Surfing through the web last summer I noticed a challenge: ”Life, love and hope” by the Robert Kaufman Company. I tried my luck and sewed a quilt.
The job was to take some of the fabrics of a certain new Kaufman collection and to design and produce a quilt which uses the fabrics in a creative way. Part of the fabric’s proceeds is designated to Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Now this is my result:
As many of the fabrics are of an axial symmetry they were very right for kaleidoscopes. I love the work of Paula Nadelstern and inspired by her I pieced different kaleidoscopes, some with 5, 6, 7, 8 or 12 segments. Paula often uses a very picturesque background, fabrics which are vibrating such as batiks. In contrast to her I chose a solid background. I didn’t want to steal the show from the kaleidoscopes and a solid shows much more of the structure of machine quilting. So I applied the kaleidoscopes on “invisible curved lines”, sewing by hand. The both tallest of them are nearly identical. Only the colors of the fabrics vary. These are placed on the so called “Golden Mean” and perhaps the two symmetric round shapes were a little bit inspired by the Research Foundation ;-).
Ok, finally I quilted the background by machine.
I think cancer always casts a shadow on life. It brings a lot of pain and tears. I know what I’m speaking of because I lost my father this way. But this is life: Although raindrops are falling the beauty of blooming doesn’t go down. You must only perceive it.

These are some pics of my quilt
Here you can see the jury’s decision

http://www.robertkaufman.com/lifelovehope/

Because I am aware that the mentality and taste of American people are very different to European ones I’m exited that my work has been choosen as award winning (where the hell is this little nowhere village Werther again? ;-) )

Strippy Pottholders

Just a little project for a Saturday afternoon to improve my machine quilting skills - my strippy pottholders

Color formula 3

Have you ever tried to have a drink mixed of red vine with lemon? I guess it wouldn’t taste at all. And so are some fabrics we have in our drawers – they don’t fit together well.

But there is a simple trick: Put something in the middle, to create a connection, so put a yummy golden grilled chicken in the middle of your casserole, add your tasty red vine and decorate with sour lemons.

Something is missing? Could be a special sauce made of white cream spiced with nearly black juniper berries, to get the necessary deepness of taste.

I think now there is a wide scale to eliminate colors for a design.

And to make it smoothly I put some silver shimmering green leafs of basil on the top.

Bon appetit!

Leftovers

Inspired by the excellent hints of Bonnie Hunter how to use all your stash I tried the “Hidden Pinwheels” and sewed a few blocks of leftovers of a bed quilt I had given to my mother. (I’m not so in love with all the “brownies”, but in her house those colors fit so well).

I separated the scraps in two halves: lights and darks. And so you can find out a pattern, one block has a darker rhombus, the next a lighter one.

It was a fun using the hints for efficient sewing.

Color formula 2

I often like to use an impressing picture for example of a landscape

and take the most important colors as a guide for my quilt design. Here I could use a very popular color scheme from darkest blue to white

which colors my design like this

I think it's not too bad, but the colors are very pure. May be a good effect (think of Japanese indigo quilts), but could be also a little bit boring. So my second try will be to look for more nuances. In the picture I saw greens and browns too.

This wider range looks livelier.

Well, I like this one better, but best I like to add a very little pinch of exotic spice, means a contrasting color like a warm red in these cool blues.

That will do.

Color formula 1

Choosing and combining colors is for me like cooking. One has to find the right measurement of ingredients and to add a few yummy specials. And the most important is how it is spiced:

Oh, too dull, seems insipid and needs definitely more salt and pepper, perhaps a little bit chilli

But this one has got too much sweetener. Bah, such a toothache ...

For me nature is a perfect guide to find colors with brilliance which aren't garish at all. Just look at a picture of landscape or a flower like this marigold.

This seems to be the right luminosity to me

I found this wonderful example for my "color formula":

Isn't it a beauty? Simply using scraps in easy pieced blocks, but wonderful contrasting colors.
(I found it as an advertisement of a German manufacturer for quilting equipment)

A surprisingly Japanese wedding ring

That’s why I love the Japanese magazines: I get to see Quilts, which show a traditional block such as wedding ring in a completely different way.