Verandah view and other projects

I finished Cheryl's first block of her Verandah Views. I think this is a lovely BOM! The two birds in the nest are still missing, but I want them to be gray and still have to find some thread for that. And yes, Jutta, I know, I should have ironed my project before taking a picture ...


Here's another part of my 4 season quilt. One more row of stars to go and a few more stitcheries. Somehow swaps make me very uncertain of what I am doing. Luckily I have a daughter who makes me feel very good and encourages me to go on the way I had planned!

These colors are better!

Nine little bird

I finally put away my 6 reindeers and let these little birds take their place. They always remind me of spring that will soon be here, even though we still have some very cold days ahead of us.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the things you are doing!

Take care (O:

Applique and calendar quilt challenge 2009

This is my applique try out. I found out very quickly, which is my favorite. It is the one using freezer paper (bottom bird). It has volume and looks soft. I know the middle one with the vliesofix looks best, but somehow I don't like making the blanket stitch and it looks too perfect. The top one, using Tilda's method looks uneven and is too thick.
I will have to practice on the freezer paper applique, but one has to start sometime!

See, I need some practice ...

Here are the first 25 days of my 2009 calendar quilt. It really is a challenge and becoming very large the way I had planned it. I like the green stripes, bringing some rest in the whole.


On Saturday I received another pin cushion pattern with materials, this time by Leanne's house. This is definitely my favorite one! Four pin cushions in one and I haven't even finished any of the other ones yet. Shame on me. But I guess those are wisps for this year!
In the green thread you can see the pin that goes with every pin cushion package.

And Saturday when I was in Aachen, Germany with my husband, I bought myself this book. It has such wonderful patterns in it. And even if you don't make any of it, looking at all the beautiful things is very much fun too! Very inspiring.

Have a happy day!

Blog change

As you see, today I changed the layout of my blog. I went from two to three columns, trying to get it better organized for myself (I could do this thanks to my sweet husband, who was willing to put his time into figuring out how to do this!). Due to this change, I can 'only' choose out of 75 backgrounds, not liking many of them. I compromised with this one, but am not quite happy with it. I will have to spend some more time on it one of these days and who knows, blogger might have some new backgrounds soon.

So no picture today. I did start my applique try outs, thanks to Jos from Cybele's Patch, who was so kind as to send me some freezer paper, so that I could try before I buy (in the Netherlands we have a programm Try before you die ...). I'm trying three methods, one with freezer paper, as you might have guessed, one the way Tilda appliques and one with the button hole stich (by hand). I will show the results soon.
I am doing this 'try out' because applique is not really my thing and I am trying to figure out which one suits me best and looks best for me. Then I might start the challenge A Tisket a Tasket Bunny Hill Basket.

Have a happy day!