Mystery Carrousel part 8

Pffffffew. Done. I had to cut all the pieces earlier, which turned out a really, really good idea. Since I was behind with my mystery, this was a great possibility to catch up. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work. A lot, I am not kidding. BUT.....I'm finally done. Plenty of time till the next assignment (arriving next Thursday.....).

This is one of eight of these sets. That's right......EIGHT. That is a lot of pieces. Since I piece by hand (old fashioned I know, I know), pinning them to my trusty pillowcase proved difficult this time. I have a few bent pins to prove that theory. So I started thinking, I even had an idea to replace my pillowcase by something else. More on that later (I hope).

To prove that I actually finished all the sets, I'll show you this:

You'll trust me about the bigger ones, right? Difficult to photograph!

The little mystery had one block this month:

This elephant was then joined by the horsy and the carriage from earlier assignments. Now it looks like this:

 The picture is not that clear, but frankly....well fill in the rest!

As I said, the new block will be in my mail by Thursday, and I still have some other projects to work on!

Lots of love,
Heleen

Do you ever have enough pincushions?

Well, do you? I don't I can tell you that. That is precisely why I get all happy when I see a freeby pincushion. Especially when a needlebook is also in the mix..... Thank you, thank you Bronwyn over at Red Brolly!

So I dived into my stash to find some scraps to make the projects. And then - of course - found out I stink at round shapes. My inability to form a nice round shape does not limit itself to appliqué.
Proof:

I did really love the stitchery and so I decided to cheat, like I do more often then not. I'm making a new one......square! Now I just have to buy some filling......Pictures later then.....

The needlebook was easy to make (because its lovely square-ness) and looks amazing.

Thanks again Bronwyn! You should really check her blog for all the great ideas!

Lots of love,
Heleen

Mystery Carrousel part 7

Continuing the catch-up, part 7 is now finished as well! A lot - really a lot - of cutting fabric again. I think it is the shapes that are getting to me now. Turns out, I really like nice, square shapes. Easy to draw and cut. Maybe next time....

Since I hand stitch everything, it feels like I've been working on these blocks forever!

No less than 32 blocks this time! There was a choice this time, I could make four, eight, sixteen or all blocks identical. I made all of mine the same.

Some playing around with the blocks is allowed I think.....

The little mystery consisted of three appliqué and stitchery blocks. They still need to be joined by their friends from an earlier part. 











It is a good thing I'm done, since the new part is already on my desk! Now Francoise promised us an easy part 8. Aaah... unfortunately it looks like another full month!

Lots of love,
Heleen 

Mystery Carrousel part 6

After my little trip to The Gambia and all the work that came out of that.....I needed to play a little catch-up for the mystery. Part 6 took time. Mostly the cutting of all the pieces! During the piecing, I found out that I had cut some of the mirrored pieces wrong......sigh.



But - finally - here they are! All 16 blocks finished and ready to join all the blocks from part 1 to 5 in the box, waiting for the big reveal!

And, as always, there was a block for the little mystery as well! I think it is the roof of the carrousel....but I could be wrong of course! What do you think?

Lots of love,
Heleen

Appliqué phobic? Do what I do!

I am a self-confessed Appliqué phobic person. I've told you about this before here. All my round shapes automatically turn square or - even worse - some distorted triangle shape. So, what to do?

CHEAT!

Simple. Just cheat your way through. 

Once upon a time I only used a blanket stitch to cheat my way through the appliqué piece. Not any more. Not since the very talented and generous Helen challenged her readers to stitch! She named the challenge Stitched Sunday. I could not resist.

Learning the stitches, while making beautiful things.......does it get better?

I started thinking: Why not use some of these stitches to make appliqué fun again?

Simply use your favourite sticky product to keep the shape in place (sure, you could go with pins, but why?), select your stitch and start stitching!

An even better reason to cheat? People usually don't realise I am cheating my way through the appliqué, they seem to think I am making a creative choice........Lots of applause.....for cheating!

Lots of love!
Heleen

The upside of being extremely messy?

Easy. You lose stuff. Lots of stuff in fact. Usually this is not really an upside I agree. Especially since losing things all the time also means a load of running around in a frenzy, screaming at everyone else,  trying to find it.

However........

Sometimes you lose stuff that you really need. Stuff that needs to be replaced. That can only be remedied by one thing: 

Shopping!

Since I do most of my shopping online now, there are no bad salespeople, no unclear, stinky stuff on the things I want to see and no parking wars. Shopping is really therapy this way. 

My reward?

A brand new, shiny camera! Doesn't it look fabulous? Thanks to the price-checking-thingy on the web at the lowest price! How good can it get? Now I just need to take out the book and see how to operate it. 

Watch this space for all the pictures I am going to post. I need to, since I did do a lot of stitching and quilting while I was running around in a frenzy, looking for the loader cable of my old (pink) camera......

Lots of love

Heleen

What to say....

Well. I am back. Have been for some time even. I just needed some time to think about what to tell you about my fantastic holiday to The Gambia. Because it was. It was short, yes. Only 8 days. Unfortunately my camera decided to give out on day two, so almost no pictures (and believe me, that might be a blessing!).

Lunchtime views

I did have a load of stuff to do for the Second Home Foundation (self-afflicted of course). I was completely ready to get to work and make sure that everyone was getting to work as well. In other words, I went to kick !@#. That lasted until the airplane doors opened and I felt the warmth and smelled The Gambia. I felt like a load was lifted of my shoulders. It felt like coming home, after a long, long time. Still, I managed to do all the work and more. But that was during the day and I am planning to shed some light on the less serious....... If you want to read more about the serious part, check my report. Here for the Dutch version and this one is in English.

The nights - however - were a completely different story. Let me be clear upfront. I do not drink. Ever. Really, never. This week I did. Lots and lots and lots. Pear pressure and that, you know...... :-).  I was started off on Sambuca. Those of you that have drunk this, you know all about it. The ones that haven't. Try it, definitely try it. It all went down hill from there.....

MOJITOOOOOOO!

We found the perfect hangout. A place to meet friends (old and new), eat and YES....drink. I was spilling a lot (and being made to wash the tablecloth), breaking glasses (lots of threats of being hit with a big stick......).

Big stick.....

I even belly danced one night......But mostly we had a ball. It was one big party, every night again. Lots of great food, lots of drink and loads and loads of sheer, unadulterated fun.Given the chance, I would go back today. For the foundation, of course....but also for the sunshine, the people and the fun.

For now, it is back to the more serious life.

Lots of love,

Heleen