A gift = a new project

Linda of Quilts in the Barn fame (click) and I are a bit like ships passing in the night, missing each other at various quilt shows (one day we will meet in person Linda, for sure!), but of course there is the internet, so we do keep in touch via the www.

Knowing that our tastes are similar regarding (antique) quilts I was excited to learn that she was publishing a book with Quiltmania about a selection of her antique quilts, I could not wait for it, for sure it was going to be wonderful and I was not disappointed, I love the book! I got my copy a few weeks ago and it has been near me ever since, so many lovely quilts in it, beautiful pictures, so much inspiration and so many great patterns.

Not only did she have her book published recently she has also designed sets of templates for some of her quilts. She introduced these at the quilt show in Nantes recently and we were supposed to meet there, but unfortunately my planned trip did not happen….. so again…. no chance to meet in person…

But Linda made sure I did not miss out on all the fun and via Willemke (click) she sent me a set of her templates as a gift!

Happy mail!

This set is designed for hand piecing her beautiful antique Pyramids quilt (Linda also has templates available for some of the quilts that are in her book). This Pyramids quilt is not in the book, but has been published in Quiltmania # 94 (March/April 2013).

So I pulled some fabrics out of my stash and boy, these templates are so easy, quick and fun to use!
First 5 blocks done!

This will be a great stitching project for the summer, so easy to take with you anywhere, also on holiday, just get enough triangles drawn on fabric before you leave, one spool of neutral thread (Aurifil 2370 in my case), a needle, a small pair of scissors and a few pins, that is all you need to keep stitching this summer.

Working on my next few pyramids now ….

I know a few Dutch quilters have already ordered their templates and Linda is organizing a sew along on Facebook, look for the  Panama Pyramids sew-along 2016 group, so why not join in the fun?

Thank you Linda for your kind gift and Willemke for your assistance, love the templates and will have a lot of fun with this new project!

Phyllis

Beautiful, sunny Zutphen

With the weather having changed to that familiar greyness again, I thought I’d cheer you (and myself!) up with a few pictures of a visit to beautiful Zutphen 1,5 weeks ago. Most Dutch quilters will have been there, so this will look familiar to them, but for those readers of my blog who haven’t had a chance to go there, here are a few pictures of a lovely day. I have been to Zutphen quite a few times by now, but with the beautiful springtime weather and the blossoms on the trees, this is the prettiest I have seen it.

A visit to Petra Prins’ shop is a must and with the weather being beautiful I think even quilters were doing other things, it is the first time I was the only customer in the shop, if only for a short time.

Really, the municipality or local tourist board should give Petra a prize, with quilters from all over flocking to Zuthpen the amount of Euro’s she is bringing into this town also to other businesses…. Because we quilters need to care of our inner self too, don’t we?

Ah, the terraces of Zutphen, not to be missed on a sunny day.

Usually I go to Zutphen by myself or with a fellow quilter, but for the first time I went with the Mr.
Funny enough for the past few years he has to go to Zutphen now and then for work, but when he does he never has the time to walk around the town, so this was a first for him. As he is usually too busy to think of original gifts and with it being two days before Mother’s Day, the combination of Mother’s Day presents and Petra Prins’shop was a win-win situation for me!

Let’s hope the beautiful weather returns soon, in the meantime…. they call this ‘stitching weather’ for a reason!

Phyllis

Feathergirls 3.0, reveal time!

Recently, I read a blogpost by Audrey from the Quilty Folk blog (click) the other day where she wrote: "I just stare in disbelief at how little stitching I have accomplished for the entire day" and I know how she feels, only in my case I went days without stitching and that happened for weeks on end. Life sometimes takes over, too many people and too many ‘must-do’s ‘ pulling me in different directions and each of those directions was always away from my sewing.

Although things have not completely returned to normal yet, they have settled down enough for me to find some time for sewing, so I was able to turn my attention to our current Feathergirls project again.

The same goes for fellow Feathergirl Hubertine (click) and so, having made a good start on our third Feathergirls project, this time with a scrappy theme (click), we got together last week and showed eachother what we were working on….. tadaaaaaahhhhh!!

On the left hand side is Hubertine’s start, visit her blog here (click) to see and read more, on the right hand side is the beginning of my quilt top.

It is always so much fun to see what the other is doing and now that we work with the same theme it is so inspiring too!

In my case, there really is no plan. Which may be indicative for the crazy period of the last few months. I just could not find time enough or concentrate well enough to come up with a plan. There were so many shapes and patterns I wanted to use for a scrappy quilt and not being able to decide I just started sewing and made a number of blocks of various patterns, nine-patches, four-patches, flying geese (a favorite!), courthouse steps (another favorite!) …. 

Having made a bunch of each I decided to just sew them into rows and go from there.

So this is where I am at, what to do now? More rows yes or no…. which blocks…?

Mmmmm, I dunno…… so I will just go on this way, working without a plan, just picking up a ruler, a rotary cutter and diving into a pile of scraps….

To be continued J !

Phyllis