Top Done

Finished the Civil War top five minutes ago.  Took more photos of progress than I usually do but they helped me make decisions about the fabric for the two dark borders.  None of these photos truly represent the colours but I was in a hurry to get the post done.  One of the background fabrics will be the backing and the sashing fabric will be the binding.  I also have fabric photos of the signing of the peace agreement at Appamattox Courthouse,  Lincoln, Grant and some pennants, banners and flags that I can fussy cut and applique on the back.  I was going to put something of this collection on each corner  square of the pieced border but decided it would not look right but I do want to use the historical stuff on the back to support the commemoration of all those who died.  I'm not American but have read and watched so much about the Civil War that I think the 150 year celebration ought to be marked.  I just love history.

Here's the first border.

Here's the pieced border done.

And the finished top with second purple border.

I've got some cotton batting for this quilt - never used it before but that will be interesting.

Still doing the Dresden Plate blocks for our group's friendship quilt (to be finished by Christmas, so no panic), finishing the teacup embroidery and itching to piece a scrappy star quilt that I've found a pattern for, one of those where the stars are made by the sashing.  At least, I think that's my next one - I'm being magnetically attracted by another with a very complicated pieced and embroidered centrepiece.  Should it be a quick one like the one above or should I make life hard?

Appomattox Courthouse

Well,  I've finished three of my unfinished quilts (photos next time) and I decided I've earned the right to make a new quilt.  I have great intentions of never again leaving a quilt unfinished to lurk on my shelves for a year or more.  Feeling quite virtuous.  I am never going to have time to finish my Nearly Insane quilt and so have decided to make the blocks I've done into a smaller quilt.  That will be my first chore when this quilt is finished.  Not all the blocks are sewn in the photo - I was just auditioning my sashing fabric but this whole section is now finished and I just need to buy some fabric for the two borders and make the pieced border which goes in between the two.  I'm glad I got the others finished but it is nice to be working on something new again.

Lindenblossom and lovely news

I've just walked our border terrier down by the Rhine and all the Linden trees are in full blossom - the smell is intoxicating.  The design of this tree blossom is so simple, elegant and perfect in every way, I had to pick a small piece to bring home.  In the evenings, the scent envelops you as you walk along, such beautiful trees.  It was this flower that made the tea (limeflower tea) into which Proust dipped his madelaine and the taste of that triggered the beginning of 'La Recherche du Temps Perdu'.  I've not tasted limeflower tea but shall find out how to make it and try some.

The good news is that my youngest daughter, who finished her Masters in Politics at the end of October last year, has just been selected from 200 applicants for a year's graduate placement in a large pharmaceutical company.  She will be working in the Government Affairs office which liases with the government in setting drug pricing, drug policies, explaining new drugs, etc.  She will be going to Westminster for meetings and is so excited.  They have already invited her to choose which party political conference she wants to go to so they can get her a pass.  I think she will be well-developed and get a good network from this job.  It is only for a year but I think it will be a good stepping stone.  It is in a lovely part of England and she has just been for a week to visit us in Germany and has now gone back to spend this weekend finding a house-share ready to move and start work.  Luckily, she still has time before her start date to come to Normandy with us and her sister and boyfriend.  I'm so happy for her and they will be glad to have her; she works like a demon, learns fast and has a lot of mature insight.

I have finished my split ninepatch quilt that was lying around needing border quilting and binding. It's a really cosy quilt and this one is staying with ME!

And here are my two little wild friends who I see every morning and evening - sometimes there are friends and/or family with them but these two are constant (unless I just can't tell the difference between rabbits).  I watch them while I am making tea and they are so lovely; it makes my day.

Old and new things

So here is the first of the unfinished quilts that I want to complete before starting anything new. This is a split ninepatch that I love because of the dark, warm jewel colours and its rich cream/tan background. I wanted a very simple border pattern and went with this Amish pumpkin seed design - it is so elegantly simple and a real pleasure to sew.

And here is the first block of our group's friendship quilt. We are all making ten blocks and will give them to each other for Christmas. I chose Dresden Plate because I had never done it. Our colour theme is blue and cream (much harder to find fabrics than blue and white) and I had problems getting a pattern the right size. Our blocks were decided to be 9 inches finished and I could only find a 9 inch pattern. I didn't want the plate to fill the block from edge to edge so I cut down the pattern and redrew the curved edges. What a pleasure these blocks are going to be to sew while listening to the radio or watching tv and good to take along to quilt group as well. This one is my first sample and will probably be mine as I want to make one the same for the four corners of my quilt. I'm not fond of sampler quilts and a friend said she was going to make the same block for the four corners to give it a bit of symmetry (I always need symmetry in my quilts - a substitute for an ordered mind, I think). Right - off to do some more.

Labelled - what now?

I don't usually label my quilts but realise now that it would have been a good idea, so am going to go back and do them when I have time. But I have embroidered one for my daughter's quilt and am quite pleased with it. The only Aida fabric I had that had the right number of holes per inch was thicker than I would have liked and I must look out for something thinner because the corners were a bit clumsy when I'd turned them under. I know I could have left it flat but didn't want to risk it fraying over the years. I had to reinforce the corners which also took away from the delicacy but I love the alphabet I found - I have used it on embroidered samplers I've given as gifts and it always looks elegant. We're making a friendship quilt in our group; blocks to be exchanged at Christmas. I've said I will do Dresden Plates so I could start them now. Or I could (and really should) put binding on a quilt which I love to bits but have never finished, put binding on a quilt that will really look good on our bedroom wall if I finish it, finish a Halloween table topper that I had to put aside when I was ill or start a new quilt. We all know which is most tempting from those choices and I do want to get into my new pile of Civil War reproductions. On the other hand, my new sewing machine is lovely to use and those two bindings would make me feel really good. We'll see... Hummph! Irritated; I always write in paragraphs and this has come out as one block - I hate the new Blogger setup.

Finished!

Finished the quilt for my daughter and just need to embroider a label on the back. In the end I decided to do quarter inch quilting in the corners and a quilted pink heart done with embroidery floss. Of course, when I went to photograph it, someone got there before me - what is it with cats and dogs and quilts?

Feeling good - have just booked a country house in Normandy for a week's holiday at the end of June and my daughters and one boyfriend are coming to join us; I don't care about the weather that much because I just love those Norman beaches but I hope it's good for the others' sake. Still, there are all the World War II landing beaches to visit, loads of places from 'Band of Brothers' to see and we have a view of Mont St. Michel. Looking forward to some great seafood. Promised myself 'moules et frites' as soon as we arrive...

It's been a while.

Just thought I would show progress on the quilt and the cross-stitch I've been doing. First, the teacup and saucer kit is coming along nicely - I need to do some mauve flowers under the cup and I've already started the pale blue border which goes around the frame (not visible on this photo). It needs pressing but I just grabbed it from the ring for a quick photo.

And here's the quilt with borders done - they are all done although the nearest in the photo just looks wrinkled because of the way the light has caught it. I have left the corners unquilted because I can't make up my mind what to do there - no inspiration. My eldest daughter wants the quilt when finished so I was thinking of a monogram on each corner but I decided it would spoil the simplicity of this quilt. I plan to bind it first and then decide when I see how big the corner spaces are - I do not quilt tightly so it won't matter doing it after the quilt is bound. I also might do a pieced binding as I have some of the fabrics left over from the layer cake.

Progress!

I have always hated putting a quilt sandwich together; hated being on my knees on the floor, hated the pinning and most of all hated the basting. I just haven't felt strong enough to get this quilt put together, although I was longing to sit and hand-quilt it with my quilting friends and make my life feel more normal again. So yesterday I just got angry with myself and made a decision to Get It Done. I have never cut backing nor trimmed up batting so quickly. Instead of kneeling, I sat cross-legged in the middle and quickly pinned everything. I hate basting so I decided not to baste. And here it is, ready for quilting, although the borders are still in need of squaring up and are only roughly pinned - the perfectionist has decided to let this go - I will do them later.

And here is the teacup and saucer embroidery that a friend sent me - it is very intricate and lots of the blue shades look like each other, so it needs lots of concentration, but it is looking very pretty.

No photo day

No photos today but I have finished the cheat's hexagon quilt top - just need to put the borders on and get the whole lot sandwiched for the first weekend in March when four of us from our quilting group are going to our friend Renate's house for a quilting weekend. Sadly, one of our American members (there are only nine members altogether) is returning to Seattle at the end of March and we will be very sorry to see her go. Renate had the idea for a repeat of our lovely quilting weekend when she lived in Bremen last year - we had such a lovely time that she thought we could repeat the idea so we could have sewing fun with Nancy before she and her husband leave Bonn. Although it is a ladies' weekend, my husband has been invited because Renate's husband does not want to be alone in a sea of quilts and they both love to discuss business ideas together, so they will be happy.

I am also working on a little something that I cannnot show just now - I think photos will have to wait as it is a secret. but eventually....

Progress

So, here again are the blocks before the little squares were added:





And here is a bigger area with the hexagon effect. I must say, doing the applique little squares is addictive. To make it easier, I have only made up half the quilt and when I finish adding the little squares I will then make the other half of the quilt. Otherwise, the top would be a bit clumsy and awkward to handle if I were doing the applique on the whole thing. I shall then join the two halves together and start hunting for border/binding fabrics. It feels really good to be making a quilt again after all that embroidery.

Cheat hexagons appearing

Have been making some progress on the new quilt. I haven't completed the top yet but as I had a few rows done I wanted to try the cheat hexagon technique to check it looked okay - if I didn't like it then I could change my ideas for the design. But I'm quite pleased with it and it has been very peaceful doing some applique for a change. Here is a close up of the effect:



I think it will probably look better when quilted (as do most things) and then the little squares will look flatter, but I'm happy with it - off to do some more...

New Quilt beginning...

Above is the beginning of my new quilt. The fabric is the 'Hartfield' range by Moda - I bought a layer cake over a year ago and thought I should use it instead of stroking it. I love the names of the fabrics, which are houses in Jane Austen novels, etc; my favourite author.

I decided I wanted something very simple, so cut the layers into four 5" squares and am just sewing them together by hand in rows of 10. But then I shall make lots of little cream squares and applique them where the seams meet - this will give the look of a hexagon quilt without having to make and sew hexagons. Below is the photo from the book I got it from.


So the effect is as shown in the drawing below

I think it will be harder to make and applique the corner pieces I will need to keep up the hexagon effect but I like applique and those little cream squares will look good, I think (and hope).

That's better!

This pathetic sight met my eyes yesterday morning - my husband had bought me some tulips and they were really pretty but overnight they just decided to give up - I have rarely seen tulips give up so totally.



Here is today's version - lovely husband bought new tulips and these look like they want to be here. They feel really spring-like and full of hope. I adore tulips and always will.

New Year

Well, Christmas is over but I just wanted to show our perfectly-shaped tree before it gets taken down tomorrow. My husband and youngest daughter chose it and I was so pleased with it - several visitors thought it was an artificial one because it was so neat...

I did rotate the Father Christmas embroidery when I uploaded the photo but for some reason it did not take and I am too tired to go back and rectify it. It was supposed to be a stand-up Santa but it was designed in a stupid way because to make him stand up you have to lace him at the back, at which point most of the handiwork is out of sight and he becomes extremely thin and looks weird. I decided to leave him whole, stuck him on a door and he looked happy enough. He could also be hung on the Christmas tree but I prefer to have him on a door. It was embroidered on plastic mesh, which I would not use again as it made my fingers very sore when sewing. In fact, although I got this at a very reduced price at an exhibition last year, it really wasn't a bargain as it was a huge amount of work for a small result. At least he's done and he can come back next year.

Keen to get started on new quilts and finishing two borders and bindings on quilts already done but haven't got the energy or motivation to do them. Instead, enjoying my youngest daughter's company with dvds and embroidery until she leaves for England tomorrow evening. My husband has gone to Frankfurt on business today and we have terrible storms, so I'm hoping he can leave early after his meeting and drive back safely while it is still light. I'm also hoping the European storms settle down before my daughter flies to England tomorrow - I shall worry myself sick if the weather is still bad.

Happy New Year to all, I wish you a 2012 full of satisfying sewing, kniting, crochet, whatever you love.

Phew! Finished in time

Finally finished the Christmas embroidery which I began last Autumn in the hopes that it would be done by last Christmas but I was left with the last line unfinished and it had to be put away. I'm afraid I took a very quick photo on our white and grey marble table, which makes the embroidery look a bit grubby but I will post a better picture when I get a frame for it on Monday. I am really glad I made the decision to do this on antique linen as it is very traditional and it just looks right. There are so many beautiful German carols but this has always been one of my favourites - rough translation below:

Oh come, little children, come to the crib,
Come, all of you, inside Bethlehem's stall,
And see what our Father in heaven has done
In this holy night to give us Joy!

It has a really beautiful, innocent melody - I could sing it for you but that would spoil things!

New Quilt - not mine!

Radiotherapy finished, third chemo about to begin - feeling okay apart from diminished hearing (probably from the RT).

My eldest daughter came to Germany for five days recently and we had a wonderful snuggly, cuddly time, watching movies, lots of comedy, eating lovely food and lots of talk. It did me so much good. And this week my sister came out, also for five days and she has not quilted before so, as I was feeling well, I got her a simple table runner pattern and she went through every stage of making a quilt as a learning exercise by making this runner - she chose the fabrics so well and it looks beautiful. Unfortunately, my sewing machine just collapsed and refused to sew towards the end, so my sister had to turn the wheel manually and my goodness, those stitches were slow. But she finished and I am so proud of her. She is going to applique/quilt something in the big orange square when she gets home and has time to think about it more. I really think she'll carry on with this and she wants to do some placemats next so she's setting herself realistic goals rather than taking on a bedquilt and investing in a load of fabric. Luckily, she used to make clothes so has already quite a stash of cottons to choose from.

And here are the two embroideries I am working on (quilting is a bit too physical at the moment but I hope to get back to it soon). The German Christmas carol is a favourite of ours and I tried to finish this for last Christmas but didn't make it - am determined to get it done and framed by this Christmas. The other is the old German Coffee shop which is extremely tiny stitches and very slow progress but I do love the look with the copper thread picking out all the lettering and special features. I will not finish this until after New Year.

Dealing with things

This is a difficult post to make. I never intended this blog to be anything other than quilt-focused, with a little bit of holidays, family and food thrown in. However, my life has completely changed over the last four weeks and I cannot go on with the blog without mentioning it.

My MRI revealed that the pain in my rib was from advanced metastases from an unknown tumour. Health care is very good here in Germany and I spent the next two weeks doing every test imaginable to try to discover where the tumour was. Eventually, a form of breast cancer was diagnosed but still no evidence of the guilty tumour. I was admitted to hospital for a mastectomy and the doctors hoped to find the tumour in the tissue which was taken. The pathology lab worked on the results for a week and eventually found two tiny tumours of a very powerful and aggressive nature. These had sent metastases through my spine. After leaving hospital three days ago, I am due to begin a strong course of chemotherapy next week in order to treat the metastases. Then will come some radiation and any other therapy thought suitable to keep me going as long as possible.

I feel well-looked after, have good medical support and great friends and my husband has been with me at every appointment and completely there for me. After the terrible black hell of the initial shock, something in the human spirit seems to let in the light again and I am able to look positively at life again.

I just want to make clear that I will not be giving a blow by blow account of how I am all the time - this is still my quilting blog and I want to keep it that way but over the next few months I might not be getting much quilting done or anything else to show. I will, however, have even more interest (and time) for reading all my favourite blogs. I have given up my part-time job and am going with the flow.

Slow but steady.

This is my progress so far - I like sewing by hand but am hampered by not being able to sit upright so this is going slowly. I am enjoying it, though, and it is proving a great distraction. I now have to make up the pumpkins to go at each end, then borders and prairie points. I also will have some small pieces of fabric from the kit left over and I think I'll make some matching coasters. Don't know if that plan can include the little triangles below, but if not then they will go into my 'little triangle' box for use later (Bonnie Hunter has made me feel so responsible for fabric that I can't throw them away...)

And here is my little friend, Logan, watching over me - since I've had this back problem, he has stayed close unless he is on his walks with Stuart. He doesn't understand why I can't play with him at the moment but in his own way, he's looking after me.

It is Stuart's and my 35th wedding anniversary today. Unfortunately, because of me, we can't go out and celebrate or go away for the weekend but it doesn't matter. The real celebration is our recognition of how far we have come together and that we are happy to carry on. Good things.

New Quilt beginning.

This is the start of my new quilt but it is not one of the big quilts with my new fabrics that I was mulling over. I'm still only comfortable when lying or half-lying on the sofa - otherwise big pain. Only three more days until my MRI and then I'll know what the problem is. I hope. So I can't sit up or use the sewing machine, which most people would take as a disincentive to quilting. At first I was reading and watching movies etc. Then my hands got fidgety so I managed to do some embroidery. Then yesterday, knowing that the quilt group was meeting and I couldn't be there, I decided to adapt to my situation. Amongst the fabrics that Renate brought back for me from the US when she moved countries was a Thimbleberries Halloween Pumpkin table runner kit. I've never bought a kit before and I don't like Halloween so it was a weird thing for me to buy. However, I do like eating things made with pumpkin and I love Autumn, so I decided to see if I could hand-sew without sitting upright. Well, I can and here is one of the first completed blocks. I feel I'm back in the human race even if I can't work, walk the dog, go shopping or any of the things that make up a normal day. Anxious about the MRI but so much more cheerful being distracted by this!

Almost finished.

Above is the Provencal table topper that is almost finished. One row of machine quilting on coloured blocks remains to be done but I have no idea when I can manage this as I have injured my back and am out of action for a while. I am pleased with the quilting as it was only my second attempt at machine quilting and although it was laborious to keep turning and shifting the quilt while going round the flower petals, I really like the effect and also the look of the back (below)

I have not pulled the quilt straight enough for this photo and it looks wonky but it is, trust me, straight in real life - it is only cyber-wonky!


Am having an MRI next Monday to find out exactly what is causing my pain but until then I am only comfortable when lying or half-lying down. This means I can still manage to embroider a bit but quilting is out of the question (although I do have a little halloween quilt kit packed away, hmmm, maybe I could hand-sew it?) My husband is looking after me wonderfully and I am so glad that he is only travelling once a week now and is able to work from home more. There was no quilt group meeting last week and I know I cannot go to this week's as I cannot sit at all. Thursday isn't Thursday without the quilt group! Thank goodness for BBC Radio 4 and thank goodness for Youtube, where I am watching old episodes of Family Ties (I know it's dated but still so funny and my daughters and I have always adored Michael J. Fox, so I'm on a nostalgia run and it keeps me amused and is non-demanding).