Münchener Freizeit

Hello! I've been very spotty in my blogging lately. Mostly it's just been work getting in the way, but I also spent a week in Freiburg and Munich. I did quite a bit of knitting while traveling (and shopping) and I'll post some photos of those works in progress soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos from the trip.

The cobblestones in Freiburg are so cool!

We went on a very cool walking tour of Art Nouveau sights in the München district of Schwabing.

Window display in Munich.

Carnival/flea market in Munich.

Finally, most of the shopping (except two 1/2 yards of fabric): sock patterns, lots of yarn, and some beautiful ribbon.

Having the week off to spend with friends in Germany (with another trip coming up soon) makes the hectic teaching schedule I have right now completely doable!

Patchwork Drawstring Bags

I made these three 8" reversible drawstring bags this week using this great tutorial from Pink Penguin. I can definitely recommend this as a great quick project. I think I'd like to make a 2" square quilt for an upcoming swap, too.

Here's a photo of the lining fabrics I used for the bags.

Last weekend I also finished up two more of my Mansikka mini series started last summer. I still have three more of these basted and waiting to be quilted. It seems like the wrong season to be doing these now, but the colors are Christmassy, so maybe I'll get back in the mood soon!

I also added a couple of buttons to my Melanzane mini before sending it off.

Melanzane

I've had Italian food on the brain lately - in part because I've been reading a lot of Donna Leon's mysteries set in Venice. So, yesterday, I did a bit of stitching (finally) and also made some homemade "finger" pasta with some friends. This little mini is for the 6-12" trading swap. I definitely need to practice my free-motion handwriting, but it was fun working with solids! Here's a photo of a another great deconstructed 'melanzane'.


There has also been knitting! The bumble bee socks are finished - a little wide in the foot, but otherwise, I'm pleased. I've started my first pair of fair isle style socks, too - windowpane socks, based on photos I've seen on Ravelry (don't have the pattern, but I'm winging it).

It's good crafting weather in these parts!

It's Not Like Riding a Bicycle

Another confession... It's been so long since I've done any quilting, that when I sewed the binding on my mini this week, I sewed it to the back, so that I had to do the hand sewing on the front side of the quilt. It looks ok, but still - what was I thinking?! It's for the 6-12" mini swap mushroom/owl theme (with owl fabric on the back). The second September one will be on its way soon (I've been a little under the weather). Inspired by Tonya and friends, I'm pulling out the solids in my stash (there aren't many of them).

Here's another little 'doll' quilt I whipped up about a year ago with scraps from this baby quilt. I finally sent it off to Hong Kong for the now one-year-old's first birthday, along with Herra Hakkarainen (called Mr. Clutterbuck in English!).

I received this little mini in the mail this week, to tide me over for a late swap quilt. I won't post the quilters name/link (for fear of shaming her for the delay!), but will do so when the swap quilt arrives. The quilting on this simple piece is terrific - sorry it doesn't show up better in the photo (apologies for the blurry photo). It reminds me of something from Geometry class.

There has also been knitting. Happy Socktober!

I'll end with a sunrise photo from my window in Vaasa this week (about 7:30am).