Finishing the year with a Jane finale..

Last day of the year, the fire works are going off like crazy here already...and its only 1 o'clock in the afternoon!

Time to look back on this last year, Dear Jane has been with me for a great part of my life this past year.
I have completed all 52 blocks that I intended to do this year (one block per week). YEAH!!!


Here is the last block I made, D-11 "Snow Crystal"


Here they all are..
looks a mess doesn't it?
One day it hopefully will become a complete quilt..


I haven't cut them to size yet, so some blocks are larger and some are smaller.
Here they are all together

I tried to lay them all out to take a picture.
But it was too large to get it all in the frame so instead I took 3 pictures and merged them using Photoshop.
They will be put together using sashings, but it gives you an idea of how they will look.

All in all it has been a great Quilt year, been to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham for the first time, that was a fantastic experience.

Been to the quilt retreat (Midweek) from the Dutch Quiltersguild (Quiltersgilde) which is always a great way to spent some quality time with fellow quilters.

I've made most of my goals that I set for myself for this year.

Finished the BOM quilt "Happy Hearts"

 I finished my quilt for the OEQC which unexpectedly won first prize for the theme "Berlin"






Started on the "Love Entwined" BOM by Esther Aliu, but didn't get too far with it..will try and find some time to continue with this next year.

Who knows what next year will bring?

Hopefully I will find the time to continue my one Dear Jane block per week.
Probably will start a new project (not sure yet what), and also will start on my entry for the OEQC theme for 2014 is "Old Masters".


Next post I will set out my goals for next year

For now I hope 2014 will bring you all good luck, good health and lots of quilt inspiration!
Be safe and have a great new year's eve !!
Essie

Not a very good start to the holiday..

Yesterday I was just about to sit down and post an update on my blog when....
the police rang on our doorbell to tell us that the window of our car had been smashed in.  When we went down to the car this is what we found..

The glass was everywhere and ..YES.. that is a brick on the passenger seat!
Luckily nothing was stolen, everything was still there...just pure pointless vandalism...and a lot of work, headache and money for us to get it fixed!

Anyway, what I was intending to blog about was this..

I said I'd try and do some hand quilting....I know ;-)

But I couldn't get it right and finally after several attempts I decided to just machine quilt it.

I think the swirls with the snowflakes capture the flurry of snowfall quite well, don't you think?

Here is a little close up, the blanket stitches around the applique were done by hand, but the swirls around were free motion quilted with the BSR foot on my Bernina (you can just see a glimpse of the foot in the corner of the previous picture.

Well, the next couple of days I'll probably won't have much time to do any quilting with all the shopping, cooking (and eating) for the Christmas days to come.
I might just have some time to finish some knitting that I've started though. And next Friday we are off to the cinema to see the Hobbit part 2, can't wait..really looking forward to seeing that!

So for now I want to wish you all a very happy holiday, wherever you are I hope you will spent it in good health and surrounded by your loved ones.
(Found this picture on the web, think it captures the holiday spirit just perfectly, don't you think?)

Till next time!
Essie

What a nice surprise..!

Just saw here that my blog is chosen for the "Blog van de week"  (Blog of the week) on the Quiltersgilde Blog
I didn't see it at first, I thought that block looks familiar! I have one just like it...Hang on a minute..it is mine!...DUH!! Hhahaha...:)))

Yesterday I posted that I might make a Christmas quilt, today I found this old UFO in the box on top of the cupboard..

It's not exactly a Cristmas quilt...but it is certainly a winter quilt!
It is a pattern from an old Quiltmania, I've slightly adjusted the little boys and girls, because I thought they didn't look quite right.
It is now sandwiched, basted and ready to quilt.
It has been a while since I have done some hand quilting but I'm going to attempt it tonight..
When it has been quilted I will need to put some details in the pictures, it is missing some skis and some general lines to stop them from floating in the air.

Will keep you posted!
Essie

just a quick update..

I finally finished block C-5 today!

Apart from that I haven't done much quilting this week.
I spent some time looking through my collection of magazines the last couple of days.
Yes, I'm looking for something new to start!  Something I can do on the machine, something quicker to make and finish perhaps?
I enjoy doing my Jane blocks but they are very fiddly and sometimes I just need something a little easier to do, which I'm sure you know what I mean!!

About ten days till Christmas and the decorations are up, just some colourful lights as there is no room for a tree here..

Should really have a Christmas quilt to hang up...will put that on the to-do list for next year as well I think!
Well, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea, and look through some more magazines..

See you next time!
Essie

2 down..2 to go!

This week has flown by again, most literally on thursday when we had a major storm combined with high tide and all the flood barriers went down.
On some parts of the coast line the sand has been swallowed up by the sea, but luckily there was no major flooding. Also down the road from where I live , the "Algerabrug" which is the first of the famous Deltaworks was lit up in red as a warning to the ships to say the barriers are down.

Didn't do as much on my DJ as I had hoped, but I still got 2 more blocks done.
Both are mostly foundation pieced.

Block D-9 "Uncle Richard"

Had done this block already, but had forgotten the strips around the outside, so done those today.

Block D-10 "Battlefield"

Tricky those little triangles in the corners....












Three more weeks to the end of this year and only two more blocks to finish, most of the work is done but need to finish them with some applique...I should be able to manage that shouldn't I ??

Have taken up some knitting this week too, nothing special just a straight forward simple scarf and the newest issue of "Quiltnieuws" was in, so enjoyed reading that too.

Oh!.. and talking of reading, I nearly finished this book, only one chapter left..

This is the second book in the All Souls trilogy, book three will be out sometime in July next year, can't wait to find out what happens next!

Next wednesday is our last normal Bee evening and the wednesday the following week we are going to the local Chinese for a feast!  So lots to look forward to!
In the mean time I'm getting back to my knitting..

See you next time!
Essie

Quilt Bee and back with Dear Jane again..

It has been a while since my last post, but I simply haven't had much to post about.

Last wednesday we had our bi-weekly quilt Bee evening.

I should really post about the Bee evenings more often too I know..

I never take pictures and everytime I say to myself 

I should have taken my camera..but this time I did.

Riet made a lovely scrappy quilt..

 ..

On the left is Alie showing the Christmas stocking  she made and on the right is Joke, she was proudly showing her finished BOM Happy Hearts..

..and while we had some tea there was crocheting going on as well as patchwork..

I have enjoyed taken up my Dear Jane project again, I finished some blocks during the last week or so, here they are  

(sorry about the poor quality in some, background is actually the same fabric in all of the blocks)

C-7  "Megan's Mountain Laurel" 

D-2  "Mouse in a Mirror"

D-3  "Jason's Jacks"

D-4  "Crystal Star"

D-5  "Cathedral Window"

D-8  "Dee Dee's Delight"

D-12  "Crossed Swords"

I also done block D-9 but somehow forgot to take a picture of it?

Any way this brings my total number of blocks now to 49..

Just 3 blocks to go (that is block D-10 and D-11 and still need to finish block C-5) 

and then...

my goal for this year which was 1 block per week will be reached...YEAH!!!

Can't believe it is already the 1st of December today, will have to start thinking about some New Years resolutions for 2014..

See how this week goes..if not too busy I might be able to do those 3 blocks and maybe, just maybe do a few more to have a good start next year!

[Note to myself..make it a goal for next year to blog more often..;-)) ]

Till next time!

Essie

I had a dream...

It feels like a dream.. (and 5 days later it still does!) but it was very real and it really did happen!
Last Wednesday I received a telephone call, with the most exciting news...my quilt entry for the OEQC in Veldhoven had won a prize! And not just any prize it actually won the award for this year's Theme "Berlin".



















Ever since that phone call it has been an exciting few days, on the Thursday evening I was invited for the championships dinner during which all the prizes were awarded.

My prize was a box full with all spools of Aurifil thread, it has the whole range of colours (!!), I am really thrilled with it as you can imagine..!
I received such a great response to my quilt, it really was overwhelming, I really never expected that.

Friday was time to pack because on Saturday me and my friend Jo were going to the workshop "Celtic Connections" with the lovely Pat Archibald.
If you ever have the opportunity to go to one of her classes I would highly recommend it.
Take a look at her website here, she makes the most amazing quilts.

We stayed the night in Veldhoven and after a lovely (big!) breakfast on Sunday we took our time to look at all the quilts in the show and of course we took a tour around all the shops.. ;-))

My quilt and all the other winning quilts will be going on a small trip around the world, first they will be on display in Houston (during market and festival) and they are also going to Berlin twice, first in November at the Kreativ Tage Berlin and then again in May-June at the EXPO Berlin.
I can't believe my quilt is actually going to Houston!! :-))

Next year's theme for the OEQC is going to be "Old Masters", I've already got an idea in my head what to do with that so...  see how that develops, in any case..I've got lots of colours of thread, something colourful perhaps?

'Till next time!
Essie

It's been a while since I last posted, but I haven't done any quilty things and therefore not much to show you.
Yesterday was a horrible, wet and windy autumn day.

Nice day for sitting next to the fire with a steaming cup of hot chocolate ...unfortunately I don't have either of those so I settled for a cup of tea instead... ;-))
Going out wasn't exactly an option so while the wind and rain were creating havoc outside, I decided to do some work on my LE.

The crown is finished, and now started working on the little flowers.
The triangles that form the crown were done with the Floriani stabilizer and I also used starch to iron the pieces into shape before applique-ing.

Found this fabric which I thought would be nice for the little flowers around the crown.

Here is one finished (took me most of the afternoon!!)
These were done using needle turn applique, not as smooth as I would have liked it though...
They are so small. I put a coin next to it so you can see the scale.
(just realized that people outside the EU will not now this coin, sorry for that, should have used a ruler instead..)





Part 5 will be coming out soon, and I'm still working on part 2.
Still have got a long way to go yet..
But it is not the only project I'm working on, so steadily doing bits at a time and I might catch up one day (I hope)..


In a previous post I told you about an idea I had for a label for my "Berlin" quilt.

Well this is it:

It decided not to use it as a label but more as an extra embellishment for the top.
It's a so called "dog-tag", like the ones they use in the army for ID purpose.
But instead I put the title and a short text on it. Seeing as I have a picture on the quilt of a soldier I thought this would go well together.

Looking very much forward to the show next weekend, can't wait to see what other people have made for this year's theme. And all the other quilts too of course!

'till next time!
Essie

Love Entwined - The circles on the compass ring

Continuing with the Love Entwined, the circles have been put on the ring around the compass.
"My oh my"...they are tiny!

Here is how I made them using the method I saw on Carin's blog.

I found this fabric last week at the quiltshow, it has the exact size circles that I needed.

Deze stof vond ik vorige week tijdens de tentoonstelling, de cirkels zijn precies de goede maat voor wat ik nodig had.

Basting around the circle...

Precies rondom geregen...

...wetting it with starch. The color is not coming from the fabric but it is my cutting mat shining through.

...nat gemaakt met stijfsel.  De kleur komt niet van de stof maar het is mijn snijmat die doorschijnt.

Then I put the little washer on top and..

Dan het kleine ringetje er bovenop en...

...pulled the thread tight around the washer and put the iron on it for a few seconds.

...de draad stevig aangetrokken rondom het ringetje en het strijkijzer er een paar seconden op gezet.

Be careful when you pull the thread though, because if your fabric is loosely woven and/or frays easily, this can happen.

Wees voorzichtig met het aantrekken van de draad, want als je stof heel los is geweven en/of snel rafelt, want dan kan dit gebeuren.

After carefully removing the washer, I pinned the circle where I wanted it to be...

Nadat ik voorzichtig het ringetje heb verwijderd, heb ik het cirkeltje op de juiste plek gespeld...

...and appliqued it in place.

...en geappliceerd.

I only done 16 circles, instead of the 32 that were on the pattern.

Ik heb maar 16 cirkels gedaan en geen 32 zoals op het patroon.














Next step is to applique the compass onto the background square and then the triangles that go around the compass. Oh..and before I do that I still need to put the circle in the middle of the compass of course!

De volgende stap is het kompas te appliceren op de ondergrondstof en daarna de driehoeken die rondom het kompas komen. Oh..en voor ik dat allemaal ga doen moet ik eerst natuurlijk nog de cirkel in het midden van de kompas appliceren!

'Till next time!
Essie

Quilt show and Love Entwined compass ring

On Sunday me and 3 more ladies from our bee went to the quiltshow in Alkmaar.
We had a lovely time, seen some beautiful quilts. Amongst which were 3 amazing quilts that all won a prize in Houston last year.

My quilt was there too, here I am with my quilt:

I made more pictures of the show but will show them another time!


What I wanted to show you today is how I done the outer ring on my compass for the Love Entwined.

I traced the ring onto Floriani using only the inside seam lines, not the outside seam allowances and then carefully cut out this ring on the traced lines.

Eerst de lijnen van de ring overgetrokken op Floriani, niet de naadtoeslagen maar alleen de binnen lijnen van de ring zelf. Daarna de ring voorzichtig op deze lijnen uitgeknipt.

Then I cut a piece of background fabric about 10 inch square.

Dan een stuk achtergrond stof van ca. 10x10 inch uitgeknipt.

I placed the ring onto the wrong side of the background fabric with the shiny side down and ironed the ring onto the fabric, being careful not to warp the shape of the circle.

De ring op de verkeerde kant van de achtergrondstof gelegd met de glimmende kant naar beneden en heel voorzichtig gestreken zodat de ring zijn vorm behoud en niet vervormd.

After that I placed the background fabric back on top of my pattern and carefully traced the seam allowance on the inside of the Floriani circle.

Daarna heb ik de achtergrondstof weer op het patroon gelegd en voorzichtig de naadtoeslag aan de binnenzijde van de ring overgetrokken op de stof.

Then cut away the inside circle.

Daarna de binnen cirkel uitgeknipt.

And cut into the seam allowance every 1/4 inch or so.

En de naadtoeslag ongeveer iedere cm ingeknipt.

Then I put some glue on top of the Floriani circle and folded over the seam allowance and ironed in place.

Daarna lijm op de Floriani cirkel en de naadtoeslag omgevouwen en gestreken.

Fold your circle in half and finger press the edges, then open up and fold it over again and press to get 4 folds north-south and east-west. Align these folds with your 4 points of your compass.

Vouw de cirkel in de helft en geef een vouwtje, daarna nog een keer in de andere richting nog een keer vouwen zodat je 4 vouwen krijgt, noord-zuid en oost-west.  Plaats deze vouwen op de 4 punten van je kompas.

Carefully pin the ring on top of your compass using first 4 points of the compass, then the points in between those and so on.

Speld voorzichtig de ring op het kompas door eerst de 4 punten vast te spelden en daarna de punten daar weer tussen.

..untill you have a completely pinned ring and now you can applique this using your own preferred method of applique.

..tot de hele ring is gespeld en nu kan hij geappliceerd worden op de manier die je zelf het fijnst vindt.

Before you start your applique, be warned!
If you have a cat, you might not get the chance....hahaha

Voordat je met appliceren begint, wees gewaarschuwd!
Als je een kat hebt, krijg je misschien niet de kans om te beginnen...hahaha


Next time I'll do the little circles on the ring.

Volgende keer doe ik de kleine rondjes op de ring.


See you next time!
Essie