My first quilt (made in 2014)

This pinwheel quilt was the first quilt I ever made. I took a Charm Pack from Kansas Troubles, some black "Ditte" fabric from Ikea and some own hand-dyed grey fabric for that quilt.

My new studio

Welcome to my new combined office / sewing room!

When we moved into our house twelve years ago, this attic room became kind of a junk room. Although there was a TV-Set and it has got this nice little roof terrace, it was used very rarely. We planned to make it my office "some day", but I had an office desk in my bedroom and I used to work over there or at the dining room table. 

When I started sewing, I brought my sewing machine (and another vintage sewing machine, and another vintage sewing machine, and another vin....) and a table to the attic, but it still was a cluttered, messy room, that had never been renovated since the former owners built this part of the house in the early 1990s. 

As I work from home most of the time now and as I am addicted to quilting, I really needed a room to work and sew! After one long week of repairing the roughcast, painting the walls, remodeling the room, cleaning and a lot of work, my new "studio" is now almost done! 

I think, one can see, that this is kind of a man's cave. It is more functional than pretty, with almost no decoration stuff. By the way... Did you know? Men make every room messy in no time! Women do the same, but they name this process "decoration".  ;-)

OK... Let us walk upstairs to have a look at the new studio!

This wall will become a design wall soon.

The office

The main sewing table under the window.
I found this table at the bulk garbage.

I cut a hole into the table top to fit in most of my vintage sewing machines.

This is "Hilde", my Singer 201, a great straight stitcher which I use for piecing most of the time.

Thank you IKEA, for providing us with imperial measuring tools free of charge!

Counter height (38" tall) cutting table

The cutting table was made from an IKEA Linnmon/Adlis table on bed risers with a  36" x 71" table top on top. The whole cutting table will be covered with an ironing surface soon and will then serve as a combined ironing board / cutting table.

Secret storage space under the cutting table for those vintage sewing machines 
the hubby does not yet know...

The storage units on the cutting table hold my cutting tools, some fat quarters and the quilt inspector's watchtower.

The shelve unit on the right holds my stash (or: SOME of my stash....).

Print fabric

My own hand-dyed fabric

Some (70+ ...) men's shirts waiting to be deboned and repurposed for quilt making 

Yes! There are more vintage sewing machines!

On the left: a 1953 PFAFF 230 automatic (motorized).
On the right: a 1937 HAID & NEU "Torpedo" treadle machine.

More storage space for the "Scrap User's System"
(I cut my scraps into the most common sizes at 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3.5" and 4.5"),
for office stuff and of course another vintage sewing machine.
It's a 1924 Pfaff 31 which waits to be restored.

A place for recreation and inspiration. And: Yes! I AM vintage!
I still have (and use!) an old fashioned record player.


And last but not least:

The roof terrace in front of my sewing room.
I often take out my treadle machine to sew outside.

There is still a lot to do:

• curtains for the windows have to be sewn
• as well as a curtain to hide the storage space under the cutting table
• the cutting table will get an ironing surface
• several vintage machines wait for restoration
• a wall shelve will be built to showcase the vintage machines
• lots of fabric and men's shirts wait to be cut ....

But I am happy to have this room now and I really like to spend time here now!

Thank you for your visit!

Something is going on in the attic ...

Under my needle today? Nothing!

But there is something under my paintbrush.
My "new" sewing-room!!!

The attic needs some remodeling to fit my needs as a combined office/sewing studio. 

I'm so looking forward getting this done. Finally there will be a huge counter height cutting-table (36" x 71" and 37" tall)!

I'm having a hard time doing all that painting and remodeling alone. Sure... My DH offered his help... But how could I hide the three vintage sewing machines he doesn't yet know, if he helped me???

Will keep you updated. 

😄

Those metric scraps

1000 metric scraps

Someone brought me 1000 Scraps. Exactly 10 x 10 cm each. No duplicates. I will definetly NOT start quilting metric! Our European measurements are not suitable for patchwork. But.... 

10 cm...? That's exactly 3 and 15/16 Inches. Just a tiny little bit more than 3 7/8. 

Wow! I think I'll pair the scraps with recycled shirts and soon there will be 2000 3" finished half square triangles.

Am I a drunkhard???

Yes, I do drink some alcohol. Especially old French Armagnac. 

But that is only, because I need something to store my 2.5" scraps!

Please meet "Miss Hippie Girl"!

Miss Hippie Girl is an early 1970's Pfaff Extra. I got her for 15 EUR (16.5 $) on eBay local about two years ago. 

She came without her manual and I couldn't find any, but I found out that she had an identical twin, the "Kayser 46". Manuals for that machine are available on the internet. 

Pfaff bought Kayser in the late sixties. They kept the brand name for several years. 

In 1970 Pfaff wanted to become more attractive to younger customers. They took the Kayser 46 sewing machine (which already was a Pfaff and only had the brand name "Kayser"), painted it orange and sold it for less money as "Pfaff Extra". 

Later in the Seventies the same machine, painted grey, was also sold as "Pfaff 204" through mail order companies like "Quelle". 

The machine body is aluminium and it has a strong motor. It's one of the last metal built Pfaff sewing machines that was made in Germany before Pfaff (like many other sewing companies) began to distribute plastic machines that are made in China.

Isn't she a real 1970's Hippie Girl in her orange skirt?

Yummy fabric

I had a dye session again yesterday and today. 

About 50 yards of fabric went from pale white to yummy colours. Some of them are already sold, the rest will go to my own stash. 

This fabric is not planned to be used in a specific project, but you know: It's always better to HAVE fabric than to NEED fabric, isn't it?

1/2 yards or more on mini bolts

Fat Quarters

You know you are a quilter....

.... if you find yourself in the kitchen, preparing some plum cake like this:

Winston Way - finished

Finished my "Winston Ways" today. It's a small wall hanging. The pattern is by Bonnie Hunter (www.quiltville.com), the "Queen of scraps". You can find the pattern in her book "More adventures with leaders and enders".

Some months ago, Bonnie Hunter made this quilt in walling hanging size for a Quilts Of Valor auction initiated by Marianne Fons of Fons & Porter's. I was thrilled when I saw the wonderful pattern and wanted to copy this quilt. I must confess... I'm a bad boy... I studied Bonnie's quilt and figured out how to make it without buying the book or a pattern. But I strongly advise to BUY her books, as she provides us with lots of wonderful scrappy quilt patterns! I absolutely love her quilts! Be sure to visit her blog at quiltville.blogspot.com ! 

The light background fabric in my quilt is made from scraps from several men's shirts. All the colors (reds, yellows and blues) are my own hand-dyed fabrics. The quilt is approximately 30" x 30".

Under my needle tonight

Working on a longtime UFO. Sashing the blocks under the strong supervision of "Quilt Inspector Sergeant Krümel".

Nice eBay seller

Maybe you know, that I use lots of reused fabrics in my quilts, especially men's shirts.

I got a funny e-mail this morning. Yesterday I got a bunch of men's shirts on eBay. 8 shirts for 1.5 € plus 3.9 € shipping cost, which is about 6 $ in total. 

Today the seller wrote: "I am so sorry! Just found out that one shirt is damaged. The seam ripped of about 1" where the sleeve is attached to the rest of the shirt. Please feel free to cancel this transaction, if you wish. Otherwise I will refund you 1 € (remember: 8 shirts for 1.5 €!) and send the shirts as soon as possible."

Isn't that funny? I answered her immediately, explaining that (and why) there is no need for a refund. Maybe I should pay her a little more, because one sleeve's seam has been already ripped partially???

Cat bed

C'mon Daddy! This one has been an UFO for years and years! You don't need to finish it right now!

A German Torpedo

Under my needle tonight:
String blocks. 

☝🏻Two string blocks a day will keep the mess in the sewing room away. 

Tonight I'm treadling on my 1937 Haid & Neu "Torpedo", sewing some strings into blocks in order to keep the mess in the box under the cutting table away. 

Do Americans know "Haid & Neu"? This manufacturer from Southern Germany produced Singer machines after World War II. 

After the War the former Singer sewing machine factory in Wittenberg was in the eastern communist part of Germany. The Russians stripped all the machinery. By the way, that's the reason why Singer machines with a serial number beginning with C-.... can't be dated exactly. They are all built between 1908 and 1939. All the papers from the Wittenberg factory had been lost, too. 

After the war Haid & Neu produced Singer Machines, but still made Haid & Neu machines, too. The factory was taken over by Singer in 1958 and Singer 431G was made there. 

1982 Singer closed this factory.

☝🏻Please keep that information on German sewing machine history in mind. There will be a test! 

Outside cutting

Wonderful Saturday here in our Eifel region in Germany. About 72° F. I'm on my roof terrace, cutting the backs of about 50 deboned shirts into fat quarters and folding them, while watching some archived Quilt Cam episodes.

THE LONG AND STONY WINSTON WAYS ....

Under my needle today:

"Winston Ways" blocks. Pattern by Bonnie K. Hunter / quiltville.com

I sewed together those two units and lost the points. Ripped them. Sewed them again. Thought that the points came out a little better, but weren't perfect yet. Ripped them again. Sewed again. Got perfect matching points. And ... realized that the points do not have to match, as the pattern tells me they have to be in opposite directions.... Oh my Gosh!

Dear Bonnie,
Your Winston "Ways" are long and stony.... 

That is the correct way to sew this unit:

Tis is , ho

ZT