Sunday Stash: Sweets for Chocolate!

This week I gave up (some of) my chocolate for sweets. Well they looked just like sweets to me, with their bright colours all lined up in a box in Francesca's shop Tessilesa. Even better than sweets. I'm not a big sweet fan but I do have a sweet tooth for pink fabrics!

Questa settimana ho rinunciato ad (un po') della mia cioccolata in cambio di caramelle. Almeno sembravano caramelle a me, con quei bei colori vivaci tutti in fila in una scatola nel negozio Tessilesa di Francesca. Ancora meglio delle caramelle. Non mi piacciono tanto le caramelle ed invece ho un debole per i tessuti rosa!

I'm working on a little something for my daughters, but don't tell them! A glimpse at some bits and pieces that I'm going to use...

Sto lavorando ad una cosina per le mie figlie, ma non diteglielo! Una sbirciatina ad alcune cose che userò...

If you live or are visiting north-west Italy this week, don't miss the event organised by Francesca in her shop Tessilesa on Wednesday 5th of February. Veronica Ferrari will be presenting her books and running workshops all day:

Se vivi oppure ti trovi nel nord-ovest dell'Italia questa settimana non perderti l'evento organizzato da Francesca presso il suo negozio Tessilesa. Veronica Ferrari presenterà i suoi libri e ci saranno dimostrazioni per tutta la giornata:

This weekend there will also be the first trade fair "Passatempi e Passioni" (Hobbies and Passions): 

Questo fine settimana ci sarà anche la prima fiera "Passatempi e Passioni":

Happy Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles!

Updated List for 2013 Q4 Finish-A-Long at Leanne - she can quilt

At last I've managed to take some photos for my list for the Q4 Finish-A-Long at Leanne's She Can Quilt, between rainy days! As the last months of the year are always so hectic and I know there won't be much time for sewing, I'm concentrating on two quilts. I am planning on finishing some "ancient" unfinished projects:

1. Shantung Shanghai

I was taught this block during one of Roberta Sperandio's fantastic courses, went home and made loads more. They've been sitting in a pile looking at me for ages now. The time has come to put them together. Roberta calls the block Shanghai, like the game with sticks. Shantung comes from the fact that I've used beautiful shantung silk inside many blocks.

Here's some details:

2. Column Quilt

The Column Quilt is another dinosaur, started at a great course by Francesca Miglierina at her shop Tessilesa in Laveno, it's been folded inside a box for ages (hence all the folds you can see in the photo!). If Francesca's reading she'll tell me off next time she sees me for not finishing it. It's a really clever technique for making a quilt, very fast (unless you're like me taking ages to finish it off!). I even started quilting it but unstitched loads of it because I didn't like the decorative stitch I'd chosen.

A detail:

I'm updating my link to the 2013 Q4 Finish-A-Long at Leanne - she can quilt on my previous post.

A reminder: if you would like to vote for my entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, you can in the Quilt Photographer category here and in the Art Quilts category here starting from the 1st of November until the 7th of November over at Amy's Creative Side. To vote click on the heart in the corner of the photo when you scroll over my entry. Thank you!

More news from Quilt Italia Lombardia meeting

Sunday afternoon at Francesca Miglierina's shop Tessilesa in Laveno Mombello the members of Quilt Italia Lombardia met for a chat, a demonstration and coffee with cakes...

Domenica pomeriggio presso il negozio Tessilesa di Francesca Miglierina a Laveno Mombello, le socie di Quilt Italia si sono incontrate per una chiaccherata, una dimostrazione e café con dolci...

We also followed a very interesting demonstration by Francesca during which she showed us how to make a special bag for carrying our work in progress! The shape reminded me a lot of the bags that are used now for putting cakes in when taking them to a friend's house. This bag is full of useful pockets for patchwork tools. The design is by Daniela Zamboni who is a Delegate for Quilt Italia in the Marche.

Abbiamo seguito anche una dimostrazione molto interessante di Francesca che ci ha mostrato come creare una speciale borsa porta-lavori in corso! Mi ricordava molto per la forma le borse che vanno in questo momento per portare in giro dagli amici le torte. Questa borsa è piena di tasche porta attrezzature patchwork. Il disegno è di Daniela Zamboni delegata Quilt Italia nelle Marche.

Feedback

I am very pleased to see that Fuxia from Firenze, I spoke about in my second post dedicated Bergamo Creattiva, named my blog in their Facebook page. I see they have come up with some other very interesting novelties for Spring/Summer, an explosion of flowers:

A very creative group!

I have also received an interesting mail from Marsha at The Country Schoolhouse about their Twister templates, I spoke about in my pinwheels post. If you look on Google Images you'll find a lot of quilts made with these templates, with different effects. I'm looking forward to making my Pinwheel quilt! Marsha wrote to me that "the books that go along with it do help to answer some of the questions that come up and give you a lot more ideas on projects to do.  They go in a sequence where one book builds upon the skill of the previous one....so they increase in difficulty.  I did it that way so people could be more challenged as they go on if they want to be.  I also like to include ideas so people can work on doing their own patterns too."

Here's a photo of the template in case you've never seen one. It's very sturdy and... clever! They come in different sizes too. In my area Tessilesa sells them, even on-line.

Quilt Italia e Tessilesa

A proposito dei miei lavori, stavo sfogliando il bellissimo giornale di Quilt Italia (numero 4 - inverno 2012) quando il mio occhio cade su una foto e mi dico: queste sono cose che ho fatto io! 

Sul tavolo della mostra show and tell del corso di Roberta Sperandio (quanto mi è mancato il tuo corso autunnale!) c'erano dei miei lavori da completare e, in fondo al tavolo, uno finito. Il fiore non vedo l'ora di inserirlo insieme ad altri fiori in un runner. Chissà quando avrò il tempo d farlo! La foto in realtà è nella pubblicità per il negozio Tessilesa di Laveno Mombello di Francesca Miglierina. Francesca è una miniera di idee ed iniziative. Sta diffondendo l'amore per il patchwork!

A proposito di Roberta Sperandio andate a vedere l'incredibile risultato dell'iniziativa Mille Colori Emilia. Quiltiste siete grandi e Roberta ci mette un'energia che nessuno riesce a resistere. Complimenti a tutti!