Magical

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." 

Stephen King,

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/books

I wish everyone will have a magical, marvelous, amazing, fabulous New Year!

May you always be accompanied by lovely friends, warm quilts and magical books.

Above: a small quilt for table or wall, handcrafted, the little book consists of several tiny quilts, the book cover is filled with heavy paper, a ribbon is also added.

Merry Christmas!

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done

Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas (War is over)
For weak and for strong (If you want it)

For rich and the poor ones (War is over)
The road is so long (Now)
And so Happy Christmas (War is over)
For black and for white (If you want it)
For yellow and red ones (War is over)
Let's stop all the fight (Now)
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
So this is Christmas (War is over)
And what have we done (If you want it)

Another year over (War is over)
And a new one just begun (Now)
And so Happy Christmas (War is over)
We hope you have fun (If you want it)
The near and the dear one (War is over)
The old and the young (Now)
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over if you want it
War is over now

John Lennon

http://www.songtexte.com/songtext/john-lennon/happy-xmas-war-is-over-bde09e2.html#

Well, wars are not over, but if we want it, there is hope!

Merry Christmas everyone!

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."

Calvin Coolidge

www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic-peace.html

Petition

If you are interested in signing a petition to encourage the Electors of the Electoral College on Dec 19 to vote for Mrs.Clinton, even if they are Republicans, in order to honor the fact that Mrs. Clinton won the majority of popular votes in the elections for the US presidency, go to here:

https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19

The petition can be signed from all over the world.



(picture above from: http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/klimakonferenz-in-marrakesch-delegierte-beschliessen-fahrplan/14865636.html#

War and Peace

("Multicoloured Peace Doves Bringing Olive Branches", appliqué quilt)

War and Peace

Man invents war. Man discovers peace.

He invents war from without.

He discovers peace from within.

War man throws. Peace man sows.

The smile of war is the flood of human blood.

The smile of peace is the love, below, above.

Peace is the whole truth that wishes to enrapture humanity.

War is the whole falsehood that wants to capture humanity.

Peace begins in the soul and ends in the heart.

War begins in the mind and ends in the body.

War forgets peace. Peace forgives war.

War is the death of the life human. Peace is the birth of the Life Divine.

Our vital passions want war.

Our psychic emotions desire peace.

War is clear futility in dire spear-stupidity.

Peace is flowing infinity in glowing eternity.

Man seeks war when he thinks that the world is not his.

Man invites war when he feels that he can conquer the world.

Man proclaims war when he dreams

That the world has already surrendered to him.

Man seeks peace because his earthly existence desperately needs it.

Man welcomes peace because he feels

that in peace alone is his life of achievement and fulfilment.

Man spreads peace because he wants to transcend death.

The animal in man wars against peace in the outer world,

in the world of conflicting ideas.

The divine in man wars against ignorance in the inner world,

in the world of mounting ideals.

The animal in man wants war for the sake of war,

war to devour the snoring world.

The divine in man wants peace for the sake of peace,

peace to feed the hungry world.

– Sri Chinmoy

www.shortpoems.org/poems-on-peace/

Ode to Autumn

Ode to Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,

Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,---

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. 

John Keats

www.poemhunter.com/poem/ode-to-autumn

It is a blanket.

Put it around your shoulders.

It is a warm quilt.

(Haiku by me, Maria. The quilt, too.)

Quilts in an Old Church in Erfurt, Germany

Don't quilts look good on ancient walls?

This is the church "Michaelis", built in the thirteenth century in Erfurt, Thueringen, Germany.

Exhibited are very lovely quilts from a local group of quilters, the "Quilthuer".

The fine quilt above is made by Maria Männel, the title is "Mit Schwung" ("With Enthusiasm").

The wonderful quilt below is a product of a collective effort and is called "Watercolor".

You can go to here: http://patchthuer.blogspot.de, the post from Oct 9, 2016, to see a more detailed description of the quilts shown in this beautiful exhibition.

Only One Time

A simple utility quilt I made. 

It's a charm quilt, which means each fabric is used only one time, 

one, however, is used twice - but no, the cornerstones don't count.

 And I don't think, anyone can find the matching pair on a photo, and I won't tell of course.

(It's not the bright red-orange one, this is not THAT simple!)

;-)

It's a light quilt, the batting and the backing are thin cotton sheets.

It is meant to be used as a tabletop quilt for a dinner table.

Everything about this quilt is quite plain, although of course it all takes some time to work on it from start to finish. 

These are pure cotton pieces, sewn together by hand, 

it's a simple one-patch-pattern with triangles, 

the hand- quilting goes just along the seams, there is a simple label at the back.

 This is a piece which is robust and uncomplicated, it can be washed easily. It's meant to be used often so that it will assume some "patina" hopefully in the future and tell stories about many happy hours spent at this table.

Well, come to think of it: this quilt already tells some stories, because I can tell where the pieces come from, who gave me the fabric and when and where or at which place I found a certain piece…,

and yes, to me each piece is important and cannot be replaced by another one without altering the character of the entire quilt.

This combination here exists only this one time! 

I so much love that.

And here is something nice to read about charm quilts:

http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/charm.htm

"Patchwork Feeling"

"Honor looked at her daughter and had for a moment that patchwork feeling of being locked into place, and fitting."

Tracy Chevalier in her magnificent book "The Last Runaway".

This book tells the story of an English Quaker woman who emigrates to America in 1850 and who needs to find her place in a new country, community and family, while she is trying to help runaway slaves crossing Ohio on their way to Canada. I love the way Tracy Chevalier tells her story and I love how she also describes the role of quilts in everyday life at that time. I had been especially intrigued by her portraits of English quilts, American quilts and African American quilts, she wonderfully outlines what they have in common (not that much!) and what their specific qualities are. A great read!

Kitchen Quilts / Potholder

Maybe I found a possibility to combine

a motif (house) and an abstract pattern ( I so much love the traditional ones!),

and the possibility of decorating a place with a lovely and not so large quilt and the practical purpose of actually using it,

all that in a room at home which like no other reflects the characteristics of a quilt: 

warmth, hospitality, cheerfulness, the nurturing of body and soul: the kitchen.

"A kitchen is the heart of a home."

in: "The Quilter's Kitchen", by Jennifer Chiaverini.

I make these kitchen quilts a bit larger than potholders usually are,

mine are 30,5cm x 30,5cm/ about 14" x 14",

and people tell me they like this size when they use them as a potholder, 

especially when they handle larger objects in the kitchen.

The batting is a polyester fleece which is thick enough to deal with heat but not so thick that you can't hold and fold it comfortably.

I also quilt the lines of a star above the "door" of the "house",
because I wish that the home where such a little quilt is hanging 
is under a lucky star!

So, I will make more of these and see…

"They could only imagine what they would find within the quilter's kitchen the next day when they resumed their work - and the delicious flavors and exquisite quilt blocks their discoveries would inspire."

(Jennifer Chiaverini, "The Quilter's Kitchen", a fine book with lots of recipes and ideas for lovely quilt blocks.)

Cats

"What greater gift than the love of a cat."

Charles Dickens

www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/cats

"Yet, for all its beauty, there is something secretive about a quilt. Within its many layers and hidden stitches, a little mystery resides. And long may the mystery remain."

Country Quilts, Hearst Books, New York 1992

Street Fair

… to anyone who came to my stand at the "Blue Mile"- street fair at Weimar nearly two weeks ago,

it was such a lovely experience for me! I enjoyed the nice conversations and the fun we shared! 

And I will always do it again the way I had: no price tags attached, that makes the whole process of "Giving" and "Receiving" much more colorful, rich and thoughtful. I had an open money box on my table and no, it didn't happen that someone helped himself, just the opposite, in the end - very late at night when at last the music stopped and everyone in my alley had gone to bed - I checked and counted and it so happened that my guests at my stand had been very generous. "Generous" is a term here which must be seen from an individual perspective: I - for example - had been surprised and delighted that so many kids came to my table and liked my things, and of course they came with their pocket money and they were thinking hard what to give me back for a mouse or a teddy or a bookmark… they often went into negotiations with their parents and I loved how considerate they were and how they wanted to do it right and to be fair to me, what of course they were, completely, just by taking the whole thing seriously. I truly loved to see that.

Other persons, adults, wanted to know exactly how I work, what the different steps in the process of completing a quilt are, they even took with them a paper I had prepared with some information… and then they regarded a quilt of mine (I only offered small ones and smaller quilted objects) not only as some finished item, but also as the result of an individual process and they realized the story and tradition behind it. And rewarded my work as such.

The best thing would be if someone got inspired and left my stand with a fresh idea!

I was so busy that I didn't have the time to take many pictures, and those I have are not of good quality,

plus I'm careful here to not put anyone as a person directly on the internet.

But here are some snapshots.

I had been so blessed to have some African drummers a few steps away from me, they really gave us all a lot of energy and drive!

Boxes

Some boxes I made.

These are six little quilts each which are also stabilized by a piece of cardboard, before they are sewn together to form a box.

On top is an appliquéd motif and a self-designed button.

I love that with such an object I have the possibility to use all kinds of patterns, and that it is ultimately a piece of cooperation:

only when the owner puts something nice into it the box fulfills its purpose and is complete.

So each box will become a truly unique item in the owner's hand.

It's all blue what I work on at the moment, because we'll have a street festival next week in Weimar, Germany, where I live now for the most part of a year.

The slogan of the fair will be "Blue Mile":

residents and shop-owners organize lots of fun-activities, but everything is supposed to be blue:

clothes, food, champagne, things offered at stands ...

I will have a table where I offer some of my quilted objects which of course all have to be at least somewhat blue.

The interesting thing will be something most people warn me of:

I don't sell my pieces the usual way with price-tags attached, instead I will ask anyone who might be interested in receiving one of my items to determine by himself/herself what he or she finds appropriate to give me back in return.

That might be some money, perhaps also something else what might be at hand:

a gift-certificate for a café (there is such a lovely café opposite my apartment), or a book which by chance is carried in a bag on this day or whatever.

I'm curious what will happen then. I think I will have some very great stories to tell!

Speaking of stories and books:

I never read such a lovely explanation why reading a book is such a fine and exquisite activity as in "History of the Rain" by Niall Williams, in my copy it's on page 62. 

The part I mean begins with "I love the feel of a book. I love the touch and smell and sound of the pages." I love what is described next! Maybe you might want to read it by yourself, it's in chapter 7, it's a wonderful book (and a very special one) altogether. Lots of extraordinary sentences like:

"But to get to where you're going you have to first go backwards. That's directions in Ireland, it's also T.S. Eliot. "

I wish everyone will have lovely summer days!

Higher still and higher 

From the earth thou springest, 

Like a cloud of fire; 

The blue deep thou wingest, 

And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest.

Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792 - 1822)

http://quotes.yourdictionary.com/blue#OFEPWRJu5vDwrzHU.99

Log Cabin Book as a Bookmark

With quilted bookmarks I combine my love for books and my love for quilts.

Books and quilts have so much in common, I think!

Don't they both tell stories, 

aren't they both a product of individual manual and intellectual work,

don't they both benefit from the richness of history and tradition,
- and don't they always go a step further,

don't they both want to make you feel good and to inspire you,

and isn't it one of the highest pleasures to enjoy a book while wrapped in a handmade quilt?

Here I tried to go a step further:

I use the most famous and the quintessential design of a quilt pattern - the "Log Cabin" - to outline a book in an object that can to be used in and with a book: a bookmark.

I think that the Log Cabin motif is a pretty good one to go with the process of reading a book: 

the yellow or red center squares are always meant to represent the light and warmth of the hearth in a cabin, which shines out to the person outside and beckons to him or her to come home or to be a welcomed guest.

A book does just the same to me!

And aren't the best stories told at a fireplace or some other place that feels like a warm and cozy place to relax?

The light and dark shades in a Log Cabin quilt are meant to remind you of the sunny and shady sides of the house, which are both welcomed depending of the time of day and year,

and by the same token there is no good story without light and shadow, and:

the light that comes with the wisdom of a good story is always able to illuminate brightly each and every darkness! 

This here is some kind of a Log Cabin pattern, there are several versions and variations, this is just one possibility to make a block:

For my book in this bookmark I used some characteristics such as bright and dark scraps in a construction with "bricks", and a yellow or red center square, and I tried to use that all in a form that hopefully resembles a book…

I had some trouble with the geometry and the perspective here, but that's what I had been able to do so far.

Here is a very good article on the Log Cabin pattern:

http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/logcabin.htm

The book shown here is by Jennifer Chiaverini,
"Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker"