My last project for 2009 - Schnibbles Sweet Liberty Tuffets

My last project for 2009 are four of the seven Schnibbles Sweet Liberty Tuffets, by Miss Rosie's Quilts. Just in time to join the Schnibbles Parade, that you can see on Sherri's and Sinta's blog on January 1. Please have a look there, because it is so much fun to see how suprisingly a pattern can turn out when made by so many different people. It is very inspiring.The smallest strips in these tuffets are 1/4" finished and the smalles"t square 3/8". I have never made something so tiny and never knew I would enjoy it so much!

Mijn laatste project voor 2009 zijn vier van de zeven tuffets (soort pincushion) van Miss Rosie's Quilts' patroon Schnibbles Sweet Liberty Tuffets. Ik ben nog net op tijd voor de Schnibbles Parade, die te zien is op Sherri's en Sinta's blog. Het is echt de moeite waard om eens een kijkje te nemen vanaf 1 januari. Dan kun je zien hoe verschillend een patroon er uit kan zien, wanneer het door meerdere mensen gemaakt is.
De smalste reep is 1/4" finished en het kleinste vierkantje 3/8". Ik heb nog niet eerder zoiets kleins gemaakt en ik had ook niet gedacht dat ik het zo leuk zou vinden!

The fabrics I used are from a Christmas present I received from Monika, a charm pack by Sandy Gervais for moda - Flirtations. It is so much fun making these tuffets with a charm pack! You get so much variation.
Monika did not only send me the charm pack, but also a very sweet bag and some yummy chocolate, that I will blog another time (not the chocolate ;o). Thank you so much, Monika, for sending these lovely presents for Christmas to me! It was a very big suprise!

De stofjes die ik gebruikt heb, zijn van een kerstcadeau dat ik van Monika heb gekregen, een charm pack van Sandy Gervais for moda - Flirtations. Het is heel erg leuk zo'n project met zo veel verschillende stofjes te kunnen maken. Je hebt dan heel veel mogelijkheden.
Monika heeft mij ook nog een heel leuk tasje cadeau gedaan en echte Duitse Lindt chocolade. Dat laat ik een volgende keer zien (behalve de chocolade ;o) Bedankt lieve Monika, voor deze mooie cadeaus! Het was een grote verrassing voor mij en je hebt me er een enorm plezier mee gedaan!



In the previous Schnibbles Parade I was very lucky to be one of the winners of Carrie's price, the designer of the Schnibbles. The prices for the parade and chosen randomly!
If you look at the picture on the bottom right side, you can see the pattern for the Sweet Liberty Tuffets. You should really make one of Carrie's patterns. They are so much fun to make, very well described and there is always something new to learn!
Thank you so much, Carrie, for the wonderful materials and patterns you have send me. It is the first Layer Cake that I ever had. Wonderful!!!

In de vorige Schnibbles Parade was ik de gelukkige winnaar van een van Carrie's prijzen. Zij is de ontwerpster van de Schnibbles patronen. De prijzen worden willekeurig gekozen!
Wanneer je rechts onder op de foto kijkt, zie je het patroon van de Sweet Liberty Tuffets. Je zou echt eens moeten proberen een van Carrie's patronen te maken. Ze zijn erg leuk om te doen, er is een zeer goede uitleg en je leert altijd iets nieuws!
Hartelijk bedankt, Carrie, voor de geweldige materialen en patronen! Het is de allereerste Layer Cake voor mij. Zo bijzonder!!!

This is what will keep my son and his nephew from England busy tonight. FIREWORKS!!! They have started this morning at 10 am (that is when they are allowed to start) have been inside now and then to get warm, eat and drink something and then went off again. It is something they look forward to each year. And it is so fun when they call us to ask to have a look at their fireworks (O:

Dit is what mijn zoon en zijn neef uit England vandaag heeft bezig gehouden vanaf 10 uur vanochtend. VUURWERK!!! Af en toe komen ze eens naar binnen om zich op te warmen en iets te eten en drinken. Zo nu en dan worden we erbij geroepen om naar het siervuurwerk te kijken (O:

Wishing you all the happiest and warmest wishes for 2010!

Gezellige, gelukkige en warme wensen voor 2010!

On the fourth day of Christmas (vierde kerstdag)

(please click on the photo to get a better look)

A lovely Christmas wall hanging made by Jutta, that came to me last week. Look at her wonderful cross stitches and the sweet white stars to hold the hangers. Jutta has so much patience with her cross stitch. It is incredible! Have a look here, here and here!
Thank you, my dear Jutta, for this wonderful present! This will stay on our wall for quite a while (O:


Dit prachtig kruissteekquiltje heeft Jutta voor mij gemaakt.

Jutta maakt heel mooie kruissteekwerkjes! Daar heeft ze ongelooflijk veel geduld voor. Klik hierboven op here, here and here.
Bedankt lieve Jutta, voor dit heel mooi cadeau! Dit quiltje zal zeker nog een aantal weken blijven hangen (O:

On the third day of Christmas

(please click on the picture to get a better look)

Look at the loveliness that came to me from Dzintra. Her stitches are so incredibly fine! Thank you, lieve Dzintra for this lovely present, that fills our home with the Christmas Spirit!

Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas

On this wonderful Christmas day I want to show you my Christmas in July presents that arrived just in time for Christmas! Theme: Gingerbread men (O:

(Please click on the photo to get a better look!)

At the beginning of this year I joined the Christmas in July swap that was organized by Stephanie and Linda. Darlene was my secret swap partner, who would make me presents that I should have received in July. Unfortunately, her package did not make it here. How very sad, not for me, but for the presents Darlene had made )O: In August Darlene contacted me, wondering if her Christmas in July presents had ever made it to my home. She wanted to make me new presents right away, feeling bad about it. I told her to wait for at least two months, having experience in parcels reaching me too late. One of the parcels that got lost did eventually get to me at the beginning of this month after 4.5 months, but unfortunately Darlene's never came.

Darlene didn't let me know she had made me a lovely package again, so you can imagine how very suprised and happy I was, when her second parcel did arrive (((O:
Look at the lovely table topper she made. It's as though it was made for our table and it suits my red Christmas decorations perfectly!
And look at the wonderful stocking and the cute gingerbread men ornaments. One is hanging in our tree and the other is at the top of a garland.

Thank you so very much, dear Darlene, for having made me a new 'Christmas in July' parcel with such lovely presents!!!

PS: If ever the first parcel arrives, I will let you know ;o)

Ready for the challenge quilt and Christmas spirit

In a previous post I mentioned that in January 2010 Marie-Jozé at Handmade by Mai will be organizing a day to make charity quilts for children with a severe or chronical illness. I asked ladies from abroad and of course the Netherlands to help me make blocks for the quilts. Eleven wonderful ladies from the UK, Finland, Iceland, Australia, the USA, Canada and New Zealand said they would love to be part of this project! Thank you so much!!!

I asked two webshops if they were willing to donate fabrics and Kathy Mack at Pink Chalk Fabrics was so very kind to donate fabric for at least two tops and the backing for two, one for a girl (red) and one for a boy (yes, blue). Please go visit her webshop! She has wonderful fabrics (O:

The fabrics Kathy donated.

I added one and I wonder if you can see which one it is. I have washed and ironed the fabrics yesterday and cut them today, to be able to post them tomorrow.

If you still want to join, please don't hesitate and send me an email. Maybe I can then even finish a third top (O:

This week a parcel arrived from Satu to my home. Look at the lovely heart she made with a lovely Christmas wish. If you look closely, you can see that she used gold thread to her silk thread for the words. And she made the birds identical. Lovely work, Satu! Thank you very much, my dear friend! This means a lot to me!
BTW the chocolate was very good too, Satu (((O: We all loved it. And it was my first post from Finland!


And another parcel arrived my way from Melanie. A bag, lovely kitchen towel and playing cards from The Lake District, which is about an hour away from where she lives. I so much enjoy looking at these images. It gives me the feeling as though I am there!
The cards are very special too! It gives you such a good impression of the district. I have similar cards to discover California. I think I might start to collect them. A nice way to discover cities, states and countries.
Melanie added another present, which is also for my mother. So I haven't opened that one yet. I was going to go to my parents today, but due to the snow and the bad road conditions, we decided to stay home.
Thank you so much, sweet Melanie, for the lovely presents and my mother was very happy and suprised to hear that you thought of her!


These are some envelopes with cards inside that I made for the children that I help. I really enjoyed doing this (O:


I didn't make this stitchery quilt this year, but I wanted to show it again. It is so nice to be able to look at it again during these wonderful days, so I wanted to share it with you.

I have been working on my sampler blocks, but I am too lazy to go upstairs to make a picture. It is too cold there now. So I'll share those with you next time.

"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart."

-Jane Austen-

Ho Ho Ho Merry Fat Quarter Shop Christmas

Hello everybody ~ right this moment there are little elves working for the Fat Quarter Shop sliding down the internet wires to visit all kinds of blogs and see what lovely quilters all over the world have decided to ask Santa for Christmas.

The lists are long and very diverse but oh so much fun to look at. Once the elves get back to Santa on the North Pole, will Santa really be able to decide what wishes he will grant? He promised to do so, and as the members of the Fat Quarter shop said: Pinky-sworn, actually. Everything is soooooooo very pretty and all those bloggers are such kind women. Maybe he will let the elves decide, or chance, or ....... oh well, whatever they decide, I had great fun looking at what I would ask - ho ho ho!

I would choose this pattern and to the pattern I would choose the following fabrics from Love U by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics.

The Pretty Pink Love U Fat Quarter BundleDeb Strain for Moda Fabrics (instead of layer cake)

the Bella Solids Fig Tree Cream Yardage for the background (I would however ask the members of the Fat Quarter Shop which one would fit best. They give great advise and are always very helpful!!!)

Love U Pretty Pink Lottsa Dots Yardage for the sashing and the binding

...the Love U Pretty Pink Who's Who Yardage for the first border ...

and the Love U Pretty Pink Trees In The Park Yardage for the second binding.

Now wouldn't that end up to be a lovely quilt, dear elves!!! If you visit my blog again next year around this time, please let me know. I will make sure that the quilt will be ready by then, if Santa decides to make my wish come true (^-^)

:O) Dear elves, have fun visiting all those other blogs (O:

(all pictures were taken from the Fat Quarter Shop)

Christmas is coming soon

Jos and I both joined the Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap Robyn and Clare organized. We were a bit suprised that we were matched in this international swap, since Jos and I are almost next door neighbors. But how fun it was to meet each other for the second time (((O: We had a lovely afternoon chatting, opening our presents, chatting, showing some of our work, chatting, looking at the hexagons Lyn send me for a Memories Miniature Quilt Challenge, chatting, drinking tea and eating wonderful 'kerstbrood' - my first this year, chatting and after a couple of hours having to say good bye. Jos is such a wonderful person to talk with and listen to! I am so lucky to have met her via blogging, I think about a year ago now (((O:
Look at the lovely tree ornament Jos made for me and the mug she got me which is so very very pretty! She filled it with candies. Mostly I am 'good' and eat only a few candies a day. But the little hearts, she put in always taste like more, after I have one ... and another one ...
Thank you for the lovely afternoon, Jos! I hope we do it again in 2010!!!

Yesterday I received my order from Gaby, who has a lovely webshop. To it she added a gorgeous handmade card and a very sweet ornament. I am the lucky owner of three of Gaby's cards now! I think I will frame them soon (O: Thank you for the lovely Christmas presents, my dear friend Gaby!

Now about Gaby. She is the one whose package got lost in July. Last Saturday, I received a package from her. I was very suprised, not expecting anything. My suprise was even bigger, when I found a little shabby rose quilt inside, another lovely card and some yummy fabrics, which I recognized from the package she send me when we both thought the parcel really got lost after 2 months. When I wrote her a 'thank you' mail and wanted to see how long it took the parcel to get to me (I have a habbit of doing that), I saw the package was stamped 31.07!!! Can you imagine that?!?!? A long lost package came after 4,5 months!!! I am still wondering where it has been all those months ... I will post a picture of the very cute quilt next week. The light is no good at the moment and that would do it no justice!

Last Sunday I showed you the Rudolf I made at a quilting bee, which Mai taught us. She said she would give a class in them again, so I decided to join, since I knew I wouldn't make them at home. I managed to make two of them yesterday. One is already given to a very dear friend of mine and the other one is for a Christmas present.
Aren't they just lovely! And they are so much fun to make!!!



This morning Ger and I took Bibi for a nice walk in the sun after so many days of rain and gloomliness! Bibi was really enjoying herself (O: But when she joined us again after having wandered around a bit, we saw she had rolled herself into something that did not smell nor look good at all. There was a stream nearby, so Ger and I decided to put her into it. Poor poor Bibi. She doesn't like water and see how she looked after she got out... It looked so much worse than before, which you might not see so good on this picture. We have never seen her so dirty before and the stream seemed so clean...
After a nice and warm shower (which Bibi really does not like), she is now nice, soft and white again, where she has to be white. And ... she doesn't smell anymore ...



A few weeks ago I received these very pretty cards from Leanne. She made the photos to the cards herself and inside each card there is a lovely saying. Thank you Leanne, for the wonderful cards!!! They make me happy everytime I look at them.

My favorite saying on one of the cards:

This is my wish for you:

comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes,

rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart,

hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being,

faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt,

courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth.

Love to complete your life.

Lynnie Buttercup

And the 5 winners are ... Rudolf and Christmas Wish

As promised, I am going to announce the winners. I was very happy with all your comments and feel blessed with so many good friends that I have met over the past year. As said before, I added some people to my list, who didn't leave behind a comment, but who do visit my blog and email me regularly, such as my parents, one of my sisters and my sister-in-law (((O:

So here is Laura 'grabbing' into the bowl ...

and picking the following names:

If you can't read the names on the picture, the winners are: Laurie, Satu, Natima, Francis and Maria (O: Sorry I can't give you the links to the blogs, but my computer is not doing what I want it to do and is constantly breaking off.

Laurie, you are the first one to choose from the giveaways, then come Satu, Natima, Francis and Maria. I will email the 'left overs' as soon as the first, second etc. has made her choice.

Congratulations!

On Thursday we had our third Quilting Bee. Look at the lovely project Mai made with us! It is Rudolf. Isn't he cute (O: It was really fun making him and I hope to make some more!

And last but not least, my finished Christmas Wish, which I have finished thanks to Melanie and Karen. This one will travell to the United States I hope this week. I am so bad at getting things posted, since the post office moved away )o:

I once again want to ask your attention for the Dromenquilts in my previous post. Six kind ladies UPDATE 10 LADIES !!! MAKE THAT 11!!! from all over the world have already volunteered to make one or two blocks. Please join this good cause! Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio has donated fabric for the quilts, which I will send to you as soon as I receive it.

Next week I will tell you about my parcel that I received 4 months later and some other projects I finished.

No quote today, because my computer is really freaking me out ...

Schnibbles - Picnic, Sharp Points, Giveaways and Charity Quilts

I finally finished my Schnibbles Picnic by Miss Rosie's Quilt. A wonderful quilt, which turned out very pretty! This picture was taken with artificial light and does not do the colors justice.

For this quilt I used the range "Have a Sheri Berry Holiday", by Sheri Berry Designs. Wonderful and happy fabrics to work with! If you click on the picture, you will see that the inner borders have the text of two Christmas songs: Have yourself a merry little Christmas and Jingle Bells. I really enjoyed doing that. And for the corners I used bells, for which I had to cut the fabric very uneconomically, because most bells were way too large.
The outer border is so pretty, with about 20 different fabrics. The charm packs 'only' had 20 different fabrics double.


Here is a close up of the bottom right corner. Click on the picture and you will see some words to the songs.
This quilt really needed a lot of time and attention, but I think in the end it turned out very pretty (O:

Yesterday I took classes in "De scherpe puntjes" - the sharp points, given by Jacqueline de Jonge. She is the designer of Becolourful, which some of you might know. Jacqueline also teaches in the USA several times a year. She is a wonderful person, very skilled and calm. She has a very pleasant way of teaching.

This was my result. I must say, it was quite difficult, because we were not only taught to make sharp points in a circle, but also to sew a circle within in circle. Jacqueline also showed us how to
use fabric economically. That was the part where I made most of my mistakes. So at the end I decided to do it 'wastefully' which is not really like me, but if you have to undo your work several times like me, you decide for it.

There are two very nice giveaways! One at Sinta's Pink Pincushion, which ends today and ...

... a suprise one at Alda's Gepatchtes und Gesticktes, which ends on December 16th.

That reminds me, that I will announce the winners of my giveaway on Sunday December 6th, since Laura won't be home on the 1st and she is the one to draw the names (O:

Now, I have finally found the perfect gloves. At the quilting bee I asked some ladies where you can get gloves for 'easy quilting'. At a regular house and garden shop. How difficult can it be *LOL* I have made my machine quilting quite difficult without them, but then it is even more fun to have them now!

And last, but definitely not least, I want to ask your attention for the following. In the Netherlands quilters make charity quilts for children with a severe or chronical illness. Stichting Jopie's Dromenquilts collects these quilts and wants every child who needs one to receive one.

In January 2010 Marie-Jozé at Handmade by Mai will be organizing a day at Naaimachine Totaal in Kerkrade to make charity quilts. I made one in May as you can see here. I was thinking that it would be very special to receive several blocks from abroad, so I can finish a quilt from it. Of course blocks from the Netherlands are more than welcome too!!!

Please email me if you are interested!

"From myself I am copper, through you, friend, I am gold.
From myself I'm a stone, but through you, I am a gem"
- Rumi

A finish, two 'working-ons' and vintage hexagons

Ta-da, I finished the Advent's calendar for Laura. As you can see, I took your advice and used the white fabric with Christmas trees. The colors are much brighter than shown on the picture. Have a look at the next picture. It is a bit better.



I found this pattern at Sew, Mama, Sew, a wonderful blog! It was designed by Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! A very inspiring blog!
I changed the pattern a bit, since I thought the fabric was already busy enough, to make the blocks 'jump' as well. I didn't add the numbers either.
Laura loved it and will take it with her tomorrow (^-^)

A while ago I won one of Bev's giveaways. I chose the fabric with the large roses, because Bev often writes about her garden on her blog and there she mentions the wonderful historical names of the roses she has. This fabric will always remind me of her. Thank you, dear Bev for letting me win this wonderful fabric! Bev was one of the first people I started blogging and mailing with. She is a very special and talented friend (O:

And look what else arrived with the post this week ... the real vintage blocks from Lyn. Go here, here and here to read more about these blocks and the project. It is very special to have them here in my home. I asked Jos from Cybele's Patch to help me with making hexagons for this project, since to me, she is the hexagon expert! Looking forward to see you again soon, dear Jos!

And here is my progress on the Picnic Schnibbles for November. When I joined this challenge, I thought it would be a fun and fast project for each month. It is definitely fun but not fast at all. Lots of cutting, drawing lines, sewing, ironing, sewing, cutting, ironing, sewing etc etc. Sixteen lovely baskets to be made and then put together in a special way. Once again I learned to read the instructions before starting, because quite at the end of the pattern it shows you different ways of sewing the flowers and baskets. Of course I had already finished the initial way to make them, so I could only make 2 of the 5 choices.

Now this is definitely a WISP! I finished this top a long long time ago but was not sure what to do with it. Now my sister-in-law asked me if I would make her a quilt one day. She loves blue, so I searched for this top. And here it is. Bibi is not quite sure whether she likes it, but when I sent my SIL the pictures, she definitely wanted me to finish it for her. I think I will add three borders to it.

And this is a project I made a few years ago. While I was looking for something, I came across it. It is a big pillow, about 75 cm x 75 cm. The blocks are made by samplers for curtains. I am glad I found it again!

I saw this project at Sarah's If only I had chocolate. Kathreen at Whip Up is organizing a quilt block drive for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Australia. You can find all the details and the pattern for it here. I joined in for one block and hope you will too.

And if you have some more time left, here is another project for an organisation that fights childhood cancer. The tutorials given for the Friendship Stars and Friendship Star Variation are great to make, so have a try. Email the ladies at FabFanatic here if you are interested.

Then, there is still some room for 'European quilters' to join the virtual Euro Quilting Bee. Please let me know if you want to join. Look on my right sidebar to see some of the lovely quilters who have joined.

I love the quote I found for this week. It reminds me of all the lovely people I have met over the past year in blogland. Remember to join the giveaway in the previous post!

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

~ Leo Buscaglia ~

Giveaway time!!!

I've been planning to have a giveaway for a long time. For more than a year I've been blogging regularly and I didn't know my world would change in such a lovely way. I have met so many kind, generous, loyal, encouraging and dear friends. Thank you all for being there and having met you!!!

This giveaway is for all my loyal and regular visitors! I'd prefer you not to mention it on your blog. That way you also have a bigger chance to win (O: To my list I will also add those who do email with me about quilting and the things I make, but are unable to leave behind a comment.
All you have to do is leave behind a comment and be sure you have a reply mail. Tell me which giveaway you would prefer and why. The first winner is allowed to choose first, then the second etc. The fifth winner will get the 'left over'.
I chose patterns by some of my favorite designers.

The winners will be announced on December 1st

Gail Pan's 'friendship warms the heart' with the recommended threads included.

'A tisket a tasket' by Pieces from my Heart with some batik fabric.

'Butterful Magic' a bag pattern with stichery by Giggle Buttons. The sweet buttons are included.


Cinderberry Stitches 'The needle keeper' with the recommended threads included.


And finally a pattern by Melly & Me 'Black Forest', with three matching half fat quarters.

!!!!! GOOD LUCK !!!!!

Finally my last Christmas Wish block that I made together with Lyn, Karin and Melanie. It is now time to finish the quilt (O: We set a date to finish the whole quilt in three weeks. Enough time to send it abroad then so it will be there by Christmas!


Look what the postman brought me yesterday. Isn't this just wonderful!!! It's the Moda Bake Shop Sampler. It's a great way to preview the new spring Moda 2010 collections. A booklet is also added to it, with a collection of templates, layouts and the history of charm quilts.
It is so much fun to look at it and touch the fabrics!

'In the middle of every dificulty lies opportunity.'

- Albert Einstein

PS: I finished my Advent Calendar top and quilted it. For the sashing I used the fabric with the trees. Thank you for your advise! I will post it as soon as it is finished.
There are no Web Sampler Celbration blocks this time, since I am still waiting for the last two to arrive.