SchneFraenze

Hi There, Well,  yes, of course, all hand-made quilts are more than ‘just’ a bed cover!  But this one is also a Magazine Cover! Woohoo! I am so honored, that Make Modern Magazine chose a picture of my quilt to use on the cover of Issue 67. Cracked is one of the quilts I made with blocks I designed especially for ‘Quilts for Care Leavers’ in mind. This charity asks for quilts in (ideally) the size 44” x 70”. So, the blocks I designed are 11” x 14” finished.  The quilt described in MM67 is not quite the right size for the charity, but I have added another row of blocks, and the quilt will go to it’s destination shortly.   Hope you are intrigued enough to get your hands on a Make Modern Magazine and try this pattern out. Take care, Rita

 Hi There, Did I ever mention, that I like to challenge myself? Well, with this quilt, I definitely did. This was the first time I drafted a full-quilt-size FPP pattern (48 print pages). And no, I did not come up with the idea of making a dinosaur quilt myself. This quilt was a commission from a friend of mine, who wanted a dinosaur quilt for her adult son. No joke, this young man is still completely serious about his interest in everything dinosaur. He’s especially fond of the Spinosaurus. So that’s what my brief was, together with the colour theme blue/green. The longest time, (well, after researching how a Spinosaurus was supposed to look like) it took me to draft the pattern, after that, I just dove in and got it finished as quickly as I could. ‘Spinosaurus’ was finished well before the deadline, so I took it on an outing for a special photo-shoot to a dinosaur theme park. Asking complete strangers to please hold up a quilt for you to photograph gives you the nicest conversatio...

 Hi There! Anyone afflicted, can attest how the cost of Christmas presents can add up… In 2015 I was short of funds to spare on presents (for various costly reasons, including a wedding and house move). I decided to make something instead of buying. The Poinsettia Table mat was born. I like the design, if I may say so myself, the problem with it was, that all the seams meet in the middle and create a bothersome bulk. This year I revisited this design to see if I could re-create it in a different way using Foundation Paper Piecing. I tried this out a few times using alternative colour combinations. Proud to say, that the Make Modern Magazine has accepted to publish my efforts as the Flower Table Topper. Take care, Rita

My True Colours, 27 ¼” x 27 ¼”, November 2022 Hi There,   In 2019 I decided to bring a hand-sewing project on my summer holiday, something to while away the waiting hours at airports and occupy me when enjoying the sun. I wanted to do all of the top assembly by hand and based the design for this project on the pattern ‘Rainbow Colour Wheel’ from the Make Modern Magazine Issue 30. So I packed a bunch of different coloured fabric scraps and a pile of cream fabric and off I went. Inspired by the local fauna of my holiday destination, I added a Gecko to the design. Appliqueing with so many stops and starts, was a slow process, but that suited me just fine, as it meant, I didn’t have to look for a new travel project anytime soon! However, Covid hit and that meant no travel for a while. I only picked up this project again in the summer of 2021, when I travelled in a hurry to see my mother, who’s health was failing. Following on to this, I kept working on the quilt top, every time I trave...

Clooney, 53“ x 53“, March 2024 Hi There, I do love, when I can combine tasks. It’s so satisfying to make something and ticking off several points on my to-do-list. The owner of this quilt did not want to sit still for the photo, despite treats… Yes, gasp!,  I made the quilt for my dog, and it came like this: When my previous dog turned 15 years, I realised, she wouldn’t be with me for much longer and also, that I wanted her to ‘go’ with dignity. So I made her a quilt, into which she could be wrapped for her last journey. She ended up using the quilt on her bedding for only 3 weeks, before she was gone. So, when I got a new dog at the end of 2023, I knew I’d make him a quilt early on, so that it would be truly ‘his’ and a comfort. At the same time my guild sent out a challenge to design/make a quilt inspired by a greeting card (I did not win the challenge, but hey what?). I combined the two uses. So, this is why Clooney has now an elaborate quilt for himself. And unless he rips it b...

  Cleveland Ricky 64” x 72”, August 2021 Hi There, I designed this quilt in 2020, and no, not as a lock-down project, but rather, because the pattern idea percolated already for some time. I liked to watch the British crime series ‘Vera’, and on the back-wall of their open-space police office, there is a geometric feature, which I was itching to translate into a quilt. By 2020, I had made quilts for my eldest sister (for her wedding) and my youngest sister (for a round birthday), however, I hadn’t graced my middle sister with a quilt yet, and intended to address the over-sight, so I planned it for her next upcoming (not round) birthday in 2021. At the time, I was subscribing to the Make Modern Magazine already for a few years and plugged up my courage to submit this pattern. I was so surprised about the fact, that I got a positive reply from them the very next day! Wow. So, the race was on for me to get the quilt made for my sisters birthday, with time to spare to take nice picture...

Schne Fränze Farm 40” x 48 ½“ September 2023 Hello There, I had the honor to make this Baby-Play-Quilt for one of my cousins and his wife, as their present for their very first grandchild. The brief was, that it should not have the usual ‘baby colours’ (blue or pink), but rather be neutral and have an animal scheme, as the baby’s parents love the great out-doors. This brought me to design around farm animals with a tractor thrown in. I based the tractor on the model, my father had, when I was growing up. Here comes the name of the quilt (and also my blog) into play. I grew up in a farmhouse in a tini-tiny village in the middle of nowhere in Germany. There, in that very traditional hamlet, the houses have names (to this day) and the families living in the houses are dubbed with those house names. My (and my cousin’s) grandfather bought the house, I grew up in, in the 1920’s and by then, the house had already the name ‘Schne Fränze’, which translates to ‘Tailor Franz’. With both my cous...