Cookies or Goodies?

That is the question I asked when told the Kris Kringle Goodie Bag was called a Cookie Bag. This very cute bag, which has a bizarre method of being put together - quite like making big cookies in fact - makes a really nice evening bag. Just the right size for phone, wallet, lipstick and tissues. I hope that _________ who is my recipient enjoys her bag and the gift inside it.

The sewing group I belong to when home in Australia has a Christmas Dinner every year. Each person who chooses to be part of the Kris Kringle gift giving gets a name to buy/make something for and then you have the fun of making the bag/stocking/hat which has been chosen by the Organisers to hold the gift in.

The Organisers then have the dinner room decorated and lots of Christmas cheer is celebrated with the bags being given out during the night. Lots of ooohhhs and aaaahhhs over the different fabric choices for the bags and eyeing off each other gifts.

Now it's off to the Post Office to post my bag so that ________ is not left without her bag and gift.

Frustration

A lot of frustration! With an international move coming up just after Christmas, I seem to be continually chasing my tail. I have had 1 whole week of no sewing and there are 4 or 5 things on my sewing table, which I know just need 1 or 2 days each to be "done done".

However, not all is lost. I did manage to make a cake for my sons' birthday and have far too many 6 and 7 year olds in my house for a party. Just 30 mins after the party ended, the sky dumped an inch or so of snow all over the place.

Here is the cake. The gold and silver balls on the cake, the kids thought were real, so they were stealing them to take home - vbg........

And, here is our back garden at 6:00pm. Completely dark and full of snow.......

Time for some strong coffee and to face the rest of the day. :)

Stained Glass...

...well not the real stuff, but a quilted Stained Glass, using the "Stack'n'Slash" technique. Furll of Aircraft Fabric. I made this quilt for DHs 45th Birthday. The centre panel is from a pattern in Australian Quilters Companion - issue 26. It was perfect for the fabrics and as it was Quilt As You Go, I was able to showcase the individual fabrics in large pieces on the back.

Flying Free

Looking out the window
You can see the planes flying
In the freedom of the skies.
Where the eagles dare,
The planes have soaring adventures
Diving, turning, aerobatic stunts
Living only for the moment
In that undefined space
Between the outer world and earth

I also managed to finish off a small circular sewing bag, that has been waiting for 3 years to have 2 button holes added to thread the cord through. Pretty happy to have 2 finishes of projects in one day!

Tomorrow is Monday, wonder if I can start another UFO project that has been hanging around for a couple of years? Or should I finish the large carry all bag which needs a lot of binding attached? Not sure, let's see how I feel tomorrow morning. What I need to do is prepare a submission for my Creative Writing Group on Monday week as my turn has come around again, so maybe not much sewing or new writing, but a re-work of a previous piece. Watch this space to see what happens next!

Baubles...

... are such pretty things! And on Wednesday this week, my friend Jane and I ran a class to teach other people how to make them. We had a ball. I would have to say the day was a resounding success.

I had pre-made kits for the ladies to purchase (because cutting the squares of fabric takes quite a while), made lots of coffee and tea and served cake as they folded and pinned the fabric squares to polystyrene balls to make the baubles while talking up a storm. The next 2 photos shows a few of the baubles completed in the class, with each persons choice of colours.

They are simply 2 colours of 2in cut squares pinned into polystyrene balls. A bit of braid covers the edges around the middle, add a ribbon with a bit of glue and a pin, then you can hang it on the tree. The next 2 photos show the ones I had made earlier.

Now I need to go and make a few more of my own, as the ones I had made earlier became gifts.

Great minds....

...think alike and I I found a great mind that thinks just like mine in Berlin. I got to meet my 'quilting penpal' of 2 years - Nicole. She is another "Aussie in Germany" and we were able to spend some quality time together with our families in Berlin. It was fantastic. I am hoping that she and her gorgeous family can come to Cologne to visit us. How great would it be to go shopping at the Christmas Markets with such a like-minded person? The other bonus of the trip to Berlin was to be able to spend some time with my 'best friend' from Cologne who moved to Berlin a few months ago. The wonderful thing is that she and Nicole met, live near each other and will get to do coffee and lunch together. This is just nice.




Now, it's focus time after just having a wonderful 2 weeks travelling through Eastern Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. More about our holiday and the fabrics I purchased in Austria in the next post, along with the completed Aircraft Stained Glass Quilt.

And 2nd prize goes to........

Me! I found out this morning that I have won second prize at the Blue & White Challenge with the quilt Cosmic (see below). I am really excited and doing a little happy dance! I am yet to see photos of the quilt which won, Congratulations to Karin for being the winner.

Cosmic - A Blue & White Challenge

I just love this quilt. It is simply one of the most enjoyable quilts I have ever made. I adore Blue and White, so when Kilmore Kwilters (in Victoria, Australia) set their challenge, I couldn't resist. The Blues are all from my stash and I only bought the whites in Fat 1/8 pieces. The requirements for the Challenge were very simple - Fabrics to be Blue and White, with the quilt finishing at 100cm square. The largest star is a Judy Mathieson design - Twilight Star and the rest I made up as I went along. I knew the look I wanted, I just had to make it work.

Today (18th Oct) was the day of judging of the Blue & White Quilts. I couldn't be there, so I need to e-mail one of the 'girls' what happened and how the day went. I think that they would have had a fantastic day.

However, while that was happening in Australia, my local group here in Germany held their quilt show. It was held in a cafe and attracted quite a lot of interest, which considering the venue was in a bizzare location (hidden from a major road, in a crop field and bordered by a freeway with no easy exit nearby) was really surprising. In any language, Quilters can talk to each other. Textile Art reaches out to people and you don't need to speak the same vocabulary because you understand each other very well. One of the ladies from the group that came today who belongs to the group is very special. She is a fantastic lady who has had the misfortune of being cursed by the cancer wand. Not only is she an extremely nice person, but she has a wonderful sense of humour. While she was there with her head wrapped in a scarf, she was entertaining my 4 yr old son with her clown quilts (esp the one titled Colonia Clownia) and then the adults with the Cologne Dom (Cathedral) in pictorial quilts from around the world. She has the Dom on Ayers Rock and the Sydney Opera House. The Dom has also visited the ocean, Canada, the USA and lots of other locations around the world.

All of the above has made for an interesting day. The missing my good friends in Australia at the Blue & White Challenge event, plus the Quilt Show (austellung) here in Cologne, a couple of special friends dropping by and some family time has made me feel quite nostaligic, maybe it's time to go and hug my kids....

Time for a Mystery........

"The game is afoot..." It is time to begin a Mystery Quilt (MQ). I have never, ever taken part in a Mystery Quilt project before, so I am nervous with anticipation. The fabric requirements have been sent out and I have chosen my fabrics - see pic. Yes, it will be a predominantly blue quilt, with the pink and red as the "pizazz" pieces.

I have chosen to do the lap size (117cm square) because I had fabric pieces the correct size and nothing large enough for the other sizes. When a piece of fabric in my chosen colour way is 107cm wide and the requirements call for a piece 105cm wide, then it has to be the right choice doesn't it? As someone wrote in an e-mail to the MQ group, one can always add borders to the quilt later on or make it the centre of a medallion if a bigger size is desired! I aim to get the quilt top pieced before I make that sort of choice.

This is a great Stashbuster as I have only "shopped" in my stash and don't even need to buy cotton, wadding, backing fabric or quilting thread! This is making me happy dance, hence the little brag. I will choose the binding once the quilt is finished and that may require a shop visit, but let's hope not!

I am really excited about this project as I have been wanting to start something totally brand new and not pick up another UFO or PIG!

Off to iron my fabrics now!

Ramblings.......

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog, but I have been very busy! I have written another short story, all about a faux pas at a dinner party, which my writing group now have in their e-mail boxes to critique.

I have printed out some very cute little Noahs Ark Stitcheries. Lynette has been very busy designing them and she is posting them on her blog in monthly installments. The pictures are so cute! But, you have to wait, I have only printed them out so far and not stitched them.

I have been working profusely on my Stained Glass Quilt. Yes, DH received an unfinished quilt for his b'day, but he didn't mind. I have taken back off him, to add on one border, so hopefully photos later today.

I delivered 6 quilts for an exhibition here in Germany. That took some time to ensure labels were all OK, no loose threads were left hanging, that sort of thing. The exhibition is being held by the local group LightCabinPatchwork. Click on the link and then austellung for the details. My 'seasonal change' quilt is one of them and here are pics of 2 of the smaller ones:
















And last, but not least - check out this brand new blog for my friend Wilma, who is a wonderful machine quilter - DeepCreekQuilting. I have a feeling that she is going to be showing us some really fun stuff in her blog!

Cushions & Exhibitions

Well, I have completed and posted to FIL, the cushions for his study. I posted them the day of his birthday, so unfortunately his present will be a week late - uh oh! I simply quilted around the pictures on the panels and made them 2 sided - check out the pics......

Can you guess that he likes aircraft?

My list for things to finish is getting a lot shorter with only 2 items left on it. The Stained Glass Stack'n'Slash is taking a bit of time to do, but wow, after making a Salinda Rupp Quilt and some minatures, the pieces seem to be enormous with the blocks finishing at around 20" square!

On another note, I have spent quite a lot of time this week going through my completed quilts for an upcoming exhibition in the town where I live. There is to be a CD made by a professional photographer, therefore the quilts need to be at the shop in the next week, almost a whole month before the exhibition. A very exciting step as I have not been part of the scene here for very long, only a few months. One of the things I love about quilters is that they welcome everybody and language is not a barrier - most of the time!

This upcoming week will be a busy one, as I prepare quilts, entry forms and work on making a quilt as well as my story of Peter and Kate. Most importantly, my writing group meets this week, so my creativity should hopefully have no limits!! Isn't it great to be excited about what's coming up in the next few days? :)