December 2018

Still catching up on those blog posts I should have written some time ago…
so here’s a little post about the goings on in December. No use showing a picture of our Christmas tree anymore (it was small, but sweet) or our Christmas celebrations (again small, but sweet) but Christmas is also a time of exchanging gifts and gifts were exchanged.

Both Emma (click) and I had had birthdays recently so early December I sent a package to France with her pressies which included a little framed mini-mini top:

These are 3/4”  triangles, I used one of Jeanneke’s (click)  stamps to make this, a fun little project but I would not have the patience to make a quilt of this 😉

My Christmas present from my Mr. this year was this lovely little doggy pincushion, obtained from Dorry (click), I think it is supposed to be a dachshund but it think is looks just like Whopper!

There was a visit by Karen (click) and her very well mannered dog Freia, Karen is one of the busiest persons I know, she always has stories to tell and projects to show, at the time she was knitting pairs of Norwegian patterned mittens, yes pairsssss, one pair for each family  member of her family, and she had time to quilt too. All that in addition to running her own business (click)

As you can see, I worked on the circles of my Sugar Plum quilt, pattern by Judy Newman (click) , four more finished

And there was a really nice day in Amsterdam,  a Christmas holiday tradition for our family, it is always dark and grey when we are there around Christmas time and all the pretty lights make for such a special atmosphere:- 

Apropos, birthday presents….  you may remember I celebrated my birthday with Emma in France in October (click) during Margaret Mew’s (click) workshop in Emma’s shop (click)?
Emma thought of the most wonderful gift, unfortunately it got stuck at the French customs (think they liked it so much they would not let go of it!), by the time the package was released it I was back home in The Netherlands, so Emma brought it with her to Houston in November……the pattern and templates for Margaret’s Rosa Biddlecombe quilt a n d  starter fabric kits from Margaret’s own stash!

I always love going through other quilters’ stash, don’t you (is ‘stash-envy’ a thing?) and these fabrics are soooo beautiful!

A great project for 2019!

Phyllis

October 2018

What a way to celebrate a birthday!

Having met Margaret Mew for the first time last year in Nantes, we hit if off straight away and I was so happy that when we met her again later that year in Houston with Emma (click), Emma was able to organise for Margaret to come and teach at her shop in Gauchy…… and on my birthday of all days!!

So once again I was off to France, unfortunately my husband who was planning to join me had to cancel due to work commitments, but I was not alone, Margaret was my travel companion and with during the train rides we had hours to chit-chat before arriving at Emma’s lovely house, which by now feels like a second home to me.

Straight away next morning, Margaret started her 2-day workshop (‘no rest for the wicked’  as they say 😉 ) at Emma’s shop, during those two days the shop was a beehive of activity

The second day Emma had organised a wonderful celebration of my birthday. Emma, Olivier and all the ladies in the boutique certainly know how throw a party!

I was touched not only to receive lovely gifts from Emma and her family but also from some of the ladies I see each time at Emma’s boutique, merci beaucoup Francoise et Annick <3.

It was a truly memorable birthday and seeing the pictures again, it certainly looked it.
I thank everyone and am grateful to everyone who made this day so special for me.

The partying went on in the evening time and both at Emma’s home and in town Margaret and I shared a glass or two (or so) of something nice.

So it was good that the next day was a day for some r&r for Margaret, just sewing, chatting and enjoying the good things of the French country side, baguettes from a local bakery, freshly picked lavender and lots of sunshine in Emma’s large garden. And left-overs from that yummy birthday cake!

The gorgeous weather gave us the idea to photograph the quilts Margaret had brought with in Emma’s garden:-

It was a wonderful relaxed day which ended way too soon, next day Margaret had to leave for her next destination, hugs, hugs, hugs all around, it was such a joy to spend time with Margaret a lovely, warm and kind lady, with a great sense of humor and her quilts, oh, so inspiring!

I got to spend another day sewing and finishing that yummy birthday cake at Emma’s before I too had to leave (the applique bird is Emma's work).

I will miss this beautiful part of the world (the view from 'my' window in the morning):

On the train back home to the Netherlands, not as busy and packed as we are used to

And back home – nothing to do with my birthday - , there was another, unexpected present waiting:

As I was unable to attend the workshop by Linda (click)  at Marcha’s (click) in September due to my operation, Annemiek (click),  Linda  and Marcha kindly send me the pattern of the pouchette that was subject of the workshop and Simply Vintage magazine it appeared in so that I was at least in on part of the fun.
Much appreciated this thoughtful gift, thank you ladies.
But if I can ever make that pouchette without help…? I am not that clever with these kind of things, but I as I know some of the participants I may ask them for their help in the future.

I almost forgot, some of the sewing this month consisted of 4 new circles of the Sugar Plum pattern by Judy Newman(click)

A lot to look back on this October month, thank you for visiting my blog,

Phyllis

August 2018

August still had some great summer weather, but later in the month things cooled down a bit, which made it a lot better for some quilty activities.

But before that there were still some summer outings with Whopper, he loves those evenings on the beach.

On one of those very warm summer days I drove down to Marcha’s shop (click) for her Open House. I was not the only one to drive that way, unfortunately I arrived rather late because of the traffic jams, which meant that I had to miss lunch as I was expected at Karen Styles’ (click & click) workshop shortly after my arrival.

Luckily, Yvonne (click), who was there to promote her book, came to my aid with some sweets, enough to give me that sugar rush to enjoy Karen’s workshop. 

Karen’s workshop was about tips and tricks to make clamshells , which she used in her beautiful Okehampton quilt.

As I had never made clamshells before I found the workshop really helpful, when I ever want to use these in a project, I know exactly what to do.

It was fun seeing Karen again, after our days at Emma’s (click) and in Paris in the spring (click).

Because of my late arrival I had less time than planned to look around at Marcha’s Open House, but there was lots to see (here are a few pictures from the quilt exhibition), to do, to eat and drink and of course I did want to do some shopping.

Karen’s Circle of Sisters quilt is always a star attraction!

It’s fun to see Marcha’s shop-quilt grow, quite a few additions during the Open Days I am sure, I am somewhere in the middle:

Two days later I traveled in another direction to Juud (click), we spent the day (another hot one) sitting outside in the morning working on our Judy Newman projects, so we called it our ‘Judy Day’. 

After lunch it became a too hot to be outdoors so we moved inside, imagine that. Practically the whole year we want to be outside and then when we can it can get so hot you prefer to be indoors….

Multi-talented Juud in ‘domestic goddess’ – mode in her kitchen, making us a yummy and healthy dinner which we enjoyed in the garden 😊 

The end of a lovely day, with lots of chatting and sewing and looking ahead to all sorts of fun quilty things in the future.

So this month I started a Judy Newman quilt, for me it just had to be the Sugar Plum quilt. During the days when Judy was at Emma’s (click) and I was helping out, I saw this quilt the whole time and of all the quilts Judy brought with her, this is the one that represents those wonderful days in France most, the happy, airy, light colors, the cheerfulness of it all.

So far this is what I have done and using Judy’s templates and book, the curved seems are really not difficult at all.

Thank you for visiting my blog,

Phyllis