2012-09-04

My Big Day - or The let's get acquainted blog hop


Plum and June
 Today is my day - ok I have to share it .. but it's still also my day in the "Let's get acquainted hlog hop" series!

So first a proper "Hello" to you, I'm Leonie, I am not the most organised person which you can experience now. I started a ten day holiday trip yesterday morning that I could have easily started a day later. So I'm grateful for the scheduling thingy. If you should encounter any strange spellings, made up words, weird usage of proverbs etc etc - blame that on me being German, oh and I write British English - so it's colour not color here (blame that on the German educational system - not on me).

I guess that explains the strange unusual and unintelligible (I always wanted to use that word) name of my blog:  strandkorbtraum  -  "whicker beach chair dream" -  dreaming in a beach chair, dreaming of a beach chair ...

that's how they look

Question and Answer - Frage und Antwort

How long have you been quilting ?
Hard to say I learned about the word when I was 17 (English class, America as melting pot or patch work of cultures) until then I did do "Flickenkissen" (patch pillows) 4 of them. B I really started last autumn doing an internship in England I just had to try English Paper Piecing and somehow I ended up here


Favourite children's book?
"Just five minutes quiet/peace" (see that's an example of a free translation) -  A mother just wants 5 minutes to herself but is interrupted time and time again by one kid after the other ... I knew every single line by heart and used to read it to my mum, probably interrupting her doing something important.




Now this post is already longer than any I ever did before - sorry - and just starting.

I always marvel at all of you who think up patterns, use patterns - oh I own some but that's about it -  as I said I'm a bit unorganised and that's how I go about quilting too. My latest project is/was for a swap - the theme for August was "Autumn".

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So I decided to make a leaf or leaves and googled a lot of leaf blocks and didn't really like them, so I made up my own leaf - well half of it I figured I could mirror for the other side. I numbered the leaf parts and cut the whole thing up.






 And then started cutting the fabric: just pinned the paper right side down / wrong side up on the fabric and I did estimated something called "Steppfußbreite" the distance between the needle and the edge of your sewing foot (nope I don't have a 1/4" foot), but you might want to stick to the 1/4".

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And then sewed them together - how to sew curves and ended up with that, not a prety sight I know but trim it and we have something much nicer and more leaf-ish - I auditioned colours for the other half.

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I just put the patch half of the leaf on the purple baby corduroy and traced around it with the cutter, sewed the halves together with a strip and reverse appliqueed it to/ under (definitely not on) a nice yellow background - see that pucker I'm not perfect.

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And then a loooot of quitling and I ended up with something I like somewhat despite all the mistakes.

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So all that was left was a binding - I chose a bold bright ruby red, because I thought makes the yellow glow and that in turn sets off the leaf nicely - well no I didn't really think much, I just "liked" the combination.

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Please don't hesitate to tell my all the horrible things I did with the fabric by just doing it because I knew it's supposed to be possible and not doing it properly - the pattern, the guessed 1/4", the machine reverse applique, not cutting off the selvage ... 

 Now my very talented blog hop partner, Lorelei from MermaidSews will be very happpy to welcome you on her blog.

If you made it all the way down here - I'm not into writing tutorials. I love comments. I try to answer all of them - well let's say so far I reacted to them - noones trusted me enough to ask a sewing question.

And don't forget to check out  Tess from The Sewing Chick and Bethany from make me a quilt on Thursday, they too have prepared something for you!

Leo

36 comments:

  1. Great project and your quilting is awesome!!

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  2. Thanks for showing us how you made your leaf quilt. It is super pretty and I think that you aren't giving yourself enough credit for being able to make up a pattern. I'm amazed at how wonderful your sewing is without using 1/4 inch seams. And I didn't know that your blog name meant wicker beach chair dream. How on earth did you come up with the name? You are very creative!

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  3. You should do more than like your leaf somewhat Leonie, it is lovely!

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  4. Your leaf looks great. It is something I would love to use for a pillow. I'll add it to my bazillion long list of things to do.

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  5. Oh, that is what it stands for! And that children's book looks great - I'll have to see if they have it in English. And I still love your leaf quilt - great seeing your process.

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  6. That is a very cute project! I like how you created your own pattern when you couldn't find one that you liked. It makes me feel like I should try to experiment more

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  7. Nice to meet you Leonie and I love your leaf quilt, so creative and the quilting is GORGEOUS!
    Amanda

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  8. Hi Leo nice to meet you. Great tutorial and the quilting is just beautiful. Love the quilting on the yellow fabric.

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  9. Great tutorial! Very creative. Lovely to meet you.

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  10. Nice to 'meet' you! Your tutorial is very nice, and something that I want to do now. And I love, love the photo of the leaf quilt in the tree. Being Canadian, I used Br English too, so colour looks perfectly normal to me!

    I do have one question though. You told us what strandkorbtraum means, but how do you pronounce it?

    Shena
    beaniekins84(at)gmail(dot)com

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  11. I hope that you're having a lovely holiday! I don't think your 'mistakes' show at all in your lovely leaf. And it does glow!

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  12. Enjoyed reading your post!!

    I think your life mini looks fabulous! Great echo quilting too!

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  13. I love your leaf not matter what the "mistakes" might be. I love leaves of all kinds but have yet to do any kind of leaf quilt. Thanks for sharing yours.

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  14. Wow! I absolutely LOVE your project! Who says there is one right way to do anything, your way was fantastic. Thank you for sharing!

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  15. Nice to meet you. I really love your leaf. I have a big thing about leaves and trees. I have them as a decor theme in my living room and have designed a few too. Keep up the good work.

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  16. That is a very beautiful leaf. I love the colors. Great to meet you from the blog hop.

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  17. Great to meet you, Leo. I love your leaf and I think this is a fab tutorial. It's a really cool design and the colours (being British I had to get that word in somewhere!) are wonderful too. I also like the name of your blog. I could happily spend all day dreaming in a chair like that :)

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  18. SO nice to meet you - the leaf quilting is stunning!

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  19. Love your leaf - and your approach to it! The echo quilting is stunning! Nice to meet you and hope you are enjoying your Holiday!

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  20. Oooh, that leaf is lovely! I adore the colors! And the quilting looks amazing! :) Nice to meet you!

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  21. Loving the leaf Leo :) Jill Murphy's books for children are some of my favourites from when my kids were small - they're all stored away in the attic now ready for when I have grandchildren.

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  22. Hey Leo,
    Excellent tutorial! And what's in a pattern as long as it gets you to where you want to go. It was great to see how you did the piecing on the left side of the leaf the fabrics come together so well and the purple and orange was a good chioce, always a winning combo.
    When I first saw the wicker beach chair I thought that was where you wer on holiday. Then I read the explaination and thought how great! Quilting is like that, at its best it takes us to a place of quiet and peace.
    And I love that book. I read it to my kids a lot. I think I still have a copy somewhere!
    Have a great vacation! cheers, Claire W.

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  23. Hi Leonie, I love your beach chair picture! Strand is beach in Hungarian too :)) I love your leaf project it's such a great idea! I was stopping by through the bloghop :)

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  24. It was nice to meet you! I really love the leaf and I NEED that book. The strandkorbtraum looks like heaven, too.

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  25. I love the name of your blog even more now I have a visual. I will always remember that beach chair now when I visit you here.
    Your leaf is so wonderful and I really love the quilting.
    xxxx

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  26. Nice to meet you! I love the leaf, and I alwsy think that there's nothing wrong with ignoring the "proper" way to do things!

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  27. Hello there, lovely to meet you. Your leaf is just lovely!

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  28. Nice to meet you too. Your leaf mini is lovely. I remember visiting Germany as a teenager and being entranced with the wicker beach chairs. Your blog name is a good one. Di x

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  29. Love that leaf mini -- such a great idea for fall!

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  30. So nice to meet you! I LOVE the quilting on this!

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  31. Beautiful leaf, and it's nice to meet you on the blog hop!

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  32. Gorgeous - now I know how to make a great leaf. Thanks for the visuals/photos :)

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  33. Your leaf quilt is gorgeous! What an inspiring tutorial. So nice to get to know you a little bit :)

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  34. Love your leaf! Very clever!!

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  35. Klasse Tutorial, Leonie ... und ein wunderschöner Mini ... ;))) Echt beeindruckend! ;)

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