Spring

"You can cut all the flowers 
but you cannot keep Spring from coming."

Pablo Neruda

https://www.poemhunter.com/pablo-neruda/quotations/

Books-and-Stars-Quilt

"Books are the mile markers of my life. Some people have family photos or home movies to record their past. I've got books. Characters. For as long as I can remember, books have been my safe place. I read about places I can barely imagine and lose myself in journeys to foreign lands ..."

... says Leni in the very lovely book by Kristin Hannah "The Great Alone" (2018). 

(This book is really gorgeous! Leni lives in Alaska...)

What Leni says is so true I think. And so it's time again to combine my two passions: books and quilts, and to make a quilt about books. It will not be something small like a bookmark or a wallhanging, no, this time I want to make a large book-quilt, you can wrap yourself up with it ...

These are the first blocks of such a quilt. The strips in the blocks are meant to show books on a shelf, and the stars ...

... the stars between the bookshelf-blocks stand for the sparkling ideas that we find 

in all these stories and essays which we learn to love throughout our lives.

In addition to that I intend to include letters which spell out the magical line:

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a ...

This is what I've got so far, it's raw and only a beginning, 

but I think - with time - it could turn out fine.

Happy reading!

Lone Star

" ... and the colors of the patchwork quilt were bright as the circus banners of old time."

says Ray Bradbury in "Dandelion Wine" (1957) , 

it's such a lovely book and what a nice sentence this is!

The name of this pattern in quilt and cushion is "Lone Star", it "is likely one of the most recognizable quilt patterns to Americans. It is also one of the oldest patterns, ..." says Kimberly Wulfert in her article "The Lone Star Quilt Design Through Time", which you can find here:

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

It's a 

 

and I like this encouragement:

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” 

- Neil Gaiman

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/new-year 

"A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote

"Christmas Eve afternoon we scrape together a nickel and go to the butcher's to buy Queenie's traditional gift, a good gnawable beef bone. The bone, wrapped in funny paper, is placed high in the tree near the silver star. Queenie knows it's there. She squats at the foot of the tree staring up in a trance of greed: when bedtime arrives she refuses to budge. Her excitement is equaled by my own."...

... this is a quote from Truman Capote's short story "A Christmas Memory" (first published December 1956). This is the single best story about Christmas I have ever read! If you have time over the holidays, make yourself comfortable, wrap yourself in a quilt for some time and read this wonderful story!

It's available online for example here: 

http://www.sailthouforth.com/2009/12/christmas-memory.html

Merry Christmas!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

BY Jane Taylor

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 

How I wonder what you are! 

Up above the world so high, 

Like a diamond in the sky. 

When the blazing sun is gone, 

When he nothing shines upon, 

Then you show your little light, 

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. 

Then the traveler in the dark 

Thanks you for your tiny spark, 

How could he see where to go, 

If you did not twinkle so? 

In the dark blue sky you keep, 

Often through my curtains peep 

For you never shut your eye, 

Till the sun is in the sky. 

As your bright and tiny spark 

Lights the traveler in the dark, 

Though I know not what you are, 

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Source: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43200/twinkle-twinkle-little-star

This classic children's poem was first published by Jane Taylor in 1806.

Christmas Season

"Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, 
but he let them laugh ...
His own heart laughed: 

and that was quite enough for him."

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

https://www.shmoop.com/christmas-carol/stave-5-full-text-6.html

It's the beginning of the Christmas season,

may everyone have a good time!

The picture above shows a table runner with four "Ohio Stars".

Our Exhibition in Berlin November 17 and 18

Here are some pictures (but we respect privacy, 

so we are careful to not show persons too clearly on the internet here).

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this.

My friend and I could not have accomplished anything 

without the efforts on all fronts,

so thank you all!

I loved how a kid reserved a small Macaron-purse for herself...

"Tulani" - Quilt

The name "Tulani" is of African origin and means

serenity, peace, quietness.

I chose this name for this quilt which I just finished because I wish that the future owner might feel just that,

serenity, peace and quietness,

 when he or she uses this quilt to feel cozy and warm.

I just finished reading the beautiful short stories by Tom Hanks ("The Uncommon Type", the stories are really a treat), and towards the end of my favorite story with the title "Christmas Eve 1953" Hanks tells us that Virgil, the main character - who loves to stay extra warm because of terrible experiences in World War II in winter 1944 - goes to bed "after the long day" and covers himself with a "thick quilt".

Well, this here is an extra thick quilt.

There are some knitted squares in this quilt (yarn is 80% wool and 20% polyamide, robust and washable), the fabric squares are appliquéd one on top of the other, all of this giving additional warmth. Also: other than in ordinary quilts the filling consists here of two layers, one sheet is cotton fleece, one sheet is soft corduroy. Plus: the back is warm flannel.

All of this is meant to keep the owner extra warm in winter.

Dimensions are 165 x 122 cm, 64,96" x 48".
Completely made by hand.

(This quilt was made for an exhibition in Berlin in a couple of days.)

Jane Austen

(picture by MillersImageBank)

This is the bed throw that the English novelist Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) made together with her mother and sister.

Over the last years I tried to make a quilt with a similar design. 

I started in May 2012, added pieces and stitches every now and again, and it's finished!

The quilt is 153 cm x 240 cm, 60,23" x 94,48".

It is pieced, sewn and quilted entirely by hand, there is also some embroidery on the label at the back.

Fabrics and fleece are cotton. Some fabrics have rich stories to tell about where they come from and how they traveled from hand to hand over centuries until they found their places in this quilt. 

My sisters added lots of stitches , too, and gifted me lovely fabrics.

Jane Austen and her sister and mother added an elaborate border to their top, with lots and lots of tiny colorful pieces, it's incredibly beautiful.

My border consists of simple strips showing little birdies...

"It is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible."

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

http://www.notable-qotes.com/a/austen_jane_v.html

If anyone is interested:

I wrote more about how I began this work and about Jane Austen's bed throw in these earlier posts:

https://lupinequilts.blogspot.com/2012/05/jane-austen-quilt.html

https://lupinequilts.blogspot.com/2012/05/jane-austens-home.html

"Kiano"- Quilt

I just finished a new quilt. 

The title "Kiano" is Kenyan for 

"joy" and "to breathe new life into something".

The quilt is large and quite light. I used cotton fabrics and cotton fleece for the filling. But it's warming and cuddly also because I have included many knitted parts (yarn is 80% wool and 20 % polyamide, can be washed easily) and the reverse side is made with soft flannel.

It's completely made by hand. 

All parts are prewashed.

Dimensions are 132 cm x 222 cm (51,9" x 87").

The patterns are traditional ones:

it's the Pinwheel pattern on the sides and the Rail Fence pattern in the center.

I loved working on that quilt, especially because I like the process of alternating sewing and knitting. And I am amazed by how the soft knitted parts add warmth and a certain vividness to the quilt, but they need to be held firmly in place by the fabric parts!

The quilt will be on display at a small private exhibition in November in Berlin. 



The label at the back is in German: 

Books & Quilts

Books & Quilts... what a lovely combination!

I found a site showing "15 Amazing Quilts for Book Lovers":

Enjoy!

http://www.bookglow.net/book-quilts/

(shown in the pictures above: a detail of a hanging organizer with a quote from "Mary Poppins" by P.L. Travers, a bookmark with a Virginia-Reel-pattern, the book is by Jennifer Chiaverini, titled "The Lost Quilter", Simon & Schuster 2009)