Back home from FQCR in London

The names and faces are all echoing in my head and boy, did we have a great time!
Talking, talking and talking, and oh yes, we did some workshops too.

We started off by introducing ourselves in a really fast way: at the entrance we were all given cards with 6 names of people we had to find to get their initials. And it was a competition: if you had all the initials to the names you could enter the draw (for a prize of course). But some names did not match, like mine: Betty van Os is not the name it says on my payment to FQCR.
So it wasn't just: hi, I'm Betty and you're X? No, you're not on my list.
It was so great talking with people you only remembered by their blogging name!

Katy, Tacha, John, Briony and Lynne

Then John opened the Retreat and we all listened: so many people were soooo excited!

What followed were workshops; for me they were

Embroidery class with Aneela Hoey (above)

English Paper Piecing with Tacha (above)

Pippa working really concentrated here

Machine pieced placemat with Briony(2 above)

results of my class

Porthole technique with Lu Summers
A really easy and versatile tric I'd like to use in a quilt (someday). Lu was an enthusiastic and LOUD teacher which you need on Sunday afternoon in a very big assembly room.

Saturday evening we had a pub quiz where royals turned up and won!

Sunday afternoon all the Jelly Roll Challenge results were shown:

And the winner of the Iron Man Challenge was announced: the Royals again! They did have a very nice quilt!!

The result of my time is held up here (above) by Heather Noble, who fell Saturday evening and had to go to A&E ... Her ankle and pulse were (strained and) taped.
My energy Sunday afternoon was down to -10: my head was full!
My Iron Man Challenge team were working away and I just sat there ... completely drained!


Best pictures of the retreat, I think, are these:

Hunter with his mum.

Quiltdad with Hunter

Incredibly nice Laura sewing away at her porthole nr 4?

This is fabric someone made herself! it was stunning. But now I don't have her name, so if you know, please tell me

Caroline Walters' shoes: Dr Martens Hello Kitty!! How cool are they

Sponsors were:
Moda, Robert Kaufman, Aurifil, Oakshott, Abakhan and Korbond filled the goodie bags.
Sizzix came demonstrating their products, but somehow I missed that.
Pfaff for giving us 20 sewing machines to use, and you could even buy them at a discount after the retreat!.
Liberty Lifestyle Fabrics were having a contest of some sort, but I missed that (?) But I'll tell you more about Liberty tomorrow!

Fat Quarterly Community Retreat London: 4 nights to go!

This Friday I'll be boarding a train to London, the old fashioned way!

I signed up for the retreat in December, when it was announced and that was a good thing. Booked the hotel on the other side of the street) and my journey by train.
I wonder if I would've done it now? Yes, probably, because I'm dying to meet so many other bloggers. It's a big blog meet to me. The workshops are an extra.
The icing on the cake is the location: Londen ahhhhhh
The down side is I will not be able to see the English queen on her boat trip; but I'll get over that.

What will they all look like?
Like Beyonce of course! 
How long will it take for the ice to break?
2 seconds 
Will others be nervous too?
Everyone!
Will I meet everyone?
YEA
Will anyone recognize me?

Now you will

Will I learn a lot?
Yes and like when you were attending secundary school: you learn even more outside the classroom (LOL)
Will I buy anything?
You bet!
Will I have fun?
Me and 100 others.
Will I cry Sunday afternoon?
That's my forte, so yes, probably (I'm such a softy).

Yes, I'm looking forward to this weekend!
See you all!!


And for those who don't go: I hope to make tons of pictures!

Not a lot of movements

Last week we were invited to a friend's party, she was turning 40: well worth a celebration!
So the night before I thought it would be a great idea to make her a quilt.  And I started cutting my fq bundle of Jenean Morrisson's California Dreamin' which I (needless to say) love. I think I bought it here, but that was a few months ago.

Sorry about the flash, but the light was bad, it was in the evening, and the work HAD to be done.
Sadly to say the next morning I woke up with a migraine ...
So no party, and certainly no quilt yet.

It might have been a stupid odd idea to whip up this quilt in one day ...
I can't help it, I'm optimistic.
That's what I like to call it anyway.

My inspiration for this was a quilt by Amanda Jean; you can see a picture of her quilt in the left hand corner of my photo and you can find the tutorial for it here.

After the migraine is gone, it always takes a few of days to get my energy back; so now I will have to lay in the sun! (it was 34 degrees in the shade here yesterday which was too hot)
With the iPad reading blogs!
I've such a hard life ...

To wash or not?

I've finished my quilt for this charity: each sibling receives a quilt at the end of their summer camp as these siblings aren't in the same foster family. I've added mine in the Flickr Pool for all Siblings Together Quilts; have a look and be amazed!

I was wondering as I was admiring my finished Siblings Together quilt: should I wash it?
Is it dirty?

The fabric looks so crisp and nice now and after washing it, it might look like a second hand quilt: all crumpled and crinckly, and not the real original colours it had before you stuck it in the washing machine. You and me know it isn't a hand-me-down quilt, but does the first time quilt owner know?

I have the tendency to just go over it with a lint roller and then give it with washing & drying instructions. I've only washed one of the 16 projects I've made so far.

I'd just like to know, what do you do?

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday to you all, whether you're a mother or not.

Bluebells at Kew

Present for all!

Having blogged for over 100 times, I thought it was time for something nice for all my readers. Because for some reason you lot seem to be growing. That's great! and flattering too.

Brown and cream were no colours I would choose voluntarily a year ago, but now that I've seen the effect and how WARM it can be I can only say: I love it; I might even do it again!
The quilt I'm talking about is this one (which you'might have seen before)

 

With a lot of help from dear quilting friends Alison and Nicolette (both great bloggers!),  I have managed to write a pattern for it.

You'll find it at the top on the page "Quick and easy, stripy quilt tutorial".

And of course: if you've made a quilt like this: mail me, because I'd love to see!

Well, I hope I haven't disappointed you by not sending you (all) any fat quarters or other fabric.

My finish this week (so I'll be linking up with Amy and Amanda Jean) is a sketch for a quilt with these RUBY fabrics, from Oakshot Fabrics:

All to be appliqued on Potash also from Oakshot Fabrics.

And I haven't got a clue when I'll be making this one.

Perhaps just in between making City Harbor for a dear friend and her wonderful sporty husband?

Have I told you yet he (the wonderful sporty husband) will be cycling from Italy to his hometown for CHARITY! 

That's 1300 km, which is just over 800 mile! In a week! You can read all about that here in Dutch.

If you'd like to make a donation for his team "Fietsers zonder grenzen" go here (in English!) but any other team will do too, because it's to enable doctors and nurses to be able to operate where they're needed most!

Have a lovely weekend and keep supporting yours; they'll carry you through!

Remind me!

I'm so glad other quilters remind me of finishing something. One of the motivators is Lee at Freshly Pieced every Wednesday: what's the score?
And also Cille for she is so disciplined to finish something before she starts the next: I admire that and I'm not sure I can do the same. I like so many things (she does too, I'm sure)!

So, the quilt for Siblings Together: is it finished yet? No, but I'm more than halfway quilting it. So it can be finished this week.

As for the rest, I'll come clean:

1. Movin' on up: top needs finishing
2. Starry Sashings: ditto
3. Disappearing 9-patch Christmas quilt: finish quilting + binding
4. Asterisk vintage quilt: top needs finishing
5. Postage stamp quilt along: ditto
6. Quilt for charity Droomdekentjes: border + quilting + binding
7. Christmas quilt for Annie: it's still not an oblong or square. I need to figure that out.
8. One block wonder: yellow & blue: the hard work is done, which was the cutting; now the rest.
9. Granny Squares: slow progress, but progress nevertheless.

Yes I think that's about it.
Can anyone top this list? (I don't think so)
And I'm not going to tell you how many projects I've got lined up! 

If you'd like to see (30) pictures of the Open European Quilt Championships held last week in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, click here.

Friday I have a small celebration with a present for all my readers.
 I'm showing my face at Lee's today!

Thanks for stopping by and do come again!