Getting to know one another

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..

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..

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!

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)

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!!!

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..

..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?