Toadstool House nearly finished, but not quite!

This was originally a appliqué project from a workshop at Quilters Palet in The Hague, to learn how to use the Appliquick tools. The Appliquick tools work very well, especially when fixing really small pieces like the girl's hand or the pompom. As this isn't my style of interior decoration, and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it, I firstly abandoned it, and then decided to extend its scope, by adding free embroidery. I rather went to town on that, and there was even more, but I unpicked it the next day!

I also tried my hand at faux trapunto:

to make the little girl stand out more. I finally bought a suitable FQ to make the border earlier this week, got the borders on and was all set to go hand quilting this weekend.

Then, a new development: my daughter asked if I could make it into a cushion for a friend's birthday. Apparently one of her friends is really into this type of doll. I don't have a problem with turning it into a cushion cover; I'm pleased to find a use for it. Unfortunately I can't go further until she gives me the dimensions of the cushion.

So, this is NOT on my list of finishes for the Finish Along at the Littlest Thistle.

Happy sewing

Marly.

English paper piecing Emma

The last few weeks I've been working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, "Celtic Solstice, and my other main projects, including "Emma", were largely shelved. This week I'm without a sewing machine so I've returned to "Emma" and aim to complete one of these stars each day.

De laatste paar weken werkte ik aan de mysterie quilt van Bonnie Hunter "Celtic Solstice" maar nu ben ik weer bezig met de "Emma" uit Quilt en Zo van vorig jaar, ontworpen door Evy Verbeek van Quilters Palet  in Den Haag. Ik probeer ieder dag deze week minstens een ster block af te krijgen: dit is nummer 23 van 36. Naar deze rij komt er nog een. De hele quilt is Engelse paper-piecing stukjes geappliceerd op de achtergrond stof. Meer foto's post ik een ander keer. 

Volgende week als ik herenigd word met mijn naaimachine ga ik met Celtic Solstice verder.

When all 36 of these star units have been paper pieced and appliquéd onto the background square they will form a border of this medallion quilt and there will be just one more border to make. I'll post more photos another time.

The pattern was designed by Evy Verbeek of Quilters Palet in The Hague, and appeared in six instalments in the Dutch quilting magazine "Quilt and Zo" during the last year. Each edition of the magazine contained instructions for the next stage. 

Workshop week

There are some skills I wish I had, and which however much I try to master I just don't seem to get (like speaking Portuguese). Free motion quilting was also a case in point. I could bear the free motion frustration no longer and decided it was time to get expert advice.

Er zijn vaardigheden die ik zou willen hebben, maar wat ik ook doe, het lukt me niet om ze eigen te maken (zoals Portugees spreken). Zo ook machine quilten uit de vrije hand. De frustratie werd me te veel; het werd tijd om een expert te raadplegen.
De expert machine quilting trainer in dit deel van Nederland is Karen Lipton, dus heb ik van de week een workshop bij haar gevolgd bij QuiltersPalet in Den Haag. Wij hebben zo ontzettend veel in 5,5 uur geleerd: cirkels, blaadjes, bloemen, harten en sterren. Het gekke is dat het zo ontspannend was, terwijl in het verleden ik altijd zo gespannen van werd. Waarschijnlijk daarom bakte ik er niets van!

2 van mijn proeflapjes 

Around here the free motion expert is Karen Lipton, so I attended her workshop  "Free Motion Fun" at QuiltersPalet in The Hague this week. Wow, did we cover a lot of ground in five and a half hours! Karen took the group from simple straight lines, up and down and left to right, while she checked the machine adjustments, to garlands with flowers, leaves, hearts and stars. 
The strangest thing: it was all so relaxed and relaxing, while in the past free motion quilting left me tense, both mentally and physically, which is probably why I never got anywhere with it.

I was so busy I only took one photo during the workshop, and that isn't really accurate, because shortly afterwards I changed the stitch length to 2.5mm.

Mijn enige foto van tijdens de workshop; ik had het te druk!

So I don't forget the settings.

As if one workshop wasn't enough, the following day I took a second, also at QuiltersPalet :"My own Quilt File" with Hilde. Now, I can't honestly say that I'd been desperately frustrated while making boxes or files in the past. I don't remember ever trying my hand at this particular craft. I did, however, need a neat and portable cutting mat, and a mini ironing board would come in handy (if I had a mini iron - Santa!). While such files are commercially available, an entirely personalized one is preferable, don't you think?

I'm pleased with the result.

outside - de buitenkant

inside - de binnenkant

Alsof een workshop niet genoeg was, ging ik de volgende dag nog een volgen bij QuiltersPalet, en deze keer bij Hilde, om kartonnage te leren door dit handig map te maken. Je kunt soortgelijke mappen kopen, maar zelf gemaakt is toch leuker? Ik vond dat ik er een nodig had; nu nog de mini strijkijzer voor bij de mini strijkplank (Kerstman)! Met het resultaat ben ik best tevreden.