Christmas Girls

I finished their sweaters in time for Christmas, and they were so happy to wear them. G.

Christmas Present

My husband's aunt is the best in finding everyone the perfect Christmas gift. She bought me this cute little cross-stitch sachet. Laverder included. G.

Thousands of Diamonds

The last homework block. Now I can start sewing a skirt for little Miss T.! G.

Mud Hole

I worked myself through the paper piecing homework. Here's the first one. G.

Yankee Papers by M.

Four down, one to go. The one I dread most.

M.

Meeting General Lee by M.

M.

Thousands of Diamonds by M.

My last paper piece homework block. G. does our homework in reverse order... we both chose our favourite method first ;-) Borrowed another fabric from one of my quilts in progress... the pale blue with brown roses...not sure whether the reproduction fabric authenticity police would agree, but I believe it works here...

M.

Mud Hole by M.

Pigs playing in mud. M.

Civil War Diary Class - December

Class Show (less Tell here) last Tuesday. Ours are the top three rows again...merely due to seating rather than skill/design level.
M.

Parlor Activities

G.

Meeting General Lee

I'm just rushing through our homework (leaving the paper piecing for last, of course)

G.

Yankee Papers

I feel a bit ashamed to dedicate an entire post to such a simple block, sorry, M. G.

Games, Music and Knitting

Don't worry, I haven't taken up knitting (yet?). This is a block for the Civil War Diary Quilt. Non homework, but our teacher explained to me how to cut and piece this one together. I usually predict which block will be our homework for next time, and I had predicted this one to be part of it, but it wasn't, and I am a very bad loser, so I decided to make it anyway. G.

News Revisited

I didn't like my previous attempt at news, so I decided to stay in my comfort zone (which meant, not using green green and green...) and I pieced it without the paper and voila, much better! G.

Tris' Shirt and Polywhirl

My boys haven't featured in our blog yet. So here's a first of Tris in his new shirt I made him. The fabric was so thick, I broke two twin needles on it (very expensive sweater it turned out to be...). For the leftover fabric Tris made a design for a stuffed Pokemon. He was very happy with the result.

2000 Years Ago

I had some doubts on framing our 2000 years ago stitching project from Shepherds Bush. It was a bit expensive and it would only hang in my house for a few weeks... But to leave it in a cupboard and do nothing more with it was not an option either. Now I am so happy I did frame it. It looks great! M and I have been stitching it for 3 or 4 years. We started off with the first four pictures and then had to wait for the Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue to be published each year. When the eighth picture was published we thought the sentence didn't make sense and we thought we had to start all over again. When we mailed the designers from Shepherd's Bush they explained to us how the sentence should be read and we, students of English, were very much ashamed! It now reads: 2000 years ago, the angels sang, shepherds watched, wisemen came, in a stable, as Bethlehem slept, Mary and Joseph, their sweet baby kept. G.

And this is mine! Spot the difference.... apart from the mat... and the odd amish... M.

Random Colours

My Christmas tree with all its trimmings is on full display again... a tad on the small side and pretty crammed... talking about wonderful displays... I love our collection of Civil War fabrics... would make a nice display in a wicker basket on a coffee table. But alas, I do not own a coffee table - much to the dismay of family and friends - and do not intend to buy one... also G. would never let me... put the fabrics on display that is.M.

PS. Darn... just realised... G. does own a coffee table... Well G. you can forget about it!!

M.'s Folly

My failed first Mail Delivery attempt... I named it 'M.'s Folly'... a spare block... might need another row anyway...

M.

At Long Last - Mail Delivery

Second attempt... thought quilting and talking to a friend on the phone were to blame... turned out the paper pierce pattern failed me... so one taketh a pencil and draweth all lines on the reverse side of the paper... eh voila!

M.

PS. Fitting Civil War title come to think of it!

New Dresses

The girls wore their new dresses to the wedding anniversary of their grandparents and danced in them!

Little Miss T. looks to her brother for the next move...

Me in my new dress (in my new role as singer in the band!) G.

Surprise

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this weekend. My mom cross-stitched this sampler for the occasion and M. and I picked it up at the framer's just in time to present it to my parents at their party.

My own small contribution to the festivities! It's a pattern by Brenda Keyes. It looked quite easy in her book, "Traditional Samplers", but turned out to be a lot of work! The charm is one of the Shepherd Bush silver charms. Luckily I had just enough Gloriana thread to finish it (with only an inch or so left, which was quite stressful at the end) G.

Church

Second attempt - as Bev Jackson told us 20 years ago... reading is key. Thanks G.!

M.

Troops Awaiting

M.

Masterclass - Kaffe Fassett

Finally... I had to wait for a couple of months... signed up for a Masterclass by Kaffe Fassett back in June... not knowing what to expect. Cut an enormous amount of fabric squares beforehand... and drove all the way to Leeuwarden. Well worth the effort! I absolutely loved it!! The end result looks completely different from what I expected...
First Kaffe showed us his 'Dickie Bow Quilt'...
Then we had to put the fabrics on our plan board... stop thinking, just put the fabrics on the board and rearrange later... Above my initial layout...
The feedback from Kaffe and Brandon Mably, his assistant.... my background fabric was competing with the bows. Kaffe asked me to pick my favourite fabrics and took me shopping - every girls dream! After lots of rearranging - this is the end result.
Kaffe does a tour of all quilts at the end of the day (and do not think you can skip this!!). Mine 'went through a lot of changes... hot strength... speaks of masculinity'... not sure he liked it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

M.

Civil War Diary Quilt-November Homework

Remembrances

Troops Arriving

Mail Delivery

Church

Haven't I been busy this weekend? G.

Workshop

Friday evening M. and I did a workshop at the "Putkha" we made this winter wreath. It was a lot easier than the stuffed pumpkin we did last time. I haven't hung it on my door yet, because of the november storms.. G.

Remembrances

Finished my first homework block this month. The most complicated of the four. Struggled to find a spot with enough light to take a picture... my bathroom it is. I'll be in Friesland Tuesday and Wednesday this week to attend a workshop with Kaffe Fassett. Will keep you posted.

M.

Civil War Quilt...

This month our blocks were inspired by Eldress Nancy Moore. The three of us were the top of our class last night... LOL.

M.

Merchantable Goods

Last homework block before class on Tuesday. Flowery pinks.

M.

Watch the Birdie... Harassment

Boy... I love paperpiecing (and could never ever have finished this block in the traditional way - LOL, I would never have tried in the first place...) but I do not understand how use the fabric economically. And if I try I end up ripping seams. This block cost me a fat quarter in fabric. May be a good question for class on Tuesday. One more block to go... but first I am off to the fair.

M.

News

Another Civil War block, 'News'. Finished in the week the US elected a black (lingo of the time) president. Leaves me wondering whether good old Abe would be able to get his head around that if he were to be transmitted in time to 2008 by Prof. Barabas. Always think of Abe as a gracious man... but then again my picture of him is largely painted by the 80's TV series 'North & South'... ;-)

M.

Harassment and News

The last two blocks of my homework are finished. They weren't as difficult as I thought they would be. Maybe I'm getting the hang of paper piecing... Had to rip out only one (!) seam. G.

Floddertje

One of my favourite characters from my favourite writer/illustrator duo Annie M.G. Schmidt/ Fiep Westendorp... as a cross stitch pattern. The world is a brighter place.

M.

Come Fall...

Come Fall... it is about time I posted a picture of my Celtic Autumn. Stitched her and her seasons sisters a couple of years ago.
M.

Union Soldiers

I just discovered what it is I dislike about paper piecing: it's a bit like painting by numbers. Couldn't stand that either. Anyway... here is the first of my three homework blocks, Confederate soldiers, of course in the stars and stripes. Don't worry, M., Lincoln won't make it in my quilt. G.

New Skirt

I finished a new skirt for my daughter. It's a very cute pattern with six triangles in the hem... G.

Van Nelle

Yesterday G. and I went to the 'Handwerkbeurs' at the old Van Nelle factory.

Our goals:
- Buy Kaffe Fassett fat quarters and background fabric for the masterclass I'll be attending in Leeuwarden on 18 November. My goal actually... G. agreed to try and tackle this first (even before going to the loo)... to calm my nerves...
- Add to our Civil War fabric stash.
- And to buy a present.

Reached our goals and a little more - we also bought a small felt Christmas project that we now have to assemble in 1 night. Luckily we managed to avoid the knitting bug - probably not for long. We both loved the multi-coloured socks. No knitted tea cozy in sight.

Some quilts by Nel Meijer - amazing level of detail and colour.

My Kaffe fabrics on the table at G.'s parents... now all I have left to do is cut 1100 squares by 18 November. G. cheerily did the numbers... about 50 a day...
M.