an adventure in Switzerland

Hola! I think I mentioned awhile ago that I would be attending my first Patchwork in the Peaks Retreat this Fall. Despite the challenges of missing my flight and arriving (by train) nearly 12 hours later than scheduled, I had a really amazing time!

A view of the Swiss Alps from the deck 

I took lots of pics that are lost, but it was a magical time. Imagine 14 or so quilters, a beautiful ski chalet in a breathtaking location, a sweetheart host, a chef, a masseuse, a hot tub and on site quilting supplies shop and limitless wine ~ I can't wait to visit again! Having lived in Germany for the past 10 months, I've become accustomed to not understanding most of what is said around me. How wonderful to discover that several attendees were American and the rest were British - yay English! I met such an amazing group of women. I can't wait to see them again, but in the meantime, I can visit a few of my new friends including our fab host Elita,  Lynne and the super-speedy Ms. Juliette ( seriously, every time I finished stitching a row, she'd finished a new quilt behind me.)

The highlight class for me was taught by the prolific Katy. She taught us The Aeroplane Bag - which sort of stretched over a couple of days until all of us were finished - what patience! She was chock full o'stories all weekend and provided a 3 part recap of the event! Here are parts 1 and 2. Incidentally, reading her blog is how I learned about the retreat and knew to hustle for the last spot! Here's my bag - I wanted to use Kokka penguins, but hadn't brought enough fabric darnit, so I went with my second choice- Lucy's Crab Shack bicycles & Reunion canvas.

at the front door of Chalet St. Marie

Sunday night dinner - fish pie

I'm so bummed to have lost the pictures of the village of St. Marie and the neighboring horse who snuck up on me, but I'll get them next time -

the next Peaks is in April - signing up immediately!!

A couple of doll quilts

As promised, albeit a little late (due to a vicious back injury) I wanted to share my last couple of doll quilt swaps. Incidentally, this group is open all the time and you can drop in and out as needed - pretty convenient!

In August, I made this mini for Terry. It was inspired by this quilt pattern called Round & Round by Camille Roskelley.

This doll quilt was made with my very small pack of vintage charms & a bit of Kona khaki. It also gave me a chance to practice my hand quilting. I used a maroon perle for outlining the red stars and a gold perle for the center and corner stars. I know I need more practice!

the back

 In September, I was partnered with Annette and the theme was "Quilt within a quilt." I came up with something, but I guess I can't show it yet, cause it's been in the postal netherworld for at least a month! The package I received from Annette was just breathtaking!! It is called Flight Path and I am in love!! The colors, the butterflies and the quilting are all amazing! She used a raw-edge applique technique on most of the butterflies and the 2 in the upper left corner are bonded and sort of sit up 3-D style! Isn't it adorable???

Flight Path

and finally (for now) I participated in a swap through the FB group Modern Quilting. We were to make a Christmas or holiday themed mini quilt. I had in my head that I wanted to experiment with Oakshott. I chose the Ruby Red Bundle and I really loved it! I was thinking of a Christmas tree lot at night. I used a grey Aurifil for the straight line quilting and then to mimic the strings of lights at the tree lot, I used a sparkly variegated thread for a few lines "crossing" the lot.

the whole package

see ya soon!

Hallo!! (check me out speaking German)

Why, hello there! I've sure missed you! I tried not to even look at the date of my last post ~ good grief!!

I've been sewing up a storm this Fall and I took plenty of pictures - and  then  lost them.  I'm so ticked off! I've gone through my phone and managed to come up with a couple and there were a few on an a random SD card.

I never showed ya what I sent out for the FRIENDS Swap, right?  I really had a fantastic partner and I'm still enjoying the gifts I received. Sabine is a great artist and is interested in mixed media and loves butterflies and turquoise. I didn't have a good idea of what mixed media meant in relation to quilting until I received my incredible package from her. That being said, I did attempt to seem like I was mixed-media-ing by using a variety of low volume and assorted neutral background squares along with some triangle "butterflies" in her mini quilt.

It's quilted in wavy lines to imitate a butterfly's flight - get it?

 oh wait - I can show you the pics from my swap partner's blog - duh.

'F'rench washi tape & some other cool stuff

'R'ound quilted coasters

'I'nk

'E'iffel Tower clip (from Paris!!) &chocolate

Grid Paper 'N'otebook & Frixion pen

'D'arjeeling tea

'S'chmetterling (butterfly) leather purse & scrapbook paper

Ok, this is long enough! Tomorrow I'll show you a couple of Doll Quilter's Monthly Swap quilts!

Selfish Sewing Week

Did you get to participate this week?

I was so busy I thought I wouldn't get a chance to join in the fun. I did decide to practice a quilting skill in an effort to partipate. I must say, I got pretty good at flying geese as I worked on my September Doll Quilt Swap. See?

No more chopped off heads!

 All credit to Lynn & her Precision Piecing class! I'll show you the rest after my partner gets her package.

Today I decided to finally take the plunge and attempt the Noodlehead Sidekick Tote. I don't have much experience with patterns, so I muddled my way through a little bit, but it's finished! It was so hard to settle on fabrics that I had to promise myself I'd make another one (or 2) and use some of my faves. This one has a little Cape Ann and floral and natural canvas scraps- I didn't want to waste anything precious if I jacked it up on the first try ;). All in all, I like it a lot.

FMT

Superstar - a quick finish!

This was kind of a quickie! Since school started a couple of weeks ago, I've been on a mission to get myself organized. I need to get some scheduled sewing time in as well learning a new language (having your eyebrows completely shaved off is only funny AFTER a few weeks) and spending hang out time with new friends here. I'm so tempted to ignore everything and just sew sew sew while the house is quiet!!

This is for a baby expected in October and look here - I'm early! I've had this Alexander Henry print called Flea Market Friends (I think) for quite awhile. It was purchased on one of those Joann's trips where you're just going to get some batting and accidentally wander into the fabric aisle. I just love the soft colors and how they paired with a few of these DS fat quarters (also from Joann's) and the last of my Kona Ash as the background. I need to get a better pic when it comes out of the dryer, but I quilted around the center star & then echoed.

Also, it's almost Patchwork in the Peaks time! One of the classes that I'm most excited about is the Aeroplane Bag. I'm having SUCH a hard time narrowing down my fabric choices!

Maybe I just like the pretty Kokka cacti that look like they're wearing sombreros (I'm from AZ!)

Nancy Wolff Penguins and some text

Lucy's Crab Shack & Reunion

 decisions decisions .. 

FMT

F-R-I-E-N-D-S Swap!

Hola! Summer is finally over ~ school is in and I can do some catching up! Besides the lovely trip to London in July, we took a few days and explored Paris with my daughter who has been talking about Paris for the last year. I have no idea how she even knows about it, but it was great fun to watch her face as we approached the Eiffel Tower. Her fave thing of course, were the crepes! 

I participated in the Friends Swap and was fortunate to be paired with Sabine who is also here in Germany. She is a mixed media specialist and was super creative, thoughtful and generous with her gifts. 

Fabric

Red coffee quilt

 I had trouble capturing the level of detail in this quilt. It is made of several layers of fabric and each detail is the stack cut to that layer. Make sense? No? So the red heart on the coffee mug is cut down to the layer of fabric that has the red print. It almost looks like raw edge applique, but it's like reverse-lique. (reserve applique, right?) Ya'll have probably seen this a million times, but it's a first for me lol! The coffee in the cup is a cool brown tulle like fabric.

Indigo fabric - hand dyed in Budapest

"Endless summer Rose Girl" painting with multi layers and textures

"Nadelkissen" which is German for pincushion 

adorable, right?!

hand blown glass Decorations for our German Christmas tree

Sweets for me and the kiddos and locally roasted coffee - yum!!

I can't wait to receive word that she has received my package, but it definitely doesn't stack up to what she has sent!

Bungle Jungle Baby finished!

Whooo I am on a roll this week! I'm proud to say I got a second quilt finished - and that's two in a row that are ready before their recipient is even born! I did miss the baby showers, so I'm not on time, but I'm usually so far behind, I find myself promising people a quilt before the baby hits college!

I'm bored with the backyard picture taking, so I really need to venture out into this beautiful city with a quilt or 2 to photograph!

Stats:
Moda Bungle Jungle charm packs & a little bit o' yardage for the back, with Kona coal
size: 40" x 40"

Linking up: Finish it up Friday

and this week my quilt top was featured at: 

Bee blocks are next!
FMT