Monday 30 May 2016

Finally I met Brigitte Giblin!





This was a happy day! I finally met Brigitte Giblin. She was in Amsterdam to give workshops at  Den Haan en Wagemakers.  Brigitte is a very talented, friendly and relaxed lady whose work I admire for quite some time now.
As some of you may know I made coverlets from her first book : 'Feathering the nest'  already in 2013 and 2014, see these two photo's below:




You see more pictures here  and here
'
I had hoped to meet her one day and now was the chance. She gave a workshop called :'Tricks of the trade- Fussy cutting workshop'.


We started with a package of templates (made by Brigitte herself:), paper shapes, laser cut 'paper windows', enough fabric, instructions, photo examples, a folded mirror for finding the right spot to cut into and coffee with sweets. Enough to keep us busy the whole morning!

 All kinds of shapes placed here by Brigitte: this is what she calls playing with fabric.

 She uses beautiful bags to hold all her stuff. You can find the pattern here

Did you ever think of finishing your coverlet (there is no quiltng on most of her coverlets like in the old days in England) with these kind of fringe? Fun isn't it?

Explanation by Brigitte how to choose your fabrics/colours here on the tessellations coverlet from her first book.

Look at this folded quilt's beautiful edge finish!!!

My photo's of this quilt don't do this quilt justice but this was all I could do in the room upstairs the shop.

 The edge again...I will make one someday!


This ( and on the other 3 photo's above) is a quilt you can find on the cover of her second book: 'Feathering the nest 2' and of course all the instructions in the book
.


How to use the mirror, great method!
Thanks Brigitte for all the tips and tricks on  this wonderful morning. I hope we will meet again some day.
I could not leave the shop without taking some fabric home....


And Than I left Amsterdam again.....full of happy memories.

Have a nice start of the week,

Groetjes
Annemieke


Saturday 28 May 2016

Old and used embroidery


Over a couple of weeks I found some embroidery in the thrift shops. I always look for embroidered table cloth or samplers. It gets harder but sometimes I'm lucky. This one is embroidered by hand. There are some stains on this one but I can use the good parts someday.

 This small tablecloth is machine embroidered but I like the chickens.



 A very soft and well used table cloth with lovely faded flowers.

 A unusual sampler in just a few colours: light and dark green, black, red and white. To see the white (on white) embroidery you really must look up close. There are lots of initials too but I don't see a date, can you see one?



 These two fabric covered boxes went home with me too. I can always use some extra storage....

See how busy it sometimes is when I look from our balcony onto the water? Nice view isn't it? Sometimes those bigger boats stop and tourists come on shore and do some bike trails here. Mostly American and Japanese tourists. We recognize them because they all ride the same bikes and wear helmets which most Dutch people here don't .

 And this is at our balcony on the other side....new plants in pot like this geranium without flowers only leaves....
 My little fountain.....fun to have a fountain on a balcony!

And Lizzy our little dachshund enjoying the sun. She always knows where to look for a sunny spot.

Have a nice and creative day,


Groetjes
Annemieke
 


Thursday 26 May 2016

a Lion, a Unicorn, Deer and Chicken




Here are some new blocks for my 1718 coverlet reproduction. I used all kind of fabrics like wool, linen, cotton, silk/linen combination and different ways of appliqué.

This is the unicorn close up. Lots of blocks are made in pairs but this one is on its own. Like the lion in the previous photo, this animal is appliqued with a herringbone stitch.



 I used this stitch before as you can see in this photo above and wrote about it here.

This means that I have two more rows of blocks finished and can start sewing those two rows together. Hope to finish that soon. Lots of appliqué left to do, but I'm getting there!

Groetjes
Annemieke

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Toile de Jouy


Saturday I found these antique pieces of old quilts with toile de Jouy prints, at an antique market. They are small and some are very worn but I loved them so took them home!!!

This is what I read at the museum at Jouy site and Wikipedia: Making fabrics with these kind of pictures started mid 18th century in Ireland. They became very popular in Britain and France after that. The term 'toile de Jouy' is French and came from the toiles produced in Jouy-en-Jonas (near Paris) starting around 1760. Later these toiles were produced in many more places in France and they all had their own patterns.

So I have a selection of different pieces and they come from different French areas. I don't know which pieces come from where. I hope to find out soon. I already ordered a book about toile de Jouy.

 Interesting and strange pictures aren't they? Some seem to tell stories I think.

Some pieces are quilted (so there are 3 layers) and other pieces are just pieces of single fabrics.
Lots of possibilities to use those in a wall quilt ( probably to fragile to use as a bed quilt). I washed them and laid them out on a bed. Every time I walk by I enjoy looking at them! 
May be any one of you know sites or books with reliable information?

Wishing you lots of creativity,

Groetjes

Annemieke



Sunday 1 May 2016

African quilt finished!


My African quilt is finished! The pattern is from a book by Kathy Doughty called "Making quilts...The promise of joy"   

Here I unfolded the quilt in front of the Cruquius museum ( with the biggest steam engine in the world, used for emptying the Haarlemmermeer lake around1852)

Like this butterfly in the grass near my feet,who is just unfolding his wings I think, he couldn't fly yet. The crinkles are still visible.

All African fabrics are bought at the Tambani stand in Rijswijk quiltshow ( Dutch blog: here ) They sell embroidered panels but at that stand, African fabrics too!

I combined the African fabrics with lots of different fabrics of my closet, like the thrift shop shirts I bought in the USA....

 Shirtings...new modern fabrics....reproduction fabrics....

 linen fabrics, old and new.
 
 The back is a combination from leftover fabrics and a big piece with checks my aunt gave me long time ago.


The quilting is done by my on my Pfaff Expression 4.0 . I used a thick thread( which I had for years but there is n name on it) at the top and Invisafil thread from Wonderfil in the bobbin.

Some African fabrics are really bright, like the yellow and orange butterflies.The patterns so different from the ones we are used to.  All of them were reversible, almost no difference between back and front of the fabrics.


The  best way to see the pattern is from a distance. It is perhaps not a beautiful quilt but just  practical and a fun quilt. It has already been washed and dried, feels good and smells nice!!!

Have a good week, finally Spring has come to our region I hope!

Groetjes

Annemieke