On Saturday, my daughter’s teacher got married. Her current and previous classes were there to make a bower of roses for the bride and groom to pass through after the ceremony. The groom is a teacher too, and his students were also in attendance with a huge heart for him to carry his bride through.

The kids’ art teacher helped them make sheep with drawings and good wishes for the bride and groom, and then they sang a cute song to the pair about a flock of sheep having a wedding party.

And if that wasn’t enough, the two parent reps from our class presented our gift — a quilt! It’s the super secret school project made with the help of a few moms (sewing and ironing) and the art teacher (allowing us to sneak into class and have the kids make and sign handprints). I’m really pleased with how it turned out and can’t wait until our holiday is over and I can see my daughter’s teacher again and find out how she and her man like it. The other parents were definitely appreciative, though all other teacher gifts will probably pale in comparison now.

I kept the construction simple with just one size squares to cut and simple chain piecing to put them together. The handprints were simple enough to do and arranging them like flowers on a vine lends a nice movement to the composition. All the parents chipped in for the fabric and batting (most of which was from my stash) and the mom who’s in-laws own a fabric store provided the backing and muslin for the hand prints. The machine quilting is a forgiving pattern that also reflects the vine-y motif I have going. Hopefully it’s a gift that will not only remind the teacher of her students but also be something she and her husband can use and enjoy on a regular basis.

As I’m procrastinating washing and packing more bedding, curtains and garage items, I’m getting sentimental about our life here in Germany. With the exception of ten months in the US in 1999/2000, we’ve lived in Germany for the past 12 years. In the past four years we’ve been lucky enough NOT to live on the military base, and we’ve almost gone native. The first time we left (after a little more than three years) it was like the end of a particularly good vacation. This time it’s like leaving home. And we really don’t know if we’ll ever have the opportunity to come back (at least for more than just a two week vacation). I’m taking a bit of Germany with me to Hawaii though — my German-born kids, a second language, our Kuckoo clock and flea market finds, and of course connections with all the friends we’ve made over the years.

So, in addition to seasonal fests for anything and everything, the awesome tilty windows, and the Autobahn, here’s a few more things I’m going to miss:

The kids walking to school with their friends/neighbors. They’ll most likely do this in Hawaii too, but it will take time.

This is where they walk to. Quaint, no?

The gondola system to transport raw materials from the quarry to the cement factory in our town. I have the urge to whistle “hi ho, hi ho” whenever we walk near these.

Late afternoon sunlight in our bedroom.

Our not-too-big-not-too-small kitchen.

The ability to turn lights on and off with my elbow. Picture a laundry basket on my left hip and you’ll understand the beauty of this (see the top photo here for what it actually looks like without an elbow in front of it). I used to think they were clunky and ugly; now I don’t know how I’ll live without them.

Movers/packers will be here in less than a month. What would you do? We got out of Dodge and saw some seriously gorgeous European scenery. Four days in and around the Alps. WOW! Mr. Incredible (formerly known as TS&WGH) blogged it here.

Wanna share in the excitement of our impending move?

The movers come on May 26th to pack up the majority of our belongings, including my paper piecing patterns for the “Travel Europe“ quilt. While not for absolute beginners, anyone with a little experience paper piecing will find these blocks quite accessible. They offer a great opportunity to use a variety of stash fabrics, including those novelty ones with brick, stone and thatch textures. I’ve seen this quilt made in muted tones like mine, dramatic jewel colors and in springy brights — they all look great and no two quilts are ever alike.

So, from now until then, I’m offering the patterns for 50% off. That means $4.25 per pattern or $50 for the whole set of 12. Mailing cost is $1.50 per order, regardless of how many patterns you buy. You can pay via PayPal, personal check drawn from an American bank, or a transfer from a German bank. Email me at me(at)kristinlaflamme(dot)com for details!
Once everything is packed up, I won’t have access to the patterns until probably September, so get them now if you’re interested.

Here’s where things stand Chez La Flamme:

We’re moving to Hawaii! The last few days have been a flurry of activity and information gathering. Cat will be in quarantine, housing is nebulous, school ends here and starts there at about the same time, it will take 3 months for our stuff to get from here to there, etc., etc. BUT, we have very helpful friends on the other end, help from the Army that almost balances out the frustrations they create, and we know how we’d like things to look in a best case scenario. Worst case scenario — it’s still Hawaii!!!

My quilt mom Gerrie sent me this box of fun stuff. You can’t see them all here, but the colors and patterns are approaching Hawaiian. The shakers are adorable! I wonder if the Fliegenpilz craze has made it to the Island yet? Thanks!
With everyone’s input, I decided to donate “Celebrate Home 2” to the SAQA auction. You can see what’s already been donated here. There’s lots more time, so I’m sure more and more lovely artworks will be added to the page. Although “Celebrate Home 2” plays better with my other house and rooted pieces in the eventuality of a show, I decided that because a show is only in my imagination now, and the auction is real — it would be better to focus on the tangible. Besides, my work has a much better track record in auctions for good causes that it does all on it’s own (my donations garnered the second highest bids in both the Kim Family auction and one of Ami Sims’ Priority Alzheimer’s reverse auctions. My SAQA donation last year also sold relatively quick — and therefore for a larger price than many works.)

Hopefully, I’ll have some projects to post soon — before it all gets packed up. I’ll try to keep blogging, but no promises.

Well, apparently, I’m the last to know that not only are we moving (OK, I knew that early on) but we are moving TO HAWAI’I!!!!!!!!!

Can I use enough exclamation points? Just as Ft. Polk, LA is the quintessential example of where I do NOT want to live (sorry to people who like living in that part of Louisiana — it’s just not for me) , Hawai’i is the example of where everyone would love to go but knows that it would never happen. I’m in shock that it IS happening. This was soooooooo not on my radar. Really, how could anyone be so lucky as to be stationed in Germany for the better part of 12 years and then get sent to Hawai’i as well?

Thank you everyone who sent my man great pictures and videos about all things Hawaiian to get us in the mood. My son is already excited about learning to twirl fire on sticks. And, obviously, we are going to have to make sure we have some sort of guest accommodations in our new place.

;-)

I made these two little pieces for the Quilting Arts 2009 Calendar contest. They did not make the cut, so I will donate one to SAQA’s now-annual auction (the link is to last year’s auction — they should have this year’s artwork up in the near future, as they get more donations).

Which one do you think I should send?

Celebrate Home 1  2008  12″ x 12″

by Kristin La Flamme

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Celebrate Home 2  2008  12″ x 12″

by Kristin La Flamme

C of the Friday morning hand quilting group (that’s as much about delicious food and good company as it’s about actual sewing or quilting) has asked the eight of us to each make 18 little blocks from scraps which she will sew together. We will donate the finished quilt to our guild to raffle off for charity. C loves tiny pieces and I thought this block was going to take forever, so I put it of and put it off. Our deadline is approaching so I finally got my blocks done yesterday. With a jump start of half-sewn leftovers from a few who were more industrious than I, it actually didn’t take long. I’m excited to see this big with all our blocks together!

Speaking of charity, the puffy, strippy, quilt is done and will go to Landstuhl Medical Center with a handful of other quilts that Quilted Chaos, the American quilting group here, has made. Landstuhl not only serves US service members stationed in Europe, but it is also the halfway stop between the field hospital in Baghdad and Walter Reed Medical Center in the US. When wounded service members make the trip from Landstuhl to Walter Reed it is most often on a military transport plane, which may have more legroom than coach, but lacks all other comforts. TS&WGH assures me that donated quilts are usually given to these people to help warm and cushion the trip.

Before I moved here, Quilted Chaos had cut a bajillion 5-inch squares of donated fabrics and has slowly been making quilts from them ever since. There was a flurry of activity two or three years ago in which I think a handful of quilts were finished and delivered. The quilts pictured were older tops that were recently quilted by one member and bound by myself and a few others. I sewed the labels on today.

There’s still a bunch of squares though and I was inspired to use some of them up. I have been seeing the “Disappearing 9-Patch” block around the internet lately and it struck me as appropriate for our squares as well as being big impact for little effort patchwork. Quilts and ATCs (via Sew Mama Sew) has a nice tutorial. In order to keep the quilt a little cohesive, M, keeper of the 5″ squares was kind enough to separate out all the blues and greens and oranges for me. Fabric pusher that she is, she not only cut out more orange squares (since there weren’t enough in the box) but she added more greens. Now I have extras to put back in the box — but a dent has been made in the pile.

Dull you say? Never fear….

Schnipp Schnapp and a bit more sewing and by the end of the day I had a vibrant scrap quilt top to add to the pile.

I arranged mine a bit differently than the tutorial — I liked the larger, uncut squares together in 4-Patch units. As much as I like finishing projects, I wouldn’t start them in the first place if I didn’t enjoy the process. So, in deference to the process, I also left one 9-Patch uncut.

I’ll quilt this one later, but for now it’s back to hand quilting houses and roots.

This is the view in my lap these days. Houses and roots have come off the design wall and landed in my lap where they are shouting to be quilted entirely by hand. This one just wants to be wrapped around my shoulders in a soft, comforting way. The main fabric is a cotton damask duvet cover that I bought at a flea market last summer and then dyed and painted myself. It is soooooooooo supple and soft. When I basted the quilt last week I had inadvertantly bought a thicker batting than usual and so I actually un-basted the quilt and replaced the batting because the thicker feel was conflicting with what this quilt told me it should be. I’d like to finish this by the end of the month — wish me luck!

Saturday was the bi-annual Dutch Fabric Market in Mannheim. In a region where fabrics normally cost 15€ and up per meter, the opportunity to buy anything for 4€ and up is not to be passed. I’ve been wanting to join the linen fad, but at 35€ per meter it just wasn’t going to happen. But, on Saturday, with C and her friend (and a shopping list from R who couldn’t come), we braved rainy, grey, weather and filled our bags with linen, linen, gingham, and more linen! There were probably 40 vendors in open-sided tents like these, filled with row upon row of bolts of fabric. We loved the double sided felted wool for clever vests and jackets where all the seams show so you can see both colors. Without a clear plan though, the market is overwhelming — where do you start? How much do you buy? C bought fabric for pillow covers, H bought some upholstery weight floral for handbags, R wanted linen for summer pants, and I ended up with linen to experiment with for quilting and embroidery, plus some mushroom appropriate trims. I almost bought cotton with ruffles and ribbons already sewn on and coordinating floral jersey for an outfit for Katja, but in the end, they didn’t have the color combo I really wanted and I realized I didn’t need another project, nor did K need another outfit! Oh, but the samples were so cute and tempting!

I am proud to say that, not one, but two of my works have been chosen to join the SAQA show “I-4 Corridor: Stretching Threads across Florida.” The show will take place in three locations — New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, and Orlando — and will run from June 1 until June 30, 2008. Organizer/Juror Mary McBride describes the show:

I-4 Corridor: Stretching Threads Across Florida

This is an international exhibition of fiber art members of Studio Art Quilt Associates who will be featured at several galleries and museums across the I-4 Corridor which bisects Central Florida. It is presented in conjunction with the Handweaver’s Guild of America Convergence 2008 in Tampa, Florida.  Dates are June 1 – June 30, 2008.  Jurors are Peg Keeney, Mary McBride and Linda Colsh.

My quilt, “Fliegenpilz II,” will be at the Comma Gallery in Orlando, and “Village Series #1” will be at the Harris House Gallery in New Smyrna Beach. I’ll share more information as I receive it.