You Are a Morning Person

You're optimistic, alert, and full of energy to start the day. While you would love to party all night, you rather be up at the crack of dawn. You don't procrastinate or spend time worry about what to do next. You take life by the reigns, and you like to have an early start.

Are You a Morning Person or Night Person?

idea for the next quilt?

Your rainbow is strongly shaded white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a contemplative person. You appreciate quiet moments. People depend on you to make them feel secure.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Until Midnight

Friday the 13th may be an inauspicious date for some, but for a group of 30 some-odd quilters in the small village of Brielle, it was our lucky day!
't Quiltgebeuren, run by owner Wil and "de meiden", Patricia and Janine (the girls), hosted an event called Until Midnight, where participants are asked to bring basic sewing materials from home, and at the store, pick out a fat quarter of fabric and get a packet of the rest of the materials to make....something. You see, it's a mystery! Participants are welcome to bring snacks and goodies, and the evening starts at 7 in the evening, and it usually runs "until midnight".

It was so very good to see Wil and the girls again! the welcome is always very warm, and it feels more like visiting good friends than going to a shop. I was so very pleased to see quilters that I had taken classes with, and met very lovely and funny new ladies this evening as well!
Everyone was so curious as to what we were going to make and kept pressing Wil to finally reveal the surprise. When everyone had their machine plugged in and tea in hand, she finally showed us the project: a roll with 5 see-through pockets to keep you sewing supplies in - handy for on the go!

Ah ha! So that's what we had to bring our zipper foot for! Myself and a few other quilters, had never used our zipper foot before, (and why would you if you basically piece quilts with it?) or had sewn with plastic for that matter, so it was exciting to learn something new. After a quick demonstration, we all settled down and got to work.





Let's see, how does your zipper foot go?







...and lots of catching up to do - how easy it is to forget to sew with so much to chat about!



Taping a piece of paper on the plate, helps the plastic slide along, and using a strip of thin sewing paper on the top prevents the zipper foot from sticking to the plastic as you sew the zipper...

Next to Wil (sitting at my machine at the bottom of the photo) are Tieneke and Els, two wonderful quilters who had us all laughing!


As the evening progressed, you could begin to see the fruits of our laughter and labor, a very handy roll began to emerge from the humming machines...


pretty no?
well, better stop chatting and snapping and get back to my own machine....lol!

I did finally get mine done, thanks to Wil who quickly put a decorative zig-zag on my binding just before midnight. Would've gotten it done sooner if it weren't for Patrica and I getting into a chat and sharing some extra-quilting ideas......lol!

This evening has certainly spurred me on to take a closer look at my machine, beyond the basic things and play a little more with the extra bells and whistles it has to offer.

...and this is the one I made!


Thank you Wil, Patricia and Janine for a wonderful evening! The creative batteries have been recharged and I just can't wait to get my sewing room back and get sewing again! I think everyone really enjoyed themselves - speaking for myself, I did and am very happy with my roll, having learned something new and to have spent time with good friends and quilters.

Looking forward to the next mystery,
heidi

taking on the challenge...

While the painters are working on our home, and the wind blows cold and hard against the windows, I've been stitching away wondering if I will get Anne finished by May 1st.



There hasn't been much time to have long sit-down sessions, so I've been taking a few minutes here and there, even if it's just to do a few stitches. Surprisingly, it's added up nicely and progress is coming along. I'd thought I'd get tired of the Quaker motifs, but no, it's still just as much fun stitching them!

That, plus the incredibly kind words I've received from all of you who commented on the completion of Hannah Beeby, has, like Chicken Soup for a cold, really done me a lot of good and has motivated me even more to complete this larger sampler. Thank you so much!
Add a challenge from a dear friend with what seems a daunting deadline....

...and you've got me signing off so I can go back to my Ann!

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.

Marni's Challenge

My dear friend Marni has challenged me, thrown down the gauntlet:

"Now Miss Heidi, we have a race- me across the US from San Diego to St. Augustine, and you to finish Anne. You have until May 1. at a stitch per mile that's only 3200 stitches give or take."

On your mark, get set, go.


Ok Marni, I accept the challenge!

The rest of you...wish me luck!!! ...and Marni too, with her race!

Another Quaker Sampler

..and this time it's Ann Grimshaw 1818, an Ackworth School Quaker Sampler.



progress so far....





a close up....

It's going to be short and sweet for a while here, still busy with the house, and have other priorities to attend to. I will however, be going to the Handwerk Beurs in Zwolle this weekend. There will be all sorts of crafts featured, including knitting, spinning, cross stich, and quilting. Hope to be able to take some photos and report back to you all about that.
In the meantime, I'll try to catch up on blogs, and see what everyone has been up to - I do miss seeing all that wonderful stuff!

TaaDaah!

Happy Day!
My first finish for 2009....



I'm very pleased with how this sampler came out, and how much fun it was to stitch.
This is the first sampler I've ever completed! I've used the word "completed" but actually it's not really done yet, is it? Now the question is: Do I frame it myself or have it done? Do I display it with glass, or without?
In France, at shows and in shops, I've noticed that the works are framed, but no glass is used. Many I've asked prefer it that way because they feel it brings out the relief in the stitching. I found it very pretty as well.
So, any advice, comments and experiences with this would be greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, since we're still in the middle of re-doing our attic, and my sewing room is being used as a temporary storage room, I'll be "forced" to stick to stitching until the work upstairs is done. All current quilting projects are machine sewn ones, and there's no way a mouse can squeeze through the stacks of boxes , let alone quilt in peace!

So for today, I'll be going through some works in progress and see which one will get some attention...perhaps Ann Grimshaw?

almost there!

Hoi! (as we say here in Holland)

The weekend has begun!  I started to write this post yesterday, but completely got side-tracked and forgot about it until now.  The reason for the distraction?  I've been playing with a DSLR (digital reflex camera) that I'm thinking of buying.  I get to test run it this weekend, so want to take every opportunity to do so.
But even though I'll be playing with a camera for most of the weekend, I did manage to make some progress on Hannah!



I'm so very pleased with how this is turning out - I'm just about done with the little pyramid, and will be starting the last two motifs this evening or tomorrow - stitch up the letters, and who knows, next week I may present my first finish of the year 2009!

Have a creative weekend!

Happy Friday!

Want to share some more progress on Hannah Beeby - had less time to work on this sampler, as I've been making a dent in clearing and cleaning out the attic, box by box.
Priority being my stash and making sure that nothing gets tossed out "by accident"! Bags and boxes of wool fleece, yarns, old fabrics, crafty "things" and gadgets, etc. Some of you may have done this and know what a task it is!
Next are books, magazines, CD's, vidoes, clothes and coats....pffft!

It probably looks much worse than it seems, and one always seems to create more mess while going through the process, but I just keep telling myself, it's all for a good cause: having a really nice attic to relax in, lounge, host friends and guests.

But here's a picture of Hannah's progress....


The three large hexagons are now done!
My only grumble about this pattern is that it's broken up into sections, and it's a bit of a fiddle to make sure you continue properly from one page to the next. I managed upon advice from a friend to tape some together, but not all of the pages line up ( I made copies for myself - I didn't tear up the pattern book) making it tricky to follow. Other than that, it's basically smooth sailing.

Since the beginning of this year I haven't touched anything quilty - just focused on Hannah, but tomorrow that will change. Together with some friends, old and new, we'll be spending the day together, visiting quilt shops, lunching and quilting at my house.
I've made a new year's resolution that finishing existing projects would be the priority, leaving myself only one gift quilt to make (promised months ago), and one new quilt project for which I'll be picking up the fabrics for tomorrow.

So there you have it! I'm heading back up into the attic, and wish you all very good and creative weekend!

heidi