A grey day outside..

but while the weather is not so nice for being outdoors..it is however great weather to do some quilting!

And not feel guilty about it..;)

Well in my last post I promised to show you what else I have been working on, so here she goes..

In the past few weeks while not working on my Jane blocks, I have made this stack and whack kaleidoscope quilt. Fabric is a border print from Jinny Beyer. 

This is a sample for the workshop we have planned in September with our Bee.

A couple of weeks ago I bought this gorgeous fabric from Laurel Burch.

I will be doing another stack and whack with this one, but this time with 6 equilateral triangles forming hexagons from the book "One Block Wonders Cubed" from Maxine Rosenthal and Joy Pelzmann.

Can't wait to get started on this one!!

Love all those bright colors..

Also I have been busy quilting my entry for the OEQC competition in Veldhoven which is in October.

The theme for this year is "Berlin". 

these blocks represent The Wall, 

doing some straight lines here.

The famous picture of the defecting soldier taken during the early days of the Berlin Wall.

The little running man were free motion "thread sketched" over a layer of organza.

I've probably cut the organza too close to the stitching and while quilting the background that layer of organza has started to come loose. Will have to redo that once all the quilting has been done, probably even after the binding has been done.

Oh well..we learn as we go along!

If somebody has got a good tip on how to prevent this sort of thing in the future please let me know??

'Till next time!

Have a great weekend,

Essie

Time flies..time for a Jane update

Time seems to go faster and faster..before you know it another week has gone and then another month..
My last post was a month ago..can't believe it!
Time has gone very fast the last few weeks but luckily I did have time do a few baby Janes..

Block C-3  "Rayelle's Fence" 

this one is foundation pieced.

Block C-4 "Tic Tac Toe" 

mostly foundation pieced 

Block C-1 "Trooper Green's Badge"

foundation pieced

nice to have an easy block now and then.. ;)

Block C-8 "Hani's Crown"

middle section with the white pieces is foundation pieced and outside corners are traditionally pieced.

Block C-12 "Family Reunion" 

decided to traditionally piece this block, but those pieces are soooo tiny! Took me quite a while to put together..

Oh, well.. as they say

"No pain..no Jane.."  ;)LOL

Noticed there's some threads on some of the pictures, sorry about that, however it does give you a sense of scale so you get an idea of the size of the blocks.
This puts me on a total of 31 blocks and seeing as we are in week 28 that means I'm still on schedule.
That's all I have for Jane, next time I'll show you what else I've been busy with..

"Till next time!
Essie

Good news after a bad start..

What have I been up to this week?
... well I've been busy quilting

Last monday the car broke down..wouldn't start. We finally got it running after a push and drove straight to the garage to get her fixed.
It was just the battery that had packed up but all in all we've spent nearly the whole afternoon in the garage.

When we got back home I received the good news that my quilt got accepted into the annual show of the Dutch Quilters Guild (Quiltersgilde) and was doing happy dances the rest of the evening.
Next day I went straight to work on it because it still needed to be finished, still need to do the quilting, then the binding and so on..
That is what I am doing every minute I have now and that's why Jane will have to wait..
I'm going back to do some more quilting,

"till next time!
Essie

Photos from EXPO Veldhoven

Here is a video I made with a selection of quilts from the show at EXPO Veldhoven last week,

I always come back from a show inspired and full of new ideas, hope you enjoy looking at these amazing quilts as much as I did (and still do)!

Next post I will have some more DJ blocks to show.
"Till next time!
Essie

Porkies..

Somebody has been telling porkies!
Me that is, in one of my previous posts I may have mentioned that I only have one more block to do in order to finish row B of my DJ.
Well that wasn't quite true, when I sat down to do that last block to my own surprise I realized that it was actually 2 blocks, here they are:

Block B-5, "Hot Cross Buns"

When I look at Jane's version they look pieced but I reverse appliqued the diamonds first to the blue squares before traditionally piecing the rest together.

Block B-7, "World Series"

Melons appliqued to the background, then reverse appliqued a circle on top of that. Then appliqued the tiny diamonds as last, pffff..what a task that was! Can you see which one I done first?

That makes 26 blocks done!
So now on to Row C..

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of quilts I stumbled on by accident, they are very colorful..

These quilts are made by Fraser Smith, and they are not what they seem..

They are actually carved out of wood! Isn't that amazing?

You can find more pictures here.

"till next time!

Essie

Quilt show and market

Had a great day yesterday at the Expo Veldhoven.

So many quilts to see... the highlights for me were the works of Colette Berends. Her portraits are so realistic, so artistic and such a creative use of materials.














The Dinner at Eight Artists with their quilts themed "Rituals" were also one of my favorites, some I had seen pictures of on the internet or in magazines, but it was great to see them up close.




I made more pictures but I still need to edit those and I will make a video of them and post them soon.


And there were loads of shops, and of course I got myself some goodies..;)

Some red and blues for the DJ, a couple of books, a new (larger size) rotary cutter..
I'm off now to play with Jane!

'till next time...
Essie

The end is in sight for row B..

Finished three more blocks in row B, only more block to do and row B will be finished.

Glad Block B-6 is finally done, took quite long to do, so many tiny pieces!!..43 to be exact.

It is called "Wild Goose Chase", it is foundation pieced.

Was a little worried about the block not being straight but it turned out pretty straight, even though the picture is a little off. 

Can't rotate the picture when I edit them so I need to get them as straight as possible when I take the picture, not very easy..

Block B-11, "Melissa's Cross".

The block Brenda has drafted in her book looked very different from Jane's version so I decided to redraft it.

The center cross is traditionally pieced, the half moon shapes were appliqued to the corner triangles before they were added to the center cross.

Block B-12, "Star Flower".

This one is reverse appliqued.

The center and the four melons were

adjusted slightly to make some space in between 

them to allow for the seam allowances to 

be turned under.

Will try to finish the final block for row B on Sunday.

Tomorrow my friend Joke and I are visiting the 

Expo in Veldhoven.

Really looking forward to seeing all the quilts that are on display.

To name a few there will be quilts from the Dinner at Eight Artists, Colette Berends, Wil Fritsma, Ineke van Unen and many more. 

Also there will be lots of shops to visit and I'll probably won't be able to resist...LOL. 

Maybe I can find some more red and blue fabrics to use in my DJ. 

I am going to take as many pictures as I can and put them into a video which I will be posting soon.

Have a great weekend!!

Essie