SURPRISE IN THE MAIL

This week I received these wonderful threads from Maureen in Australia. She painted them herself. Thank you so much Maureen, hope I'll find the time this week to use them, will let you know!














The other picture is from an WISP, think you can see what is still missing......
I am in a group on the Internet called the "Engelbees" and we had a meeting last year in Canada and made this quilt over there. Have to find out where the angel's head is and I want to add Canada in the right corner next to the star. The bees, hearts and angel are stitched down with the buttonhole stitch.


















Once again sorry, but this time I can't get the underlining out, Blogger is driving me mad sometimes...........

BULLION KNOTS

Yesterday I have been practising bullion knots and finally managed to produce some bullion roses! I have made some roses with handdyed silk from Vikki Clayton, color Golden Nectarine.

Saturday we have signed the contracts at the real estate office, so our house sale is definitive now. We have to find a new home before April 29th.
Now the decluttering has started........
I have started to clean out one cupboard (of 5) in my sewing room and found a lot of quilts that are WISP's, maybe I better say WIVSP's......LOL, Works In Very Slow Progress!
I really would love to finish this scrapquilt. Through the years I bought a lot of swatches at Reproduction Fabrics.com and used a lot of them to make this quilt.I love to sew scrapquilts by hand with an antique look.
I will show you some more of my WIVSP's in the next days!

WELCOME ADDITIONS....

Yesterday we have been to a collector's fair in Utrecht. This fair is held twice a year and I always go there with my friend Karin who collects dachshunde.
I found some lovely laces, vintage buttons and some boxes of bugle beads that are hard to find over here. Also 2 beautiful butterflies, these are cigarette silks from the early fifties. I especialy like the ribbon on the last picture, the lady that sold it told me it was used in early days as shoulder straps for nightdresses or petticoats.
By the way, my friend found 7 dachshunde......!

I have been tagged with the "You make my day Award"

The award rules are: "Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times! :-)"

and I did!

Gerry, Susan, Rengin and Norma, I am now tagging you back!
I am really proud that you like my blog so much that I got the award from you!

I have tried to make my other tags a bit International, hope you'll like it!

Ati (Norway)

Brigitte (Germany)

Charlene (USA)

Jo (New Zealand)

Katrien (Belgium)

Lesa (USA)

Lorenza (Italy)

Maureen (Australia)

New Year starts promising!

It looks like our house is sold, we only have to wait if the buyers get a mortgage, we will know more later this week......
Next Thursday we have an appointment with the estate agent to look at a house in Doorwerth, which is close to the woods, will keep you updated.

This weekend I made a Crazy heartblock for a friend, who lost her mother on Christmas Eve. It will go in the mail tomorrow, I hope it will give her some comfort! The picture was taken this evening, that is why the colors aren't that great...

By the way sorry for the changing size of the characters in my earlier posts, I can't get them any bigger or smaller! Don't laugh, I tried to get all these characters in "normal" size........!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

With this card from 1952 I like to wish you all a very happy, above all healthy and creative 2008!

The year 2007 was a strange year for me....
Early this year I lost my job as juridic cartographer at the Landregistry office and until July I worked for 10 different companies. Then I got a steady job at the office of Randstad where I work for 32 hours a week now.
I had a great walking vacation in June in Fort William in Scotland together with quilting friends from all over the world but the end was dramatic. We were at Glasgow Airport when the terrorist attack took place. This was really traumatising, luckely my friend Imi and I survived, but it had a great impact on my life.
Also DH and I decided to sell our house and it looks like it is sold today!!
My husband was in hospital for the 7th time 2 weeks ago for a new treatment. We are still in a fight with the insurance company for
a payment for the loss of income after the accident my DH had in
May 2003....hope the problem gets solved in 2008!
My mother had a trombose behind one eye and lost sight, she has been lasered 3 times the last months but still no result. This really worries me, she is an avid quilter and cardmaker and it is very difficult for her to cope with the loss of sight......
I can go on and on like this, but know that a lot of you have had your share also.
My wish for 2008 for all of you is that you (just like me) can keep the bottle half full instead of half empty, like we say here in the Netherlands. I still keep believing that when one door closes an other one opens for you, although life isn't always easy: KEEP THE BOTTLE HALF FULL!!!!

CHRISTMAS 2007

and once again I was sick in bed!I was so happy to have 5 days free from work and of course at Saturday before Christmas I started having the flu, went to bed and was a bit better on Wednesday so I could join hubby, son, mother and mother-in-law for Christmas dinner on the 26th!
That way I didn't manage to do much CQ but I have finished the SOH Winterblock for Courtney, it was sent out yesterday to Gerry, you can see pictures from the unfinished block on Nov. 28th.
Also I want to show you some pictures of winter in the Netherlands.
Last week we had some very cold days with a little bit of snow. The pictures are made close to our home. We like to walk with the dog around this lake which takes about an hour.
Sorry for the small size of letters, but blogger is acting strange and doesn't change it to bigger!

Sunday we have decorated our Christmas tree. It is mostly decorated with old ornaments that I got from my grandmother, mother and MIL.
The white clock with the stars and the white ball with dots I have bought together with my parents when I was a little child. I could choose a new one each year. The small ornaments in the top were all from my grandmother Wilhelmina.

Year 2000 quilt











Because I can't show you any CQ project at this moment, here some pictures of my year 2000 quilt. It's handmade and handquilted and has 1999 different fabrics. Found that there was a double one after the quilt was finished.......

I am working on a Crazy Quilt at this moment for the exhibition of the Dutch Quiltersguild in September 2008 in my hometown Arnhem, have to finish it before February 1st., so a lot of work to do for me. Can't show you any pictures I am sorry!

AUTUMN FABRIC BIRTHDAYSWAP


This week I received this little quilt from Ellen in Germany. We are both member of an Internet quiltgroup called the Sewpals and last year we had to send out a piece of autumn fabric to all 13 members on our birthday. We decided to make this year a small quilt with pieces of all this fabrics as birthdaypresent for one of the other Sewpals. I received this lovely pinwheelquilt and made the redwork for Lorenza in Italy.













This year we have swapped fabric with a tea/cake/coffeetheme and we are now thinking about what to do the next year with these fabrics, maybe we will do some kind of round robin. Will tell you more when we have decided what to do!

Maybe you noticed that I have not been blogging for some time, I am sorry for that, but I had to take it easy because of heartrhytm problems. Today I had an appointment with the cardiologist but luckely there are no big problems found, so back to Crazy Quilting!

I have told you before about the Season to Season blockshare on CQForNewbies and showed you the Winter block I had made. This week I received the lovely STS Winterblock from Courtney that I have to embellish,I will start tonight working on it!
Of course I'll show you a picture when it is finished!

NEEDLECASE FINISHED.....

This is the needlecase (open and closed)that I finished this weekend for Maureen in Australia, totally different from the one she made for me, hope she likes it! I used her favorite creme colors together with pink and green.

NEEDLECASE RECEIVED....

Yesterday I received a package from Maureen from Australia.
It contained this gorgeous needlecase, you can imagine that I am very happy with it.
I only don't know if I dare to use it, beautiful as it is.
Maureen and I were swappartners this year at "CrazyQuiltersAroundTheWorld"
and we swapped baggies every 3 months and this is the last swap.
Maureen, thanks for being such a great swappartner, I enjoyed it very much!

MORE HEARTS FINISHED....


Here you see the hearts I got finished this week.
The Oriëntal heart is for Peggy, she asked for purple and gold colors. Since I didn't have fabric in this colors I picked fabrics with these colors in it, hope she likes them.

The heart in pink and purple is for Karen, she asked for a romantic theme with hearts.
Found the purple fabric with golden hearts in my stash and added some heart buttons and lace for the romantic theme.
I am not so happy with how this heart turned out, maybe it is because I don't like this colors myself.

The heart with the French landscape is for Janet, she asked for jewel colors, landscape and bugs. I like this one the most.

FINISHED HEARTS!









I am happy that I have finished 3 hearts this weekend for the swap on CQForNewbies. The black and red heart and the one in jewel colors are for Jaki, the one with Tigger is for Leona.

I told you about our househunt 2 weeks ago. We decided not to buy the house we were looking for. The costs for upgrading the house with a new bathroom upstairs, new kitchen, new windows etc. were so expensive that we decided to search further.....


















Also I have made an 8" CQ block for the Season to Season Block Share on CQForNewbies. The season for this block share is WINTER. Each participant makes a CQ block in WINTER related colors/theme and then adds seam treatments and embellishes 1/2 of the block. Your share partner will embellish the other 1/2 of the block for you.
I found in my stash a piece of fabric with a cute snowman, so decided to make the whole block in these "country" colors.
Think the embellishments can stay simple.

BACK TO SEWING....

This weekend I am going to try to finish some hearts for the birthdayswap on CQForNewbies. Unluckely I am 4 hearts behind, I am really ashamed about that! This is a heart for my friend Jaki in Montana, she asked for a heart in her husbands favorite colors: black and red, hope she doesn't mind some grey also. In real the block is very vivid, the middle is made of striking red!I will show you a picture when it is finished!
Also it is my sons 22th birthday tomorrow, he will come to celebrate it with us and his 2 grandmothers on Sunday, so I also have some baking to do!

I want to show you some finds also, these old buttons I found on a fleamarket in France! Aren't the swallows cute (although a bit dusty....LOL)?

LAST DYB BLOCK FINISHED.....


Here you see a picture of the DYB block I just finished for Susie in England. The colors on the picture don't show very well. It has a nice shiny yellow/gold look. I first added the French lace,
this one I bought last week at the dollshouse fair. Then I outlined the flower with a buttonholestitch and made the swirl around the angel. Then I added the golden beads to give it the look Susie asked for. Susie have fun stitching all your blocks together!

This week was very busy with work and househunting, I think we finally found a new home, we are thinking about doing a bid on the one we have seen yesterday........ It was the home of an elderly couple that moved to an appartment. Everything is in the style and colors of around 1970, so a lot of work to do. New kitchen, new bathroom, all the painting has to be done...so we have to do a lot of searching on the internet today for prizes etc.!

MORE DYB BLOCKS.....

The 5th block is embellished by Nina from Norway. She also found the theme very difficult and looked through several Internet sites to get knowledge about Jeanne d'Arc. She learned that Jeanne knew how to stitch, but did not know how to read....!
She stitched the date of Jeanne's Memorial Day. She also used beautiful soft tones for the embellishments and button trail.


The 6th block is done by Susie from England and she used wonderful soft pastel colors.
She added the word "La Pucelle" (The Maid) and Joan of Arc's dates of birth and death and surrounded them with ribbon flowers and embroidery. Also she added a duster of buttons with dangling bead chains with little hearts on the end (the name for my CQ wil be "Joan of Arc had a heart", do you know the song??).

Once again ladies, thanks for all your beautiful work. Today I went to the market in my lunchbreak and bought 2 pieces of fabric, one ivory and the other one gold colored, will see if I can use one of them for the borders. Now I first have to finish the 3th block, will keep you updated of my progress.

MY DYB BLOCKS ARE HOME AGAIN!

I am really happy now that my DYB blocks are home again. The ladies that worked on them did a marvellous job! Thank you so much Susie, Cobi, Ati, Nina and Helina.
Block 1 is embellished by Cobi from the Netherlands. She found the Joan of Arc theme very difficult. After a lot of thinking she made a cross from lace with gold beads because Joan was so religious. The dove in the upper left corner is symbol for the Holy Ghost. Also Cobi embroidered the initial J. Between the silk roses she made leaves from woven picots, just beautiful!


The second block is embellished by Ati from Norway, she read a lot about Joan on the Internet and decided to add a "Fleur de Lis" and the word Liberté (Freedom). She also made a swirl with silk flowers in beautiful soft tones. I really love the combination of colors that gives such a soft look to this block!

The third block I have to embellish myself, I hope to get started with that soon.
The fourth block was embellished by Helina from Finland. She shares my admiration for Joan, she has visited the church of Rouen near the place where Jeanne d'Arc died, haven't seen that yet, this place is still on my wishlist. On my travels through France I have visited a lot of places that have a connection with Joan. I have been in the house in Domremy where Joan was born, in the basilic that was build to honour her that has the most beautiful wallpaintings of her life, in Chinon where she met King Charles VII, I could go on and on...I could show you so much pictures and tell you so much about her life but think I will be very boring doing that, since this blog is mostly about Crazy Quilting! Back to Helina's block:
She made the name "Jehanne" in Joan's handwriting and the crown of her banner in beautiful yellowish and brown handdyed silk threads. Also she tatted the lace in the right corner herself (which I could learn that!)and made a lovely buttontrail. Once again another beautiful block, it is a pity that the pictures don't do them justice!
With my fascination for Joan I think you all can imagine that this CQ will become a heirloom to me! Within the next days I will show you the other blocks.

Broches....

Here a picture I promised you of the broches of Joan of Arc I found in France. I am looking forward to see if they fit the last DYB block I have to embellish, I hope to get the blocks back soon!
Susan, I am collecting not only statues, but also plates, old postcards, books etc. of Joan of Arc. The castle in Commesquiers was first build in the 11th Century and destroid
in the 17th Century, can you imagine that this castle is a ruine like this already for hundreds of years! I also like to walk around and have a look inside these castles and imagine how people lived there so long ago!
Gerry, I also like the combination of the red,black and creme but think I would have never picked them by myself!

"AUSTRIAN" CRAZY QUILT

In april I showed you a picture of the wonderful fabrics I got from my birthday buddy Helen from Austria (see message 23-4).
During my vacation in France I have started sewing 6" crazy blocks from these fabrics and have made 9 until now. I have added some more fabrics in the same colors to get more variation. I even found in my cupboard a bag with pieces of Austrian fabric and trims that I bought during the Quiltexpo in Innsbruck, Austria in 1998, can you imagine that?
I don't especialy like the first block on the first row, so I think I will make a new one for that.
At one of the brocante markets I visited I found a lovely mother of pearl broche that looks great on this quilt, here you can see a close up from the block in the 3th row on the right, it is not finished yet, still have to make some little holes in the broche to sew it to the background.

BACK AGAIN.........

from a nice vacation in France, although the weather wasn't as good as always, only 6 days of sun out of 17!! We have been driving around a lot and visited several castles, nice little towns and of course antique/brocante markets. We arrived home on wednesday and went back to France on Saturday for the biggest antiquemarket from Europe in Lille last Saturday, where I found 2 statues from Joan of Arc
for my collection, I am especially happy with this one!

The first Sunday of our vacation we went to the Marché aux Puces in St. Christophe-du-Ligneron, this market is twice a year in July and August, we try every year to go to one of them. You can read more on: www.lespuces85.com
Here I found some turquoise depression glass (1920-1930) and some lace and glass buttons and fabric, which I can use in my "Austrian" Crazy Quilt. Oh, I forgot to tell,
I also found 2 Joan of Arc broches, which I can pin to my DYB Crazy Quiltblocks!
Will show you a picture of them later this week.
This week we also visited 2 castles, the ruïnes of an 11th Century castle in Commesquiers and the castle and parc de la Guignardière at Avrillé, you can read more of this castle on: www.guignardiere.com, it has a lovely parc also where we walked around about an hour.
We also visited l'Île de Noirmoutier, this island is famous for it's high bridge and for the natural salt you can buy here. It also has a nice embroideryshop, where I found 2 books with alphabeths to embroider. Also on the island is l'Île aux papillons, here you can walk between beautiful tropical plants and butterflies, here you see some pictures we made, to be continued.......