Create.

Oh, how I love those days when I can whip out my sketchbook and cover page after page after page.

And although Mr. A is most likely going to roll his eyes when he sees the dinner table covered in paint splatters and pencils and brushes -  again - I love the mess it takes to create.

My very first Quilt.

May I introduce you to the very first Quilt, the one, that hooked me to the whole Quilting thing?

Meet K-Quilt!

Obviously it is just a very simple one, but I call it K-Quilt because I made it for my Mr. A's nephew whose name starts with K. I used one Charm Pack of Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda and I have to say, that one day I will buy fabrics from this line again, because I just love the colors and design!

I didn't cut anything for that quilt except the sashing and borders and binding. I was very new to sewing and this being my first quilt, I wasn't so confident in my skills of cutting and sewing exact lines, so I kept the cutting at a minimum.

I am very pleased though with how the top turned out. I made sure the colors and patterns were evenly distributed and I used a nice soft solid gray for sashing. The backing and binding is a solid dark blue. I used very thick batting because with the little guy born at the end of November he would learn how to crawl in spring and summer time, so this would be the perfect size for a crawling blanket.

I hand-quilted some big strings of bunting over it with a gray thread. Being were I am now with my sewing I would probably machine-quilt over it, my stitches on that quilt are really wide apart. But it was made with love for a little one, who wasn't even born then, because I made this quilt back in September.

I was so proud of it, and I still am, because I had no idea what to pay attention to when sewing and quilting and I still managed to get a decent result. Mr. A's sister and her husband love the quilt and I hope little K one day will love it too and appreciate the soft thick cuddly batting :D 

One thing I cringe at though is the binding. I attached it by hand and gosh, it looks awful on the back. 

I have no clue how big exactly it is, but I guess it is around what is usually called crib sized. 

Not so chainish anymore.

When my Mother decided on the fabrics for her Double Irish Chain Quilt, she wanted to be the middle chain in solid white as well, not in Black or a darker patterned fabric. I didn't worry about that, because I thought it would still look like the original pattern. I first began to wonder when I finished the first block here and they turned out to be simply checkered. I sent some pics to my Mother and she thought I would go for another pattern. Well, no Mom. I continued anyway and made the other blocks which will come in between the checkered ones. And now I am left with this:

Obviously I still have some blocks to do, but right now I can't see the Double Chain anymore. Maybe it will turn out more clearly when I add a few more blocks. But I actually like the look of it so far. And how funny are the people on the fabric? Look:

I find them so funny! I fussy cut all of the little guys so there are no weird cut off faces and although it kind of hurts to produce so much waste, I love the outcome. And I think the few splashes of pink make the black-and-white-look so much more interesting. I hope that by the weekend I will have a few more blocks to add!

Double Irish Chain

Actually I wanted to spend this weekend working on my Swoon Quilt. It just needs to be quilted, I even purchased a free-motion-foot for that but the thread keeps breaking every few inches and when the thread doesn't break, the needles break. FRUSTRATING. So I rolled it up and put it away for now, taking some time to figure out whether I should rip out the quilting I have already done and just do a simple grid-pattern all over it, or if I should continue rethreading and changing the needles every few minutes. Both don't sound very appealing.


So I thought I could start the Quilt for my Mother. When I gave my grandmother the quilt I made for her for Christmas, my mother immediately asked whether I would make on for her too. Of course I said yes! That night we spent hours on the Internet looking for patterns she liked and fabrics she loved. She settled pretty quickly on a Double Irish Chain, which was fine by me, since I want to make a Single Irish Chain Quilt for myself as soon as I finish that Swoon Quilt. So I pulled out the fabrics that had arrived over the last two weeks and began cutting. My mother loves the black/white-Combo at the moment and chose two fabrics from Alexander Henry's line 'The Ghastlies', one crown-print we found on ebay and a solid white background fabric. The backing fabric will be white polar fleece.

I chose to start with the checkered blocks. So I cut the white and tapestry fabric into 2 1/2 inch strips and sewed them alternately together and then cut them into 2 1/2 inch strips again, so I was left with this:

 After that I sewed together one upper strip with one of the other strips until I had a 5x5 Block.

I cut enough fabric to make five of those, which means I still have to make 10 more of them, but it went pretty fast. And I love me my new 1/4 inch foot. I don't know why I didn't buy me one sooner. Never before have my seams nested so perfectly together and it's so much faster now that my fabric can't slip as much. Yay. Next up: making some more tomorrow and then starting the other blocks.

Pillow Palooza

I admit, I kind of have a serious problem. A pillow problem. Currently there are 21 pillows living on my sofa. 21. Before I learned how to sew there were 17. Mr. A. always complained about the pillows taking overhand and him not being able to stretch his legs out because of all the pillows. 

Just about two months ago I started making pillows out of quilt-blocks I didn't know what else do to with. And before I realized it there were 4 new little pillow buddies hanging out on the sofa. Sorry Mr. A :D
So I thought I might as well show them here.

It all started with this little one here

Excuse all the hair on it, Elmo loves hanging around on all the dark things his fur will definitely stick to.
The front part of the pillow was actually a 12" block which I then added borders to. I made this block out of fun and for any particular project. After it laid around for a few months I decided to make a pillow out of it. I didn't quilt on this one. To be honest I was kind of scared of doing so. I made the back (some leftovers from this fabric from ikea I already used as backing for the quilt I made for my sister) following one of the many tutorials you can find all over the internet called Envelope Pillow Case or something like that.

The next one I made was this little buddy:

I really wanted to try out a granny square block. So I pulled out some leftover bits and pieces of the vintage sheets I used for my Swoon Quilt and pieced it together. Obviously it was too small, so I added that yellow border. The back is made out of a maroon coloured fabric I got when I purchased some scrap bags from etsy. I quilted on this one, trying to achieve a grid. Needless to say that it's totally wonky, but I kind of love the pillow because it is so wonky and the first one I was brave enough to quilt.

After that I made another block I had on hand into this pillow:

I just used up some scraps for this one as well. I even added a little ruffle-border out of some leftover elephant-fabric I used for my sisters quilt as well. The border and back are pieces I could out of some bedlinen I bought at ikea, which I got here in Germany for just a few Euro (if I remember right around 4 Euro actually. No clue why they are so expensive in the US). I quilted on this one with a very wonky orange-peel FMQ which sadly turned out off-centered. I just don't have the patience to go slow with my sewing maching so it will turn out more perfect. But I'm okay with the results.

And the last one is this little guy: 

Sorry for the blurry photo. This was my very first Dresden Plate and oh my god, they are darling and so easy to make! For this one I used scraps from scrap bags as well and the gingham fabric is cut out of one vintage sheet FQ. I quilted all around the Dresden Plate with a free-motion stipple, my first time trying it out as well and I have to admit I got a pretty decent result. The backing fabric is the same one I used for the binding in the pillow above.

I know the pillows aren't perfect, but I love love love them. And I think trying out different blocks for pillows is kind of the safer way, before I decide to make more and a quilt out of them and maybe messing everything up and wasting a lot of fabric. Far from perfect, but a perfect resemblance of my personality and sewing-style (if there is something like a sewing-style :D). 

My first badge: Sunrise

Lifescouts: Sunrise Badge

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2nd July 2010 was my prom night. And although the day started pretty depressing, it turned out to be one of the most amazing nights of my life so far. That very morning I got into a huge fight with my mother which - looking back - was kind of stupid. Basically we argued about the dress she wanted me to wear for getting my diploma but I thought would make me look overdressed. Actually I'm a pretty easy-going person if I may say so myself and I hate arguing or in general getting into a fight or even raising my voice. In fact, whenever I'm getting angry I burst out into tears. I guess my body can't cope with anger or rage, haha. So when I got into that fight with my mother which was very much a first-time-experiance, the day was basically ruined. After I received my diploma I was still kind of in a bad mood because of that fight and my mother, who can't let go of anything, declared that she didn't want to go to my prom anymore (here in Germany parents usually attend prom with their kids). She screamed, I cried, my dad was disappointed and my poor boyfriend Mr. A. stood between the chairs. Fast forward that night my mother came along and basically sat at the table the whole night with such a gloomy face nobody dared to talk to her. I tried to enjoy the evening, but I was still pretty bummed about the whole fight. So when midnight came around and my best friend and I found out nobody of our friends would get to be prom kind and/or queen we decided to take off. First we drove to my home so I could change out of my dress and Mr. A. out of his tuxedo, then we drove to her place so she and her best friend who was her date for the night could do the same. The boys took a couple of beers and we all decided we wanted to go to the beach. I guess we've never before been so grateful for living so close to the sea, mostly because we knew this would be our last summer in our home-town before we both (my best friend and I) would take of to different cities to go to university. So while the boys were totally crazy and jumped right into the sea, my bestie and I laid there in the darkness, looking at the stars, chatting about anything and everything and from time to time just saying nothing, enjoying the boys making noise. We laid there a couple of hours when we suddenly realized the sky lighting up. And that very moment we saw the most beautiful sunrise ever. And up until now the last one we saw together and it probably will be the last one for at least another couple of years, because she now has a little son (who was born on the date of our prom night 2 years later - sign?).
But I still cherish those memories, this sunrise and the very last day of me being in high school. 

Brilliant Mr. Day

So there is this certain British Youtuber who I adore. Just because he's amazing.
Mr. Alex Day, on Youtube being found under the name nerimon, not only makes wonderful music and the most random vlogs, but also has some brilliant projects in his head that just make me smile. I'm already a passionate player of his cardgame Sopio, which can be purchased here. Anyone into random and funny cardgames will be hooked on this in no time. Pinky Promise.
Just a few minutes ago I saw his latest video where he introduced his newest idea: Lifescouts. Lifescouts is simply said an online version of scouts. You reblog one of the badges he offers on the site you can relate to and tell your story behind it. Being a subscriber to him for quite a while now I just know what a great impact that is going to make all over Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and so on, because it's a great motivation to do something, because you get a badge you can show off, so you literally get a reward for something you do or did. I think it's an amazing idea and I immediately checked out the lifescouts-badges (Alex said there will be released more and more over time) to see which I can earn or which I want to earn by doing something related to a certain badge, for instance the scuba diving badge. For anybody interested you should definitely check out the initial video by clicking here.
So next up, most likely tomorrow, will be the story for my very first lifescout-badge. 

2013 is going to be an awesome year!

2012 was one good year for me. There were struggles and problems, but there were also a lot of good times. But I'm not going to lie. It could have been better. But not in the hey-someone-make-this-better kind of way, but more in the do-something-yourself kind of way. I have to admit, whenever it comes to something I have to do, especially when it comes to homework and such for my Japanese class, I'm Miss Lazypants. And I want to change that. And a few other things. So I will officially write those down as a reminder.

1. Organize yourself, young lady!

Yepp, that's right. Organization is one huge problem for me. Everything I don't want to do, I simply can't be bothered to do until 1-2 hours before it HAS to be done. Which is always kind of nerve-wracking. Procrastination is a sucker. So this means this year I will try to be more organized, which means forgetting less about putting up the laundry (so I don't have to wash the same load again and again), vacuuming more often, learning for exams and tests NOT right before them, putting everything back where it belongs, doing the dishes more frequently (not when there are no dishes left in the cupboards anymore and I have to do one monster wash-up).

2. Kick my butt, do it!

Ever since I moved out of my parents home I put on some unwanted pounds. I've never been really skinny anymore since I hit my first growth-spurt when I was around 14, but I never was as fat as I am now. Although fat might not be the right word. I am not heavily overweight, but I am not feeling confident in my skin anymore. It's not that I am eating really unhealthy, but it's not a perfect diet either. This year I want to lose some of those pounds, I want my legs and my tummy back. I guess the biggest problem is that since I am out of school I am not doing any sports anymore. Occasionally I'm playing volleyball with some friends after university in summer, but that's not enough. I have no stamina and I can't walk a flight of stairs without the feeling that I'm going to cough up my lungs. So I hope I can get my butt off the sofa more often. Maybe with some good ol' Bodyrock work-outs?

3. Saving up

Being a student is not the kind of cool job every kid thinks. 2012 has been full of struggles with money mr. A. and I had. Not going into that too much, but our budget is tight. I know 2013 will be a little bit less filled with penny-saving, but still. We plan on going on vacation to Norway in august/september for 3 weeks with his family and we still haven't put anything aside for that. No big splurges until that money has been saved up!

4. Get out

The university in my home town does not offer Japanese studies so I had to move to Germany's capital Berlin to be able to study what I wanted to (there are other university in Germany too that offer Japanese, but Berlin's university was the closest to the town I grew up). I enjoy visiting my parents just because there is nature everywhere. I love the big city now (although it took me nearly a year to love it) but I still miss the fresh air and sticking my naked toes into the grass without worrying about broken glass or old cigarettes. Berlin has some pretty places, but I'm nearly always staying inside. So I seriously need to grab mr. A. and start exploring Berlin and it's surroundings. Maybe visiting the ropes courses more or hunting mushrooms in autumn, going swimming in summer, taking the bike and the train to check out the towns aroung Berlin. There are endless possibilities who don't cost a lot (yay for point number 3.) if we both simply get up and out.

5. End what you started

I'm getting so excited the moment a new idea pops into my head that I often forget to finish up things I already have laying around. I have tons of paintings who need some final touches, some hats I knitted but haven't sewed up the tails yet same with pillowcases I made. And don't get me started on the things that bother me but so much else is more important that I just did the very beginning (like painting over the ugly pink walls in the bedroom). So this year I will try to finish up at least twice as much as I start :D


So yeah, 2013 is going to be a lot of work for me but I don't want it to bea drasting change which only lasts a week. I want it to be a  constant work in progress to be more satisfied and pleased with myself. 

so, from today on you're gonna be a blogger.

So, after a long time of thinking back and forth whether or not to start my own blog, I finally came around to the "heck, why not" moment which ended up right here. Just in case someone might stumble upon it and wonders who this girl is, let me introduce myself the old-fashioned way. I'm Marie, but ever since I was a little girl everybody simply calles me mie. For you english folks: simply pronounce it like "me". I live in Germany, currently studying Japanese in university and trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with this thing called life that was given to me. For over three years now I am happily in love with a boy which shall be called mr. A. here. We live together and share our little apartment with some seriously cute cats named mathilda and elmo. Those two are the ones who make us cuddle more at night, just because they take up all the space in bed. One of them is the most adorable, but kind of dumbest cat I've ever seen, the other one is a little dare-devil and is constantly getting in trouble for stealing food the second nobody's looking or sweeping something of the shelves. 

I love reading blogs. I guess I always wanted to start blogging ever since I created a livejournal-account back then when I was in this teenage-phase where writing fanfictions was cool. lol. 
I would dare to say I am a creative person. I always have the urge to make something. My living room is filled with wool, knitting needles, fabrics, threads, paint, brushes, canvases, quilts, tons of pillows I sewed and there is not a single wall in this apartment that I did not "beautify" by painting on it, may it be a quote, a giant portrait or some trees and bushes. So I started this blog to show off how awesome I am to help me get a hang of what I already did, what I wanna do again, what my WIPs are, what is still on my to-do-list and finally, to simply help me remember, maybe in 5 or 10 years, how my life was back in my very first own apartment and how crazy I was (or maybe how uncrazy I was, you never know how you're gonna be with 25+ ;D ). This blog will be all about me. So it will be about cats, sewing, crafting, failing, finding myself and hopefully growing into the person I am supposed to be.
so yeah, I'm gonna be a blogger from now on.