Merry X-mas

My X-mas holiday is started, my work has to wait till the 5th of januar. The X-mas-tree is decorated with the ornaments of my grandmother. X-mas presents are waiting to unpack. So now it's time to try my new sewing machine and do some quilting the next days.

55 Little quilts of Love

Lots of people worked very hard on the Little Quilts of Love project the last months. We received 55 quilts in the quiltshop. You can see all the new quilts on the weblog:http://caro-littlequiltsoflove.blogspot.com/

X-mas Workshop at home

Last sunday we had a X-mas workshop (with girls from the Quiltbee at Evy) and potluck at my home. We worked very hard and finished reindeer-stars, X-mas-tree stitcheries and little bags. So next time the theme will be Eastern.

64 Squares Quilt

In november I followed a Workshop from Elly Prins at the Quilterspalet in The Hague. Since then I have been working very hard on the 64 squares quilt. The technique isn't very complicated, but the fun is that squares are a kind of on top of the background fabric. I have finished the top as you can see on the picture, and this weekend I will starting quilting (with the machine).

Working with black fabrics is totally different from the colours I use to work with, but I already have a new idea to make another 64 (or 49 or 36) square quilt. I want to use traditional costume fabrics from the Netherlands again on a black background. The challenge will be to find 64 different fabrics. Well as soon as the Tradition Costume Museum in Spakenburg open her doors again in April I will be there. I showed Marne on skype how to make this squares, and it worked out very well, she made some beautifull X-mas ornaments. What a fun you can have with skype.

X-mas exchanges

I'm in a X-mas ornament Exchange. So I got a lovely cross-stitched X-mas tree from Carol (USA). And I sent a little Origami X-mas tree to Edda (Iceland). The picture is on her blog.

http://icelandmom.wordpress.com/

Preparing Workshop

We're moved to our new house, everything is unpacked, and my quiltroom is ready to use. Time to follow a workshop on the 18th november at the Quilterspalet in The Hague

Last week we got the instructions. We need 64 squares from 10x10 cm (4 inch) in different colours. So I put all my "green-brown-yellow fabrics on the dining table and started selecting fabrics and re-arrange them in order. Background colour will be plain back.

Floors and Doors

Our new house begins to look like a real home. During the weekend we had a lot of help from Rob his uncle and my parents. Now we have doors and floors. The doors are with leaded light, very old fashioned, but I really love them. Thursday and friday will be the big days, then we start moving to our new home. Click on PHOTOS to have look around in our new home.

Polar Bears

I found some time between painting and cleaning to do some quilting. So I made a little polar-bears-quilt from the fabrics and patron I bought in Seattle. Yesterday evening at our quiltbee at Evy I finished it. So now it's ready to hang somewhere in our new house (I'm thinking about the toiletroom).

DIY - Painting is started

Friday the building workers finished their job, so time to start painting. This weekend we finished, with help from our friends Dieuwke and Tale the kitchen, living room and diningroom. So still two weeks to go before they start with the floors. Just three weeks and we're living in our new home.

http://picasaweb.google.nl/photos339/DIYPainting#

"Patchwork" cans (blikken)

Look what I found at the supermarkt/grocery. Aren't these cans lovely. I bought them for my new house. For everybody who's living in the Netherlands you can get them at AH (Albert Heijn) for about 2,99 and 3,99 euro.

DIY, Do It Yourself

Well it's only 1,5 week that I'm back from Seattle, but no time to do some quilting and patchwork with my "american" fabrics. Last monday we got the keys of our new appartment. So now (especially Rob) s very busy to do some DIY. Lucky we have a lot of help from Rob his uncle and some building workers, because the 20th october it has to be finished. At the moment it's big mess, but they keep assuring me that everything will be oke.

The Hague day 13, coming home

PHOTOS, after a 10 hours flight I'm back in the Netherlands, very tired but happy, Rob and Paco were waiting on the Airport for me. I went with 1 suitcase, and came back with 2 suitcases.


So no more: coloured houses with verandas and decks, big refrigators, yellow schoolbuses, groceries where they put you groceries in a bag for you, coffeeshops with your name signed on the cup, breakfast with crumpets, very big cans with peanutbutter, baseballgames, leaving your mail you want to send at your mailbox, rows of newspaperboxes, take home the leftovers, HOV-lanes, 4-litre milk cans, quiltshops with shoppingcharts (winkelwagentje), yellow cabs, buying quiltmagazines at a drugstore and eggs and bacon for breakfast. But lots of bicycles, wooden shoes and windmills.

Seattle day 11 and 12, Flying home

PHOTOS
Saturday was a quiet day, I came with 1 suitcase and leave with 2. I did some quilting, finished a few projects and had a rather lazy day, after all the impressions of the last 10 days.

This afternoon (sunday) at 12.50 I'm flying back to the Netherlands, and I will arrive at monday morning 7.40 at Schiphol. I have had such a wonderful time here in Seattle. Marne and Elaine are such a lovely couple, you can't imagine. They're so nice. I really had a very good time at their home. I felt very welcome. I will really miss them. Of course I did a lot shopping, visiting people and sightseeing but I also did very interesting things tourist normally don't do, Teen Feed and Stone Soup Quilters. That makes the time in Seattle also very special. Thank you so much for a beautyfull time in Seattle. I hope to see you next year in the Netherlands in The Hague. We're busy making plans for 2009 and 2010. Seattle here I come again.

Seattle day 10, Fish and chips

PHOTOS
In these 10 days that I'm in Seattle, we did a lot of "real" american things. But I didn't have Fish and Chips. So Marne and Elaine decided that we would have dinner at "Ivers Salmon House". Well I can tell you, it's a lovely place to have our fish and chips. We were sitting out on the deck, and looked over the water for the sunset. It was the end of a perfect day. Tomorrow (saturday) is my last day, time to pick up my things and sort everything out, sunday I'm flying back to the Netherlands.

Seattle day 10, Salmons Dock

Photos
Seattle is very interesting city, there are so much different things to do. After the Space Needle we went to a beautyfull park, there you can visit the "Fish Ladder", it's especially build for the salmon, so that they can climb up. The docks are on the barrier of salt and fresh (zoet) water. So when the salmon go from saltwater to the fresh water, they swim around for some while, so that their bodies can get used to the fresh water.

Seattle day 10, Space Needle

PHOTOS
One of the buildings that's very recognizable in Seattle is the Space Needle. You can go all the way up and have beautyfull views of Seattle. The weather was perfect for a visit. So we took the elevator up. It brings you in 41 seconds 520 feet (185 meter) high to the observation deck. The Space Needle was build in 1961/1962 for the World Fair.

Coffee and lunch

PHOTOS Marne is learning dutch, and she's doing a great job. Dutch is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Her teacher is living just around corner, she's originally coming from the Netherlands (Twente). So we went to Jacqueline to have coffee and a nice chat in dutch. Afterwards of course we went for lunch to Wedgwood Broiler. Marne told me it was an "old ladies place", it's decorated very old-fashioned but the food is very good, so we were happy they let us in.
In american restaurants you don't pick your own place like in the Netherlands, when you enter, you wait at the desk and they'll bring you to your table (even when the restaurant is half-empty).

Esmee

When I'm in the USA we got a new member in the family. Rob's brother and his wife got a baby-daughter, she's called Esmee, isn't she lovely.

Seattle day 9, Shibori Dragon

PHOTOS, Quiltshopping in Tacoma was today's challenge. So we went to "Shibori Dragon" were we met Patty, she's a friend of Marne and Elaine. The three of us really had wonderful time looking around for fabrics and patterns. The shop sells all kinds of Asian Fabrics, Sashiko threads, Asian quilters patterns and a lot of other things. I bought some beautyfull batiks and black fabric to match with the fabrics I got from Ronda. Shopping makes very hungry, so Patty invited us for lunch. That was so nice of her, and we spend a lovely time eating and chatting. For information: http://www.shiboridragon.com

Bookshopping and lunch with Alayne

PHOTOS. Today no quiltshops, how will we survive!!! But we did lunch.First we went to the second bookstore. I'm reading Anne of Green Gables, so I almost finished the first part and I'm really curious how it's going on with her. So I bought the other 6 parts. I found some Woodehouse for Rob, a very nice calender 2009 of Larsson for my mother and we bought some books for her Marne's grandchildren wich we're going to visit saturday. Afterwards we went to Alayne for lunch. Alayne is one of Marne's quiltsfriends, she's a professional "Long-arm-quilter". She's going to quilt Marne's white-chocolate quilt. We had very nice lunch together at the deck/veranda.

Seattle Day 8, Teen Feed

Tonight I went with Marne and Elaine to Teen Feed. Elaine is a volunteer for Teen Feed since 1995, once a month, at wednesday after work, she cooks (Burritos) together with other volunteers from the University Congreationel Church. The meals are served between 19.00h - 19.45h in the cellar of the church. There are about 50-60 homeless teenagers who are coming for a free warm meal (sunday till thursday). I think they do a wonderful job!!!! It was a very interesting experience to help preparing the meal and serving it.
Photos: Shopping for Teen feed.

About Teen Feed
Teen Feed serves over 10,000 meals each year to more than 400 homeless youth and young adults. - In 1989, nurses from the University of Washington Medical Center noticed that many street youth accessing the emergency room were severely malnourished. The community responded, and faith groups, service providers, neighbors came together to provide food to thehomeless youth population.

Seattle day 7, Puyallup Fair, part two

PHOTOS Animals, stranges hobbies, winning cookies, best jam, big pumpkins, collections of all kind of things you can see them on Pyallup Fair.

Seatlle day 7, Puyallup Fair (part 1 Quiltshow)

PHOTOS Today we went to the Puyallup Fair south of Seattle. What can you see on this fair: Pumpkin Carving, Agriculture, Animals, Pig Palace, Horse Barns, Dogshows, Hobby Hall and of course QUILTS. The quilts were beautyfull!!! So on the photos you see an impression. Tomorrow I'll post the pictures of other things you can do at Puyallup.

Sewers dream

PHOTOS: Today we did a lot of things: University of Washington, Stone Soup Quilters and in the afternoon the Quiltshop in Mont Vernon (about 60 miles north from Seattle). I bought some lovely " reproduction" civil war fabrics, can't wait to make a quilt with these fabrics.

Stone Soup Quilters

Stone Soup Quilts PHOTOS. Stone Soup is a Grimm Brothers Tale, the meaning of the tale is, if everyone put a little bit in the empty pot, then at the end it will be filled. That's what the Stone Soup Quilters are doing. They getting all kind of scrap fabrics donated and their making quilts of it for the patients of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Resarch Center and their families. They're coming every monday-morning together. Today Marne and I picked some fabrics for a logcabin quilt. This package of fabrics, including the pattern, goes for example to a quiltshop. Somebody can take it with her and make a top of it and return it to the Stone Soup Quilters. They finish the quilt.
I think they do a wonderfull job. They make about 100 quilts each year. If you're want to read more about this project you can look on their website: NorthSeattleFriends.