Monday 22 September 2008

Done My Homework

With my husband visiting his parents this weekend, and my kids playing outside, enjoying the lovely weather, I had time to finish my homework for the Civil War Diary Quilt project. The left block is paper pieced and it is called Hungry Soldiers, the right one is pieced and called Conscript Law. So, M, it should not be any problem for you to finish your four blocks in time for our next lesson. G.

Friday 19 September 2008

First Two Blocks

The block on the right is called Anxieties and was quite a bit of work. I rewarded myself with the left one called Simple Blessings, which was indeed a simple pieced block. Half my homework is done! G.

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Dear M.

Dear M., here's my report on the first class of the Civil War Diary Quilt!
I'm proud to say I made it all on my own to Haarlem (even though our usual road was blocked and I had to improvise my way home....)! Please don't make me go alone again!
Both I. and I were afraid to show our husbands what we had done all evening, as you can see in the middle it's very very little. But we had a great time, had a lot of chatting to do and picked up some new skills too. Cathelijne started out with a bit of historic background, and then explained working in inches. She will be presenting us with four blocks every month. Two blocks that have to be sewn in the regular way and two paper piecing patterns. I. never paper pieced before, and the other blocks don't look too difficult, so we decided to start the paper piecing block. I had to rip out quite a few seams, so that explains the small piece you see in the picture. When the first of our group went home, we couldn't believe it was time! It felt like two minutes, and not two hours! I brought your patterns with me, M., so you'll have some catching up to do! G.

P.S. I've finished cutting out all the "Bearly a Glimpse"trees and reindeer, and I'm never ever doing a McKenna Ryan project again, my fingers were all numb from using the tiny scissors!

Sunday 7 September 2008

Pillowcase

Allthough I only had to follow M.'s lead, it still took me a while to finish the pillowcase for my quilt. My daughter dictated the embroidery inside the pillowcase: "for my sweet daughter, kiss kiss mummy" G. (kiss twice, because I didn't use the memory button on my sewing machine correctly!)

Saturday 6 September 2008

Official Pictures

I haven't made the official pictures of Junior's quilt yet, so between the rain showers I let him hold it himself . G.

Thursday 4 September 2008

Progress

Two down, two to go... I've finished the winter blessings...

I promised M. to show her all my progress via the blog, so here it is. I've bought a DIY kit for bead making and look what you can do in one evening! G.

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Make it and take it

We didn't think we would be able to join in the "make it and take it"session of our friend A. at Irma's Sampler this Friday, but with some fast work we made it to Haarlem and back to the schoolyard in time to pick up the kids! Of course we bought some more Civil War fabrics. And I added the gadget for this course: the add a quarter-ruler... If you're wondering whatever that thing in the picture is.. It is a biscornu (check our christmas ornaments posts!) This one is to be used as a pincushion. We had to make it by hand, but I ripped out everthing at home.. my stiches were so bad, there wasn't a sharp corner to be seen. I should leave it to my Pfaff to make it. G.