quiltwork

To give you some inspiration for the quiltwork.... I used my appliqué templates! You can see the leaves and in the middle I only used a part of the template. With a pencil I put some marks on the template, so I can use it the same way at each block.

Later more of the quiltwork. Now I have to work on my Holiday list. What to bring with me to our family... because I have to quilt.....otherwise I am not going to make it before the 10th of January.

I wish you all a merry christmas and a quiltful 2009.

mystery results

Two wonderful results from the last mystery. Very well done. What can I say? Just have a look and see the different colours, the similar patterns. I wish you both a lot of fun with the quilting.
My quilting is going very well. Tomorrow more, I have to make detailed pictures with good daylight!

Colours for boys and girls

The newspaper 'De Volkskrant' had a pink picture at the frontpage last friday. It was a picture from a little girl and all her pink stuff. This picture is part of a whole range by Jeongmee Yoon from New York. She photographed boys and girls in their own rooms with all their blue or pink stuff. Interesting to watch. If you want to see more: http://www.artinfo.com
Most quilters have also their favorite colours, that is why I found this interesting.
Enjoy!

And the back....

Strip no. 1 in little pieces....

This house has a lot of very small pieces. Be alert!

And the back of the blocks. It is not easy to get it completely flat. But later with the batting it will be allright.

new blocks home sweet home

After you have finished your second house you can sew it to the first house. Your quilt is growing!

The two parts from this part: house no. 2 and strip no. 1

Play with your blocks

It is easy to use a block from your mystery for a whole quilt. so if you have finished your homework you can start another quilt. I like houses and I think you can use a lot of scraps to make a wonderful town. Now I played long enough with my Electric quilt program. I have to make mystery part two....

financial troubles?

One of my favorite books is Quilts by Karen K. Stone. Today I had a look at this book and found a wonderful quilt. The block is called: Mississippi Wheel of Fortune...That would be a good idea for a new quilt! A lot of people can use a bit of fortune......

If you like colour, a lot of fabrics in one quilt and you are looking for a present: This book is a good idea. Maybe you can ask Sinterklaas or Santa to bring it next month.

Time flies...

A lot is happening with my quiltwork...but only in my head! I was very busy with teaching the last week. We had a two day course with a lot of drawing, fabric choices, counting your pieces (and there are a lot of them in a quilt...) and hard work to make your own plan. It was really wonderful. One of the students said she had fun for a 1000 euro's, so she owes me more than 900 euro's.....I am glad the course was a succces for everyone, also for me to see the pleasure and passion with colours and patchwork. That is what I want.
Now I have to finish my quilts for my group. The first one is the Sunbonnet Sue...I have to do the binding and the sleeve. With the other one I start quilting to night. And hope to finish it on thursday. I have to show it during the weekend. Help, lack of time and wrong organisation.

House no.1

First the finished house. I used the background fabric for the door and window. This fabric is handdyed. I promised myself a long time ago that I wasn't going to do dying, but once I had to do it during a course. And now I like it!

This is the way the house is build.

And the finishing touch.

First part of the mystery.....

And here is the back of the first block, dutch mill. On this picture you can see how to iron the seam allowances. I did the whole block by machine, but of course you can do it by hand. Maybe that is easier!

And here you can see the best way to sew the different parts.

And now it is finished!

Next week it starts...

Next week part one of the new mystery arrives! I have all my fabrics ready to make the first part coming weekend. I have to fill in some details of the patterns...and then we can go. For me the quilt is not a complete mystery, but some parts do not have details yet...

It is so much fun to find the right fabrics for everyone. I love my job! I like to see the happy faces in my shop when a new quilt is born (well the first step: fabric choice!). Today we had a lot of Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the mystery as group 1. Group 2 will be some hand dyed browns...but I have to dye them this weekend. I have to...because otherwise my customer can not get started on thursday!

Flowers as inspiration

Now available in dutch: Kaffe Fasset's newest book with a lot of flowers. I like the quilts, but I also had a good look at the quilting: mostly by machine and not always straight lines with the quilting in the ditch! Machine quilting is absolutely OK, but it is easier to have a free motion than following the patchwork lines. I would prefer that!
And talking about flowers: Above a detail from the first finished top of the mystery. This one has a green bachground and red, orange, pink and yellow at the front. It is stunning! Look at all those different fabrics, isnt it nice?

And her you can see the middle of the quilt. It is rotating and keeps you looking to all the different blocks. A lot to discover. Very well done!

blocks and more

After one lesson the results from my students are allways wonderful. Same pattern, different fabrics, great results. I like to see their enthousiam, passion, struggles and pleasure. Keep on going...Your first quilt will be ready in no time.
And although it is autumn, we got this lovely light fabrics in the shop today. I think I have to start a new toddler quilt....We have a show next week, I can demonstrate it there... The fabric are from Moda: Butterfly Fling
This quilt is an old one, one of my first quilts. The blocks are 15 x 15 cm, yes it is small. I almost forgot about this quilt in my closet, but I brought it out for my students and they love it. It is nice to see all those different blocks and their possibilities. This picture is a special request, so here it is!

flowerbeauty...there you are!

And there is the mystery: Flowerbeauty. Last Thursday I showed it to the group, they have work to do to finish there quilts. But I think it is a lovely one. I am really happy with the result and started quilting today.
In the book I talked about last week they quilted sometimes with embroidery thread. Very interesting. I startes this quilt with leaves in the middle in a contrasting colour. I used Aurifil coton mako 12 for a great look. I love it and I think I have to do some other parts to night....

At the picture below, you can see some strips from the mystery made by my students. This are all the same strips in different colours. The strips are under and above the middle, you can see it at my quilt. Look at all those different colours and you can imagine all the differtent quilts. I love it.

new book with...inspiration....

Today I bought this book; Material obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke and I like it very much. I share their ideas about traditional patterns and blocks with bright fabrics in a modern setting. The quilts are simple to sew, but the colours are just my thing. I love their view about patchwork and quilting and the use of colour. There are pictures of their shop in Sydney, I am sorry that it is not just around the corner.....

And yes: I finished a quilt.... the quilt is shown here. Last week it was my little son's second birthday and that was a good deadline to finish this so it could be his quilt present! I decided to make him a quilt every year.....for the upcoming 10 years? I think the next has to be with cars and trains. I am thinking of a design using the bircks of Duplo as inspiration. (bricks with little buttons to give the image of the little dots on the plastic bricks).
The design for this quilt is coming from the book Cut-loose quilts from Jan Mullen. It is an Australian night!

Time.....?

Time is something strange, just like electricity: Use it when you have it, because you can not store it and use it later. So, enjoy every minute you have, whatever you are doing and do not waste time.... So, on tuesday I finished the top of my mystery quilt.....and you have to wait for a picture till next week...it still is a secret! I love this quilt, I think it is really me.
And when you are busy new ideas are coming...a nice bag...a playhouse....but there is a lot to finish. It is time to get really organised...and that means: cleaning up at the end of the day, so you can start easy the next time!
Somewhere I read that happy people have less difficulties with making choices. So be happy: you have a quicker start with a new quiltproject, because it does not take hours to choose your fabrics. And a lot of practice will also help....start many new projects to develop these skills.

busy, but with results....

The last week was extremely busy. Two shows to go with the shop....All those enthousiastic quilters give you a lot of inspiration. I wanted to go home and start sewing instead of selling fabrics...But the result is a nice, little dog...The pattern is from the Quilting Arts special with Holiday Gifts...He is so cute. I bought him Dutch beads and a orange ribbon. His eyes are buttons!
This patchwork bear is also a result of hard work. I made a pattern for all the mothers and granny's in the world. Of course you can make one for yourself with your favorite fabrics. He likes it to sit in a sewing room to guard your fabrics and other stuff.

The results of the yearly challenge are wonderful. Everyone made a pincushion. There were lovely designs. Sometimes the designs were pretty, but difficult to use.
This little flower is the winner!


On the picture: Muriel at our booth in Arnhem last weekend. It was nog so busy, but like real quilters we had something to do: bear in progress (his body is on the quilt in the back)

Now I am going to finish my mystery quilt. Next month I can show it.....

And I already started with the new one. Sorry, it is a big secret.

quilting is hot....

I have been so busy with preparing the shop for the start of the season that there was no time to quilt, to write or whatever.... Also after the start last saturday a lot of people came in to buy a lot of fabrics...and there are these new quilters: starting at the end of the month with their first course. I warned them, they got addicted....but it is very nice to see their enthousiasm, the surprise when they look at samplers...are we gonna make a whole quilt, not a bag or something small? I am very happy to share my passion with new quilters...there is a whole new world for them, with a new vocabulaire like: sandwich, log cabin, paperpiecing, patchwork and quilting (what is the difference....) and fat quarters! I think it is hot at the moment, just like knitting, it is allowed to sew.
And when I start a new course I always remember the moment I bought my first real patchwork fabrics and how difiicult it was to make a choice, but also exciting and sometimes I think: after all these years, I still love it to work with fabrics and I have so much ideas, how is it all possible and how would it be to quilt also the next 40 years....?

Home, sweet home and sue

Here is my Sunbonnet again. I changed her sunbonnet a little bit and put the buttons on. On the background a lot of tiny quilted flowers. I am gonna make more of her, so I can develop my favorite
sunbonnet, give her trousers and play with my buttons.
Coming saturday quiltseason really starts. So I have to finish a lot of little things before this day. Every year I design a mystery quilt, so the block of the house is part 0 for the upcoming mystery. The quilt will be 200 x 200 cm, the theme is 'Home, sweet, home' and the rest is a secret....Yes, it has to do with houses, you will need two colourgroups and it will be a lot of fun again.

Looking for a mascot

Every serious wonderland has his own mascot. Disney has Mickey Mouse, The dutch Efteling has Pardoes. I started thinking about my fabricwonderland mascot: It has to be Sunbonnet Sue in some way. I like her very much and collected a lot of books and patterns with this little girl. This evening I started to play with some fabrics and buttons.....It was wonderful to open a little bag with white buttons....and to poke around and discover little flowers and hearts. I hope you understand what fun I had. I think a non-quilter wouldn't understand my pleasure and excitement.
Now I have to think about the sewing by machine and then make another one....with other buttons.

Back in town with...inspiration

More than 1200 quilts were in the show from a lot of countries. Small and large quilts, traditional and contemporary, innovative quilts in all sizes and also miniature quilts. Well, you have to see it yourself.

It is impossible to show you all the quilts and it is not allowed without permission...so here is a picture of my mum with here quilt......


Of course we had to do a lot of shopping.... I bought 2 kilo of buttons...I do not know what to do with them at this moment, but I love them.... 10 colours and a lot of different sizes.... enough for the rest of my life!

On this picture a colourful selction of the shopping results: my buttons in combination with my mums coloured silk waste, paintsticks and threads.

I had some strange feelings with those little bags with buttons...somtehing like a drugscourier.

Well, if we had a plane crash...you could find a lot of buttons....what would they think? And what to think of all those fabrics, threads and whatever.... more than 50% of the people were quilters....Including the show were also 'galleries'from famous artists, like Inge Hueber, Ricky Tims and Susan Brandeis. It is interesting to see a serie of work from one quilter at the same time, to discover why you like their work or not. I concluded for myself that I do not like work with a lot of black in it. For me no browns, black and other dark colours. I like the brights, white and pastels.
One of the smaller exhibitions was the European Art Quilts V, an overview of modern quilts in Europe. This new overview will travelling around the world the coming 2 years, to find out more: http://www.europeanartquilt.com/. They have a wonderful catalogue

We had some wonderful lectures (Amy Bulter, Mary Roper and Ineke Berlyn) and you always get inspired by enthousiasm of other quilters.

Tomorrow more...I go quilting now and watch the Olympic Games on a dutch canal. You want to hear the stories of the dutch.....

Here we come.....

Just a few days to go...and off we go to Birmingham, four days of quilts, quilts and quilts.....
Last year it was fantastic to go there with my mum and share everything! So, let's go again....
I have a lot to do before we go: batteries loaded, cameracard clean (more than 1300 quilts means a lot of inspiration), what to wear, I need space in my suitcase...just in case.....and of course something little to patch in the evening.....

Thinking of....wonderland

The name fabricwonderland generates a lot of new possiblities in my quiltlife. I already know the theme for the mystery in 2009/2010....and today I was on a bookmarket (all secondhand) and I picked up a children's book. On the first page was a wonderful merry-go-round drawing and immediately I was wondering in which book I saw a quilt with this item.
I have to write down all the ideas I got with this name. I like to see comments with your ideas/dreams with this name. Please be aware that if another reader had the same idea and posted it, it is not neccessary to send it also. Make a difference with your idea, that gives every reader new ideas!

A lot of ideas

Starting with something new like a weblog creates other new ideas....and I think that it is better to stop with sleeping. It looks like such a waste of time, but you know what a lack of sleep means: you have a lot of unsewing to do! So, I try to sleep well and have dreams about quilts, weblogs, pictures and fabrics.
Today I cut from all those lovely fabrics a piece of 30 cm. It was very busy in the shop so I didn't have time to enjoy them, but now they are on my table and I can have a look at them. A busy day with all those enthousiastic visitors gives you a lot of energy. It is wonderful to talk about fabrics, colours and patterns. To chose with the customers fabrics for their new projects and have a smile for them when they are dreaming about quilts to come....
Since june we have also the "quiltcafé" (only tea and coffee), a lot of talking and sewing during the day and it was fun to have a young girl, Anne, as well at the café with her mother. I liked to see how she was busy with her project, trying different possibilities and saving all the pictures on her mothers cell phone to make a good choice afterwards.

New Fabrics

One of my favorite places at Wonderland is my fabric store....A lot of fabrics and customers who want to share their love for patchwork and quilting. And I like to share my passion for fabrics with them! Last week a lot of new fabrics arrived. Imediately we opened the boxes and smiled! Yes, I can make a start with my new design for the mystery. Fabrics with stripes, flowers, more flowers and bright colours...I love them and I think I need a piece of each one for my own stock at home....Just in case....

The pictures shows two of the new favorites and also the fabric I used at the header is from the same series. (by the way: they are all from Kaufmann: a fresh daisy.....

Welcome to Fabricwonderland

My first steps in Wonderland....where to go first....Is there a plan which way to go? I am struggling with the pictures, lay-out and text. What where? Which colours are the best? I need constrast between background and text. The picture does not fit...maybe I used a wrong template. Building your weblog is like preparing a quilt. A lot of ideas, a lot of possibilities and a lot of practice....
My intention with fabricwonderland is to share all the joy and pleasure I have with patchwork and quilting and other stuff you can do with fabrics.
Like any wonderland in the world there are a lot of places to go in one day. And each time you visit a wonderland you can find new merry-go-rounds and rollercoasters. Sometimes they are new and sometimes hidden during a previous visit or your day was to short to visit all!
A visit to my imaginary Fabricwonderland gives me a lot of pleasure, dreams and ideas. And I wish that you discover your own dreams and favorite places to go.

Have a nice stay!