Quilted Pencil Case Rollin Rollin - Work In Progress

The end of the school year is coming. In the class of my niece the parents decided to give quilted pencil cases as presents to the teachers and they asked me to make them. I started to collect together fabrics in a way that they, while not looking all the same, belong to the same family. These rose covered fabrics were purchased back in Italy and they look beautiful together.

 

 As today is a Work In Progress Wednesday, I will step back in time for a bit and show you this afternoon’s WIP pencil cases! Here the cases are already finished up and I just have to make the room for the pencils. 

     

 
Waiting to fill up:

 I loaded the pencils, so if I roll up the case I can decide where to sew the button to close it up:

 They are finished!

I posted them this evening and I hope that not only will they get to there in time but the teachers will like them as well!

More Work In Progress are here:
http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/06/wip-wednesday-progress-sort-of.html
and
http://estheraliu.blogspot.hu/2014/06/wow-prioritizing-wips.html
and
http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.hu/2014/06/lets-bee-social-24.html

And here is a special, really lovely post from my Quiltsy team on Etsy about 2 team quilts. I've also sent two 4 patch blocks to Patricia and after this long travel I could find one of them on the 2nd quilt! :) Thank you so much for your beautiful work!
http://teamquiltsy.blogspot.hu/2014/06/wips-on-wednesday.html

Happy Easter Monday! - Monday Moodboard

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Happy Easter Monday everyone!

You can check more Moodboards at Estella's blog!

Blocks for Charity – Status Report

Today “The Blocks for Charity – The Lantern Project” appeal appeared on the Quilting Gallery website (Thank you very much Michele!), so it’s just about time that I write a post about what’s been happening since the beginning of the project in autumn.

First things first, the wonderful blocks are continuously arriving:


The project has started, in which the children are trying out several creative handicraft techniques at the moment (with quilting techniques to follow). There are 15 children from the foster cares in the project (6 boys and 9 girls). This Saturday was the first occasion. Each child made their own treasury chest, which they will use to collect their artwork for next three months. They also made their own badges and several other items made from beads.

The team had huge pizzas for lunch at noon. They left some for the project leaders (and teachers) as well.

You may read about this in Hungarian at Melinda’s site, and you may find a nice picture there as well. :) http://textilfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/02/lampas.html

Once again, they are continuously awaiting for blocks, as you may see in the appeal that appeared on the Quilting Gallery website as well:
They are expecting 10 x 10 inch (25 x 25 cm) (+ seam allowance around it) blocks, with any kind of pattern. There is no restriction at all. They only asked one thing: if possible, use the color yellow in the blocks (as that color represents sunniness, cheerfulness and optimism). The creators should write their name on the back of the block (or attach a small piece of paper to your work with a pin), so they will know who the finished quilts can be thanked for.

The Blocks for Charity – The Lantern Project previously at Melinda’s (in Hungarian)
http://textilfantasy.blogspot.com

Blocks for Charity

When I was still sewing the large wall hanging I probably made too much rounded down patches and I really missed the good old triangles, so I made the three blocks from triangles on Melinda’s appeal. You may read that in her blog (in Hungarian), I just copied some of it out here.

Melinda, who posted the appeal is one of the leaders of „Nazareth” Social Service institution and she is a social worker herself, who helps families.

They are taking care of about 500 children from all around Komárom-Esztergom county, whom get support in multiple forms of nurturing. The luckiest ones already got to foster-parents, but there are children homes with 20-20 children living in each and “Apartment-Homes” as well with 12-12 children living in them. They want to make these Homes somewhat friendlier by decorating them with quilts.

They are expecting 10 x 10 inch (25 x 25 cm) (+ seam allowance around it) blocks, with any kind of pattern. There is no restriction at all, they only asked one thing: if possible, use the color yellow in the quilt (as that color represents sunniness, cheerfulness and optimism). The creators should write their name on the back of the block (or attach a small piece of paper to your work with a pin), so they will know who the finished quilts can be thanked for.


Sewing the blocks together is done by both members of Melinda’s quilting group (Folt-Volt Klub) and the people who work in the Home. Another purpose of this event is to teach them the basics of quilting as well. By using the blocks from fellow quilters, even beginners can finish with amazing looking works and by experiencing the helpful nature of the quilting community, they might get the appetite to start doing patchwork.

Of course this wont go overnight, but it would be great if every Home had a sewing machine and someone who both knows how to use it, and enjoys doing so. Thus quilting would turn into an activity that creates both communities and values for them as well. It’s certain that the children would like to work with fabrics on a level that is appropriate for their age.

To have a pleasant start, they would also happily accept cheerful mooded wall hangings as well.

They constantly upload pictures and written posts about the help they get, the supporters and the current situation of the project on both Melinda’s blog and the Hungarian Patchwork Guild website.

So I created the three blocks for this appeal. I used a cheerful yellow fabric as a base for which I got some more fabrics with small flowers. I sewed with quick piecing the triangles and played around creating the three kinds of blocks.


It was pleasant to work with the yellow fabric as it brought up some nice memories: I bought it in Biloxi (USA, Mississippi) when we first visited a Jo-Ann store. Now we have some shops in Hungary with nice supplies and fabrics, but right then in 2000, when I saw how these quilting fabrics got their very own wall with a several yards long shelves, piling up the “green ones” and the “yellow ones” etc. – well I could hardly take a breath.

Back on topic: as I discovered, my math knowledge is pretty dusty, I probably miscounted when I tried to recalculate my plans into inches (I must plan in inches as all of my tools use them). So the end result: 22 x 22 cm (8 ½ x 8 ½ inch) blocks, so I was really glad when Melinda told me that they are happy for every block.


The group are constantly waiting for blocks so anyone can join anytime they want!

I wish happy sewing for everyone and if someone would like to join then I would be more than happy to write the address where you may send the blocks! (Melinda posted the address in her blog so you may find it there as well.)

Creative Work in Summer – With Relatives

My nieces were spending some time with us in the summer, and while we visited the Zoo, the Hungarian Natural History Museum and went to see some movies, we also took some time for creative work.

The girls draw a lot and painted T-shirts as well. They could wear those T-shirts on the last day that they spent with us. They were both thorough: they planed the paintings, by drawing them on paper first, and only painting afterwards, using textile dyes so they could wear their creation later.

Zsóka was the first to paint, her T-shirt was going really well up until one drop of orange dye created a small orange dot on the edge of the picture. She didn’t start to worry, instead she had a nice idea, painting small orange dots all around the T-shirt, creating a neat background for her butterfly. Smart, huh?!

Maja liked the idea of dots so much, that she created fully consciously a similar background for her T-shirt, by placing small green dots all around the princess and the prince.


Zsóka got into a large project one afternoon: she tried the fabric weaving. She was very skillful, as you may see on this picture as well she was doing everything on her own after I showed her how to do it.


In the night I sewed with the “button for the coat”: I finished the small handbag, that had Zsóka’s creation as its main attraction. This bag was with us all the time afterwards, it was perfect to carry some tissue papers and – just in case – some cookies.

The Handbag was on the Heroes’ Square (in Budapest, Hungary):

and in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, where we visited an exhibition about insects (the girls found it very interesting).

We gave several board games a try.

The bee looked very real, only it was a bit bigger than the usual. ☺ At least this way we could have a closer look and thoroughly examine it.

We spent the last day in the Tropicarium, here the girls were wearing the T-shirts that they made.

The quality of these pictures are not that great, which is because we had to turn the flash off (to not disturb the animals there).

We spent one evening at Granny, where we had a delicious meal. The shoes had some time to rest as well. The smaller is Zsóka’s, the bigger is my sons.

Show and Tell Friday 4. - Zsóka’s Baby Quilt

This was the first “baby” quilt (larger than the usual ones) that I made from really tiny little pieces back in Naples. The picture was taken there in our terrace as well. That happened quite a few years ago, Zsóka has grown up a beautiful kindergarten girl, you can see her to twirl and whirl in the “Skirts of Little Fairies” post, next to her smaller sister.

When I started making that quilt, my sister was still pregnant, but it could be known, that she will be having a baby girl, that was why I choose these cheerful colors. I finished with it just in time. To tell you the truth, my old machine couldn’t handle the quilting work, so I had to do the quilting with my hands. I was sewing it inside the car on the long way home. It was the first time when I wasn’t annoyed by the famous time assuming traffic jam near Bologna.

We were actually heading for Poland, to Krakow, but we stopped on the road to visit my sister and her family. We spent a peaceful warm september afternoon with them in their garden, under a huge cherry tree. We gave them the baby quilt for the unborn baby, and we left in the evening to Budapest, then Krakow.

By the way Krakow is a wonderful city with full of beautiful details and good restaurants. We had long walks, visited lots of places and had a great time there.

While we were in Krakow Zsóka was born in Hungary, who was a very cute baby back then, and since as you could have seen she grew up to be a beautiful, smart and cutie girl.

Looking Back I. – Skirts of Little Fairies

I had written before Christmas that even though I sew a lot, I couldn’t really show my works, because they would be presents.

By now all the people got their presents, so I will not ruin any surprises if I show a few. (Not all because during the big sewing madness I didn’t have time/mood/sunlight to take picture of all of them.)

So. My sister has two beautiful daughters, two little fairies. They are both going to kindergarten. Zsóka is the older of the two, she learns to ballet and she is very good in it. Maja is smaller, but she likes to dance as well. I think all the fairies with dancing feet deserve a real twirly princess/fairy/ballet skirts, so I sew those for Them.

I used two layer (believe it or not, that was my husband’s idea) of thin and silky fabric, from which I cut whole circles. They were enough big so that I could wrinkle the waist of the skirt for the nicer twirl. An elastic band pulls it together even more (they became a bit too large for the children, so my sis will have to pull the elastic band tighter at the waist).

When I trimmed and folded the bottom the fabric stretched a bit, but maybe it was even better this way, as it gave an even more loose falling to the skirts.

I got quite used to the 100% cotton, so it was weird and hard to work with such slippery fabric that tends to get threadbare (it had been long since I used so many pins!).

But eventually I did finish with the skirts, and the girls liked them a lot! They didnt get out of them the whole day, and even more, my sis told me on the phone that they were wearing them in the next couple days as well. I am very glad that they like their skirts so much!

About the pictures: if you ever tried to take a picture of two constantly moving, twirling and whirling little girls, than you might understand why the pictures turned out the way they taken.

Additionally because they are so beautiful girls, I’ll add the two pictures that their father made from them at a summer wedding in the last year, where they had an important task (Zsóka sprinkled the rose petals, Maja was carrying the rings) so they looked very ceremonial. (And they were slow enough to take good pictures. ☺)

My “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” Quilt

My first quilting work has not been finished yet. I always liked challenges, so what else could I have started after reading my first quilt book, than a huge “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” king-size quilt?

We were on a vacation at the beautiful Lake Tisza in 1998 with some friends and a bunch of kids. We all had a great time. I started to make and sew together the first hexagons in those delightful summer evenings. The kids liked them so much, that they joined me in the work (the boys too, including my son). I have kept these patches, and – even though I am quite the perfectionist, and kids’ stitches were far from uniform, rather the opposite – but I am sure that those patches will be part of the final quilt. I hope it will be finished some day so I can show it to everyone.

My “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” king-size quilt’s design was constantly changing, as time went by. The biggest disaster for my family was in the first week of our one year spent in Naples (Italy), when our house got robbed. Which had quite the effect on my quilt, since a huge (HUGE) suitcase full of beautiful American quilt fabrics, which I collected in the USA (and made a great effort to bring them home with us, casting out everything else to fit in our suitcases) taken by bad guys.

To tell you the truth for some time I thought I would never be able to look at fabrics again, since they stole not only my fabrics, but the joy of working with them as well. And then my sweet husband told me that I shouldn’t grieve about it, he would buy me new fabrics, even better looking ones, than before.

And soon after in Naples I have started a new project as a therapy: I created 4 wall hangings (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) from the small pieces of sample fabrics remained after the robbery (I have kept the samples in a different box) and from some blocks of the “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” quilt.

I am still looking for the matching fabric to create the border for Spring, but the rest of them are complete.