Feathered Star Continued

The Feathered Star turned out to be quite a breeze... At first I wanted to turn the block into a cushion, but now I'm thinking of at least two cushions and maybe more.... G.

Birthday Cake

It's Big Sister's birthday tomorrow, so Barbie has to loose her traditional pink outfit and wear Big Sister's favourite colours: yellow and orange. The cake is all ready, now wait and see if the birthdaygirl feels better tomorrow, she's feeling feverish today... G.

Feathered Star

Friday February 15th, M. and I did another wonderful workshop in our favourite quiltshop, Irma´s Sampler in Haarlem. We were taught how to make a Feathered Star block by our teacher Lucy. Lucy gave us permission to publish the photo´s of her wonderful quilt designs, thank you so much! Check out her great weblog, she makes so many beautiful quilts: Quilting with the past




One feathered star consists of nine blocks. We made two in the workshop (10 to 15.30), so don´t expect our blocks to be on the blog very soon. I liked this block very much (much better than the triangle tractatie), but that´s perhaps because I worked a bit neater this time (I had another not so good moment with working quick and dirty this week), and I used better fabric (t.i. more expensive fabric!). We worked so very hard, that we did not even take the time to browse the store and we went home with only one new fabric! Well, we can change that soon, because our next workshop is in March! We are very excited to do a workshop taught by the shopowner, Gré. I´ll keep you posted! G.

Golden Oldies

I finally found the pictures my dad made for me ages ago! Speaking of ages ago, I made the "Twelve Days of Christmas" for my mother, two Christmasses ago (??). It´s one of our family´s favourite Christmas songs, and we love to shout it louder and louder, whilst my sister is playing the piano faster and faster!

This one is truly a golden oldie!! It´s one of my first cross stitch projects, which I started somewhere in January, hoping I would finish it before Mother´s Day! Needless to say, I was finished quite in time!! M. made one for me, and helped me with the tassle and cord around it. G.

The German Bed

Here she is: Baby Sister with her quilt!

Here are Baby Sister´s pictures of the Sister´s Choice quilt I made for her. And a questionaire is attached to it:

1. Which side of the bed is mine?

2. How many red and blue squares are in the picture?

I´m sure she had the answer to one of the questions! G.

Wish List G.

Quilting Projects:

1. Quilting of Big Sister’s Kaffe Quilt.
2. Quilting of the Wild Animals Quilt for Junior (backing fabric arrived last week, in less than a week from the USA, thank you, equilter.com!!)
3. Circle in a Square Quilt
4. Patchwork Party Quilt ( Christmas Quilt).
5. Kaleidoscope Quilt with Dutch fabrics for my father
6. Find a flowery patchwork pattern to use with the 30s and 40s fabrics for my mom

Cross Stitch Projects:

1. Finish Family Sampler (deadline is April, 8)
2. Start Holy Communion cross stitch for Big Sister (deadline is April, 20)
3. Start wedding sampler for my sister (deadline is end of September)
4. “Spring” the last of the Elizabeth’s Designs in the Four Seasons Stitching Club
5. Discovered I have tons of great stitching projects in my “to do”box... Will pick one as soon as the other four are finished!

And first of all THE dress! Tried my lockmachine last night with a scrap of the silk fabric, and it looks very good. Had to unpick all my stitches of the house on my family sampler, however, so no progress for now. G.

Dress in Progress - Act 1

A rainy Sunday afternoon. A dress in progress, due April 20th... or preferably a couple of days earlier.

M.

New Year's Eve Stash Enhancement

I couldn't resist a New Year's Eve Sale at The Silver Needle. Twenty-five percent discount... if you hit the 'confirm' button between 06.00 and 06.59am Tulsa, Oklahoma time.

It arrived on Wednesday.

M.

Dear G.

Dear G,

You were so right to push me into posting this quilt ;-) My first post in 2008 on the first quilt I ever made. I cannot remember when I discovered Kaffe Fassett's fabrics - maybe you remember? - but it was an instant, deep love... When I discovered the pattern for this utility quilt in Kaffe's V&A Museum book, I was instantly hooked once again... by the simplicity of the pattern. Little did I know at the time that the patchwork part is the easy bit... quilting the top that's the real challenge. But don't you agree we have come a long way?!? Had you told me 20 years ago, back in 1988... that this would be in our future...I would not have believed you! And this year we're going to see these V&A quilts with our very own eyes.

Apart from seeing the V&A quilts... what is my wishlist for 2008? To stitch and quilt... not my stash wishlist... wink ;-).

To Stitch:

• Finish my nephew's Winnie the Pooh height chart
• A Surprise Stitch
• Cloister Garden by Drawn Thread
• Sanctuary by Drawn Thread
• Angel of Love by Lavender & Lace
• Start our '2000 Years Ago' Xmas project (again)

To Quilt:

• Finish Little Miss T's quilt
• Feathered Star cushion
• Circle In The Square lap quilt
• Continue the Triangle Traktatie
• Kaffe's Courthouse Steps

An ambitious list I hear you say. Mmm... you're right. Then again I just love dreaming!
G., what do you plan to do this year?!

Love,
M.

Btw... I love Winter

Finished Winter

Last night I finished "Winter", my third Elizabeth's Design pattern of the "Four Season Stitching Club". My next project will be to finish my family sampler, which has to be framed and ready by April 8, our wedding anniversary. G.

Make It and Take It

M. and I did another "Make it and take it" session at our favourite quiltstore in Haarlem, Irma´s Sampler. Our wonderful friend and guru A. taught us how to make yo yo´s in flower shapes. We made hairpins for the girls. M. decided we should use these yo yo´s on Big Sister´s communion dress. So I bought the shapes and more of course.... G.

Wild Animal Top Finish!

Well, here's two days and one evening of hard work for you... One finished quilt top! Now I have to show it to M. and A. for quilting advice. I've made great use of my new ironing board. What a relief to keep the blocks lying on the table in stead of them sliding down every few minutes. G.

Final Version

After an hour of moving the blocks around, Junior decided this would be the final version. The blocks on the right are the same as those on the left, he wanted a kind of pattern in the quilt and in the middle he placed his favourite, the tiger print. G.

Museum Visit

We just visited the "Rijksmuseum van Oudheden" in Leiden. The kids did a quest, based on Daphne Decker's new book "Marijn in de woestijn", which is all about ancient Egypt. I'm a big fan of everything Daphne writes and I can't wait to start reading this book with the kids. As you can see, the questions even puzzeled mom! G.

Wild Thing

The Pirates have roamed my living room for another evening, and this is the result:


Don't you just love these trilogies! These are the four blocks of the original quilt. All I have to do now is copy them twice and add a border, piece of cake. Hopefully part 4 of the Pirates will come soon! G.