Hand sewing again

There has been some months of hand sewing hibernation. The joy of  it just woke up again.

Thread, needle, leather thimble and a finger pin keeper – recipe for a good train ride.

I am reproducing some blocks shown in Kaffe Fassett’s V&A Museum Quilts book. I am dreaming of going to London to see the museum’s quilt exhibition this spring/summer.

Preparing the pieces is time consuming, more so than the actual piecing. Listening to BBC Radio 4 makes the job more pleasurable. Currently there is a series of programmes about the great-grand-niece of Ludwig Wittgenstein and her inherited box of family memories. A delight for the ear.

Cute

Ilse

Meet our new friend. She was hatched and patched during some lovely times at my friend’s house.

  

Now she sits on our kitchen shelf – cheering us up.

Pattern: Dorthe Jollman

Have to run – we are getting more firewood today!

Sunday

There were places to go. Then the car broke down. The battery took a beating by the *chilly* weather. So out she went with  a camera in hand.

Our neighbour’s pear tree. In a few months (I keep telling myself) the branches will be heavy from blossoms and not snow.

Something to make our life worth living these days – keeping us warm.

Another draw string bag – where I can only just fit my recent crochet work, a shawl. And mittens – lovely warm mittens, given to me by my uncle.

This, that and the other

I had to have a go at Ping Penguin’s small draw string bag, after having seen the one Jennifer at Moving Hands made. Her post today also made me draw out some temlates for a hand sewing project I want to attend too hopefully soon.

Always a start. Some of the shirts finally made into sample blocks. Well, there are three works in progress on that flanell wall. As the days are getting longer and brighter, I m.u.s.t  move on with the progress. And I WILL!

Yet another project – soon to be finished. A belt to keep up our sunshine’s trousers in this cold, oh so cold weather. (-17 degrees celsius) brrr
Hester: I wanted to thank you for your lovely comment the other day. The only way of doing so seems to be here. I can’t find your e-mail adress. I so enjoy you and your friends’ blog. Again: Many thanks! … I wish I knew how to read Dutch – the google translator does not seem to be good enough …

Fat bottomed pear

I won’t go into how I somehow feel a little related to this pear – hmmm;)

Another one of these that I mentioned here. This one is for me, she said unshamedly;)

See you in January – I think.

Dessine-moi un mouton

One of my beloved aunts needed a tea cosy, and I volunteered to make her one. And off I went, and under my arm was her sloppy and a little sad tea cosy for reference and guide.

It was my first tea cosy experience, so to speak, so the edges got a little uneven. Therefore – to best secure the warmth of the tea, the cosy needs a little punch for full coverage;) The result, shown above, reminds me of the shape drawn by the pilot in ‘The little Prince’ It was the only shape that the little prince was happy with, for inside he imagined there would be a sheep (mouton) I enjoy the thought of the ‘hat’ covering my aunt’s tea pot on her breakfast table, wonky as it may be – punched and all.

I loved stitching big with embroidery threads. Hope to do so again soon. Oh, yes for there’s my tea pot. It looks like it is in need of some warmth too!

A big thank you to everyone for stopping by and for taking the precious time to leave me lovely words. Blogging is wonderful!

Take care.

Una

A new family member

Snuppa

Curious, playful, placid – loved.

I think we are about to be adopted =^__^=

Alma Svensson’ apron

This small quilt represents my time as a mom of two toddlers. My children were three and one and I was at home with both of them one day. They were watching a film about Emil – one of Astrid Lindgren’s many well loved characters.

To the eye of a grown up the set and decor is a joy - the clothing, and interiors of early 20th century Sweden. And of course the log cabin quilts covering the beds. Even Lina, the maid, has a quilt.

I grabbed my bin of scraps and found a favorite blue and white stripe for borders, similar to Alma’s, Emil’s mother’s, clothing.

The whole thing was put together in those few precious moments of quiet time. A+J were happy watching their movie, and I was peacefully sewing.

I never found the time then to quilt it by hand – finding time for that seemed an impossible task…  My skills in machine quilting were not very good. So it is roughly quilted by machine.

Now it is an entry in Park City Girl’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival. Go have a look at all the wonderful quilts!

… and the color inspiration

A summer dress. That would make it a summer quilt – no? Or perhaps as a memory of summer…

OK. I’ll leave it at that. To go listen to some more fab radio at BBC radio 4.