Lavori in corso...Work in progress....

...sempre in corso, sempre in corso...Ecco come e' la mia vita, un matrimonio, due, un compleanno, una cena...Roberta ha sempre fatto i suoi regali e doni con quello che aveva e sapeva fare cioe' stoffe e patch!

Ecco il mio nuovo lavoro in corso, casa moderna.....

....always in progress, always in progress...It's my life, a wedding coming up, two, a birthday, a special dinner....Roberta always made her gifts with what she had, fabric, and what she knew how to do, patchwork!

Here is my new work in progress, for a modern home...

E tu, quali sono i tuoi lavori in corso?

And you, will you show me your work in progress?

Always stitching

~ Roberta ~

Fun ~ Divertimento

Ieri pomeriggio ho trasformato un tessuto moderno con soggetto "cucina". Non e' facile trovare tessuti moderni cosi' quando li trovo li acquisto, li trovo freschi e allegri. Questo l'ho comprato in tre versioni di colore, ieri ho lavorato questo con colori che erano di gran moda negli anni '70. Io mi sono sposata nel '77 ed ho ricevuto molti regali con questi colori: verde avocado, arancione e senape....li ho ancora in qualche scatola, ormai sono quasi considerati "vintage"!!!

Yesterday I used a "modern" fabric suitable for the kitchen. It is not easy to find modern fabrics in Italy, quilters tend to like the more "classic" fabrics, but now in some of the quiltshops where I teach I find interesting and modern fabric more and more, I see that when I use it, my students like the results and are courageos enough to try it out. I bought this fabric in three different color ways, this one is the old avogado green, orange and mustard...all colors from the '70s!!!! I remember getting for our wedding shower quite a few things for my kitchen with those colors, I still have them....now they are almost considered vintage!!!

Ecco il risultato, alcune strisce da cm.5 cucite insieme a due a due, le fasce ottenute sono state poi cucite a "tubo" e tagliate a 45 gradi in triangoli. Il risultato e' un quadrato molto versatile che si puo' usare in mille modi e formare varie composizioni cromatiche. Una tecnica veloce per un dono veloce, due tovagliette all'americana per la colazone di due giovani sposi.

A few two inch strips, sewn together two by two, then again sewn to form a "tube" and then cut in triangles. The result is a small block that can be used and arranged in various ways, a quick and fun way to use strips, my favorite shape in patchwork. The placemats are going to find their use in the new home of newly married friends.

Il retro e' stato lavorato con due tessuti: uno perche' non avevo altro tessuto fantasia, due perche' mi piace cosi', tre perche' li ho assemblati e "rivoltati" come dei calzini, non volendo fare il binding o rifinitura finale, questo e' un metodo che uso molto per piccoli lavori.

A peek at the back of the work: I use this method because I did not have enough "kitchen" fabric and because when I do small work I like to avoid the binding and I finish it with a "pillow" finish and I also like the way it turns out.

Mi sono divertita moltissimo vedere il lavoro andare velocemente, tra l'altro ho altri due matrimoni in giugno e per questi dovro' impegnarmi di piu', siamo invitati ad entambi!

I had a lot of fun, doing small work is refreshing for me because I usually sew for my classes.

Two weddings are coming up in June!

Are you having fun making gifts with your patchwork skills?

Ti diverti anche tu a realizzare doni con il patch?

Always stitching

~ Roberta ~

~ Autumn ~

Autumn has set in all the way here in northern Italy. We had a lot of rain last weekend and the leaves are covering like a soft and somber colored carpet the roads and people's yards. I miss the fiery fall colors of Pennsylvania, since in my country, fall is brown and pale yellow.

~ Summer was very busy, but I did get to sew some.

I made a piece for a national contest entiled "Are you ready to sin?" (the new banner is part of that piece) I chose "Greed" as the capital sin to be represented, all in yellow and gold, the requirement was to make a banner (cm 150x15) and a specific color was assigned to each capital sin. I printed two verses and worked the banner in seven sections joined together by small golden gromets and metallic gold cord . It is quite difficult to photograph a banner, so this is a small part of it. I did a lot of couching with different cords and threads on the surface, mostly in gold.

Sewed a baby quilt for a friend who became grandmother to baby girl Aurora.

Sewed a wallhanging for the twinship between Valbruna Patchwork Club and Fuerteventura (the panel was in the exposition "Mari e Monti" in Gran Tarajal, Canary Islands ~ Spain, in September) to honour and remember my friend Germana.

Made a quilted tote bag for my mom Lia....I wished I could have sewn more....

~ Now I am back teaching some classes, preparing a new class with a Christmas project and waiting for Vincent to come back from a few weeks in the Usa visiting and sharing our work in Italy to old and new churches. ~

~I thought I share with you a quilt I made two years ago that I like a lot. It's called "Autumn in Vermont". It is quite large, I used hand dyed fabrics, the dark brown is commercial, crazy pattern for the block (Karla Alexander).

The peculiarity of this quilt is that I machine quilted free motion many leaves, one by one (not in a continuous line) each has starting stitches and finishing ones. When a friend asked how many leaves where on the quilt, I answered: " Maybe 200...". I decided to count them. Took out straight pins and counted 100 at the time and placed them on the leaves.....I was astonished when got to the last leaf....they were 550!

I had so much fun quilting them, I wanted to fill all the gaps on the surface of the quilt, so I quilted more and more and more.....Many decorative threads were used, rayons, aurilux, metallics........

The piece received quite a lot of attention in the april show featuring my contemporary work in the Venetian Villa Widmann and it is one of my favourites.

Which one of your quilts is your current favourite and why?

Have a nice evening, always stitching

~ Roberta ~

some work

Last spring Bernina friends were invited to celebrate the newest series 800, by entering their work in a contest. The rules were simple, one could enter any textile work: a quilt, a garment, a bag ect., the number 8 used for the 800 series was to be present in the work, the colors were to be black, white with a touch of red and silver, the work had to be sewn on a Bernina sewing machine ( how do they figure that out i do not know :))! ). Only one winner, only one prize: an Aurora 440 sewing machine or a coupon of the amount of the Aurora to be placed toward the purchase of a 800 series. I was really enticed by it so i participated. The piece i made is very detailed and it was a challenge, i learned every day things about design, color and composition. I used most of the functions of my sewing machine ( an Aurora 440, i love it! ) and i got to know her much better.
I did not win the prize, but i won because i learned so much in the process. Every day was a new discovery, working in ways i never worked before and getting out of my comfort zone.

Stretch yourself today and learn new things, you'll love it!

Roberta