time for a break...

A last walk in the cool woods with Darwin.

..and then it's off to take a trip to visit family and friends.

It seems New York City is having a heat wave.

Washington Square Park by Luis Sanz

Looks like fun, doesn't it? 

Taking some sewing with me to finish - hopefully they'll let me do some on the plane.

It'll be nice to take a blog break, and come back refreshed.  

souvenirs from the Patchwork & Quiltdagen....

Saturday I spent a wonderful day with my quilt buddies at the Patchwork & Quiltdagen in Vijfhuizen.
Oh, so much to see, and lots to be tempted with!
Of course I couldn't leave without some souvenirs:

a basket full of goodies:

some tweed, linnens, reproductions fabrics and quilting thread

here's a close up of the white linens

and a snap of the luscious tweeds

Yummy, no?
I've got a few projects that I can't show right now, that I need to get done, and then I can't wait to get my hands on my new goodies!

St. Marie-aux-Mines

Jimmeny Cricket!
I just can't seem to get it together with blogging with all else that's going on, but I hope that will settle soon so I can blog more often!

I went to the 15th Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, France.  What an experience!  Together with my friend Nanda, we spent a weekend seeing beautiful quilts, meeting wonderful people, and shopping, of course!  The fact that it was impossible to see everything (unless we ran ourselves ragged like chickens without heads remembering this trip as only one long blur) wasn't as important as focusing on what we wanted to see, and really learning about the quilts and their history.  We took our time, and enjoyed every moment, leaving us inspired, relaxed, and joyful of the experience.

So without further ado, some photos...

Lecture and discussion of the Quilts of Gee's Bend presented by Rudolph Dittrich, Phd. 

Exposition of the Quilts of Gee's Bend in a beautiful chateau in Ste. Croix-aux Mines
I have the book, The Quilt's of Gee's Bend, and was so struck by their power, but seeing them "live" was a whole other ball game! Can you belive it that we were told that some visitors were outraged (yes, that was the word they used) that such ugly quilts were hanging here? Ok, well, we all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

The towns are beautiful to stroll through with their little stands filled with local products...

 

 

In the theatre of St.Marie-aux-Mines was the Amish and Mennonite quilt exhibition...

...and it was a pleasure to see the 30 years work of Yoko Saito ( who was present together with her students) and The Ottoman quilts and costumes of Elizabeth Strub-Madzar....

 

 

After seeing so many quilts, and doing "a little"  shopping, what better way to relax than to find a spot on the grass and share experiences and treasures found?

This was absolutly the most wonderful quilt event that I've been to in all the years that I have been quilting, made better by not only the sun, the kind and friendly people that we met, but also  going with a good friend!  Should you have the chance to go, I would really recommend it, it's worth it!

preparation...

I'm off to the European Patchwork Meeting in St.Marie-aux-Mines, France. It's just for 3 days and for the first time. It'll be a 6 hour drive or so, and whirlwind weekend where I'm sure we won't get to see everything, but hopefully, a lot of some things.

Next to packing P.J's and checking my playlist on my iPhone, I prepared some Cathedral squares to have some handwork on hand....

I did these by machine to save some time, and will finish them off completely by hand from here on in. Now to see if there will be time to actually get some stitching done!

It almost makes you wish for a traffic jam, doesn't it?

(ah...maybe not.....)

Morocco

Some images to share with you while I unpack ...



spinner - Dyer's Souk, Marrakech



crocheted caps, Medina, Marrakech



drying scarves, Dyer's Souk, Medina, Marrakech



Terrase des Epices, Artisans Souk, Medina, Marrakech
a restful place to eat, cool off. and relax - beautiful use of color



drying scarves, Dyer's Souk, Medina, Marrakech



a place to hide from the Scirocco's hot wind...
Cafe Clock, Medina, Fez


A wonderful trip, my senses are saturated with sound, color, scent and spices.
Inspired again, I'm eager to try out new things, new colors, new ideas, and in what form, who knows...?

Easter morning

To those celebrating or just enjoying the long weekend, Happy Easter! We're in the Eastern part of Holland, enjoying the holiday with friends. Yes, I took my stitching with me and even managed to do some during a quiet moment yesterday morning. At the present time I'm enjoying a cup of tea in bed, and curious to see if this blog post I'm writing on my iPhone will end up for you all to read on my blog. It's also my way of giving the men who've already risen a moment to have a chat and enjoy their coffee alone.



That's my night table. New York Times Crossword puzzle, sunglasses, reading glasses (actally a substitute for my daylight lamp with the magnifier in the middle at home, used here in combinaion with my portable daylight lamp) Mala/prayer beads, and my Trollbead bracelet. The little tube of Blistex fell out of the frame, but it's always nearby...

Guess I've hung out here enough - I can ony lie in bed for so long before getting figdty, so while the rest of the girls are sleeping , I think I'll grab another few stitches before breakfast.......

How did you start your moring? However did I hope you enjoyed it!

-- Post From My iPhone

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...

|
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.

I went to the Quiltersgilde in Arnhem..

held in the Eusebiuskerk in heart of this beautiful and historic city with my friend Diane and not only did we enjoy the wonderful quilts by fellow members of the guild, but I brought back some souveniers/goodies (of course! ) as well:

some fun fillers for the stash collection......

and some cool taupes....

The works were wonderful, the quilts varied in styles, sizes and colors, and I was personally pleased to see a bit more traditional quilts hanging with surprising twists that made them refreshing and memorable.  It was good to see familiar faces, meet and chat with new ones. How easily we laughed with fellow quilters!  

The day was refreshing and inspirational and  while I should have been exhausted and weary from pain, I felt charged and energized, inspired by what I saw and the conversations I had.  It's also  made me consider the question that has been asked of me - when I would submit a quilt of my own, but I'm a bit scared to do that as yet.  

I really did try to take some shots of the event to share with you, but many just didn't work out the way I wanted, but here are a few....













The last one is my favorite!  The fountain was glowing and sparkling and kids were playing in it in their underwear.  Not very wordy today - still tired from the long but wonderful day I had and my sewing room, which I started to re-organize ( and to dig up and photograph some UFO's for the blog- a promise I intend to keep to Heidi) is still waiting for me, plus not a stitch has been made yet either for a quilt or cross stitch project, so I must say "adieu" and get on with it!

see you next time!