Coffee or chocolate ? your choice...

Povestea unui quilt...

Proiectul impus consta in realizarea unei lucrari de minim 60cm x 80 cm care sa cuprinda din toate materialele plus adausurile personale. Orice tehnica. 

The story of a quilt...

The project asked for making a 60cm by 80 cm quilt that must reflect each piece of batik plus our personal addings. Any technique.

ei bine, aceasta este lucrarea mea. Iar acum urmeaza povestea crearii ei...

well , this is my work. And now is following the story of making it....

eram intirziata, foarte intirziata ..."schema" imaginata de mine cerea mult prea mult timp de executie, si aveam nevoie de o idee salvatoare. Care a venit precum o raza de soare intr-o toamna friguroasa : 

Mihaela Munteanu deseneaza in Corel niste lucrari minunate...ii vizitez des blogul pentru ca de mult timp cochetez cu ideea transpunerii lucrarilor ei in textil . Uite ca a venit momentul potrivit. Mi-am amintit ca , mai anul trecut am vazut o lucrare de-a ei de un simplism fermecator cu o canita de cafea. Aceasta : 

I was late, extremely late...the idea that I had in my mind request a lot of time of execution and I was in such a great need of a saving ideea . Ideea that came like a sunshine in a cold autumn....

Mihaela Munteanu draws in Corel beautifully...I visit often her blog because I play around with the idea of translating her work on fabric....The perfect moment just came ! 

I remember that I saw a year or so ago a design of a charming simplicity coffee cup. This one : 

Asa ca , dupa ce am primit acceptul ei pentru a ma folosi de design-ul ce ii poarta semnatura, m-am asezat la lucru . Am ales fundalul, albastru deschis...stiu ca unora le pare ciudat acest albastru deschis dar simteam nevoia de putin " zen" :d Apoi am schitat doar cu un fir de lina conturul canitei , farfurioarelor si aburului pentru a putea calcula corect lungimea de bias ce urma sa o fac.

As soon as I received her approval for using her work, I started to work. The background that I choose is a pale blue...I know that for some of you this blue seems quite intriguing but I feel the need for some "zen" :d

The next step was sketching with a thread of wool the contour of cup, plates and the steam. Just for a right calculation of bias tape that I had to make.

apoi am asezat pentru vizualizare bucatile de batik  pe marginea stinga si de la baza

then I set in for visioning all the pieces of batik that remain...on the left side and down. 

Ei bine, de-acum incepe munca cu adevarat : 

banda bias de doua dimensiuni ( 1/2 inch si 1/4 inch) , lungimea de 2,5 metri fiind obtinuta prin innadirea mai multor bucatele mici.

Well, the hard work begin from now on : 

I had to make two widths of bias tape ( 1/2" and 1/4" ) , totally lenght of 2,5 meters obtained by sewing toghether small pieces

  


cusatura culcata pe o parte pentru a intra cu usurinta in unealta de facut bias :
the sew is ironed flat on one side just to slip easily in the bias-maker 

  

am aplicat pe lungime banda termocolanta Steam-a-Seam de 1/2 inch si de 1/4 inch
I set along the Steam-a-Seam bias tape 1/2" and 1/4"

si le-am asezat pe fundal. Steam-a-Seam este repozitionabil, ceea ce m-a ajutat enorm...nu a fost usor deloc sa obtin forma canitei....dar cind se transpune o lucrare atunci se respecta inclusiv scara nu numai pozitia. Greu dar...a mers ! :) dupa fixarea definitiva asa arata top-ul  :

Then I set the bias tapes temporary on the background. I love this feature of Steam-a-Seam, it really helps me a lot...it wasn't easy at all to get the same shape of the cup. When translate a work in a different medium one should respect also the scale of the original. Hard work, but finally was ok! :) This is the top : 

Apoi a urmat partea de sandwich si de quilting....nervi , multi nervi deoarece "fratzioara" mea da semne de nervozitate tensionata :)) la quilting-ul in linie dreapta ....apoi am ales din blogul lui Leah  modelul brain coral   ca umplutura de fundal,  pe linga ecoul canitei si aburului . 

Then I step into sandwiching and quilting....a lot of nerves because my she- "brother" sewing machine give signs of tense nervousness :)) at straight line quilting....Then I choose form Leah blog the model brain coral as a filler for the background around the central piece echo.

ei bine, spuneam nervi ?? nuuuu...aproape infarct !! uite ce se intimpla cind oboseala isi spune cuvintul : nu intelegeam de ce nu mai aluneca quiltul pe blatul masinii...si mai era si ata EXTREM de tensionata! am sfisiat SUPREME-SLIDER-ul si l-am si quiltuit totodata !!! sa nu va spun cit de greu se descoase free-motion-ul de pe o piesa teflonata!!! asta e...am incercat sa il repar cu o banda scotch dar nu tine...inca nu mi-a trecut supararea ca am distrus o piesa atit de importanta si de folositoare.....

Did I said "nerves" ?? nooo...almost an infarct !! look what happens when fatigue is too big ! I just didn't understood why my quilt doesn't slide on my machine as easily as at the begining ...and the thread was extreme tensioned! I TORE the SUPREME-SLIDER and also I did quilt it !!! don't make me tell you how hard is to un-sew a free-motion quilted line from a teflon piece....I try , at the end, to repair it with some scotch tape but it didn't work...I am still very upset for this miserable happening because I distroyed an important and so useful tool for me....

de suparare m-am apucat sa curat masina ...cam asa ceva iese din ea tot la 2 saptamini...

upset already I started to clean my machine...something like this gets out every two weeks...

Inapoi la quilt...a mai ramas de cusut binding-ul si mineca de agatare....

back to quilting....finally the binding and then the hanging-sleeve...

 si asta e  fata  :
this is the front : 

 si spatele :
and the back of it :

 si daca vreti pe perete , dar nu iese bine pe fundal  alb : 

and if you want here you have it on the wall ....but it's not a proper picture due to the whiteness of the wall

I hope you like it .

Happy sewing or crafting or anything else that pleases you, too !