The French Connection

Hello friends!
 

 Last September a quilting friend had her birthday and fortunately I had a birthday present ready-made waiting on the shelf for her.

 She is of French origin, moved to Dokkum when she married her Frisian husband, many years ago.

 This is my birthday present for her
 

The French, Dutch and Frisian flags are all to find on this .....

 pincushion!
 :>)

~~~~~~~~

 For Alie Bahlmann, my Q-Teacher here in Dokkum when I first started quilting four years ago, I made this pincushion; it's my own design, using Dutch fabrics and adding self crocheted red  Frisian 'Pompeblêden' at the connecting points.

Pincushions showing the French - Frisian Connection.
Made in Fryslân by a Dutch non-Frisian girl :>)

 Have a nice day!

 Cheers!

Houses numbers 19 and 20

Hello :>)

And these are the numbers 19 and 20 of my Homespun Houses:

 Their roofs are made from a new chequered fabric, so two of a new kind can be added to  my Homespun Houses Project.

Twenty houses, all different, unique and all made from real Dutch folklore fabrics.

 It was great fun doing the sewing and it is not finished yet!

 I'll keep you updated about the continuing story of The Homespun Houses Project.

 Till soon,
 Cheers!

House number 18

Hello everybody,

 Autumn has arrived, dropping walls of water blowing them forcefully over the country. I do not really like that...

It also brought me a tough cold that makes me feel sick and sad.

 But, it keeps me inside, sewing :>) and enjoying my Homespun Houses Project, which is nearing its final patch and stitch.

Number 18 was finished yesterday:

Maybe a bit tricky, the red and green combi, but in the Zaanstreek, a region in Holland, the (historical) wooden houses are traditionally painted green and in case of tiled roof tiles are (orange)red. This may be an explanation for my tricky yesterday's action.

 There's an old Dutch saying: "Rood met groen is boerenfatsoen", meaning you better don't wear / use green and red together,   I don't care....
This Dutch House deserves a place in my Dutch fabrics Houses Project!

 Time to start sewing the final two houses!

Thanks for stopping by, have a good day.

Cheers!

Cleaning and organizing: creating time and space for new projects.

Hello everybody,

since I came back from my 'fabric trip' to Amsterdam I have been busy organizing the patchwork and fabric mess  that was heaping in different rooms of my house.

Before I may start a new project I have to clean up and organize the whole lot in Zondagssteek - House, (I force myself) because I can impossibly work in a messy place. Cleaning and organizing also creates time, hours I can spend the way I like, want or have to.

The templates for the Homespun Houses quilt, the one I want to make from the 25 different Dutch folklore fabrics, are ready. Next step is to cut them out of the fabric. O, I can hardly wait.

But at the moment I am a bit busy making yo-yos in various shapes. Yo-yos...... :>/... ???? Yes.

Let me explain what I'm talking about: Mr. or Mrs. Clover, producer of needlecraft necessaries, developed the yo-yo maker. I quote: " A new quick and easy way to make nicely shaped yo-yos!".  Here are some pictures. I hope they can reveal the yo-yo secret:

A few examples are shown. I used thin cotton fabric, polyester and organza. And sewing needle and sewing or quilting thread, ofcourse!

The Clover yo-yo makers are available in quilt(web)shops. I bought mine at De Quiltkoffer.

Start yo-yo'ing, join the yo-yo club and have fun! Twenty- five more yo-yos to go before I allow myself to start with the Homespun Houses quilt.

En-yo-yo-ur evening!