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.