xxxxxxxx a finish for Floortje

Floortje is born! And I finished up just in time...

The finished top was done, you can find it here. A lot of fabrics I chose with my sister in mind like Eifel towers (she loves them and it was on her wedding invitation), French cookie fabric (bought in a lovely store in Uzes France together with her), the neon I know she loves, some lovely texty fabrics (in English and French) one stating places in America she has been, the white flowers on pink are a leftover from the quilt for her firstborn, the bee fabric (our last name is bee in dutch), and the pink crocodiles I think will make her laugh. I love this quilt like I loooove all of the babyquilts I've made for my sweet nieces over time, I love to do girly especially with a special girl in mind! Emma (Strawberry fields forever), Filippa (kaleidoscope), Merle (across the sea).

Quilt stats
Top: random 6 inch x-s using the tutorial from Pile'ofabric using pinks, minty greens and low volume (beige and white) fabrics.
Back: Some melody miller bees (some of the edge is showing, which I've decide to like) and a flannel pink alphabet fabric.
Binding: handbound in pink cut from a thrift store duvet cover
Quilting: Loopy Free Motion quilted on my home machine. Using light pink, until I ran out. I used some hot pink for the rest of the quilt. I love that it went the same with the fabric choices. At first I used only light pinks, but it became to flat and dull and I added some hot pinks there too!

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The x quilt top for my to be born baby niece is done!

 I used this tutorial by pile'ofacbric to make the x-es. There are several sizes available. I've made 6 inch blocks, since I happen to own a six inch square ruler and some cutting is involved. After considering making the cross stitches into the shape of a bird or snowflake, I decided to make a random lay-out with a few open spaces. The background is my interpretation of low volume, but only in white and beige-ish colors to keep it together. The baby room will be pink with minty green. I did use a variety of shades to make it lively. I especially love the touch of the neon pinks (again) and will have to by many yards of that fabric. The top now measures 48x60 inch and is a perfect cribsize I think.

 

Now I have to decide on backing and after that quilting. I am not sure about the quilting yet. Any ideas? Straight lines? something more round? Well let's sleep on it, see you soon!



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baby love, my baby love

My baby sister is having a second baby girl soon. If you believe it maybe I can. Weren't we 16 two weeks ago? Since soon will probably be march I had to pick up the crafting pace!

I love knitting, but I can handle only small and simple projects, baby gifts are perfect for getting out my needles and unnecessarily bog wool stash.



You can find the description here in multiple sizes and variations even. They are just two nights of knitting in front of your favorite tv program.

I also made some progress on the quilt I have been preparing. Just a sneak peak!

See you soon!

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ohio star - another baby finish

I've finished the ohio star baby quilt for lottte. I've shown you the top earlier, you can find it here. I've finished it with my favorite Ikea backing and a fuchsia pink gingham binding. It's quilted in white with an "orange peel" pattern. It needed some roundness. I used my walking foot to make it and it was really do-able and I am absolutely crazy about the result. Of course it's not perfect on the first try and since I do not mark the quilt before sewing. When I get the chance I will definitely use it again.

For the Ohio star top I've used a lovely tutorial from RedPepperQuilts. For the quilting I looked at lots of tutorials on the internet and then just tried. Just type in "orange peel quilting" and you will find one to your liking.

Quilt Stats: 
Name: Lotte's Ohio star
Pattern: Ohio star
Fabric front: Lots of
Fabric Back: Ikea
Binding: by hand in a fuchsia gingham
Quilting: By machine whith a white thread and an orange peel pattern using my walking foot.

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Ohio star - a classic baby quilt

I made another babyquilt top for Lotte who was born a little early (so I am in a hurry). The requested colors were grey, turquoise, pink and a dash of orange. I chose a simple pattern (ohio star) and made it with a tutorial from one of my favorite bloggers, you can find it here. It's basically alternating a square with an hourglass block. I love the result. This will be one I will have a hard time with to give away!
The next few finishes will be mine!

I think I will drive by ikea to find a backing and I need to think up how to quilt it now!See you soon!Pin It

long time no see

I've spent last weekend on my "annual friends from high school" retreat. We've had lots of fun! But I am still recuperating...

I do have a finish to show you and I hope to show you some more after this weekend!
This is a quilt I have made with my quilty friend Lotje ( slootjesschilder.blogspot.com ) for a mutual friend. We have used soft green tones and greys, since that is what the room will look like! We have each made half of the top which I put together, I delivered batting, backing and binding. Lotje machine quilted it with straight lines in a more fierce green and machine bound it with a green stripe. I've added the little ones name since she was born last week! I hope to visit the newborn soon and make her happy with a snugly quilt. I love the color scheme, it turned out so soothing.

And my friends and me having lunch in on a terass in Amersfoort.

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greenfield - another coproduction

Do you remember the other quilt I made with my quilty friend Lotje for a mutual friend and colleague, you can find it here. We really liked doing it and when another mutual colleague got pregnant we decided to step in again!

We chose a design together and based our color choices on the pictures of the room. Just like last time we've devided the rows. This time around I put together the top. It's a structured and repetitive top, because she's a structured and organised person. With a green/blueish/grey pallette of colors it is fresh, but still calm and soothing. Since Lotje and I work together in IT, greenfield is the name I thought of. Associating with the colors, but also creating something in an empty landscape and a new start. I love the outcome of aur collaboration.

I gave it to lotje with backing and binding and she will sandwich, Quilt and bind it. I will be ordering an iron on name, since Dinze was born this week!

I'll show you the end result soon!


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My first new home finish

The last day in the dreary apartment I put on the binding of this baby quilt, surrounded by boxes. After the move and unpacking most of the boxes I stitched the binding down, so this is my first official new home finish! I'm not ready to show pictures of the new home yet, there is still to much to do. But I can show you this finish. Because I will be giving it to baby Daniel this Sunday! My friend brought this little wonder into the world last week when we were busy packing and unpacking! I blogged about the top earlier here.

I couldn't be happier with this finish. I love the color scheme and the light and dark contrast, I love my versatile HST's (Half Square Triangles), I love the size, but what I love most is the binding. This fabric was bought, once upon a time, to make clothing. I don't remember what I had in mind, but isn't it lovely as a binding! I wish I would've bought more, but I have enough left to bind at least one other quilt.

This quilt was made entirely from my stash (from which I could make at least 10 more, sshhht) and inspired by a quilt on pinterest which I seem to have lost unfortunately, but made it from memory. The backing is made out of bigger pieces from my stash. The quilting was done by home machine and with a light grey thread, following the diamonds in the quilt.

Now I'm of to order an iron on name!
See you soon (with pics of the new home)



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Babyquilt marathon - handsewn dresden plate

I've made my fourth babyquilt in a row! Well this one is just a top yet actually!

Last weeks pixie churn, off course Yannick's boaty baby, and Boasson's Dashy baby. Not really a babyquilt, but a toddler quilt for Lydia made with the do good stitches comfort circle; grannies comfort. I love that they are all modern and in someway attached to my style (I would gladly kept anyone of them), but so very different depending on the person it is made for!

So are you ready for my next reveal?

The working name is aqua diamonds. (I do hope you see the diamonds emerging) It is for my good friend who is having a baby on her own, which I think is a very brave and great thing to do. She is absolutely up to it, any baby will be blessed with such a sweet, confident, persevering mom. I wish them every happiness. I will sandwich it and quilt and bind it before the move, I hope... Because after I will be busy with other things for some time, like unpacking, making curtains etc.

For the joining hands bee someone asked for a hand stitched dresden plate. The dresden plate is a flower like very traditional block. I didn't really know how to start. But I found some template on the web, traced them on freezer paper, ironed fabric around them and just started. Like I've said before, to me quilting is 20% measuring and cutting, 30% ironing, 10% actually stitching but mostly daring. Daring to sink your scissors in to fabric, daring to start, etc. I'v finished the first step and now I have to applique them to a background, again by hand. Taking this step by step. We will see how it ends up, but do far so good. 

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pixie churn - joint venture

My friend Lotje, de slootjesschilder.blogspot.com, and I did a co-production for a mutual colleague (Bas) who will have a baby soon. She is working on the penny sampler over at stitchedincolor.com and one of the patterns you receive when you join is the Pixie churn. I was already in my churn dash fever, so I needed no convincing. We added a row and did a loose interpretation, but the churn dashes in different sizes are to cute. The smallest one is really tiny and the one in the back is seriously huge! Using white churn dashes with a colorful background was new and I love the crisp contrast it gives.

We used an old shirt from Bas, white with tiny blue flowers, and one of my Alexander (pink and white checkers) as a basis. I really love that the baby girl will be sleeping under her fathers shirt. I could really recommend cutting up all the shirts you usually throw away! Ask all the men you know to donate them for your next quilt!

I love that it's really scrappy and colorful! And how two creations become one without clashing. You can really see my style and Lotje's in it if you would know them! You should try a co-production!

It's quilted by home machine with straight lines and a light pink thread. It's bound by hand with a buttery yellow and white striped fabric. I didn't want anything flashy to distract from the center.

See you soon!

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bookmark production line

This makes me smile!

I made another batch of bookmarks (30) for his classmates. It's his birthday treat. I did it last year and wrote up a tutorial. You van find it here. The kids and parents loved them last year, so why change a winning team. He has mostly new kids in his class, and he is learning to read and write now, so they should come in handy! I ordered some fabric for it from japan, but it hasn't arrived yet. So I made do with what I had. I embroidered the names of his classmates on them with my sewing machine. Now we have to go bake or buy something sweet to go with them!

And I started a babyquilt (yes again, I can't help everyone around me keeps having babies). My friend knows, but doesn't tell us what the baby will be and says she will keep everything turquoise (which tells us exactly nothing). I tried bribing her, but nothing works, so turquoise it is. I decided to combine it with grey and was really inspired by a quilt on pinterest which I cannot find again, but I'm making it from what I remember of it. It involves lots of HST's (Half Square triangles), which I have no made and cut for accuracy (You did what? Yes I cut the to an accurate 5,5 inches, please don't faint, I learn from my mistakes LOL)
This afternoon I will lay them out to see how they will come together!

See you soon!




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Dashy Baby

I finished another baby quilt, you've got to love a small project. The quilting and binding is a breeze on these. The baby in question isn't born yet, but since I do have quite a few todo's in mind with a deadline, I'm glad I finished this one at least! I blogged about is earlier here. The room for the baby to be is in green and grey, boy do I love how that turned out in the retro looking churn dashes. They are easy to make and give a great secondary pattern!

Quilt stats:
Name: retro churn dash
Measurements: 36x48 inches
op: I was inspired by the churn dashes I made for a bee. I just pulled boyish fabrics in green and grey with lots of novelty fun fabrics. You can find tutorials for churn dashes all over the internet.
Back: Big green white checker.
Quilted: Straight lines sort of following the blocks in neon green on my home machine
Binding: Grey, by hand

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Yannick has decided to enter the world

You all know I had finished a little boat medallion of course, but I couldn't show it yet because the baby wasn't coming and I wanted to surprise my friend. I blogged about it here and here. Let me tell you: he is cute! A little snugly big bear like my Fedde at 9 pounds. Yannick is sleeping under his new quilt so I can show you now!

Quilt stats:
Name: Boaty baby
Top: I chose the pieced boat and some double hourglasses, I added a white border and after that 2 strips of scrappy squares on top and bottom to give it some length.
Fabric: Lots of blues, whites, greys, beige with a touch of red. Built around the boat print I bought especially from Kokka (one of my all time favorites). I love that designer fabrics are mixed with old shirts, bed linnen and fabric from the market.
Back: Pieced with fabric that I used in the front too
Quilted: Straight lines sort of following the blocks in beige on my home machine
Binding: Scrappy, by hand.

Now I just have to iron his name on!
See you soon!

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Another finished top - but no batting yet

Hi everyone, I made the grey and green churn dashes into a top! I love the result!There's a lot going on here, circus, guitars, giraffes, frogs, stars, dots, elephants, owls, but because I used only grey and green tones it's not to busy (I think). The batting is on it's way, thanks for the tips everyone!

Right now I'm pondering what my idea will be for a new bee (Joining hands) with people as far away as Russia and Kuwait. These are actually very abstract places to me and I love imagining about them while making the blocks to send there.This group is started by Corrinne Louise who I've met (virtually) in the creative quilt blocks bee which is ending some time soon after a bumpy ride. We sent the blocks around the circle there, adding to each quilt that past you. The idea is lovely, but a few people were out of the loop some time and the circle broke a few times. I think I will receive the lovely blocks everyone made me this fall. It will be aquas and pinks and white with lots of flying geese, looking forward to that. You can find my starter block here, blogged about almost a year ago. Time flies.

See you soon!

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waiting for Bram

My quilt for my friends baby is done. But He (his working name is Bram, but that isn't his real name of course) hasn't arrived yet. Who would have thought I finished it before the deadline with the move and all. But he is not coming out yet. Maybe today.... So I can't show it yet either, since I want her to be a little surprised at least. I gave a sneak peak here.

I'm always full of energy and new ideas after a quick finish, especially when sewing the binding down by hand I have time to visualize all kinds of new projects. So I moved on to the the next due-date on my baby boom list. For some reason a lot of people close to us are having babies this fall. Which makes me, I hope I'm not an exception, a little nostalgic since mine are getting bigger and bigger and there probably won't be another one. And that's fine, I am so lucky to have two beautiful boys and it's a good decision, but hormones can't be stopped when sewing up little snuggly baby quilts.

That being said and behind me. I was really nicely surprised by the churn dash blocks I made for the comfort circle the other day and decided the next baby quilt on my list would be churn dashes. This one is for a good friend of Alexander who is expecting his first baby in September. They seem to like a little retro look, so that went well with the churn dashes I think. And I started to collect blues and greens from my stash and scraps. (I am of course trying not to buy any fabric because I have enough because we need a lot of money to renovate our new home). I asked to see some pics of the babies new room just in time, because it's green and grey. A really nice color combo, that I didn't see coming. So I changed out the blues for greys, which I have a lot less of, but still plenty!

I have finished cutting and preparing the blocks. I made two. I am chain piecing it together, it's pretty quick! And I love the retro look of the first results.

The stack waiting to be blocks

My husq varna is humming!

I have a lot more babies on my list so if you have nice ideas for baby quilts, let me know!

See you soon!


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Home Sweet temporary appartment

The move is done, the first one that is to a temporary apartement, awaiting the renovation of our real new home. Try explaining that to a toddler.... He's a bit confused, but stoic as he is, decides to ignore this and just repeat the question: Is this our new home? a few thousand times a day. I decided not to worry to much about it, he will find out soon enough. We expect to move again in November. A lot of our stuff is placed in sea containers, so a. we don't have to pack everything (just half) again in November, b. it won't fit in the temporary apartment.

We unpacked fairly quickly since it wasn't all of our stuff and I set up a little sewing corner. I decided I had to bring some sewing stuff, because otherwise I will go insane a lot of babies are due in the next months and I want to do some sewing for the new home. (see the stack of empty moving boxes on the balcony?)

It's in the living room, and I look forward to being in the middle of things when sewing! Speaking about babies and sewing, one of my girlfriends from high school (I'm lucky to have quite a few left from this period) is having her second baby. The theme of the new room is not very outspoken yet (or not discussed yet) but I got her to give a few hints: something boaty, with blues and beige and white. I started some blocks in our old home (weird to wright that down) and decided to do it medallion style, which attracts my eye a lot on flickr and pinterest. (for non quilters: medallion style means designing something around a center block, adding different borders). My center is a boat, surrounded by double hourglasses and then some strips. I added a little touch of red to make it a little more lively, but now I'm doubting this decision. I will be contemplating new borders to add this afternoon, any tips are always welcome!

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cuddly baby blanket

I made my friend a baby blanket for her newborn daughter, it's snowing in the netherlands so my hormones made me want to make warm cuddly things for the baby! I cut 6x6 inch squares in pinks and greys and added it to a storebought fleece pink starry blanky. I used leftover bindings from big quilts to bind them. A lovely blanky for a lovely girl!


Mijn vriendin kreg een babymeisje, in de sneeuw en vrieskou. Mijn hormonen sloegen op hol en ik moest iets warms en knuffeligs maken. Ik sneed blokken van roze en grijze stoffen en maakte er een mintopje van. Op maat van de kant en klare roze baby fleecedeken van de zeeman. Ik heb het met rechte lijnen gequilt en een bies gemaakt van allemaal biesrestjes van grote meiden dekens. Niet heel veel werk en een lief resultaat volgens mij, voor een lief meisje. En nu maar gauw langs gaan brengen, dan kan ze er lekker warm in opgerold worden.

Tot gauw

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