Danger: song (that stays in your head)

Perhaps you've seen videos of people trying to outrun a train by ignoring all the signs and sounds at railway crossings. There are a number of campaign about that all over the world.

This video I had to share with you is from Metro in Melbourne, Australia and it's so silly!
And the song stays with you all day (if you play it a lot like me)

I hope you liked it as much as I do.

Don't do anything stupid!

A finish (about time, too!)

Yes, I'm a slow quilter, sewer. Yes, I'm easily distracted.
But when it's finished I'm so happy!

As I have no helpers in the house the pictures are less than perfect. 

Now on to the quilting which will be in straight (or organic ...) lines.
pattern = strips and bricks by Malka Dubrawski

On to the next project: I've already cut the fabric for the St. Louis quilt along, to which I finally succumbed.

But I don't know which one to start first:
St. Louis (this one)

or Maureen Cracknell's Herringbone (with easy tutorial)

A gift from Leila's sponsors

I haven't entered as much giveaways as when I first started blogging; I must be getting picky ...
On reading Leila's blog on the final stop on the Zakka Sew Along I thought I'd give it a go.
And I won the biggest prize of them all!!

Beautiful fabric (I love green) and super crazy stickers!!! All from Form & Fabric.
And Aurifil thread: all the different kinds they've got in beautiful colors.

I've already got a great weekend; hope you'll have that too!

Open European Quilt Championships 2013

Last weekend I went to Veldhoven to see many many beautiful quilts at the Open European Quilting Championships 2013. Lots of inspiration to be had and lots of stuff you can buy. 

There was even a Norwegian lady selling a (stunning!!) long arm quilting machine: ahhhhhh.

I shot some pictures, but not nearly as many as last year ...

There were a lot with a Berlin theme.

The funny thing was about the quilt at bottom right: I could only see the letters standing from a distance (or when I saw the quilt in the catalogue)

This was my favourite, front and back:

(a bear is in the coat of arms of the city)

Here is a quilt with a few detail pictures; it's made of old damask table cloths and crocheted/knitted pieces that look like a lace doily (yes, I looked that one up).

I'm sure you all know this man, but have you ever seen the back of him?

Ineke Poort made this art quilt which is called "Transparant" and is made of polyester tea bags.

I love it!

It looks like a big origami wrap.

I'm not the only one blogging about this (duh) : Esther at ipatchandquilt posted about it twice: 

part one and part two with beautiful photographs.

And you can see all quilts here on Flickr: 

make yourself a cup of coffee or tea first if you want to see all 522 pictures.

have fun!

More temptation!

With Ingrid I went to a lecture on colour by a (in some parts) well known Dutch quilter: Lies Bos.

She designs and makes her own quilts of which some are really stunning (have a look at her site here and click on the Union Jack).

87 ladies had gathered to hear her speak, all enthusiastic.

One of the first things she said was: 

"Light is electromagnetic radiation"

And all energy seemed to drain away from the group ...

True, but we didn't come to hear her speak about technicalities.

Maybe it was because the sound system with microphone was not what it should have been.

Or maybe it was just me ...

stuck on a card, this is my result

After 20 minutes of technicalities about sunlight, colour blindness and brains that make their own interpretation, we moved on to more interesting things. 

We learned (more) about hues when we all could do something. 

We'd all done our homework: bring 10 bits of 2 x 2 cm 

(= 0.75 ") in different hues (10 light, 10 medium light, 10 medium, 10 medium dark, 10 dark). These were collected when we entered the building. Each table got a handful and we had to put 49 pieces in 7 rows: no system, just put them down orderly.

Then you'd have to pick the lightest and put it above them all.

Then pick the next lightest, and so on.

Until you'd done them all and put them in an orderly fashion again. 

Lies told us she'd made a quilt like this from 11,000 pieces of fabric!

I really like this proces and you can use anything you want for it: ugly and unwanted pieces too.

At home I made more with 2.5"pieces.

Left: starting with ordered chaos.

Centre: top left is the lightest, then I made rows and all rows begin on the left.

Right: picture in black and white so you can see all hues. I was pleased

For a moment I was afraie I couldn't stop ...

What can you do with these blocks?

Make a quilt of course; that might look something like this

I might try this!

Tempting

Perhaps this could even be a HAND made quilt: 49 bits to tag along. 

(it might be wise to number each square then)

What do you think?

October block ESTB

In our Euro Siblings Together Bee Pippa asked for a simple block, wonky if that's your cup of tea.
As that's not mine, this block is straight and very pink.
Pippa wants a quilt for a girl 7-10 years old, with a novelty fabric in the centre.
I hope this is novel enough.

It's so relaxing to be sewing.
Now I'm off on my bicycle while the sun's still shining!

Autumn

This year a lot of us are enjoying a beautiful autumn.
I love these kind of landscapes where you (normally) can see very far.

Autumn to me is the start of something new.
In nature this is also synonymous with death and decay.

Last week a former pupil of mine died of cancer.

Enjoy the beautiful moments!

Treasure Trove

My mum and her husband, which is technically my stepfather, have sold their house. They will move out in a couple of months
This means of course that the house needs to be empty by then. So they're sorting out their stuff: clearing up and out.
My mum asked whether I would like to have all of her quilting stuff and I said YES! Who wouldn't?

This is all of her fabric: some ghastly, some beautiful.

I've been going through it: so many memories: old blouses, my dad's shirt, bits of an old skirt of mine.

She also has maps filled with tutorials she learned at guild meetings, like this one, which might look familiar ...

I also found a (8-year old) tutorial on how to make half square triangles easier (like this method 2) and one (dating 1998) on making a twister quilt like this (the tool was included).It seems to me the wheel is invented all over again sometimes, but it may just be that rulers or templates are made now to make the easier method even easier.

Don't you love these flowery fabrics? I do, but not all of them.

They were very popular 25 years ago ...

And there are a lot of orphan blocks: could I make a quilt from them?
Hmm, I need to mull that over ....
If you have a suggestion: don't hold back and tell me.

I'm linking up with Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day and Blogtoberfest.

Thank you for stopping by!

Brioni's latest book

I have just received a book in the postbox which I have to tell you about, I'm so enthusiastic!
25 Ways to Sew Jelly Rols, Layer Cakes & Charm Packs by Brioni Greenberg.

Helen blogged about it and was enthusiastic, so I put it on my birthday wish list. O yes, sorry you weren't invited, but I hardly ever give BIG (loud) parties. Maybe next year?
And in case you're wondering: I'm one of the big girls now because I'm 51!

Anyroad: I very often buy a book in an acutal shop (or on the web, yes) and then I come home, have a proper look at it and find that only one and if I'm lucky perhaps 2 quilts are in there I really like; I really want to make.
This time it's the other way round: perhaps there's 1, perhaps 2 I know I'll never make: the other 23 are fabulous!!

Every favorite of Brioni can be found here: petals and asterisks. I love 'm both too.
Anything with flowers (but 60's & 70's  fabrics) is good with me.

I also love that she hasn't always chosen white (or snow) as a background for a quilt or another project.
That gives it all the more originality!

Some project I may have seen before on Flickr or on her website, but their gorgeous nonetheless.
Like for instance the table runner on the right, with the holly leaves: she's got a tutorial for them on her site: look here.

Perhaps it's your birthday soon, or you want to treat yourself?
You certainly wouldn't want to wait till Christmas, would you?
I'm sure you'll love it too.

Bee blocks

Here's what I made so far for our Euro Siblings Together Bee:

The star was for me: an 18" block, tutorial here. I have 12 now and it's time to make a quilt of it.
The churn dashes were for Miss August: Dutch Comfort, she asked for 4 smaller blocks of 9.5"
And the garden fence was for Molsig (Sigrun): it's a 18.5" block (all unfinished measurements)
I'm looking forward to Miss October!

I also found a group on Flickr, where you can give Bees a hand: Bee's helping Bee's It does happen that somebody drops out or some other conundrum? You can find them here, in case you want to have a look or join.

At the moment I'm making a baby quilt, but my pace is sooooooo slow. I'm used to making single blocks now! I'll have to get that mojo back so I can show you a finish soon!

Quilt exhibition in Alkmaar

With Ingrid I went to the Annual Dutch Quilt Exhibition in Alkmaar. In the Big Church, you might call it a small cathedral, with a wooden ceiling (just on the inside).

I'd like to share a few quilts with you that really inspired me. Like this one (below).

The lady who made this stood right next to it and told us a list of prizes she'd won.

Perhaps you've already seen it somewhere.

A beautiful and colourful lady herself, but I did not write down her name, I'm sorry.

Standing in front of it, you could nearly feel the heat of that scorching sun.

And here's and original kind of communication; I remember mostly doing this with my oldest.

Their hearts and thoughts were beautifully embroidered with beads and all kinds of buttons

There were a number of quilts made on the theme: Parade

I love this military take on row after row.

As it was my son Laurens' 23rd birthday, this coffee corner in the church was very apt:

Art quilts with children's drawings as inspiration

 This one, the dreamy one, was my favourite art quilt.

And this was my favourite quilt: to me it was about cycling along the sunny (& windy) fields

And second place takes this huge one. Last year this was a craze in the Netherlands. Building houses from scraps: make a small house every day (by hand or paper piecing on the machine). At the end of the year you'll have 365 houses and a big one in the middle (your own?), which you made in between, somewhere (pattern here on Etsy).

Not my cup of tea (no patience), but I loooooooved this one. So many other things were added: trees, dogs. And all her colours are bright & light.

Sorry for the wrong angle, but I wanted to get all of it in one picture.

Here are some close ups; the dog barks: wraf (what does an English dog say?) She lives next door!

And here are the last ones: Well done YOU!!

The yellow table topper (top right) was made by a 12 year old!

Hope you have a lovely week full of inspiration!

Rotterdam (third and last)

Then we went on the water bus (with our bikes) to go to Dordrecht (and cycling back to Rotterdam). Dordrecht is a really old town. Lots of old and crooked buildings. 
It was only then I realised that the old stuff was all bombed when my country was invaded in may 1940. My granny's three brothers died in those 5 days, two near Rotterdam.
As we were nearing Dordrecht we saw this and we remembered the man who'd been in the news: he built the Ark of Noah:

Strange to see a huge thing like this ... 
And you can go an visit it too, but that was only because the man who built it, ran out of money. And then he couldn't open to the public because he didn't have enough or the right kind of emergency exits.
All this is sorted now and he can (or already has) finished his ship.

And then we saw a beautiful small boat: a salmon fisher boat from Woudrichem (upstream from Dordrecht). Apparently there used to be salmon in these waters ...  Not any more ...
(the boat on the left, of course)

Dordrecht is a small, old town an far more lovely than I'd expected.

There were many crooked houses but how can you show on a photograph? Well, I think this one is very obvious

Then on to the church, well we passed it and it was open. And so beautiful.

It was built after the Reformation so as a protestant church. The old church was destroyed (partly?) by fire before the Reformation started.

Here the vicar would have his congregation almost around him in a circle; beautifully designed.

The organ was leaning toward the right, perhaps difficult to see here.

And here's a design for free motion quilting for a a very proficient quilter

Here's a beautifully decorated tombstone, the kind you can fall over if you're not careful.

The dead were buried in (the very rich) and around the church until Napoleon told us to do it differently. 

(and we did, because we're such obedient a people ...)

We cycled back to Rotterdam in blazing sunshine!

Next time it's back to quilting

Thanks!