Do Not Grow Weary

Nicht müde werden

Nicht müde werden

sondern dem Wunder

leise

wie einem Vogel

die Hand hinhalten.

        

Do not grow weary

Do not grow weary

but gently

to the wonder

as if a bird should light

hold out your hand.

- by Hilde Domin

translation: http://www.arlindo-correia.com/161005.html

sketch of bird by me

Bookdog

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. " said Groucho Marx.

So, doesn't it make sense to not only have birdbookmarks and catbookmarks, but also dogbookmarks?

So, this is my third version of a bookmark: a little dog, a bookdog.

Maybe it is fine for kids, but I think, kids of all ages might like to have such a doggie around, as "best friend" while reading.

These dogs are a bit different than my bookcats and my bookbirds. So their two sides are made with the same fabrics, but their floppy ears look different and these sometimes fly in a somewhat funny way. 

Some dogs have a waving tail, some sit in attention and have their tail at their side.

Also, because of their pair of floppy ears, every bookdog has an additional built-in stabilization: I added a thin wooden stick to their spine to prevent a dog from hanging over the edge of a book, which wouldn't look good.

But at that point it is important to remember that these bookdogs are meant to be used as bookmarks and not as toys; if these dogs are handled roughly the wooden stick might break and sharp parts might stick out of the fabric, so it's good to be careful here when very small kids are around.

These bookdogs have the same dimensions as the bookbirds and the bookcats: 21 cm/ 7 cm or about 8"/ 3". The eyes, nose and mouth are embroidered by hand, the front legs are marked with quilting stitches.

The batting of the body, the ears and the tail is of woolen fleece.

All my bookmarks are signed with a small embroidered M.

These bookdogs here are my first, more will follow and I will show them later here on this site.

If anyone is interested, I sell some of those, just send me an e-mail then: MARIASmail@t-online.de

(and for further information please go to "Give And Take" on top of this side.)

The bookdog here "lives" in a very lovely book by Elke Heidenreich: "Nero Corleone", Hanser, 1995. It is a cat tale and it's as it is with every good story for kids: what happens in this book  is so deep and lovely and breathtakingly amazing, it is a fantastic read for adults as well. The wonderful illustrations are by Quint Buchholz. 

Ahhh, and yes, this is what Groucho Marx also said:

"Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

:-)

Groucho Marx, US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 - 1977)

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/713.html

For a complete view of my first collection, please click on "Bookdogs" on top of this site.

Bookcat

So, in addition to my bookbirds (see my post from January 13, 2012, and if you like, click on "bookbirds" on top of this site) ... I also make bookcats now, for using them as bookmarks in lovely books.

This book shown here is "Die schönsten Märchen" (fairytales) by Hans Christian Andersen, it is from 1984 and it has these wonderful illustrations by Dagmar Berková. 

I do love this book, and to use a bookmark while holding this beautiful book in my hands, reading one of Andersen's touching fairytales, and to put my bookmark back into the book when I have to go ... and how much I love to find the right page again when I come back, because I'm welcomed with a smile by someone who "lives" in the book I love!!! Ahh, I enjoy things like that.

These are my first bookcats, I'll make more, show them here and I sell some, too, , if anyone is interested. Just send me an e-mail then:

MARIASmail@t-online.de
(for information please click also on "Give And Take" on top of this site)

Each bookcat is a unique piece, with a top that looks different than the underside, and each of my cats wears socks, very often different ones. Don't ask me why, I just like them this way! :-)

I use different pieces of fabric and a fitting woolen fleece for the batting which provides a good feeling and the stability you need in a good bookmark.

I use thread for the whiskers, I appliqué the socks and the tail and sew the face by hand. A bookcat has the same dimensions as a bookbird (21 cm/ 7cm or about 8" / 3").

For a complete view of my first collection, please click on "Bookcats" on top of this site.

Bookbird

"I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing an a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn."

Henry David Thoreau

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/birds/

This is my new "bookbird", sitting on a twig. It is made of several pieces of fabric, felt and leather. The wings and the twig are hand-appliquéd, the quilting stitches as well as the embroidery are also handmade. It is 21cm/ 7cm or about 8" / 3".  The top looks different than the underside. The batting is a fitting piece of woolen fleece, which gives all the stability you wish for in a bookmark and just feels good.

I'll make a collection of such bird- bookmarks, show them here and if anyone is interested, I will sell them. Just send me an e-mail:

MARIASmail@t-online.de
(for information please click also on "Give And Take" on top of this site)

I feel that when reading a lovely book it's really like a bird sitting next to me and it sings all kinds of wondrous stories and melodies to me, just for me to listen.

The books shown here are by Henry James, "The Portrait Of A Lady" with the wonderful drawings by John Singer Sargent, and by Studs Terkel, "And They All Sang", a very lovely book with conversations with musicians.

For a complete view of my first collection, please click on "Bookbirds" on top of this site.

"Greeting Quilties"

These are my greeting and birthday cards at the moment: patchwork or appliqué quilts, handmade, each the size of a postcard. The message is written on a piece of paper which is put into the little bag at the back of the "quiltie". 

May I suggest to NOT include anything like this in a birthday message: :-)

William Shakespeare
Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted with antiquity?

http://quotations.about.com/od/birthday/a/birthdayquo3.htm

but this one is good (for a person over - let's say - 54 or so):

William Shakespeare
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

http://quotations.about.com/od/birthday/a/birthdayquo4.htm

How To Take Care Of A Quilt (storing/ airing/ washing)

Here is some good advice I myself received from books, conversations, examples I found somewhere, I just pass it on to you because most of it I have tried out myself with really good results, but please don't blame me if something should go wrong for whatever reason.

So: If there are no stains on the quilt, it is usually not necessary to wash it. Washing puts a great strain on the fabrics and the yarn, and in most cases it is perfectly ok to just air it. Give it as much fresh air as you can, I hang my bedquilt over a chair at the open window each morning for at least 15 minutes. Stored quilts : maybe there is a possibility to hang them over a line outdoors in summer, too.

As a general rule: avoid direct sunlight on the top of the quilts and keep them at moderate humidity and temperature. Avoid unnecessary folding. If you have the possibility, lay the quilts you don't use flat on a spare bed, with pieces of cotton or linen in between. If you can't do this: roll the quilt  around a cardboard tube and cover the tube with a piece of cotton, linen or tissue paper first, then cover the quilt with cotton.

If you have to fold a quilt : rearrange and refold the quilt from time to time then. If you keep quilts in a chest: avoid direct contact with wood.

Never keep a quilt in a plastic bag, plastic prevents fabric from breathing and it can trap moisture then.

A good idea is to give a cotton-bag, filled with Lavender, to the stored quilts: it provides a wonderful aroma and it keeps moths away.

Some people say it's a good idea to carefully vacuum a quilt, but I never did that.

In case you feel it's absolutely necessary to wash your quilt:

Before you wash your quilt for the first time, put it into a large tub which is filled with clear cold water for at least 8 hours. This will prevent any shrinking of the cotton parts of your quilt, be it fabric or yarn.

After that:

Use shampoo, cool water, wash it in a large (bath)tub, rinse carefully, wrap it in cloth to lift the now very heavy quilt out of the water (so that the threads don't rip), wring carefully and lay out flat on towels (maybe on the lawn, in the shadow, on a warm summer day).

In my experience, however, this is a job for two persons because the wet quilt gets verv heavy and the whole process requires a lot of space and good weather.

So I decided to use my washing machine with a delicate quilt, manufactured with lots of cotton fabric and cotton yarn, no pre-washed parts, and it all went very well.

I put the quilt into the washing machine, let it get wet with COLD water using a wool program but no detergent at all (it took 20 minutes with my machine until the quilt was really completely soaked and I stopped the program there), let it sit for 8 hours, then waited until the water was pumped out. 

After that I used the wool program again with low temperature (30°) and a special detergent for wool, and let it spin at the lowest possible speed of my machine (600). After that the quilt felt very good, it was a gentle washing cycle and the quilt wasn't so heavy, which reduces the strain put onto the seams and it can be hung up easily. I used a laundry rack for hanging, that distributes the weight of the quilt best. While the quilt got dry I rearranged it several times and kept it in shape.

The next time I need to wash this quilt I will only use the wool program again but not the 8-hours-soaking-in-cold-water-time beforehand, this is only necessary when a quilt is washed for the first time.

Sleeping Under A Quilt

One of the reasons why quilts are not THAT popular in Germany could be the notion, that quilts are for decoration only, but not for daily use.

That is because here in Germany beds are made in a different way than in the US for example. Here (and in some other European countries as well) mostly a pillow and a duvet (filled with down) is used, all put into matching bedlinen, plus a fittet sheet for the mattress. 

Hardly anyone uses plain sheets anymore, and these are needed when you actually USE a quilt on your bed on a daily basis. I am happy to have inherited some plain sheets! But it's not difficult to sew some with simple pieces of cotton.

Sleeping with a quilt means, you put a plain sheet under it which is changed regularly. The quilt itself is only aired, but not washed so often. The pillow is put into a pillowcase which is often unicolored, the quilt is the piece on the bed that provides all the color and the patterns you wish for.

On cooler days there is a simple woolen blanket put underneath the quilt also. 

Sleeping underneath a quilt  - and not under a duvet - is an entirely different feeling: it doesn't feel  so fluffy, so soft, it is more ..."covering", and to me much more comfy. And then there is of course also the sense of being covered by something that is made by a person you know, maybe yourself!:-), sometimes even handmade, it just has a special history and bears all kinds of memories and tells stories over stories ...Good to sleep with those!!

There are very beautiful quilts offered in some stores, some are fabulous and well done, some even LOOK handmade (but a great many are imported, very often from factories in India and the Far East countries, and produced under circumstances you probably would not like to know more about). 

But there is nothing like creating and using an individual quilt, even if it is a very simple piece: there is nothing like it. Nothing is such a good nightly storyteller, soothing body and soul.

The Sea Behind The Dunes

I love this since my childhood days: I go through the dunes, I can only smell the sea at first, and I hear the cries of some sea gulls, and then - going slowly up a rise near the beach - I first hear the waves, and I feel the winds are getting stronger, and by and by I see something blue coming up ... and then, when I stand on top of the rise, imagine what I can see...

very much like starting something new at the beginning of a New Year!

Trust

I think that is such a lovely poem for the first day of a new year:

SAVES ME 

I trust the night 

I trust the stars that shine 

I trust the moon 

I know its love’s divine 

I trust the wind 

I trust its winding ways 

I trust the sky 

I know its separate days 

I trust the dawn 

I trust its rising light 

I trust the sun 

I know its blinding sight 

I trust the clouds 

I trust the crimson waves 

I trust the things I love 

I know that this trust saves 

Me. 

Natasha Ashwe July 16, 2006 

Happy New Year!

I wish that in 2012 there will be many a nice cup, filled wih beautiful experiences, unveiled for you!

Happy Holidays!

His high endeavors are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright.
~William Wordsworth

http://www.quotegarden.com/light.html

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

http://quotations.about.com/od/specialdays/a/christmas5.htm

Christmas Cards

These are my Christmas cards this year: little handmade quilts with a hand-appliquéd tree-motif on top. The quilts are the size of a postcard, so it's easy to send them with a normal envelope. I decided not to use any templates, so each tree has an invividual form, plus I add one or more stars (embroidered with yellow yarn) and a tree top, which is made of silk yarn ( when I work with silk pieces I collect the threads I cut off).

 I also decided against any glue or other things that are not that typical for quilts, but then again I had to solve the problem where to write Christmas messages ? So I had the idea of simply attaching a little bag to the back of the quilt, and here I can put in a little card or a folded piece of nice paper. So the recipient of such a Christmas card takes the message out of a little quilt bag...I think that sounds ok, doesn't it? 
(I also attach a little loop, just in case anyone wants to hang up this little Christmas quilt.)

St. Nicholas' Day

It's December 6, St. Nicholas' Day, today and that's for me the start to work on my Christmas Quilt again. It's some kind of a ritual which started 2009: from December 6 to January 6 each year I work on a Christmas Quilt. This is my first one and the top is nearly finished, I'm working on the border now. Maybe I am able to finish the quilting work this time....and on Jan 6 I will carefully fold it and store it until the start of the Christmas season in 2012. (The picture from the post below - December 4- was taken last year.)


The best thing is to unwrap the piece on St. Nicholas' Day and see what was done before... so I nearly forgot that I already had started to work on the border last year, I am delighted to see that it looks really good, to me that is! :-) This working on a Christmas quilt - whoever might use this piece later in life - gives me some good feeling I can't describe further, I only know it's much better than rushing back and forth through shopping malls. I feel that I give my time to something that really counts. Baking cookies and such: the same thing! Ahhh, I love this season (just like I love every other season, too!).

Christmas Time

It's Christmas Time Again

(by Bob Lazzar-Atwood)

Put your problems on probation
Run your troubles off the track,
Throw your worries out the window
Get the monkeys off your back.
Silence all your inner critics
With your conscience make amends,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Call a truce with those who bother you
Let all the fighting cease,
Give your differences a breather
And declare a time of peace,
Don't let angry feelings taint
The precious time you have to spend,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Like some cool refreshing water
Or a gentle summer breeze,
Like a fresh bouquet of flowers
Or the smell of autumn leaves,
It's a banquet for the spirit
Filled with family, food and friends,
So allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/poems/poetry_page_3.htm#tistime

Special

"The heart is forever inexperienced."

Henry David Thoreau

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/heart_4.html

Log Cabin Pattern: in Quilt and in Watercolor

....well, it's some kind of Log Cabin pattern, it's my "variation", the original one has a slightly different arrangement of strips... :-)

"With watercolour, you can't cover up the marks. There's the story of the construction of the picture, and then the picture might tell another story as well."

David Hockney

http://quote.robertgenn.com/getquotes.php?catid=328

Watercolor: Appliquéd Grapes

It's like I am saying the same things, just in a different language.

Watercolor Amish Diamond Quilt