Since autumn we were looking forward to this weekend, where finally we could enjoy quilting without the distraction of the worry about cooking, cleaning and other every day's job. So Last Friday we hit the road and after about 5 hours drive we arrived in Hamburg at Adreas Wolf's patchwork shop the
Quilthouse to attend a weekend course with Ilka Rave and learn how to make a quilted jacket. After the warm welcome of Ilka and Andreas (and of course the delicious cakes) we immediately jumped into work. First we choose the wool for our jacket, which I found quite difficult, as Andreas has a good selection of beautifully colored, soft wools and I couldn'
t make up my mind. (Of course on the last day we couldn't resist to buy another piece). Than we wandered around the shop to find fabrics for the strips and the inside of the jacket and find more treasures, like the deep colored hand-dyed fabrics. After cutting our strips the "working" day was over. We walked in the neighborhood, did some window shopping and had a nice dinner.
Saturday we worked really hard the whole day, we only stopped for lunch and "cake/tea" break. Ilka was always there to explain, help, give advices. She is a wonderful teacher. In the evening after a walking tour along the lake we had a nice dinner in a Greek Restaurant. Sunday we continued on sewing and by the afternoon we were ready to wear our jackets. Only few things needs to be done (sewing the bindings by hand, the final touch). I think our sewing machines were releaved that we finished the machine sewing, the eight layers of fabrics (four of them wool) was a little bit too much for them, but they managed it really well. These
Bernina and
Husquarna Viking sewing machines are reliable "friends" for us since many years.
As to the jackets, they are beautiful, see for yourself!
Thanks for the lovely patchwork weekend Ilka and Andreas!
Working in the morning... working in the evening.
Maria and Leslie and the back of their jackets
Marybeth and Ilka and the back of their jackets
Maria
http:www.northseaquilters.com
The last weekend of March we participated in the Patchwork and Quilt Days Show in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. We were very excited, as this was our first occasion to be behind the table, as a vendor and to serve our customers instead of being served. It was a good opportunity to show our designs, patterns, kits, the unique hand-made Hungarian indigo fabrics (Kékfestő) and bring closer the long-arm quilting services to the quilters in the Netherlands. We enjoyed very much meeting our visitors and talking to them. We would like to express our thanks to those who visited our booth. We hope you liked the exhibition and had a very nice weekend. We also would like to thank our family, being patient and surviving the weekend without us and also a big thanks to our friends, who popped in and supported us.
