23 Squares

 In the meantime, I did something that the used-or-free-fabric police wouldn't allow: I bought a piece of fabric for about 7$ a yard, it is the orange, red dotted material. I just thought a proper spoonful of orange would freshen the quilt up.

 I still have almost 40 more squares to go! It is a race against time -- remember, this quilt is all hand-made, not a single machine-stitch anywhere. It is a seek-and-find game,some of the animals are hiding, so is Nemo.

Some of the animals are even harder to find, but that's part of the game.

"Baumseelen" -- "Tree Souls" by Oliver Hertel

Smiling faces in a café...

A wooden lady

Today, I would like you to meet an artist who is a friend of mine and a very much cherished inspiration. His work is dedicated to "Tree Souls", sculptures of wood from trees which were broken by a storm. He has been a painter for most of his life, and when I first heard from him, he played his saxophone in the early morning hours at 3 or 4 in a park next to my and my parents' home -- way back in the Seventies. I listened to this concert with enchantment, until the police came and sent him away.

They're giggling!

Later I met him and we found out that it was him who played the saxophone at night and that he is just 2 days older than I . And he is always ahead of me as an artist; he does things that thrill me. My husband and I met another old friend of mine, we had coffee in the courtyard of Bergedorf castle, and then Oliver happened to turn up and we had a reunion after 20 years.
Here is a galery of smiling faces, roughly hewn out of the logs he split with an axe from a windfallen tree.

"Gift to the Earth" is the title
of this sculpture

This sculpture will be given back to Mother Earth tomorrow afternoon, which means that the artist will bury it in the ground in a little ceremony. You may think it is a waste, but Oliver's philosophy is not to cling to a single object, but to have confidence in the process of creation and to share it with our planet.

Another bright smile

Bergedorf Castle

 The exhibition takes place in Bergedorf castle in the courtyard around which this castle was built. It will end tomorrow evening. Bergedorf is a part of Hamburg which was an independent town until 1937.

Update: I wonder if the "Gift to the Earth" ceremony did take place, because we had a pouring rain all over the place during the date. The sky seems to have objections.

Latest Squares for the Baby Quilt

 Lino cut "Horse & Moon", fabric from Finland, Kaffe Fassett and gifts.

"Red Rooster", lino print, given fabrics.

How to outwit myself

A preview of the reverse

I'm unable to finish projects unless I finish them as I go. This time, I sew single tiles, ready with a backing, so in the end I will just connect the tiles. The reptile quilt is still waiting for its backing because during the past months, I just did not have the strength to bast a sandwich. In this case, there is not much left to do, once I have enough tiles for a quilt size. It doesn't have a batting, just 3 layers of fabric at least. The sewing method makes it rather heavy -- and hopefully sturdy enough for passing a test by a determined toddler.

Or what about a mix of top and reverse tiles?
This way, I would get a double-sided quilt.

A Dozen Tiles

 

This is how far I got with the baby quilt.

The past is buried...

It was incredibly wonderful to see the open space and a windy sky  in a deeper blue than the picture can tell.

I buried the past sickness in a little funeral on this clearing.

 We took a stroll in this big park with tall firs and cedars. It was cool and windy, but I rather enjoyed that.

 I took this vintage cotton print from India out from the bottom of a drawer and I would love to use the elephant motif for the baby quilt. I just wouldn't like to cut this cotton into pieces -- or should I? The material I chose is from an old cushion cover, so tender that I can easily tear it to pieces.

I tried a little gouache painting. 

And also a monotype which did not turn out too satisfying; although the lines have something.
I painted the red elephant with textile paint onto the stretched vintage linen. It takes some time, but would make a nice effect, don't you think? I don't like it as much as the paper version.
I guess I'll try a lino cut version, although I'm not really happy with the printing results. You can see some of them in the bottom picture.

Here are the squares I prepared before going into hospital, and one day after the surgery, I managed to do some quilting during the recovery hours!
The lower right center fabric comes from a Finnish designer; I bought it from Spoonflower.

All the other center fabrics are my own lino prints.

I just can't wait to jump into new projects. No, actually this is what I just did.

Back online

I'm back! And this is a welcome from my husband who is working today and left this drawing on my keyboard.
He said he made this sketch just in a few seconds.

A Vision (Anybody working in this business?)

 

Why don't windpower stations look like this? They should be a lot smaller than those we're building now, they could stand on every hill and catch the slightest breeze. They would not be as effective as the big ones, but who cares -- the wind is free, and this would spare us from having to wire the landscape all over -- in other words, the transportation problem would be solved.

They would be easy to build up, easy to be repaired, provide power for every village and look joyful and would not ruin the view, I believe -- this means they might be accepted by the people more than our huge devices.

Now there are Four Squares

sewing the corners is still a challenge, but they look better on each new sqare. This method means that the backing is included already.

Birdie and Bear for Bente

 

You may have seen these prints a long time ago, but then I wasn't able to integrate them into my quilting work. I hadn't learnt the korak method which now is my key to piecing.

I guess I'll abstain from the classic methods for good, I should have started earlier to learn them; until now, I haven't been successful with them. So you'll probably never see any classic patterns from me exept log cabin.

Quilting again in the bright sunshine

Yesterday, I received a gift from a friend -- more scraps in brightest colors. Thank you! My pills. So I decided to let my wips be wips and start another. I have so many handprints with whimsical animals, and I've been thinking of such a quilt a lot. This time I will sew finished squares -- with backing fabric, and it will be for my grandniece Bente. I don't know yet what it will be -- if I do a baby quilt, she will not be a baby any more by the time I can give it to her. I'm thinking of a crawling mat on which she can sit in the garden oder something like it. No idea how far I'm gonna get.