My LQS and Oh Fransson! seduce me into changing my plans

I keep a handful of projects in the pipeline at all times. Short term, I have/am working on:

• GFG handquilting
• quilting table tote bag
• scraps for a Bonnie Hunter Triple Irish Chain
• BOM for the guild and flying geese
• Coins quilt ready to be sandwiched and machine quilted
• piecing my mystery from 2010
• all of the requests for clothing from my daughter

There are also several other projects waiting their turn. I'm fairly consistent about pushing new ideas to the back of the queue, because I prefer to follow the rule of FIFO (First In, First Out).
But yesterday, my evilly wonderful LQS owner sent me a link to Oh Fransson! and her new Tokyo Subway quilt-along. I was immediately taken, and even hours later was still scheming how I could fit that quilt into my list, even moving it to the top of the queue.
After many hours of contemplation, I decided to give in, especially when, at the advice of my LQS, I shopped my stash and found that I have enough fabrics to get started immediately.
40 by 40 2 inch squares is too big to fit into my schedule, so I'm starting with just a quarter. The lower right quadrant has almost all the colors, so that's where I am starting.
Then I noticed that I did not care for the long strip of bright color at the top edge, so I adjusted the size. Instead of choosing the lower right 20 squares by 20 squares, I'm choosing 21 squares tall by 19 squares wide. That is more pleasing to me. Fine, it doesn't follow the golden proportion, but that's life.
Next I have to lay out what I'll need to cut and get my squares lined up. Look for pictures to come, and keep your eyes on Oh Fransson! Flickr stream for photos of other people's projects.

FAIL skirt and trip to Hilco

DD came home for the weekend, primarily to visit friends and recharge a bit. We had a chance to visit and to try on skirts. As known, the black one was way too large. The white sloper was a little too tight, so I adjusted it until it fit.
However, it was quickly clear that the cut of the skirt is not at all what she wants. She wants something more like a pencil-skirt, so it's back to the design board. I found a pattern in a 2009 Burda magazine that actually is a pencil skirt, so I'll be cutting that out tonight and making a sloper BEFORE I cut into regular fabric. Good thing I just bought new sloper fabric last Friday at Hilco. I love going there, they have a garage out front at which they sell remnants and seconds. Upstairs in the factory outlet store they have mostly first quality product as well as notions.
I bought pocket lining fabric at 1 Euro per meter to make slopers. I think this one has YSL woven into it, so I'm making a "luxury" throwaway sloper. LOL. There was also some quilt fabric, from Makower if I recall correctly, and I bought some at 8 Euro per meter.
Upstairs I bought some corduroy to make a bag for my plexiglas quilting extension table, and some fabric and a pattern to make a bag. It was a lot of fun to go shopping with my quilting buddy Andrea, and hope to go again soon.

Another quilt shop in the area - Pasatiempo

I've added another shop to my map - Pasatiempo. I hope to get over there soon, especially since it's only a few minutes away from my home.

The updated quilt store map http://tiny.cc/1lnw7
Pasatiempo store in Leonberg: http://www.pasatiempo-shop.de/

A dwarfish and amazing guild challenge

There are no pictures to link to yet, but I believe our guild will be sharing pictures of the latest challenge project we did.
The challenge was to take a packet of Michael Miller Gnome fabric (LQS made some packs for sale for this purpose) and make a quilt from it. Key criteria was, you also had to have a story about the gnomes in your quilt - your own little fairy tale.
We saw the results last night, and I don't believe I ever saw so much creativity from just one project. There were traditional quilts, wallhangings, fabric books, many more items. Each was as unique as the quilter, and each story equally so.
I believe some pictures will be posted one day, and I'll add that link when it's available. In the meantime, browse Michael Miller's Gnome fabric selection. Think of your own story and quilt!
Michael Miller Gnomes

Quilty goodness comes in smaller packages, too

I've been building my habit of doing a little every day, and that has led to to start (and finish!!!) smaller projects.
This week alone, I've started and finished both a pair of oven mitts and a bookmark.
The mitts are for me, since DD took our old ones with her.
The bookmark is for a friend who loves to read so much, she has her own reading room. Hopefully this will make her reading even more pleasurable.

For both projects, I used a quilt stitch from my 440QE - makes a pretty stitch, don't you think? There's also a picture of the lining.

True confessions: the oven mitts are a little wonky. In fact, if a person had the top joint of one thumb cut off, they wouldn't be wonky at all - they would b a custom fit. But sadly I have all my thumb joints, so wonky it is.
And I'm not changing it, because Done is Better than Perfect.

Quilt and Fabric stores in Stuttgart area

Quilting is a popular hobby in Germany. Remarkably popular, and it's reflected in the number of places to buy fabric.
The area I live in, Stuttgart, is heavily populated, and is rather prosperous, due to the automotive and high-tech industries. We are fortunate enough to have several patchwork shops and several fabric shops as well.
I made a Google map to show you the relative locations of some of the shops I know. Feel free to check it out.
My LQS (Local Quilt Shop) is Patchcom in Schönaich, near Böblingen.
Here are the links:
Quilt shops in Stuttgart Germany area
Patchcom in Schönaich

What is a sloper?

A sloper is

1. A fabric model of a garment made to fit a particular body
2. What is taught at Don McCunn's excellent online classes (his book is also great)
3. What I should have done with my daughter's skirt as soon as I realized the waistband had 30 pieces

My daughter received the skirt I showed you in the other posts, and boyhowdy did I get the sizing wrong. There were no size measurements on the Burda pattern itself, so I took a Burda magazine and compared her measurements again that to find a size, then made the skirt to fit that size. However, that was 2 sizes too big! Note to the world - Burda magazine sizes do not have the same measurements as Burda patterns.
While I'm waiting for her to return the skirt, I took the time to make a sloper. Sewing the sloper went amazingly fast as soon as I created a waistband out of one piece instead of the 30 pieces I used earlier. The skirt was ready within 2 hours.
I always make slopers out of the cheapest fabric I have that is roughly similar to the fabric I want to use in the final skirt. The fabric used in this skirt is a 1 Euro per meter cotton I bought at a factory outlet (Hilco in Leinfelden-Echterdingen).
This skirt was made to fit her waist exactly, and I measured twice to be sure. Then I had enough time to put the ruffles on as well before mailing it off to her.
Here's how the finished sloper looks.

The nice thing about slopers is you can mark them and can take many shortcuts in construction, since you are just using it for fitting. So I marked the waistband, and the waist level, so she can put it in exactly the right place. I also made two different kinds of ruffles, and marked the place where she can compare before telling me which one she prefers.
Here are the markings.

Finally, I used velcro instead of a zipper because it was faster to sew and my girl can adjust it to fit if changes are needed. And I can keep the sloper as long as I need, to compare to other things I sew for her.

Quilt, quilt, quilt

There are 13 large flowers and 8 small flowers in my quilt, and I've quilted 6 large and 2 small flowers so far. My pattern is to put a large hexagon inside each row of the large flowers, then quilt 1/4 inch away from flower in the green path. When that's all done, I'll still have to figure out what I'll do with the rest of the green area, and the border.
But even the quilting is dragging me down a little. The further I progress, the less I like the way I'm quilting. Because I'm doing it freehand, each of the little stitch variations and slight dimples is bothering me. I probably need to take a break and appreciate the work I've done so far. This is the quilt I wanted to make, remembering with love the way my grandmother made her quilts. No quilt frame, no rotary cutter, no fancy tools, just scissors, old fabric and love.
My flower garden is for me, with all of its warts, wrinkles and uneven stitching. My humanity comes through, my imperfections, my striving for a level I cannot yet reach. At the same time, though, I love them all, because this is the single most beautiful thing I ever created by myself. (My daughter doesn't count, because she's the product of DH and me together. That said, she's the most beautiful thing we've ever created.)
OK, maybe I'm not so dragged down anymore.

My skirt challenge

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my daughter wants me to sew her a skirt and top. In order to fully explain to me what she wants, she drew a picture and sent me a JPEG of the drawing. Actually, it was over a dozen JPEGs, and here's one that's an overview of what she wants.

Looks pretty conmplex, doesn't it? It is, but the kid is tolerant when I say I can't do one bit or another.
Where am I in this project? The skirt is done at least to the base level. I used a pattern that had the high waistband, and put that together. There aren't any ruffles or the ribbon on the front yet, but that will come after she has tried on the skirt for a fit. I even put in the first turn on the hem, but not the second, so she can mark the length she wants.

This pattern was interesting. When we were in Essen, we went to Demmer Stoffverkauf, and they had a stack of patterns, and you could choose one for free when you spent more than (IIRC) Euro 15. We chose this skirt, and I thought, "Cool, a free pattern, and a skirt at that - ought to be easy."

Well, it's not one of Burda's best patterns, The front and back are just mirror images of each other, but it's the waistband that is the real kicker. Of course it's a pieced waistband, with 5 pieces for the front. But they also pieced the back with 5 more pieces. And the inside of the waistband has 10 pieces. And the interfacing. Yes, that's 30 pieces just for the waistband. I didn't catch that until I'd cut things, so it was a little too late to change, but if I make a second skirt, I will definitely use single pieces for the interfacing and inside, and probably the back waistband as well.
Here's a pic of the skirt up to now. I still have to buy a zipper, which I'll get tomorrow, then mail the skirt off to the kid.

Quilters know everything

Several months ago, I bought an orchid, just to enjoy the beauty, and because it was a reasonable price, about 9 Euro. I enjoyed the bloom for a much longer time than I would have enjoyed cut flowers, but I didn't expect it would bloom again, because I've never had any luck with that sort of thing.
Well, one day I was visiting a quilting buddy, and commented on her many gorgeous orchids. I mentioned that I was about to throw mine away, because in all these months, it had never given the slightest indication that it would bloom again.
But Billa said, "just be patient - you'll be surprised."
And I was! After waiting yet one more month, a single bud appeared, followed by several others. Now I've got 2 gorgeous new blooms, and three more waiting to open. Yay!!

20% off Bernina Accessories at Nähpark website

I stumbled onto this discount today while I was looking for a ruffler foot. I had despaired of ever needing one (but I really really wanted one) until my dear daughter conveniently requested ruffles on a shirt and skirt for her.
As I browsed the various online stores, I noticed that Nähpark advertised 20% off Bernina accessories!!

That really caught my attention, since the ruffler foot #86 costs on the order of Eur 60. Also, it's about time I got a plexiglas extension table for my machine quilting. That's a pricey event as well, running anywhere from Eur 110 to Eur 130 ($150 and up).

But it's time to buy both, since I'm working on my daughter's skirt right now, and the table will be needed when I go to a quilting retreat in September (Quilt Sterne, a German online quilting group - I can't wait!!)

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the prices, because Nähpark has lower prices anyway, and to get another 20% off made it irresistable!

No idea how long the discount lasts, but grab it now while you can!
Link to Nähpark: http://www.naehpark.com/

Quilt Block Portfolio

When taking blocks and samples to my guild and sewing circle meetings, I used to just cram them into a cloth bag. At the meeting itself, I was frequently smoothing things out by hand, and was generally dissatisfied with the results.
So the next time I went to the art store, I picked up a small portfolio, just large enough to hold a 12 inch block without folding it. That worked ok, but the blocks would slide around and I wanted something better. So I lined the portfolio with a couple of pieces of fleece, held on by double sided tape.
Works great! Now I can use my portfolio not only to carry my blocks back and forth, but also as a display board during the gatherings.
Now all I have to do next is decorate the outside, maybe with a cloth cover or something similar.
In the pictures you see the portfolio closed, then laying open, then standing as a display.

My stash

My stash is still quite small, but I finally got it sorted into colors, then by lights and darks.
As you see, I have too few purples and too many greens, although I'm not sure it's possible to have too many greens. As soon as my mystery quilt is finished, I'll have some leftover purples as well.
I also don't have enough variation to be able to do one of my current projects - a color wheel. I envision a Dresden plate, with each spoke pieced out of light, medium and dark values, surrounded by a circle of geese, one per color.

Worst pincushion in the world

You wouldn't suspect it to look at it - pretty colors, nicely shaped. Wonderful Kaffe Fassett fabrics, accented by multicolored batik. Rich colors, solidly sewn.
And not worth a damn. Why? Because I CAN'T SEE THE FRIGGIN' PINS AND NEEDLES!!!!

Look at the picture. Way up at the top is one pin, with a white head. A yellow headed pin just gets lost.
Down in the lower right are 4 needles, one large one and 3 quilting needles. Try looking for a needle in the evening light on this pincushion, all you will find is holes in your hand from getting stuck.
Arrgh.