Foep quilt

Today I started a new quilt called: 'Foep en 't vogelhoedje'. It is a quilt with a story about cats and birds. The pattern is by: Supergoof and easy to order, look at her blog on the top-right corner.

In November I joined a workshop given by Ingrid van der Harst (Supergoof. The location that day was Quiltshop Vlijtig Liesje at Tienhoven (the Netherlands). I visited this shop for the first time and will certainly go again. It is a really fun shop in her beautiful garden, run by a nice lady called Hanneke Kwakkenbos.

 It is fun to make!

 It took some time until I found the right fabrics, but eventually I did....and what a mess I made....

Lizzy (our dachshund) doesn't mind, as long as we are together.

Wish you a good last week of the year!

GroetjesAnnemieke

Back with a new quilt top in green

 Sometimes a new quilt just starts with inspiration from a walk in the woods....

we walked on this estate called 'Elswout' and looked through a window in an old shed...
I post regularly on 'Instagram' under the name of 'annemiekebears', as I did with this picture. So if I'm not here on Blogger I 'll probably be on Instagram:)

A nice view from my bike taken early in the morning...

And some fabrics I had for a while now. The two left ones are older quilt fabrics and therefore in a sale, rather cheap. The right one is a very soft and worn bed sheet, I bought in England in a car booth sale.

After I cut up a lot of fabrics in squares of 10 by 10 cm I put them on point and arranged them ( on my design wall) over and over again until they formed dark and light parts.
I used this concept before when I made this quilt in blue.

 Sewing together is easiest done in diagonal rows and iron the seams one way (tricky photo because the iron was quite hot ;)

I used two liberty fabrics and two double gauze fabrics for the first time ever. The liberties are a bit thin but in between the other cottons they are all right. The double gauze fabrics are really soft, I'm happy with them.

Then I took the top outside today, the sun being very weak, but typical for the November month.

The beans are dried here in the abandoned allotments...all the gardeners had to leave because the land is sold to a developer.

I find it no problem if there is not enough fabric for one row. I just search for one that is close enough and has the same value from a distance. See the red cardinal on the last different square in the right hand corner?

A friend of mine described the quilt as 'a stress reducer because of the soothing colours'. I think she said it just right, don't you think?

My little doggy friend, Lizzy was waiting for me until the photos were taken. She is sweet isn't she?

Have a very nice weekend,

GroetjesAnnemieke

Old and used embroidery

Over a couple of weeks I found some embroidery in the thrift shops. I always look for embroidered table cloth or samplers. It gets harder but sometimes I'm lucky. This one is embroidered by hand. There are some stains on this one but I can use the good parts someday.

 This small tablecloth is machine embroidered but I like the chickens.

 A very soft and well used table cloth with lovely faded flowers.

 A unusual sampler in just a few colours: light and dark green, black, red and white. To see the white (on white) embroidery you really must look up close. There are lots of initials too but I don't see a date, can you see one?

 These two fabric covered boxes went home with me too. I can always use some extra storage....

See how busy it sometimes is when I look from our balcony onto the water? Nice view isn't it? Sometimes those bigger boats stop and tourists come on shore and do some bike trails here. Mostly American and Japanese tourists. We recognize them because they all ride the same bikes and wear helmets which most Dutch people here don't .

 And this is at our balcony on the other side....new plants in pot like this geranium without flowers only leaves....

 My little fountain.....fun to have a fountain on a balcony!

And Lizzy our little dachshund enjoying the sun. She always knows where to look for a sunny spot.

Have a nice and creative day,

Groetjes
Annemieke
 

Red and white Irish chain

Lots of sewing done, the past two weeks, on this red and white double Irish chain, but the top is done!!! Lizzy has been by my side until the last stitches. Since we lost Goofie she doesn't lose me out of her sight.

It started in the beginning of 2013( yes I know... more than 2,5 years ago), with the help of my daughter, with cutting fabrics. The pattern is from Bonny Hunter's book:  'Adventures with Leaders & Enders'  

After making one row of blocks it stayed in a box in my closet...

Instead of using a big light piece in the middle parts, as shown here in Bonny's book

I pieced all these light middle parts entirely out of 2" (5cm) squares , because I had so many light scraps. Of course I didn't realize, at the time of cutting them, how much more work that was: I ended up with 3600 squares!!!!!!!!!

I used all kinds of scraps, some of them from the 80ties like the one with the bears and the ducks. Those are one of my earliest quilting fabrics.

All there is left now, is basting and quilting it. I don't know yet how to quilt it. It is quite big:
240cm by 240cm (about 94 by 94 inches).

To be continued :)

Groetjes

Annemieke

Embroidering and quilting in the sun

Still working on this collection of orphanage and/or abandoned blocks.

I'm embroidering over the seems in red and écru

and quilting in bigger stitches with Week dye works thread .

Lizzy is joining me, she loves sunbathing

And these cathedral windows (called 'ramen lappen' in Dutch by Supergoof from whom I learned to make this), made from Japanese fabrics on a cotton 80%/linen 20%  fabric, are growing slowly. A nice quilt to work on while traveling or waiting.

Have a nice weekend,

Groetjes
Annemieke