It's snowing!

Snow is rather rare here in Vienna so as soon as the snowflakes begin to fall I have to grab my camera and get out of the door.

Untouched snow?

No wait! Someone has already been there. 

Fortunately I have a companion who's always ready to go for a walk with me (although he is not too happy when I'm standing around taking pictures).

Let's get scrappy

I don't do mystery quilts. I want to know what I am making and how it will look when it's finished.

But then Elaine (@messygoat) posted a picture on Instagram of the last few mystery quilts she made which were provided by Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com. They looked so nice and cozy. And as I lost my quilting mojo in the last few months I decided to give it a try. My only requirement: use only fabric from my stash.

So yesterday I dug into my cupboards and came up with these fabrics to work with

Beautiful aren't they? I hope it's enough.

But now please excuse me I have to iron, cut and sew 240 fourpatches.

I'm linking this post to http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/11/mystery-monday-link-up-and-cyber-monday.html where you can find a lot of people who already did all the 4patches. 

The Festival of Quilts

I know, I know! The Festival of Quilts in the UK was in August. And I was really thinking of not writing a post about it as it`s already eight weeks since this wonderful quilt show took place. But then – beautiful quilts are beautiful quilts! And as this year the quilts were better than ever (in my opinion) I decided to post the pictures nevertheless.

Today I will show you the winning quilts.

"My favourite Things" by Katy Whitby

Let's start with the BEST OF SHOW and the winner in the category PICTORIAL QUILTS.

MY FAVOURITE THINGS by Katy Whitby Last of the United Kingdom was a real show stopper. It took me quite some time to get close to it to take a picture because of the mass of  people surrounding it all the time. And in fact you could just stand and stare because of its beauty. The waterdrops on the leaves look so real you want to touch them.
Katy Whitby Last: “The quilt was inspired by the song in the musical ‘The Sound of Music’. My aim was to reproduce the picture with as much detail as possible, relying on changes in fabric colour rather than other techniques.”
The quilt is made of cotton and silk organza using fusible raw edge appliqué, needle turn appliqué and free motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine.

"Harvest Moon" by Laima Whitty

The winner of the CONTEMPORARY category was the quilt HARVEST MOON by Laima Whitty, USA. I especially liked the colors in this quilt. It’s an original design, machine pieced and free motion quilted. And as Laima Whitty wrote in the artist’s statement: “It was mathematically challenging”. I can immediately see why.

"And the Sky danced" by Jean McLean

AND THE SKY DANCED by Jean McLean of New Zealand was the winner of the ART QUILTS category. An intriguing quilt especially for me as ‘to see the Northern Lights’ is still on my bucket list. The quilt is raw edge appliquéd and made of commercial and hand dyed cotton and wool.

"Lost in Translation II" by Mary Palmer

In the category of MODERN QUILTS Mary Palmer of Ireland won with her quilt LOST IN TRANSLATION II. The artist’s statement: “Although we speak English in Ireland, it’s sometimes a different language altogether. Directions can sometimes be entertaining or confusing!”

"Strelitzia"  by Karen Callaghan

For some years now the Festival of Quilts has a special category FINE ART QUILTS MASTERS. This is an international juried competition with the highest standards in creativity as well as workmanship and as the show guide tells “shows the finest examples of art quilts with work that has powerful artistic expression with abstract and figurative elements”.The winner was STRELITZIA by Karen Callaghan of the United Kingdom.
Inspired by a leaf from her Strelitzia plant the artist used photograph manipulation, straight stitch, hand sewing, appliqué, hand painting and sponging and restricted herself to a limited color palette. Karen Callaghan says: “I wanted to make a piece of work with impact, and to create something that was unique.” And she certainly did.

"Give me the Time ..." by Mary Mayne

Each year the Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles organizes the QUILTER’S GUILD CHALLENGE premiering at the Festival of Quilts. This year’s winner was the quilt GIVE ME THE TIME … by Mary Mayne of England, a quilt that is surely speaking to every quilter. It’s machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand and machine quilted. “Putting a quilt through the clock face gives you the Q for a quilt. All we need is time to work the magic with fabric and thread. Difficulties making this quilt came around every corner, but it was worth the effort.” says Mary Mayne.

"Circuit Training" by Philippa Naylor

I would not believe that it is possible to make this quilt if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. CIRCUIT TRAINING by Philippa Naylor of Great Britian won the MINIATURES category. This quilt is 25 x 25 cm or 10 x 10 inches! It’s machine and hand pieced, hand appliquéd and machine quilted. Philippa Naylor’s statement: “Having tried my hand at both whole-cloth and appliqué miniature quilts over the last few years it was time to have a go at miniature piecing. My aim is to continue to experiment, and to continue to learn – whilst trying to achieve the best possible quality of workmanship I can manage!”

"Childhood Exhilaration" by Julie Brandon and Valerie Schultz

A quilt you could not walk by without smiling was Julie Brandon’s and Valerie Schultz’ (USA) quilt CHILDHOOD EXHILARATION which won the TWO PERSON QUILTS category. “Childhood Exhilaration grew out of a discussion about childhood vacations and summer breaks. Julie spent many summers and vacations at the New Jersey shore and in St. Maartens. Valerie spent her days on the shores of Honeoye lake in Honeoye, New York. Our fondest childhood memories come from being near lakes and oceans.”
The digital composition was created in Photoshop and printed on cotton fabric. The quilt is machine pieced, machine quilted and hand decorated with glass beads and sea shells.

"Global Harmin" by Susan Sami

GLOBAL HARMING by Susan Sami of the United Kingdom was the winner of the NOVICE CATEGORY.
I just looked up the rules for the novice category – entrants to this category should have been quilting for fewer than three years and should not hold a formal qualification in a textiles or related subject – as this quilt is so complex and interesting and contemporary that one can hardly believe it was made by a novice quilter. It is made with dyed fabric, screen printed, painted and hand stitched with waxed and linen thread. And I am especially impressed by all the thoughts that went into this quilt as the artist’s statement tells us: “The relentless wars and conflict around the world sees an increasing number of civilians fleeing the perils of war. As the numbers of refugees increase, so do the border fences and political barriers. Global harming … where fellow humans become an unwanted sea of faces behind fences.”

"Starburst" by Elizabeth Wife

And last but not least the winner of the VISITORS CHOICE. It came as no surprise as everybody was ah-ing and oh-ing over the quilt STARBURST by Elizabeth Wife of England. It’s a spectacular piece, vibrant with color and decorated with sparkling cristals. And it started as a miniature version for a quilt swap. As Elizabeth Wife was so pleased with the miniquilt she decided to go large. What a great idea of her and what a treat for us.

So far for the winning quilts of the Festival of Quilts. But of course there were a lot more and some of them I will show you in upcoming posts. So check back or subscribe so you don’t miss them.

If you want to see the second and third place winners as well then go to https://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/winning-quilts-2017/.  Enjoy!

Why a quilter has to knit

Some (or even many) of you may have noticed that the Soccer World Championship is upon us.

Usually I am not too interested in soccer but at the World Championship you can see the best teams of the world. So I’m watching quite a lot of tournaments.

What I discovered is that watching soccer and appliquéing a block does not go together very well. Concentrate on the appliqué and you miss the goals, look at the TV screen more and your stitches will get bigger.

But I can knit almost blind. So I searched for some wool (long forgotten in my drawers) and did cast on for a cardigan – my World Champion Soccer Cardigan. It is knit from the neckline down and really easy. And I can watch TV and keep my hands busy. So far the cardigan has seen the winning teams of Germany, England and Colombia.

We’ll see how much knitting will be done during the championship. If it’s not finished by then there is always the Tour de France to watch.

Snow!

Snow is rather rare in Vienna. So when it started to snow 2 days ago I took my camera and went outside to capture some winter impressions.

My loyal companion loves snow even more than I do.

Pompeij

I am a big fan of the ancient world. Athens, Mykene, Rome, ..... To walk in these places imagening how life has been there 2000 years ago, the feeling to relive history - that's really fascinating for me.

Therefore I wanted to visit Pompeij for a long time but somehow I never made it. But now I did it. My expectations were enormous - and still they were surpassed. The size alone is overwhelming. Pompeij is really comparable to a modern city in size. We walked the excavation site for more than 7 hours and still we did not see everything.

To walk Pompeij is one of the most fascinating things. There is so much to see, to read and to guess (What was this? Who lived there? What did they do in these rooms?).

The frescos on the walls are still in great conditions ...

... as are the mosaic floors

And above all there is Vesuvio looming - always visible, most of the time with a cloud obscuring the summit, shadows on the flanks, always a reminder to what happened in 79.

Of course there is a lot more to see in and around Naples. Herculaneum, the Archaeological Museum or the amphitheater in Pozzuoli just to name a few. And if you need even more incentives to go there - this is how the sunset looks.

A cover for my calendar

I decided that my calendar needs a cover showing my passion for fabrics. And especially for this cute fabric with paw prints. It is so easy to do and just needs about half an hour. And this is how to do it:

Measure the outside of your calender, don't add any seam allowance at this point. Measure the complete width backside, spine and frontside - a tape measure works best for this.

Add 2 cm/1 inch to the width and to the height for seam allowance and cut 3 pieces out of the chosen fabric. I did cut all three pieces from the paw print but you can use a contrasting color for the inside piece and/or the flaps.

If you want to make your cover softer cut a piece of batting in the same size.

Cut one piece of the fabric into two halves. My piece has a width of 28 cm (see measure tape in the first picture) and 2 cm of seam allowance which makes 30 cms. So I cut 2 pieces of 15 cms.

Fold each of these 2 cut pieces into half, right side out and iron them. These are your 2 flaps.

Lay out your piece of batting (if you use one). Lay the first piece of fabric (which is the outside of your cover) on the batting right side up. Lay the two flaps on the ends of the fabric and align the open ends with the end of the fabric.

Put the last piece of fabric (which is the inside of the cover) on top, right side down. Pin all the layers together.

Sew around the cover leaving approximately 8 cm/3 inches open in the middle of one of the long sides. Backstitch at the beginning and the end of the seam to secure the thread. Leave 25 cm/10 inches of thread at the end of the seam.

Trim the batting almost to the seam and cut off the four corners. Be careful not to cut into the seam.

Turn the right side of the cover out through the opening, iron and close the opening with hand stitches using the leftover thread.

Iron once more and put your calender/book/notebook/sketchbook/... into the new cover.

I'm linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays" blog.