Perfect Pan

Isn't this the most perfect pan? All pans should come in this colour.

M.

Another Finish - Spot of Autumn

Three down, one to go. I started the last one yesterday, but I realised that it needs two Weeks Dye Works fibers that are also used in '2000 Years Ago', Cadet and Juniper. Need to pick them up at G.'s later this week. My 'Winnie the Pooh height chart' pattern will ship on Monday, sooner than I expected. Hopefully I finish it before the deadline of early November - need to check with my brother whether they'd like the name and birth date of the baby stitched on it as well.

I am browsing http://www.fatquartershop.com/... trying to find a nice fat quarter bundle... dollar being so low... G. and I have enrolled in another workshop, called 'Circles in the Square Variations' (I believe). Class is scheduled the day before I go on holiday - do not normally suffer of holiday packing stress, might after this ;-). Rather than making another one for my bed - I made 1 and have another 3 planned, one for each season - I'd like to hang this one over a chair or drape it over a couch. Not quite ready to move from seasonal quilt changes on my bed... to monthly changes... yet.

M.

What Did We Do?

We were supposed to buy fabric for little miss T.'s quilt backing, and perhaps some Dutch fabrics for my Sisters' Choice quilt. Somehow we ended up with all that and more. Now we have to make four skirts... what went wrong??? G.

Finish - Spot of Summer

I love these tiny Spots! So much that I hope to finish them all (four, one for each season) in the next couple of weeks. I ordered a Winnie the Pooh kit that has a moving deadline of approximately early November ;-). I'd like to finish that one before I go on holiday mid November.
G. and I went to Gouda today - our goal was to find purple gingham backing fabric for little Miss T.'s quilt. We were successful... and also decided on the spot to make little Miss T. and her older sister R. two skirts each. I fear our demanding, but enthusiastic customers would like to see these finished as soon as possible.

M.

Finish - Spot of Spring

Tada!
M.

Dutch Treat Fabric Club

I´ve joined the club! 6 great dutch fabrics every four months. And Minewood Quilting adds a newsletter with the pattern for a lovely block. Can´t wait for the next shipment! G.

Boring Piet

I´ve been working on this Nenne Design pattern of "Zwarte Piet" for some days now, and it´s sooooo boring. The pattern itself looks so cute, but all the boxes are just too much, especially after my great "Summer" design, when I finished a few flowers or a whole pond in just one night. G.

Spot of Spring

I needed a quick project/ fix last Friday... started Spot of Spring by Drawn Thread - one of my favourite designers. And today... it is nearly finished. All that is left to do are the blossoms on the tree... I have decided to make some changes to the pattern and change the pink blossoms in the tree to smyrna crosses rather than regular cross stitches. I could get hooked on projects this size... 52 x 52 stitches.

M.

Cheated...

G. and I feel cheated... we feared as much, but today we found out for sure. Our '2000 Years Ago' project does not have 8 installments, but probably 10... So now we are faced with the option of finishing the project this year... and changing the text to the last ornament... or sticking with it and waiting another 2 years... not to mention that we need to figure out whether we can stitch all 10 on the same fabric and still get it framed. It sucks...

M.

Such A Relief...

G. and I will attend another workshop at Irma's Sampler (Haarlem) in a couple of weeks time - Triangle Traktatie. I found some nice background fabric in one of the shops at the Deventer Quilt Exhibition. Unfortunately they'd only brought half meters, but they were absolutely sure they have more at the shop. I got a call on Tuesday last week saying that they would send it to me. When it still had not arrived this week Tuesday, I gave them a call... they had not shipped it... but were going to. I was so relieved to find the package on Thursday, as I had already bought quite a few fat quarters with this background fabric in mind. The background fabric (the brown/gray in the middle) is Japanese and I combine it with modern, western fabric in blues, greens and neutrals. It is meant to become my winter quilt... I do not like quilts hanging on a wall, but prefer the utility kind... lying on a bed or draped over a chair, or ones you snuggle up under on a couch. We bought the triangle ruler that we need for the workshop yesterday, at the start of the autumn season at Irma's Sampler.

M.

Shaker Work Stool

The Shakers (and especially their furniture in all its simplicity) have fascinated me ever since I visited a Shaker village in Canterbury, New Hampshire. One glorious hot summer day and I went on a 3 hour tour of the grounds... come to think of it, my fascination is probably due to a prolonged sunstroke. I already have a Shaker rocking chair and now also a work stool.

M.

Aqua Biscornu - Finish

First Christmas finish of 2007....and tick 1 on my stitch wish list.

M.

Finish

The deadline was breathing down my neck... M. wanted it finished this week. Piece of cake. This is a lovely design by Elizabeth´s Designs from the Four Seasons Stitching Club. Of course the other seasons will follow... It has great charms in every pack and Needle Neccesity threads.

This was my first Elizabeth´s Designs work. It´s called "Love Grows Here". I made it for our 10th wedding anniversary. I picked this design as it has four hearts in the tree..... Just guess what they stand for. G.

Sophie´s Party Dress

Doll Sophie´s second outfit... and last one for now. I´ve had it with the tiny sleeves and mini seams. But doesn´t she look cute. Thanks to tante Greet for the fabric. G.

My Stitch Wish List

A post without any pictures... just a list of cross stitch designs I hope to (start &) finish in the near future - in the right order:

1. Aqua biscornu started back in February 2007 on a flight to Chicago. I need to stitch 2 identical Ackworth patterns and finish it as a Christmas ornament. Nearly halfway stitching the second pattern. - finished 12 September 2007
2. Spot of Autumn, Winter, Summer and Spring by Drawn Thread. Tiny patterns with speciality stitches and a charm... 50 x 50 stitches at most. Need to find frames (preferably with a mat so I can keep the glass) to fit these as I plan to frame them myself. I'll stitch these during the matching season - will start with Autumn in a few weeks. - I started with Spot of Spring instead on Friday 14 September and finished it on Tuesday 18 September. I love these tiny patterns! Started Spot of Summer the same day, finished it on Saturday 22 September. I finished all spots... the last one on 7 October 2007.
3. New Pattern jumped the queue... Winnie the Pooh bellpull for my brother and sister-in-law. They're expecting their first child early November. So I will have to stitch fast.
4. Final pattern of '2000 Years Ago' by Shepherd's Bush. G.and I are eagerly awaiting this year's issue of the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Magazine. We'd like to finish the design in time to have it framed before I go on holiday mid November. - Will most likely not be finished this year... 10 patterns iso the 8 we expected. Current thought... we will start afresh and finish the current patterns as ornaments.
5. Angel of Love (Lavender & Lace) ... moved up the list... I would like to move this one along as I think I found a nice frame for this one and would like to check whether it looks nice when we go to Purmerend to have '2000 Years Ago' framed. Restarted this one earlier this year.
6. 'The Plymouth Sampler'... I started this one a couple of weeks ago... will take a while to finish, tiny stitches.

M.

Toccata Number One by M.

Another Quilt Exhibition

G. and I went to another quilt exhibition. This time in the charming village of Oudendijk, close to the city of Hoorn. Apparently after being there for less than two hours, they considered us locals. People waved at us when we drove away... or they were just happy to see us go.

The exhibition was held in the local church and organised by the regional chapter of the Netherlands Quilt guild. Some 20 quilts were on show and there was a small shop from Hoorn.

I found another 5 fat quarters for my 'Triangle Traktatie' quilt. I ordered the main fabric from a shop in Zutphen last Sunday at the quilt exhibition in Deventer. I got a call on Tuesday... they have the 3 meters I need and were going to ship it to me... I has not arrived yet. Because of my recent experience with book 7 of Harry Potter, I am slightly worried. I'll give the shop a call if the fabric has not arrived on Tuesday.

Some of our favourites pictured below.
M.

Little Miss T´s Doll

Meet Sophie in her new suit, that cost me E.1,20. (and four nights of work, but who´s counting..) Don´t check the seams, they aren´t all straight, but Miss T. doesn´t mind! G.

Sarah Tatum - Framed!

Sarah Tatum took me nearly two years to finish. It was my sampler club project, I finished it one week after our last class. G. and I decided not to join the sampler club this autumn... our teacher changed the rules (new rules are too limiting).

Sarah Tatum is a sampler from the Ackworth school in Yorkshire, famous for its medallion samplers. I changed some of the colours... too much brown, gold in the original.

I had Toccata Number One framed as well. Picture is too blurry, I'll take a new one soon. Although should I bother... G. and I had them framed identically and had to look very closely for our initials.

M.

Deventer Quilt Exhibition - Some of Our Favourites

Little Miss T. Approves!

Such a relief! I showed the progress of her quilt to Little Miss T. today and she liked it. Top is nearly finished, I only need to add the border. Border fabric is the green one with pink flowers...third row from the top, second fabric from the left.

M.

My First Framing

I´ve framed quite a few needlework objects, but I know my limits ... My Toccata no. 1 was framed by a master in Purmerend (or Hoorn, we keep forgetting...). It just looks great! M. and I made it both, though M. finished it a bit earlier. It´s made with all sorts of floss, cotton, wool, linen, silk. The scary part was we had to cut some of the linen threads and make holes... G.