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Wednesday, November 19. 2008

How was your weekend?

Oh, it was sew-sew....

 

Take 10 enthusiastic quilting friends, several sewing machines, 2 ironing boards, 3 irons, piles of fabric, pins, needles, threads, and a good selection of work-in-progress and put them all in a modern youth hostel for three days and two nights and what do you get? A very happy group of ladies and quite a few finished projects (or at least projects well on their way to completion).

 

I just got back from such a weekend. Our patchwork and quilting group is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year (hard to believe) and we thought we should do something special to mark the occasion. We‘ve been thinking about organizing a sewing weekend for several years and this seemed like the perfect time to actually make it happen.

 

We have a very modern youth hostel about an hour‘s drive from here where we could book  single rooms (actually 3- and 4-bed rooms, but single occupancy), have three meals a day cooked for us, and have the use of a huge, lovely conference room for our entire stay – and all for less than 100 Euros per person!

 

We have several group projects in the works and, of course, each of us has plenty of UFO‘s, so we didn‘t think that we would be bored – and we weren‘t! We sewed until around 10:00 pm on Friday and Saturday and to 4:00 pm on Sunday. What a treat to not have to worry about meals, kids, husbands, house, garden, etc. It‘s amazing how much sewing can get done when you can stick with it for more than just a few minutes at a time (or even more than just one or two hours).

 

After cleaning and packing up on Sunday afternoon, we all sat down to have coffee together and to sum up the experience. What was good? What was not so good? What could be improved or changed if we have such a weekend again? Everyone was very satisfied. “It was much nicer than I had anticipated it would be.” But then one criticism was voiced – “It wasn‘t long enough!”

 

The weekend was such a huge success that we have decided to make it an annual affair!

 

Here are some impressions of our stay:

 

 

 

Everyone brought along several projects to work on, but we also had

several group projects that we took turns working on. Here, the quilt for

the friend who moved back to Sweden (see my earlier blog entry) is being

quilted. We finished the quilting on the weekend. Now all it needs is binding –

hope that doesn't wait until we have our next quilting weekend next year!

 

 

 

 

The second group project was this quilt, started by one of our members

who very sadly died suddenly last year. We decided to finish the quilt for

her and donate it to be used in the parents' apartment at a local children's

hospital.

 

 

 

We got it up to a little more than 2 x 2 meters (80 x 80 inches) – we know because

we measured – which ought to be big enough for a double bed. Now we have

to decide how to quilt it! 

 

 

Watch where you're cutting!

 

 

 An extra hand would be nice.... 

 

 

 

One of the personal projects – she's hoping to be finished by Christmas.

 

 

Encouraging the next generation – and we do need them!

 

All in all, a very successful weekend! 

 

Written by Mary at 22:27 in Patchwork and quilting
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Sunday, September 21. 2008

Quilt group group quilts

Quilts lend themselves wonderfully to being group projects. The individual blocks can be sewn by different people, then members of the group get together to sew the blocks together and finish the quilt.

 

During the last twenty years, our quilters group has made quite a few group quilts – as a gift for a new baby, as a birthday present for what the Germans call a “round” birthday (50-60-70, etc), to raise money for charity (we raffled off a Grandmother‘s Flower Garden quilt and earned around 3,000 Euros for a local children‘s hospital), and as going-away presents.

 

This year it was time for another group project and, sadly enough, a going-away quilt. One of our members comes originally from Sweden and decided to move back to Sweden (closer to children, grandchildren, etc.) after becoming widowed about a year and a half ago. She‘s a good friend and a good, active member of our group. I told her that I didn‘t like her decision at all....but I could understand it.

 

Time for a group quilt. One problem with group quilts is that everyone sews a little differently, so we had to pick a block which could easily be adjusted to compensate for

small difference in sizes. A version of the traditional Log Cabin block is a good choice. Everyone starts with a center square, then sews strips of various sizes around the center square, in concentric squares. 

 

We wanted to make a “scrappy” quilt, but to make sure that all the blocks coordinated, I bought one solid color fabric for the center squares of all blocks and one print fabric (a William Morris print with small birds – she‘s an enthusiastic bird watcher) that was to be used for at least one of the outer squares in each block. Everyone could then add matching fabrics from their stashes to cut strips of various widths to complete the block.

 

 

 

Here are the two fabrics and the letter that I wrote to everyone who planned on sewing a block.

The illustrations show a few of the possible ways to sew the block.

 

A total of 35 blocks were sewn – enough for 7 rows of 5 blocks each. Since the blocks were 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm) that meant that we could make a single bed-sized quilt. Actually, 3 more blocks came in late – they will go on the back of the quilt. I had enough of the center square fabric for a narrow inner border and enough of the “main” fabric for

the outer border.

 

Now it was time to get together to sew the blocks together.

 

 

 

First we pinned the blocks to my design wall and rearranged them again and again until we were pleased with the results.

 

Then we divided the jobs.

 

 

 

One of us pinned the blocks together in the order we had decided on.

 

 

 

Someone else sewed.

 

 

 

And the third one ironed the seams.

 

 

 

Of course, we also had a coffee break. German women are the most unbelievable bakers! In all my time in Germany I don‘t think that I have ever had any kind of a group meeting to which not at least one (and often more) home-baked cake was brought. And, of course, they don‘t bring just “any ol‘ cake”. For example, the strawberry cake shown has a layer of

chocolate glaze beneath the strawberries to prevent the juice from making the cake below soggy! 

 

With so many hands helping, our quilt was done in a couple of hours (including coffee break!). I added the two borders and....

 

 

 

we had a going away party for our friend (the one holding the top end of the quilt in the photo) and surprised her with the finished quilt top.

 

We still have to add the fleece and back, then quilt the quilt, but we have already planned to spend a week-end together in November to finish the quilt. And I‘m sure that a fantastic selection of home-baked cakes will appear then, too!

Written by Mary at 13:40 in Patchwork and quilting
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Sunday, April 6. 2008

How to care for a blog

Here I am, getting ready to write my first real blog entry. Since I've never done this before, I feel a little like I did the day I brought my first child (a daughter) home from the hospital or the day we got a new puppy. What am I supposed to do now?!? What should I feed her/it? How often? How do I know if it's enough? What if she gets sick? Of course, caring for a blog isn't quite as serious as caring for a child or a dog, but the uncertainties are still there. On the other hand, I'm sure that the uncertainties will disappear. My daughter is still alive and well. The dog is dead, but not due to poor care – she was 14 years old. There will be things to learn, but that will be good for me. I agreed to have this blog...so here we go.

 The best place to start is probably with an introduction. I am 60 years old. I‘m a US citizen and English is my native language but I have been living in Germany for almost forty years, so I also speak German. Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in all things textile. I sew (mostly patchwork and quilting, but also some clothing), knit, crochet, embroider, weave, spin, tat, make bobbin lace – not necessarily in the order of frequency or enthusiasm. I earn my living by combining these textile skills with my 2 main languages. I am a translator, mainly from German to English and mainly in the textile field. I have been translating for Burda for the last 15 years and since last summer I have been “taking care” of Burda‘s English website. I also translate for a sewing machine company and for a couple of yarn companies, among others. In addition to doing textile things myself, I also teach other people how to do them. At present all of my classes deal with patchwork and appliqué. 

I am calling my blog “Grandma‘s Flower Garden” because I am a grandma, but also because I inherited my “textile genes” primarily from my paternal grandmother and because the “Grandma‘s flower garden” quilt pattern is one of my favorites. I own 2 quilts of this pattern which my great-grandmother made and I always enjoy sewing this pattern myself. 

Up until now I haven't had much to do with any blogs except for reading the one that my son-in-law occasionally writes to keep friends and family informed. In order to get the feel of what a sewing blog might be like, I decided to check into existing sewing blogs and other textile blogs. I started out with the blogs on Burda's German website and they led me to their favorite sewing blogs and I am amazed! I had no idea how many blogs there are. People (the ones I found concerning textiles seem to all be women) who are enthusiastic about sewing or knitting or crocheting – or all three – and more! People who generously share their knowledge, proudly show their finished projects, or share their disasters. Many write blog entries (and post photos, etc.) daily and also say that they read many other blogs daily. They sew, knit, etc. and, of course, they also have jobs, families, homes, etc. I can only assume that they have discovered the secret of squeezing more than 24 hours out of a day or of surviving without sleep...but I haven‘t found any blog entries about this yet.  

I still need a good night‘s sleep, so my blog will probably not be daily. I‘ll do my best to write regularly, but time will tell how often than can be. Now I‘ve made a start. I hope that this blog thrives as well as my daughter and the puppy did!

Written by Mary at 19:40 in Patchwork and quilting
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