Battling & winning!

I was struggling to get this one quilted.
The top is made of sleeves of old shirts: I had 5 or 6 usable 1.5" strips from 1 sleeve. And some (red) strips came from a dress, all from the thrift shop. The white is from a curtain I wasn't ever going to hang up anywhere.
The back (read: problem!) is a fleece blanket from IKEA: nice and soft for a play blanket for a friend.
Here is my result after 4 times unpicking the stitches because the d*** thing kept making waves on the back. If I won't get anymore 'waves' I'll be glad.

The front is beginning to look nice (also).

You can see the circle I drew as a starting point for the initial idea of quilting the bugger, but that was impossible for me: turning the quilt without making waves at the back ...
I'm sure it'll be gone after I've washed it.
The only problem I've had, once I had the first few lines in (the quilt), was my thread.
I was waiting for a bobbin to be filled with thread, when my machine stopped. Look at this:

A knot in my Aurifil spool?

Yes, definitely! (and I didn't make it)

Well, it's all done by people and people make mistakes ...

OK All my guns reloaded: I have to get back to the battlefield now!

The Opening Ceremony

The Mister and I were glued to the telly during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
We were very impressed, we enjoyed it and we were in awe!
When I caught a glimpse of the last preparations and saw 'farmers' working in a "field",  I thought: this is going to be dumb: we'll have Morris dancers too?!
I'm so glad I was wrong!
The build up to the Industrial Revolution, the forging of the rings, the fire! 
The singing of hymn "Abide with me" brought me to tears: so beautiful, so full of restrain, not out loud. And the dancing during that song was impressive too.
The people that were chosen to carry the flag! All peace workers, you might say.
So it's all about the sports (& having fun), not the politics.
You know that, but now it was super obvious!
Mohammed Ali being there, touching the flag.

I won't relive the whole opening for you; perhaps you have a different view.
Just the relay of the torch: Steven Redgrave and others to the 7 upcoming talents.
And how they lit the Olympic Flame.

Picture posted with Elizabeth Harkin's permission.
More of her pictures here.

A new iron? duh!

Who blogs about a new iron ....
I might be a little ...  well you know ...
Watching this video is a great exercise for your neck, too.

I love it!
It's heavy, it squirts exactly where you want it to and it steams perfectly.
Well, perfect enough for my fabric.

Have a great weekend!

Buzzing

The March for Better Weather was attended by about 30 people last Saturday in Amsterdam, I heard, I didn't go there. And it worked: we've had wonderful weather the whole week.
I hope they'll march again this Saturday.

Our garden is a beautiful mess:

Lots of bees, bumblebees and butterflies though, but not all very colorful. Angus enjoys it so I guess it's all right (2 acres is just a very big garden).

As for quilting news: I've joined one Bee: the Honey Bee of the FQ Kinky Bee (so many wanted to join!) This one has actually started and I'm going to make blocks from this fabric, which came in a bag with a very familiar (Dutch) shop logo this time. All Denyse Schmidt.

Then an invitation came along to join the Sew EuroBee-an Bee: also an off spring from the FQCR (London). I'm looking forward to the start of that one.

And now, just because Cille advised me to,  I've also joined the 3x6Bee making STARS.
We'll be making all sorts of stars (I suppose). I'm such a nincompoop (does anyone still use that word?) at these things for lack of experience. But then every Bee can be different although there are RULES of course, which can be a lifeline.

By the way: my friend was very happy with the quilts I made her baby Roana and son Jesse.

On the home front there's also news (I thought I didn't have a lot to tell you!). Our oldest daughter is in the Carribean fighting crime (drugs) and having fun on the beach.
Our oldest son is in Moscow for a few days and then on to St Petersburg. He's visiting his Russian girlfriend and is having a great time (he told his dad via Facebook).
Here they are with their dad.

On the way back home, we saw this car, wagging its tail.

Happy quilting or whatever your plans are!

Slow progress

Here are the quilts I wrote about in June.
I've not been working very hard, but with 3 quilts on the go this is what I've done so far:

On the front I appliqued a (big) gnome who's sticking his thumb up.
On the back are a number of smaller gnomes, perfectly regimented.

 

Here you can see the quilting in detail, it's an embroidery stitch on my machine: little leaves.
Poor gnomes ...

And this is a baby quilt, the one made from old shirts and an old skirt. 
The mother requested a blanket to play on. So it'll have to be nice and soft.
Top, batting and as a backing I thought I'd use a fleece blanket from IKEA, but that's a hard nut to crack while quilting it. I suppose I'll have to spray (glue) it first and then baste it by hand before I attempt to quilt it again.

Do you have another suggestion?

On another note: today I heard there will be a March for Better Weather tomorrow in Amsterdam!
I wonder how many people will join in.

Have a great weekend.

We were in Ankum

In case you'd missed me, I treated my hardworking husband (& myself) to a few days abroad.
We drove 2 hours, arrived in Ankum, Germany, where I'd rented a Norwegian wooden house.
30 years ago a building contractor wanted to build a holiday park full of these beautiful wooden houses, but then he went bust and just two model houses remained.

Henk and Annet, the owners built an extension on the left, south side.

It was wonderful!
The weather was great and we cycled all day Saturday. On E-bikes: bicycles with a turbo boost if you need it: electric power. The first time it felt like I got a gentle push in my back to get me going.
It was great in this somewhat hilly landscape: where I live we don't have any hills, except ancient burial mounds. Or man made hills to build a church on in case of spring tide flooding (from the sea).

To me Germany is a country of unknown beautiful villages with old croocked buildings

Church in Ankum, street & Church tower in Quackenbrück

Cycling through the countryside.

I love walking of cycling through a landscape like this with everything nearly ready for the harvest.

Sausages of course and beautiful works or art

(but I could be talking about France or the UK here, substituting the sausages for wine or chips) 

sausage takeaway shop sign, George slaying the (3-headed) dragon once again; both in Bremen

Joyful graveyards, full of flowers and some beautiful tomb stones.

Real strawberries in the field and the blue stems of wheat.

Henk and Annet are Dutch and speak English and German. They're also very very good at making you feel at home: pro's in hospitality!

I'm sure you know these guys from Bremen ....

If not, read all about them here

Next post will be about quilting again, promise!

Have a great weekend.

 

 

How to quilt this

I'd meant to enter this quilt in a competition, but the competition is cancellled due to life-threatning illness. So now I can do with it what I want, but that's just it.
It was already finished in March, when I showed it to you here
When the competition was cancelled, the need to 'get a move on' was no longer there. And I've been thinking all that time :
what do I want with it?

leave it as it is?












add a border?
(it would be about this wide
but my quilt is bigger than my design board)

 I've already got the backing, so at least that's sorted.

How should I quilt it?

Lines from (over) the middle?

Should I quilt the star in a different way from the green surrounings?

What would you do?

I really would like it to BE quilted ...

Therefore I entered this competition by the very generous Chelsea.

There's still time for you to enter as well!

Who knows and all my (or your) problems will be whisked away!
And while there's still time I'll be linking up to Freshly Pieced WiP, hosted by Jess.

More art

Yes I found more ART, I think it's the real stuff. Mostly because it makes me laugh.
I was cycling in the neighbourhood I passed a house with a beautiful beech hedge.
But there was something sticking out!

ahhh, she's even lost a shoe!

Munch, munch, munch!

For a lot of people their summer holiday is in sight and just in time, summer has arrived too. Don't say it too loud or autumn will be here early! I beg your pardon ...
We won't be going for another 2 months but a weekend away might be a good idea.

As for the baby quilts: I've not heard yet from the mum with the baby girl, as I don't have her address. She's busy and the quilts will be ready as and when.

I wanted to join a bee at the beginning of the year and I did not succeed. I wrote to 3 and got an answer from one: their bee had stopped. So the whole idea was chucked in the bin, until right after the FQCR in London: I'm in TWO bees now!
Sew-Euro-Bee-an and the FQR Kinky Bee which has its own button (on the right). The other Bee Button is in the making.
I'm really looking forward to these bees going ahead and I know how it works in theory, but now it's for real!

As for me, myself & I: we are on different medication and it makes me want to go to sleep all the time. Or do I go to bed that late that often? I don't know which one it is. I'll let you know once it's sorted!
The extra effects are that my heart beats regularly now, no, never skips a beat. And my bloodpressure is down, which is good too.
So now you know the (heavy) stuff I'm taking.
I'm not sure which is better: migraines twice (?) a week or these pills.
Yes, once that's sorted, I'll let you know too.

It's just good to see that some creatures on this earth will always be busy munching away!

 Have a great week!