Still - finishing Sugar block club

I've made my last sugar block. It is called "still". Standing still and just being. Looking back and looking forward, or just be in the moment. That is what the Christmas holiday is all about for me.

I think the last one is the best one! I loved making these blocks throughout the year and I will miss making them. So I have to think up how to put these together. I do think they need some kind of sashing, but will I make a classic sampler? I will have to sleep on that.

 

What do you think?Pin It

100 + in the economy race

I've decided I will go up to 135 and I have reached 104. What will I do after I finish I wonder. I love the mindless sewing up of these. And the saving up of pretty triangles, not worrying about the big picture, just sewing up blocks.

So 31 to go! And than we will make a top of themPin It

can you hear the sleighbells?

I love a Christmas home! Some pictures of my Christmas decorating to get into the season spirit!

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!Pin It

Christmass swap!

The comfort circle girls did a little Christmas swap. You can find us here.

I received this lovely package from Sigrun. She made me a hand stitched pincushion. And the chocolate bar and I have a date with some tea and a good book on the couch!

I've made a little cross stitched christmas ornament. I love doing cross stitch, but in my screwed up mind I have to make things that are useful, I don't hang things I make on the wall (permanently). So this swap was a good cross-stitching excuse!

 

 

 

 

This was my total package. I added real dutch stroopwafels and some other goodies. And some birds of course!



I hope my swap partner likes it!



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further economising

When on a roll, keep rolling!

I'm a Rolling stone!Pin It

some more economy blocks

All through 2014 I have been working on three long term quilts. One is the farmer's wife quilt. My scrappy hexie of course and then there is the economy block quilt. If I cut into fabrics I always cut some pieces for them and put them aside until I have a pile ready for some chain sewing. I add more blocks to my pile and as soon as I have enough I will sew them together. I did another batch the other day! I love the results again, it will really be one of my favorite quilts!

My pile so far

new batch 1

new batch 2

new batch 3

To go....

Back to sewing. See you soon!Pin It

Thank you Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is something like the dutch Santa. He comes from Spain by boat and celebrates his birthday in the Netherlands on December fifth. It is a real dutch tradition. The children can put their shoe by the fireplace and sing special "Sinterklaas" songs. They get special "Sinterklaas" candy or a gift. (something like the stocking thing) On December fifth we celebrate "pakjesavond" which translates to "parcel-evening" (comes close to Christmas morning) and he brings by presents for everyone. This is the most special night in a child's year here in Holland. Just to show you how special, look at my big boys face while he is opening his gift. I love him to pieces. I so love this tradition, I can really recall the apprehension living up to this event.

And Sinterklaas bought me some.... fabric, yeeah!

I really "needed" more minty green... My baby sister is having a baby girl in march and her colors will be minty green, light pink and beige! I am thinking up layouts and blocks, but no definite decisions yet. Now I can ponder some more while looking at and touching the farbrics.. Much better.

See you soon!Pin It

another flock of birds past by

And I see more coming. I love making scraps into these happy creatures.

 

 

You can find an earlier batch and the link to the tutorial here.

 

See you soon!



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Prairie Queen - a farmers wife update

Another Farmer's Wife block name to love: Pairie Queen. I've made another batch of blocks for my ever growing collection. We are really getting somewhere. I find myself thinking about how to put them together: straight or en point? And what color sashing to use, what size, etc. Let's go get some inspiration on pinterest.

FWQ # 70 Prairie Queen

FWQ # 67 Pine Tree

FWQ #68 Postage Stamp

FWQ # 66 Periwinkle

FWQ # 69 Practical Orchard



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birdie birdie

I made some birds for my nieces birthday. She has a new home and a new room and to give it some character I thought a "tree with birds" would be lovely. Her name is Merle, French for Blackbird (Merel in dutch) so a birdie theme was not far away.

I saw them at one of the blogs I read often. I love almost everything Svetlana makes!. You can find her last birdie post here. And you can find the birdie tutorial here.

I love them! And I have already cut up some scraps for a new batch. Our house seems to be in need of a birdie tree too!

See you soon!Pin It

Peace & Plenty - a farmes wife update

Hey there, I've made another batch of farmers wives. We have reached sixty five and the block names reached p in the alphabet. Since making mosaics of them is no longer working I have put them up on the wall to see what direction we are going, what colors are used to much which ones to little. What do you think? maybe some more yellow, pink, orange...

The latest addditions are these:

FWQ # 63 Ozark Maple Leaf

FWQ # 64 Peace & Plenty

FWQ 65 Peaceful Hours

See you soon!Pin It

Listen

The november block for the Sugar block Club is called "listen". It is about listening without prejudice, without thinking ahead to your advice or making mental grocery lists. I think it is hard and we should do it more often. Could that be a new years resolution?

This is the eleventh block we have made. The last one will be next month. I love the results so far.

all together now so far

See you soon!Pin It

beating december rush hour - when feeling sheepy

Do you feel like your calender is getting fuller and fuller everytime you look at it these days? Lots of birthdays, Dutch "sinterklaas"stuff, pre-christmass parties. And with it being so dark when you come home from work every day, just about everything seems to be a bigger task. But to keep from getting overwhelmed I did my november block just as soon as I could, to get them out of my head before the busy times ahead.

For the comfort circle we made sheep this month. With an easy to follow tutorial you can find here if you feel sheepy.

I hope you see a sheep!

I gave him som eyes later on

 See you soon!

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Boys and beach - a love story

I love them both and they love each other

 

See you soon!Pin It

Boat Beach quilt finished!

I finished the boat beach quilt! Our comfort circle boat beach quilt is a random sampler. Each member contributed one or more blocks and some "fillers" (small simple blocks or strips of fabric). I just randomly pieced all this creativity together. It has some star individual blocks mostly expertly paperpieced. It measures about 120 cmx170cm. It is quilted with light blue free style waves on my home machine. I am not a confident free motion quilter and it looks well enough from some distance but I do need more preactice, since it is far from perfect. But if I never do it, I will never learn and this quilt really needed waves!

The back is a mixture of stash fabric inluding a piece of a world map and some Ikea leftovers. It is handbound with a warm yellow checkered fabric received in a double dutch "ugly fabric" swap. Ugly is a very relative word! It will go (via the salvation army) to a a small child placed in a temporary foster home for further evaluation of the situation the child is in.

I love everything about this quilt! There is so much to see! My boys tell me (though I don't know if they want to pay me a compliment) they like the lighthouse most (I made that one). I love every block; the dolphins, the paper boats, the little beach house, the seagull, octopussy, the crab, the anchor, the school of fishes, the whale, the boats, the sailing alphabet and let's not forget the buoy! some are so precisely pieced, it is really unbelievable! Everyone was so imspired and creative.

It is all done, I am happy with it, but I will miss working on it too. This one will be especially hard to give away, but it will make a little boy or girl who needs it feel very special and comforted for a long time, that is priceless.

See you soon!Pin It