wordless

things, nobody did ask

• I am slightly addicted to coffee and think it works marvelous for sleeping.
• I prefer to sleep long and go to bed early (as in early in the morning). Though that never works with a job and little kids around. But a girl can dream.
• Love this time of the fall with all those colors and its freshness and occassionally fog.
• The fabric of the trouser above marks the moment where I discovered that there are indeed some pretty fabrics around and brought me back to sewing. Mainly started with stuff for the kids (as the clothes above and the trousers below) and the house.
• To compensate for my rather slow crafting some stuff as the orange shirt just gets pimped, which isn't really fast but eliminates some steps.
• There are to many projects in various stages lingering around despite any of my efforts.
• There are days I care.

What about you?

rain and chaos

It is quite cloudy and rainy at the moment and my sewing corner looks as sad as the weather outside. The kids already have got a little corner as they want to stay in my sewing corner anyway. Curious little creatures.



The ironing board has got the long needed cover, but the furniture and all the stuff has still to be organized. Currently, I am dreaming about some darker blue walls and some white painting of the furniture. What do you think? Meanwhile the kids help me spreading some color LOL

not much happening here

All my guys were puking the last days and especially our little one didn't like it much. Well, not that the others were very font of it either but at least the understood a bit better what was going on. Luckily, I didn't catch any stomach flue so far. Only short of sleep, coffee and places to dry all the clothes, bedding, pillows ...... Hopefully, todays evening will be spend sewing. Some deadlines approaching pretty fast. Plus I would like to finish as much projects as I can this week before moving.

oh, the chaos

I started working again after a year staying home with my kids. Still have to get used to work full time. Big kiddie started kindergarten this week. He is one of the youngest among a lot of other kids. So far he has been really tough. I enjoy working and I have a well paid, secure job. Nevertheless, I will trade safety for new challenge and go to a small company working again as fire safety engineer. As a consequence we all have to move town - 150 km from Munich to Ulm. Three month for finding a new place to live in Ulm, move everything, repaint (in Germany you have to leave your rents freshly painted in neutral colors, which normally translates to white) and clean our old flat, get money for the built-in-kitchen, get a new kitchen in the new flat (long delivery times!) .....

Heads smoking, panic starting and all that.

reflections 2010

Looking back on the sewing scene of 2010, what trends stand out in your mind?

Hmm, everybody seemed to be very excited about participating in bees and swaps as part of the vivide online community. Hexagons for anything instead of flowers and mug rugs were also some trends. Another trend, which I am still not sure whether to like or not, is the frequency new fabric lines are coming out.

What were some of your favorite things?
Getting to know a lot of other crafters! I met some amazing and inspiring people online :)

What was your very favorite fabric collection or print?
This would be Echinos Spring 2008 collection, being slow enough to discover it only last year. The fabric feels gorgeous and I love most of the prints and color combinations.

What was the best thing you made in 2010?
Does finalizing count? This little critter would be it. Not? Well, the best thing I did last year is actually nothing I can show. It is about trying some techniques as tackleing free motion quilting. About stretching my comfort zone regarding fabric choices, color combinations and else. About less procrastination and more finishing things. About not worrying all the time that I will mess everything (it still might happen but it is not the end of the world). It all sums up to getting more confident. Love it.

What is one of the best things you saw that was made by someone else?
Hard to pick one. Here are some of the wonderful things I saw.

 

Click here for credit

What do you think 2011 has in store?
I assume that more independent designer will get more attention and that the market for organic fabrics will grow. Hope for both.

Anything you’re ready for the sewing world to get over?
Instead of releasing so many fabric collections at the current frequency with sometimes just variations of a them, I would rather prefer fewer collections and more distinctive designs.

What’s on your sewing agenda for 2011? What are you excited about? What would you like to learn more about?
Bags are on the agenda: Travel bag, back bag and messenger bags will need to be replaced this year and I'd like to try sewing me news ones with water proof materials. Didn't try them before. I am also gonna test more natural battings. The regular cotton batting makes quilts a bit heavy and less cuddly. Therefore, I prefer some mid volume polyester battings for my quilts. Will have to look a bit around since the battings have to be reasonable priced, easy to wash and dry and pleasing touch.
The new lines of Birch Fabrics coming this January will hopefully soon be released. Need to make plans for them.

Design

Still under construction. The header will stay awhile until I shot some nice pictures to make another one. Need to look for background or how to implement my own background respectively.

2011 and a new beginning

Time flies and I really should set up my goals for 2011.

• Setting up an English version of my blog. Apparently already done, although there is still some work to do especially regarding the design. This is something I am planning for months. I am getting so many inspirations from blogs and other crafters at flickr and learnt so many new things. Unfortunately, German isn't the best language for giving back at least some of this input, is it? Nice side effect: Practising English.
  
• Keep both blogs running. Some older post such as tutorials will also be translated and reposted here.
  
• Getting more organized. Kind of a long term project. Need to minimize and organize. A better time management would also be fine.
• Using my stash! Sounds stupid but sometimes I just forget to use some older fabrics in my projects when having a stack of new fabrics in front of me. Additionally, it is always good to refresh my stock. Best would be to only buy as much as I am using up this year, which is a rather ambitious goal for me.

These will be the most important plans besides all the smaller projects on never-ending to-do-lists and some ideas I might want to bring to life. Sounds reasonable, don't you think?