The Sloppy Quilter

I started with a pile of wonderful colors in squares measuring 4 by 4 inches.  All of the colors are posed around my favorite fabric, a flannel with funny owls.  I thought my two year old Godson would like those wide-eyed owls, and maybe an owl-covered nap quilt would make him sleepy.

I found the owl fabric difficult to work with.  Perhaps it is because I am in an orange/yellow/red mode.  Perhaps because the flannel is very matte and the colors read differently on it.  I tried many color combinations and designs.

At one point my quilt was going to be all blues, with strips of owl fabric in between.  I realized that many of the blues were too large scaled and contemporary looking, with too many white accents.  Maybe that will be the next quilt, a double one for the guest room.  I also decided that the owls needed some order around them.

So I did an Irish Chain Quilt.  I learned a lot while I did it.  I seem to need those oranges, yellows and reds.  And I am terribly sloppy.  I pieced the squares in strips.  The flannel stretched and I sewed inaccurately, and I came up with strips of different lengths.  Did I start all over?  No.

I'm not proud of it, but I decided that I cared about the color more than the pattern, and I need to quilt it soon so it will be ready for his birthday.  I hacked off the uneven ends.  It doesn't really look that great on one side, and I'm quite embarrassed about it.  But I'm keeping it the way it is.  And I'm going to accept the fact that I'm not really willing to chase perfection in sewing anymore.  So I'm not going to do any more traditional patterns.  I'm going to do crazy quilts and bar quilts that I make up as I go along.  My strength is color, and that's what I want to explore when I sew.

Joyful Quilting

 This quilt is for my little boy.  It is time to replace the one we gave him when he left the crib and moved into a big bed, the one with cars and trucks on it.

 It is going to be in the room with this painting, which is my adaptation of an illustration from a Russian fairy tale, "The Firebird."

 The quilt makes me happy the way this beautiful painting by Wendyll Brown makes me happy, every day when I look at it.

 And the quilt has something to say to these abstract pieces of mine, which are full of the exuberance of vibrant color.

Now, if I can just find Minky in Europe, to back the quilt.  My son requested it specially!

Spring Crafts on Acorn Pies

Spring is coming in Switzerland and it is time to do some spring crafts.  Some of them involve getting out in the woods, even though it is still chilly and there are only bits of green to be seen.  You can click on links to these crafts in the column to the right, or do a search if it is no longer spring on Acorn Pies.

Spring Printmaking
Make a Bow and Arrow
How to Make a Swedish Maypole
Make a Paper Boat
Make a Spring Skirt
Make a Comet Throw Toy

Get out in the puddles, the woods, the meadows and the playground, and have fun!  love, Beth

Knitting Handpainted Yarns

 If you have been reading this blog for a while, you might remember the superwash merino wool yarns, some handspun, which my little boy and I hand painted.  It was so much fun, and safe enough for everyone to do, but when I created this yarn, I didn't know what I would knit with it.  There wasn't enough to make a sweater, and it didn't go with anything I had.

My mother gave me a beautiful turquoise ski jacket for my birthday this year, and as soon as I saw it, I realized that I had just the right yarn to use to make a hat to go with it!

 Now I am starting to browse the egg dye collections which they have here in Switzerland.  Spring is a great time to hand paint yarn because this is when the dyes are available, and soon it will be warm enough to work outside!  After Easter the prices on the dye packets will go down.  Stock up!  I would love to tell you how, but it's pretty improvisational!  Here is a link to my original posting about hand painted yarns....
http://acornpies.blogspot.com/search?q=egg+dyes  Or just click on the title of this post.

Easter Crafts on Acorn Pies

Lent is here and it's time to do some spring crafts for Easter.  Look in the column to the right for links to:

Make a Little Willow Basket
Make a Mossy Felted Stone
Make a PomPom Bunny
Natural Egg Dyeing
An Easter Egg Decoration

More links to spring crafts will be coming soon.  May you have a blessed Easter Tide!

Winter in Switzerland

 Winter in Switzerland is snowy meadows, forests,

and villages.

Switzerland in winter is frost in your hair.

It's learning to snowshoe,

 and falling down sometimes.

It's unbelievably blue skies,

 skiing holidays,

 sledding on wooden sleds you can't steer,

 wearing hand knit hats,

 and walking somewhere which feels like the middle of the wilderness,

 even though it is just steps away from a restaurant.

 Switzerland winter is snow-covered chalets,

 throwing snowballs at your big brother,

 throwing snow boulders at your little brother,

 having a frosty drink from a fountain,

 snowy cobbles,

  

 and understanding why The Matterhorn is so special to the Swiss. 

 Winter in Switzerland is beautiful, and I love it.

Copyright 2012, Peg Howerton and Beth Curtin

A Chocolate Adventure!

 Oh, wonderful, wonderful day!!!!!  My mother and my son were visiting and I scheduled a chocolate workshop at the wonderful Durig's in Lausanne, my favorite chocolate shop!  My son is Nick Curtin, a chef.  Did you see him on Iron Chef this fall?  And my mother is the adorable Peggy.  Some new friends were also there.  I was so excited I was beside myself.  In this picture Nicholas, my friend Henriette, the amazing Swiss papercutter (more on her another day,) and I are all examining our plastic chocolate molds.  In front of us is a bowl of white chocolate, to be used to ornament our molds, with artist's brushes, before we add the dark or milk chocolate.  This is the first thing we did after putting on our aprons and washing our hands.

 In this picture Nicholas is adding dark chocolate to his cat mold, with the help of our teacher, Eric, the chocolate maker.  While our chocolate hardened in the refrigerator, Eric told us about how cacao is grown and processed.

 Durig's chocolate is bio and fair trade, incidentally, another reason to love their chocolate.

 These are some cacao seeds inside the cacao husks.

 In this picture my mother, Peggy, with the purple shirt, looks so excited.  She loves to learn, just like me.  Now I see where I get it!

 This is what the chocolate looks like when it arrives at Durig's.

 This is what some of it looks like after the chocolate makers have done their magic.  It is a beautiful shop and their chocolates taste amazing.

 I loved seeing some of the beautiful ingredients which they add to their chocolates, like these dried flowers.  We also got to smell the different types of vanilla and spices which they use.  The quality is superior.

 A second trip to the chocolate machine with the molds, a second cooling, and our chocolates were ready to unmold.  I think everyone was amazed that they had made such beautiful chocolates.  It's beautiful, Melissa!

 I was so proud I felt like I should be hired to help Durig's get ready for Easter.

Nicholas decided to give his chocolate cat to his girlfriend.  What fun!!!!!!  Amy, in the background with her husband Kurt, was celebrating her husband's birthday that day.

If you want to order some of Durig's delicious chocolates or sign up for an atelier, google http://durig.ch/