Quilts 2016

Somehow this year ran through my fingers and now it's over. There aren't too many quilts I made this year but still some.

A quilt for my mother intended for cuddling under it on the sofa. But she insisted on putting it on her bed during the day because "it's too beautiful to use it on the sofa". Well...
It's queen sized, made entirely from my stash, machine sewn and hand quilted.

A king-size quilt for my nephew and his wife for their wedding.
As his wife is Taiwanese I selected red for the wife (the wedding color in Taiwan) and black for the husband. Some of the red and the black fabrics have gold prints to make the whole quilt more festive and sparkling. It's hand quilted as well.

This quilt was made for the show of the Austrian patchwork guild for the theme "magical". For me dragons are really magical, friendly creatures.
I used a hand dyed background that had the perfect colors and raw-edge appliquéed the dragon. The contour of the dragon is hand quilted and there is a large hand quilted celtic knot in the lower right corner (you can see it on the quilt but unfortunately not in the photo).

A small quilt of which I thought it would be the beginning of a journal quilt series with the theme of leaves. But it was only this one quilt.

Another quilt for cuddling under for my aunt for Christmas. And I think she uses it as intended.
The quilt is queen sized, machine sewn and hand quilted.

A cover for a hot-water-bottle for a friend as a Christmas gift.

And that's it. As said above - not many quilts, but still a few.

I'm in the garden

Well, to be honest - I don't have a garden. But my cousin has one: a nice, very green and pleasently cool place where I spend many hours during the summer. Today I would like to take you for a stroll through this wonderful place.

The garden is dominated by a lot of purple lavender which is

loved by bees

and butterflies.

 

There are roses,

lillies,

hydrangeas 

and many other flowers.

The garden is watched by a tiger

and a wolf.

52 weeks of creativity: Sour

52 weeks of creativity: Coffee

This is my favorite cup for my morning coffee.

52 weeks of creativity: Blue

52 weeks of creativity

Catching up on the 52 weeks of creativity challenge over at Karin's blog.

Black and White

 

These are a few of my favorite things

flowers, books and everything for quilting and sketching

 

Purple

Travel

On a railroad embankement near my home is this mural depicting travelling by train

 

Sunset

 

 

Books

This is my birthday stash

 

Row

 

 

 

 

What makes me happy

Felix knows exactely how to manipulate me - so if my dog is happy I am happy

 

Reflection

After spending a few days in New York City I have more than enough pictures fitting for reflection

 

Snack

Unhealthy but oh so tasty

I really like this challenge - thank you Karin for organizing it. I hope that this will be the last time that I fall so far behind.

52 weeks of creativity: Water

52 weeks of creativity: Contact

52 weeks of creativity: Mark

52 weeks of creativity: Vienna

The "Riesenrad" (Giant Wheel) in Vienna on a dreary winter day.

52 weeks of creativity: Food

The first asparagus of the year

Yellow

The challenge "52 weeks of creativity" called for yellow this week. What a good excuse to buy some flowers! These are the "most yellow" ones I could get.

New block for the Splendid Sampler

Well - this block looks really easy. Quite a few pieces but nothing that would pose any problem.
Wrong!
First I cut all the pieces, checked the numbers once again and started sewing. Then I realized that one large green square was missing. Looked everywhere but it was gone. Cut another square and did the 4 center squares.
Started sewing the "flying geese". Sewed half of them and then realized that the placement of the the red and blue triangles needed some thinking. Ironed the four "flying geese" and laid them out with the big triangles. Decided where the red and blue triangles had to be on the other 4 "geese". Realized that 4 other squares I (think I) did cut were gone. Nowhere to be found. Cut another 4 squares. Checked the placement of the blue and red triangles once more and made the 4 remaining "geese". Had it all wrong. At this point I did stop and called it a day.
The next day I sewed all the parts together - no problem at all.

So here's the block "Focal  Point" by Natalia Bonner.

6 blocks done - 94 to go.

New block for the Splendid Sampler

"Simple Simon" by Celine Perkins

 5 blocks done - 95 to go.

52 weeks of creativity: Sunshine

At sunset in Vienna

The Splendid Sampler

"Happy Happy" by Jen Kingwell

4 blocks done - 96 to go

The Splendid Sampler

Another heart block for my Splendid Sampler. 

Many tiny pieces. 

In Vienna we call this stuff "Fitzelei".

Here is "Lots of Love" by Melissa Corry

3 blocks finished - 97 to go.

52 weeks of creativity: Sleep

This week's theme was sleep. And nobody in my family knows better how to sleep well and long than Felix, my dog.

He sleeps everywhere in the apartment. 

In front of the door ...

... along the wall ...

... under my desk ...

... in his doggy bed ...

... and partially outside of it.

See - the best sleeper around.

The Splendid Sampler

Block 2 of the sampler is all about butterflies. It was a bit tricky as the block is 6 x 6 inches (15 x 15 cm) and consists of 46 pieces. One square is 1 x 1 inch (2,5 x 2,5 cm). But nobody said it would be simple. And to be honest - that's what I like about it: simple and easy would be boring.

"Wings" by Jane Davidson

2 blocks finished - 98 to go.