December 2018

Still catching up on those blog posts I should have written some time ago…
so here’s a little post about the goings on in December. No use showing a picture of our Christmas tree anymore (it was small, but sweet) or our Christmas celebrations (again small, but sweet) but Christmas is also a time of exchanging gifts and gifts were exchanged.

Both Emma (click) and I had had birthdays recently so early December I sent a package to France with her pressies which included a little framed mini-mini top:

These are 3/4”  triangles, I used one of Jeanneke’s (click)  stamps to make this, a fun little project but I would not have the patience to make a quilt of this 😉

My Christmas present from my Mr. this year was this lovely little doggy pincushion, obtained from Dorry (click), I think it is supposed to be a dachshund but it think is looks just like Whopper!

There was a visit by Karen (click) and her very well mannered dog Freia, Karen is one of the busiest persons I know, she always has stories to tell and projects to show, at the time she was knitting pairs of Norwegian patterned mittens, yes pairsssss, one pair for each family  member of her family, and she had time to quilt too. All that in addition to running her own business (click)

As you can see, I worked on the circles of my Sugar Plum quilt, pattern by Judy Newman (click) , four more finished

And there was a really nice day in Amsterdam,  a Christmas holiday tradition for our family, it is always dark and grey when we are there around Christmas time and all the pretty lights make for such a special atmosphere:- 

Apropos, birthday presents….  you may remember I celebrated my birthday with Emma in France in October (click) during Margaret Mew’s (click) workshop in Emma’s shop (click)?
Emma thought of the most wonderful gift, unfortunately it got stuck at the French customs (think they liked it so much they would not let go of it!), by the time the package was released it I was back home in The Netherlands, so Emma brought it with her to Houston in November……the pattern and templates for Margaret’s Rosa Biddlecombe quilt a n d  starter fabric kits from Margaret’s own stash!

I always love going through other quilters’ stash, don’t you (is ‘stash-envy’ a thing?) and these fabrics are soooo beautiful!

A great project for 2019!

Phyllis

Presents for (quilt) friends

It has been quiet on my blog.

For two reasons: I was busy on two secret projects I showed you bits of before and I went on a lovely holiday, still getting used to being back home……

 

But at least now I can show you at least one of the secret projects, a goodbye (not farewell, that much is sure!) to my dear friend Emma who moved back to France recently.

Since Emma is a (very accomplished!) quilter herself it was no use making her a quilt of any sort, so I had to come up with something different.

Thinking that as a busy mother of two younger children she is always juggling all sorts of schedules  and reminders in her head I thought a brocante looking memory board would be nice and also I could attach to it small reminders of the fun times we had together as well as some small gifts. As I am only handy with fabrics and not much else I bought the memory board.
But I did want to make her something myself (and not just give presents that I bought) so I made her a keyring for her beautiful renovated home in France.

 

 

As our dogs Whopper and Bailey are also best friends and spent many hours together during their playdates (that recently involved a red stuffed chicken J  ) a picture of Whopper could not be left out.

 

 

 

Living around the corner from me and having so much in common we spent lovely mornings and afternoons together, I will miss being able to just pop over for a cuppa and a chat.

And while we are on the subject of presents for friends, I never showed you the finished present that I made for fellow Feathergirl Hubertine when it was her birthday earlier this year.

I bought a small tray (to take small sewing items with her around the house or her roof terrace) and made a mini quilt for it.

 

And now back to sorting out all those pictures from our holiday…. Hope you had a lovely summer too, either at home or elsewhere.

 

Phyllis