Showing posts with label
modern patchwork treffen hamburg.
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Showing posts with label
modern patchwork treffen hamburg.
Show all posts
Without sounding totally cliché, it really is amazing to me the connections that you make online... especially within the quilting community. When I first moved to Germany, I never would have imagined that one day so many of my daily contacts and friends would stem from relationships with people that I had met online.
Even just a few weekends ago, I spent the weekend with the ladies from our HH Modern Patchwork Treffen for a retreat in Denmark... all of them, with the exception of one, I had met online!
I think I "met" Magda about the same time that I "met" Melanie... it was a WIP Wednesday connection, back when Freshly Pieced was still hosting. Before I knew it, the three of us were also in a quilting bee together, and Magda was joining us in Hamburg for our monthly quilting meetings... and coming all the way from Denmark!
Not long ago she shared with us that bundle-of-joy number two would be joining her in the world. Mell and I decided that it would be fun to ask our other bee members to add in a few extra blocks to make a baby quilt for her. We had pulled the colors from Magda's bee blocks, and added some greys and chartreuse to the mix. We scoured our Pinterest boards, and picked an easy block that would come together quickly, but with a nice design despite its simplicity. (inspiration design here)
I connected the paper pieced blocks together and Melanie quilted it. I really love the straight line quilting design that she used to finish this! And now this quilt is snuggled around ten tiny fingers and toes this winter... what a perfect way to stay warm.
Do you have any fun quilting community online connection stories to share?
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
A weekend away from the daily rush, snuggled up in a cozy cabin in Denmark with your sewing girls, and nothing on your hands but time to sew sounds pretty much like a dream, doesn't it? Well, that's exactly what my past weekend looked like!
Usually when we get together for our monthly HH Modern Patchwork Treffen, it always feels like we don't get very much accomplished. Usually chatter and the exchange about fabrics, patterns, techniques, quilting ideas, etc. distract from the actual time at the sewing machine. But, I think that everyone left this time quite pleased with the amount of things that we got accomplished. Perhaps it might have helped that the WiFi wasn't working in our cabin. On one hand it was really frustrating because it makes you feel so disconnected to the outside world, but on the other hand, it's not necessarily a bad thing to cut the cord either.
I was able to get my bee quilt top put together, and almost finished a second quilt top. It's always fun when you run out of fabric in the middle of a project, huh? You can see the second top on the quilt wall in the background. This is actually my oldest WIP to date, and essentially my first quilt blocks. Oh, I don't
want to talk about all the cut off points, but I'll share it's long
story when I get the top finished.
On my part, there was a good bit of secret sewing done, and tons of chain piecing, which should make things whiz by once I pick it back up again. We did a little photo shoot for a project before gifting it to another member who lives in Denmark just an hour from where we stayed. Hope to share that one soon too!
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
This week has been more about cutting to prepare for my upcoming Denmark sewing retreat than it has been about sewing. Even though I understand the benefit of time saving when you cut, sew, and iron all at once, etc., the reality of it is that I have never cut all the fabric needed for a quilt all at one time. I'm so tempted to stop in between and stitch up a block before cutting some more, but I suppose that would leave me with having nothing to work on during our trip.
I'm nearing the finish line for completing the quilt top for my second pattern, and I wanted to whip up a smaller project in second colorway. I keep grabbing for this essex linen over and over again, and why not? Another project that will land in my living room once it's finished!
This past week, I joined in on the #missingmarket fun on Instagram sponsored by @gogokim and @thesewingloft. One of the topics of the "party" was to share our #longestWIPever. Wheh... what a scary topic?!?
When I pulled out these Anna Maria Horner blocks that I started aeons ago with no real plan, I was inspired to figure out some kind of layout for them and get them together. Since I'm not as thrilled about this project anymore, and I don't really want to make more blocks, so I thought I would add some simple Basic Grey grunges to pull out the color in the blocks.
I'm really not sure if I am biting off more than I can chew, but I usually like to have at least on "basket project" in the works, and when I got the latest issue of Love Quilting and Patchwork, I knew this project from Minkikim had to make it in my basket. Her sweet applique projects are just adorable, and I love all the attention to detail.
I'm really excited to see how much I can get done on this retreat... everyone always seems to overpack, but if nothing else, then I'll be ready to just sit down and sew once I get back.
Linking up with Let's Bee Social.
My Patchwork Treffen group has a small little trip planned this fall to go to Denmark for a quilting weekend. As far as projects go, it really takes a lot of planning to have enough to do, even though at such get-togethers you never accomplish as much as you think you can. Seeing as how I can't take my sewing room with me, I really want to make sure that I carefully plan all my projects because there's no going to the favorite stack for a forgotten snippit.
As far as my my quarterly goals list goes, my bee quilt has not exactly taken top priority since I am working on my second and third patterns right now. But it is actually the perfect kind of project to put together when we are snuggled up in a cozy cabin, sewing machines humming, and chattering happily away.
I have to admit that at first I really struggled with this layout. With so many shades and tones, when I first laid this out randomly, it really wasn't coming together as I had envisioned. At some point I had the idea to cluster the diamond points according to color. Once I shifted blocks a bit, I knew it was my "that's it" moment.
Sometimes you just need a sew-without-thinking project, and I would say that this will be a perfect snuggle up on the couch, and pull the papers out after a long day of sewing... don't you think? But you'll have to wait until after the trip to see this one put together.
Any sewing retreat/quilting group stories to tell? Any unfortunate forgotten snippit tales?
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
Well, it would appear that I've gone just a little beyond auditioning blocks to slipping into a completely new project... but not without good reason! This past weekend was our Modern Patchwork Treffen (quilting group) here in Hamburg, and I needed something to work on. While I'm coming close to the end of quilting my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, I am now in the process of considering quilting options for the border... and I need to have a little more concentration (and space) for actual quilting. Not really the best take it with you project. But I have to admit that it was reassuring that I wasn't the only one with a new project in the works... in fact we all had new projects that we were working on!
It was so fun to see the variety of our projects... each person with their own style, different color palette, and range of tastes. As always the exchange was great... sharing ideas, quilting techniques... and come on, who doesn't love talking about fabric?!? In the end we arranged our finished blocks to admire them all in one spot.
As far as other projects in the works go, I've almost convinced myself that maybe I really can quilt my Facing East quilt instead of sending it off. All the ladies in our quilting group are cheering me on to quilt it myself! I've been playing around with a few quilting design options, but am still debating what is best for this quilt. I drew out a few designs on baking paper and placed them over the top of a picture of my quilt. I had thought either one large graduated circle or several smaller graduated circles with some straight line quilting... any thoughts? too busy? favor one over the other?
Few on words, but heavy on pictures... What's on your work table this week?
Linking ups this week to Let's Bee Social and Sew Cute Tuesday.
