A Coffee Garden by Max Liebermann. Except for the clothes, this could very easily be modern Germany.

above, A Beer Garden, by a German Impressionist (Max Liebermann?)

The ceiling at the Gemälde Galerie (Painting Gallery) on Museum Island in Berlin

Another example of German Impressionism

Another Note about Grandmerner

Merner had a brother, Ray, and a sister, Della. She and Della were not only sisters but best friends as well. I remember noticing in the old photo albums that there were no pictures of Della as anything but a child or a young woman, which, considering how everyone else was documented well into old age, seemed a little strange. She was a beauty, with light brown hair worn loosely up, a full mouth and large, luminous eyes set in an oval face. It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I found out Della had taken her own life when she was about 40. She'd moved to California as a young woman and was working as a nurse there. She loved to paint, a talent which my father and uncle inherited (they studied Art/Engineering and Architecture, respectively). They called her Tantie. Daddy said he tried avocado for the first time on a visit to Aunt Della in California.

Sometimes I wonder if Merner turned to things like quilting as a creative outlet because she had the same creative impulses as her sister, but could never have brought herself to engage in anything so frivolous as painting. I got the feeling she almost overcompensated for her sister's sensitive/artistic bent by being extremely pragmatic and no-nonsense. From stories she told, their mother (after whom i was named) was extremely impractical and the daughters often paid the price. For example, the girls got into the habit of listening at the drawing room door to see how many guests their mother was inviting to Sunday dinner, so they could slip out the kitchen door to go and buy more food.

I suppose, apart from her family circumstances, it would fit with the general history of women engaging in useful handicrafts rather than the fine arts, which have tended to be dominated by men (perhaps men have historically been more willing to take themselves seriously as creative artists?).

P.S. Despite appearances, there has been a bit of quilty action around here as well. I just haven't gotten round to taking pics yet.

Sunday in the Country

First long walk in the country since my knee surgery. This is a village near Hamburg where motor vehicles are forbidden. It's also a wildlife preserve, so you hear lots of birds of all kinds singing. Horsedrawn carriages clomp along on cobblestone roads carrying tourists. One of the farms was the first open-air museum in Germany, established in something like 1909. The whole village is a bit like a museum. It's in the middle of the Lüneburger Heide (Heather). I didn't manage to get any pictures of Heidschnucken, the funny sheep who live here. They're the kind with chocolate faces and feet-- their colouring is a bit like siamese cats.
Here's a picture I found

Correction

A quote from my sister Lisa
(i've corrected my post below accordingly):

"Your blog seems accurate except that the quilting bee
met every Thursday in the basement of the church where
they could keep a big quilting frame set up.

Everyone would bring a dish and they'd stay all day
with a break for lunch. It was a real insight into the
world of the 70+ year olds. They'd forget I was there
after awhile and the talk was pretty uninhibited.
Also, they were impressed I could sew such a fine
stitch in spite of the dreadful handicap of being
left-handed. :-)"

About my Quilting Grandmother
(the one quoted in the header)

Both of my grandmothers sewed but my father's mother was the quilter. We called her Grandmerner, Merner for short. She was born in 1891, grew up in a small town in North Texas and moved to Oklahoma after she was married. I think she said once that she'd lived through two depressions, as there was one in the 1890s as well. In any case, she was raising her young family during the Great Depression and she must have inherited a bit of that pioneer spirit as she seemed to have a gift for making the most of what little was available. She lived to be 97 and her husband, our Granddaddy lived to be 102. In their familes, this was not unusual. I remember pouring over the old leather bound family albums with photos from the 19th century and noticing in the family tree that even back then, many of our ancestors lived to be near 100.

Some of my fondest memories are of Christmas spent at my grandparents' in a small town in Oklahoma in the 1960s. There was nothing like sleeping under all those layers of blankets and quilts. It was colder than in Austin, where we lived, and the trees were barer (no live oaks) so it felt more like real winter. Sometimes there was even a blanket of snow and we would go sledding. Then there was the food. My favorite thing was her cornbread dressing. Merner spent most of the days when we were there creating these feasts, including homemade bread and pies. As soon as breakfast was cleared, she'd lean against the kitchen counter, focussed as a general plotting her next battle and then dive right into preparing lunch.

We were eight kids in our family, the only grandchildren. On Christmas morning, there was always a mountain of presents under the tree, often just small, practical items like shampoo or a notebook from Uncle Vince, who generally did his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve and was still madly wrapping his presents in the funny papers on Christmas morning, but every year for each of us girls there was always a new flannel nightgown that Merner had made as well. During the school year, she'd make us dresses. We would go to the fabric store and look through pattern books and send her the numbers of patterns we liked and she'd make dresses from them. How spoiled we were!

When she made quilts for us, she incorporated fabrics from the dresses she'd made us, so we could revisit favorite dresses that way. She made probably hundreds of quilts, mainly for charity. She belonged to a quilt guild connected with her church (I think they just called it a quilting bee in those days) and they would make quilts to raffle off to raise money. They would gather every Thursday in the basement of the church where they were able to keep a big quilting frame set up and everyone would handquilt one of the members' quilt tops. I'll have to ask my sister more about how that all worked, how much they collaborated on quilts.

Most of my grandmother's quilts were scrap quilts, but she also made a few with just one fabric plus the muslin background, no doubt a piece she'd found on sale. One of my favorites of her quilts, which I would like to replicate someday, was a Drunkard's Path in pink with a cream background. When I was in college, she showed me a double wedding ring quilt that she said she would give me when I married. Later, after I'd married, I was too shy to ask her for it and apparently she'd forgotten. No one knows what happened to that quilt. Many others were apparently lost or destroyed over the years due to neglect.

My sister Lisa learned to quilt at Merner's quilting bee. She told me there was one very old member who was losing her vision and every time the group met, one of the members would stay behind afterward to carefully take out all the stitching she'd done.

Lisa and i sometimes talk about how different our quilting is from our grandmother's. Merner would probably roll over in her grave if she knew what we spend on fabric (most of her quilts were made with finds from the sale bin--something like 10 cents a yard), but then as I tell Lisa, "She's in heaven now, so she probably doesn't care about things like the price of fabric!"

Probably like a lot of quilters, I think we've salvaged a bit of the old pioneer spirit which seems to run in our family. Actually, living in Germany, where there is so little affordable fabric available, i sometimes think i can imagine how those pioneers felt out on the prairie, eagerly awaiting packages from Back East. I don't know what i'd do without my sister and cousin who send me fabric care packages from the States.

I suppose in some respects, blogging has come to replace the old quilting bees. It would be nice to belong to a "real" F2F group here in Hamburg, but i haven't had much luck finding one yet. The advantage of the internet is that people with similar tastes and interests can find each other, regardless of geography and you can chat about quilting without getting out of your pajamas. Difficult to weigh what modern quilters have lost and gained.

(Soon, I will post something about my other grandmother)

Disappearing Nine-Patch

a tutorial from Helen in the UK


This looks like a great design for crib quilts.

(I don't know how to post links properly)

Happy Mother's Day!

A cool quilt I ran across.

P.S. this same friend has really liked other quilts i've made, so i didn't take it that personally. At least when a German says they like something, you can generally be sure they mean it :-)

Bad Reviews...

I showed this latest quilt to a German friend today who didn't like it. I've had this sort of reaction from other German friends as well. From American friends, the response has been only positive so far. I wonder if it's mainly that Germans are more honest /candid in their feedback or if it's really a matter of different tastes. Americans probably have positive associations with this kind of quilt--with so many different colors and patterns going on. I notice German friends tend to like the quilts i've made with more subdued / coordinated color-schemes. Maybe objectively speaking these quilts are more pleasing and it's just that these crazy, scrappy ones feel nostalgic, since they remind us--or at least me--of quilts from an earlier era.

Baby Clothes to College Quilt

This quilt top (below), even more now that it's sewn together, reminds me of quilts my grandmother used to make for us. This quilt, by the way, is for a niece who's going off to Harvard next year. Funnily enough, when she was born, i was finishing my Masters at Harvard. Since a number of friends and family had their first babies that year, when i was back in Berkeley looking for work that summer, I sewed a bunch of baby clothes. Mia was one of my first victims. Her mom said "No pink!" so i made her a chic looking black romper with white Japanese calligraphy all over it and red buttons. Since then, my auntly activities have waned, i must admit, but hearing that she was going off to college inspired me to get cracking once again. I suppose the next thing will be a wedding quilt.

Nancy held it up for a photo.

Woman vs. Quilt
You wouldn't believe how hard a time we had getting a decent shot of this quilt top! Here you can see Nancy wrestling with it. The bush in the background turned out to be thorny too. The shop we wanted to go to was closed, so the hunt for border fabric will have to wait for another day. We did, however, have a nice lunch in a garden with Nancy's husband.

Quilting Lore

Noodling around on the internet today, i ran across some quilting lore, some of which i'd heard before. Thought i'd post it just for fun. Anyone heard any other interesting lore?

• At a quilting bee, "shake up a cat" in the newly-completed quilt, then stand in a circle around the quilt. The woman toward which the cat heads will be the first to marry. (trying to imagine this poor cat's reaction!)
  

• At a quilting bee, wrap an engaged girl in the quilt and roll her under the bed. (No reason is given for this custom!)

• A bride may not sell whatever dress she's married in, but she can wear it, give it to a younger sister, or cut it up to be used in quilts.
• the color red should bring love and prosperity to the owner of the quilt.
• If you make a bedspread, or a quilt, be sure to finish it or marriage will never come to you.
• If you wash a quilt in snow, it will ease the souls of the dead women who made it.
• If a hair of yours gets worked into a quilt, it will bind you forever with the recipient of the quilt. (there was also talk of working various charms into the binding or between batting and backing).
• it's bad luck to quilt on Sunday (I refuse to believe this, since if i did, i wouldn't get much quilting done at all!)
  

Finally Finished!

Sewed all the blocks together yesterday. Decided to make it 6x9. I brought it to Bremen with me today, to show to my quilting buddy Nancy and so she can help me hunt for a good border fabric. Will post pics later.

Another Sewing Marathon

Finally finished enough blocks for a twin, with a few to spare. I'm making this 6x8 10" blocks. Not sure if this is big enough. Maybe 7x8 would be better? But I like playing with border possibilities, so maybe with the borders, 6x8 will be big enough. I do hope Mia likes it.

I spent most of this morning trimming and ironing the blocks and "trimming the whiskers" as my grandmother used to say about trimming threads.

I still have lots of duplicate nine-patches left to start another Sister's Choice later on. My sister says she will send me some as well. Maybe my next Sister's Choice will even be for meee! Below are a few of the blocks i especially liked.

A Day Off to Sew

The semester has begun, so it's been a bit crazy, but Tuesday I had off and since i'd finished all my marking over the weekend, i decided to sew the whole day. I finished about 2o Sister's Choice blocks (the nine-patches were already done and the other pieces were mostly cut out. I'd spent an afternoon matching potential point colors with nine-patches. I'm trying to use a lot of dark colors in the points, to sort of anchor the quilt, but if a block is all light/medium colors, i'll use medium points because I don't like it when the points look as if they're separate from the nine-patch. I think the stars should feel organic.

Spring Organizing

Since i haven't been sewing so much lately, i thought i'd post pics of my newly organized stash. This is just some of it. A few boxes are organized according to projects. Others are just by color or type, e.g. Asian. The large white boxes atop the armoire are full of larger pieces, like for backings. The clear plastic boxes have lids and are stored in a big shelving unit next to the armoire. I plan to install a simple white window shade, like a roman blind, over these shelves to hide the boxes and protect the fabrics from the sun.

Thursdays, i do this volunteer gig teaching English to little kids--mainly 4-yr-olds--at the library in my nabe. Believe it or not, there was a slight discipline problem developing, almost solely due to one really great but seriously hyperactive kid. So I instituted a gold star reward system last week and boy did they remind me this week (fortunately, i'd remembered to bring the stars). They're so cute when we read a storybook. Something about stories gets them really excited. They all crowd up as close as possible to the book.

These pictures are cheating because I took them in Oxford last Spring. Must remember to bring my camera with me tomorrow.

Back in the Saddle

Spring is going full blast here. Trees exploding with blossoms. When you open the windows in the morning, you even smell the blossoms. Today in the teacher's room, a couple of normally dour colleagues--engineers--were marvelling at how much more one notices, as one gets older, the birds singing and the softness and sweetness of the air at this time of year. I notice that i notice these things more since living in a place with a relatively long, grey winter. Another German friend feels that there's no place like Northern Europe in the Spring and i'm beginning to think he may be right, partly just because of the contrast to Winter. But then i've never lived in a place like Montana or Canada.

This was the first long day back at work and i realize that my knee is probably a couple of months away from being back to normal. A former student who didn't know about the operation saw me limping around and asked, "Oh, have we got an owy, owy?"

These Germans are so into Easter! I've known Germans who were still getting Easter baskets from their parents at 50. I must take some pics, e.g. of the giant golden Lindt Bunnyrabbit atop our local supermarket, surrounded by giant hand-made, painted wooden eggs.

I've just had a v relaxing 5 days off from everything. Finally got my flat almost in decent order. The fabrics are all neatly arrayed according to color/project/size. Not exactly photo-worthy, but a great feeling having "a place for everything and everything in its place," as my grandmother used to advise.

The last couple of days, in addition to organizing/cleaning, i got back to work on Imelda's lilypad blocks. Just the lilypads are done, so i can do the appliqué on the train to and from my job in Bremen. I might try making some of the lilies 3-D. I've decided to set them in a sort of random organic pattern over a mosaic of different dark greens. Not sure how that will all work out or whether i'll have enough greens, but am optimistic.

Patient Progress

Hi, just thought i'd say, the knee is better, but still hurts at night if I walk around even close to a normal amount during the day. I decided to use my nordic walking sticks, to avoid limping and so that i can walk around more. I really miss being able to just stroll around as much as i want, but it probably won't be long before everything's back to normal.

The hospital experience was actually kind of fun. I had a really nice roomate who was also there exactly two days, so we talked "about God and the World" as the Germans say. This clinic is connected with a hotel and uses one of their wings, so we got to stay in a luxury hotel room and the food was fabulous. The first day, i was sick from the anaesthetic, so i guess it wasn't so great, but i don't remember anything except how pleasant the whole experience was, probably bcs of the painkillers.

When i was coming out of the anaesthetic, I was a bit confused and dreamy, like someone in a fever. I confided in the nurse that i was afraid the doctor might not do a proper job on my knee because I'm American and anti-Americanism appears to be so rampant in Germany. She reassured me and kept asking me if I was in pain. Funnily, what hurt most was my shoulder, from an old slipped disc problem which had crept back up on me. But my knee also hurt a lot. I asked when I was going to have the operation and she said it had already happened, lifting the sheet to show me the bandage! I thought i was still waiting to be operated on.

They had to keep me in the recovery room longer than usual because my blood pressure was too low. The nurse said, "You can tell us stories from your childhood." I guess they're used to these rambling, loquacious patients in the recovery room. Wonder what else i said that i don't remember.

On the quilting front, i'm still getting organized. Have sorted out most of my stash, but now i want my whole flat/workspace to be totally neat and organized, since i've got this block of time over Easter Weekend and then life will probably be pretty crazy with both my jobs and teaching writing this term.

I'm looking forward to getting back to work on 2-3 quilting projects. Do other people usually work on several things at once or is that an ADD (ADS) thing?

The Bad Girl of the Family!

I don't know if it's my new visa status, or just lack of time, but i've decided to stay in Europe this year for the summer hols--maybe go to France. I'll post pictures of wherever I go.

I do get a little homesick sometimes, for movies and English bookstores, friends and family and just the atmosphere back home, but I'm also feeling more and more inclined to enjoy being in Europe, for Chrissakes!

Anyone who wants to visit me in Hamburg, just let me know. I even have a guest room which could sleep three in a pinch. Maybe I should post some pics of Hamburg to tempt you... :-)

I found these British greeting cards from the 20s the other day in a museum shop and couldn't resist. Since i've decided not to fly home this year, i've resolved to be better about writing real letters, so of course, i needed some cards!

What I did while I was recuperating...

Since i was away from my sewing machine, the only thing i managed to get done was a bit of appliqué. These blocks are for a quilt I'm making for my Aunt Imelda. The pattern is called Amish Dahlia and I found it on www.quilterscache.com. Imelda picked out the rose backround fabric and the dark green. I haven't decided yet how to set these. I'm thinking i might take off on a sort of lilypad thing that seems to be happening here and intersperse these blocks with different dark green blocks and strips, in varying sizes, so that the flowers are kind of randomly distributed. Or just use simple dark green or white on white sashing. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Very Good News!

So guess who finally got an unlimited residence permit for Germany. Today, after six years living here and countless hassles and trips to the foreigners' office, they finally granted me an "unbefristete Aufenthaltserlaubnis". The guy even smiled when he handed over my passport with the stamp in it and wished me further success in Germany.
I think this may have been the first time i've seen one of these guys smile.

Though i'd just check in to say my knee surgery went fine. I'm recovering at a friend's place where there is an elevator but no internet access, so i'm writing this on the fly at an Apple shop. Will probably get back to quilting next week, when i should be back at my place most of the time.

Your Mood Shows in Your Ikebana


I'm not happy with this one at all, but it gives you some idea of the difference between Western and Japanese arrangement, since these are the same flowers and branches in the Western arrangement below. I'd already cut the branches too short because i didn't think i'd find the kenzan to do an ikebana. Usually i do more with the branches, trimming them to emphasize lines and bending them more but i didn't have as much to work with and sort of wasn't in the mood. Your mood really affects your ikebana, i've noticed. Also your personality. I took lessons with a friend in Tokyo and even though we were given exactly the same materials and perameters to work with, we always ended up with completely different arrangements. Hers were wilder--Mary hated to trim things--and mine were more obedient looking.

With Their Ears On

A few Sister's Choice blocks with their points or "ears" on.
I love this pattern of Bonnie's, especially the tip about "flippy corners", which makes the little triangles so much easier to do.

One of my favorites of the finished SC blocks so far.

The Planning of Quilts

Believe it or not, I do have a specific plan and general colour scheme for this Sister's Choice quilt. It began as a quilt for me (only the second quilt i've started for me--Lord knows if i will ever finish it), but I made 2-4 copies of each block as I went along, since I wanted to send my sister a set (she will also send me some...someday :-). I thought I could use the other extras for other projects that might come up. I wanted these to be extremely "scrappy" quilts, i.e. with as many different fabrics as possible.

Then... I found out that my former husband's niece just got into Harvard, so I thought with some of the nine-patches, I would make her a congratulatory, going-away-to-college-quilt. I asked her mom if she thought Mia would like a pattern like this (sent her a pic of a similar quilt) and what her favorite colours are.

So this first one, for my ex-niece, will be 54 10" star blocks, 6 across by 9 down, plus borders. The blocks are tending toward red and pink, so I'll try to use lots of reds and burgundies for the star points and then maybe a red or burgundy border. Will have to see what the quilt seems to call for when it gets to that stage.

To make a long story short: it isn't that I have no plan at all, but I like to let the quilt develop a bit as it goes along. My sister always says, "The quilt will tell you," and she's right.

I've also made quilts with just a few different fabrics and with just a couple of main colors and I find those easier and faster to make, but these days, i'm feeling especially drawn to scrappiness.

I think I love scrappy quilts partly because my grandmother made lots of "true" scrap quilts, from sewing leftovers (she and our other grandmother made most of our dresses--and we were six girls!). So scrappy quilts feel cozy and loving to me. I also enjoy the challenge of making disparate colours/patterns work together. It feels a bit like solving a puzzle and a labour of love combined. When making quilts for kids, I like to try to include little surprises, e.g. the tiny cat in the middle of a nine-patch or a dragonfly or bunnies flying airplanes. In this college quilt there will be coffee beans, musical notes, tiny valentines...various stuff I think Mia might need to get her through her first year at college.

I learned Japanese flower arranging for five years while I was living in Japan. This is obviously not ikebana here (I can't find the kenzan /Steckigel/ tiny bed of nails I need to do that sort of flower arranging at the moment) but even in western arrangements, I like to incorporate some Japanese elements, like allowing space around the flowers, emphasizing lines and not only mass.
I especially like to have a bit of asymmetry in my arrangements. Asymmetry was something that took me a long time to get used to when I was first learning ikebana. I kept longing to do a traditional western arrangement, bountiful and symmetrical. But now, I find an arrangement almost boring if it's too symmetrical. And if it's too full, i feel you can't fully appreciate the individual flowers.

Lovebirds! I found these 2 folk art prints in the sale bin. Notice the peacocks? Elsewhere, you find pairs of other birds, e.g. two roosters facing off.

Can you believe all of these 9-patches might end up in the same quilt?

A few random 9-patches from my Sister's Choice project.

Don't Worry!

I'm not going to put all these blocks together like this. I just laid them out this way for fun.
They're the beginnings of stars. I've made about a zillion of these nine-patches in the last few weeks for a joint project with my sister Lisa (see Bonnie's Sister's Choice). Some of them, after they have their points or "ears" as i like to think of them, may end up in different quilts, in fact. This is just a random sampling.