Hoppel linen collection

I always loved to work with linen.

I love the texture and the look of linen products.

I have a few lovely linen FQ with adorable prints.

I always saved those for the perfect project.

Since a while I rarely touch or use these.

Last week I worked on a linen Hoppel for a friend.

(first linen Hoppel for a friend)

I enjoyed working with linen again.

I found all the beautiful linen in my cabinet.

I couldn't resist to make 4 more linen Hoppel.

(linen Hoppel's in the row)

I finally found a way to use the little charms which I bought in Singapore last year.

(cute little Hoppel charm)

They make the linen Hoppel's even more special.

If you need a helping hand. Adopt a little Hoppel and you will never be alone.

Plus Quilt - the start

I started sewing when I was very little.  It were mostly little things sewing by hand.

One day (I was around 9 or 10) I saw a super cute dog in a kids TV show made from fabric scraps.

I begged my mum to help me making such a dog. We searched in her fabric stash and I started sewing.

My part was sewing all the parts together and pick the the buttons for the face.

The rest of the work belonged to my mum.

She had to fill him and put all the parts together to one dog.

I remember that we sat together making this dog since very late that evening because I wanted to take the dog with me to school next day.

When I went to bed he wasn't finished so my mum had to do this without me.

When I woke up the next morning and I was really upset because he wasn't looking like the dog from the TV show .

(doggy with doll)

But I was so proud and took him with me to school. I wear dungarees that day and carried him in my front pocket the whole day. My friends really loved him and I started to love him as well.

He is now 20 years old and I still adore him <3.

I made a lot of soft toys on my own after this. I made minature teddy bears when I was 17. I made lots for my friends and my family.

I made bags from my old jeans. 

I crochet hats.

I did embroidery.

I made necklaces.

I made friendship bracelets.

I was always crafty and I tryed lots of different things untill I got my first sewing machine in march 2006.

Since that day I never stopped crafting.

I had phases were I didn't do any crafty stuff when I had some downs or when I was ill.

Since a few months I'm spending a lot of time reading patchwork and quilt blogs .

I'm looking for the best materials, patchwork patterns and some instructions (I love youtube).

I have a super long list of quilts I really want to try and I ordered lots of solid fabrics to get started . Can you believe that I hardly own any solid fabrics yet ?!

So I'm waiting since april for my fabric order to arrive. I always order from the US because german fabric shops are too expensive.

Everything costs in germany nearly double price than in the US !!!

The best example is the Yli quilt thread. I spend hours looking for a good price in a german online shop.

Finally I ordered from the US which saved me around 4 USD. Can you believe that shipping the yarn from the US to germany is cheaper than shipping the yarn in germany .

Unbelievable !!

But back to my topic. Since I'm waiting for nearly 1 1/2 month for my solids to arrive (which is sadly normal recently for bigger orders from US) I gave up.

I made the decission so start with a very easy quilt. I always loved Jeni's plus quilt  so I had to give it a try.

Jeni was so kind to write a tutorial which makes it pretty easy for me.

(solids and vintage sheets)

I used all my vintage sheets and some solid which I bought from a local fabric shop or got from my dad's school friend. The solids are not quilting quality but they look really nice.



(fabric choice so far)



Choosing the Plus Quilt was the best idea ever. The quilt is made from squares only so I can practise cutting with my rotary cutter. I'm still not a pro but I'm getting better and better.

 

 



(step 1)



 

(step 2)

 

(step 3)

I still can't believe that I made my first baby blanket with using my scissors only last year.

I really start to love my cutter and I bought a book how to use my ruler and cutter.

 

I cutted the first 211 fabric yesterday. I have no idea how long I spend cutting the squares but believe me I had lots of fun.

 

 

(Hoppel the fabric guard)

 

I had to change the square size a bit because I'm not having a a ruler with inch. I own only a cm ruler but I want to buy one after getting my next salary at the end of this month.

My squares are around 10 cm but they will be smaller after I put them all together because I forgot to add the seam allowence (stupid me).

 

 

(211 freshly cut fabrics)

Now I'm waiting for my next order of vintage sheets to cut more squares. YEAH!

crafty weekend

It seems that I'm back in the sewing mode. I had a lot of unfished projects waiting for me so I kicked my ass and finished a few of them.

I made the appliqués for this bag a few weeks ago while we stayed at mr. artistics parents. 

(i phone/ i touch/mobile phone bags for the shop )

I always bring some small crafts when I'm traveling to keep me busy but mostly I'm not able to finish anything of this stuff. But this weekend was crazy.

I finished five small mobile phone/ i phone bags (three for the shop, one for friend of my sis and a birthday gift). Aside from the birthday gift (which still need a flex frame) every bag is 100 % done.

(tiny patchwork for the bags)

While I'm working on those tiny patchwork thing I watch a lot episodes from different shows on mtv.com. My fave show right now is "I used to be fat".

Sadly not all episodes are available for people from germany (I have no idea why the block them ???).

(bag for a friend of my sis)

Aside from the bags I worked on a new dolly pattern. I made a few dolls already but I never tryed a male doll. I developed a new pattern and tryed it right away.

I think it's hard to find a "hairstyle" for dolls which doesn't look so girly.

(male dolly on my pinboard)

I added this little guy to shop. I hope a little baby boy or girl will give him a home and love him dearly.

(details of  buttons, shirt and pants)

(back of the the doll)

(sleeping)

I'm hoping to keep the sewing mode on for a while.

But it's really hard right now because I started to go to some sports classes and I still jogg a lot.