Nativityblock: Dec 9th

Today I finally had time for the next Nativity-block, the one from Dec 9th. It was not a very inspiring one, but I sewed it totally by hand while my daugther was working on her birthday-wishlist - which was very inspiring!

Here's the block of today:

It's not that I want to make it more exciting upside down, but I have some struggles with my Iphone to show the pictures in the right way. I arranged the blocks I made so far, and then you see what the block of today means (it's the one under the little angel):

Have a nice day!

Just a few little hearts

This week I had no time for the more complex Nativityblocks; instead of that I'm working on the pink&red one, handquilting. It's so relaxing and such a lovely result:

I finally get used to the techniques of handquilting, watched a lot of How-to- youtube movies, thanks to all the ladies who explain the way to handle your neelde, threat, fabric... and who don't complain when I watch it  over and over again!

autumn in the forrest

Yesterday we made a familytrip to national park De Hoge Veluwe, and the Jachthuis, designed by famous Dutch architect Berlage. Outside (on the white bikes you can use everywhere in the park) ánd inside we had a great time. Berlage designed every single part of the house. I made a few pics of parts that give some quilting-inspiration:

No plain white ceiling in this house, but stones in the colours also Mondriaan used.

Outside we saw the sky like other Duth painters (think about Vermeer, Rembrandt). Here are the kids and hb with the bikes, don't they look tough? 

After the cow it's time for a king

Earlier today I posted about the Nativity-cow I made. Since the kids were all playing with Lego building houses, I had time for another block. It was time for a king today - Dec 8th (acoording to the quilt; irl it's Oct 17th). It's not just a king, it's a kneeling king, offering a present to the newborn King. The blue fabric is from Josef's cloak.

8 blocks ready, 17 to go!

And something totally different but very nice: my sister gave me a very good birthdaypresent, I made a picture of it. The fabric is even more beautiful than you see on this pic!

Have a nice day!





New nativity blocks: a cow

Today it was a very sunny Octoberday, and after enjoying it with a familywalk I made a Nativity block - Dec 7th. Very complex with 44 pieces. Difficult part of making this quilt is to choose the right fabrics. Lots of it must be a kind of brown, and although I have a little collection of fabrics, I don't have so much browns:

Luckily my mother's collection is much bigger, with more browns, but still it's hard to fill in the colours in a right way. Here's all the stuff I need to make one block:

So today I made a checked cow. I had some doubts when I started, but I like the result, and it really is a cow!

How cool is this! And also in this picture: two pairs of brandnew very very sharp scissors! Thanks to my mum for this very useful birthdaygift!



Delftblue sewing!

As I wrote before, I started to quilt the Delftblue one with my Singer. I've done smaller projects before, but this is the first quilt (size: single bed) that I sew with my machine.

I talked to an older quilting lady the other day and she told me that only quilting by hand is quilting, otherwise it's sewing, not quilting. She said in a very strong way, so I got a feeling of being a very bad girl to think there is something like quilting on a machine...

As you see I use red thread, it really gives a bit of power to it. I combine sewing in the ditch and just straight lines, depending on the pattern of the blocks.

It's more difficult than I thougt it would be, but I like the effect. It's half done, I hope to finish it soon!

Tomorrow it's time for another Nativity block!

December 6th: a cat

Today I took some time to sew the Nativity-block of Dec 6th: a cat. Yeah, I didn't really expect that  too, but it's a lovely orange cat - inspired by the lazy one that lies on my quilts :). It's a small block, nice to sew.

And to show you where this cat belongs in a Nativity-quilt I have a pic with the overview. The scissors point to the cat in the overview:

So it's time for Dec 7th! I'm curious what's it gonna be, I'll let you know!

The pink&red one: still going strong

Goodmorning! Reading this blog, you could get the idea that I forgot about the pink&red one. Well, that's wrong. The quilt-in-pogress lies on the couch, and every now and then I sew a little block. And since this quilt is for my daughter, 6 years old, there was a strong need for some blingbling. So in one of the cornerblocks I made her initials, with ribbon and some (little sparkling) bangels. Here are some pics:

I'm working on the block top left, and the blocksdown under are still waiting for some quilting (and some ironing, I'm afraid the cat has tested this as a potential catbed, well he'd better forget about that!).

All the blocks are square, the strange model of the blocks in the middle are caused by the way the quilt hangs over a couch.

It's a nice thing to do, and I'm allready thinking about a new handsewing project.

Have a nice day!

A delft blue sandwich

Yesterday-night I made the delftblue sandwich! The most un-interesting but necessary part of quilting is: sewing the parts of the filling together:

The next step is more fun to me, sewing the 3 layers together with temporary threads. I'm gonna stich the layers on the machine (first time!). I hope I have time this weekend, my fingers are itching!

Have a nice day!

Nativity-quilt: an overview so far (1)

I know there are groups of quilting lady's (I don't know any quilting man, do you?) who make mistery quilts. Every week or month you make a block, without knowing what the complete picture of all the blocks is. Well, that's not my style! I wanna know what I'm working on! So today I made the first picture of the Nativity blocks in there righ places. I made 5 blocks sofar:

The fun thing about making this quilt is that I don't choose the parts I make, I just follow the numbers of the blocks. So everytime it's a surprise what's it gonna be.

To be continued, 20 blocks to go....

Have a nice day!

Time for a little angel

After the troubles with the dove-block, today I started with the 4th and 5th block. I know I have to make a new block number 3, but not today.

Block nr 4 shows littles houses at the horizon, hmm this picture shows the block just like it is, but it's not that fancy.

After this one I made block nr 5, and after sewing lots of little pieces, suddenly there was a little angel:

Isn't he very very cute? And although it's only Oct 3th today, I have this song in my head:

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Well, after all that's a message you can hear everyday of the year!



Shopping!

This week I've been very busy with my job, no time to sew. But I did have time to shop, and I bought some fabrics:

More stripes! The fabric I used for the blocks I allready finished was sold out, but I found another striped fabric that I can use.

For a new quilt (for a boy) I found these:

I want to combine these with darkblue, I'm still thinking about which pattern I'll use. It was hard to find fabric for teenage-boys, flowers were absolutely forbidden, just like pink, dots, or too childish prints. We're still in discussion about the frogs :).