Easy peasy pillow

Now, I have to confess that I do have somewhat of a fobia for the sewing machine...... It has never done anything to me and is very friendly in appearance. There is even some pink on the thing. I do try to use my friendly machine only once in a blue moon. Every time I do (after much moaning and soul searching), I realise that my machine is indeed wonderful and the progress made is amazing! Still, I much prefer sewing by hand.

I am sharing all this, because today apparently there is a blue moon. I saw a tutorial I just could not ignore. Browsing on the wonderful website (with the slightly weird name) Cluck Cluck Sew.

 Looking for a quick "thing"to make. You probably know how that is......

Finding the project also meant the need for an excuse. No problem, my godchick is having her 14th birthday tomorrow. She requested money. No need for thinking to much then...... I would make her the pillow!

Overcoming my reservations, the machine came out. I found some fabrics I had no need to use earlier and some buttons to match and set to work. Amazingly, very few curses and outcries later I am proud to present The Pillow:

I was actually enjoying myself. I can't wait for an excuse to make another one! Or maybe one of her other tutorials.......mmmmmm

Lots of love,

Heleen

A great book!

Well, well, well. Every ones and a while you find a great give away at someone else's blog! Make sure to check out this one: Give away by melissa. Here's what they are giving away (really, giving away!)

Now I tend to enter give away's, not many, just the ones I really, really like. Like this one. I would really like to win here. Unfortunately I never, ever win! Which does not matter much, I have a load of fun just imagining I might win and get a present!

How about you? Do you enter a lot of give away's?
Lots of love
Heleen

Patch Parade part 8

The four blocks have been finished. Here's one:

I've cut all the pieces for the flying geese (all 152 of them) and added them to the 304 cut pieces from last time. From time to time I take a long look at all the pieces and the patterns I've already put on the background paper.... Looking is all I did so far, but I'm sure the actual sewing will commence shortly!

In the meantime I did finish the Sweet Pieces part 8.

According to the pattern, these are the last of the stitchery pieces. Can't wait for next month!

A special offer meant that I have secured the fabric for the backing of the finished Patch Parade Mystery. What to do, what to do. I could start getting the backing together, but how.... will I make blocks? I have no idea yet but I will keep you posted!

Lots of love,
Heleen

Disgruntled cat

My sweet little kitten has grown into a big and lovely cat. I tried all I could, but madame wants to be outside and explore the neighbourhood. This does not always goes to plan. On her birthday she got into a big fight with the cat living behind us. Cats do this regularly apparently....another thing to worry about.

In this case the - heroicly sustained - injury got infected and the infection spread to her joint. And all this in just a few days time and despite the keeping open of the wound and cleaning it.....

The visit to the vet was a piece of cake for us. Madame walks into the carrier (instead of some cats, that have fur, nails and teeth flying on those occasions), sits quietly in the carrier while dogs sniff the box and even brushes nicely against the vet. The pills she was to take were no problem either. As long as she gets a treat afterwards, she is willing to take the medicine without fuss.

However, it also meant she needed to stay indoors while the antibiotics did the trick...... A very disgruntled cat!

She is all better now and has celebrated the fact by catching her very first mouse! I am very proud of her, but did feel a bit sorry for the poor dead mouse.

Have a successful day!
Heleen

Absolute bliss

Yes it is, really, truly, utterly blissful. I always start of by thinking: "I will just quilt for five minutes". Usually I look up again about an hour later, with my head completely clear and some progress made on the completed product....Strangely I could care less about that progress.

 It is different from patchwork. There I do want to see the progress and the completed block. Same thing with the cutting of pieces in preparation for the patchwork. There is sense of urgency about those stages for me.

I will not start moaning about the sandwiching part again, but you all know how I feel about that one.... If not, just read all about it here.

It seems that all I do is racing to the finish line. I do enjoy it though. The whole process holds some very magical properties for me. Starting with a box of fabrics to touch (I do stroke fabric, I have to admit). All the preparations and then the sewing of the blocks, seeing the pattern take shape and imagining what it will be like.... It is all wonderful.

But for me, the quilting part is the most important and most amazing part of the process. Stitch by stitch the top and back almost magically change into a quilt. I just love it. So, I will say it again:
To me, it is truly bliss!

I wish all of you a blissful day!
Heleen

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Caught up

 I am completely on track with both of the mysteries! For Patch Parade I "only" had 304 pieces to cut and draw all the paper piece patterns. It is done! I have a sneaking suspicion that this will become the outer border for the quilt.

All the pieces are ready and waiting for the next assignment that will arrive next week! To tell the truth, I worked so hard on this, because I thought the assignment would be handed out this week..... Ah well, that gives me time to work on other projects!


The Sweet Pieces mystery is also ready. I finished all four borders for that one and the two stitchery blocks as well.

Have a lovely day!
Heleen

My dad, the master gardener

Well, he is not really of course. He does enjoy pottering around in the garden. So why am I calling him a master gardener. Let me tell you. My dad buys my mum roses on special occasions. Long stemmed beautiful roses. Red for the years they have been together, white for the four children they have, yellow for the children in law and pink for the grandchildren! Big, big bunches of roses!

These roses do not get thrown out after they are - well let's just say - past their prime. Oh no. My dad puts the stems in water and waits patiently for them to sprout some roots. After that happens (it does not work every time, mind you, some just go horribly bad) he carefully places them in the soil of the garden and watches what happens next.

Most of the time, our two dogs neatly take care of the small plants. Mostly Sjors (the boy) by giving them some extra "water" from time to time. Unfortunately this does not go down well with the roses, who quickly perish....

This really was a long stemmed rose in the vase. It turned into a bush!

But sometimes, just sometimes this happens:

 A beautiful white rose, managed to survive all the abuse the dogs gave it. It turned out to be a long stemmed rose.

Because of my dad's - well lets call it a hobby shall we? - our whole garden is full of things like this. You never know what will come up and where. Every plant in our house will end up in the garden. Orchids (that will not grow here), honeysuckle (no idea where that came from), hydrangea (several in different colours), but also the plantlife in Christmas table pieces (growing like crazy by the way).

It also applies to fruit and veg by the way. Just look at the size of those raspberries ripening in the sun. Or see the total bush of the raspberry plant....it came as a sweet little plant......

He has also managed to plant a plum. So we now have a plum tree in the garden. Because we have no idea how to tend to a plum tree, it gives only small yellow plums that seem to be mostly of interest for birds and wasps.

Our garden is invaded by strawberries as well. Wild ones and cultivated ones. If only we could harness some of that growing power for the vegetables! They do not grow at al well. He has tried tomatoes (two tomatoes.....), salad leafs ("You have to let some go to seed".....) and cabbages (food for the worms).

And me? Well I just look on in wonder and amazement!

Have a lovely day.
Heleen