First Feathergirls Finish!

Finally, Hubertine and I can reveal the quilts we made for our first Feathergirls project!

And that it took a while was ‘my bad’ as they say, since I really wanted to handquilt my quilt, Hubertine finished her quilt a while ago.
Click here to look at Hubertine’s finished quilt.

And here is mine, tadaaah!

 

Quilt stats:

Size: 79.5” (202 cm) x 62”  (157 cm)

Block: Jacob’s Ladder, 9”

Quilting: by hand with YLI quilting thread in Ecru

Fabric: 100% cotton

Batting: 100% cotton

 

Of course my quilt has a name and a label:

 

I named my quilt after Lucy (click), for the reasons explained on the label. Ever since I found out about quilting blogs and found Lucy’s first blog (click) I loved what I saw there (same as on her second blog (click) ). Her work is beautiful, she takes her inspiration from old quilts, the kind of quilts that would actually be used and I love her fabric choices. What I also admire is that she works so independent of trends and fashions in the quilt world. Her quilt blogs and also her 365 days blogs here (click) and here (click) are a great source of inspiration for me.

So when I saw she gave a workshop at the Sampler in Haarlem a few years ago I jumped at the chance. It was a workshop for beginners on the sewing machine and – having made everything by hand up until then – I really wanted to learn making quilts on the sewing machine, that would be so much faster. I had done a workshop like that before but I after that first one I still did not like working on a machine. So I decided to give it another try.

During Lucy’s workshop we made a Jacob’s Ladder block and even though I made a number of mistakes that day, somehow her workshop gave me the confidence to do patchwork on a sewing machine. After her workshop I made Eline’s Stars (machine patched and partly machine quilted) and found I really enjoyed working on a machine.

So when Hubertine and I decided to make our first quilts on our newly acquired Featherweight machines as the Feathergirls (click) it was only fitting I should use the Jacob’s Ladder block.  I did make it a different size than the block we made during Lucy’s workshop, hers was in cm’s , mine is 9”.

 



Since this is a combined project, Hubertine and I wanted to photograph our quilts together and last week it was perfect weather to do so:

 



Fun to see the quilts like this!

 

We really enjoyed doing this together and as you may know we have each already started our second Feathergirls quilt, here (click)  and here (click).

So onwards and forwards with our second Feathergirls quilts!

Phyllis



A quilty update... at last

At last a quilty update. I wasn’t able to blog about quilty things recently because all I was doing was quilting my Jacob’s Ladder. I quilted and I quilted and I quilted……

 

but I wanted it finished because I was afraid that if I would start on other projects as well I would leave it laying around for too long… luckily I was able to spend another lovely day at Karin’s B&B Quilt Café last Wednesday and like before I was able to do a lot of work on it.

 

 

I planned on finishing it that day, but I got a bit distracted by the projects of the other ladies and of Karin herself, so I did not finish it during the day but I did in the evening time at home. So YESSSS  I finished quilting my Jacob’s Ladder!

 

Next thing is the binding (which I still have to find) and the label and once that is done I will show you more of this quilt.

 

With bee night at my house last week I used the Texas cookie cutter Tammy gave me when I met her in Houston in April. It was years since I made cookies, but this evening we were able to eat a bit of Texas.

 

 

 

Soooo, with the Jacob’s Ladder quilted I have time to go back to other projects: first of all the second Feathergirls quilt I am making. Remember, fellow Feathergirl Hubertine and I decided on our second Feathergirl project, I introduced mine here and Hubertine introduced hers here, so now I had time to work on this again, and this is where I am now.

And these fabrics are next in line to become Ohio Star blocks:

 

Of course I am making this project on my Featherweight, but I also want to have a project I can do by hand this summer, so I will have to delve into my WIP boxes to decide which one it will be.

This one?

This one?

Or this one?

Decisions, decisions…….

Enjoy your day!

Phyllis





Quilting my Jacob's Ladder quilt

Before starting a new Feathergirls project, an update of the first one: recently I started quilting my Jacob’s Ladder quilt. I decided to handquilt it, had not done handquilting in a long time and I love the process.

These are the pattern pieces I made for the quilting patterns. I decided to treat the area where 4 blocks come together as a block on itself, regarding the quilting pattern.

 

 

 



Hope you can make out the pattern.

Then, regarding the two-colored lines that cross the quilt, I decided to use this pattern piece, there will be 3 of these quilted in one (2-colored) piece of a line – oh dear, hope that makes sense to you…-.

 

Because my eyesight is not what it used to be, my stitches are not as small as they used to be, but I don’t mind, my goal now is just to make even stitches.

I am using a #10 quilting needle and Yli quilting thread in Ecru. As markers I use Sewline pencils, a grey one and a white one.

And now for something that really made me happy: in the past when I quilted I would always do serious damage to the top of my left hand middle finger, I used that to feel if the needle has come thru all 3 layers, so I use it as a kind of pincushion (I have tried other ways : thimble pad, spoon etc. but none of it worked for me).
After a quilting session my finger would be bloody and sore and I could not quilt for 1 – 2 days waiting for it to heal, before I could quilt again.

But now I have found what works for me, this!

My English (quilt)friend Emma recommended this to help with another problem I have with my hands in wintertime (splitting cuticles, ouch!) I bought this in London.

And then I figured why not put a few layers of this wonderful stuff on my left hand middle finger before I start quilting to protect my skin. And yessss! It worked! Now I can still feel the needle coming thru all the layers and the only thing that gets damaged is those layers of ‘New Skin’. My own skin does not get damaged at all and I can quilt day after day after day….. it is wonderfull!

 



So, if any of you experience the same problem try and get a hold of a bottle of ‘New Skin’,  I bought mine at a Boots in London , but they are all over the UK.

Happy quilting!

Phyllis

The good and the bad

Yesterday fellow Feathergirl Hubertine and myself had a chance to see our  Feathergirl projects together as finished tops:

My Jacob’s Ladder top was already sandwiched with the help of quilt friend and fellow bee member Anita at her terrace (it was a bit windy, so we needed some boxes to keep everything from flying away), she has become an ace at this and her help is very much appreciated, Hubertine’s quilt will follow at a later date

 



 

 

 





Anita has no blog, such a shame, she makes wonderful, beautiful, mostly modern quilts and many of them too…

 

The granny squares are coming along nicely too, I am enjoying making them very much

 

 

I needed the distraction of this crochet project because a few weeks ago a strange spot behind my left ear was diagnosed as skin cancer and had to be removed promptly. That left me looking like this

 



Last week, luckily, I got the all clear, it was all removed, so after my appointment at the clinic I treated myself to a nice latte at nearby Pierre’s in Rotterdam, to …. exhale………….

 



My new found love for crochet seems to have an effect on Hubertine, she has now started her own granny square project, so yesterday we shared a nice afternoon in the garden with balls of cotton yarn, crochet hooks and fruit shakes

 



The afternoon was followed by a healthy, slimline dinner, I made a recipe I found at David’s blog (click for the recipe) not so long ago and which has become a favourite our household since: prawn curry in coconut milk:

 

 

This weather may hold for a few more days, enjoy it!

Phyllis



 





Jacob's Ladder top finished!

Yes!! I finished my Jacob’s Ladder top! And I am really happy with how it turned out. I love the pattern (of course), but now that all the blocks have come together I also love the way that it looks with all the colors and different fabrics. Each fabric appears just once in the quilt, so as there are 63 blocks, 126 different fabrics were used.

 

Making this top has taught me a lot about machine patching and my black Featherweight, The Duchess, which was the reason for making this quilt in the first place. Also for my fellow Feathergirl, Hubertine, since we both got our Featherweights at about the same time, we decided to do this project and go through the learning process together.

 

In all those blocks of course there are some favourites, one is right in the middle, the light blue block, not only made of sweet fabrics, but I was allowed to pull them from the stash of my fellow Feathergirl, who should show you her result today as well.

 

As soon as I can I will sandwich this quilt and then machine quilt it. That will be a learning process too, I have only ever once machine quilted a quilt. I will not do the machine quilting on The Duchess but on my Pfaff. It is a broader machine and will therefore give me more space while I am quilting.

Will show you pictures when I get to that stage.

Thanks for stopping by,

Phyllis



A nice stack

of Jacob’s Ladder blocks. Just a quick blogpost, I have finished my 63 blocks… now putting them together starts, yes!

 

 

Enjoy your day!

Phyllis

Technical stuff...

To my surprise it has been about 2 weeks since my last blogpost!

Partly due to computer problems (which have not completely been solved yet…L ) and really, there was not a lot to blog about.

Busy with Eline who this week has to chose the subjects she wants to study for the next years of her secondary education and her final exams in a few years time.

‘Busy’ complaining about the weather, although we are lucky, incredibly cold but no snow as in parts of the US or the UK.

Busy with my Jacob’s Ladder, made these blocks, just 6 more to go and I can start putting the top together…

These two blocks will get a special place in the quilt, the fabrics were gifts from her.

 

 

And unfortunately, I have had to put the word verification on for comments on my blog. I am really sorry, I know it is such a pain, but since a few weeks I have been receiving a lot of spam on my blog via the Comments. This started after a few weeks ago I made one (1!) blogpost using Google Chrome rather than my usual Windows Explorer L…



 

And since I am not interested in buying “steroids” or “Viagra” from ‘Anonymous’,  I thought I’d try and keep things as clean as possible by putting on the word verification.
I do hope it will not stop you from leaving a comment, I love hearing from you and I really, really appreciate each and every comment, thank you!



Then I read that  Google Reader will stop in a few months, I never used it, but I read a lot of users are changing over to Blog Lovin, so I thought I’d try it out and it’s great! I find it really easy to use (and I am not an IT-wizzard). For those who are still on Google Reader and are looking for a replacement, try it out, it even gives you a special option to transfer your Google Reader feed in one go and I have read that works.

Sorry about this rather boring post, but sometimes that’s all there is…. Enjoy your week & one thing about this cold: it’s great quilting weather!

Phyllis

Feathergirls update, a doggy dental visit and more

A few days ago my fellow Feathergirl Hubertine came over so we could check the progress on our Feathergirls quilts.

I laid out my Jacob’s Ladder blocks so far:

Getting somewhere! I want to make 63 blocks, 7 x 9, so not that far to go anymore.

Piles of goodness!

This week saw the midterm school holiday in our area, unfortunately my 15-year old daughter, Eline spent the beginning of the week ill on the couch, wrapped in a quilt.

She missed joining me for this: Whopper’s dental appointment!

Inside:

“I’m having none of this, what are you doing?!”

“Uhm, actually, Linda, this doesn’t taste that bad after all!”

(Chicken flavoured toothpaste!)

“Tineke, I’ve been a good boy, can I have my goodie bag now?”

 

And what a great goodie bag it was!

Seriously, this was a free instruction at our vet’s office to show you how to take care of your dog’s teeth, great initiative, Linda and Tineke were great with him.

Later on in the week Eline had recovered enough for a shopping trip to Rotterdam, where we had a great lunch at Bazar, one of our favourite restaurants there, love the interior:

Even though it was lunchtime we went for the breakfast Bazar, which they serve almost all day:

After lunch we went to this:

Really worth the visit, a very interesting exhibition! You are allowed to take pictures, but I won’t show them here, you should really go and see for yourself if you have the chance.

Have a nice week!

Phyllis