Patchwork BG in pictures:)

I hope you remember the story of the beginning of the Bulgarian Patchwork guild - Patchwork BG. Well, we had the luck to have our lovely American quilter with us - Kathryn who took pictures. And here they are for you to enjoy...















And of course the coffee celebration after the well done work and... a lovely discussion what shall we do next:)

Books and book covers:)

I have a friend that is opening a pretty gift shop soon. I have been working with her on several projects recently, but one of them I find extremely funny. That is the book cover project. I've been wanting to try that for a long time now and I really hope I will manage to make pretty covers for pretty books one day:)

Patchwork BG!

My quilting history starts in 2007. I accidentally stuck upon a patchwork magazine and very soon after that I received an ugly, but warm batted blanket from my mother. I was in my home town then with my newborn first daughter. By the time I came to Sofia I had decided how I shall improve the ugly blanket and... I did it. It took me this little to get hooked to quilting:) Here is my first patchwork and some of my other creations. When I showed it to two of my colleagues for my great surprise they appreciated it. They were so supportive and explained me that what I did was worth. I'm a social animal - I always look for second, third and more opinions, so what they did to me than I shall never forget... Thanx Tea and Petya!
That was a brief history of my start with quilting - how did I get here:)
We started early today:)
But the story actually starts this June. As I have probably mentioned I was on an incredible workshop then. I met a great friend there - my fellow quilter - the girl that supports me and I try to support her in our quilting efforts. I also had the chance to see real quilting in action, in exhibition and... had the chance to meet a lovely, lovely quilter from Hungary - Anna Dolany. I'll never forget her words on the second day when the workshop was over and we were preparing to leave... "You really need to register an organization if you want to connect with other quilds"... The other thing I will never forget was Tea (my quilting fellow's look) and the words "I'm starting the documentation gathering are you with me?". Now, half an year after that we made it to the courthouse - our patchwork guild - Patchwork BG - the first and only one in our country is registered on 11.11.10. The feeling is awesome... For the three years that we run a theme in a Bulgarian forum we have inspired and "infected" so many people with the patch virus and we have created so many beautiful things, but I have never felt like this before. Like...being a part of something huge that accepts no boundaries, that is pure beauty and certifies the achievements of human skills. We have a Patchwork BG group in facebook as well where the ideas are written and discussed, we found three Bulgarian ladies that actually make quilts for 20 or more years and will be able to benefit from their experience. And all that we did together... We started 4 or 5 people and our group is over 20 now:) This guild will allow us to enter the quilter's world, which (from what I've seen so far) is not an ordinary one. I really do believe that quilters are a "tribe" that is a lot better:)
Well, I told you where it started - with Anna Dolany and today - at the end of the process we had another great quilter with us - an American one - to support us and to document everything. She came from nowhere to show us the unlimited possibilities... she came to guide us further, as we had reached the maximum that can be learned only by watching quilting videos on youtube or reading the online information. Thanx, Kathryn, thank you so much that you found me... and that you are such a lovely person... You know what, I think they're gonna remember us in the courthouse - we were the only people there laughing and having great conversations instead of letting the bureaucracy ruin our mood. And...thanx for the time you spent for telling us how a real guild works... and not only that... thank you for your existence...

I'm sorry if I may sound profound to you but this really is a huge step for us. Bulgaria is undiscovered quilting market - every single tool or a book that I have I have ordered on ebay. Now, few years after I started quilting the situation is changing slowly. I hope fabric dealers will soon realize the need for at least a few decent patchwork prints and we'll be able to import some magazines... My dream is to have enough budget to invite guest lecturers and make a library...And above all I dream that one day people will understand me when I answer the question "what do you do" with "I'm a quilter:)"


So please, have a bite from my celebration fruit salad:)

Multifunctional Advent Calender

This year I was planning to make my daughters an advent gift calendar from paper. I would love to make my kids glad and expecting Christmas though I did not fancy the idea of having so much paper wasted. That is why I came up with this sachets. Each one can be tightened to a rope or somewhere in the house where all 24 can stay together. At the same time I thought it also would be nice if they are fastened all over around the house, so kids can look for them and find a different one each day:) The best part is, that they can be folded together with the Christmas decoration, so you don't need to buy another one next year. And even more - filled with lavender or other nice scented herbs they can decorate and healthy (much better to use such scents than the artificial ones)scent your house all year round:)
(Already in my Etsy store):)

Vanessa and Martin's Quilts

Before leaving to London and after that I've been working on two quilts for a sweet girl and her brother - both same age as Eva and Iva... It was so exciting, cause I wanted them to be alike and at the same time significant on their own. It turned out just fine... I even used the fabrics we bought in Cardif - my first REAL quilting fabrics... You can't find such here, you simply cannot... I enjoyed the process so much - the kids that are going to use them are so sweet and the mother is so relaxed and pleasing customer... Maybe that is why they turned so fine:)

The Perfect Gift

I'm not a gift person... I mean I love, adore making gifts but from those that I am sure that they are necessary, long craved and will be used... Otherwise the very idea of "buying SOMETHING NICE" horrifies me. I always mess up things and choose the worst possible one (I'm Libra - I can't take decisions:))) I think I'm even worse with receiving gifts - something like I don't know what I want, but I want it now... Some years ago I even had a friend that is now ignored and forgotten due to the "present" subject. She was so occupied with what people give her for Christmas and how much the gift costs, or what trade mark it is that I got so worried what to give her and completely neglected choosing presents for my dearest loved ones - she was satisfied with her present from me, but it was the last thing I gave her... We have a family rule - my husband chooses the presents (he covers me thoroughly on the gift matter)
However this year is a huge change for me. I managed to organize a surprise party for my husband's 30th birthday (pregnant in the 9th month) - no one believed that he was really surprised as I can never keep something secret from him for more than 10-15 minutes.
For a first time in my life I made a present that I was in no doubts about and... was liked... My best friend turned 30 this June (just like me) and I gave him a picture of us with the date 16.07.1996:)) on which he was with a t-shirt which was a present from us for his 16th birthday... and made him the very same t-shirt for his 30th as well:)
I had no "present" expectations for my 30th birthday. I was extremely glad that I got the chance to be in London at that time - a town that I've dreamed about half of my life... But it turned out even better... I got that lovely thing early in the morning on October 11th:):)

It made my lovely bigger daughter repeat all day long with a sweet mocking voice "Look who's 30, look who's 30" I wore it all day long and all through London (we made a looong tour that day) and everybody looked smiling at me:) Then I got the best sunset EVER (I am crazy about sunrises and sunsets) Here it is...



The only museum we managed to visit there was the British History Museum (Don't get it wrong - it turned out that there's NOTHING "British" in it...but there was a lot of history anyway:)) I found one thing there that I liked a lot

For my great surprise that was not all... When we came home a very dear friend of mine had prepared a surprise for me - she knitted a nice scarf and a phone case, but the biggest surprise was a small pouch containing 30 buttons. All different an all gathered and chosen and one even made especially for me - with great attention and love. I melted... It was such a nice feeling...

The finishing surprise came from my best-girl-friend who also turned 30 this year:) She came one day after work with the words "When I saw it I thought of you" and gave me that...

I will not comment that "coincidence"... It was just hard to believe:)
So... as a man that believes in destiny and faith and all nice and good things I can definitely say that it is a good sign and I hope I'll follow the wonderful lead and manage to make more people glad with what I create:) Wish me luck!