My Singapore Quilts

(Blog posted on main blog 5-2013)

From October 2006 to the end of 2007 we lived in Singapore (with several :) home leaves). It was James' last assignment from the company before retirement. The wife of one of his colleges knew I was a lacemaker = threads = textiles so she introduced me to this group of her friends. They met every Thursday in somebody's house and they were ... quilters! Living in/near Paducah (Quilt City USA) for about 30 years I had always said "I am a lacemaker. I can't see the point of cutting up perfectly good fabric to sew it together again". I thought may be I can make lacemakers out of them. Oh well ... I pieced 9 quilt tops that year and helped Sarah with another one. They were wonderful ladies and I so enjoyed Thursdays!!!
Unfortunately the putting them together and quilting them is another story. But I am getting braver!

1 of 9
finished October 2009
size: 51 1/2 x 66 inches

Machine quilted by myself with variegated thread front and back.

This color is not true (photo taken outside) but it shows the quilting. Ha-ha, may be I shouldn't show it so close?

2 of 9

Unfinished photo taken in Singapore. The colors are truer then the next.

2 of 9
finished November 2009
size: 42 1/2 x 58 1/2

Machine quilted by me. Green thread on front, variegated thread on back.

3 of 9
finished 2009-11-27
size: 42 1/2 x 56 1/2
Finished on time for Christmas for Helen and Ben. Ben calls it a half-quilt. He is right. A shame that it is not bigger. All of these quilts were meant to be lap-quilts.

Quilted by me. Probably invisible thread in front (can't remember) and variegated on back.

4 of 9
finished 2010-01-18 at 23:20 hrs (I was so happy that I noted even the time)
size: 56 x 72
Title: "Nachts sind alle Katzen grau" (this is a German saying: in the night all cats are grey). So true, so true.

The back is actually black but the photo was taken in the sun. Machine quilted by me with invisible thread in front and black thread on back. I outlined the cats and gave a swoop under the chins and around the haunches. Only the red cat (on the front) was outlined with white thread on the back.

This was the back I had assembled in Singapore but did not use it. I donated the finished quilt to be raffled for a good cause and hope to make a similar quilt again because I like it so much.
The cause:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marshallchalk/journal/view/
Marshall is the grandson of friends from our church in Paducah. The quilt was auctioned at the 2010 Quilt Show and went to a minister's wife in Louisville KY. That's all I know.

5 of 9
this picture was taken in Singapore (unfinished)
the colors are not bold enough but the next is too pink. I remember when I bought this fabric in Chinatown.

5 of 9
finished September 2012
size: ?
machine quilted by me
given as a gift to Ute who had said she would like 'the map' which I used for the back

6 of 9
finished April 2013
This is truly a Singapore quilt because this fabric is used for the dresses of the Singapore Airline stewardesses. In blue it is the tourist class, in green it is the business class and in red first class. Thinking about it now I probably should have used the green. Loved traveling to Singapore in business class. Sigh.
Machine quilted by me with variegated thread.
Binding done by Helen.
Size: 45 1/2 x 61

7 of 9
This is a crazy quilt in the stack+whack-method.
I bought the pattern.
I will make a wall-hanging and plan to insert all my lace-bits which I made testing and learning. I was also given a lot of ornament pieces (bobbinlace as well as tatting) from friends which I want to sew on. It will be a while until this is done.
More lace would be accepted, ha-ha.

8 of 9 and Sarah's
This was a fun project with Sarah when she was staying with us in Singapore for 9 weeks doing one of the 4th year internships at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital because she was allowed to do one in a foreign country if she spoke the language and had accommodations. The official language in Singapore is English and of course she had a room with us.

We found fabric which Sarah liked in Chinatown. For this kaleidoscope pattern you need 6 times the pattern repeat. This fabric had an extra large repeat so we could make two quilts out of it.
You can see the layering in the photo above with all the pins.
Here Sarah is busy cutting ...

... and then sorting. Which way to turn the triangles? Then she took half of the hexagons and I got the other half.

Then you have to choose the background fabric.

Here is Sarah's top.











8 of 9
This is mine. You can see how different the colors look in the photos even so it's the same base fabric. Taking true photos is more difficult then making the quilts.

9 of 9
This is the first and original cats quilt. It's a pattern from the internet and these colors where suggested (I think ... it has been a long time). I made the black+white afterwards.
It is still unfinished.








First attempt at the back. Didn't like it.

Second attempt. Better.



So, actually, taking inventory like this was a good thing. Including Sarah's I only have to catch up with four. Out of ten including Sarah's. Not so bad any more.

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The quilts before I was a quilter

(Blog posted on main blog 8-2013)

Helen and I like Block Lotto.
This is were we get inspired to try a new pattern even if it is just one square. Sophie, the talented quilter who manages this blog, asks in the "Weekend update" section to share. Sometimes it is a theme. This weekend she asked: How did you start Quilting? Well, how did I?
That question is answered if you read one of my previous blogs: click here!
But I made two quilts before I was a quilter. I never wanted to become a quilter. I was a lacemaker and that was that. Don't know whether I really can call myself a quilter now but I am still a lacemaker.

I made one for my oldest daughter Helen when she was a teenager. It was a project we did together. She selected the pattern and helped arrange the squares. Don't know how I found the pattern. I had heard about 'nine-patch ' and I used the plastic heart container of German marzipan sweets to draw around for the cut-outs which I machine appliqued with a satin stitch. Very amateur!

L

LOTS of the fabrics were left-overs from dresses my mother had made for the girls. Lots of memories in this. I hired out for the hand quilting to a friend from the church we attended at that time.





There are 5 1/2 years between our daughters. So there came the time when the younger Sarah should get her quilt too. She wanted a crazy quilt. I had written "directions" how to make those squares and asked family and friends to contribute a square. We got several but by far not enough. Quilts were really not a German or British thing at that time. So I had to finally get busy myself because she wanted it bigger.

All the ones I made start with a photo in the middle. Sarah selected which should be part of it. One from every important section in her young life.

Well, not all have a photo. This heart was a leftover from Helen's quilt.

And this butterfly was stitched by Sarah as a girl scout project.

A photo of Sarah with one of her very special friends on the way to high-school prom. Her grandmother (my mother) sewed her silk dress. Underneath (the triangle) a piece of that fabric.

The third square on the left down has another leftover from Helen's quilt: part of a nine-patch.

And do you see the photo of the pickle in one of the squares on the right? Sarah has a reputation about those. Yes, lots of thoughts went into this one too.

I am sewing on the binding. No idea what I am doing, ha-ha. If I would take a close look at it these days I probably would cringe. I know a little bit more because these days we can google. It's more then 11 years ago.





Ha-ha, Sophie, probably much more then you wanted to know!

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