per adua ad astra...

The diploma is signed, a chapter closed, a new one opens....



The important thing is not to stop questioning
-Albert Einstein

She did it!!!

My "little" Monki has graduated VWO-TTO!!!!
Now it's off to Leiden University!!!

Congratulations my baby girl, you did it!!

yeah!

Yesterday I was sat at the dining room table gritting my teeth cutting out hundreds of little bitty shapes for my Mariner's Compass blocks, when I took a little break and checked out the blogs on my Google reader.
Lo and behold,  Dawn's Blog, Collector With a Needle came by the name of the winner of the  Triangle Giveaway, looked very familiar: me!
If you're not familiar with Dawn's blog have a look, lots of wonderful fabrics and quilts, vintage sewing notions and I've learned quite about about old quilts and patterns from her informative posts.

Thank you for your generosity Dawn!


..and now back to those itty bitty bits....pfft!
listening to some great bands ( U2, Coldplay ) of the Glastonbury Festival is helping to get me through...

steadily stitching

and not having anything really new to show for it as yet.  More Mariner's Compass Blocks have been made with 10 more to go, and I'm working on The Beyond the Cherry Tree blocks, stitching them down.  However, a girl has to take a break once in a while, and get some fresh air.

Perhaps I'll head up north to Amsterdam and have a wonder here:  A Stitch A Day: Embroidering in Prison 1940-1945  at the Dutch Resistance Museum.  A very interesting part of Dutch history that I first read about in Handwerken Zonder Grenzen, in edition #130 from 2005.

It's on from now until March 2012, so maybe I can get some quilting criminals to join me...

Hey chickas,  (and you know who you are!) up for a field trip?

a visit to a castle..

On Sunday past my quilting buddies Janine, Diana and I went to Kasteel Cannenburch to spend the day  admiring quilts in a beautiful old castle, doing a bit of shopping (of course!), and enjoying each other's company.   It looked like the day was going to be a wash-out with heavy storms and lightning on the way there,  (even striking ground objects along the road as we drove along - making us jump, and almost landing Janine on my lap in the drivers' seat!),  but eventually the sun came out and we could enjoy our pleasant surroundings.

Unfortunately it was not allowed to photograph the quilts on display - apparently this was not the case the year before, and no explanation as to why not this year, so that's why I could not share the wonderful work with you.

Anyhow....

There were some great shops there, all decked out in their finest wares, and naturally some souvenirs had to be brought back:

Something for the stash...

something to read....

and something just for the fun of it!

The catering was wonderful, yummy sandwiches and cakes and we indulged ourselves on strawberries and cream in the sunshine, what more could a quilter ask for?

...and now back to sewing!

to the stars....

As promised I was going to share my new project.  Here's the first block:

After spending time taking courses on learning all sorts of techniques on the sewing machine, and becoming comfortable maintaining and using it, the time came to go back to my quilting roots and sew by hand.  Perhaps a bit ambitious, starting with a Mariner's Compass, but I think this block turned out all ok.

The last time I made such a block was when I took a beginner's quilting class, many moons ago.

I fell in love with the background fabric, and given it's vintage look, went for scrappy, randomly placed rays.  I'll make a few more and see how that pans out....

Beyond the Cherry Trees Block #3, and some of #4

This should have been posted a few weeks ago, but I was too busy cleaning my sewing room, which with a big helping hand from a non-quilting friend of mine finally got done this week!  All the fabrics in my closet are sorted by color, and tools and trinkets have their place.  What a chore!  Yuck!  But Oh, what a feeling when it's done, and everything is clean and in place!  I can tell you, even though I haven't made as much sewing progress as I would have liked to, it sure feels good to get that project out of the way!

I have another excuse why ( besides thinking I should rather be sewing that taking out my camera to take pictures)  nothing's been posted:  I've not been happy with Block #3 and how it came out!  

Did have to remind myself that this was a learning quilt, so after leaving it alone for a while, I decided to keep it, and just push on.....

No, I don't feel like pulling out the iron to flatten this one, you're just going to have to make do...

All in all, those fiddly-fingers were a pain-in-the-patootie,  but it's all behind me now, and Block #4 is prepped and looking a bit scruffy from traveling...

...nothing an iron won't sort out.

Although I made a start, it's on hold for a moment while I plunge into a new project:

Can you guess what it is?

It feels great to give the sewing machines a rest, and go old school.  Working with needle and thread, stitching in lost moments or while chatting with friends.  I love that.  

Speaking of which, the sun is shining here, and it's warm, with a gentle breeze - you don't mind if I go outside and stitch a bit would you?

I'll show you my new endeavor very soon, promise!