Biene's adventure quilt blocks #20 & #21

We have the most beautiful winter weather here in central Germany at the moment with snow, sun and freezing temperatures. Weather like this only comes around every 10 years or so. That was the perfect opportunity to finish up all the tree blocks for Biene's adventure quilt.

These winter tree blocks are really my favourite in the whole 'forest' I made. 

Biene is so photogenic! Oh , and I made her a dog coat: 

She had one coat, the previous owners gave us, I simply copied the main form and adjusted it to my liking. The bodice is made from soft shell and the bust and neck part is fleece I had in my stash. I'm a bit proud of myself that I was able to do that. I think the sewing of my own clothing since 2 years helped a lot. 

The belly flap is attached with velcro to the main bodice and is protecting her furless belly. Vizslas only have one layer of fur and very little to no fur at the belly. I only put Biene a coat on in freezing temperatures like we have now (-6°C/ 21F) since she is running around a lot. She loves the snow! 

This is the second winter tree block and the second coat I made Biene. 

On this day the sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day. 

The second coat is the exact same but with red fleece, which I also had in my stash. I first wasn't sure if red would look good on her (I think a dog coat needs to go with the dog's fur colour) but I really like it. The red coat really shines in the snow. 

Such a poser! 

Also, today is Valentines Day and it's Biene's birthday! She is 10 years old today. 

Such a sugar face! I love this dog so much! I hope we have her around for a good few more years! 

Happy Valentines to you all! 

2021 - quilty goals

I am To-Do-List person. I have them in work and also for my quilt projects. they help me to stay focused and keep on track with my goals.

Here we go!

1. Finish Pantone Quilt 2020

Even though the Pantone Quilt Challenge did not take place in 2020 I made a quilt using classic blue. The quilting is finished, I just need to add the binding. 

2. Pantone Quilt 2021

Pantone have released two colours for 2021: grey and yellow. It's an interesting colour combination. I hope that the Pantone Quilt challenge will be back this year! 

3. Improv Quilt using stack technique

I took an online class with Nicholas Ball in October 2020 where Nicholas taught the stack technique from his book 'Inspired Improv'. I made this quilt in lovely autumn colours. The top is finished, I just need to come up with a quilting idea. Something free motion maybe?

4. Finish Christmas Quilt 

I know, I know! This quilt was on my do-to-list for the last two years! And I did attempt it. Twice. Twice I started quilting and didn't like it. Ripped it all out again. But now, it's finished quilted and just needs binding! 

5. Biene's Adventure Quilt

This has been such an enjoyable project! I'm working on this since three years and there are five blocks outstanding to finish the quilt top. I do hope we can go to the Dutch coast again this year because I need two more coast blocks! 

6. Adventures in Improv Design

I will attend QuiltCon together in February. I have signed up for an improv class with Anne Sullivan and Melanie Tuazon, I'm quite excited about it. 

7. Bee Quilts

I have this quilt top finished. This is going to be a baby quilt soon. 

There will be more, but for now that seems like a good plan! 

2020 - a round up

Traditionally my round-up posts are a compilation of all my projects, big and small. Since I only wrote like 9 blog posts this year here is a summary, which is a bit more expansive than usual. 

2020... where to begin? Well, maybe when the world was still in order and we could travel and hug people. 

This year started with a visit at QuiltCon in Austin, Texas. 

I had two quilts in the show, one of it was Define Gravity and it was in the small quilts category. 

The second quilt was Fade to Grey which hung in the Modern Traditionalism category. I participated in the Pantone Quilt Challenge 2019 with this quilt. 

QuiltCon again was a fantastic event, it was my third time attending and I met old and new friends and had a great time. 

I took part in the mini quilt swap and swapped quilts with Audrey from Cotton & Bourbon. 

This is Audrey and me exchanging quilts, you can read more about Sugar Rush, the quilt I made, here. 

I've actually made two mini quilts for the swap and didn't really like the first one, but it grew on me and now I'm happy that I made it. It's an adventure into monochromatic log cabin blocks that will be further explored! 

This is B.O.W. and I wrote about it here. 

Well, and then, two weeks after QuiltCon, the Corona Virus hit and turned our world upside down. Including mine. 

I did finish my Triangle Sew Along mini quilt, which was organised by Nicholas Ball of Quilts From The Attic. I really like his book 'Inspiring Improv' and that is one technique from it. 

This is Pineapple Parfait and it was an experiment into the use of colour as well as exploring a new technique. 

I wasn't in the mood for sewing or blog post writing at all. I did finish one large quilt though, that was three years in the making. However, all I needed to do was sew the binding on. That seemed doable. Because for the first time I sent a quilt to a longarm-quilting-service, to Rachel Hauser to be exact. 

This is Playground and it was a colour and value experiment.

I made two zipper pouches from scraps, one is an oversized open wide zipper pouch I made for a dear colleague that left my office. 

Playing with scraps was something that kept me going. I made another boxy pouch following the pattern by Katie Pedersen. 

This one was made from left overs from the Pantone Quilt Challenge 2019 Fade to Grey, which you've seen at the beginning of this post. 

Another zipper pouch was made using the Quilt-As-You-Go method. 

During summer I took out all my other left overs and started piecing tiny fabric pieces together. It felt good to make something small into something big, to make something whole. 

This one here is actually made from left overs from my Emerald City Quilt. My intention was to make a pillow to match the quilt, the size of this panel is about 25" square. I quilted it in an X-from, and then mirrored the quilting  1/4 " apart - it got so distorted that it needed intense blocking and even after that it looks terrible.  I love the colours and all but this panel is kind of a representation of 2020.

I have more of those scraps and will make another panel that will then turn into a two-sided pillow. I'm sure the pillow will look good once it's finished but this piece left me a bit frustrated. 

I finished a bee quilt which I love very much. This is Trip Todd, a quilt for Triplets. 

And I made more of Biene's adventure blocks. 

We did not go on holidays at all this year (social distancing and all), but we went on some really great walks with Biene. Her face is getting so white! She will turn 10 in February, she's still very fit and goes running with me twice a week. 

There's only five blocks missing and then her all the quilt blocks will be complete. I'm planning on having the quilt finished in the new year!

And then there was Metamorphosis, the only quilt I submitted to QuiltCon together. 

This quilt started with large scale blocks, which I didn't like. So I cut them up and pieced them together, a very exciting new design emerged! Metamorphosis was the only QuiltCon submission this year, and was not accepted into QuiltCon together. My good DSLR lens broke during the year (can 2020 be any worse?) so I wasn't happy with the photos. Maybe that was the reason for the rejection or the many, many really good quilts that are entered into the Improv Category. Anyhow, I hope to get the lens fixed and try again next year! 

I have one last project to show you: Athos & Oscar. 

This two-sided quilt is very dear to my heart and was definitely a special project of 2020. 

Looking back on all my projects during 2020 actually doesn't make me feel too bad, I thought sewing wise this year was a whole disaster... turned out it wasn't. And the good thing is I have some very exciting projects for 2021 lined up. 

Thank you all for your support, I appreciate every single one of you! 

Linking this up to Cheryl's Best of 2020 Linky Party, hop over to Meadow Mist Designs and look at all the great quilts people made! 

Biene's adventure blocks #13, #14 and #15

 Today I have three more adventure blocks to show. They are all from late summer/ fall last year (2019).

This one was from a mini holiday in a national park about one hour drive away from home. It was rainy, but we had some beautiful walks and Biene really enjoyed it. 

This is the block and I like these big trees. 

And we've been to the dutch coast again, our favourite spot with endless walks on the beach. 

I pinned this beach block to the timber poles, otherwise they would have been blown away! 

This one was in autumn with lovely autumn light and lots of fallen leaves. 

Here's the block with a lovely autumn tree. 

This still is a very enjoyable project. I probably need about 5 to 6 more blocks before I can assemble the quilt top. 

I made a couple of blocks during this summer and will show you more soon! 

2020 - quilty goals

Traditionally the year end round up is followed by this post: the quilty goals for the next year!
I like to have these goals because they are a bit like a to-do-list, I keep on going back to this post throughout the year to check progress.

1. Pantone Quilt Challenge with the new colour of the year: Classic Blue

The Pantone Quilt Challenge has become a tradition, it will be the fourth time taking part and I'm really looking forwrd to working with this beautiful colour!

2. MQG Mini Swap
I'm taking part in the mini quilt swap organised by The Modern Quilt Guild and I will exchange quilts at QuiltCon in Austin/ TX in February! I have a super great swap patner: Audrey of Cotton & Bourbon. Her quilt for me will be truly stunning as all of her work is! I have an idea for her quilt and fabrics are already selected. I will start the quilt this week before work gets in the way again.

3. Finish Christmas Quilt 'December'

I have actually started to quilt this quilt twice, and I didn't like it. The first time I ripped all the quilting out and started again (I had quilted the bottom two rows of trees approximately.). I started to quilt it a second time, and I again don't like it... so it's laying there at the moment, quilt stitches half way removed, and it's waiting for a third time.
Well, I guess these things happen. I just hope that when I quilt it t third time then it's turning out the way I want it!

4. Biene's adventure quilt 

This project is so dear to my heart and it's so much fun! I have 15 blocks so far and need a few more to have the quilt top complete. Actually I have settled on a quilt layout and now the quilt is determining where we go this year! We need to go to the beach once, go swimming twice and have a couple of nature walks in the forest. How cool is that?

5. Bee quilts

This one is from 2018 and I still need to finish it! But I have a great one from 2019 and I'm very eager to finish this one as well.
I'm continuing my bee in 2020 and looking forward to what my bee mates come up with!

6. Improv, Improv, Improv!!!
I have so many ideas and I can't wait to get started!
I also actually got a new book, it's 'Inspiring Improv' by Nicholas Ball. I really like his stuff and want to dive into his methods.

I hope I get as much sewing done as I like to. Happy New Year to you, all the best for your own creative endeavours and thanks to everyone who is stopping by my blog and leave a comment. Every one of it is highly appreciated!

2019 - a round up

Even though I have neglected my blog a bit this year, the round up at the end of the year is tradition and I don't want to break that habit.

The year started off with 'Purple Haze' being at QuiltCon in Nashville/ TN, unfortunately I was not able to attend QuiltCon this year. But I have seen many photos where my quilt appeared and that made me very happy!

I finished a baby quilt that was long overdue in February and took photos in the snow:

The yearly Pantone Quilt Challenge has developed into one of my favourite challenges. In 2019 the Pantone colour of the year was 'Living Coral' and I made a quilt that is called 'Fade To Grey':

I liked these improv log cabin blocks so much that I made a smaller version in just black and white. I loved the effect of disguising the actual block and the very graphic appearance of the quilt, I called it 'Define Gravitiy'. 

Both 'Fade To Grey' ad 'Define Gravitiy' have been selected for QuiltCon in Austin/ TX in February 2020 and I couldn't be happier! 

I also had my first solo exhibition in a small gallery in September and that was so exciting! 

I had 12 quilts on display and I was very happy to meet so many people and talk quilts! Thanks again to everyone who came to see the show, I'm still filled with a lot of gratitude! 

This lovely pair I made especially for the exhibition and I love them so much I could do a whole series with just log cabin quilts!

I was also taking part in a modern quilt challenge here in Germany where the topic was 'intuitive colour & design' in red and turquoise. I worked with a directional print in an improv quilt for the first time and I liked it!
I called the quilt 'Poppies In The Sky'.

I have been making bee blocks but I'm terribly behind with posting pictures of all of them. There will be a separate blog post soon!

And of course I continued with the blocks for Biene's adventure quilt! I actually love that project so much that I don't want it to end! I have 15 blocks so far and there are only a couple of blocks more to make up the quilt top.

I also made some small projects like these following zipper pouches. I especially like this one:

Or this one:

And this boxy pouch:

I have also made a divided basket, but never blogged about it.... a friend of mine had triplets, yes, triplets. All boys!

And I thought a mother of triplets does need all the help she can get so a practical divided basket and soother bands will help.

I made these soother bands following a tutorial from my friend Barbara, it's in German but with a lot of photos.

I picked boyish colours for the basket, when the boys don't need nappies anymore my friend can still use the basket for herself.

The pattern is by Noodlehead and you can find it here.

Sewing wise it was a bit of a slow year because I was busy doing something else: Das Quilt Kollektiv! I set up a platform for modern quilters in Germany with two amazing women I am happy to call my friends and business partners. I have held two quilt workshops this year and will continue to do so next year. This is very exciting and I'm very much looking forward to all there is to come!

I have also been appointed as the ambassador for The Modern Quilt Guild in Germany. We are still developing strategies for the ambassador role but I'm also very much looking forward to working on bringing the German members closer together. Here is a screen shot from the MQG website:

Pretty much an exciting and busy year I have to say!

Linking up to Cheryl at Meadow Mist Design and her Best of 2019 Linky Party!