June/July 2019 Summertime , time for a change and a 'new kid on the block'

Summertime! Which means a quiet neighbourhood (lots of people away on holiday) , salads for dinner, yummy aperatifs in the garden and in this case also time for a change on my blog….

I will  n o t   be closing my blog and also I will  n o t   just stop writing updates on my blog, but for some time I noticed that what I was doing on my blog was for the most part just duplicating what was already on my Instagram account. As blogging takes time, a lot more time than Instagram, for some months now I have been wondering what to do with my blog.

For a few years I have been posting on Instagram, you can find my account here (click) , I love Instagram, so easy and quick, but now and then I find it too quick and fleeting and then the blog seems a better way to communicate and share when there are those special events, like quilt shows, workshops , a finished quilt or a very special trip.

Sooooooo….. from now on my updates will be less regular, but that does not mean that they will be few and far between. In fact there may be such a blog post in the near future. It just means that the focus of this blog will change somewhat.
So I hope you will keep on following me as I appreciate the each and everyone I ‘meet’ through this blog, online and in person, frequent or infrequent. I have made wonderful connections through this blog and some have evolved into great and cherished friendships.
So my blog is important to me, as are my visitors/readers, that has not changed.

Just so this blogpost is not just text, this is what I have been up to quilt wise lately:

I joined the Cheddarback sew along, hosted by Gay of Sentimental Stitches (click), this was the first month:-

Did I already post the first 40 Rosa Biddlecombe blocks? 

Also, I started a new project, the Strafford Manor quilt designed by Judy Newman, I followed her workshop on this quilts at Pour l’amour du Fil in Nantes (click) more this project on that at a later date, when I have done more work on it.

Sooooooooo from now on the above kind of updates will just be on my Instagram (click)

A 'new kid on the block': 

I would like to take this opportunity and use my blog to introduce a ‘new kid on the block’ in our country and indeed the EU: Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color (click) , some of you may already know her as a designer, author, quilter and long arm quilter from the US. This summer she moved to The Netherlands, Enschede to be exact and as her husband plans to study here, she wants to support her family by continuing her long arm quilting business over here. 

I admire people who chase their dreams and this is a bold move for a young family (no nice expat allowances or assistance here , they are doing this all by themselves).
Rachel has many years of long arm quilting experience and is now ready to accept long arm quilting orders from all over the EU , so please check out her website (click), where you can find her portfolio (click), her blog (click), Instagram account (click) and book (click) .

I already did and I think her work looks beautiful, I am sure your quilts will be in good hands. Look at this!

Her website and blog are full of inspiration and for us Dutch people her blog posts on moving to The Netherlands and the first impressions and experiences of her and her family are also really interesting.

So if you have a quilt that you want to hand over to a longarm quilter to be finished, give Rachel a try.

And now it is time to do the household chores before it gets too hot to do so.
Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my blog,  until the next time we meet again in this place,

Phyllis

Note: the last 4 pictures were provided by and published with the approval of Rachel.

March 2019

So this is the month we really got fed up with winter. It usually does not affect us much health wise, but this winter season has been different. At the end of January we all got the flu (in spite of the Mr. and myself’s yearly flu jabs) and after that we were left with severe coughing fits that just would not go away so in March that meant a trip to the doctor’s for all three of us (including our daughter Eline) and we were all diagnosed with whooping cough!

This really has been the strangest winter health wise, roll on spring!

Things looked like spring at Ans’ when we (Ans, Betty (click) and I ) for our Kleine Bee (Small Bee) as Betty named it. Small but sweet, it was a really nice day filled with colorful fabrics, lovely projects, lots of chatting and a yummy lunch.

Betty was working on one of her own designs, Ans was working on the Vriendinnetjes Ketting (Girlfriends Chain) she started during Betty's workshop in February at Dorry’s (click) and (click)  and I worked on Rosa Biddlecombe (click).

Ans’ and Betty’s cute pincushions on one of Betty’s projects, it certainly was spring on the table 😊 

Both Betty and Ans always spend part of the year in France, where a.o. they find lovely vintage French fabrics. Ans gifted me an adorable piece for a Rosa Biddlecombe block:-

And this is the block I made with it:

It will become a cherished part my Rosa Biddelcombe quilt of which I finished the center,  mostly fabrics from the stash of Margaret Mew (click).

Until next month everyone, thank you for visiting my blog.

Phyllis

December 2018

Still catching up on those blog posts I should have written some time ago…
so here’s a little post about the goings on in December. No use showing a picture of our Christmas tree anymore (it was small, but sweet) or our Christmas celebrations (again small, but sweet) but Christmas is also a time of exchanging gifts and gifts were exchanged.

Both Emma (click) and I had had birthdays recently so early December I sent a package to France with her pressies which included a little framed mini-mini top:

These are 3/4”  triangles, I used one of Jeanneke’s (click)  stamps to make this, a fun little project but I would not have the patience to make a quilt of this 😉

My Christmas present from my Mr. this year was this lovely little doggy pincushion, obtained from Dorry (click), I think it is supposed to be a dachshund but it think is looks just like Whopper!

There was a visit by Karen (click) and her very well mannered dog Freia, Karen is one of the busiest persons I know, she always has stories to tell and projects to show, at the time she was knitting pairs of Norwegian patterned mittens, yes pairsssss, one pair for each family  member of her family, and she had time to quilt too. All that in addition to running her own business (click)

As you can see, I worked on the circles of my Sugar Plum quilt, pattern by Judy Newman (click) , four more finished

And there was a really nice day in Amsterdam,  a Christmas holiday tradition for our family, it is always dark and grey when we are there around Christmas time and all the pretty lights make for such a special atmosphere:- 

Apropos, birthday presents….  you may remember I celebrated my birthday with Emma in France in October (click) during Margaret Mew’s (click) workshop in Emma’s shop (click)?
Emma thought of the most wonderful gift, unfortunately it got stuck at the French customs (think they liked it so much they would not let go of it!), by the time the package was released it I was back home in The Netherlands, so Emma brought it with her to Houston in November……the pattern and templates for Margaret’s Rosa Biddlecombe quilt a n d  starter fabric kits from Margaret’s own stash!

I always love going through other quilters’ stash, don’t you (is ‘stash-envy’ a thing?) and these fabrics are soooo beautiful!

A great project for 2019!

Phyllis