here is to 2012

Where did 2011 go?
I had high hopes for this year, I thought it was the year that I would finally finish everything I ever started. Well, not so much :)
In April, all things came crushing down. I lost my relationship, the home and tons of friends we had shared. But in return, I made new friends, I got to know myself better (turns out I am pretty chaotic), and I am now happy.
I hope that 2012 will be the year that I finally finish school and I hope that it will be the year where I will have a lot of fun but other then that, there are no goals for next year. Well, other then finally getting the fabric scrap situation under control :)

So, I would like to thank you for this past year and I would like to thank my family (whoever is reading :) ) and my friends for their support.
And speaking of support, I will leave you with these pictures of the quilt that the A-Team sent to me. It was made for me (eek! just for me!) in May before I even settled into my new room and due to some postal errors it arrived just a few days before christmas! Could not think of a more perfect timing and more perfect present! Thank you!


Here is to a great new year!
Johanna

Accuquilt Drunkard's Path Tutorial

So, you have seen what you can do with the Drunkard's Path Die from Accuquilt:


Want to see what I made? Well, here you go:

To make this simple baby quilt all you need is:
a charm pack of colourful fabric (32 charms)
a charm pack of white fabric (32 charms)
fabric for the border
fabric for the backing
fabric for the binding
Lay your charms on the Drunkard's Path Die for the Go! Baby Cutter. Not at once but 6 pieces at a time :)

Roll them through and combine a white and a colorful half of the form the die just cut.

Put the edges together and under your sewing machine with the outer shape on top. Now sew along that round edge, making sure not to distort the shapes too much (a bit of pulling to get it through and make sure everything fits is normal).

When you are at half of the shape, the little notches cut by the die should perfectly overlap. If they do, go ahead and finish that block. If they don't then stop and start from the beginning.

Now iron with the seam allowances to one side and cut to your desired size.

Sew all of the other shapes together the same way and lay out your design.

Mine looks like this:

There are other examples here at the Drunkard's Path QAL hosted by Kristie. She also has wonderful instructions on how to sew the blocks together if mine weren't clear enough.


Now sew those blocks together the way you layed them out and make the border. I simply put on a white border first, then a small (2 inches) yellow border and then a white border again.

Back, quilt and bind your quilt.
You are done!
Happy sewing!
Johanna

PS: and more pictures of the finished quilt:

Accuquilt Go! Baby Cutter Review

A few months ago, the lovely people from Accuquilt sent me one of their Go! Baby Cutters so I could test it. I am happy to say that I tested it thoroughly and I have now a very very well-founded opinion of it :)

So if you want to get one of these for christmas, here are a few things you should think about:

What do you want to do with it?
I am the kind of quilter that likes trying out new things. A lot! So while technically the Go! Cutter is not made for me, it makes it easier for me to revisit certain designs that I normally wouldn't. Like the Drunkard's Path design. If I were to cut it all by hand, I wouldn't even have tried once to make one. The Go! Cutter did it for me and I am so proud of what I put together with it. But! I still won't do that Drunkard's Path design too often, even without having to cut all the fabric.
What kind of design and therefore what size should each block be?
I have to warn you: I thought the Go! Baby would produce blocks that were bigger. I know they tell you the exact size on the website but I still was amazed how tiny the Drunkard's Path design was. And yes, that design is not made for beginners (small curves!) and I knew it.

Still, if I wanted to buy one, I would probably take the normal Go! Cutter because then I would know that ALL the dies fit.


Why do you want it?
Is there one design that you are doing over and over again and you are tired of cutting? Then please, go ahead and buy the Go! Baby Cutter. You want to try out new designs and are buying it - just in case and because it is on sale? Well, that's still your choice :)

What do you expect?
Are you expecting a miracle machine and that you will never have to use your scissores again? Please don't! Sometimes some threads of the fabric on the die will not get cut and you will have to use your scissors to free them. And you can't just put down your fabric without trimming it to size or else you will have too much waste. And please iron your fabric before putting it on the die or else you will not cut correctly.


This might be my German "Don't expect too much" attitude but if you take these points into consideration you won't be disappointed and get to love your machine as much as I do because it saves you so much time and energy otherwise spend on cutting.

What dies to buy?
I based my decision on the following thoughts: Will I use it frequently? I got the circles and equilateral triangles. I used the triangles and created a bee block and then never went back because they were just too small and I got tired of that much sewing. But I might just be too lazy for it...
The circles are the best thing I ever got because I love circles and the sizes are just perfect! I use the die a lot and will be doing a tutorial on one of my christmas gifts done with them later. I should have probably gotten one of the square dies or the hexagon one, too, and started a hand sewing project :)
The Drunkard's Path design was something different. I love the design and what I can do with just that die. Just take a look at the different designs done with it here at the drunkard's path QAL group, isn't it wonderful!


I would just never cut out all those tiny parts and the Go! Cutter helps tremendously. A tutorial on that will follow, too :) If you love applique but don't want to cut out all those shapes then please get one. I imagine it saves so much time on cutting that the investment is well worth it.

Overall
If you know all those facts and still want to get one, then please get a Go! Cutter. It can save a lot of time and if you are a quilter that does the exact same design over and over again, I would say it is mandatory to get one. But I encourage you to try it out before purchasing - maybe at a friends or a local quilt shop and seeing the dies before purchasing.

Would I purchase one for myself?
Probably not, but I would want to get one for christmas. This time the Go! Cutter so I could chose among more dies :)

Hope you are not under too much stress to get ready for christmas!
Johanna

PS: a disclaimer at the end: while Accuquilt sent me the Go! Baby Cutter, I was also granted that I could write anything I wanted. This post is my honest opinion and any questions you might have will be answered truthfully.

Tricolore Quilt

I have been wanting to post about this quilt for months. That's how long it has been here. Just a few days ago I got around to put it into my shop, you can find it here.



It was made with the remnants I had left after making the diamond quilt for Spring Market using Amanda's Sugar&Spice collection. Wow, that really was a long time ago! Anyway, I simply cut out triangles and put them together. And I was surprised to see that I still love the combination of aqua and blue.


Hope you are having a lovely weekend!
Johanna

Quilting Bee Blocks Update

This is what it looked like just a week ago.



Today, there are no more leaves on the trees and instead of beautiful sunlight we got grey and misty weather. To cheer up I was looking through my flickr groups and realized I never showed you the bee blocks I made for the past few months in Bee Germany and Europe. Here they are, in no particular order. For more information click on each of the pictures, they should take you to the flickr page.

AND! My friends Jackie and Julie are both having Baby Go! Cutter Giveaways. Julie's is open until tonight and Jackie's until Monday. You better hurry over there and enter yourself!

Hope you are having a wonderful day,

Johanna

Winners!

Thank you, everyone, for participating in my last giveaway. I loved all your comments and I am really grateful that you still stuck around!

Before I tell you who won, I have to ask something: Does anyone want my selvages?


I have been collecting them for quite some time now and always wanted to do something with them. I just don't have time for that and now decided to give them away. If no one wants them, I will throw them away. But I am hoping to give them so someone who will use them :)

Onto the winners!
One charm pack goes to:

Bev C who said:

Hello Johanna,

Your bunting looks lovely. Thanks for the chance to enter your giveaway.
Happy days.
Bev.xoxo

And the other to:

Lee who said:

The pinchions are very cute! thanks for the giveaway!-happier is really a happy fabric!

Congratulations you two! Please email me your addresses (at "Jonalili at gmx.de" ) and I will get your charm packs on your way as soon as I can.

Happy weekend!
Johanna

Have you been to the Party? Also a givewaway

Good morning everyone!

Long time no see :)

I hope you have all been to Amanda's party and visited each of the other team members!
If you haven't please go there, there are fabulous giveaways and seeing Amanda's new line *Delighted* and what everyone made with it, is absolutely amazing!


Amanda aka The Quilted Fish
Brooke
Candice
Jackie
Jana
Julie
Sally
Stephanie

And here is what I made for Amanda with her bunting panel. If you want to see for yourself how many options you have please go here.
I sent mine to her via international express mail but I guess even that is slow these days :)
Sorry Amanda!

Here it is in my room. Doesn't it fit the walls perfectly?


And to celebrate with all the others, I am also giving something away. It's not Delighted but something just as cute.
Leave a comment for your chance to win one of those charm packs of Happier by Deena Rutter and I will pick two winners in a week.

Thank you for staying with me all this time and have a great day!
Johanna

PS: Watch Julie and Sally make a Bottlecap Pin Cushion here. Totally cute!

what to do when you have a study-related panic attack

What do I do when I have one of my panic attacks due to some exams I need to take soon?

I listen to music.


I look out of the window.


I look at beautiful things that found their way back all the way from SLC.

I look at fun news on other peoples' blogs.

And then I go right back to studying.

Easy, right?
Happy Summer!

PS: I am way behind on my emails, so if I still owe you one please don't get mad at me. I will write back soon, promise!

Friday Tutorial: Summer Skirt

On friday, my tutorial went live at the Quilted Fish. And now I am finally blogging about it here :) Late as always, but it seems like I am always behind. Please tell me that I am not the only one!
So here you go, hop on over and tell me what you think.
And if you want to enter an awesome giveaway you can do that at Julie's blog!
I will be having a giveaway soon, too. And when I say soon I mean after I hopefully pass the two most challenging exams I have ever encountered in my whole life in a couple of weeks and the ensuing vacation that is supposed to take my mind off of them.
For now, I am content with studying and panicking :)

Am Freitag ist mein Tutorial live auf Amandas Webseite gegangen. Und jetzt endlich schaffe ich es, darüber hier zu bloggen. Natürlich viel zu spät wie immer, aber es sieht so aus als sollte ich mich daran gewöhnen. Bitte sagt mir, dass ich damit nicht allein bin!
Bitte hier entlang.
Auf Julie's blog gibt es auch ein geniales Giveaway dazu!
Bald werde ich auch ein ein Giveaway haben. Und wenn ich bald sage, dann meine ich irgendwann nach den beiden Klausuren, die ich noch überstehen muss, um endlich in meinen Urlaub fahren zu dürfen :)
Im Moment begnüge ich mich damit, abwechselnd zu lernen und in Panik zu verfallen :)
Einen schönen Abend Euch allen!
Johanna

Sugar and Spice Circle Quilt

Another project I get to share with you today is my circle baby quilt.
Ein anderes Projekt, an dem ich einige Wochen gesessen habe, war mein Kreisquilt in Babygröße.

I made it with Lynne's QAL instructions and got it finished some weeks ago but never got around to posting about it.
Der Quilt ist mit Lynnes Quilt Along Anleitung gemacht und obwohl ich ihn schon seit ein paar Wochen hier fertig liegen habe, habe ich es nicht geschafft, darüber zu bloggen.

I quilted this with just a few lines around the circles. The fabric line is Sugar&Spice and I used up all of the scraps I had at that time. The back is white polka dots on red fabric which I love :)

Er ist nur mit ein paar konzentrischen Kreislinien gequiltet und ich liebe den Effekt. Die Rückseite ist aus einem knallroten Baumwollstoff mit weißen Punkten für den kleinen dramatischen Effekt :) Die Vorderseite ist mit Sugar&Spice gemacht, wobei ich dafür alle meine damaligen Reste verwertete.

Thanks for reading!
Dankeschön fürs Lesen,
Johanna