End of summer



Harvest time again. We had an early spring storm that blew off all the appleblossom the minute they opened, so I had no high hopes this year, but look!

It is an actual vintage "apple pick basket" that's pretty big



Now, what to do with this loot, knowing all my childeren will come to visit?

 



 First one of the year. It tasted delicious, take my word for it :)

Next thing is the new project. I found the PERFECT crate in the deep and dark ends of my sewingroom.

Good size too and to top it off, a smaller wooden box to hold all the templates in bags.



So far, I'm sewing a block a day and I agree with every " Farmer's Wife": it's very addictive.....

 Today block 10 "box" and 11 "bowtie" are on the list.
Time to put the warm slippers on, get my little crate within reach and select fabrics.

New additions...

My fav jeans didn't fit anymore. In fact: everything I wanted to wear became a bit tighter. The scale confirmed what I already knew...I gained some weight :( The eternal struggle! So, time for action and time to stop shoving things in my mouth without thinking. I managed to loose the extra pounds, jeans fitted again (hurray)but I decided to go to work on my bycycle again, instead of taking the car.
After all, it's just a 10 minute ride! (ridiculous to go by car anyway)
My bike is almost 30 years old and I transported the world on it in the days I did not have a car for myself alone. DH had already warned me that the rear wheel was so rusted, it could literally collapse any moment.
So, today I got a brandnew bycycle!

 The model is, just like my old one, the "old Dutch" and that's just what it is. Here people call it a "granny bike"  When  my kids were small, they called it the mummy bike..but with my new status-to-be, this will be a real granny bike.
Ofcourse I dressed it up with polkadots. Easy to spot in a sea of other bikes. (there are always loads of bikes parked everywhere here!)

Next addition is a book. (grrr, flipped pic!)

I always wanted to make some sort of sampler, but I can fret endlessly when choosing blocks myself. "isn't this a tiny bit nicer than that one?' I do like the Farmer's wife as a whole, and now I can just make the blocks as presented and sew. Don't think, but make.
It'll be a longterm project and I will sew by hand again. At least, that's the plan!

Lazy days are over!

All good things must come to and end eventually.....holidays are over and since today I had to go back to work. 7weeks of "dolce far  niente" sleeping in and binge-watching all seasons of Dr Who went by too quick.

Birmingham was fun, Quilting DD and I enjoyed the city, the pub and the Festival of Quilts.
I didn' t even got to it to put my pic's on the pc! But ofcourse I did photograph my "loot" on the iPad.
( i'm posting this on my ipad with the blogger app for the first time and i'm struggling a bit. Pics came out wrong, so I had to edit on the laptop. I'll get it eventually!)

TWO backings, a bundle of fun fq's and ofcourse a bundle of dots. 

The red backing is for my last top

(never mind the fresly ironed blouse on the right; blame it on the blogger app)

I sewed a little last week

And what might that be???? Well, they're burbcloths.....?!

The exiting news is that I'm going to be a grandma in january! Quilting DD is expecting her first baby...

Yep, there were three if us in Birmingham. Not even born and already at a big quilt event. Now that's hope for the future LOL!

Summer post..

 Don't know what happened to june ánd july, but I guess i just didn't feel like posting. When summerholiday finally started, I was lazyyyyyyy......!!!
I did, however, quilt and I sewed. Jeej!
For starters, I finished this

 And C got so inspired by Ms Lori Holt, that she drew a tulip herself, waiting for the book "quilty fun"to arrive. Since tulips are my fav flowers (how Dutch..) I made them into another mini.

Then, having loads of time on my hands, I spent quite some time on Pinterest where I found this design here. A radiant broken wheel, right up my alley!!
I had some solids left from Quilting DD's weddingring quilt, so here it is: my own RADIANT broken wheel!

 

I do have a batting for this one, but no backing fabric that suits. But no worries, my suitcase is packed for a trip to Birmingham. Festival of Quilts starts coming thursday and Quilting DD and I booked a flight. DH's are guarding the forts so off we will go!

Ironing

Like many, I hate ironing. I do manage to iron fabrics and pressing a quiltblock, but doing clothes is a different story.
On the other hand: I love vintage irons :) and I have collected a few from thriftstores-and markets.

I own several flat irons. I use them as paperweights and to keep a large piece of fabric on the table when cutting.

 

One that can be filled with hot coal..

 

A very early electric one. Info on the internet: very, VERY dangerous....LOL

 

A later electric one. When I can find the right plug, I will try this one!

And today my latest find was delivered: a gas iron. it has burners on the inside. And no, I will not try to light this one although it seems in almost perfect condition.

Best thing about it is, that it is called : the Rhythm. How cool is that!!!

 Space is very limited in my sewingroom (and for that matter, in my house too), so I have no room for elaborate display. A tiny bookcase will have to do. Still, I enjoy them when sewing :)

Next stop is a visit to the Washing and Ironing museum that apparently is in my own village! I cannot find the info about vintage irons that I want on the web, so the museum might shed some light about how old my irons are

35 years apart..

 Different time, different style of photography, but yet so alike.
Me in 1980....

 

Quilting DD in 2015                                                                                                                                

She surprised me with her picture at Mother's day.

My face...

 This contains , what i call, my face. It is usually not flipped over (except early mornings) but we'll do with this picture.
I put it on every morning and take it of before going to bed.

Although I really love the polkadots. this bag has a flaw: it has no extra internal nor external pockets,

which means an extra 5 minutes every morning (and I am NOT a morning person) looking for a eyeshadow brush. I have lots, but they are scattered around somewhere. the one that's in the bag, hides.

So, after some Pinterest and some ME, I came up with this:

 Not that i actually use all the brushes, but if i want to, i have them at hand.

 Especially for Dianne: this label is, well, a band aid of sorts.
I sewed too close to the edge and things started to fray. I was too far in the process to rip it all apart and strat over, so: a label/bandaid.
See. my seams do go wrong haha!!!

 This afternoon, my offspring came by for mother's day, so i provided lunch

 The sign, Quilting DD gave me, was exactly what i needed:) to complete my little "buffet'

Happy Mother's day!

Track and trace

  I ordered something small online and the seller provided a track and trace option. I LOVE track and trace!! This time the messages kept on coming :) 
So far I got this!                                                                                             


Date Location Event
                                                                                                                                                                              

• Apr 27, 2015 3:11pm NETHERLANDS Customs Clearance
• Apr 27, 2015 3:10pm NETHERLANDS Processed Through Sort Facility
• Apr 25, 2015 8:52pm Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS Departed
• Apr 25, 2015 5:35pm Zurich, SWITZERLAND Departed
• Apr 24, 2015 7:40pm Miami, UNITED STATES Departed
• Apr 24, 2015 3:11pm Miami, UNITED STATES Arrived
• Apr 24, 2015 1:25pm ISC MIAMI FL (USPS), US Processed Through Sort Facility
• Apr 24, 2015 1:45am MIAMI, FL 33112, US Departed USPS Facility
• Apr 23, 2015 8:12am ISC MIAMI FL (USPS), US Arrived at Sort Facility
• Apr 23, 2015 8:11am MIAMI, FL 33112, US Arrived at USPS Facility
• Apr 21, 2015 4:54am RALEIGH, NC 27676, US Departed USPS Facility
• Apr 20, 2015 10:10pm RALEIGH, NC 27676, US Arrived at USPS Origin Facility
• Apr 20, 2015 9:32pm RALEIGH, NC 27606, US Arrived at USPS Origin Facility
• Apr 20, 2015 8:17pm CARY, NC 27518, US Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility

 

Does anyone wonder why one has to pay shipping fees?

All these people/facilities for $4....

(must say though that Dutch customs sure take their time....)

Art

 C and I sewed a miniquilt the other day and purely by coicendence I managed to press each and every seam in the right direction so I could fan every seam intersection! Now this is what I call pure art...

and no, it is NOT crooked in front, it's just the picture, trust me....

 We both chose a different layout

Mine ofcourse, is the one without the pink :)

Only thing left to do is to figure out how on earth I managed this!

Smoke coming out of the machines!



This weekend I had a sewing spree and I made Sven ánd both of the Featherweights work for their money. Baking DD had some requests for starters.

She makes her tea with fresh leaves instead of teabags and uses a French press.

 

 

She needed a cosy. I immedeately showed her pictures of fancy cozy wraps but no...she had her heart set on a simple one.

So....after some measuring and a sample of ugly fabric...

Now, I can do a better pic that that. It looks like a silly hat this way! A bit more effort here please!

 

Ahhhh, much better!

 

Another request was a new shoppingbag. Her fav one was really worn out.

I duplicated that one but..more fancy if I say so myself

 Ikea plastic "fabric" on the outside, gingham inside and shoulder-as well as hand handles, just as Baking DD wanted.

 Next up some bags the Feathers needed to make for themselves. I do NOT trust the case's handles nor latches. After some research online I came across a picture of a bag looking like this:

( I do want to give credit, but cannot find the picture again..)

The bag stays on, latches are free so there's no need to take it of since the case can be opened easily. Extra benefit is that the case itself is protected too, from bumping (me with the hoover e.g. LOL)

The bags are lined with leftover batting and more not that pretty fabric.

I can carry the Feather on my shoulder, ánd in my hand; handles are long ánd short enough. Room for book too :)
Each Feather sewed it's own bag ofcourse...
Sewed some mini quilts/blocks too, but I'll save that for another time!
Time to give the machines some rest (I think I heard Sven panting) and to watch the Moto GP (Go Valentino Rossi!!)

Edit: found the "founder of the bag". You can find her blogpost here .