Tuesday 27 December 2016

Foep quilt

Today I started a new quilt called: 'Foep en 't vogelhoedje'. It is a quilt with a story about cats and birds. The pattern is by: Supergoof and easy to order, look at her blog on the top-right corner.

In November I joined a workshop given by Ingrid van der Harst (Supergoof. The location that day was Quiltshop Vlijtig Liesje at Tienhoven (the Netherlands). I visited this shop for the first time and will certainly go again. It is a really fun shop in her beautiful garden, run by a nice lady called Hanneke Kwakkenbos.

 It is fun to make!


 It took some time until I found the right fabrics, but eventually I did....and what a mess I made....

Lizzy (our dachshund) doesn't mind, as long as we are together.

Wish you a good last week of the year!

GroetjesAnnemieke




Friday 4 November 2016

Back with a new quilt top in green

 Sometimes a new quilt just starts with inspiration from a walk in the woods....

we walked on this estate called 'Elswout' and looked through a window in an old shed...
I post regularly on 'Instagram' under the name of 'annemiekebears', as I did with this picture. So if I'm not here on Blogger I 'll probably be on Instagram:)

A nice view from my bike taken early in the morning...

And some fabrics I had for a while now. The two left ones are older quilt fabrics and therefore in a sale, rather cheap. The right one is a very soft and worn bed sheet, I bought in England in a car booth sale.

After I cut up a lot of fabrics in squares of 10 by 10 cm I put them on point and arranged them ( on my design wall) over and over again until they formed dark and light parts.
I used this concept before when I made this quilt in blue.

 Sewing together is easiest done in diagonal rows and iron the seams one way (tricky photo because the iron was quite hot ;)

I used two liberty fabrics and two double gauze fabrics for the first time ever. The liberties are a bit thin but in between the other cottons they are all right. The double gauze fabrics are really soft, I'm happy with them.

Then I took the top outside today, the sun being very weak, but typical for the November month.


The beans are dried here in the abandoned allotments...all the gardeners had to leave because the land is sold to a developer.


I find it no problem if there is not enough fabric for one row. I just search for one that is close enough and has the same value from a distance. See the red cardinal on the last different square in the right hand corner?

A friend of mine described the quilt as 'a stress reducer because of the soothing colours'. I think she said it just right, don't you think?

My little doggy friend, Lizzy was waiting for me until the photos were taken. She is sweet isn't she?

Have a very nice weekend,

GroetjesAnnemieke






Tuesday 16 August 2016

Feather quilting on my Amish quilt


Yesterday I practiced free motion quilting again on my Amish inspired top and it was fun!!! I showed this top  already in April here.

This picture is taken in the sun to show the stitching. The fabric is actually black, but looks a bit grey here because the sun is shining so bright.

The red and blue fabrics are dyed by a friend of mine and they almost glow in the sun.

 The strange quilted leaves are inspired by an old Welsh quilt.

I started to practice feather quilting on another quilt and I really like doing this!!!
I used my Pfaff expression 4.0. Quilting in the black cotton was no problem but in the more sturdier blue and red fabric the quilting was difficult.  My thread broke several times.  So this gives me something to think about.... My friend who taught me how to free motion quilt feathers gave advice to search for a Yuki (or Juki). I can't get the same machines like in the US but this is  good one too: juki-tl-98p
So on  my wish list it is:) May be I can find this machine second hand, probably difficult....

 The back of the quilt.

Here it is drying after washing in the washing machine.

And final picture of the quilt on the wall.

Size: 88 cm x 111 cm (inches: 34.5 "x 44")
Quilting thread: Invisafil by Wonderfil in dark grey and red.
Batting: 80% cotton- 20 % polyester
Sewing machine: Pfaff Expression 4.0

Happy sewing!!!

Groetjes
Annemieke

Saturday 30 July 2016

Meeting Sarah Fielke

Thursday the 28th of July I joined Sarah Fielke's workshop at  Dorry's  quiltshop in Overloon:  Quilt it & Dotty . We made one block from her 'Sunflowers and hearts quilt'

Sarah's instructions were clear and she took the time to answer all of our questions even though we had a big group of ladies. We had a lot of fun and I met several ladies for the first time, but also other bloggers. 

The workshop included Sarah's new book: 'Old quilts new life' . I love to read and browse quilt books so I was more than happy with this. It is a fun book with lots of pictures including the antique quilts Sarah used for inspiration.
 
Funny enough I have just a small part on photo of her Sunflowers and hearts quilt. Lots of different pinks for the background which I like.

Dorry took care of us during the day. Lunch and Dinner were included, not to forget coffee, tea and cakes!

After dinner Sarah (on the right) told us her quilting life story and showed quilts from a suitcase taken all the way from Australia. This is her quilt called: 'Dotty for Dresden' (book: Material Obsession), which gave a big smile on Dorry's face (on the left). Both like dots!

This quilt is called: 'Charlotte sometimes' ( book: Material Obsession 2). On top is a small quilt from Sarah' s book: 'Little quilts', still on my wish list.

 I love this quilt called: 'All that and the hatter'. Future project???

 Sarah uses lots of animals in all her quilts, in sometimes unexpected places.

 And just one more photo of this quilt....

 We had lovely weather so the trunkshow was held in the garden.

Here a close-up of that small quilt Sarah is holding.

This is from the book: 'Quilting from little things', but my book is in Dutch and called: 'Quilten met Sarah Fielke'. So I only know the Dutch name of the quilt: 'Molentje' . It is a fun quilt with a beautiful fabric in the corners  from Anna Maria Horner.

 The border is very special and fun!!!

 Another fun quilt. If you want to learn how to make these words and letters you can go to Sarah's Craftsy class

Thanks Dorry and Sarah for this wonderful day!!!

If you want to read more about this day and see more pictures I saw two more posts: Ingrid and Anja

Have a creative weekend,

Groetjes
Annemieke




Thursday 21 July 2016

Sheep wool crocheted blanket

This big sheep wool blanket is finished.  It is made with homespun wool, by my father in law. He turned 98 this month and is still spinning wool every day. It must be a healthy occupation!!!


I washed it with Ecolan.  A nice product to make the wool soft. It still is a rather rough blanket but very good to keep us warm in the winter.



And a picture of little Lizzy having a rest with one of her favorite human friends, my daughter.

I posted  this post a day earlier without finishing it ....strange.

So have a nice weekend,

Groetjes
Annemieke

ps The quilt under the blanket is a 'civil war sampler' quilt

Sunday 17 July 2016

1718 quilt finished

My  '1718 coverlet' reproduction quilt is finished!!!!!







 The quilting is very simple and done with my Pfaff sewing machine with invisafil thread by Wonderfil around the little blocks and the big applique shapes.

The backing fabric is a Japanese woven fabric and a linen/ cotton mix fabric.

 I just wrote the information on the back with a permanent marker, I know... I didn't take the time  to make a nice label, but this does the job as well.

I washed the quilt and dried it flat on a bed, followed by a short 15 minutes program in the dryer.




The quilt is made by me using the pattern from the book by Susan Briscoe:

'The 1718 Coverlet: 69 Quilt Blocks from the Oldest Dated British Patchwork Coverlet'. 

Not only the pattern is in the book but it is also nice to read about the history from the original 1718 coverlet.
It was really a great joy to work on this quilt!!!!
Have a nice Sunday!



Groetjes 

Annemieke