A lot of Ikea, lots of Italian food and some quilting

Has it really been that long?!

Time flies, I have not forgotten nor forsaken my blog, it is just that my attention and time went to other things than quilting. In between what has been going on I have done some quilting and nearly finished my scrappy quilt, it just needs labeling and binding.

I cannot show you the whole quilt yet as this is a Feathergirls project. My fellow Feathergirl Hubertine (click) and I are looking for an opportunity to make pictures of both our scrapquilts so that we can show you the results at the same time as we always do, so hopefully we can soon find some corresponding space in our agenda’s soon to do this.

Quilting is one of my passions, good food another one. Both eating it and making it. OK, mostly eating it… but in order to eat good food I (mostly) have to make it so I am always interested in learning more.

For a long time I wanted to take an Italian cookery course at La Cucina del Sole (click), and now at last I had the chance and spent a four Saturdays recently learning all the basics and much, much more from the wonderful Nicoletta.

We were with a  small but enthousiastic and fun group 

made the most delicious food

and enjoyed eating it

and laughed a lot!

Surprise, surpirse in this small group of foodies there was someone I had met before: Nadine Kieft, a very talented jewelry maker/goldsmith (click).

I think her work is beautiful and very special, a few years ago my husband gave me this ring for my birthday, made by Nadine.

Unfortunately recently I had become just a little bit too small and she kindly resized it for me for free. Now it fits comfortably again so I wear it on a regular basis like before.

Another thing that took up time and energy was moving DD to her student digs. After a few months of searching she found a room to rent and apart from the work of getting her moved over there, the two of us had a lot of fun (and those breakfasts J )one Sunday morning finding her some new furniture our local IKEA. She chose light and natural colors and materials, now that it is all there it has become a really nice room.

Soooo, since DD moved out a lot of her stuff and therefore the upstairs was messy anyway, I took the opportunity to start a cleaning up operation of my quiltroom. I reorganised the way I keep my fabrics. Before, they were stacked in Ikea Billy bookcases, but I found that when I pulled some fabrics off a shelf it quickly became messy and I would not see certain fabrics anymore. Also, with it being a small but sunny room I was afraid the sun would damage the colors.

So again, another trip to Ikea (lucky it is only a 5 mins drive from my home) early one Monday morning (the quietest time of the week, really) was called for and this is my solution. Large flat plastic boxes, one for each color, when I open them I see all my fabrics straight away and when I pull out a few, no mess, the other fabrics just stay in place. And they are safe from the sunlight. 

and stacked up, they do not take up a lot space in my small room.

Now that my fabrics are sorted, time to go tackle the rest of my quiltroom, see what else is lurking in there….

I did already find this old project, the Morrell quilt, pattern by Di Ford. This block I have been dreading to make for a long time, decided it was about time. Bit by bit, I should be able to finish it in between all the other things that keep me busy.

Thank you for visiting J !

Phyllis