Hooray Hooray!

I just noticed I already have THIRTEEN followers!
WOW I'm very much honoured and I hope I can keep you interested in reading my scribbles!

This week everything is at a slower pace due to the start of the Summer Holidays in this part of the country.
A lot of my friends are or are on the brink of going away.
Great!

The mister and me aren't leaving till everyone else is back ....
So another month of preparation for our trip; which means I have to get things ready for the Hexalong I'm following:
I've ordered (YES!) 2 more charm packs of Terrain, because that's the fabric I've chosen.
I've also ordered more paper templates for this English Paper Piecing project here: my hexes will be 2".

Meanwhile I'm (still) qulting free motion and in straight lines, the quilt I've made for my eldest daughter Rosa. I hope to bring it next weekend, if she's not away on holiday too. I'll give her a ring.
My machine really is annoying me from time to time: one minute it works great and the quilting is easypeasy; the next it's like this:

Don't you hate it when this happens!!

It must be something with thread tension, but I haven't figuered it out yet.
So I turned my attention elsewhere at sewing round the bend LOL:

Does it look a bit funny on our floor: I can see green and white tiles peeping out.

Does it look a bit funny on our floor: I can see green and white tiles peeping out.

It's 15" x 58" (38 x 147 cm) and I had planned it for our living room: a long horizontal line, quilted with PATIENCE. But now my mum is moving and she hasn't got space left for her big cabinet, something like this:

And even though we are not on speaking terms she let my know (via her grandchildren) that I could come and pick this up if I wanted to. And YES I want to!

But I phoned a removal firm to pick it up for us: I want the cabinet, but I don't want contact.

Yes I know what you're thinking: hypocrite!

Well, maybe.

But then you don't know all the details of our past lives ...

I've not told you about the bullying, the sneering, the blackmailing (mentally), etc

She was not happy and she saw a chance to relive her life through mine.

It took me 43 years not only to realise this but also to rebel against it.

So now you know the whole story.

Anyway, it means we have to rearrange things in our living room, which I don't mind at all for I have loved this piece of furniture for as long as I can remember.

Hooray again!

Have a great week!

Hexing along

I've now officially enrolled for the Hexalong hosted by Lynne and Gayle
Information here's the introduction and here's more information.

Sewing by hand gives me peace of mind, makes me ponder over things, not fret, but ponder.
It's reassuring, too: you have an almost instant result when you've make something small.
I also love the portability of it: in the back of the garden, in front of the telly, or on holiday: you can take it anywhere.

So to me it's about relaxing, having fun, laughing about a silly or rude joke (what else!) and perfecting skills. So next time this'll look even better:

And then yesterday as the mister (as Kirsty says) and I had a cup of coffee, he looked out into the garden and saw this:

O, I know, form here you have to look really hard, but perhaps you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it? And there on our own dike (leftovers from digging the pond) .... 

He's looking left, turning his head away from us.

Yes, can you see him?

Well anyway, WE were exited: deer in our own garden! 

Here in the Netherlands there are 17 (?) million people living together on a bit of land where the seawater was pumped out. Nature is MADE here, because there's nothing left of it's own accord.

So when we made our own bit of nature, we planted a small clump  of trees right behind this dike. So that deer could wander from the cornfields straight into our garden where they would have shelter.

Could this one be hunting for new territory, perhaps?

Have a great week!

Big Fat Jack twice!

This morning I finished the two Big Fat Jacks as a present for two former colleages. And I'm glad to say they both loved it!

We were at another friend/former colleague's house where we had lunch together to celebrate the start of the summer holiday. Two of these girls had turned 60 in May and June. I'd already pieced the Big Fat Jacks and shown them off in June when we had a littel get together.

Tutorial to Lynne's Double Fat Jacks is here.
Here they both are:

And the quilting in close up:

You might think it's not that much, but to me it means a lot:
My first quilties really quilted, not just with straight lines, but real free motion quilting.
My first attempt!
My first succes!!

It feels like a holiday

You may noticed I've changed the lay out a tad bit: I think it's easier on the eye, don't you agree?

Just some pictures of where I've been walking and cycling:

When I stood up after taking this picture,
a hen pheasant flew away not 3 feet from me!

Easy to get a good flow here!

I was surprised my camera could handle this.

the smell!

the colour of this bark!

and of this grass!

This is not in a woodland, but open fields:

Big boys and girls I don't want to get too near ...

All of these insects were very busy.

Very relaxing!

Next time I'll have some finished work to show you.

Have a great week!

Progress

Just a quickie to let you know how my WiP are going:

Bottle quilt: waiting for my holiday and I'll sew them by hand

Big Fat Union Jacks: quilting half done:

Postage Stamp Quilt Along: still waiting ...

What else is there? Rosa's Quilt is coming along nicely.

Too many ideas for other quilts which are distracting me.

Like another giveaway by Lynne. 

And I'd love to have this fabric, for I like my rainbows ... 

And I'd love to make a baby quilt of this bundle (found here):

I'll keep you posted!

Superwoman Lily?

I so love the determination and TURBO force of Lily's Quilts
Whenever I'm surfing the web, watching her creations, her ideas: 10 seconds later she reacts to my comment. I don't know how you do it!
Anyway: I'm a huge fan

Go over and have a look at her blog, click here
And she has a giveaway here

As for my sewing:

FWQAL: I've decided what fabrics to use: I have a stack of (lots of blue) Kaffe Fasset's fabric, so I'll use that.

Quilt for Rosa: bottles are not my favourite pattern. I'll just have to do that by hand.
In the meantime I'm making something completely different
Just a sneak peak: it doesn't really give anything away:

This was the champagne breakfast my daughter got on ther 22nd birthday last Tuesday.
I had a glass too, I must admit and we had a jolly morning!
She's not renting a student room in town at the moment. She'll be dying to in September, I'm sure.
Or am I making it too comfortable for her?
Nah!
This was the start of a wonderful birthday: she told me so!

And I'm of course linking up to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts

Have fun this weekend!