Lovely Book Cover

I do not know anything about this book, but I LOVE the cover!

Good Question

If what the heart approves 

conforms to proper patterns,

then even if one's desires are many,

what harm would they be to good order?

Xun Zi

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/heart_11.html

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

Robert Brault

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/enjoy_the_little_things-for_one_day_you_may_look/224543.html

Little Quilts

A bunch of keys.

Before:

and after:

and it still holds the coin for the shopping cart:

Small quilts can make a small difference! :-)

Haiku-Quilt

This Quilt shows my Haiku:

ICH SCHRIEB EINEN BRIEF

EIN STURM TRUG DIE SEITEN FORT

ABER ETWAS BLEIBT

The blue fabric in the middle part is more than 25 years old and I know from experience it will fade in time, and I welcome it, because I know some lovely blue will remain, just like it's said in my Haiku:

 something will remain after a storm has carried away all pages of a letter I once wrote -

I hope this quilt will look nicer and nicer with time going by!

(96 patches, machine- and hand-sewing, hand-quilting, 1,45m + 1,02m)

More about Haikus on my site:
http://flugblatt.blogspot.de

post from Dec 7, 2011

newly re-discovered

This is one of the paintings I made, it  hangs in a corner of my room and - although it's not small - I hardly noticed it for a long time. But then, sometimes,  I look at things with new eyes! 

Jane Austen's Home

"Mr.Elliott was rational, discreet, polished, but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection. Her early impressions were incurable. She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character beyond all others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her still. She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped."

(Jane Austen, Persuasion)

How much I love these lines! (And many more.)

Here are pictures of Jane Austen's home in Chawton, Hampshire, UK.  There she lived from 1809 to 1817, the year of her death, together with her sister Cassandra and her mother. It was there that she wrote her novels "Mansfield Park", "Emma" and "Persuasion". "Sense and Sensibility" was written earlier, but not published until 1811. "Pride and Prejudice" was published 1813. So at Chawton Jane Austen seemed to have had a a very productive and presumably happy time, receiving applause from her readers and also establishing some modest financial security.

Her home is now a lovely museum. (Jane Austen's House Museum)

The following pictures give us a glimpse of her home and her lovely quilt, which she made together with her sister and her mother.

In 1811 Jane Austen wrote in a letter to her sister Cassandra:

"... have you remembered to collect pieces for the Patchwork? -- we are now at a standstill."

http://www.jasa.net.au/quilt.htm

Her quilt delights me so much that I try to make a quilt which shows just the same pattern. I wrote about it in my earlier posts here.

These are my first patches:

And this is Jane Austen's wonderful quilt and home:

All Jane-Austen's-Home-pictures by Miller'sImageBank. THANK YOU!!! ♡

"How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!"

Jane Austen, Persuasion, published 1818

and this is a lovely colored drawing by Lilian Snelling,

made the same year in which "Persuasion" was published, 

one year after Jane Austen's death:

from: Diary 2012, The Royal Horticultural Society

Work In Progress

There are three main projects I'm working on right now. I love them all.

♡

My Haiku-Quilt. I know some letters can't be read easiliy, I want it to be this way. I want me (and readers) to be interested and to look closely and to WANT to understand things, and  - I think -
THEN we know! :-)

My complete Haiku can be found on my site:

 http://flugblatt.blogspot.de

(post from December 7, 2011)

My coverlet with hand-appliquéd leaves.

And my Jane-Austen-quilt. 

By the way: If anyone is interested I can fax my templates for this quilt. Just send me an e-mail then with your fax-address (MARIASmail@t-online.de)

(if you are interested: click on the image of your choice for a closer view)

Oh, I'm happy that my "Jane-Austen-Quilt" seems to turn out allright. 

Centerpiece

Well, I made some mistakes and miscalculations, it's all not that easy, but somehow now I have constructed the centerpiece of my quilt which I call 

"Jane-Austen-Quilt".

Very delightful work!

Jane - Austen - Quilt

Jane Austen seemed to have had a very productive time as a writer in the beginning of the 19th century. She also was a very accomplished seamstress and during that period she, her beloved sister Cassandra and her mother worked on a wonderful quilt.

Somehow I am drawn to her. I love her novels, the story of her life, I loved to watch the movie "Becoming Jane" with Anne Hathaway, and I love her quilt.

So now I decided to make a Jane-Austen-quilt. It will show her arrangement of diamonds, it will be made of floral and black-and-white spotted cotton fabrics, it will have nearly the same dimensions (236 x 155 cm) and a lovely centerpiece, it will be made of about 3000 pieces and it will be completely handmade.

Since each and every individually made quilt is unique I can't and don't want to make a quilt which tries to look as much as hers as possible... it wouldn't turn out right. But I can try to muster the same determination and the love for details as Jane Austen and her sister and her mother did in such an adorable way.

So, I made a start. After some research on the internet about the specifics and doing the maths I now have my templates ready and I found and cut my centerpiece as well as some diamonds.... This project will give me satisfaction and happiness for months and months and months and years to come. I will work on lots of other things, too, but the collecting of suitable fabrics (Jane Austen used 64 different fabrics!) and the construction of this quilt will be some kind of a steady "background melody" from now on.

For everyone who is interested, here are some wonderful and very informative sites about Jane Austen's quilt:

http://www.jasa.net.au/quilt.htm

http://www.jasa.net.au/quiltclark.htm

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/jane-austens-quilt/

http://www.rosaleeclark.com.au/making-janes-coverlet/jane-austen-quilt-pattern/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisabethpix/3464487483/

Butterfly

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

Rabindranath Tagore

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

G is for Giraffes

A is for the Apes who danced between trees,

B for the Bear, disturbing the bees;

C is for the Clown who stood on his hands,

D for the Dolphins from far away lands;

E is for the Elephant, mighty and strong,

F for the Flags in the wind all day long;

G is for Giraffes who've escaped from the zoo,

H is for Hares saying how-do-you-do?

I is for an Island far out in the sea,

J is for Jaguars looking at me;

K is for the Kangoroo, handsome and bold,

L for the Lions whose fur glows like gold;

M is for the Mice with their long tails,

N for the Nutcracker whose bite never fails;

O is for the Orange trees that stand on the hill,

P is for the Pelican with his long bill;

Q is for Quinces, so yellow and round,

R is for the Roses climbing up from the ground;

S is for Salamander, creeping so slow,

T for the Table and my toys down below;

U is for Underwear, dried in the sun,

V is for Volcano, spitting fire like a gun;

W is for the Weasels, on their hind feet,

X is for Xylophone, making music so sweet;

Y is for Yeti, who lives in the snow,

Z for the Zebras who don't know where to go.

from: An Address Book For Children, by Monika Beisner, 

1978 Eel Pie Publishing, England

Finished!

It's time to celebrate for me! I finished a new quilt!

I worked on it (though not continually) since August 2011 -  I talked about it earlier here, on August 9, 2011 ("Reverse Side") and March 3, 2012 ("In and Out, A Blue Underground Pattern")...

... and right now I just sit and am happy with it! 

It's funny, but this work really means something to me.

fragments and pieces

when assembled they explode

and form a new quilt

Carpet Bag

"Why," said Jane, "there's nothing in it!"
"What do you mean - nothing?" demanded Mary Poppins, drawing herself up and looking as though she had been insulted.
...
"From the carpet bag she took out seven flannel nightgowns, four cotton ones, a pair of boots, a set of dominoes, two bathing-caps and a postcard album. Last of all came a folding camp-bedstead with blankets and eiderdown complete, and this she set down between John's cot and Barbara's.
Jane and Michael sat hugging themselves and watching. It was all so surprising that they could find nothing to say. But they knew, both of them, that something strange and wonderful had happened at Number Seventeen, Cherry-Tree Lane."


(from: "Mary Poppins" by P.L.Travers, 1934)


... and this here is a "carpet bag" I made, it seems to be empty? Well, it isn't!

It's A Girl

Well, here is my Easter bunny taking a break from hiding eggs, posing for a quick photo. 

And yes: It's a girl, wearing her best dress today. And yes: She (again) had put on two different shoes, it happened in her haste today to get everything done. And yes: She is often being complimented on her extraordinary ears!

And off she goes again!

HAPPY EASTER!

Easter Bunny

Easter is coming ...

and my Easter bunny is waiting to get all dressed up!

"You never forget a beautiful thing...

... that you have made,' [Chef Bugnard] said. 'Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always.” 

-Julia Child, My Life in France

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3465.Julia_Child

Since I like cooking and lovely kitchen utensils I now sewed a potholder which shows the same pattern as my fragrant coasters and my hanging-bag (see my posts here from March 19 and March 26, 2012). It is also a great way to use up all my scraps in my scrap-bag!

Somehow I think I managed to design a potholder which answers all my seven wishes I have potholder-wise! :-)  

First: This potholder looks good and special I think. It is an eye-catcher because of the circular and multi-colored design. Both sides are made in patchwork-style, consist of three layers of fabric each and are hand-quilted.

Second: I can hang it up easily because it has a large nice string.

Third: It is a slip-inside-potholder, it can be used like a glove.

Fourth: This potholder is big enough to handle larger baking trays or pots (it is 27 cm or 10 1/2" in diameter).

Fifth: It is thick enough to protect the hand against the heat, because of the three layers of fabric on each side, but also because an additional inner bag is inserted.

Sixth: This potholder provides a firm grip, because the inner bag is fastened with buttons and with quilting stitches which are set according to the size of the hand of the owner: it is a made-to-measure-potholder!

Seventh: Washing is easy because I use robust fabrics only, for the inner and outer layers alike.

...and here is some good advice on cooking, coming again from Julia Child ( I love her!)

“Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.” 

“Everything in moderation... including moderation.” 

and:

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3465.Julia_Child