneiden. Bin ich sagenhaft langsam, oder was? Der Stoff ist von Stoff und Stil.

Can you believe it took me almost five hours to make these curtains? Talk about slow sewing... The fabric is by Stoff&Stil, a Danish mail-order company that has a unique selection and reasonable prices. Postage is a bit high, but my order arrived within two days... and that in the Easter week!

Der nächste Streich wird eine Tagesdecke/Quilt aus den quietschprinzessinigsten Stoffen, die ich seit ihrer Geburt gesammelt habe.

Next up: a quilt made up of all the cute overload fabrics I managed to collect since I had DD!

Pajama top: front/Schlafanzugoberteil: vorne

Planvolles Nähen ist ja nicht so meins (die Motivation hält ungefähr so lange wie die Planungsphase), deshalb wurde das hier umso schneller fertig: ein Schlafanzug. Gestern morgen befand ich, dass mein alter Schlafanzug eindeutig zu "altverheiratet" aussah, griff mir gestern abend den gut abgelagerten Stoff (den ich vor ca. vier Jahren tatsächlich mal zu dem Zweck gekauft hatte), nahm ein paar Maße und eine alte Tunnelzughose und nähte ohne Umschweife, Nadelwechsel, Schnittmuster oder Bügelbrett (wie man sieht!) diese Kreation.

Pajama top: back/Schlafanzugoberteil: hinten

You know about me and sewing SWAPs or SWALPs - I sew best without a plan and on a whim's first energy. This is how these pajamas came into being. I looked at my old pajamas and decided to put DH out of his suffering... erm... to make nicer ones! I had bought the fabric for sleepwear about... uh... four years ago? And I even managed to unearth it! I didn't waste time on patterns, needle changes or setting up the ironing board (as you can see!). I took a fairly well-fitting old pair of drawstring pants and a couple of measures of myself, and three drawstring tunnels, some elastic and two straps later, here's my new pajamas!

Interessant sind eigentlich nur die Bequemlichkeitszugaben des vermaßten Oberteils: ca. 3 cm zur Oberweite und ca. 15 cm zur Hüftweite. Zwei Tunnelzüge, Gummis, Träger, fertig!

I made the pants without outer leg seams, and the top is pretty self-explanatory except for the ease I added to my measurements. I added about 1 1/4 inches to the bust and 6 inches to the hips.

Stoffdetail/Fabric detail

Ich bin übrigens erst gestern auf den Trichter gekommen, dass französische Nähte nicht nur besser aussehen, sondern auch mindestens genauso schnell zu fertigen sind wie Zickzackversäuberung. Besser spät als nie!

Oh, and I made french seams throughout. After (finally!) having the epiphany that french seams are no more work than zig zagging the seam allowances.

My favorite: only scraps left!/So lob' ich mir das: nur Schnipsel übrig!

Happy sewing!

Sentimental (Quilt) Sewing

Our son is moving out.

That didn't come out right. DS is seven years old, and he is moving out of the bedroom he has shared with his sister for the last five years.

His new room will be upstairs. Up until now we have pretty much lived in each other's pockets. The shared bedroom was so small the living room had to double as a play room. The dining table did triple duty as a sewing table and desk for homework as well as having to be cleared off every few hours for a meal.

I probably complained a fair bit, but to be honest I also enjoyed our close quarters. Now DS and DD will have their own rooms, and I will even get a new office/sewing room right under the eaves. There will be days we will be on three different floors. I will get used to it.

Anyway, DS getting his own room called for some sewing. And what embodies sentimental sewing better than a quilt?

I have no patience for small scale patchwork. The whole quilt is about 2 meters by 1.3 meters, the pieces roughly 25 cm (10 in) square. It is still a scrap quilt, though, including fabrics from the last fifteen years.

The print I used on a pair of his sister's pants. The diaper bag fabric from when DS's cousin was born.

The curtain fabric from DH's and my first shared apartment. The small scale print I used for his uncle's napkin-and-tablecloth set.

The set of prints bought for his aunt's beach bag.

The seaside fabric bought on the island we spent so many vacations on. The striped ticking I made a beach bag for DS's godmother from.

Interlined with an old flannel sheet of his Grandmother's. Quilted in the ditch (sort of), hoping it will hold up!

We tried out the quilt on his "new" bed (that served me well during my student years at university, ah memories...), and the room started looking like home.

Holiday Crafting OCD

Starting in late September, I sort of lose it. My focus. My "me time". My lists. Under more lists. Covered by lists-of-lists.

Here's why. I love the holiday season. I love crafting and baking. So I try to do it all. By myself, of course. Handmade, as much as possible.

Gifts for Christmas. Gifts for two children's birthdays. Gifts for three advent calendars. Gifts for St. Nicholas day. Giveaways for two childrens' birthday guests.

Handcrafted invitations for two children's birthday parties. Handcrafted invitations for our yearly advent cookie party. Handcrafted Christmas cards. Handcrafted decorations.

Baking for the cookie party (20 to 30 sorts.) Baking for two children's birthdays. Baking for Christmas.

To fill the empty minutes (let's not waste any time here) I have a cross stitch Christmas stocking calling my name.

I love the holidays. Such a wonderful time for relaxed family togetherness. Ahem. And I really do love this time. Could we just spread it out a little? Over... nine months, maybe? (Having a baby sure wasn't this much work!)

Anyone else out there suffer this Holiday OCD affliction? Tell me I'm not alone!

Parting shot:

I thought I'd wait until December to show my handmade advent calendars. But now seems more timely really; maybe someone can use them for inspiration. So here's the first of the bunch.

Autumnal table runner

I coveted Wendy's autumn table runner from the beginning, and promptly forgot about it (ah, the many inspirations on the internet!).

"All of a sudden" I craved a quilted runner in autumnal colors, revising my original plan of appliquéing autumn leaves onto a solid background. Yesterday, when I was deep into piecing the runner (and realizing I might just lack the patience to do a lot of patchwork/quilting), I looked at Wendy's blog. All right. Now I remember!


A few notes on construction:

It's a very balanced runner regarding the fabric sources: the forest animal fabric and the brown dots are from fabric markets, the green dots and orange print bought on the internet, and the orange solid as well as the lining from IKEA!

I started with making a template for cutting out the animal motifs, and then framing them in strips of brown fabric. Parallel to this, I randomly sewed together strips of orange, orange print and green fabric, cutting apart and sewing together again and again, until I ran out of steam. I almost left the project there and then, not sure if the oranges would go with the animal patches, but I really wanted this finished today, as this is German Thanksgiving! So instead of continuing with the patching, I sewed the animal patches on top of the orange/green piece, and rather like the result.



I did not quilt it after all, just lined with white muslin fabric and bound the edges with self-made binding. I wanted the table runner to be rather thin so I could set the table without removing it.

German Unification day: We climbed one of the seven (small) mountains south of Bonn by the Rhine river. Here are some of the views:



It's been 20 years (almost) since the Berlin wall came down, and 19 years since the reunification. I, for one, am happy for the freedom the last 20 years have brought the German people, and many others. If the next 20 years could improve the political landscape as much...


Oh, and I don't say this nearly enough: Thank you for all your nice, supportive, cheering comments. They make my day! And thank you for reading.