An (almost) finish..

Today I've been working on the binding of my "Berlin" quilt.
I really enjoy doing that, love watching those raw edges disappear.

Does that mean it is finished?? Well...no, it's not quite finished yet..but nearly!
Still have an applique piece to add and maybe I'll put in some hand stitches..not sure about those just yet?
And lastly I will put on the hanging sleeve and a label. Got a great idea in my head for a label, but need to look into that, will show you if it works out!

Today the stabilizer arrived in the post, so I can continue with the Love Entwined.
However, not sure if I'll have the time this weekend.. Tomorrow will probably be a shopping day and on sunday we'll be going to the Quilt show in Alkmaar.

But next post will show you some more of my progress on the Love Entwined and of course some pics of the show!
See you Sunday maybe and if not, 'till next time!
Essie

Hi there!
Holidays are over for most of us and things are getting back to their usual routine.
Lots to do and a busy ( but fun!) week ahead...
First a quick update, these are the Jane blocks I've done over the last couple of weeks:

C-13, "Lakota Sioux" mostly foundation
pieced

D-1, "Alison's Guiding Light",
also foundation pieced

These blocks I made while we were in Birmingham, thought I'd bring a couple of easy blocks so I'd have something to do in the evening ;-))

D-7, "Meeting Place"

D-6, "Challenge"

D-13, "Field of Dreams"

Have started on blocks D-2 and D-9 already and as I mentioned in a previous post still need to do the applique pieces on blocks C-5, C-7 and D-4. The Floriani Stabilizer has been ordered and will hopefully arrive some time this week. And with that I can also continue working on my "Love Entwined".

Yesterday I received confirmation in the post that my entry for the OEQC has been accepted. Most of the quilting has been done, will try to get that finished this week and then I can put the binding on. Then all I have to do is add some hand stitching for finishing touches and make a label and hanging sleeve.
This week wednesday is our first Bee evening and next weekend is the annual quilt exhibition of the Dutch Quilters Guild (Quiltersgilde), so lots and lots to look forward to!

For now, have a nice evening and see you next time!
Essie

What I'm working on right now..

I've been busy this week with my compass for the LE, this is how it looks so far:

I'm quite happy with how these colours turned out.. ;-))
The middle circle still needs to be appliqued and then onto the outer ring with the little mini circles all the way around it. I'm waiting to order the "Floriani Stitch N Wash" stabilizer which I'll be using for the applique. (see here for more information on Esther Aliu's blog)

I also think the stabilizer will come in very handy for use with the applique pieces on my Dear Jane blocks.
I'm working on block C-5, here you can see I've ironed the freezer template on the white fabric, I then cut out the inside and basted this on top of the pinwheel block for applique-ing, after that a circle will be cut out of the little pinwheel block and that will be appliqued in the centre..

...and for some reason I find myself working on more than one block at a time so also working on blocks  C-7 and D-4, still need to do the applique pieces on those
And blocks C-13 and D-1 are halfway done as well !

I'll show you the finished blocks next time, for now I'll leave you with some eye candy from Birmingham Festival of Quilts

An overview (don't be fooled, it was busy!)

Small Selection of the Horizons Exhibit by the Quilt Guild

"Jonny asked for lizzards" by Joyce Dorsett, UK

And some very bright colourful quilts:

"The Seasons" by Liz Jones, UK

"Coloured Windows" by Sheilagh, UK

"Blowing Bubbles Undersea" by Huei-Lan Chuang, Taiwan

A close up of some beautiful applique

"Transition Fragonfly" by Sandra Wyman, UK

More to show you next time,
Have a great weekend!
Essie

Fallen..

It has been all over many of the blogs, the absolutely stunning Love Entwined BOM by Esther Aliu.

The entire quilt is done in applique.

In order to be able to download these free patterns, you have to become a member, so a few days ago I enlisted to become a member of the Esther Aliu Yahoo BOM Group.

Just couldn't let this opportunity go, could I? And I love applique..

I wasn't at all planning on making this quilt any time soon, but somehow I found myself looking through my stash and found these possibly suitable fabrics 

...not sure yet about that bright white background fabric, maybe I'd better go for a more creamier background?

And I don't know how it happened (-?-), but all of a sudden I had printed out the first pattern, tried out some colour schemes, and prepared the segments for foundation piecing...

Will probably use a few different greens, only used one shade here for the colouring...might piece the compass together tomorrow and see how these colours turn out!

As you can see from the picture on the top of this post, this compass goes in the very centre of this quilt, it is a very large quilt (96" square or 2,44 m. square) 

I won't make the entire quilt, might only make the centre square plus two borders, maybe leaving the middle border blank and put some quilted feathers in that?

Haven't forgotten about Jane though, she is still with me.. will post some of the new blocks next time!

Have a great weekend!

Essie

This came in the post yesterday...

Some time ago I posted here that my quilt was accepted in the annual quilt exhibition from the Dutch Quilters Guild.
Well, not only did it get accepted they also asked me if they could make cards with a picture of my quilt on the front. I was very honoured to be asked and of course I said yes! ..so I sent the quilt out to them to be photographed and yesterday these cards came in the post.

Tonight I will take the quilt to the drop-off point, a quiltshop in Dordrecht, and from there it will go to the exhibition which starts tomorrow in three weeks. Here it is ready to go.






I will leave you with a few pictures from the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham.

Here is Anco Brouwers being interviewed by Luana Rubin, check out her channel on youtube here, she has lots of videos of several quilt shows.

This I believe was the Best of Show, and well deserved!

those roses are so beautifully made, they look so realistic!

shame I couldn't get the entire quilt in the picture, also forgot to see who the maker was, sorry..

Some more stunning traditional applique quilts:

"Arabesque" by Antonella Cibin, Italy

"Garden of Dream" by Fusako Takido, Japan

 I'll have some more pictures to show you next time..

Essie

Festival of quilts - Day 4/5

Didn't get around to do a post yesterday. Have caught a cold and decided to turn in early.

Yesterday was our last day at the Festival of quilts. We took a tour round the quilts, lots of "ooooohs" and "aaaahs" as I'm sure you can imagine ;-))

Took lots of pictures but need to sort them out before I post them.

Here is an overview, sorry about the poor quality, it is taken with my little ipod

We are at the airport right now waiting for our flight back home, we'll be taking to the air in about an hour.

We had a great time here in Birmingham!

Going back home full of new ideas fresh inspiration and of course lots of goodies.

See you next time!

Essie

Festival of quilts - Day 3

Another day in quilters heaven..

Today we had a lovely workshop with Wendy Cotterill. 

She showed us a technique using transfer paints onto already printed images and/or text. These will need to be laser printed, and the image or text will thus act as a resist to the transfer paint.

She also showed us how to print images onto fabric with a household (inkjet) printer.

The images/text with transfer paint were then transferred onto a polyester type fabric (we used lutrador I believe) and when you place that on top of the other printed images you get a kinda see-through layered effect.

Will definitely try this one time on a future project!

Tomorrow will be our last day, we will go check out all the lovely quilts that are on display and take lots of pictures!

For now, goodnight from Birmingham!

Essie