Sashiko

Today I followed a workshop Sashiko by Irene Outshoorn at the Quilterspalet in The Hague. I had a fantastic afternoon, and this really is technique I want to learn more about, and practise more. It's not very complicated, but to make regular stitches, that's not always easy. Sashiko is a japanese quilting/sewing technique. Originally it's white thread on a indigo-blue fabric. It was used to make clothes stronger, or to decorate. Especially in the little villages each family had his own favorite patterns. If you want to read more about it, there is a very good book translated in dutch from Susan Briscoe, it's called Sashiko Handboek / The ultimate Sashiko Source book. Instead of blue indigo fabric, I used a brown japanese fabric.

Autumn

This weekend we're in our little summerhouse, just enjoying autumn and having a birtday party from my mum and dad. Friday, the weather was lovely, so we made long walks through the colouring red woods. Today we got real dutch autumn weather: windy, rainy and cold. Quilting- and party weather.

Fabrics, Cessius, Tilda, bookcover .....

Friday I finished the baby-quilt for Cessius. Cessius is the baby of our neighbours downstairs, and was born about 8 weeks ago. Because of my whooping cough, we had to wait. I wasn't complete satisfied with the quilt, it needed something, so I put his name on it, to make it very special.

Thursday I found suprise in my mailbox, a big envelop with fabrics from Marne, I think they're lovely to make a country X-mas quilt. I just bought a book today, 301 blocks for X-mas. I'm not sure I will finish it this year : ).

In The Hague http://www.parimar.nl/, you can find cheap quiltbooks here, or order them.

I made some little things the last couple of weeks. One of the things I finished and gave to my friend Yolande is this note-book cover. It's very easy to make, on the blog Abyquilt you can download the pattern.

I was just thinking of a list of all the projects I have to show you from the last couple of weeks. I really was in a kind of Tilda mood. So next week I will show you pictures of my Tilda collection:

- bears

- bath-angel

- angel

- wall hanger

- mailbag

- quilt on the sofa

and my personal favorite the reindeer.

Doll Exhibition

Saturday Granny (Rob his grandmother, 83 years old) and I went to the doll-exhibition in Rijswijk. We had a lovely time. She's a dollmaker and she needed a little wig for one for her new projects. I especially liked the doll-houses and furniture. I was really tempted to buy a big Doll-house, but instead I bought this little wooden shop, to make a quiltshop. Granny already started making little roles of fabric. Isn't it cute!!!!!

Little hedgehog

Even when you're living in the centre of a big city you can be suprised. Walking with Paco through the park "Haagse Bos" we saw this little hedgehog crossing the path, and hiding in the bushes.

Stitchers Angel Swap.... ....

my parcel travelled 10.809 kilometers (6716 miles)

to finally arrive in Chile.

I always feel relieved when it is safely arrived on her doormat.

My swapfriend Odette has a lovely blog: http://odette-spatch.blogspot.com/

Chandeliers and pajamas bags

Last year (october) we moved to our new house, we (especially Rob and his oncle) did a lot of DIY, and then it was finished. But no lamp in the living-room. It took us almost a year to find the right lamp. And there, in a very small shop in Putten, I fell in love with this Chandelier.

Oke, the weekend wasn't all about chandeliers. I did some quilting. I worked on my X-mas wall hanger, pictures will follow later, and I made two pajamasbags for my little nieces Esmee (1 year) and Sofie (4 years). Of course in their favorite colour ROSE.

The free pattern you can find on: YOURZOAP (hobby --> werkbeschrijvingen). Yourzoap is lovely little shop in Lelystad with a big collection of Tilda-fabrics. The pattern is in dutch but here are the instructions and sizes in english:

The original sizes are:

55 x inches x 16 inches (A)

55 inches x 8 inches (B)

39 inches of ribbon

55 inches of bias tape

I used the sizes:

55 inches x 18 inches (A)

55 inches x 6 inches (B)

39 inches of ribbon

Instructions

Cut the fabrics, take the smaller piece of fabric (B) and either put bias tape along one of the long edges [to finish that edge smoothly] or use a second piece of fabric to make to make a lining. I personally prefer to use lining.
Then the wrong side of fabric B goes against the right side of fabric (A). Sew some lines through both pieces to make sections in the smaller piece. Fold the whole thing together and sew it up to make a bag. Make a casing to insert the ribbon around the top to close the bag. Good luck.