Gifts.....

Always nice to give something away right? Since I started with the stitchery madness, I find great excuses to stitch. Any reason will make me reach for my - stitched of course - bag full of supplies.....

A few examples:

Excuse 1: A great free pattern and a friend that deserves a thank you!

Excuse 2: A friends granddaughter in desperate need for a quilt (according to us of course). My mother wanted to finish it before her birthday. I quilted the outer border and took care of the binding and label, to help her finish in time. Reports that have reached us since, Sarah guards her quilt and takes it everywhere. Exactly what we wanted!

That was not all I did......not by any means: There was more stitching (no pictures....no time to take them!), the wedding quilt to finish, another friend needing a binding for a quilt, the first block (times 8, pics to follow soon) for the new Mystery (while piecing together the last mystery, haven't finished that yet) I was block head for the yearly Diabetes Fund collection (lots of phonecalls and counting money \0/). and most importantly loads of great ideas and tutorials on all the blogs I needed to read!

Now things are calming down a bit!

Lots of love,

Heleen

It is finished!

I knew that the wedding quilt would be hard to finish in time. I didn't finish in time for the wedding. Not a problem. It was a wonderful day. With a fairytale bride and a handsome groom. Both were extremely joyous and looked, well ... simply infinitely happy!

Lucky for me, the happy couple departed on their honeymoon shortly after the wedding. That gave me an extra week! I finished the top and sandwiched the quilt on Saturday the 12th. I have been quilting non-stop this whole week and I will not show you my quilt fingers since I do not want to gross you out, but now: I'm done!  The quilt went in the washing machine (had to....my cat "helped" throughout the process). Which was a  belly churning moment (there is a lot of red in the quilt......). But all was well when I opened the washing machine (YEAH).

 They arrived home last Sunday and today I was finally able to give them their quilt! He looks happy don't you think?

By some stroke of luck I actually chose all the right colours for this quilt! I have never seen their home or furniture, (they live on the third floor and no elevator) but it turned out to be red!

I wish them a long and happy life together!

Lots of love,
Heleen

the label 

Stitchery block

The whole quilt

My sisters birthday!

It has come and gone. Which means that I can finally show you my gifts for her! The first (and biggest) gift is the Irish Tweed quilt kit! She has been eyeing it longingly since we sew it at the OEQC. Her new house is taking shape rapidly, which keeps her really busy! But this should be easy to get done in between. It is going to look great!

There is only one store in The Netherlands that sells these kits and it is a long, long way from me. Luckily, they were willing to send it to me instead! A big thank you to the wonderful people at Atelier Quiltgebeuren !

The second gift:

Since I was unsure of the arrival of the quilt kit, I decided to make something myself. The pattern was a freeby from Sew Pink. It turned out really nice. My sister can hang it in her brand new quilting space!

So happy birthday to my big (and finally older again) sister! 

Lots of love,

Heleen

Messy

Messy! See the picture on the board? That is the blueprint for Patch Parade. Isn't it beautiful?

I am. Messy that is. Really, really messy. My quilt stuff is all over the house. Which of course means that I have no idea what fabrics are actually in my possession at any given time. Now, this was manageable. Just. Until you need a pattern or a certain fabric.... But now I also have all kinds of stitchery stuff......Again all over the house. No idea what I have and what I need....

No idea what treasure is buried here...

Other stuff

I've been reading blogs lately that tell the story of a complete revamp and reorganisation of quilting spaces. They make me feel bad......I mean, just looking around here I slightly panic at the mere thought of tackling this mess. Besides....I don't have the time. I need to piece the top of the mystery Patch Parade together, I have to finish that wedding gift quilt. I have to do stitchery.......







It is really bad. I can find loads of excuses of course. Limited space (except in my head), I've been sick for a long time and - and this is a really good one - I do have this handicap! But all that isn't really the point. The point is that it is a big mess and I need to get it done. Now!

That is precisely the reason I post these pictures. I am shaming myself into it. I can just imagine the after pictures.......So lets get started!






Well, after I have nice cuddle with my cat that is......She is still injured and on medication, so she really needs me.......And yes, she is suckling on my hand. The lovely thing!

Lots of love,
Heleen

Poor cat

My cat Loedertje has proven to be accident prone before. She falls of the fence, hits her head while jumping, rips her nails on trees, slips, well, you get the point. Usually it ends well.

There are a lot of cats in the neighbourhood and they don't like each other one bit. Usually this just means a lot of meowing at other cats (preferably nice and safe from inside the house). Sometimes a bit of growling and hissing will follow. Which sends our dogs to the garden to chase any other cat well away from "their" cat.

Sometimes, however, it comes to a fight. Claws, teeth and fur flying everywhere......And now we reach the problem. My cat isn't that good at fighting. She looses. Every time. Never won a fight yet.

Now most of the time, this just means that she comes running home with the disguise of a big ball of fur. Her tail has been known to swell up to three times it's usual size! She then proceeds to stalk around the house in a huff, slowly coming back down. This is all familiar territory. It happened last Thursday too. She did have some scraps and she lost her collar......again!

Last Friday, however, she was a little heap of misery. Didn't want to stand on her foot and made the most sorrowful noises ever heard. She did not want us to check on her scraps and made that very clear!

Naturally we took her to the vet. She turned out to have a big gash in one of her legs, an infection (in a DAY) and had probably been caught on something. So, injection, pills and a staple to close the gash. She will have to stay indoors for at least ten days now. Not an easy job for an outdoors cat! Lots of meowing, inspections of windows and doors (of course this had to happen in the ONLY week of wonderful weather we had this summer!)

Poor, poor cat! And - if just a little bit - poor us.....

Lots of love,
Heleen

Party time!

My dear friend Petra owns a farm. A wonderful and peaceful place. On this farm they have donkeys, a camp site and a vineyard. Now that last one is unusual for the Netherlands. Not many vineyards around, specifically in this area. It took them a lot of research and tries to find the right grapes to grow in this climate. The vineyard was planted in 2007, so it is young. The donkeys do the mowing and the growing is done organically. Last year they were able to make enough wine to sell it.

Good wine too. I tasted it, it is delicious! Luckily the experts agree!  On September 25th (my birthday, but I am sure that was a coincidence), their white wine was awarded a Silver medal! I don't know all that much about wine or the making of wine, I am more of a taster. But apparently this is unheard of. People work for this type of medal for years and years. To receive a Silver for a first attempt is simply amazing.

So today, we celebrate!

They have kindly invited everyone is invited to come and taste their wine, see the vineyard, cuddle the donkeys and just party!

I'm off!
Lots of love,
Heleen

Hearts and Roses

I've started the wedding quilt! It is going super quick. These hearts will form the centre of the quilt (nice and corny!) I also have these ready:

Four roses. While piecing them together I noticed that this could also be a nice block:

Mmmm. Maybe for a pillow? Made out of the pieces left over.....
Anyway, I also made these little roses:

That means that I can start the stitchery blocks and then I can start piecing the top together. Looks like I'll make it!

Lots of love,
Heleen