Carpe Quiltem

A blog post!

2012-01-26T14:21:00.000+01:00

The longer you stay away from you blog, the easier it gets. Weeks went by without even opening 'carpe quiltem". I made lots of posts in my head but somehow they never made it to my blog. But now I'm happy to tell the world that i survived the holiday season (hope you are all well too) and that I wás very busy from time to time.

- cleaned out my wardrobe and donated 4 carbage bags full to Goodwill.

- I knitted 2 cowls and one cabled scarf

- crocheted 3 pairs of fingerless gloves

- crocheted 4 amigurumi monsters, 2 ducks, 1 Perry from the Phineas and Ferb cartoons, 1 poo (yes, poop, just because I came across the pattern),1 cupcake and 1 ball. All those for my own amusement. (google for "free amigurumi patterns if you're interested)

- teached C how to crochet her own keychain duck.

- re-painted Biker-Son 's room after he moved out (still busy with that project)

- finished 3 adventure pc games
- getting ready to help moving Baking DD coming weekend to the far south of the country. She's going to study there at the Higher Hotel School.
- sewed zip and handquilted no more than 10". Dustbunnies live in my sewingmachine and quilting supplies

All that's left is dealing with an empty nest syndrome, now all of the offspring is scattered around the country.

Leaves me with one big mystery.......
Why on earth is THIS in my bathroom and more important:
WHOSE are these with only DH and me in the house????

Guess I'm back in blogland. Don't know if it's for long, we'll see how life goes....

November.....

2011-11-06T13:23:00.000+01:00

..it's that time of year again!

Please check....

2011-10-31T15:56:00.000+01:00

....your settings on Blogger! LOTS of people are set on "no-reply" I cannot answer or react to a comment or email this way. If you don't want to hear from me after commenting or mailing: that's fine by me. If you think: she never answers me back: check if you're on no-reply!!!

The black and white experience part 2

2011-10-30T19:42:00.001+01:00

So, where was I?

Join the upper left block to its neighbour, then one block down and joining that to it's neighbour too etc, Then add blocks from top to bottom, making the horizontal rows.In the end you have the entire quilt chain pieced!

In fact this is taking the art of chainpiecing to the next level. Yeey me!

Breath deep and take the whole bunch to the machine.

Join the rows (muhaha)

(When that step was taken, days had passed.)
After joining and stitching and struggling the top is done!
Do a happy dance. (no pic, I don't take pics of myself while dancing)
Welcome you neighbour who comes by to say hello and before you know it, she's crawling around your quilttop with bastingthread and needle.
(again, no pic. A pic of 2 women on hands and knees on the livingroomfloor is NOT a pretty sight. Believe me)
Then...tadáááá
(Hmm, apparantly i was so overjoyed that it was done that the pic is upside down)

Take the layered quilt to the recipient and try it on

If the recipient falls asleep immediately: you did good!

Clean yourself again, clean the machine and vacuum. I never had fabric with so much lint; it drove me nuts.

Take the quilt to the quilter (that'll be me in this case) but that's a story for another post!

Circles and packages

2011-10-29T22:47:00.000+02:00

It's not that nothing happened here, it's not having the energy or the time (or whatever) to post. Sometimes you just want to quilt/hang in front of the tv/just surfing the net/read/sleep instead of sharing with the world what you're up to.

This concludes the lame excuses, on to happier things!

I finished my 2day workshopquilt!

It has it's flaws but it was a good learning piece. Thanks to advices such as clip the seamallowance and pin differently I managed to sew it all together. I even started to piece other round shaped blocks. Bigger and templates without seamallowance. Ánd I found some fabulous designs on the internet for even more round projects, that made me want to get Marti Michell's drunkard's path templates. I'll share all this when the projects are "a bit further developed"
What else did I do? Black and white top is finished! Yeey!! ("black and white experience 2" WILL be posted asap. Got to sort the pics first)
Since I had the idea to MACHINE quilt this one (OMG, that'll be a first one) I headed to the fav quiltshop for advice and thread.

A pic of some Aurifil spools are not interesting, a pic of the paper bag they were put in, IS! *lol*

Aaahh....dots and checks in red and white make me so happy :)

While I'm at it, i might as well show the paper bag (back and front)from a local store where I bought a new battery for my watch.

Daylight saving time ends tonight here so the weekend is prolonged with an hour. Just the time i need to show you the black and white pics tomorrow....

Happy birthday Maren!

2011-10-15T01:01:00.000+02:00

This cutie, my youngest daughter, is turning 21 today! A very happy birthday Maren and may your birthdaycake be the best one you ever made :)
hugs, your mummy

We interrupt this program....

2011-10-11T12:10:00.000+02:00

C and I signed up for a workshop almost a year ago and last wednesday it was our first lesson. Next session is next week so I had to put the black and white aside to do my homework. Can't show up empty handed, can I??
The workshop is about round shapes and we wanted to master that on the machine.
It involved lots of these...

Colour aka dots..needed that after all the B&W.

Plastic templates...yuk! So slippery and so invisible in the midst of fabrics that I spent most of the time searching for them.

I immediately replaced them at home with old fashioned paper on sandpaper!

Then you had "how do I get these ridiculous amount of pins under the machinefoot????"
It took me so much time that I could have easily sewn 2 by hand in the same period. But....we didn't gave in and persued the mission to master it by MACHINE. Hell yeah!

Not the accuracy I was aiming for :(

But with lots of trimming and pressing I finally managed to sew a block.

Next assigment is to sew rather crooked blocks into a straight and accurate top. *sigh*

How to make a quilt; the black and white experience part 1

2011-10-03T16:04:00.001+02:00

When you really need to make a black and white 'pied de coq" quilt, this is how to do it. At least...it's how I did it. Feel free to comment how to improve my "technique" :)
First step is ORDER FABRIC if the fav quiltshop has no solids..

Then wait.....and wait some more

meanwhile..you cán do something usefull

One day,you're package will arrive!

Celebrate! and be carefull not to burn holes in the fabric while doing so

I ordered black, red and charcoal. The last one appears to be blue, but it's really not :)
White was already present in my stash and when I ordered I wasn't sure what colours I wanted to use. Obviously I picked B&W..

Prewash! I don't want another laundry disaster thankyouverymuch.
Hang out to dry

Again, use your time wisely

Iron when still damp....

And finally you are ready to CUT the fabric. Yeey!

I started with 2" wide strips along the width of the fabric. I wanted to patch-as-you-go so I cut 6 white and 6 black strips for starters.
I pressed the still folded fabric strips carefully, before I ironed them open.
Take 15 minutes to look for the companion angle you know you have somewhere. C brought it with me from her Florida holiday last year. Bonnie Hunter recommended the triangle in her tutorials and I must say it works great. Thanks for the tip Bonnie!

So...cut triangles!

and sew them together, white against black. I snuggled the middle seamd thightly together. Don't know why, it seemed appropriate.

Press the seam ,press it open en this is what you get.

Cut/square it with a PRECISION TRIMMER. This is going to be my fav tool for sure. Recommended by the Hargrave ladies and this time C's DH (!) bought it for me on this year's Florida trip. As a gift! That's 2 times a "yeey" :)

If you don't have one: get one now! I think it's essential for accurate piecing. I was painstakingly precise and still had crooked blocks. With this tool, my blocks were cut exactly square.
If you determined how big your striped blocks turned out, cut black and white squares that same size. My striped ones were 4.5" so i cut a few 4.5"strips and cut those up in 4.5" squares! Patchwork for dummies..
Go to your designwall and stick those blocks on in this order

..and watch it grow!

Before you leave the sewingarea, make sure you clean yourself with a sticky roll. Clean the ironingboard`, the cuttingmat ánd your sewingmachine. Lint and tiny threads were everywhere overhere :(

More progress next time!

Market day!

2011-09-26T21:37:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Baking DD and I took our stall on the neighbourhood market:) Weather was GREAT and market got pretty busy in the early afternoon. This was our spot!

DD sold LOTS of her cupcakes..

..and captivated her audience (the seriouslooking girl with the rose in her hair couldn't keep her eyes off DD :)

I too did good and sold some teacozies, an apron, cosmeticbags, grabbags, needlecases etc. Whenever i had a moment I sat down and quilted. Thát triggered a lot of attention. I worked on the Happy Joy quilt and got a lot of compliments. An elderly man in his 80s kept saying how he lóved the colours in my quilts. He said that his younger sister quilted too, but :"she uses such bóring colours" *lol*
Lots of ladies told me that they made a quilt once or wanted to make one "later"

I also found that some self-proclaimed quilters were NOT the nicest people. I got cross-examined: who teached you, what group do you belong to, what, where how, with whom??????? They don't know me, I don't have a Dear jane, Farmers Wife, SBS and all those other quilts that everyone sews (no offence to those who love these quilts!)and they can't "label" me. Guess they felt "threatened" (????)
One lady was absolutely sure that my quilts were not handpieced and certainly not handquilted. Impossible, she said, "and I know for I am a quilter"

Luckily there were LOTS of very nice people too. Highlight of the day was the 5year old son of the fav quiltshop's owner. Such a cheerfull, happy little guy that came with his mum to buy cupcakes for his birthday. He gave us smiles that lasted the rest of the day! (and i'm not writing this to please his mum!)

..been there, done that..

2011-09-21T16:55:00.000+02:00

What's in a name?

2011-09-20T12:46:00.001+02:00

My butt was kicked last sunday (thanks Pam) and I tried a tutorial for a cosmetic bag.
I found this tut a while back but hadn't sewn one yet

Ofcourse I couldn't stop at one. With the upcoming market in mind I made 3

They are supereasy, quick to make and are fq friendly.
While making these I realized that i have a lot of houndstooth patterns: fabric, a dress, a bag, a watch..! So why not a quilt? I checked some pics online and scribbled on my new drafting block. (hey, I had LIGHT to see tiny lines!!) I think, no I KNOW how to draft the pattern. All I have to do is order some black fabric..
Funny detail is that what's known as "houndstooth"or "dogstooth" is called Pied-de Coq (French for rooster feet) for a bigger pattern and Pied-de-poule (hen's feet) for the smaller. I think I'll go for turkey-feet *lol*

..and then there was LIGHT!

2011-09-18T15:03:00.001+02:00

DH's bike is broken and he's struggling to fix it. Bad for him, but very good for me :)
No extra's rides means time for chores.
Today he put my new lightrail up. I had a cheapass rail with bad contacts. Every time I wanted to press or iron something, the lights went out or never went on at all. The drill was: calling DH, he went up a chair, did something with a screwdriver and I had light again....for a few minutes. I once got so frustrated that I took a swing with a ruler at it and smashed a lightbulb.
Yesterday I had enough and went to Ikea

Fillerstrips still have to be placed between the lightspots. DH will do that after I decided if the spots are in the right places. I still need to paint the board to cover the rail of my slidingdoor, but I am not into doing chores (I'm the painter in the house..).

Now I have so much light that I added a new notion to my ironing area

Now all i need is someone to kick my butt to get into my sewingroom and actually SEW instead of being a couchpotatoe

Leiden again

2011-09-14T22:35:00.000+02:00

i still promised to post some pics of the Guild's quiltshow. Unfortunately I had my smaller camera with me and obvious need to learn how it works. Lots of pics are a bit blurry, but I'll still post them if I think the quilt is worthwhile. Just squint a little and you'll get the idea :)

..and some more of the church and the town

Can't put anymore pics in one post. Enough is enough!

Fabric Shack

2011-09-12T21:14:00.000+02:00

When i came home from Leiden last saturday, there was a package waiting for me. Fabrics I ordered from the Fabric Shack a while back. Designs I thought were nice to sew another apron or some other kitchenstuff.

When I buy online, I have some fav's and Fabric Shack is absolutely one of them. They have a huge selection of fabrics, prices are mostly a bit lower than in other online shops, they deliver within approx. 10 days overseas, shipping rates to my place are $8 for one envelope and they always aswer emails promptly.

What I love about this store is, that they always add something to your order. I got e.g. a pen at christmas, flowerseeds, an inches to cm chart, a strip of velcro etc.

This time I got a tapemeasure and a very handy chart: quiltsizes and how many-what size blocks you need for a twin/crib/queen ...

It is for Fabric Shack perhaps a tiny (cheap) thing to add these gifts, but I sure appreciate their efforts a lot!
What did i sew? Well...a teacozy!

If you look closely at my pics you can see that it says 2010. *sigh* Another thing that needs to be adjusted. Perhaps i can figure out how while having a cuppa :)

Leiden

2011-09-10T23:07:00.001+02:00

Today quilting DD and i went to the Dutch Guild's quiltshow in Leiden, near the Hague. We didn't have high expectations, since we were spoiled in Birmingham with stunning quilts and LOTS of quiltshops. We looked at every quilt, had coffee, strolled along the shops and..were done in about 2.5 hours. I'll post some pics of the quilts when the show is closed; that'll be later this week.
The show was in an old church...

Great tombstones!

Luckily Leiden is a very nice town ánd it was market day.

So we hit town, got goodies at the market

and had a great day!

Can't show you more pics; blogger won't play along. So let's save that for a next post..

Apronista and guilty list

2011-09-07T15:48:00.000+02:00

With summerholidays being over, I had to go to work again. It takes some time to get into the "groove" again. When i get home, I'm wasted. So, no blogging and little time for blogreading. First thing on my "guilty list" I did quilt during the evenings and the Happy Joy is halfway done.
I also sewed. Baking DD was on a market selling her cupcakes and I couldn't go there to see how she was doing. Out of guilt, I made her a new apron

The blue fabric is called "kiss the cook" and has things about food printed on it. While sewing this, I finally finished another apron for Quilting DD, I promised her ages ago. It was on the mannequin, half done, all summer.

I made it reversible and that was the reason it took me so long. The pattern was for a single layer of fabric and I just didn't know how to sew it with 2 layers, So I procastinated, feeding my guilty feeling.. I mailed to her the same day so that was one to cross of the list!

I immediately made nr. 3, just in case I promised some else an apron that I forgot about...

Furthermore I went to the fav local quiltshop to celebrate it's 10th anniversery. Quilting DD, C and I did an arty farty workshop which was fun and ofcourse I came home with fabrics and a pattern!

Haven't touched it yet, nor finished the scrappy quilt you see in the apron pics background. 2 more project for the guilty list *sigh*
I won't have time the coming weeks either. Baking DD did good on "her" market and there's another one coming up in and from our neighbourhood. This time I'm coming along. I will demonstrate handquilting (omg!) and we are suppoost to sell stuff...
DD will start making cupcakes the day before but I do not plan to sell a quilt! So...I'm making some pincushions, teacozys, a few needlecases and other small, easy to sew stuff. This means that the sewingmachine is on often: I can't go there with 2 items!
I AM having second thoughts, being the insecure me, but I guess I can't get out of it anymore, so we'll see. I'll just keep on breathing!

More of Birmingham

2011-08-17T14:18:00.000+02:00

More pics to share from our trip! How about this? Raid your granny's sewingbox and put the old stuff into a quilt!

Or do you fancy a more modern approach?

more traditional?

You can also just paint/stamp on a piece of cloth and quilt around those shapes..

This one was great too:)

Quilting sure is no longer a houshold chore but real textile art, although the old style "you can snuggle under"ones remain my favourites.

On sunday we just walked through town, saw the canals....

Interesting shops (no thank you, I'll stick to a pair of converse All stars)

...untill it was time to head home again!

Ofcourse I brought some stuff home :) Not too much though, after all it had to fit in a suitcase that already had some extra (new) clothes and a batting...

quilting templates DD and I can share

Fabrics!

and some souvenir pins. We also got C a "fabricaholics anonymous" pin and to our surprise she came along with DD's boyfriend and DH to pick us up from the airport. Nice!; we could spill our stories immediately while the men stood in line for coffee:)

If all works out and I can go to Quiltmarket in Houston next year or so, I'll come back totally, raving mad. My head still's buzzing with sounds and images from Birmingham, so how will it be after such an event as Houston? More than this old head can take I fear *lol*'

Birmingham!

2011-08-16T13:14:00.000+02:00

Half of me still in French mode, Quilting DD and |I hopped on a plane to Birmingham last wednesday. Not knowing what to expect from the Festival of Quilts nor from the town. Reports of riots were in the news just before we left.
Turned out that Birmingham is not a very pretty city, but it ís a shopper's heaven. So that's what we did the first day adding some things to our wardrobes :)
Some shops were barricaded with plywood panels and you could see windows being smashed by looters. Lots of policemen on the streets and shops closed early and the atmosphere was a bit tensed.
The hotel was situated just outside the centre in the midst of lots of bars, pubs and clubs.

There are pretty spots in town but ofcourse we didn't photograph the ugly officebuildings..
After a good nights sleep we headed to the exhibition halls. OMG what an explosion of sounds, quilters, crowds and shouting (tickets here ladies! get you guide here! cash only this line ladies! etc)
The hall didn't look so big at first, but how wrong we were! It took us 3 days to see all the quilts and visit all the shops. We really were overwhelmed.
This is the quilter's café, at least part of it...

It's impossible to recall quilter's names,not even with the exhibition guide (only text there, no pics) but I'll show you some of the quilts we saw. On Quilting DD's blog there are more.

One that was completely knitted!

Polly must love her quilt :)

A winner

Made, well painted, entirely from tiny pieces of fabric

Japanese artwork..
We also saw celebs like Kaffe Fasset, Marti Michell. I recognized Lisa Liam from her Uhandbag blog and more .
I was very impressed with the tentmakers of Cairo. What craftmanship, such beautiful quilts

More in a next post; blogger starts complaining about an overload of pics :) There so much more to share!!

Tour ends in...

2011-08-09T20:16:00.000+02:00

From Chartes, which has the famous cathedral with glass stained windows everywhere

...to Orléans with Joan of Arc all over the place

...our Tour the France ended where it should end: In Paris!

Paris was hot, sunny, buzzing, crowded and fantastic! I got sunburned and came home with a blister from walking from the Eiffeltower to the Arc and back again.

I loved the Kadinsky fountain!

I won't bore you with more French pics(and I have loads more *lol*); next post will be English!! My bag is packed and ready: tomorrow morning Quilting DD and I, will fly to Birmingham to the Festival of Quilts. I'm excited (ánd a tiny bit nervous..) but I'm sure we'll have a great trip. I'll take pics and tell you all about our British adventures when we get back :)

Let's talk some more French:)

2011-08-06T22:07:00.000+02:00

It kept on raining while we followed the Loire, so we decided to head south towards another river, the Dordogne. Sunflower country!

Our campsite on castlegrounds..

Medieval little towns everywhere..

ánd the area where the people lived 17.000 years ago!! Lots of caves with original pre-historic wall paintings. I visited Lascaux, one of the most famous. Actually the replica of Lascaux cave. The original was closed in '63. Visitors caused mold and fungus on the drawings. But....impressive still!

Next campsite!Is that a castle :)

And the small town where we got stuck. After 2 flat tires, the radiator broke. We were on hold for 6 days, waiting for car parts and repair :(
The Dordogne was beautiful, the castle campsite perfect, but after six days of waiting and again lots of rain (and no means of any transport!) we were NOT as happy as in the beginning!!

On the other hand: it was raining back home too and the view from my own house is by far nothing like this.

Tour de France 1

2011-08-04T18:10:00.000+02:00

This was my home for over 3 weeks :) There IS a life after motorbike-holidays and we talked about buying a small campervan ("when we get old"....) for years. We rented this one to learn if traveling like this is something we wanted.

Plan was to tour France and first stop we planned were the D-Day beaches. Visiting a cemetary isn't very "holiday-like" but both DH and I were really impressed and touched at the US buriel site near Omaha-beach

On to happier things! We passed and visited Mont St Michel, an abbey on a rock during low tide. High tide means the sea is all around (including the camper parking space)

After that we met the river Loire. This means castles, castles and...CASTLES!!

No wonder Perrault got the inspiration for his "sleeping beauty" story in this area! (no, dear readers, sleeping beauty is not written by mr. Walt Disney *lol*)

The last one is Chambord, a royal castle. I have never seen anything like it. This is a picture on/of the roof

Between the castles we came across lots of medieval villages and ofcourse we stayed at a campsite on castlegrounds.
Don't think this post can handle more pics, so more tomorrow:)

Checking in...

2011-08-03T13:21:00.000+02:00

..to tell you that I'm back home after touring through France for over 3 weeks.
Yep, we did our own Tour de France, not by motorbike this time, but with a tiny campervan.
We had lots of rain, car troubles, flat tires and a lot more.
First things first and that's doin' laundry, groceryshopping and uploading pictures to my laptop. I'll be back soon with some story's , pictures and quiltprogress :)!

Home sweet home quilt

2011-07-09T23:57:00.000+02:00

I didn't do much sewing lately. It's holidaytime here and I finally had the energy to clean my house, sort out some very messy cupboards and do other chores.

Ironing is done, windows are sparkling clean..in short: I was the perfect housewife for once :)

I did finish 2 borders on the HSH project. The cornerblocks on the second row gave me a little headache, since they were very timeconsuming! Lots and lots of patches for one block!

I think that the outer border might be a bit to heavy. It's more "red" than I thought it would be. I did that part rather quickly on the machine, so if it realy turns out too much, i can always sew another one!

Next border is green hourglasses.......

Statement!

2011-06-16T18:48:00.000+02:00

While Quilting DD is making lots of progress, I'm behind struggling. I had the day off today and since it was perfect piecing weather (rain!) I set myself behind the machine.

I really do not know how you all manage to get pretty perfect points, corners, blocks by machine. I CAN do squares and rectangles but no decent triangles, let alone a complecate pattern like the Home sweet Home pattern, we planned to sew.

I can sew accuratly by hand; by machine nothing seems to fit. I'm irritated by unintentional wonky seams, measuraments that do not add up and chopped off points.

So....I give in. The relatively easy parts, like a border of squares and a log cabin, I'll machine sew. The rest? I'll do it by hand, happy and relaxed. No seamripper needed and all points match.

I am a handpiecer.

Pfew!

2011-06-09T22:49:00.000+02:00

Today I did something I absolutely hate..:I washed a quilt. I'm still traumatised from the last time: DS' Skulls and Bones quilt came out of the washingmachine PINK , in spite of all the precautions and in spite of lots of colourcatchers.

I got most of the pink out eventually, but it'll never be as "fresh" as when I made this pic.

This time Baking DD's quilt needed some cleaning. She brought it down from her room because I wanted to draft a new pattern from my house (the middle block)

The new project "Home Sweet Home" is going to be my new and improved houses-quilt and will get my own home in the middle as well.

DD's quilt was a bit dirty, had a few stains and smelled "dusty". After all, it lived in her room for more than 5 years (!)

I was só relieved it came out of the machine fresh, clean and no bleeding whatsoever!! Good for another 5 years :)

A while back I came home and found Baking DD on the couch, after a apparently tiring day..

Yikes, if this quilt is going to be used, it'll need a wash too someday and I promised myself this one is never ever going to be laundered.

Better to be dirty than to be pink!

The castle, the knight and the quilts.... part 2

2011-06-06T15:42:00.001+02:00

More scenery and our delicious midafternoon snack :)

The interior...

On the bed a 17th century quilt..

The kitchen is situated in the cellar. There were lots of quiltshops there too!

And what did I take home with me? Some fq in red and green for the new project, quiltingthread, a white on white, a "kit" for a mushroom pincushion and some fq's for DD (she posted them on her own blog).

And last but not least (I promised to post this pic and didn't get any fabric in return this time *lol*):

The robber knight and I enjoying the sun and having a talk about all his evil deeds

The castle, the knight and the quilts...part 1

2011-06-05T14:33:00.001+02:00

Prepare yourself for an overload of pictures of our day out to the castle of Cannenburgh yesterday!
We had such a great day; excactly as I predicted....lovely weather, good company, beautiful surroundings and fabrics+quilts within reach.
Pity that it wasn't allowed to take pictures IN the castle, not even from the displayed quilts. But...I found some from a few years ago ánd bought postcards.
Last quilt'event' there was 4 or 5 years ago. Since then the castle has been closed for restauration, refurnishing and they restored the parc on the castle grounds. they did a great job for sure!
Okay, here we go!

There was a quilt on the castle wall, a boat with quilted flags in the moat and the robber knight himself invited us to sit down and have a chat. Quiltshops in knightlike tents in the quiltshoplane:)

Lunch and the lunchspot! DD (in her red dress close to the moat with C beside her)

Lots and lots of treats to choose from accompanied the free coffee!!

The views from our lunch spot...and around the castle.

That's it for today...Enough pictures for one post and I don't want to overload Blogger:) More pics of the interior, with and without quilts and... the knight and I..!

Ascension day

2011-06-03T19:37:00.000+02:00

To enjoy the beautiful sunny weather, I suggested to DH to go for a ride on our day off. He promised me lunch at the end of the ride..:)
We drove along small and winding roads to Belgium, to an old monestary just across the border.

The monestrary dates back to the Middle ages and even older. It has always been nearby important crossroads and on of its tasks was to take care of travelers.
The monks also have a huge herbal garden with every herb you can think of..

This is one patch of many more.

Lunch and cappucino were delicious!

Lots of people had the same idea as we had, but there's álways a parkingspot for a bike or 2, (3,4.....)
Tomorrow another trip is scheduled: the three quilters (C, DD and I) are going to a quiltshow+market in the former home of a real robber knight. It's a castle with a genuine moat around it and a drawbridge.
The weather is looking good for tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to :coffee in the park in the pleasant company of friend and daughter with quiltsshops and quilts within reach.. That sounds excellent, now doesn't it??

I promised!

2011-05-29T13:58:00.001+02:00

Quilting Dd, who kept quiet on her blog for over a year, keeps ~~nagging~~ asking me to post. She even talked about it with the girls of the fav local quiltshop (what? new project? she didn't post a thing about that! Tsk!!) So when she finally bribed me with 3 fq's, I gave in and promised to post today. So much for "blogging without obligation"!

What's been going on here? Well, a few weeks ago (!) C, Quilting Dd and a very (véry) pleasant day at the European Quilt Contest. Lovely weather, great quilts and lots of shops :)

This is how the busy it was at the coffeecorner!

Pictures can be found at http://www.oeqc.eu/ for those who are interested.

Fav quiltshop had a booth there too and they had their own little quiltshow off mysteryquilts. An original pattern designed by the owner and now available as a none-mystery pattern.All quilts had the same pattern but since everyone used their own fabrics, they were very different from one another.

That's when it happened. Quilting DD "fell" for one of the quilts, made in red and green. We all thought "fairytales" and "little red riding hood". DD decided she HAD to have this pattern and we áll got excited.

Unfortunately I do not know WHO was the maker of this quilt so I cannot give her the credit :( but this is the one!

So now I'm collecting lime-green and red.

I got these from DD yesterday and together with my own this is what I have so far

Now for more exiting news......(drumroll.......)

Quilting DD and I are going to Birmingham to the "FESTIVAL OF QUILTS".
It's said to be the biggest quilt event in Europe and I am SO looking forward to that trip.

The plans for the Ascension Day weekend will have to wait for another post. (if I wait long enough, perhaps I´ll get another pack of fq´s !?)

Note: fav quiltshop owner commented that the red and green quilt is made by Suzanne van der Schoot!

The girl's back!

2011-05-18T14:15:00.001+02:00

No, not me, but Quilting DD revived her blog. I tried to encourage her over and over again, but it took a lot more for her to finally bring her blog back to life :) Hopefully she'll keep it up.
Baking DD made a blog as well: a blog about her baking things. She didn't post yet, but choose a layout etc. Babysteps!

I'll revive mine later this week, much to share, little time !

Poem

2011-05-08T14:37:00.003+02:00

Dianne sent me this and since she didn't put it on her own blog, I think it's okay if i post it in mine.

Happy Mother's day!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry wheter or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on,
Pooped on,
Chewed on,
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctor's could do tests
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat uplate hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before i was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces,
when I couldn't stop the hurt.

before I was a Mom
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that i could love someone so much, I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having a heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy,

Before i was a Mom,
i had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

The early years, a minute after Baking DD was born..

Decades later, DS making faces, but the ONLY picture i have with all three ánd me:)

Practice makes (almost) perfect!

2011-05-02T15:18:00.000+02:00

My progress so far:

I must say that I'm enjoying the machine piecing more and more...and I'm getting better at it during the process:)
My first windmills

...and my later ones!

The Hargrave ladies explained how to make perfect points and I've been a fairly good student so far, at their Quilter's Academy.
I even discovered that, when I start sewing the hst, I can tell after 3 stitches if the outcome will be perfect or not.
Best part is that I slowly get the feeling that I am in charge of my machine and not the other way around.
Could it be that this handpiecer for over 20 years is crossing over to the machinepiecing camp??

To de-stash or not to de-stash...

2011-04-28T15:57:00.000+02:00

I've added some great books lately to my ever growing collection.( I not only have a fabric stash but also a book stash.)

I love the series from the Hargrave ladies! I have been quilting for ages, but i'm a newbie at machine piecing and these books offer lessons, tips and tricks to master that. To be honest, i don't do all the lessons, simply because the projects are not to my taste ánd because I do know how to strip piece. Nevertheless, I learn a lot by studying the books and doing lots of excersizes.
The 3rd volume is all about triangles and I already managed to sew hst's with all the points matching perfectly! (well 90%....*lol*)
Time to tackle another project in another book

The plan was to sew this quilt from all of my fabrics that lived for faaaaaar to long in my drawers. I don't like them that much anymore, colours are not as bright as I'd want them today and some are just boring. This project would be perfect to get rid of all those..
But...what do you get when you cut up all your boring oldies for a quilt? Yep, a boring quilt! So more and more newer bought brights are added and now I'm thinking about BUYING new ones for this. So much for a de-stashing plan!

This is part of what's already on my wall. I feel it's missing something. I definately need a bright purple e.g. and more really bright red...What do you think? What should I add? (and no Corrine: absolutely not anything PINK, not even if you call it "lighter red"..)

The "Happy joy" how to :)

2011-04-21T13:51:00.002+02:00

I got some emails asking me how I drew the "happy happy joy joy" blocks.
First credit where credit's due: I got the idea and inspiration from Freddy Moran. I got the book "collaborative quilting" and just couldn't stop looking at her extremely happy quilts.
I made the pattern myself and thise is how I did that:
Note: I'm working with CENTIMETRES instead of INCHES. You should find your own equivalent in inches!

First draw a square the size of your finished block. Make it easy on yourself and pick a size you can divide by 3.
Mine is 21x21 cm.
Mark the middle and where you divided it in 3. I made a mark every 7 cm, 'cause 21:3=7 :)

Connect the dots and there's your propeller....

Now it's time to look for a pair of compasses and draw your first circle.

Diametre of my first is 14 cm

Then the second circle. Diametre is 16 cm.

The small circles in the centre are appliqued on later. I used a threadspool as a template.

And that's all there is to it!
I cut the paper parts, added seamallowances to the straight lines,glued them on sandpaper and drew every piece on the fabric. Old-school piecing that is :)
Do not forget to add seamallowance to the curved lines. I eyeballed that while tracing the templates onto the fabric. I already had my sewinglines and since I sewed by hand, I had no problems.

A word about colour: I went from the idea that anything goes. If the outer circle had a purple dot, I sometimes chose a purple background for the inner circle. Other propellers are randomly put together just because the colourcombo seemed nice to me (and bright!)
Happy sewing!

Math..:(

2011-04-17T18:40:00.002+02:00

A while back I came across a nifty tutorial on how to sew half square triangles. I believe it was on Nancy's blog. Anyway..I wanted to try it and this is how it's done:

First cut 2 squares, e.g. one light and one dark and put them right sides together. Sew all around with a 1/4 " seam allowance

Then cut twice on the diagonal

Press,fold open and tadááá...4 hst's and a quick and easy pinwheel.

Problem could be that all the edges are on the bias. If an alternating block is not, you should be okay. If your doing a quilt with only pinwheels...I don't know if it'll work. Solution? Cut your squares on the bias and your hst's are straight!

Next problem I came across was the math. I wanted a pinwheel with finished size 6". How big should my square be???? I googled a bit, drew a pic, did some trial and error, got a headache and then i found the formula:

In short:

When you cut in 2........add 7/8
When you cut in 4........add 2.5

So....where does that lead me with my squares? Finished size should be 6". I will cut it in 4 pieces so a square that's 6+2.5???
NO! That's where I kept going wrong.
I have TWO layers of fabric that I fold open...this meant that I had to divide the 6"by 2. So...6 : 2 = 3. And 3 should be the starter point. Adding 2.5 gave me a square that was 5.5..

In short:
When you cut in 2........add 7/8
When you cut in 4........add 2.5
When you have 2 layers: divide finished size by 2 and add 2.5 (if you cut it in 4 ofcourse!)

If you want 4" pinwheels, divide by 2 = 2 and add 2,5. You should start with a 4.5 square.

Pffffff, now you get the headache!
My sewingroom got awefully messy in the process..

and I also made a lot of these

Don't know what it'll look like in the end, fact is that I was very busy and i'm now completely covered with tiny threads. (and so is every room I've been in)
Another tip: do not wear a black dress while franticly cutting and sewing!

Dutch design

2011-04-14T14:05:00.000+02:00

A friend was on the hunt for bicycle fabric, so i searched the net a bit to see what I could find for her. I came across www.spoonflower.com and to my surprise I found fabric featuring ME on my way to work :)

The hair colour, red clothes, jeans, and MY bicycle, it really IS me!

I found this fabric is from a Dutch designer. The spoonflower site allows you to make your own fabric: you can upload your own designs and spoonflower prints it onto real fabric. How cool is that!! You should check the link and read how it works... This very talented lady uploaded 44 designs and they all look absolutely great. I found several very Dutch,like these Dutch cookies :)

Dutch trains...

She also has lots of more international designs..love the feathers!

For dot lovers..

But my absolute fav must be ofcourse the ones the spoonflower site will not let me save properly :(

The bikerlady is in pink and as you know I do not do pink. But....the designer can upload it in red if I want to (and I do!)
The link to see all her designs is http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/verycherry?designs_page=1 If the link doesn't work, look for "verycherry" on the spoonflower site. You should.
I personaly think that some manufacturer like Marcus Brothers or Michael Miller, Robert Kaufman SHOULD contact her. The designs are fresh, colourfull and modern. I know I would buy them for sure!!

Happy,happy joy joy :)

2011-03-29T16:28:00.001+02:00

No more excuses; this post is looong overdue...First it was the flu, then the software failed (had no acces to gmail/google, couldn't even comment on other blogs!) but now all that is over, the sun's out and I'm quilting..

I finished handsewing my dotty,spotty propellor quilt and since this week I'm busy handquilting it. The pattern and gazillion spots do make me happy and most people (familymembers) think it's a happy and joyfull quilt.

Ofcourse I picked dots for the back too and ofcourse blogger flips the picture!

I told myself to limit the amount of quilting. This baby is bigger than my other quilts and I always quilt rather dense. Ofcourse that thought didn't help and this one too will have every inch quilted. It'll take me a while to finish, but when i'm bored I can always start sewing the next top :)

When finished it'll be the 10th bedquilt I made. Yep, only ten! I'm a slow poke handquilter!

Cheesecake???

2011-02-28T19:08:00.001+01:00

Baking DD wants to make a cheesecake and on the net there are so many recipes that she doesn't know which one to choose. Mind that she never made a real cheesecake before so she needs a recipe that will work and produces a yummy cake. She has her mind set on a New York cheesecake with creamcheese.
Anyone with baking qualities and THE cheescake recipe???

BTW, she did her drivers license exam today and passed!

What's another year..?

2011-02-27T14:48:00.000+01:00

When even familymembers ask why there's nothing new on your blog, you know it's time to start up a pc :)
What was going on during the last few weeks..Well, C and I went to a quiltmarket. We had a nice day out, but the new hall in which the event took place was drafty, a bit cold and had no "feel" if you get what I mean. We also missed something "new": fabriclines, notions, gadgets. Is it that we are spoiled with the internet on which everything new is already seen?What matters is that we had a break from daily busyness and we're looking forward to a next event..
I made few pics, but we both loved these quilts:

And this one, made from clothinglabels!

February is my birtdaymonth...yep, another year was added! I'm 55 now, but still alive and kicking +lol+
I was spoiled, to say the least. Without going into details (burglars are still active in the vicinity!) I can tell that C just now helped me getting to know some software.
Wanna see some other presents???

And last but not least: I was asked (I think it was Ranette) to post pics of my Dutch quilt in all its glory...

I proudly present...

2011-02-10T16:31:00.000+01:00

Long time since the last post. I kept on struggling a bit with work, boss, life..but I'm doing better every week. I still have trouble sleeping well: there are more reports of burglaries in the vicinity and I'm awake every time I think I hear something.
It is hard to keep connected without my own laptop too. My old Toshiba was on every day and I could surf and mail in front of the tv, taking a break from quilting or sewing or whatever. I spent a lot more time online for sure!
So, I apologize for not aswering to your comments and I promise to be more considerate in the future :)

I did sew (duh) and I finally did my binding chores. My red/white quilt had to wait 2 years for its binding..

I finished the White Christmas quilt, in time for Christmas 2011

..and did the binding on the Dutch quilt. So I now have THREE finished quilts!

I am very pleased with myself. (and to Quilting DD: no, they still do not have labels, I will print those after finishing this post and sew them on tonight! And yes, I know a quilt isn't finished without a label, I taught you so..)

I have been seeing the fysiotherapist. My collarbone is turning and wants to come up. Not a good idea. The fysio forbid me to quilt for more than 10 minutes a day. She obviously has no clue what she asks from me. I cheated ofcourse, to finish the Christmas quilt. I think she also meant no sewing, but I was wise enough not to ask that. I limited myself to sewing small stuff instead of finishing the next UFO. (when a top is finished, I want to quilt it immediately..)

So, I made a keychain clutch, a "bubble" clutch (all from Keykalou patters) and a zippered make-up bag, just to keep me occupied :)

Só looking forward to the weekend: C and I will go to a quiltmarket/ exhibition. It has been ages since our last trip!

I'll let you know how much we enjoyed it!

Unwanted guests..

2011-01-13T14:51:00.000+01:00

Once again, the Monster (aka the family pc) and I need to become friends again.
Yesterday early morning at 5 p.m. we found that our frontdoor was wide open. All the drawers of my fabric chest were open as well as some drawers and cabinet doors in the livingroom. My laptop, photocamera and the TomTom were missing..
My laptop was an oldie and can be replaced, but I truly mourn the loss of everything that was on it. I don't think that i need to explain that to other quilters with a 1000 sites bookmarked and even more patterns trusted to a harddrive. DH had just made a backup from the C partition, but not yet of the D on which all of my goodies were.
The type of camera I had (and absolutely loved) is no longer available, so we need to find another, just as great. The photos that were on it, are ofcourse lost as well. (I had them on the camera ánd on the laptop..)

Later the day i found my red and white polkadotted pc sleeve was also missing. I know, polkadots áre hard to resist.

Even with all new and extra locks installed, I didn't sleep very well. You can imagine that.
What 's there to do than whine on my blog, count my losses and start over?

Welcome!

2011-01-09T19:59:00.001+01:00

...to my sewingroom! It is not always this neat and clean, I admit. I clean it frequently though; I cannot sit and enjoy my own space when it's a mess. That distracts and annoys me big time. Clutter is okay when sewing a quilt, but once a project is finished, all has to be in its place again.

My room is attatched to the livingroom. It used to be my former bedroom. When Quilting DD moved out, our bed moved upstairs and tadááá: I had my own space. Just slide the door open and step in!

On the slidingdoor there's a friendship star quilt, that Corrine made for my 50th birthday.

First the ~~fabric~~ treasure chest. I always have 3 small quilts on the wall there; they change according to the season..

Tins with thread, ribbons etc. on top, a glass vase with pincushioncollection and on the side a wooden quiltrack. Not for displaying quilts,but for quilting purposes. I use it mainly during summer, so you don't have to hold a quilt on your lap when handquilting. Corrine's DH made it for me for that same birthday.

Let's move to the left and there's my big table. I use it for sewing, drawing, cutting, the laptop is there often etc. I usually sit where the machine is, Corrine opposite of me. Oh I forgot: my room is for 2 (or 3 when Quilting DD comes to play along) C has no sewingroom and is a frequent guest in mine. She even has her own can of notions on her side of the table..
Where the white chair is, that's where other familymembers are allowed :) The family pc aka the Monster, pc stuff, cd's, printer/scanner. The monitor can used as a tv as well. As you can see I have a window; not a spectacular view (the neighbours frontdoor) but it's nice to have daylight..

This is on the wall between table and pc desk: the embroidery I did 100 years ago for DH and the miniquilt in 2007. It's there for DH to make him believe it's his room too. (Dream on..) It prevents discussion about he wanting a room of his own too. Ah men, it can be so easy...

Okay, futher left: the desigwall! At this moment the Attitude Girls panel is on it, but almost empty when I took this pic. In the corner my manikin (is that the correct word?) showing an apron that I still didn't finish. Behid her back the part of the pc desk that holds my patterns (behind the door) and books. If you slide my door further open, you have acces to the rulers and quilt templates. Also the ironingarea..

..and that's it! (I'm happy to post more detailed pics for those who are very nosy)
Ranette showed her room, Myra VIDEOTAPED hers (if you haven't checked that out, please do so now!)
and I'm anxious to see other's . So..who's next?

What to say?

2011-01-08T16:44:00.000+01:00

I was planning to invite you my to my sewingroom. I cleaned and de-cluttered, made pictures and even put them in a post in order to add text later on. I made coffee and Baking DD had delicious chocolate chipped muffins ready for you all to come and visit :)

Then the doorbell rang; the postman ...: "goodmorning, a package for you, have a nice day" and he handed me a rather bulky envelop.

Dianne, Melissa ánd ofcourse LuLu wanted to sent me something for my birthday in february, but when they read I wasn't doing all that well, they decided I needed it right now. In the envelop was a card saying they thought I needed an Attitude Adjustment. (They are só right!) These girls are not only very generous, they pay attention too.

Note the polkadot wrappingpaper for starters!

What was inside? (better to say: what was not..!) A complete Honeybun, lots of matching fabrics (ah..can you tell I love polkadots?) ánd a pair of soft, warm ,polkadotted (duh!) gloves! All from Moda's "Attitude Girls", except for the gloves ofcourse, but wearing them just gives you an attitude *lol*

To complete this absolute great, wonderfull, amazing gift: The Attitude Girls themselves..

ánd, as if things weren't overwhelming enough: another Mary Engelbreit panel

I am só thrilled that someone sent me ALL this, that I was without words for a while. Next project will be an Attitude quilt for sure. I already browsed the internet, looking for ideas and inspiration.

What more is there to say than THANK YOU and....

Sewing rooms..

2011-01-03T17:18:00.002+01:00

Let me start by thanking you all for the uplifting and nice comments on the "I'm not doing so well" post. I'm doing a bit better, thank you. At least i'm not whining and crying all the time and that's a huge improvement :)

Secondly: Let's make 2011 a great year: health, love, creativity...

When I did some blogreading this afternoon, I came across Ranette, showing her tidy sewingroom. I enlarged and admired every picture on her blog and thought about my own spot where I keep my stuff.

I googled "sewingroom" and had a pleasant hour looking at all those different spaces :)
People have small rooms, enormous ones, messy spots and very clean ones. Some even have their own fireplace!
Lots have different areas for sewing, cutting, ironing etc.
Some pics I randomly plucked from the internet:

Although I consider myself very lucky to háve a separate sewingroom, (only thing I had to do was to kick a child of mine out of the house and claim the space; easy!) I'd love to have different spots for every step of quiltmaking. (And ofcourse more storageroom!) My sewingroom has one huge table in the middle for sewing, cutting, ~~eating,~~ computer...and one fabric cabinet. ~~Plastic fabric containers here and there...~~ That's it.

No matter what sewingrooms there are and how big/small...one thing I don't get: why have so many people such small tables for their sewingmachine??? Even the lucky ones with a huge amount of space have tiny sewing tables. When I sew a quilt with my Husq. it's a huge mess on my table: piles of fabric, scissors, cutters, pincushion, tapemeasure, ~~food....~~ You name it and it's there, somewhere..

Am I just messy and disorganised? (could well be!)

How does your sewingroom look like? Any great tips to get lots of stuff in a small room, organised?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:45:00.000+01:00

Me, myself and I

2010-12-24T15:37:00.000+01:00

Kind of selfish post title, in the light of the time of year, I admit, but it's been a while since my last update and there was a reason for that. I was, am, not doing great. Tinnitus therapy triggered more than I bargained for and after a nasty conflict at work I gave in and called in sick. It became clear that i was pretty exhausted, both in body and soul and something had to be done to prevent a burn out.
I slept a lot, cried a lot, worried a lot and felt at the top of my nerves all the time.
I'm doing a bit better now and decided to pick up blogging again. Sorry for not answering comments and an occasional email. I needed the energy that was left, just to get through the day.
Enough said and on to happier things!

I did sew! Well , I quilted more . The Dutch quilt is done. Except for the binding ofcourse. As you know I hate doing bindings and this time I had the perfect excuse: I had no binding fabric! Hurray for online shopping; it arrived this week so I hope for a real finish soon.

I also finished sewing the "White, not the average Christmasquilt" (work title..haha) and even did a lot of handquilting after this pic was taken..

The border HST's on the front ánd on the back were all "waste". The things that you're left with when then pattern says: "sew, fold and cut ... off". Well, my name is NOT Eleanor Burns and i didn't want to throw piles of HST away.....

Another update on how things are in my corner..It's cold and white. I'm not a fan of snow and don't care a bit about a white christmas. Sorry, but i can't enjoy piles of snow, slipping and sliding when driving etc. I'm just not a winter girl. Today I got stuck with my car and DS had to push. I first stepped out, slipped and landed on my butt in a huge pile of freshly fallen snow. A man passing by said how he (really) LOVED that we were going to have a white christmas. Grrrrr! I remembered the "peace on earth" thing just in time..
This is last week

This morning we had 9 inches of snow on the garden table and there's more on the way.

Anyway...I wish you all a very merry Chrismas!
(and now I'm blogging again, I hope I won't loose another follower...lol)

He's here!

2010-11-15T15:50:00.000+01:00

Last saturday, St. Nicolaas arrived safely in our country. Along with him lots of his helpers, the "Zwarte Pieten"

He's here to celebrate his birthday on the 5th of december with gifts for everyone.
In our family we buy a gift for one familymember. Ofcourse i know whose name came out of the hat for me to buy a present for, but do not know who drew MY name!

More and more people don't celebrate "Sint", for they say it's only for children and they give eachother presents at Christmas. I think we should cherish this very old Dutch (and Belgian)tradition. Therefor I pinned my button on my coat, saying: "Long live Sint!)

Last week I also got the best envelop there is in my mailbox

Even on a flipped-over picture "Fabric" is the best word in the English language. In Dutch we say "stof"; how boring is that!?
This is what was inside:

Christmasfabric for the backing of my machine pieced (still working on it..) Christmasquilt. I do like the Falala fabric and am humming that song all day long..(The only lyrics I know are "falala..")
The colour is slightly different than the right side of the quilt and so I was in desparate need of RED to bind it all together. I never have to persuade friend C to come along on a quiltshoptrip and there I got these

Ridiculous to run out of red if it's your fav colour!

The Beep as far as I know it...

2010-11-10T21:08:00.003+01:00

I had some emails from people that suffer from Tinnitus and some of those are "new" to the problem and asked questions. It was also asked if "it was all in my head" by others.
So for those who want to know: info on the Beep
I went to a specialist in nose, ear and throat problems. I had a constant ring in my left ear and had some dizzy spells. Perhaps it was Meniere's: a inner ear problem with no known cure. It was not.
I had an E.N.G. to check if my balance was okay. It was. An M.R.I. to enclude any medical problems such as damaged nerves, obstructed bloodvains. All was fine.
I had an audiometric test and though normal, they found a little ditch in high tones, both left and right. The sound of my Beep is exactly the ditch they found. It could be, it is caused by noise-induced hearingloss years and years ago. The brain can react to such hearingloss by producing a sound, one can no longer hear through your ears. The brain doesn't know that the sound is no longer there. Like someone who still feels his toe itch after the leg is amputated.

So, no medical solution possible, but you could try to re-train your brain. I started with a tinnitus masker that produced a white noise. Plan was that is neutralized the Beep. It worked a bit but the thing itself (although tiny) hurts my inner ear ánd not unimportant is very expensive. Besides, I beep in both ears now.

Another part of retraining is the therapy. Wikipedia says: (ignore the highlighted words)
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a form of habituation therapy designed to help people who suffer from tinnitus (ringing ears). TRT uses counselling to explain to the patient how a combination of tinnitus retraining and sound enrichment can end their negative reaction to the tinnitus sound, and then reduce and eventually end their perception of it.Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a form of habituation therapy designed to help people who suffer from tinnitus (ringing ears). TRT uses counselling to explain to the patient how a combination of tinnitus retraining and sound enrichment can end their negative reaction to the tinnitus sound, and then reduce and eventually end their perception of it.
...

My Beep bothers me the most when all is quiet e.g when you want to sleep. Sometimes it's so loud that I can't hear properly and then it is heard even over loud external sounds.
Depressing is that it'll never be quiet in my head again.
Mostly I handle it well, sometimes it makes me sad (when it's loud) and frustrated. I cried a bit on one occasion when it was really REALLY loud for a week on end.

For those who want to know what I hear: I downloaded the Beep from a cd with 150 (!) tinnitus sounds. Mine is slightly higher but just as annoying
pieptoon.wav

The nasty questions in the questionnaire came from psycho girl, who gives the therapy together with audio girl.

I guess she wants to determine the state of mind of the groupmembers, but if you ask me the questions are for people with other issues than Tinnitus! It can cause serieus depression but hearing voices??

Fellow tinnitus sufferers are welcome to email me: I try not to whine too much on my blog :)

Questionnaire..

2010-11-09T17:30:00.003+01:00

I signed up for Tinnitus Retraining Therapy in order to coop with my Beep. For those who missed out on this one :Tinnitus is a constant sound in one or both ears, in my case a beep.
The therapy is meant to learn to deal with the given fact that the beep is here to stay.Information will be given about it and ways to relax and ignore your sound will be discussed. I choose grouptherapy. Individual sessions were given by a guy in his early twenties who attended the school where I'm working. No way I'm going to open up to him; I have more to teach him about life than he can teach me.
Groupsessions are given by an audiologist and a psychologist. They sent me questionaires..

Does the beep bother you in everyday life?
Have you trouble falling asleep?
Does noise bother you?
Do you avoid crowds?
..open spaces?
..silence?
Do you think about death often?
Have you considered suicide more than once?
Do you hear voices in your head,other than your own?
Do these voices tell you to do things? (only in a quiltshop)
Are you afraid someone wil attack you in a crowd?
Does your Tinnitus drive you insane?
Do your muscles ache often? (they do after answering these questions)
Does your back ache often? (yep, I worked bloody hard!)
And so it went on..
You had to answer, with the past week in mind. It doesn't count apparently if one was suicidal 2 weeks earlier .

First "class" is 2 weeks from now. I'm so looking forward to it! It's probably best if I don't mention seeing faces (TWO!) in an old pair of pinking sheers...

Measure twice, cut once.....

2010-11-08T17:23:00.000+01:00

Last week I decided it was time to sort out all of my quilting stuff. I have small wooden drawers on my table filled with craft stuff and need that space for sewing things. After I did those, I moved on to the big lower drawers of the fabric cabinet. Everything that is bigger than a treadspool I toss into those and it was a mess.

Turns out I have a lot more notions than I thought i had, e.g my collection scissors...

I also retrieved my pinking sheers. The big one belonged to my Mum and I think it was the very first pinking sheers that came onto the market. I remember how thrilled we were when she bought it. We couldn't stop cutting up scraps which was by no means an easy thing to do! Look at the size of the thing!!

All off my tapemeasures share a small drawer now too.

And last but not least I needed a new blade for the rotarycutter..When I came across this limited edition at the quiltshop, I couldn't resist. My fav flowers!

(..and with all this equipment I STILL make lots of mistakes whenever I cut up fabric. I know: it's not the lack off tools but the absent mind of the one who uses them..)

Strange thing is that I knew where everything was, when it was a mess. Now all is organized I have to open every drawer 10 times before I find whatever I'm searching for.

Getting to know one another

2010-10-29T19:43:00.000+02:00

Part of the last week I spent with my new friend to be: the new sewing machine. In order to get to know him/her(?) we need to spent time together. I came across a not-average christmasquilt in the latest McCalls issue and I thought I had just the right fabrics for it. Well I had: a few fq's. So....first job was to go to the quilshop and see if I could find some more..

Then back to the machine. I cut up some fabrics and sewed a little and found that my new friend is talking to me on it's display: your bobbin is almost empty (uhhh, no..) there's a piece of thread running around in the feeddogs (?? o yes, thanks) there's no needle ( duh! I just broke it!) I talk back out loud.

Is it the same with you that, whenever you start a new project, you shove everything on your table aside, and then you find yourself working on a small clutterfree corner of that table?

After an hour or so it started to annoy me. Couldn't find my seamripper, the machine's manual, my rotarycutter. It annoyed me BIG TIME! So...desperate times ask for desperate measures!

I found 2 dead spiders and 3 dead flies, €2.25, piles of dust and 2 buttons.

Then I could sit and sew some more in peace with myself.

Look what is growing on my wall!

My machine stopped talking to me. Is it crossed 'cause I talk back? Did I push a button saying "to talk or not to talk"? Back to the manual!

Baby, it's cold outside..

2010-10-27T14:00:00.001+02:00

Autumn really set in these past weeks. Coloured leaves everywhere, rain and wind and especially in the evenings, it's getting cold.

Even my apples wear sweaters now..
At first I thought it was just fun, but it really prevents bumping and brousing when you toss an apple in your bag, before going to work.

Needless to say I have to eat a lot of fruit now..

Commercial break..

2010-10-20T15:45:00.000+02:00

On occasion I like to wear a skirt or a dress. During Autumn or winter I need a panty underneath. A thicker one, to hide ugly vains. Yesterday I bought a new one and it's unbelievable what it does for you. It regulates heath, reduces the upper part of you legs, firms your butt, softens the legs 'cause there's Aloë Vera in it. (I thought that was a cream?) It has "micromassage for your legs" and gives you a better sillouette all in all.

Can you believe this? I do! (note: I believed anti wrinkle daycream commercials for years..)So I bought one yesterday, put it on, and went back to the store today and got another 3.

At least it has a good fitt. Normally the are either so short legged that only a gnoom can get in, ór you can pull them up so high they reach your armpitt. When you cut a small hole under the waistband for your arms, you have a bodystocking.

This one fitts. It stays all day where I put them in the morning. It's German, made in Europe and available at the Lidl store for €3. Go get one!

What a pity I do not own a full size mirror. Therefor I cannot show a pic of my beautifull shaped legs in the new panty and a denim miniskirt. You'll have to take my word for it that I look absolutely fabulous.

Wrong side!

2010-10-19T17:45:00.001+02:00

I love my country, don't get me wrong! I wouldn't want to live elsewhere.(though I'm NOT happy with our new very conservative government, but that's another story..)but quiltwise...?????

Ranette just posted pictures of Hancocks of Paducah, my neighbour/friend Corrine came back from a holiday in Florida and visited a JoAnns megastore...these things we lack here. Big quiltstores, and low priced (at least compared to the Netherlands)
Patchwork and quilting is big on the other side of the Atlantic and supplies are available everywhere. Not only prices are skyhigh here, but lots of notions, interfacing etc. are simply not to be found.
I love books and I'm a returning customer of the UK Bookdepository. This is my latest...

In order to make one (or two) lunchbags I need things like Insul Fleece or Insul Bright. Nowhere to be found where I live. Hurray for online shopping, but do I really want to pay $28 shipping for 2 yards Insul Bright that cost me $3 a yard?? Don't think so!

One store nearby sells fusible fleece in a thicker quality. An item I really want for sewing bags; it's €16 a metre..*sigh*

Quilt and craftwise I'm definately on the wrong side of the ocean!

And while I'm so busy ranting: why is it that Blogger only allows me to post ONE picture? I had it with my last post too and finished that one at C's house on her laptop. And why, if you don't mind me asking, do I have to restart my laptop to gain acces to the internet??

And to get it all of my chest: why is it oké for the teachers at the school where I work to walk over my freshly cleaned, still wet, kitchenfloor, just saying "sorry!"

That's it, I'm done :)

Alive too (sort of)

2010-10-17T14:43:00.003+02:00

After the magical revival of my laptop it has been very quiet here. Reason? Being unable to revive myself! I try but after work I'm kinda dead and energy levels remain low in the weekends.
This morning someone phoned me to ask if I could read my emails (and ofcourse answer them!) and to my amazement I saw that even C revived her blog and actually posted! Omg! Some of you asked if I could kick her butt ,but problem is that C is loosing a lot of weight and therefor the target is getting smaller every week. I guess yesterday I was succesfull *lol*
We went to a quiltshow together, organised to celebrate the 5th birthday of this quiltshop. The quiltshop is hers and the attatched restaurant his

We had to walk to different locations in order to see all 380 (!) quilts. The old village Woudrichem is lovely...

Woudrichem is located where two of our great rivers meet. Lots of boats and we even saw one that was transformed onto a castle. And yes, it's a horse on the upper deck!

Afterwards we enjoyed the best clubsandwich ever:) ofcourse accompanied with a cappucino...

Other quilty stuff that happened in the past weeks? I bought a new sewingmachine!

It's a Husqvarna Sapphire 875 quilt. Quilting DD got my "old" one and she already sent me a pic of her sewing like mad. She's happy and so am I..

It's alive!!!

2010-10-05T00:16:00.000+02:00

My poor crashed laptop was put in a closet after it's meltdown. This evening DH took it out to see if he could save (parts) of the harddisk. I didn't expect much of this rescue, but one can hope..
To our amazement the Toshiba made feeble sounds after being plugged in and oh HALLELUJA:
it revived itself. The screen lit up, Windows appeared and it worked again as if it had never died.

I am sceptical about unexplained miraclous revivals, so I immediately made a backup of my important files on the external harddisk.
Meanwhile, I'll do a happy dance and enjoy while it lasts. Yeey!

Autumn depression..

2010-10-03T16:47:00.000+02:00

..is what happened to september I guess. No energy left after work,nasty cold , being a couchpotatoe and even my hair lost all curly bits. Being a bad blogger and a bad quilter. I got myself a new Mp3 player and only listened to sad ballads. O my, this really sounds depressing now I write it down! Luckily Myra sent me a wake-up email asking why my blog remained so quiet!
So, what else did I do last month but feeling sorry for myself without any reason???

I did sew another row of blocks for the propellor quilt. The last one; now i have to applique lots of circles in the centre of the blocks (if I can remember where i put the template..), then machine piece a border of leftover dotted strips and another top is done.

C is back from her Florida trip. She had a great time and came back with a ridiculous tan that made us all look extremely pale. She forgot our shoppinglist (tsk!) but luckily her memory is waaay better than mine.

As you can see I now have the Angler 2 for accurate machine piecing without having to mark every square by hand. My ruler won't slip anymore after attaching Invisigrip and paperpiecing and applique will improve with Steam a seam and foundationpaper.
C also bought us both a quilter's awl as a third hand while machine piecing. She also remembered that there's a Caleidoscope quilt in my head and got me a ruler for that.

I also spent lots of time thinking of a new sewing machine. I have a simple Husqvarna that I want to give to Quilting DD and have my mind set on a Husqvarna Sapphire 875. Searched the net and joined a yahoo Husq. Sapphire group. Now I'm looking for a good sewingmachine dealer; my "old" one is an unfriendly man who's annoying me big time.

Dh is still mourning his lost red bike. He's trying to revive his black Honda Magna but it's not roaring(yet) as it's supposed too. He went to see another red one but came home saying that it wasn't the one. He'll find one, I'm sure.

Happy days lay ahead; a shopping spree with Quilting DD, the birthday of Baking DD and a day filled with quilts with C. Only 3 more weeks of work before it's Autumn holiday and I have a whole week off again, so who's complaining?

The week after..

2010-09-03T16:07:00.000+02:00

First of all: thanks, on behalf of DH, for all the supporting comments on the burned bike.
The leftover of what once was is in my backyard now, and DH is getting every small thing off that is still usuable on another bike. He's on the hunt for a "new" bike (he wants a similar one which is an 1986 model) and rides mine to work for now.

I had quite a busy week: spent a nice days with my DD's shopping and eating out afterwards (+coffee and lunch) and went to a quilting friend who gives all kinds of quiltworkshops with C. C and I signed up for a class "learning to sew curves by machine". Two lessons with tips and tricks how to do that accuratly.
Afterwards we had coffee, enjoyed the sunshine and commented on every one who passed us by (more an episode of "what NOT to wear").

Speaking off curves..
I finished my apron and added FIVE inches to the bodice. I mailed the author, asking if perhaps I made a mistake, but never heard back from her which is bad (I think) But perhaps I judge too quick and for all I know she's on holiday (?)

Note my new model! She's more willing to pose and more patient than Baking DD. She has lesser curves than me, but I think of her as my better half. She does, however, scares me everytime I walk in my sewingroom. Everytime I think there's actually someone standing in the corner! Have to get use to her I guess.

I also bought another pattern.

I want to make the middle one for Quilting DD another one for myself. The pattern says:" .....especially flattering on those with a little something to fill out the top". Now I have a bit more than "a LITTLE something" but by the look off the pattern and the description, I think this pattern is a better buy.

Another book came through the mailbox.

Beautifull and simple designs with solids. I already enjoyed just reading.

Coming week is "back to normal" week. Work starts again monday (blah!) and I spent half a day cleaning my workkitchen, ordering supplies etc. Not looking forward to it, but all good things must end and summerholidays are finally over. Besides: I have to earn money again...C is flying to Florida sunday for her welldeserved holiday and I gave her a list of supplies I "need". She'll raid JoAnns with a 50% off coupon but i DO have to pay the other 50% *lol*

.....

2010-08-28T14:17:00.000+02:00

No blogposttitle this time; simply couldn't come up with one.
You know it's NOT going to be a great weekend when the phone rings at 7.50 in the morning and the caller says: goodmorning, this is the police...
Luckily all the kids were home and safe so my first thought was: motorbike!
Sadly enough I was right: DH's bike was stolen and the police found it a nearby town, completely burned.

Dh was rather calm untill he came back from the policestation and saw his dearly beloved Honda. He was devastated to say the least. All the hours he put in this bike...It's not the money, it's the labour and the love for the machine. Just like a finished quilt: you don't think about the price of the fabrics, but how you loved to sew the pattern, the joy (and pain!) of choosing fabrics etc..You know, the whole process that makes that your heart is in that quilt.

Burning that bike is só meaningless. We´d rather had that they took it and drove to Paris for all we care..

DH´s bike on the right in happier times..

Curves...

2010-08-27T13:19:00.001+02:00

So happy that the David's well shaped behind brightened up the day for some. Glad to be of help :)

From David's parts to my curves seems like a big step, but bodyparts are bodyparts after all.

I started with the new apron pattern and hit a BIG obstacle.

You start with a 9"tall piece of fabric for the bodice and after loosing 2"for seamallowances etc. you are left with a piece of 7"inches tall. This piece, the final bodice, is supposed to go from the top of your boobs to your waist. Did you get the SEVEN inches??

I don't know about you, but I'm not Pamela Anderson or Dolly Parton but need a bit more than 7" to cover that part of my body. To be totally honest, I need at least 11" to reach my waist (or the part where I think my waist is).

I mailed the author to ask if I did anything wrong but got no answer yet. She states that women have curves. Couldn't agree more, but curves need a bit more room than 7"!

So I looked like a teacozy in my apron instead of a domestic diva. What else can I do than rip it all apart and cut a new longer bodice *sigh*

(btw: i'm having so much fun thinking that every female reader of this post, takes the tapemeasure in their hands to see how much space they need. I know I would *LOL*)

From head to bottom..

2010-08-26T17:06:00.001+02:00

Let's start with the head first and work our way down.
This is my new device. (omg)

It's called a "Tinnitus breaker" and it produces a soft static noise. I'm supposed to wear it when the Beep starts to bother me again as a sort of contra sound. It could "neutralize" the Beep and the static noise is at least more pleasant to listen to than bééééééééép. I can try it for 3 months before I have to decide to keep it (or not). Luckily the holiday did me so good that the Beep is very, very calm. There are days that I almost don't hear it at all.

Next...my apron to be! I want to make myself a new apron. In fact, I want 2: one at home and one for work. I ordered this pattern..

It is, however, a little tiny bit dissapointing. It has no pattern pieces (as I expected) for the bodice. But with the directions I think I cut it okay. The pattern also uses a single layer of fabric for the skirt and I'm definately going to make that a double layer, so it's lined. Perhaps I'll even add a ruffle!

Next topic is my progress on the Propeller quilt . One more row of blocks (allready cut them) and add some missing sashings. I handpieced this one, but I'll probably machinepiece a striped border.

The little circles are appliqued according to Crispy. She has tutorials on handpiecing and applique. Well. it's more like a manual and it's great. If you are a handpiecer or want to know how: this is the place to go..

I saved the best piece for last: another holidaypic

This ,my friends, is the best butt ever and it is ART! I also have a front pic, but I'll keep that one off my blog,

It's Michael Angelo's David, at least part of it. I saw the original statue in Florence and, no jokes here, it is really beautifull and more impressive than the copy that's outside on the square ( the pic is from the copy)

Okay, now let's attack that apron pattern!

Rainy days..

2010-08-17T13:46:00.000+02:00

It looks like autumn outside: grey skies and constant rain. The house is, well let's call it clean, the laundry done, the garden a mess (but I'm NOT going to do anything about that in the rain!) and tonight's dinner is planned. I set myself behind the pc to print a few holidaypics in order to frame them, but...the printer's cartridge is empty. Grrrr!
Instead I have no other choise to show some more on my blog...hehe

DH had to work again last monday. When he came home I asked him how his first day back was and he answered: oh great, I'm going back tomorrow. *lol*

In 2 weeks it's my turn again and I'm not looking forward to it!

Far away and back...

2010-08-16T19:39:00.000+02:00

We traveled long and far and traveling days were mostly WET.

The roads were narrow and winding

The laundryline was attatched to an olivetree

..and the nearest city is the home of the most beautifull works of art..

Í'm bááááck!

Passport sleeve/wallet tutorial

2010-07-22T12:47:00.000+02:00

Quilting DD requested a passportsleeve too and since I had to sew one anyway, I might as well take pictures and write a tutorial.
Here we go!

What you'll need:

2 pieces of fabric 26x18.5 cm (the base)
For the interior pockets:
2x 23x18.5cm
1x 19.5x18.5cm
passportpocket: 20x11cm
closure-flap 1x 16.5x8cm
Heavy and medium fusible interfacing
a snap

if you prefer inches you can round your numbers so you won't get
too odd sizes to work with.
My Dutch passport fits ( it's 9x12.5cm), if you are from another nationality you should measure beforehand (or put it in a different pocket inside the wallet :)

Iron the heavy interfacing on both base parts and the flap(the black and white in my case) and the medium onto the rest.
Put the base parts aside.
Take one of the 23x 18.5 pocket pieces and iron it in half. With a (quilter's) ruler cut of a 45 angle on the FOLDED side.

With right side together, sew the side where you cut off the corner, with a small seam-allowance.

Turn and topstitch the angle and the across the folded side.

Take the passportpocket, fold it in half and with right sides together close one side, again with small seam-allowance . Turn and topstitch folded edge.

Fold the remaining pocketpieces in half and topstitch all the folded edges.

I did it earlier here and there, but now is a good time to round the outher corners. On the pic you can see how to layer the pockets and which corner are on the outher side. I used a threadcone as a template.

Take your passport pocket and the one with the angle. Match the rounded corner and sew the little pocket on to the bigger one, again with a tiny seamallowance. If your seam is too big, the passport will not fit.

Take your right pocket, match outher corners and sew a line in the middle off the smaller pocket so it is attached to the bigger ánd is made into 2 pockets. (omg, this is so hard to explain in a foreign language!! )

Layer all the parts together and machine baste all around. If you want, you can sew an elastic loop in the middle for a pen.

Now it's time to take your flap: cut it in half, and sew together with the same small allowance. Turn and topstitch. Add a snap.

Machine baste the flap on the outher part of your wallet , right sides together.

Put the piece with the flap on top of the piece with the pockets, machinebaste and sew all around. Leave an opening for turning where the pocket with the angle is. That way you have a reasonable turning opening and all the pockets will allready be attached .

Now will be a good time to take a break and perhaps take a cup of coffe or tea ......

Next step is: TURN and that's a bit easier said than done....

You'll probably have to press the whole wallet again 'cause it'll look like this now

After pressing, , attach the other part of the snap. Now you can excactly see where it is supposed to be and you can put your hand in the opening for acces .

Topstitch all around , this will close your turning opening as well .

Pfffff, whipe the sweat off your face, admire your work and dream of all the places you want to travel to...

I don't know if this whole story makes any sense. If it doesn't, let me know, it's a lot easier to sew than it is to explain how:)

The generosity of bloggers and an apron

2010-07-19T13:46:00.001+02:00

When I was Bloghopping the other day, I came across an apron swap and one of the participants used a lovely fabric for her apron. I mailed her to ask which manufacturer it was from, for I promised Baking DD to sew her one. To my surprise (that's an understatement, I sat with my mouth open after reading her response) she offered to sent me the fabric as a gift. How about that!
Last saturday her package arrived all the way from New Zealand

She even took the trouble of making a nice, warming package with a heart and a letter..

Here's the fabric!

I immediately started cutting and sewing. It involved biaisstrips (lots) and even buttonholes for which I had to read my machine's manuel carefully *lol*

I struggled with the biais binding. I bought ready made and it wasn't the best quality, but I pulled it off. My Husqvarna and I are on very friendly terms lately.

This is the result: a sleepy eyed baking DD (quote: what a lame pic Mum!) dressed in a lovely apron!

And..it's reversible :)

Thank you Sarah for sending me the fabric, you rock!

And to give all the right credits: here is where I got the pattern

Now you should think DD is in the kitchen baking ME yummy cupcakes. Nope, she's baking 2 (!) birthdaycakes for friends. Ah well, she's doing household chores so I can sew. Better for my waistline!

Getting to know the Monster

2010-07-17T19:02:00.001+02:00

Here I am, typing away (more like slamming) on the Monster's keyboard (aka the family pc)
Quilting DD called and asked if she should ~~drag~~ sent me to an old people's home, since in my last post I said that I didn't know where to plug my USB stick. She suspected Alzheimer, but I can now tell her that I found it! *lol*
In my defense the following pics!

The Monster is to big to stand anywhere else than on the floor (OMG check how DIRTY the central heating thing is!)

All the way down is the USB slot. So I have to go down on my knees, butt high up in the air, to plug the USB in. (and again...I really should do some neccesary dusting here..) So it's not so bad I overlooked now is it??

Oké, now that's clear..what did i do lately. Not much I'm afraid! It has been hot and now, even tough temps have dropped for the time being, it's still warm, humid and I feel sticky. Not ideal sewing weather!
I did sew a passportsleeve

Ofcourse Blogger flipped the pic but let's ignore that. I miscalculated a little: the rounded corners take up a bit of space and it would have been better to add 1/2 an inch to the width, but nevertheless: I'm very happy with the outcome :)

Except for some very slow progress on handquilting my Holland Quilt, that's about all I did. Sorry, not enough energy..

In the pursuit of a better bodyshape, C and I try to walk once a week for an hour or so and we often say to eachother that we ought to take pics of our neighbourhood. Well, last week i did, so now you can all see what's there to see practicly in front of our home.

Right in front we have this fishingpond, and when we walk around it and go right there's this

Not hard to imagine that, although my home is (too) small, I love where I live!

Last but not least: How to get my girlfriend to the Prom by Biking DS (and how to keep one's skirt down on the back of a bike by the Girlfriend)

This machine will selfdestruct in 10..9..8..7..

2010-07-13T12:19:00.000+02:00

Last few days were very hot here and not only me got overheated. I was sewing and had a tutorial on my laptop. I already thought my little friend was very quiet, but it didn't sink in that something was wrong and that the laptop didn't cool itself anymore. It overheated and had a meltdown. "sob"..
Now it's really really dead and gone, Dh thinks he can save the harddisk and that'll be it.
Now I'm on the family pc with which I am certainly NOT on speaking terms. I have to share the Monster too with my familymembers and wait my turn..

I can't share any pics either. Nobody's home right now and I have no idea where to plug my USB stick in *lol*.
I guess I will be a bit disconnected and not online as much as I was.
It has a bright side though: less pc time means a cleaner home ánd I even started to handquilt again in the evenings instead of browsing the net searching for whatever what... Hopefully someone can show me how to become friends with the monster so I can share some photo's.

I even was too late to congratulate Mamaspark Pam with her birthday, shame on me!! If your pc still works, stop by her blog to say "hi". Her link is in my sidebar (have to install Blogger things on the Monster too..}

Quilting....

2010-07-03T19:06:00.001+02:00

Someone posted this youtube movie on the Dutch messageboard. It's something that any quilter will recognize....
Instead of linking to the messageboard, I'll give it a try to put it on my blog. (had to read a how to first..)
Thanks Carla for finding this!

Update..

2010-06-29T17:24:00.000+02:00

I can't comment on several blogs. There's no word verification visible and a message appears saying: this service is not available. Same thing with answering a comment: microsoft detected a problem, do you wish to sent/not sent a failure report.. Is it MY laptop or connection that's acting up or has anyone else the same problem, I wonder. I'm sure it'll pass as sudden as it appears but for now I cannot answer any comments. Perhaps better luck tomorrow!

So, for those who asked: an update on my Béép adventures..
The Zombie is beheaded, (HALLELUJAH). I have the usual Beep, which is a huge relief. The Zombie vanished 3 days ago, slowly but surely.

I went for an E.N.G. (electro nystagmo grafie, in Dutch) today. You have to look at light dots and they put warm and cold water in your ears, with great force, I can add. It's to check your balance, because i had dizzy spells and was "out" 2 times. Well, you sure get VERY dizzy when they spritz the water in your ears!!
I felt completely drunk for 2 hours after!
Now i'm oké with 2 sore ears but the important thing is that I do NOT have Meniere's disease and that it's oké to get on the motorbike, so we can plan another roadtrip heading south.
The 6th of July a MRI is scheduled and I'm going to do a "Tinnitus Retraining Therapy" probably late August.
Why the Beep became a Zombie isn't clear, but I'm happy now it's gone.
Thanks to those who asked about my health, it's appreciated a lot!!!

The Beep

2010-06-19T15:36:00.000+02:00

Warning: big rant!
As I posted a while ago: I have a beep in my ear. It's official name is "Tinnitus", but I like to call it the Beep. It's basicly a constant ringing in my leftear. I can ignore it most of the time, although it IS a nuisance.

Last wednesday, however, the Beep all of a sudden turned into a screeking zombie. this too is not uncommon and usually dissapears after a while. Not this time. The zombie was here to stay. Thursday I woke up with a slightly deaf leftear and the screeking. At work I got nosebleeds FOUR times and after 3 hours my left ear was completely deaf and started to hurt and sounds were deforming. That was when I panicked. Called DH, he called the hospital and the doc could see me. Pfff!

The doc however, had no explanation why the Beep turned into the Zombie and why I couldn't hear. It was, she said, probably because I was fixed on the Beep and I should seek distraction. Play some music, she said. OMG!! The nosebleeds were caused by high bloodpressure, because I was stressing out.

NO! I got increasing hearing/ear problems and THEN I freaked out, not the other way around. I might be deaf, but she was not listening!!

She said my ear looked fine and I told her I wanted to stick a knitting pen in it. Then she ask if I had any hobby's (again distraction) and my answer was that i like to fondle fabrics.

She called the cavalry after that:

Friday a call from a psygologist: he wanted to make an emergency appointment. No. thank you
Then a social worker for again an emergency appointment. No, thank you too
Then an audiologist specialized in the Beep: Oké, that could be an answer to my questions!
An MRI is scheduled and an E.N.G. (something to do with my balance in the ear) so I'll be spending lots of time in the hospital in the hope that someone can behead my zombie.

I called in sick (can't hear what anyone is ordering and that's very inconvenient for a caterer) and look for the right distraction. I'm making pies and cupcakes. C's collegues are into baking and they wanted "something" with tarts. (C sells all I/we sew lately 'lol')

Happy dance :)

2010-06-16T15:38:00.000+02:00

When I came home today, there was a parcel on my doormat..I opened the envelop before I got my camera but on the other hand, an envelop is not that interesting. What's inside is what matters and look: it's wrapped in fabric and has a bow! Ahhhh...

..and there it is: the give away I won!

Cathy had more surprises for me: a very nice card with a dear message in it and a bonus inside the pretty pretty bag: a tape measure.

I love this one! It's not only a nice one, but it has a cord so you can hang it around your neck ánd a magnet on the back. My DH attatched a magnet strip (Ikea ofcourse) just the other week above my sewing table, because I always loose stuff while fondling fabric

See? this give away WAS meant for me!!! Thanks again Cathy, I'm doing a happy dance!!

(Everyone should check Cathy's blog btw,www.cabbagequilts.blogspot.com, she made an absolute gorgeous and stunning mozaikquilt!!)

I won????

2010-06-04T15:25:00.002+02:00

Coming home on friday after an exhausting week, randomly surfing some blogs in my list and all of a sudden there's my name . I won a give-away at www.cabbagequilts.blogspot.com.! (great blog, go check it out!)
I never ever won anything in my life except for an incomplete jigsaw puzzle when I was 11 years old. Really never before and never again.
What did I win? Well that's the most amazing and funny part: I'm in the bagmode, I love black/white, I'm addicted to polkadots and look at my "prize"

This is too much for a coïnsidence. I think I'd better lay down for a while.....

(and thank you so much Cathy!)

Can my weekend get any better? Yes it can! Check this post: http://whatisstarbucking.blogspot.com/

I had a lousy week, but now I'm actually moved by the kindness of Dianne and Lulu :)

And the icing on the cake? My husqvarna dealer called to say that my machine is ready to come home and Quilting DD to tell me that she's coming over tomorrow. Life isn't so bad at ALL!

Can you handle one more???

2010-06-02T19:06:00.000+02:00

I'm not sure if I can! Neither do know where this sudden bag addiction comes from. but.......there's one more to show. Perhaps i'll better change my blog name into "baglady" It's probably a passing thing and Quiltmaking will call my name again soon. What else must I do during summerholidays? I cannot take my machine with me on the motorbike, so I have to come up with a (hand)sewing project soon! Perhaps sooner than I anticipated: my Husq is at the dealer's for maintenance and I found that the poor guy is in the hospital with kidneystones. (I could continue on C's machine that she left in MY sewingroom..)

Okay, ready? Here it comes!

And another "valisette". It seems I'm unable to make just ONE

(if I label this post "bags", that word will be huge in my wordcloud. I'm thinking of cheating and just label this "quilts". It IS quilting fabric after all..)

Une valisette!!

2010-05-31T00:02:00.001+02:00

Does this sometimes happen to you? you're in the midst of things and do not remember how on earth you got there... Well it happens right now to me. A while ago I bought an "bag-in-bag" to keep my everyday bag organised. Quilting DD wanted one and C wanted one, but they were sold out at the shop. So I decided to sew them myself.
C took it to work and her collegues were thrilled and wanted one too. C has an ability: she's a seller..

To make a long story short: C and I made 20 (!!) so far and almost every collegue at C's daycare center bought one.
Meanwhile someone wanted a toiletrybag...and since I mastered the boxy pouch pattern I thought I could do something with that pattern. I saw something similar at a French site, called "une valisette"
Here's mine

I have half a yard of fabric with rubber ducks......and already cut the next "valisette"

Next tuesday C and I plan to spent an evening quilting, but I sewed so many bags, innerbags and stuff that I don't even remember where I left my quilt!

Shall I play?

2010-05-19T16:15:00.001+02:00

The Quilt Shoppe organises a Spring Bingo. I read it and I'm tempted to play along..how can i not be after I saw their big prize!
And work started last monday after a 2 week holiday. I need something mindless to do to unwind after all..
Don't you have some sewing to do? Yes ofcourse but I don't feel like dragging myself into my messy quiltroom...

Meet...Quilting DD!

2010-05-16T12:22:00.000+02:00

Although Quilting DD usually wears lots of basics colours, her favourite is RED!

She has gorgeous auburn hair but that also brings freckles and delicate skin that gets sunburned easily. That's why she likes to wear a hat. She's at her best at an archeological dig where she finds the traces of long gone inhabitans. In her spare free time she loves to fondle fabrics and start all kinds of projects. Finishing them is NOT het strongest point, but when she quilts, her stitches are amazing......

Happy birthday Lotte! My world is a better place since you are in it..

Love, Mum

Cake transporter bag:)

2010-05-14T18:34:00.001+02:00

Seems that I got more bags up my sleeve *lol*

Baking DD is busy baking and decorating cakes for the upcoming birthday of Quilting DD. We were talking about how to transport the finished cakes and decided to perhaps buy some kind of plastic container. Next question that came to me was...how to transport a container easily? When you buy a cake they usually give you some kind of plastic bag, buy what if you bake your own like lots of people do? Ofcourse you can go to a cake selling store and ask for a plastic cake bag but I thought GREEN and started to search the internet for a re-usable solution. Finally I came up with this:

Baking DD is not convinced, but I think it will work. I even used a plastic polkadot "fabric" for the inside :)

Anyway, at least it LOOKS great with red and black polkadots!!

What do you think?

Off the yellow brick road..

2010-05-09T13:39:00.001+02:00

How time flies when you're having days off! I've been very busy with lots things but I didn't quilt a single stitch.
First Quilting DD, Corrine and I went to the European Quilt Contest. Lots and lots of quilts but we didn't get inspired. Artworks to put on a wall to be admired, intricate machinequilting (handquilting really is totally OUT) embroidered quilts etc. but nothing you'd want to snuggle under...nothing to keep you warm at night. I loved the show, don't get me wrong, but a quilt to me is something to sleep under! I was impressed however with the machinequilting on this small wallhanging...

I came home with 5 pics, no more..and they're not special enough to post.

The booth of Bohin notions was fun to see: crates full of pins and a dress with the gold pattern all made from pins too.

Then DH and I went to an oldtimer motorshow,

with Corrine I went to the market to buy buttons, polkadots and plaids :) (ahh no pic!) Quilting DD came by for an afternoon of sewing and....omg :I sewed handbag!
Well, I sewed four to be honest. Once I set my mind to something, there's no stopping me :) I made 2 for myself, one for C and another one for a friend

And today is Mother's day! I wish all mothers, wannabe mothers, surrogate ones, mothers in law, grandmothers and every other mother you can think off...a very nice and perhaps sunny day!

What's better on a day like this than a fq with my fav sneakers, a nice linen notebook and as much red tulips you can put in a vase?

Perhaps I'll even do some quilting today. After all, following the yellow brick road of quilting does lead to a finished quilt in Emerald City!!

Koninginnedag

2010-04-30T11:46:00.000+02:00

Today it's "koninginnedag" (Queensday). The nation' s celebrating our Queen's birthday. Most of us have a day off, we dress ourselves in orange (the Queen's surname) and festivities are in every town. Markets, musicfestivals etc. etc.

I plucked this pic from the internet to give the Non Dutch and idea how nuts we can get here *lol*

This year it'll be her 30th year on the throne and I think Queen Beatrix is doing a great job.

I won't dress in orange and will probably not join any festivities but I do have the tv on to watch her visit to the province "Zeeland" today and I'm glad to live in our little kingdom!!

Time to smell the roses....

2010-04-26T17:50:00.001+02:00

After visiting 2 doctors with 2 different opinions, an appointment scheduled for further tests and lots of hassle at work, i thought it was wise to step away from it all and try to get some peace and quiet in my mind. No blogging, in fact hardly any computer switched on, no quilting (restless minds make sloppy stitches..) and lots of naps..
The matter is/was that my doctor thinks I've got Meniere's disease (don't google that, it's depressing) and the specialist doesn't (which is a good thing!) Fact remains that I have a constant whistle/flute/rumour in my ear that drives me nuts from time to time. So more tests are needed: in june the 'hollow spaces" in my head will be examined (probably they'll find there's a lot of hollowness there *lol*) and my hearing will be tested. We'll see what it will bring!
Enough said about my health! What DID I do in the past weeks to take my mind of things?
I made a cake and Baking DD decorated with..polkadots ofcourse! Behold..the work in progress :)

I did some mindless sewing: Corrine wanted a new pencilcase and together we came up with these..

Then we decided we had enough of the mess in the big bags we both carry and after some calculating and prototype sewing we both have now an 'innerbag' Great when you want to change bags (hop the innerbag from one handbag to another) and now we don't have to 'dig" to find something like the carkeys..

Quilting DD needed one too (duh) and Corrine sold (!!!) another 2 to colleagues from her work. I finished those as well (while C was attending a PARTY!)

And since we have lovely weather here, I really took time to smell the roses..

More relaxing days lay ahead: coming saturday Corrine, Quilting DD and I will visit the Open European Quilts championship AND after wednesday I will be having 2,5 weeks off ! So slowly but absolutely surely i'm surfacing again :)

"Issues"

2010-04-10T13:43:00.001+02:00

Since, let's say a week or so, I'm having some health issues. In short, I fainted and fell hard on my butt. I have now, I can safely say, THE largest black and blue spot ever recorded, on my delicate behind. (if it weren't my butt, I'd post a picture *lol*)
Yes I did go to the doctor (after a week...) and it can be nothing or it can be something. I have an appointment with a specialist in the hospital in a fortnight for additional tests. So we'll see where this will all lead.
I will survive for sure and to celebrate that ánd for comfort, C bought me a present..

Aren't these the best bowls??? They have the same print as the Dutch fabrics I used in my Holland quilt. I'll use them for sure every time C and I quilt together for serving "nice and responsible things to eat/snack while fondling fabrics"

Pouch mania

2010-03-30T15:12:00.000+02:00

You know the saying that time flies when you're having fun. Well, I have been busy for sure!
First we celebrated the 22th birthday of BikerSon with the best cake ever and a surprise diner/party, all organised, cooked etc. by his sisters (not the cake, but they prepared a complete buffet for the guests!)

Before and after the weekend I made lots of the zippered pouches. As i said, they are quite addictive :)

I made the blue and red ones twice, and gave 3 away as a present. One red one contains all my hairpins and such, a plaid one is in my dresser and another red is halfway done for Quilting DD. Tomorrow evening I promised to teach Quilting neighbour...The tutorial link to Janet's blog is added in the sidebar. I also bought a zipper for a pencilcase. Now that the zipperphobia is gone, there's no stopping me! Meanwhile I practiced machinestippling on the pouches.When quilting straight lines, the fabric shifted a lot, so perhaps I'd better save some money for a walkingfoot.
The 3rth JellyRoll Quilt-a-long block was posted yesterday (link in sidebar) but to be honest ,I don't like it very much ,so I haven't made it yet. I'm a bit concerned that the blocks will not make a coherent quilt in the end. I will sew the block ofcourse, but probably not today!

Give away

2010-03-22T14:51:00.002+01:00

I came across a great give-away and immediately signed up! It's at http://www.abbeylanequilts.blogspot.com/ and the occasion is "national quilter's day" We declared that day international: C and I spent a whole evening chatting and quilting.

Isn't this a cute threadcatcher/pincushion? Abbeylane is also giving away one of their great patterns.

I never ever won a give-away so I'll probably have to order at least the pincushion..:) But..you'never know; maybe I'm lucky!

Last sunday afternoon I spent sewing. I had to try the tutorial you can find at Janet's blog, designed for zipper fobics like me..
http://quiltsalott.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-purse-tutorial.html

I'm not alltogether satisfied so I'll have to make another one :) No big deal since I went to the weekly market and came home with some flowerfabrics at bargainprice. (don't you love bargain-price-fabrics in ONE sentence??? I know I do!!) I found even cheaper polkadots so I'll definately visit the booth again. For now I have a new ZIPPERED makeup pouch!

New casualty..

2010-03-17T17:44:00.001+01:00

A while back a relative (she's married to DH's cousin) ask me to teach her how to make a quilt. I overloaded her with books and websites so she could look around and see what she liked, fabricwise and such.
Shortly after she emailed me saying that she signed up for a beginnersclass. After answering her questions by mail and a visit to teach her how to quilt, I invited het yesterday to come and spent an evening quilting with C and I. Her very first project is in the quilting stage:

A second bedsized quilt is designed, fabrics are bought and the first blocks are sewn. A third wallhanging project is chosen and those fabrics will be brought into her house soon, I guess! I told her that, before long, her DH will have to buy her a fabric chest. She says that it won't come to that ,but we ALL know better, don't we!!

The second project will be a bedsized quilt for her DS. She made a great design (sorry, forgot to take a pic!) with Japanese signs inbetween the pieced blocks. The signs together mean 'good night". Looks wonderfull, but.....this involves appliqué. I promised to look into it and need an advice. Raw edge? Iron on interfacing? Needleturn? And...is it do-able or is it too difficult??

This is one of the signs

Anyone with a great idea or expertize on appliqué??

Youngest DD went to a craftfair with C and I last saturday. She loves baking and I bought her (much wanted) foodcolouring for icing. Yesterday she made turquoise cookies and now she baked a ~~completely~~ slightly flat cake with BRIGHT orange buttercream on a pink plate. Some days dieting is só easy...

Corrine's online!

2010-03-15T23:34:00.001+01:00

After much persuation, neighbourfriend C, finally started her own weblog. Ha! I did not only infect her with the quiltpox, but also with the bloggerbug!.
She's, as I typ this, sitting next to me, making her very first post. She writes in Dutch, but added a translater button on her sidebar. (and she's already experiencing that blogger doesn't always do what you want..)~Her blog is called after her fav colours: Purple and Pink. Go and say 'hi" as an encouragement :)
This is a quilt I made for her birthday last year, representing her

Have fun in Blogland C!