Back to Drawing Board

So Mitzie finally politely admitted that she doesn't like the pattern below (the hidden nine patch). "Something with more symmetry." I'm not surprised. I only did this because it was so quick, but to be honest, i don't like it much myself. This is actually good news, because now that it's no longer a quilt for Mitzie, i can use green (thumbs down on the green earlier). My plan is to recombine these little blocks with light green sashing, to give it more orderliness and a more interesting palette, and then donate it. My earliest idea was to do something like above with white sashing, but i realized there wouldn't be enough contrast between the white and the lavender. I don't know if Quilts of Valor have to be red white and blue, but if not, i thought the pattern above might be nice for a girl soldier. Anyway, that's the plan.

Mitzie's Quilt?

A Passion for Purple. I'll always remember my younger sister Mitzie returning home from an outing with our Aunt Ada, sporting a dressy, new lavender wool coat and carrying a lavender bunny rabbit that Auntie Ada had bought her downtown. This was just before Easter and she was about 5 then. It was on that day that she announced that purple was her favorite color. I asked her recently if she still loved purple and she said yes, and that she likes pink as well, "pretty much any color except beige".

After I finished Laura Ann's quilt, i found i still had piles of purple and suddenly felt inspired to make a quilt for Mitzie, so I'm experimenting here. Not sure if she will like this, but if she doesn't i will find another victim for it.

Finished Borders

Finally finished adding the borders to the Friendship Star quilt. In the end, ironically, i only used a small amount of the original fabric that Laura Ann sent me. I think the outermost border and the thin green checked border were among them.

I used my camera to try out and more easily compare how different combinations looked and finally decided on the one above. If i'd had to decide without comparing different options, i wouldn't intuitively have gone for this one, so the photos and lots of experimenting really helped. Below was one of the combos i rejected.

Can Quilting Prevent Memory Loss?

I just saw this article on the New Old Age blog.

"At the age of 78, Bob Branham, a retired computer software developer in Dallas, Tex., took up quilting. It wasn’t his idea, actually. He’d never dreamed of piecing together his own Amish diamond coverlet or rummaging around Jo-Ann Fabrics in search of calico prints. But then he enrolled in a trial sponsored by the National Institute on Aging to assess whether learning a new skill can help preserve cognitive function in old age. By random assignment, he landed in the quilting group.

... neuroscientists suspect that learning a challenging new skill — a new language, a new musical instrument — may be even more effective than mental games at keeping the brain sharp. And quilting is more complicated than it may seem..."

Maybe this explains why my grandmother (the galloping horse one) was still as sharp as ever when she died at 97. I wonder how helpful quilting is if you've already been doing it for years. Maybe if you continue to expand your repertoire of skills and keep experimenting, it has the same effect.

Friendship Stars Finished

Finished piecing the Friendship Star blocks and put them together for a lap quilt for Laura Ann. Work has gotten in the way a bit, but now i'm doing the borders. I love doing borders, because it reminds me of matting and framing a painting, not something i've done that much of, but the possibilities interest me.

Trying to decide now whether to do a pieced border or just keep adding strips in varying widths and shades of purple and green. I'm leaning toward the latter option, because i think it will be easier to make the whole thing harmonize that way. Since i don't have much of the fabric from the stars left, there's a risk of a pieced border in different fabrics fighting too much with the stars.

The colours in this remind me a little of the 70s, like the cover of a book about astrology or wizardry or something. It's a color scheme I never would have dreamed up, if left to my own devices, but that's one thing i like about making quilts for other people: it forces me to discover new things all the time. And I've come to like this, inspite of my initial skepticism.

Berlin

I was in Berlin over the weekend and saw an exhibition of bears from all over the world. It's an international art project. The Bear is the symbol of Berlin.
Berlin Buddy Bears


"You are entering the American Sector..."

Laura Ann's Quilt?

For years, I've been collecting purples and greens to make a quilt for my friend Laura Ann in her favorite colors. I was thinking more variety would be more interesting, but then when i showed her a couple of examples, she seemed to prefer a color scheme more like this--not at all scrappy and with orange points. Now i'm worried that what she really liked was a detail like the exact fabric in the border, and not this overall color scheme. It is rather in your face, isn't it? So i'm going to canvas her views, now that i've made a few blocks. The border will of course have various greens and purples and more of the saffron in it, if i have enough left. I'm thinking of doing a pieced border.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Autumn bouquet. It cost me about € 7 to make these two bouquets. I figure the larger one would cost about €15 at a discount florist. The most expensive part is actually the greenery. All of these roses only cost €2. So the great thing is i can replace the roses as needed and have fresh bouquets for roughly €2 per week! And with this cool weather, they actually last closer to two weeks.

The Orchid Orphanage

The Orchid Orphanage
Originally uploaded by nhendricks

It started when I bought a couple of white phaelanopsis orchids at Ikea and mentioned this in passing to a friend.
Friend: "Ah, maybe you'd like to take my orchid! It never blooms." It turned out a number of friends were having bad luck with orchids.
Next thing I knew, i had a windowsill full of orphan orchids. I checked out a book from the library on how to take care of them. It took about a year, but they finally all bloomed.

Another Pincushion

I didn't manage to take pictures of my favorite pincushions before giving them away, but I can make more with the same fabrics. I like the fabrics in this one a lot, too. It still needs its button. I think it's also time to get cracking on hot water bottle covers again.

Baked Eggs

I've gotten into making Baked Eggs recently, after a recipe I found in Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express. She recommends drizzling cream over the tops. I prefer grated cheese.



Wild mushroom powder is good to add before the eggs. Also, tapenade. I found mushroom powder available here and here Wild mushroom powder



Put a bit of olive oil in the bottoms of the ramekins. Add freshly ground salt and pepper, plus wild mushroom powder, if you have it. Add chopped basil, an egg and dollops of Frischkäse or herbed cream cheese.


Sprinkle with grated cheese and lay slices of cherry tomato on top. Drizzle a few drops of truffle oil over this and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Nigella suggests serving baked eggs for a simple family supper or as a starter at a dinner party. I like to have them on a lazy Sunday morning or as an easy Dinner for One. Since you can bake these in the toaster oven, you don't have to fire up the big oven for this. You can even put bread in to toast with them, if there's space.

P.S. The original recipe is much simpler: just eggs, cream and truffle oil. I added most of these ingredients by experimenting, as Nigella recommends.

Imelda and George

Aunt Imelda and Uncle George came to visit on their way to France. Here, we'd climbed a hill overlooking Boppard in the Rhine Valley. Can you believe they're 75? They've known each other since they were 18.

Finished Piecing Tumbling Blocks

A few weeks ago, just before my aunt and uncle came to visit, I finished piecing the Tumbling Blocks. Hurrah! I'm going to use this orange for the borders.

Just after i finished, i made 5 pincushions from this pattern at Carpe Quiltem, but have already given away 3 of them so don't have pics of the best ones, but plan to make some more.

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Giveaway

Pumpkin Patch Primitives is offering a giveaway here

Believe it or not, I actually have some quilty progress to report, just no time to upload the photos. I finally finished piecing Nancy's Tumbling Blocks quilt a couple of weeks ago, and now just need to piece the border, which will be time-consuming. I had visitors from the US recently, and I took them to Amsterdam and the Rhine Valley last week.

Blog Re-Design Service

I just entered a drawing for a blog re-design at Becky's Creative Blog Design
www.creativeblogdesigns.blogspot.com/

The drawing is open till October 31st. Looks like she does really good work.

Leap of Faith

I've come a bit further since the above picture. Now I've got about 8 more of those treacherous seams (sewing rows together) to go, then the border pieced to fit the outline. Must wait for additional fabric for that, so finishing the top completely will have to wait, but I hate to stop for fear that i'll lose momentum. This is by far the most difficult quilt i've made. I know, it's nothing compared to applique or paper piecing these blocks, but for me, sewing this together has been a real challenge. I notice, though, that the longer i do it, the easier it gets. You sort of develop a feel for how to sew this accurately, altho i also went through a phase, after things went surprisingly smoothly in the beginning, of being insecure and screwing it up, having to rip out a lot. Like so many things in life, it requires a leap of faith.

Another Raffle Quilt made by Lisa

Ronnie and Ruthie, two of my elder siblings, taken by our Dad in the 50s. These were the two middle kids out of 8 and they continued to be close after we all grew up.

Below, another raffle quilt to benefit AIDS Services in Austin. My sister Lisa made it in memory of our brother Ron (in the photo above). Beautiful work, as always. Lisa is extremely prolific and very generous with her time. One of these days, she'll have a blog of her own and then, look out!

http://www.asaustin.org/site/PageNavigator/walk_raffle

National Gallery and Pub in Dublin

Tthe National Gallery is my favorite place in Dublin. This was the one and only picture i took, because the man in the doorway was a guard, walking toward me to tell me you're not supposed to take pictures.



Where we had dinner our first night. A labyrinthine sort of pub, full of nooks and crannies and atmosphere. Touristy, but lots of locals go there too.

Ireland

I just got back from 4 days with students in Dublin. It amused me that the first thing they thought of when we stumbled upon a spectacular view was to whip out their phones and text their girlfriends about it.

She's Baack

I just had to report: I've made tons of progress on the Tumbling Blocks project in the last few weeks. I think i finally have enough blocks for a lap quilt--over 200. I nailed a large piece of flannel to the wall, so that i can better lay them out--and leave them laid out. Important bcs they are so small and so varied in coloration. I'd like to experiment with different kinds of layouts.

I also finally got up the nerve to sew a couple of rows together. I'd been dreading this, assuming it wd be really hard, but it went surprisingly smoothly. All the corners and angles matched fine. I think it's been roughly two years since i started this. What's motivated me to finish it is I want to give it to my friend Nancy.

A lot has happened in my life in the last few months. I suddenly had way more work than before, and less sleep than usual, and then i landed in hospital in May, with a heart muscle infection (Mycocarditis). Spent 4 days in cardio intensive care and then another week on the cardio ward. I'd never spent much time in hospital before, so it was kind of interesting, especially the time in intensive care, once i got beyond fearing for my life (they have a way of checking your vital signs constantly and sending troops of doctors to visit you, and generally making you feel you're on death's door). When they sent me to another wing of the hospital for some tests, i snuck a peek at my files and it was kind of funny to read the nurses's observations of me, as if i were an animal in a lab: "Habits: reading." "Amerikannerin, aber spricht perfekt deutsch." American, but speaks perfect German. This is not true of course, but it made me happy to see this.

I'm all recovered now and work will be slowing down soon. The doctor yesterday told me the final results from the MRI are absolutely fine but i am under strict orders to stay home next time i get sick (apparently, Myocarditis is brought on by overdoing it when you're sick), and since i happen to be getting over a cold, guess who got a lot of sewing done today?

Merry Christmas!

Sorry about not posting much lately. It's been a bit crazy around here, with the painters finishing up just before Christmas. I have a tree this year. Will post pics later. I love how the tree looks with candles. We're taking the train to Leipzig on Sunday, for a few days. Neither of us has been there so it's a bit of an adventure. One of my goals for this little Winter break is to get my workspace back in order so that i can get back to quilting. For now, it's just heavenly having a few days with no obligations.

The Stealth Model

This one is the stealth version.



The elastic closure is cleverly concealed inside, although this might not satisfy people who are used to the classic shape of a hot water bottle cover. Not sure the world is prepared for this much innovation..

Tweaking the Design

I made a few more of these yesterday, then a Swiss visitor informed me that some sort of closure really is important, so I ripped out a couple and inserted elastic. Above was the result. I think the next batch will have drawstring closures. Me, I still prefer no closure at all.



This is my first mini-quilt, inspired by Hedgehog's at lifesaquilt.blogspot.com (still can't seem to link now).

Hurrah!

I don't think i've ever been this pleased and optimistic about an election result. Obviously, this isn't meant to be a political blog, but I just have to say it: I'm so happy that Obama won!

Funnily, I've heard from a number of Germans, both before and since the election, that they don't believe Americans are "ready" for a black president. It must be an opinion that's been floating around in the German media. Must ask a friend if this is so as I don't read much German media, apart from Die Zeit, which tends to be a bit more thoughtful and broadminded (i.e. not immune from but less inclined to facile, knee-jerk anti-americanism).

Hot Water Bottle Cover

I'm thinking of making a few of these as Christmas presents, with flannels I've been collecting for a while. I'm not sure whether a drawstring closure a few inches from the top is necessary. I personally prefer it plain, as it's easier to change the water more often that way. Any opinions on this? By the way, I have a German friend (you know who you are!) who unaccountably hates flannel.

Tokyo Quilt Festival

I just ran across this album of pictures from the Tokyo Quilt Festival on Jan's b*muse blog (link in the title--for some reason, i can't seem to set up links within texts at the moment).

It was exciting to look at these quilts from Japan. I lived in Tokyo for 8 years before i came to Germany and I love the Japanese sense of color, the asymmetry and "wabi sabi". Recently, looking for material for a short stories course i'm teaching, I found the Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories.
http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Japanese-Short-Stories-Books/dp/0192803727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225353026&sr=8-1

It seemed to be just the right time for me to run across this collection. Some of the stories are deeply disturbing and some confirm my bleak assessment of Japanese society, but it's still fascinating to hear Japanese voices talking at eloquent length about their world. While I was living in Japan, I was often mystified by various elements of the culture. Like many Westerners, I also, frankly, felt alienated by the culture and found it difficult to cope with many of the differences. That's why it's good to have a bit of light shed on the mysteries and also, fun to re-encounter Japanese aesthetics from a safe distance (I left in 2000).

Grandmother's Fan

After several months of woe and intrigue with my Mac, i'm finally wired at home again, and hoping to be better about blogging now. Being offline did have a silver lining, though. It gave me time to finally get started on the Grandmother's Fan quilt for my nephew Marcos. He chose this pattern from a book of historical quilts while he was visiting me a couple of years ago. I decided to use mainly Japanese fabrics.

Mail from Hedgehog!

This fabulous little quilt arrived in the mail from Hedgehog (aka Jen) in Finland recently. What a wonderful surprise! It's even more beautiful in person than in photos. I love the colors and the composition and the contrasting stitching. It was an entire strawberry package, including: strawberry tea, white chocolate with cookies and strawberries, and even a set of Merrimekko napkins with the same strawberry print as in the quilt. Jen's quilt has inspired me to start my own series of mini-quilts, using Japanese fabrics.

More Raffle Quilts from Lisa!

A baby-sized Mickey Mouse quilt (38" X 38")
detail of Mickey quilt


A lap-sized batik quilt (48" X 52")
detail

In case anyone would like to enter a raffle to win one of these lovely quilts made by my sister Lisa, the drawing will be held October 31st. Proceeds are to benefit a friend with cancer. Tickets are $1 or 6 for $5. Make checks payable to Lisa M. Hendricks at 12031 Scribe Drive, Austin, TX 78759. If you're in Europe, please email me about tickets: nettie.hendricks@gmail.com

Both are 100% cotton and machine washable.

Inspiration Everywhere



These tiles are in the entry hall of a friend's house. Every time i see them, i think what cool--if not exactly easy--quilt blocks they would make.
I'm still without my computer at home, and feeling too burdened by "real" work to do much sewing, but next week we're on holiday from one of my jobs, so i hope to have a bit of guilt-free time for creative stuff, finally. I'd also like to take a few pictures around town, while the Fall colours are still going. Autumn tends to segué pretty quickly into Winter here, but at the moment, it's glorious.

Another tumbling blocks project. This one was designed by my boyfriend Alfred, who is an architect. I'd always wanted to try something a bit more planned, and collaborating with someone who is more interested in planning a design inspired me. Alfred was fascinated by the 3D blocks. They'll be arranged from the lightest at the top to the darkest at the bottom. It's going to be a wallhanging.

I've also decided to divide the white background blocks further: into those with warm colors included and those that are more just cool colors. It seems to me that northern Europeans tend to prefer warmer colors--maybe to offset the cool grey skies?
I'm planning to finish this one for a Hamburg friend (one of those cool blondes who like warm colors). Many of the blocks in the photo above are Luisa's, which I think she's shown on her blog, but I'll take a picture of her latest ones together. As always, they were lovely, and with inspiringly perfect workmanship.

I decided to split the stars into those with an indigo background and those with a white background. I can't help asking: which do you like better? Opinions so far seem sharply divided.


Sorry to be so remiss about posting.

My ailing Mac has kept me offline except for work-related stuff for a few months now. Also, the amount of correcting for the summer writing courses was worse than usual this year. Definitely must find other jobs, so I can get back to more quilting. I've also made a few more stars for the swap and finally, finally started on my nephew Marcos's Grandmother's Fan.

Nachwuchs! I love that German expresssion. My sister Lisa (the one who also quilts) has just become a grandma! My nephew David's fiancée Singer gave birth to Gwyneth Agustina Luján on September 6th. She was an even 9 lbs and 22 in. long. And here she is lying on the quilt that i made her.



I just tie quilted it, but the back is pretty cute, with red knots on a sky blue background and a yelllow Dick and Jane border. More pics coming soon (I forgot to take any, but grandma promised to send some).

My sewing machine is still in the shop, but I'm in a good mood because Lisa, my fairy godsister, just sent me a care package full of fabric, plus those orphan 10" star blocks I wanted to put together in a quilt for her son, my nephew David, who is getting married soon. She also slipped in an audio book of Lisa Scottoline's Lady Killer. I'm not usually a mystery fan, but love these legal thrillers, I think because their lives are so different from mine. Scottoline is funny, too, so i'm looking forward to this.

Oh, and Lisa also sent her latest set of Stars for the swap. No time to post pics now, but they are beautiful.

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif

Sunny this morning, so thought i'd try to get a better photo. Somehow, i think ikebana always loses something, tho, in 2-D representations, since a lot of it has to do with space and 3-D form.

Western Flower Arranging



vs. Japanese

This isn't a very good example of shogetsu ikebana. It's missing some shorter flowers near the base and let's face it, seven years away from Japan, i'm a little rusty, but I thought i'd show you the contrast between Western and Japanese arranging, with the same flowers. Ikebana emphasises lines and requires a balance of empty spaces and fullness. It's also almost always asymmetrical. I remember when i was first learning ikebana, I felt frustrated by the spareness and the asymmetry. I longed to create a nice, full, symmetrical arrangement, but after five years, I began to prefer the Japanese aesthetic, although I also love a mixture of Western and Eastern, arrangements that involve branches and in which each flower is given the chance to shine. Chez Panisse in Berkeley and other chic California Cuisine restaurants tend to feature this kind of arranging, not to mention fancy law firms and department stores, especially in California.

I suppose because Holland is not far from here, and Hamburg is a port city, tulips are really cheap here, so i tend to indulge. I just bought 20 parrot tulips for €8. I will post another picture when they've opened up more.

Thanks again for visiting and leaving comments. I'm still swept up in spring cleaning and hence trying to stay away from the computer and sewing machine, but thought i'd share some parrot tulips with you. It snowed today, even though there are blossoms everywhere--cherry, forsythia, plum.

My cousin Norma just finished quilting that Sister's Choice I made for my niece Mia! I'm so lucky to have a talented longarmer for a cousin!

Dresden



I was in Dresden for a day last week. Forgot to bring my camera, but my friend Rick took this picture.

I've been taking a little internet holiday, so I could get a bit more other stuff done. Since my sewing machine is on the fritz, I have nothing to show for myself anyway, except tidier drawers and fabric stash and bookshelves. Here's a link to a site that sells binder labels like the ones pictured a few posts below.

They don't have that particular picture, but they have one Carl Larsson.
In case anyone wants to google around for these, in German, they're called

selbsthaftende Ordnerrücken

or Ordner Etiketten

Another site that sells them, tho no Carl Larsson, is art-file.de

Blog-o-versary



I'd been lusting after this little mug and warming stand setup for years. Finally decided to get it for myself for my birthday, back at the beginning of February. I also reached my 100th post a few weeks ago and forgot to mention it. I guess it was partly feeling that i didn't have much to show for all those posts. Really, the 100 mark was a bit misleading anyway, bcs often in the beginning i made several posts for one, bcs i hadn't yet mastered the photo uploading feature. So i guess this is a kind of late blog-o-versary/birthday/and 1st anniversary of when i really started posting on this blog.

Thanks for reading my blog and leaving comments. I'm enjoying getting to know so many fabulous and inspiring bloggers. I'd like to do a giveaway to celebrate (probably some handmade coasters) so if you leave a comment, i'll put you in the drawing.