"Balance" Bookmarks

 

The book shown here is:

The Miniaturist, by Jesse Burton, Peebo & Pilgrim Limited 2014 

The book shown here is:

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, 2004, Random House Trade Paperbacks

The book shown here is:

Kumpel und Komplizen, Warum die Natur auf Partnerschaft setzt,

by Volker Arzt, C. Bertelsmann 2019

*

I call these bookmarks "Balance Bookmarks". 

The structure of the design is always the same, 

but the exact forms and sewing lines are new and improvised in each bookmark.

*

September Star

 

“The first flash of color always excites me as much as the first frail, courageous bloom of spring. This is, in a sense, my season--sometimes warm and, when the wind blows an alert, sometimes cold. But there is a clarity about September. On clear days, the sun seems brighter, the sky more blue, the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; the moon is a wonderful apparition, rising gold, cooling to silver; and the stars are so big. The September storms--the hurricane warnings far away, the sudden gales, the downpour of rain that we have so badly needed here for so long--are exhilarating, and there's a promise that what September starts, October will carry on, catching the torch flung into her hand.” 

― Faith Baldwin, Evening Star 

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/september?page=2

Juggling Balls with Bag

Recently I made some new juggling balls:

I filled them with a mixture of organically grown, dried Provençal lavender and nontoxic synthetic fibers (half & half).

It turned out that this mixture works very well:

the balls fly high and well, have a bit of weight, but are still light enough, and they don't roll that far away on the ground when I missed them - which of course happens very swiftly and often.

And I really like that fragrance of lavender!

Plus I experimented a bit with the right measurements for the balls. 

I want them to be not too big so that I can easily hold two in one hand.

So below can be seen the template I used for my balls with an edge length of 2,8 cm / 1,1", 12 of these five-sided figures are needed for one ball.

My bag easily holds my three balls, the piece of fabric is 62 x 25 cm/ 24,4" x 9,8", my drawstring is crocheted with a cotton and wool ribbon thread, about 72 cm/28,7" long, also: 

I appliquéd a small, quilted patchwork-motif.

 

 

August Star

“August was nearly over - the month of apples and falling stars, the last care-free month for the school children. The days were not hot, but sunny and limpidly clear - the first sign of advancing autumn.” 

― Victor Nekrasov

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/august?page=2

 

Elise

she just came in and announced that she would like 

to stay a while

July Star

“Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young, the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom, and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above, it was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.” 

― Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/41326609-the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

 

Greeting Cards

The patchwork piece (top and back) is slipped over the upper side of the card,

when opened, the card looks like this:

... and depending on the arrangement of possible quilting-stitches, which are going through the paper to the back,

it's often also possible to put an extra note inside:

Here are some more, the method allows for a variety of ways to create patchwork or appliqué motifs and patterns:

This is done with my naturally dyed fabrics:

... some teddy bears for young and older kids:

... all waiting to be given or sent away:

Here is a good wish:

“i hope that 

whoever you are

wherever you are

and no matter how

you are feeling

you will always 

have something

to smile about.” 

― Sanober Khan

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/wishes?page=2

June Star

“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.” 

― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/june?page=3

 

May Star

“The month of May is the pleasant time; its face is beautiful; the blackbird sings his full song, the living wood is his holding, the cuckoos are singing and ever singing; there is a welcome before the brightness of the summer."

― Lady Gregory, “Finn, Son of Cumhal”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/may?page=2

 

Yoga Mat

Just finished, a yoga mat, I practice Yoga each morning and I love such a mat here, it provides a sturdiness that is very welcome, and also some warmth because the filling is a cotton (80%)/polyester-blanket, the fabrics are cotton. 

I find that mixture more pleasant than any other material that is usually used for a Yoga mat. It is thick enough so that one can dive into Yoga comfortably, and thin enough so that this mat can be rolled up and stored away afterwards.

Also, I find it nice if such a yoga mat mirrors what yoga does: it turns my attention to the center of things, 

so I try to find a good pattern for the middle of this arrangement of the patchwork top.

The center pattern here is a traditional one, it is called "Pinwheel".

Such a mat should be a bit longer than the height of the person who will use it, and it is wider than a normal mat, so that both arms can rest comfortably. 

This mat here is 170 cm x 80 cm (67" x 31,5"). It is hand- and machine-sewn, hand quilted, and can be washed easily (everything is pre-washed).

*

“Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements. Once you understand the grammar of yoga; you can write your poetry of movements.” 

― Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/yoga

April Star

“They came on one of April's most brilliant days--a day as sparkling as a newly-washed lemon...a day when even the shadows were a melange of blue and orange and jade, like the shadows that poured from the tipsy brush of Monet.” 

― Beverley Nichols, A Thatched Roof

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/april

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

A friend pointed out to me that an egg can be viewed as a symbol of hope, I've never had the thought before, but yes, I realize now how lovely this idea really is.

"May your choices reflect your hopes,

not your fears."

Nelson Mandela

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/hope?page=7

... some Easter bunnies, they hopped on greeting cards here ...

 

March Star

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” 

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/march

 

 

... a wallhanging, and I tried to compose a Haiku to go with it:

sunlight and shadow

improvisation and plan

they go hand in hand

It's Been 10 Years

The February sun is shining through these small 

window-quilts,

with these I celebrate a bit the fact 

that it's been 10 years this month 

since I started this blog,

this quilt-diary here.

I enjoyed doing this immensely,

still do,

and I hope it's the same with you 

when you come to visit me here.

:-)

February Star

Since most of us are forced (or willing, or able, or happy ...) to improvise things these days, I thought it would be a good idea to choose an improvised star for this month in 2021.

This one here is completely improvised.

I like the definitions given by the Cambridge Dictionary:

'a performance that is not practiced and that is invented by the performers'

'Improvisation is also the activity of making or doing something that you have not planned, using whatever you find.'

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/improvisation

But for me another aspect of improvisation is an important one: I am listening to whatever is going on around me and I find MY answer to that, and I let this flow into my impromptu activity. If there is a real 'flow' it can be a very rewarding process, 

and a lot of fun.

Happy February!

lots of snow around here this winter ...

Lavender

... filled with Provençal organically grown lavender,

just to bring a whiff of summer, a remembrance of warmth into the house, home, mind and heart.

In these lines below the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

finds the loveliest words for this:

Auch das ist Kunst, 

ist Gottes Gabe, 

aus ein paar sonnenhellen Tagen 

sich so viel Licht ins Herz zu tragen, 

dass, wenn der Sommer längst verweht, 

das Leuchten immer noch besteht. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(1749 - 1832)

  

Leaves

These Leaves here found their places as a coaster,

 or as bookmarks,

one landed on a greeting card.

The books shown here are very lovely ones:

The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett, Bloomsbury, 2019

Blumen, 40 Meisterwerke von Dürer bis Dalí, von Celia Fisher, Reimer, 2012