Work In Progress.....

I promised to keep you updated about my work on this Crazy Quilt block. 

I have bought a beautiful piece of handdyed lace from Nicki Lee in her Etsy shop called Raviolee Dreams.

It looks like it is made for my block. The colors fit perfectly......

I have sewn down the lace on the block and I am now busy with the beading of some of the flowers.......

Started a new Crazy Quilt block!
The needlebook and pincushion that I made last month for the White Elephant swap are in my favorite colors, I especially love turquoise and hot pink.

That is why I decided to make a CQ block in these colors for myself also. I am feeling better and am getting back my energy and concentration bit by bit luckely. It will take some more time to come over this burnout but I am happy that I feel like stitching again. I am now busy embroidering the seams of this block. I am working with some of the beautiful threads I bought from my friend Lorraine from Canada. The piece of the doily in the upper right corner is also dyed by her.

She dyes the threads herself in wonderful variegated colors
and sells them on Etsy. Click here and you'll go to her shop called LES Designs.

Here some examples of the beautiful threads, they are in made of perle cotton and twisted silk. I'll keep you updated of the progress of my block!
The weather here in Holland is better then normally at this time of year, not that much rain and temperatures around
18 o C. This is a picture of yesterdays evening glow at the back of my garden.

 Hope the weather will stay like this for a while so I can keep going for a ride on my E bike every day.....

A new project started...

Thanks to my burnout I haven't been sewing for a long time, but I finally started to make something for the White elephant game on CQI. 
I made this needlebook, my own design, and this cathedrals window pincushion.

            My friend Ing from California was the winner!

                        Mystery item........

Can someone tell me more about this item? 

I bought it in France while on holiday. 

It is carved and made of MOP and very delicate.

I suspect it is a kind of spool to wind your threads on from earlier times.....

Thanks in advance!

A rainy day here in Holland today.
Just finished this ATC (Artist Trading Card) for a swap on Fibre Fever. 
Size 3,5 x 2,5 inch.
The theme this month is "Doors", think you guessed that already. 
It goes on it's way to Kim in the USA today.

It is been a long time since I wrote on my blog. In June I was on holiday in France and not feeling well at all.
When back home  I was diagnosed with a burnout. With a lot of rest things must get better. I haven't been creative for months now, so not much to show. 

I am participating in an ATC swap on Fibre Fever which started this August.
This months theme is doors.
I am still working on my ATC for Kim, but received this beautiful ATC from Marja. 
Before going on holiday I did finish my fabricbook, so I will show some pictures of that soon. For the rest I am enjoying my garden, this summer the weather is great here in Holland. 

Some more fabric postcards!

I just realised that I forgot to blog the last postcards I got for my birthday at the end of March.....

 The postcard with the paper fabric rose, one of my favorite flowers, is from Helina in Finland.

And the beautiful landscape is made by Maria from the UK.

And a great felted with free embroidery postcard from Helga in Germany!

                      Once again thanks for your lovely work ladies!

Back to blogging!

Last week we were in Aywaille, Belgium for a short holiday. The weather wasn't that great, it was cold but good weather to make some walks. It is always nice to see the goats climbing the hills but this year we have seen an animal in the wild we never saw before, 

a beaver.... He was destroying a tree on the other side of the Amblève river. The close up pictures aren't that good, he or she was a bit too far away..........

But it was great to see, although the people of the camping aren't to happy with the beaver as you can imagine............

I have not been blogging a lot since I am busy painting for the Art route here in town early June. Last week I could pick up the invitations and poster and my painting of a French cow looks great on it. I may not show more 

pictures of the paintings I made yet, will do that after the Art Route!

Je t'aime Paris block finished!!
The last weeks I have been working on Darlene's block and it is on it's way home now!

This is how it looked before I started working on it. There is a bit of difference in the colors of both blocks I show you, because one is taken in the evening and the other one by daylight.......

I tried to bring more harmony in the block by adding more pink, purple and black to the block. I added the crocheted flowers, the MOP buttons, the lace in the upper right corner, the boot next to Moulin Rouge, the word Paris and the tatted lace next to it. 

Also I added the crocheted salmon pink colored flower to the flower spray to repeat the color of the small roses above the lady charm. I embroidered several seams, decorated the corset and added the Arc the Triomph and butterfly charm at last.

I hope Darlene likes my work!

Kathy is now working on mine, she is really encrusting it, 

can't wait to see it back home.

Have a look at her website to see what she has done so far!

to all of you!















                Today pictures of other birthdaycards I received.

               This one is made by Janny from Holland, a colorful partly felted postcard.

Beautiful felted flowers made by
Marja from Holland.

 

Lovely experimental grey-silver card made by Birgit from Germany.



And a yummy paper/pieced cupcake made by Annet from Holland.

Thanks for all these lovely cards ladies!

It's a Saturday Sharing Day....
Yesterday was my birthday and I received beautiful creative postcards from the members of the Fibre Fever group I am in. Unluckely I can't show you all because the batteries of my camera have died again.........Next time more! 

Ati from Norway made this beautiful purple felted card.

From Margreet from Holland I got this wonderful knitted postcard in my favorite color turquoise. 

Ritva from Finland made this lovely Crazy Quilted postcard.

Evi from Germany made this colorful

free motion quilted purple and blue postcard.

Thank you so much for these beautiful cards ladies!

By the way, my DH surprised me with tickets for "the Wall" by Roger Waters in July, am really happy with that!

Also I got some Janet Evanovich books and pots with pansies, narcissus etc. from friends. They have to stay inside for a while since it is still cold here in Holland with nightfrost and some snow again this afternoon. This march was the coldest in 25 years and Easter will be the coldest in 50 years. I am really looking forward to Spring!

Also I'd like to share this colorful visitor this week in our garden!

Think I am gonna make a painting of him! 

                                 

Take a look at Thearica's blog what others have shared this Saturday!

It's a Saturday Sharing Day

To sell or not to sell, that's the question.....

Today I am sharing a picture of several vintage French tule laces, small and about 4" wide, I bought this week. The wide ones would be great to cover fabrics and bead in crazy quilts or for making fabric journals. I especially love the soft yellow one. Also I found some French monogram laundry labels and a lovely button cart, all to sell in my Etsy shop. 
I just love the button cart, it is from August 1952 and has 32 different glass buttons, isn't it a shame to sell them?
I could use them on my Crazy Quilts, but the glass buttons would also look great as fruit or candybowl in my dollshouse......
Here in Holland it is weather to stay inside, it is the coldest March in 25 years, so I hope to get some listings done tomorrow. Average temperature this month is 3 o C! 
I am very much looking forward to Spring!
Take a look at Thearica's website to see other participants blogs in it's a Sharing Saturday.

Back to blogging

The last weeks have been very busy with the move of my mother. She is now settled in her new appartment and very happy and we are exhausted........LOL  What a lot can you collect in 83 years!

Yesterday evening and a part of today I have been busy working on Darlene's block in the Je t'aime Paris RR. This is how it looked when I started, it isn't finished yet, hopefully I'll manage that in the coming week. I will show some pictures when it is finished!

Last time I told you about my new Etsy shop "a Crazy Quilt Journey", I will try to list some more items in the coming week. 
I already sold 18 items and am very happy with that! 
I forgot to tell you why the shop is called like that. I hope I can make a trip to the USA again to a Crazy Quilt Retreat in Colorado and try to earn some extra money, so I came up with this name!

A Crazy Quilt Journey......

is the name of my new Etsy shop. The last weeks I have been busy listing items. I am going to sell new and vintage supplies for sane and crazy quilters like laces, buttons, threads, fabric packages and handmade items.



Most items I found on brocante/antique markets and collector fairs, a lot of them in France. All items are from my private collection.You can find my shop over here:     http://etsy.com/shop/aCrazyQuiltJourney

More good news, my mother finally got an apartment in an institute for the blind after waiting for almost 1,5 year. It will be a great new home for her with a lot of activities and I am very happy for her.
My mother always was a very active woman, loved to quilt, read, travel, made beautiful postcards until she lost sight due to trombosis, which was very hard for her. Now we have to pack and clean, go shopping for curtains, carpet etcetera so I will not have much time to blog these weeks! Until later!

It's a Saturday Sharing Day on Sunday again.........



Not much to tell this week, have been to work like normally. 

I forgot to show you a picture of the block I finished for the CQJP2013 last week.
The poem on it is about Arnhem at the end of WWII and waiting to be liberated.

The week started with a lot of snow -once again- and ended today with a bit of sunshine at last, but temperatures will go down again next week.....can´t wait for Spring to start! 








The pictures I made in the woods close to my home.

Yesterday I went to a craft fair with a collegue, that is why I didn´t post. Must say that 90% was about cardmaking and scrapbooking but luckely I found some charms for on my Crazy Quilts!
Have a look at Thearica´s blog to what other people are sharing!

It's a Saturday Sharing day again 

Today I am sharing my favorite colortheme with you......

I love blue and turquoise colors, just bought myself a little bit of spring....... 

I am collecting Depression glass and use them also for all kind of purposes. 

I don't like to put things in cabinets, just to look at them! The little vase is from around 1930. Everywhere in and around my house you will find items in these colors, even my curtains are turquoise! 

            This collection you can find in my garden....

These chickens in my kitchen were the last items I bought for my collection, aren't they beautiful?

I also like to use these colors in things I make, here you see my first quilt made around 1990:

And yes, I like a challenge and started with a Mariners Compass........LOL

Even our Harley Softtail from 1993 is turquoise!

                  Read more shared stories on Thearica's blog!

It's a Saturday Sharing Day

I decided to join another round of the CQJP this year. CQJP stands for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project and is an initiative to promote the art of Crazy Quilting all over the world and to expand the individual artistic creativity of the participants. Last year I challenged myself to work with novelty fabrics who are seldom used in Crazy Quilting. All blocks had the theme "Memories". When you scroll back to my blogpost of January 1th, you can see all the pages I made in 2012. I am now busy with making a fabric book of them. This will take some time because I want to make a back for each page with a little story about the trip or person the block is a memory of.

This year I am planning to make a Crazy Quilt about Arnhem, the town I was born and lived in for 52 years. The middle part of the block will have a picture of an old postcard or a poëm of Arnhem. This is the block I made for

January:

The text on the postcard says "Arnhem, Stadhuis" and is a picture of the old townhall build in the 16th Century, called the "Duivelshuis" (House of the Devil). It is called like that because of the satyrs above the entrance. 

In 1980 DH and I got married in this townhall.

Have a look at pigtaleandquilts, to see what other people are sharing on this It's a Saturday Sharing Day, or share your own work over there!