A great way to start the New Year!

Maybe a bit late and not quite according to etiquette, but still, I wish everyone a healthy, happy and creative 2014!

And to start off the right way: a finish!

Yes, I finished ‘Eline’s Stars’ on time to give it to her at Christmas, so at 16 years she finally has her own quilt (shame on me, I still have not finished her babyquilt… but that is another story…) Here it is:

Statistics:

Size: 148 cm x 190 cm / 58”x 75”
Block size: 15 cm / 6”
Quilting: machine- (Aurifil 40/2) and handquilting (with DMC Perle 8, loved this!)
Fabrics: most of them given to me by fellow bee members, so their memories are in this quilt as well!

Batting: Quilters Dream Blend (70% cotton, 30% poly) which was great for machine quilting but as it stays a bit stiffer than the 100% cotton batting I usually work with I don’t think I will use it again.

Of course the quilt has a label:

 

With regards to the binding, I tried something new: usually I make my binding with the aid of a bias tape maker. Once finished that means the binding is a single strip of fabric around the quilt.
This time I used Jenny Doan’s method of the Missouri Quilt Star company, which not only makes the binding a double layer of fabric (especially great for this quilt, because it is already getting a lot of use) but also the ‘trick’ used to bring the two ends of binding together (at 8.30 mins into the video) works!  When you have finished the binding you really cannot see where you started/ended your binding, it comes together perfectly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCWpxBRs20

 

 

This will definitely be my way of binding from now on for larger quilts that get some real use.

So this was one Xmas present, the other was a New Year’s trip to London. For years Eline and I wanted to see the Xmas lights in London, but DH was not keen (“Much too cold to be walking the streets that time of year..”). So this year, rather than asking if we should go, I said Eline and I are going and asked DH if he wanted to join us. He said…. no.
OK, that made 2 of us (in the worst weather I have ever had in London: gales and lots of rain) in London on the first weekend of this year.

An impression:

After arriving the first thing we visited was beautiful Leadenhall Market, right in the City.

It is famous for this:

 

 

Because it is right in the City of London, the contrast between the old and the new is rather stark, coming out of the market at one end the building next to it is this, the Lloyds Building:

And on the other end, looking up, you see the same contrast:

After years of wanting to do so, we did finally see the Xmas lights:

 

I loved the above lights on King’s Road

And the view from the upper floor of the Starbucks in King’s Road was this

Eline making pictures in the middle of Regent Street while trying not to be blown away by the gales

Street food! This smelled soooo delicious, unfortunately we came across it straight after breakfast so we had to give it a miss (next time ;-)!  )

One of the highlights of this trip for me: a visit to Shaukat with a basement full of Liberty fabrics!

Beware though: this is not a quilt shop, so no fat quarters, the minimum they will cut for you is half a meter, but there are some scraps…

Soooo, that was a wonderful way to start 2014, hope your year started off great too!

Phyllis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



All things Xmas!

Oh dear, I started my Xmas preparations a bit late this year, so yesterday I had to go down town for some last minute shopping. One of my favourite shops around this time is De Bijenkorf department store, their Xmas decorations are always wonderful! I took this picture of their huge Xmas tree:-

Speaking of Xmas trees, remember I was soooooo angry last week? Guess what..??

Yes, I took this picture too yesterday afternoon, the tree in the Passage is back!!! Hubertine and Sandra already told me on Friday they were putting it up so I had to go and take a look for myself and yes, there it was!
Usually it is up weeks before Xmas and then there are lots of things going on, carol singers etc. It is all much too late for that now, but at least the tree is back, the Passage looks much better now and there were more people around too. I can only guess that all the protests worked. And I am sooo pleased to see this tree again.

Next year, when the Apple Store has opened, you bet I will have a chat with the manager and go on the Apple Facebook page again in time to try my best to get the tree there again!

Of course, there is a Xmas tree at home too, full of soft decorations.

 

Getting into the Xmas swing of things was greatly helped by Dorry’s wonderful Xmas party last weekend. She did a wonderful job, greatly helped by Dorien and her mum and a friend.

Hubertine and I went together and we enjoyed it so much!

 

We had some yummy food

 

Dorry organised a lovely little workshop, nothing too difficult so plenty of opportunity to enjoy the company at the table of some very nice ladies.

 

 

 

Dorry introduced her newest member of staff, Pluis:-

And Dorien showed her beautiful version of the Love Entwined quilt top:-

After all this inspiration I was ready to start planning Xmas dinner, looking at old Xmas issues of my favourite food magazine, making lists..

In between all this I am turbo-quilting, trying to get this quilt ready for Xmas to give to my teenage daughter Eline.  I can safely write that here, she seldom looks here.

 

First I machine quilted criss cross across the quilt and then I decided to handquilt the colored centers of the stars to give it a little more texture (I love handquilting, it just takes so long).



I used DMC Perle 8 and big stitches, I did a workshop big stitch quilting by Laura some time ago at Den Haan & Wagenmakers, it is the first time I used this technique and I loved it. So relaxing not to put your quilt in a hoop and trying to make small stitches! Easier on the eyes too!

The binding is ready and waiting to be attached too!

 

 

While all this is going on I love listening to all the Xmas tunes on the radio, there was one song I kept on hearing and couldn’t get it out of my head, my favourite this Xmas season. When they played it again a few days ago I decided to look it up on the playlist of that radiostation.

And this is what was…..that boy……. before all that puberty madness started :-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0t8w-0GO8Q

 

 

The same boy singing the same song but very nervously (the hands!) for President Obama..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGi5wwsQ-Kw

Because the coming period will be busy I doubt I will get a chance for a blog post before the end of the year. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading my blog and has left comments, I really appreciate it. 2013 Was my first full year with a blog and I enjoyed it so much! A heartfelt “Thank you!”, is in order,  it is great ‘meeting’ you all this way and I hope we will ‘see’ each other again this way (or maybe in person) next year.

Wishing everyone a lovely, wonderful, cozy Christmas with family and friends! Enjoy, enjoy!

Phyllis

 

 

 

 



Quilting with friends

Quilting with friends is always lovely and often very helpful! Recently Anita helped me to spray sandwich my wonky star quilt. Not only that but when I started this quilt she let me and Eline go through her scrap boxes to find fabric for this quilt and we found a lot! It appears that her scrap boxes were filled with scraps from another bee member, Irma, so her fabrics wound up in this quilt as well, as did some scraps from Jantine. Great fun to work with friends’scraps!

 

And last week was a lovely, quillty kind of week.

 

First, on Saturday I went to Petra’s shop again. Hadn’t been there in a long time and as usual the place was full of inspiration.

 

Then on Tuesday, I went over to Emma’s, (quilt)friend/almost neighbour for a morning of sewing. She is working on the Robin’s Nest quilt, so beautiful. I admire her, not only because her work is so precise, but she has a quality which I lack: she finishes one quilt before starting another………no ufo’s at Emma’s!

 

 

That same evening it was bee night at my place. Unfortunately three ladies could not make it but still lots of different work around the table.

And the next day a friend came over from Heemstede for an afternoon of sewing. Like me she has had a period of several years without quilting and recently took it up again. She is taking the applique course at The Sampler, with great results.

 

Having friends over is a nice opportunity to try some baking again, I made these: sour cream pop cookies.

They are like soft cookies and they were yummy. I used this recipe, but without the frosting. And for the ‘shortening’ I used about 75 grams of margarine.
The cups and spoons measurements mentioned in this recipe are the regular American sizes.

 

I got my sets over 25 years ago when a friend brought them from the US for me, at the time it was impossible to get them over here, but maybe these days they can be bought at  good cookery shops in The Netherlands also.

That was my week and it was nice one, how was yours?

Phyllis







A (sort of) finish and a fashion moment

Yes, the wonky stars quilt top is finished and Eline found her favourite backing fabric here..

This is only my second machine made quilt top and I have to say I am really pleased with my sewing machine, it (or is it a ‘she’?) did a great job

 

 

Apart from finishing this I managed to squeeze in another museum trip on a rainy afternoon, omg, there have been so many of those… I am so fed up with the rain, I can’t even begin to tell you, but this was a great trip to the Gemeentemuseum (Municipal Museum) in my hometown The Hague.

 

We were not the only ones though, more people were looking for something to do that rainy Sunday afternoon:

 



Of course, the famous Chanel suits

 



Jewelry, I loved this cuff bracelet

 



And this, a bill for Marlene Dietrich, she sure loved Chanel!

 



Some Chanel wisdom, she was one clever lady!

 



Apart from this exhibition you are allowed to visit the whole museum with your entry ticket. There was also an exhibition on Lalique glassware  and one on Delft blue, with the tall tulip vases I love:

 



interesting in this exhibition: there were pieces of modern artists of their version of the Delft blue tulip vases:

 



An antique Delft blue birdhouse…. It looks cute, but that poor bird… no space at all…

 



If you have time I recommend a visit, it was an interesting afternoon, well worth it. Now back to today, busy day ahead so I better get on with it, would like to get some quilting done today as well. Next blogpost I will show you the finished wonky stars quilt top when it is sandwiched and hopefully a Phebe update, enjoy your day!

Phyllis