mail day!

I love getting boxes, don't you?

Just before I was getting ready to take Darwin out for a bike ride, I spotted the postman, hands full of boxes.  One was for my neighbor, and yet another book for me to add to my growing collection, and just in time for the weekend to get stuck into!  My neighbor had also ordered a stack of quilting books to begin her quilting library.  She wasn't home, but on our street it's quite common that we take each other's packages so that we don't have to wait yet another day to receive them or to have to pick them up.
What did I get?
Well, something that departs from the usual books I buy...

 Comfort Zone by Maggie Bonanomi

I've been thinking about working with wool and felt in different ways, have some beautiful Harris and Irish tweed to make two quilts with, and thought this would be a fun place to start.  There's all sorts of homey, folky projects in the book, big and small, so lots of inspiration to work with for this winter!

When I came back from my bike ride, I spotted the second post-lady, and just as she was about the round the corner, I greeted her and asked her if there was anything for me, and sure enough!  My eagerly awaited fabric arrived!  Ten yards of "sprout spots" background fabric for The Roseville Album quilt.
I became aware of this quilt while reading several bloggers who were writing about it.  After finding and following the Glorious Applique blog and seeing all the wonderful work done there, I was sold!  And, I must tell you, I'm not even an applique "fan", so to speak.

still in it's wrapping fresh out of the envelope

Things happen for a reason, I guess.  I'm getting ready to take a master class in applique in two weeks, and the Bee I just joined is also working on an applique project.  Hmm, you think it was written in the stars?

So while there's some time before my classes, I'm spending this stormy Friday catching up on some podcasts, and sewing a "droom deken" or " dream quilt" for  Stichting de Regenboogboom.  A good thing to do on a day like this...

Well, I've got my work cut out for me, so let me get stuck in!
Have a pieceful weekend!

Heidi

Handwerkbeurs in Zwolle (long post, lots of pics!)

It took me a while, but here it is, a "quick" digest of my trip...

Two weekends ago I attended the Handwerkbeurs in Zwolle. Over a 140 merchants presented their wares from all sorts of crafts: quilting, spinning, knitting, cross stitch, sewing, tatting. There were stands that had the necessary tools of our crafts, merchants from not only Holland, but Belgium, Germany, France and England, to name a few. My friends Diane and Nanda (who are unfortunately still blog-less) and I got an early start Sunday morning, so we could scope out the place before the crowds arrived.


workshops


knitting tables, to chat and hang out...


First things first: out slipped the lists, with our "necessities": Daylight lamps, adaptors, threads, needles, wool, patterns, batting, scissors, fabrics for quilt classes, and other bits and bobs.


I have a standing Daylight lamp, you know the one that looks like a big glowing doughnut with the magnifying lens that allows me to do micro-surgery on torn pockets and teddy bears, next to letting me stitch for hours on end...
Finally a portable Daylight lamp to take with me on trips and visits!



Another little light I use for reading in bed when the man wants to, or is already asleep is the Mighty Bright Mini light, a handy lamp you clip onto a book or even your clothing. I bought it at my fave quilt shop, and it's even more compact than the table lamp. When I got it home at the time, I was checking out what batteries it would take, and if it could take an adapter - oh oh..it's American! At the same stand in Zwolle, we were happy to find that it had one for Europe! So I had to grab that puppy fast!

Let's see...what else....and what did it look like over there?
It was a well set up place, lots of room for everyone, even for those in wheelchairs and scooters.
Everyone was very helpful, friendly, customers and merchants alike.


fabrics for projects...


my friends picking up necessities...

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and not so necessary necessities...

This stand got the girls buying sock wool, and me to promise to teach them how to knit socks (with pleasure!). It was tough for me to resist, but I have a full basket at home of all colors waiting to become socks. There is nothing like a hand knitted sock!


I joined Merkwaardig, a national "sampler society" as they call themselves, that focuses primarily on historical samplers and their history, bringing those with the same enthusiasm for these works together.

Now, since I've not been quilting for some time now, because of work being done to the house and my sewing room still functioning as storage room, and I've been keeping to my New Year's resolution of finishing works in progress and NOT starting new ones, I've been left with no choice but to cross stitch (Gasp!!-woe is me! lol!). Having said that, you can imagine my interest led me more to the cross stitch stand than anything else.

Picked up some patterns that caught my fancy for a while now:

Amager Panel 1799- NeedlePrint


Rebecca Blake 1809 - Needleprint

EA 1798 - The Marking Samplar

Into the Ark - Blue Ribbon Designs
I have a thing for Noah's Ark designs....

I just couldn't resist picking up a book or two....


Simple Quilt by Yoshiko Jinzenji (French Translation)
Les Editions Saxes
ISBN:978-2-7565-0220-5


and a signed copy of -
Geschiedenis van de Nederlanse Quilt by An Moonen (Dutch)
Uitgeverij Van Gruting
ISBN: 97890-75879-414


What else? hmm..some bits of marbled and dyed linen, now tucked away (and I'm too lazy to pull it out to photograh) and a few teeny weeny patterns that will undoubtedly show up in this blog one of these days as little weekend projects...

All in all, a great day with friends, lots of ideas, lots of itchy fingers ready to get into the next project, so many new things, gadgets and goodies, so many tips and tricks learned from merchants and fellow enthusiasts. We were completely recharged, and have lots of plans to do lots of things together and individually, all of which I will share with you as they present themselves.

So there you go! I haven't figured out how to put photos next to each other to save a bit of space, so forgive the length of this blog - hope you enjoyed reading, and if any of you went to Zwolle, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

Now back to my regularly scheduled stitching......
heidi out.

for new ideas and inspiration...

Just wanted to share some recent members of my quilting library.