A new dress for R.

R. picked the fabric, the pattern and the bows herself. She's turning into a real teenager, nothing little girly about this anymore..... G.

Hello Kitty skirt

R. chose the fabric and the band colour herself at the Stoffenspektakel. Quite nice to do such a simple project once in a while. G.

Quilt exhibition in Alphen

Today I visited a quilt exhibition in Alphen aan den Rijn. It was held in one of the ugliest churches I have ever seen, a typical seventies built. The exhibiton, however, was an enormous surprise. I didn't expect it to be so large, with so many quilts. I had a wonderful time. With a big kiss for my husband for driving me to Alphen!

I always love the red white and blues....


Lovely quilt with stitcheries.

Detail of one of the sticheries.

A small version of the quilt made by our friend A., what a coincidence!


What a surprise to find this award winning quilt by Ted Storm, "Spring of Desire" here in a small church in Alphen. I saw it in Leeuwarden, some time ago, from a distance behind ropes, and here... I could examine every stitch up close.

I can never resist these antique baby clothes. Aren't they cute? G.

And Another Christmas Dress

Little Miss T. is very happy with her Christmas dress. A bit simpler than the one I made last year, but it's purple, so little miss T. doesn't mind. G.

My new wardrobe...

I've been working on some dresses for myself during my sewing lessons on Monday.

I fell in love with this gorgeous knitted fabric at the Stoffenspektakel.

And my Christmas dress is almost finished too. This is a lovely pattern I borrowed from M., she has made two dresses from the same pattern.

A Rainy Sunday

This rainy sunday we decided to make us some Zwarte Pieten. Even Tris sat himself behind the sewing-machine to make the outfit for Zwarte Piet.

The little guys found a new home in these boats, made by the kids. G.

Purple dress..

Another purple dress for little miss T.. A little too simple for me, so I made a little corsage to go with it. G.

Fall, arts and crafts

The kids are enjoying their fall vacation. This gives us time to do some arts and crafts. The spider and hedgehogs are made of clay, and the mushrooms (?) are made from an old bedsheet! G.

Sewing lessons

Since school started again, every Tuesday after school, R. has sewing lessons. We work on a project for an hour. Here she's cutting the fabric for a bag.

And here's her first finished project: a pair of shorts! All made by herself. I'm so proud of her! G.

Skirt for R.

I'm not sure whether R. is very happy with this pleated skirt. But it turned out quite nice if I say so myself. G.

Knitting Mania

Here's a post all about knitting. None of it by myself, but all made by my mother in law, who makes these wonderful cardigans for us all!


Last year my mother in law made these wonderful cardigans for the girls. They love to put them on after their baths to watch television downstairs.

I love these variegated threads.

And here's the latest knitting wonder. The pattern is from I., and it was turned into this wonderful and super-cosy cardigan. Thanks schoonmama!! G.

Stoffenspektakel

Today our entire sewing-club visited the Stoffenspektakel. We all found some great fabrics. R. picked out her own fabrics (pile on the left). Pile in the middle is Little Miss T.'s (who can't be bothered to take a look) and to the right the fabrics for little old me... G.

Civil War Diary Quilt - October

Robbers (with our new fabrics!)
Sewing
Southern Flags and Patriotism (Why can't I get it to turn the right way???)
Beginning of War, G.

Handwerkbeurs

M. and I went to the Handwerkbeurs in Rotterdam. These are our finds... On the right, the Civil War Diary Quilt fabrics. We needed some colour in our stash. On the left, Dutch fabrics, for my kaleidoscope quilt. Now that I have these, there are no more excuses not to start this quilt. G.

Playing Hooky

What a way to spend your monday morning! My mom and I decided to play hooky and give ourselves a treat, we went to Haarlem to visit a quiltexhibition by A.'s quiltgroup. The exhibition was in an old convent hallway, which was a perfect background for the quilts. There were so many lovely quilts, I just have to share this with you! I'll show my favourites...

A.'s spectacular floral quilt.

I can just see this one on one of my boys' beds.

The same technique as A.'s quilt but in a smaller star.

African fabrics.


And of course it was great to see A.'s Japanese quilt again. It really is amazing! We then walked to the market, but were a bit disappointed with the number of fabric stands (only 3), so I'll have to wait for the Stoffenspektakel next week.

And on we went to our next quilt exhibition. This was of the "Heemsteekjes" in Heemstede. This quiltgroup did a block swap with its twelve members. It was a really nice exhibition too. I'm still wondering how they did this quiltwork all together.

One member of the group gave the others a pattern and then put all the blocks together. These cute kimono's were folded into shape.

I can never resist a quilt with Dutch fabrics in it.
What a wonderful day! Thanks mom, for coming with me.