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Japanese houses, houses from scraps and Rosa

2012-02-01T01:20:00.000-08:00

I finished the first block of the Yoko Saito Quilt mystery. This was the first time I used Japanese woven fabric. I was afraid that applique wasn't easy because of the fraying.

But I found a very good tutorial about applique. (here is the tutorial) You iron the freezer templates on the right sight of your fabric and than you glue the seam allowance to the wrong site. It worked perfect even with difficult forms as the bird and the dog(I forgot to pin the dog because I am not quite satisfied with the lower part of this blog.)

And here are my 12 scraphouses, and because we finally had some snow i show them in the snow...

And yes i know there is one door missing I'll repair that, be sure.....

Here is Rosa, she LOVES snow.

Did you notice what is going on in blogland?

2012-01-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you noticed that a lot of bloggers are building houses. You can see this house in their sidebar:

A Dutch woman is organizing a quilt-a-long, called 'building houses from scraps'. The participants make each day of 2012 one tiny house , so at the end of the year they'll have a quilt with 365 houses.

Here you can find the blog, and here are some more houses, and here.

Inge made some houses with her grandsons, they had a lot of fun.

Her sister Erna is fond of animals, this are her houses.

I did not want to participate, but downloaded the pattern, because 'you never know'..... When i saw on all the blogs all those cute tiny houses, (they are only 3 inch square,) I realized that i also have alot of scraps, so why not make one or two.

But i can tell you, when you start to make them, you cannot stop, it's really addictive.

For the moment I have twelve houses , that should be a nice doll quilt. I 'll show you the houses tomorrow, it's too dark now to make pictures. Here are my first pieces, I piece by hand in the English paper piecing way.

A finished doll quilt

2012-01-28T01:39:00.000-08:00

This week I finished a doll quilt, all hand pieced and hand quilted. I used Kaffe Fassett and aboriginal fabric and the yellow applique background is, of course, a Kona solid.

The pattern is from the book: Fat Quarter Quilting by Lori Smith.

I finished my VERA today

2012-01-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here is my knitted bear:

Isn't she CUTE?

Tomorrow she'll take the train to Holland, so she'll be in time for the birthday party on saturday!

May I present you VERA

2012-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

I am knitting a bear for a sweet little girl"s first birthday.

I have not finished my bear yet, here she is, a light brown bear:

Vera is a friend of Jacobus, do you remember him?

I already knitted more patterns , made by Annita. The patterns are a pleasure to knit and the result is so cute. If you are interested in the patterns , they also are available in English.

And this is the sweet little girl who will become ONE year next saturday.

Do you want to know my quilting projects for this new year?

2012-01-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

There is one quilt which is already for months looking at me and calling me: buy me and make me........
Thanks to my blogfriend Lizzie I already am a member of the blog.

I am talking about the Civil War Bride Quilt. Corliss Searcey of Threadbear in Australie made a pattern of the original quilt that is hanging in the American Folk Art Museum in New York.

This great quilt is only applique and because I do not have a lot of experience in applique, I bought this small applique pattern by Lori Smith: songs of spring, to make first....;

And I started today an applique pattern by Yoko Saito.

In the last number of Quiltmania was the first block of a Quilt Mystery.

I asked her if she could make me a kit for this block. I have met her on the Craft fair in Rotterdam last year. She has an enormous variety of woven Japanese fabric. So she made me a beautiful kit. The next block will be in the next Quiltmania in march.....

And of course I want to make a lot of doll/small quilts this year. there are two quilts that are waiting to be finished. I 'll show them this week with another , so cute, knitting project.

keep in touch and happy crafting!

A new doll quilt

2012-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Last week I made this doll quilt, it's a pattern made by Kathleen Tracy, from her book American Doll Quilts. I used a lot of Dutch folklore fabric that i bought two years ago in Staphorst. You can read more about this visit here.

I already started another kathleen Tracy pattern from her book Remembering Adelia. In this book you find quilts which are inspired by Amelia's diary. She was a 19-year-old woman who lived in northern Illinois in the beginning of the Civil War. In the book you can also read fragments of Amelia's diary!

I bought two gorgeous Amish quilt patterns

2012-01-08T01:23:00.000-08:00

I found two beautiful Amish quiltpatterns . They are based on quilts from the Esprit collection of the Lancaster Quilt and textile museum. This is the double-ninepath quilt.

This is the sunshine and shadow quilt

Aren't they GORGEOUS?

The printed material you get with the patterns starts with information about the quilts (they are made in 1935) and you learn about Amish quilting during this period.

The patterns include very detailed and easy to understand instructions for both modern and traditional methods.

Each pattern comes with 22 pages of information and instruction and .........with several quilting stencils.

These quilting stencils!!!! are for the double-ninepath quilt.

The stencils for the sunshine and shadow .....

Look at those baskets!!!

I cannot wait to start, But first I need to choose the colors, of course I will use Kona solids ,do you remember that already I ordered some?

When you finished the quilts you can register them in the Museum and you will receive a seal of proof on a numbered certificate of authenticity.

If you are interested you can buy them here.

Happy New Year and do you want some origami paper cranes from France?

2012-01-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

I wish you and your loved ones good health and peace in 2012. Thank you for all your comments on my blog in 2011, your friendship, and your inspiration.

I want to give you something in the beginning of this new year. On New Years Eve and today I have been folding origami paper cranes. I already have about 80 cranes. Do you know the story of these Japanese paper cranes?

In Japan it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper cranes makes a person's wish come true.
A thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding present by the father , who is wishing a thousand years of happiness and prosperity upon the couple.

The thousand origami cranes was popularized through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing in Hiroshima during the World War 11.
Sasaki soon developed leukemia and, inspired by the cranes legend, began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand. In a popular version of the story as told in the book about Sadako, she folded only 644 before her death; in her honor her friends completed the rest and buried them all with her.
In an alternate version of the story she completed the 1000canes before her death.

Sadako's short life has also inspired another sort of legacy: the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima. After Sadako's death , her classmates sought to ho,or their friend by creating a monument to mourn all the children who died from atomic bombing.

Beneath the pedestal , there is an inscription:

This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in the world.

Though I cannot give you 1000 paper cranes , I want to give you ten, one for every 100........
If you want to receive 10 origami paper cranes, folded by me, leave me a comment and I'll contact you for your address.

This week I want to finish 3 quilts.... number 3

2011-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today I finished this country baskets quilt.

I am sorry for the bad photo's, but it was raining ......

Have a good New Years Eve and I 'll be back tomorrow!

This week I want to finish 3 quilts.... here is number 2

2011-12-29T11:25:00.000-08:00

In number 58 of Quiltmania I saw a beautiful quilt. If you were in Tokyo in 2007 for the international quilt festival you could have seen this quilt....

The quilt is called : the Amish checkerboard baskets crib quilt, it's made in 1930 and it's from the Wooden collection in Ohio.

I made my version :

The colors are darker but with the sun shining it's not easy to get the right blue's.

The quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted. The fabric is Kona cotton. I LOVE the Kona solid colors, as a Christmas present I bought myself 2 FQ bundles of Kona cotton, one in reds and one in purples!!!

I hope to finish the third quilt tomorrow........

This week i want to finish 3 quilts.... here is number 1

2011-12-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Finally, I finished my grandmother's flowergarden..... The hand quilting was so long and in the end so boring. And the choice that I made for the back fabric wasn't a good one. In the thriftstore I bought 6 meters of linen for 1 euro!!!
I used that linen for the back, but it was so heavy and stiff, so hard to quilt by hand. That's why I machine quilted the borders. I am so happy i finished this quilt and I am very satisfied with the result...

I want to finish 2 more quilts this week , so stay in touch.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

I wish everyone a merry and peaceful Christmas.
Here I found some cute vintage Christmas cards...... enjoy!!

See you next week.

Do you need some last minute Christmas decorations?

2011-12-21T00:47:00.000-08:00

This morning I saw this beautiful handmade angel on Ingthing's blog.

There 's a very good tutorial, so come on....... make one or three for your Christmas trees and some more as a lovely handmade present for your family. Because everyone needs an ANGEL .

I aso love this origami flowerball. The tutorial is on this blog You have to scroll down untill the 27 november post.

I made one flower yesterday with some japanese origami paper....

Happy crafting!

Handmade Christmas presents

2011-12-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I made a lot of Christmas chocolates. With my two garden clubs we had several chocolate afternoons.....

As you can see we were very concentrated....and we also had a lot of fun.

This a part of what we made:

Yesterday I made this bag for my niece Alda , I hope it will arrive before Christmas. (I made a second one for the summermarket next year!)

My friend Lucienne is always crafting, look what she made for her children and grandchildren....

It's more than three weeks ago that I showed you a finished quilt. Did I abandon quilting?

NO, not at all, I am working on 4 project. I will show you more later this week......

And the winner is......

2011-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for the comments on my SMS Giveaway . I shall visit all your favorite blogs in the next week, there were a lot that are completely new for me!!!!!

And the winner of the FQ bundle of designers fabric is :jojoebo, she said:
I don't think I have one favorite, I have about 200 in my reader:

I already have send jojoebo an email.

The winner of the Indonesian sarong fabric is Jane, she said:

Thank you for such a nice giveaway! I think the sarong fabrics are beautiful.:) Right now my favorite blog is Attic24. She crochets, has 3 cute little kids and pots wonderful photos of her house and the surrounding countryside. fun stuff!
Jane and I are already in contact.

More antique doll quilts

2011-12-14T01:18:00.000-08:00

There is no time for crafting these days. I want to visit all the blogs that participe in the Sew mama Sew giveaway. And there are more then 300!
I already have so many comments on my blog....... just fabulous!
Next week I want to visit all your favorite blogs, there are so many I never heard about before.....

So in today's post no quilts made by me but three antique/vintage doll quilts that I bought recently.
The first one is a simple bow tie pattern , only two colors.

And a doll quilt wich is has on both sides a one patch pattern.

The third one is my favorite, it's a crazy quilt in lovely colors. Mostly crazy quilts have quite dark colors but this one is so vibrant.

Happy crafting.

GIVEAWAY DAY

2011-12-12T00:40:00.000-08:00

This year I participate in the great Sew Mama Sew giveaway Day.

Welcome to my blog. Let me introduce myself. I am a Dutch woman who lives in the French countryside. It's very rural here, no shops, no entertainment......
I have been crafting whole my life and my other passion is gardening. Both passions came from my parents, so this blog is in some sort a dedicating to my parents.
I have been knitting a lot, sewed my garments when I was a student and about two years ago I discovered quilting. And you could say that the quilting virus hit me!!!!

But enough, you want to see the giveaway prizes, yes prizes, because there are two! You could win one of these fabric bundles.

The first bundle is original Indonesian sarong cotton, there are 12 pieces of about 25 x 110 centimeter in the bundle.

The second bundle is designers quilting cotton, there are 10 Fat Quarters . There is Amy Butler, Hester Bailey, Eric Morris, Laura Gun and some more.

Here are the rules:

You have to leave a comment in this post, telling me what your favorite blog is.

In your comment you also need to say which bundle you want when you should be the winner.

You have to leave a comment before friday 16 december 12 o'clock p.m european time.

I do ship internationally and I will choose the winners by using the random generator.

Good Luck

Handmade Christmas presents from the Fifties

2011-12-08T01:24:00.000-08:00

My blogfriend Ann has been going to her collection of old magazines looking for handmade Christmas presents.
This Teddy-bear muff is so cute, Ann found it in her Woman And Home magazine collection.

And what do you think of these pipe-cleaner family....

I think this vintage apron should be a lovely gift for someone who loves cooking.

BTW she updated her shop with more angels and other small Christmas gifts.

My angels arrived yesterday!!!!

I love HEMA

2011-12-06T03:11:00.000-08:00

I think only my Dutch readers will understand what i am talking about in this post!!
Yesterday in Holland they celebrated Sinterklaas.

My friend Lucy made the traditional Sinterklaas cookies: pepernoten, gevulde speculaas and even banketstaaf without sugar for me...... Everything was delicious!

And there was a parcel from Holland for me. Before I can tell you what was in the parcel I have to tell you about the HEMA. This s a famous Dutch shop, they especially sell non food things but..... they also sell some food . Their smoked sausage and their tompouce are FAMOUS. While shopping, there is always the flavour of the smoked sausage..... When I am in Holland I immediately go to the Hema, I drink my coffee there and love to look their publicity.

And............ in my parcel from Sinterklaas was a crochet kit to make my own smoked sausage and tompouce !

Thank you Sinterklaas for this very cute and original present.

Handmade Christmas presents

2011-12-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

These Christmas presents are all handmade in your kitchen. Who would not like to receive these foodie-gifts.........? You can find the recipese here.

Some inspiration

2011-12-02T02:48:00.000-08:00

Do you want some inspiration for making a Christmas quilt or table runner.
I am sure you can find it here. Danielle is hosting a Christmas quilt show, there are already about 90 blogs that participate.

What do you think of this one? She made this quilt.

You can find this one here.

And the last one, I think this is my favorite, maybe in red!!!!

Antique doll quilts

2011-12-01T03:25:00.000-08:00

Last weeks I bought some antique/vintage doll quilts. I did not want to pay the expensive so they are not perfect at all. But each of them had something that touched me, in someway or another.
They were all bought in the United States and came from estate sales.

I don't know how old this doll quilt is.... There is a backing but no binding, all done by hand. The pattern is something between a one-patch and a crazy quilt. I love the fabric choice and the primitive impression of the quilt. The fabric is coton, flanel and satin.

I bought this embroidery doll quilt because the embroidered images are a strange combinations, most embroidered quilts have one theme : nursery rhymes, animals or Suebonnet Sue's.

This one is a combination of several; two animals , two Suebonnet's and two images of traditional Dutch

people.

I was touched by this traditional Dutch farmer's wife with tulips in her hands. Someone in the States embroidered this. Did she have Dutch grandparents or was she Dutch herself?

To be continued....

My Suebonnet Sue quilt

2011-11-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

This morning I finished this small quilt. Hand pieced and hand quilted. I love the bright colors.

I found the pattern in this book.

Suebonnet Sue, do you know here?

2011-11-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

This picture and the information about Suebonnet Sue was found on this blog.

Whether you know the pattern as the Sunbonnet Sue, or the Dutch doll, Bonnie Bonnet, or as the Sun Bonnet Babies....she's been made into quilts, painted on nursery walls, appliqued onto clothing and goes back to our grandmother's or even great-grandmother's time

Many of the illustrators of the late 1800's and the early 20th century drew playful children with big hats or bonnets, but only a few are recognized as being Sue's earliest illustrators. The first is Kate (Catherine)Greenaway (1846-1901) who as a British book editor who often drew pictures of children, especially sweet girls in bonnets on her greeting cards. Many of her designs were used on the patches of fine Victorian crazy quilts or appeared in early editions ofSmithsonian magazine. These were probably Sue's very first appearance in quilts.

But it is another illustrator, Bertha Corbett Melcher, who is officially regarded as the "Mother of Sunbonnet Babies." Bertha illustrated children's Primer books in the early 1900's and her books depicted girls with their faces hidden by their bonnets. Her drawings caught the eye of a Primer illustrator Eulalie Osgood Grover, and the two women began a collaboration what would last for many year, through many different Primer books.

Browsing on the web you can find so many fabulous Suebonnet's, there is even a Sunbonnet Sue blog!

You can find on the blog this pattern of crocheted Suebonnet Sue hankies.

And this pattern....

These paperdolls are free to download here.

Tomorrow i'll show you the Suebonnet Sue wall hanging that I made.

Christmas presents

2011-11-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

I made for Christmas two small wallhangings for my French neighbours. I used Folklore fabric from Holland. I hope they will like them.

Angels

2011-11-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

When I saw these angels on Ann's blog , I felt in love immediately.

I want to use them as Christmas cards. So I ordered some and asked Ann to add a tag for my wishes.

Aren't they beautiful? Ann is such a creative person, she makes all kind of tags, cards and more....

And besides her creativity she is also such a sweet, sympathic person, I never met her in reality but maybe once......

Ann also sells her work, take a look at her blog...... maybe you'll find something to embellish your Christmas presents.

Dinner in a castle

2011-11-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had dinner in a castle.

This chair stands in the toilet

We had a very good dinner in a beautiful old castle!

Wet-Felting

2011-11-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

Last two weeks were very busy...... I did not blog a lot and did not visit your blogs! There were so many other things to do. And someone is working in my house , he is painting the bedroom. I love to have the bedroom done but I cannot concentrate when there is someone walking around me with tools and paint and so on..... it disturbs my daily routine.

Although weather is like spring, beautiful days and lovely temperature, it is November!!!! But winter is coming, last weeks there were thousands and thousand cranes flying to the south.

In winter we organize other activities for our gardenclubs.
Last week we did wet -felting, so fun.....
Here is a picture of the gardenclub of my village, we made felted beads.

With my other gardenclub we made mittens and Dominique made a bag.

Christmas gift tutorials

2011-11-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

What do you think of this wreath made with milk cartons? Isn't it beautiful? Here is the tutorial.

If you are looking for more handmade gifts, on this blog you'll find 307!!!!! tutorials.

Me and my hat

2011-11-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago, I visited with two friends, a craft show. There was a lady who made fabulous felted hats, scarfs and shawls. I bought this hat.

Living in the French countryside 1, the language

2011-11-11T01:22:00.000-08:00

In my small village with about 260 inhabitants, there is, of course, a catholic church.

French people are mostly catholic. Here they say: we are catho. They use often abbreviations.

In stead of computer= ordinateur, they say : ordi. When I phoned to make a restaurant reservation, the girl said: I am sorry I was working on my ordi.

A rain-coat is an impermeable, they often call it : my imper.

A disaster is in French a catastrophe, but in the every day language they say a catar.

The next example is also very common, when they use ' as usual'= comme d'habitude, they use to say comme d'habe.

And the last one for today; breakfast=petit déjeuner= petit dèj.

So if you come to France and want to talk like the French, use one of these abbreviations!

We love French knots

2011-11-08T03:06:00.000-08:00

Do you know the new embroidery blog: We love French knots?
Bari J the fabric designer started this blog.

She says: this blog is dedicated to modern embroidery. And when I say 'modren' what I really mean is that lately, it seems, everyone is stitching again. We are clearly inspired by the embroiderers that came before us.....our mothers , our grandmother's and great grandmother's. There would be no 'modren' if not for them. It truly is with a nod and a tip of the hat to the past that we are thrilled to pieces with embroidery these days. This blog will offer tips and advice on stitching, free patterns, video's, giveaways, resources for materials and more.

Here are some of the free patterns:

Happy stitching!

My second different lines

2011-11-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

In the train to Holland an on my way back to France I knitted a second shawl.
The same mindless pattern, the same beautiful soft yarn in the same colors. It only need to be blocked.

This shawl is for Corinne, my foot-reflexologist. we do a kind of a swap, I knit her a shawl and she treats me without paying. Last winter we did the same, I made her a bag, I was free to choose the pattern and the colors. She said : I trust your good taste. Quite a compliment!

Different lines

2011-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

Different lines is the name of the shawl I knitted last week. I started on saturday and finished the other saturday, such a mindless, pleasant knit! The shawl is for the cute little boy's mother, so shall be in my backpack next wednesday when I go to Holland for some days.

You can wear the shawl in many different ways

The yarn is Madelinetosh merino light, so soft and wonderful to knit. The colors are Kelp and William Morris.

I also finished the cardigan for Terje. I am not quite sure about the collar. I hope the cardigan will fit him....

Blogpause for some days .... Happy crafting.

The pumpkin story

2011-10-23T01:15:00.000-07:00

Do you remember this post and this? I already told you that some plants died because of the heat, there were also not many fruits. But enough for my friend and me!!

Babyquilt made with Aunt Grace fabric

2011-10-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I finished this babyquilt some days ago. I used about 60 different squares of Aunt Grace fabric (30s reproductions), Next week I'll go to Holland for the Quilt Fair in Rotterdam and, of course for visiting friends en family.
I shall have this baby quilt and the cardigan for Terje in my backpack.....

Pinterest and crochet patterns

2011-10-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Do you know Pinterest? Honestly I did not know what this was all about, untill I saw it by my blogfriend Ann.
There are so many ideas and patterns!!! But I don't go myself on Pinterest... too much work.
I love to search patterns, like i did today for some crochet patterns.
I found this:

Aren't they cute? the patterns is here.

You also could make a bracelet with the same pattern, a quick birthday present?

An idea for a garland or stars for the Christmas tree? The pattern is free.

Happy crafting!

Shopping in Paris 4: the last addresses

2011-10-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

After having visited our favorite shops, we met again for glass of white wine on the Place de la Bastille.
We were already a bit tired our feet were protesting... So we took the metro to Porte d'Ivry in the 13th arrondissement. this is the Chinese, asiatic quarter.
If you want to buy some asiatic food, there are a lot of shops here. I prefer Tang Frères. It's like a Chinese market, the smell, the products, the personeel. Everything is VERY asiatic here and it's a very cheap shop!
As soon as we entered the smell of the Durian fruit struck upon us. I have never eaten them, they say this fruit is very healthy but the awful smell.......

I look a bit tired here....

On the square in front of the shop you can buy delicious 'sandwich poulet citron' (chicken citron ). On the other side of the street there is a sandwicherie with a great choice of asiatic food.

And on our way back in the train, guess what I did.........

Of course I was crafting, paper piecing is so easy to do wherever you are!

We had a perfect day in Paris but we could not visit all the shops which were on our list.

Therefore I give you some more addresses , maybe you go to Paris soon.

L'Empire du Thé, 101 Avenue d'Ivry (13th, metro Place d'Italie); there are a lot of shops where you can buy tea,I prefer this shop. The atmosphere is so quiet, so calm, so Zen. You can feel there the japanese tea-culture. they also sell Japanese tea-cups .

Le THé Bleu, 15 rue Linné (5th arrondissement, metro Jussieu). Beautiful shop with kimonos, tea-cups, small presents, not too expensive,.

Librairie JUNKU, 18 rue des pyramides (1th , metro Pyramides) . Japanese craftbooks, a very 'dangerous' shop for me.

Sabah oriental, 140 Rue faubourg St Antoine (11th , metro Ledru Rollin): North African spices, dried fruits, loukoum, everything you need for the north -african kitchen. rather cheep.

Marché Alligre,( 11th, metro Ledru Rollin) every morning there is a fruit and vegetable market and also fleemarket!

Sadaharu Aoki, 3 shops in Paris. Japanese patissier, very exclusive and a bit expensive;....

Poilane, 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi (6th, metro Sèvres Babylone), the famous bakery.

Salon de Thé Angelina, 226 Rue de Rivoli (1th, metro Concorde), you can find here the real paris lady drinking her coffee with a delicious and expensive 'gateau'. Try the 'Mont Blanc' gateau, so sweet, so delicious, so divine!!!

Bon Marché, 24 Rue des Sèvres( 6th, metro Sèvres Babylone), on the third floor you can find Rowan yarn, NORO, Debbie Bliss.

La Droguerie,9-11, Rue du Jour (1th , metro les Halles). Yarn and buttons, beautiful buttons!!

Marché St Pierre, fabric shop, 2 Rue Charles Nodier ( 18th , metro Barbès Rochechouart). and on the other side of the street there is a very good Mercerie.

Mokuba,18 Rue Montmartre (2th ,metro les Halles): ribbons and more ribbons......

Happy shopping in Paris!!

Shopping in Paris 3: more addresses

2011-10-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

After having lunch our ways parted for some hours. Lucy went to her favorite shops, cooking shops of cours!!

This picture you can find on the site of Dehellerin. They " distributes high quality kitchen and pastry utensils for the professional as well as the hobby cooker".

The address: 18 et 20 rue Coquillière .

Another shop she visited was Mora, a very old shop, they already started in 1814!

Address: 13 rue Montmartre.

And of course she went to Detou, 58 rue Tiquetonne. Here you will find a large choice of baking supplies like candied violets, real good coffee essence (and a lot of other essences!), extensive varitity of chocolates. They say:"here you will start becoming a baker".

And where did I go, not difficult to guess. I went to Inès, 37 rue ST Ambroise, a beautiful quiltshop not far from our restaurant.

I stayed about an hour and left with this:

Some Japanese fabric, one FQ of Aboriginal fabric, some reds, of course, and some blues.

Tomorrow part 4 of our Paris shopping.

Shopping in Paris 2: the restaurant

2011-10-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

We wanted to eat something special that day in Paris. We found an asiatic vegetarian restaurant with very good reviews, so we reserved a table.
The restaurant is in the 11th arrondissement, the street was a bit shabby. Without being informed about the quality of the restaurant we never should have entered.....

The food was EXELLENT.

This is one of the starters: raviolis aux 'crevettes', ('prawn' dumplings)

The other starter: rouleau au printemps (cold spring roll)

Next was marmite au 'poulet' caramélisé, (caramelized 'chicken' claypot)

Marmite aux 'fruits de mer' ('seafood' claypot)

After drinking our coffee we left the restaurant very satisfied!!!

Here is the address:

Restaurant Tien Hiang, 92 rue Chemin Vert, 75011 Paris;

They also have a site (and a menu in English).

Tomorrow more shops.

Shopping in Paris 1: some addresses

2011-10-07T02:03:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect day, not too cold not too hot, really weather to visit Paris . The best way to see Paris, to feel paris and to smell Paris is by foot, so we walked a lot......
We started in the 'Marais', the jewish quarter. My favorite quarter in Paris, small streets with a lot of beautiful , very exclusive small shops.
We wanted some real jewish sweets to eat with our 'petit café'. In this shop you can buy the perfect 'strudel aux pommes (apple)' and 'strudel aux pavots (poppy-seeds)'.

The address is 24, rue des Ecouffes,angle 19,rue des Rosiers. We drank a coffee and immediately tried the 'strudel aux pavots'. It was delicious with a taste of orange, very good.

Round the corner you'll find this shop, so exclusive ..... The coats, the hats the scarves, the pillows, everything so gorgeous and colorful . But I warn you they are not cheap at all!!!

They use a lot of Ikat fabric.

Address: A la bonne Renommée,26, rue Vieille du Temple.

When you walk this street in northern direction you'll find on number 128, the shop called IE (that means house in Japanese). They sell very original children's garments and............... fabric! Not really quilt fabric but fabric you find nowhere, good quality and not expensive.

But we walked in southern direction to rue François Miron, again beautiful shops and a lot of pavements.

In this street you can find Izraels, on number 30. They sell all kinds of herbs, liqueur, dried fruit.... too much to mention. It's worth to only enter the shop to smell all the flavours.

Tomorrow more Paris shopping!

Trip around the world in Amish colors

2011-10-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

I paper pieced a great part the quilt in the train to Holland, some weeks ago. The pattern is from this book.

I used solid Kona cottons in Amish colors.

Tomorrow I go shopping in PARIS with my friend Lucy. I 'll show you some pictures and give you some addresses later this week.

Blue birds ....is the name of this doll quilt

2011-10-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

I found this doll quilt in :' Little Traditional Quilts' by Jayne Turner.

There are 18 beautiful patterns in the book. Jayne talks in her book about 'miniature' quilts. And indeed some blocks are very small. The block size of my quilt was 1 1/2 inch square! I pieced this tiny pieces by machine and that was not easy!!

I used japanese fabric that i bought last year on the fair in Nantes.

Garden visit

2011-09-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

Last sunday , with my garden club, we visited a garden in the northern part of the Creuse, about 40 kilometers from here. The Creuse is a beautiful green department, near the Massif Central.
It was a garden with many roses, so many that I forgot the names. i'll show you some :

And there is also a You Tube with this garden movie here.

Indian summer in France, but...........

2011-09-28T02:24:00.000-07:00

The last weeks we have an Indian summer here in France, beautiful warm sunny weather.
But....... this is also the season to prepare your wood for the stove.
You see people drive with wood on the tractor, you hear the saw. You never know if winter will start early , that's why I already made an appointment with the chimney sweeper. Maybe you remember our him staying on the roof in this blogpost.
Yesterday another 5 meters cubic was brought , there is about 25 at the moment.

Dollquilt Tillie finished

2011-09-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

I already told you about this dollquilt. I made it in exactly one week. All pieced and quilted by hand.
I bought the pattern in Holland, it's also available here.
The fabric is Maison de garance of French General for Moda.
I love the result.....

I am in ' Best of The Web' this week

2011-09-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some days ago I got a mail from Jennifer, she was enthusiastic about my blog and asked if she could use it for this week 'Best Of The Web'.
And HERE I am:

Best of the Web: Be @ Home # 41

Sewing is one of the oldest textile arts, that arose in the Paleolithic era. This craft has diversified into different funnels through generations. Our focus in this week’s Best of the Web: Be @ Home is mainly on sewing, stitching and crafting. Accompanying it are bloggers who use their creativity in designing vintage and unique home decor. Enjoy the ride through the crafty DIY projects, patterns, how-tos, fashion, recipes, tutorials and decor ideas.

CRAFT FROM THE HEART

The Sewing Attic

“I was inspired to start blogging after discovering other sewing/crafting blogs and thought it would be a great way to share my love of sewing and connect with other like-minded people. I find that blogging keeps me motivated to constantly try new projects, and challenge myself creatively. I love the connections with other bloggers that I have made and enjoy offering advice and inspiring other people to be creative. While my blog is predominately about sewing, sharing tutorials of projects and techniques and the occasional other crafting project I also like to share what inspires me, from photos of my garden, to everyday life with my family, and sometimes little photo tours of the beautiful scenery around where we live on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand and beyond.”- Catherine Watts of The Sewing Attic.

BubzRugz

“BubzRugz initially started as a journal and is still used to record a lot of my life happenings. Essentially I am an aging wannabe hippie and write in a conversational and humorous manner. Although largely a stitching/quilting blog it is essentially eclectic in nature. A bit of this, a bit of that and you would find tutorials and recipes, as well as read about my garden, the area I live, my family and see quite a lot of my crafty creations – the triumphs and the failures. The evading community spirit in blogland is inspiring, educational and often intimate. Friends are made, stories are told and you are welcome to stop for a read and a chat.”- Fiona of BubzRugz.

By Hoki Quilts

“By Hoki Quilts blogspot was and is a means to an end. As a new business that had spent a small fortune buying stock there was little money available to start a website. Blogging became a means to an end, or so I thought. Through my blogspot not only have I been able to get the name of our shop ‘out there’ but I have found friends near and far where we have one thing in common, our passion for the craft of quiltimaking. We share family life, day to day celebrations, sad moments but mostly we share what has been made, completed, planned or gifted it’s like belonging to the largest guild of all. Displaying our quilts for the best posible effect is always something that I strive for, something that will draw other bloggers into our world.”- Michele Armstrong of By Hoki Quilts.

Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night

“My blog started as a way to document my crafty endeavors and to share my ideas with others. I am a passionate “picker” and love to repurpose things found at thrift-stores, garage sales and flea markets, and thought maybe this would encourage others recycle and do the same! I have always found great inspiration for my craft projects from other blogs and I thought why not write my own blog, and share some of my crafty tips and life adventures with my friends, family, and other crafters. It’s a wonderful creative outlet and a way to connect with other people who love primitive & country crafts as much as I do.” - Margaret Powers of Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night.

Cherished Bliss

“I started my blog to share with others my love for making anything and everything. When reading my blog you will find tutorials in sewing, crafting, and many DIY projects. I particularly enjoy creating things for my children, ages 3 and 1. They are my true inspiration” -Ashley of Cherished Bliss.

liza jane sews

“I love to sew, but what it really boils down to is that I’m a die hard diy’er. I teach elementary art by day and I have an uncontrollable need to make things. I started sewing two years ago and learned so much through the online world of sewing blogs. I decided to start my own to share my successes and failures and to pass along inspiration and information when I can. I love that my blog has introduced me to so many people all over the world who have similar interests.” – Liza Jane of liza jane sews.

Moments of Tranquility

“My blog is primarily about my greatest passion- scrapbooking and paper crafts. Here you will find close-ups and details of my work. I named my blog ‘Moments of Tranquility’ because my moments of tranquility are the moments that I am able to scrap about the loves of my life – my husband and my children. To me, it is a form of expressing my emotions and portraying them in a form of art known as scrapbooking. Over time I will be posting my layouts with close-ups and details about each one, and I will also be providing some quick tips and tutorials.” – Natasha from Moments of Tranquility.” – Natasha of Moments of Tranquility.

BusyBeeFree

“I started my blog to share with others my pleasure in creating things. I am a craftswoman and a gardener. I live in the countryside of France where I have in my garden about 70 varieties of roses. My blog is also a homage to my parents. My mother was always knitting garments for us, and my father was a nurseryman. After his retiring he continued gardening in his vegetable garden till the age of 92. Through my blog I made very special friends all over the world, I even have met some of them personally.”– Baukje of BusyBeeFree.

A bit of this and a bit of that and a bit of chat.......

2011-09-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

Monday I made my to-do-list for this week. Only for this week, I am not as organized as you may be thinking..... But last week I made a doll quilt all by hand. I started on sunday and the other sunday the dollquilt was finished.
And that week I did NOTHING ELSE. I only quilted and I loved it.

This is/was on my list for this week:

look for walnuts; my tree is still young and does not give a lot.(I did it and found about 10 kilo!!)
gather apples,
make tomato chutney, ( I made it yesterday, give you the recipe soon)

make cuttings from the pelargoniums, (done)

pick the quinces, they are ripe, and make syrop.
pick the grapes for making juice,
in the freezer are still cherries to make jam,it's time to do that ...
finish the cardigan for Terje, I started monday evening, made a lot of mistakes , so I needed to rip. Yesterday I started again, and again mistakes and I did not understand the pattern, so I ripped again!!!
I will change the pattern and see what shall happen.....So far I am here:

Thank goodness (lol) that I had my ayurveda massage yesterday, I go there each month, it's so RELAXING!

More Meilland roses

2011-09-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Lucienne has two more beautiful Meilland roses.

Jubilé de Monaco.

Eddy Mitchel.

Meilland roses

2011-09-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Lucienne , who is also member os our garden club, bought some beautiful Meilland roses.
Here is the gorgeous 'le petit prince'. The color is a subtile mauve, very extraordinary for a rose, the scent a fresh light citron.

You could buy Meilland roses all over the world.....

Tomorrow more roses.

On the line

2011-09-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

Today I washed all my 30er years fabric.

There are 60!!! different prints

I will make a quilt with the fabric for this lovely baby, here name is Kalle.

And guess what i'll be doing this afternoon...... Yes i think there shall be a lot of ironing to do!

Roses from my garden

2011-09-16T02:56:00.000-07:00

After a period with a lot of rain in july the roses are again in full bloom so are some flowers in my garden.

I collected some flowers for bouquets. Aren't my roses gorgeous?

Pelargonium varieties

2011-09-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

This year we had a very hot april and may, so the garden was already dry and faded in june. Because I need to have flowers around the house I ordered some pelargoniums. Even when summer is hot, they stay healthy and are always blooming.

Yesterday i made some cuttings. In winter the pelargoniums are in the cave and only watered twice or three times. There is always a risk to loose some so i want to have cuttings.
If you want some cuttings, I love to send them to you.

What I bought in Holland

2011-09-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

When I was in Holland I visited this quiltshop. My friend Dorien works in the shop , so I could met her and at the same time buy fabric. Because you already know, I presume, that a quilter never has enough fabric!

I also bought two doll quilt patterns:

I'll make this one with French General fabric from Moda.

I also bought some beautiful Indonesian batik fabric . For me and also for a GIVEAWAY!!!

The fabric was to heavy to put in my backpack so no pictures yet!

Unbelievable

2011-09-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

It's harvest time and there are so many apples, really unbelievable..... Yesterday we went to make apple juice , we came home with 131 bottles of one liter, all pasteurized!!! ( there are about 130 liters left from last year) And today I picked another two wheelbarrows full with apples.

And there still are so many in the trees. I wish you all were nearer by so you could come for some juice and apples......

Living in the French countryside is so GREAT.

Blogpause and gardenpictures

2011-08-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I am leaving for Holland tomorrow because of the anniversary of my father's wife. I'll be back in the beginning of next week.
Some pictures of my garden,:

I think fall is in the air.....

Tomato sauce and my new doll quilt, what do they have in common...

2011-08-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Last saturday my greengrocer on the local farmers market asked if I wanted about 10 kilo's of tomatoes for making sauce. And YES I wanted them, I love homemade tomato sauce in winter. So on sunday i was making sauce and sterilized the jars.

And today I finished the RED dollquilt that i made a week ago. Another one in blue Japanese fabric is waiting for finishing too....

I also bought some dollquiltbooks, so inspiring...... I think I have patterns for years and years .......

The grandchildren were here

2011-08-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I had no time to blog, because the grandchildren, and their parents, were here... They arrived in their yellow oldtimer van.

The cute little boy is three years, the whole day he is asking questions: what are you going to do; can i go with you; may i help you; what is this: why.

And of course he wanted to help feeding the animals.....

His little sister is only 7 months, she was laughing the whole day and she LOVES to eat.

We had some wonderful days together.

I love to make doll quilts

2011-08-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

I already made two doll quilts, maybe you remember them:

The Japanese heartquilt

The 30th reproduction dollquilt

This week I finished the (almost) civil war doll quilt, I also used some French General fabric.

It was machine pieced and both hand- and machine quilted. For me this was the first time that i quilted on my sewing machine. I saw some videos about machine quilting, practised a bit and here is the result; however not perfect at all, I am very proud!!!

I bought 5 (!) doll quilt books in the last three month, I 'll show them in another post.

i also finished the binding of my Orvieto leaf sampler.

What an awful day it was!

2011-08-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Monday was my second summermarket this year. Weather forecast was not bad, some raindrops in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. When I left home at 6 o'clock in the morning it was raining. I was not impressed and thought, these are the few raindrops that were talking about.
But the rain did not stop, it was raining for hours!!!! I sat in my car the whole morning...... with my stall covered with plastic.

No need to say that I did not sell a lot.

There however was a special moment when I saw a lady wearing one of my bags , which she bought on the market a month ago. She told me that she was very satisfied with the bag!

Here she is:

Harvest , lots of plums

2011-08-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have told you before that I am a member of an association for preserving old varieties of fruit trees.
There are 2 orchards, one for the apple and pear varieties and one for the cherries and plums. They are planning another one with chestnuts. All those varieties are from this region.
When there are a lot of fruits, you, as a member can come and pick them for 1 euro the kilo.
Last week I went, with my friend Lucy , to pick plums.

Together we had 25 kilo!

How are the pumpkins growing?

2011-08-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that we planted 60 pumpkinplants in May ? Because of the heat in june they had a difficult start, although my friend Lucy watered regularly, they suffered. The rain in july made them grow , there also are some fruits but not a lot yet, they need more sun. Weather is not stable at the moment, after some hot days there are immediately thunderstorms ....

To be continued!

Sugarfree carrotcake

2011-08-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

Already some years I have 'pre-diabetes', that means that my blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.
I try to make healthy food choices and eat (almost) sugarfree.
I don't like artificial sweeteners so I was very happy with the natural sweetener STEVIA. On this site you can read more about stevia.
Some studies even have shown that stevia extract effectually regulates bloodsugar!

I often combine stevia with homemade syrup or agave syrup, because using only stevia there is often an after taste of liquorice, a kind of bitterness. To be able to measure small quantities I bought these measure spoons, the smallest is for 20 mg et the largest for 320 mg. Stevis is 300 x sweeter that sugar so you always need only a small amount.

My sugarfree carrot cake is my version of two other recipes together. ( here and here )
You need:
225 g flour wholemeat
2 tbsp bakingpowder
1 tbsp biocarbonate
2 tbsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
250 g grated carrots
165 g chopped walnuts
40 g grated coconut
100 g dried figs
90 g dried apricot
60 g sunflower oil
2 eggs
50 g homemade syrup or agave syrup
250 g plain yogurt

Preheat the oven, 180 degrees.
Wisk the eggs and the oil. Put together the dry ingredients . Mix those by hand with the eggs and oil. Put in the other ingredients and mix together.
Put in the oven for about 40 minutes.
If you want the carrotcake sweeter you also could add bananas or honey.

I am so sorry that I don't have a picture, it's all eaten!!!! I made this post today because a blogfriend asked for sugarfree recipes.

You can find more sugarfree recipes here and here.
Bon appetit!!

So gorgeous

2011-08-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Look wat was in the mail today.....

49 different colors of hand-dyed wool that I ordered at Sue Spargo's shop. The wool is so soft and the colors are so beautiful! The colors are labelled so I can make my own colorcard.

I bought it with the money that I 'earned' on summermarket, two weeks ago.

I want to make this wall quilt with this wool:

I already bought the book some years ago.

Here is another picture of the wool!

I am so happy with this!!!!

My Orvieto leaf sampler.... FINISHED

2011-08-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

I finished the embroidery of my Orvieto sampler. It was so fun, each leaf was a little project...which thread in which color; which stitch; beads or no beads..... I used the stitches i learned in Orvieto . Did you ever heard of the drizzle stitch and the whipped woven circle?
I used the wool and fabric that we swapped with our group , the background is from Renée. So this leaf sampler became a wonderful memory of that great, inspiring week in Orvieto with Sue Spargo and those lovely groupmembers.
Here is the result:

You can click on the pictured for more details .

My Orvieto leaf sampler

2011-08-03T02:57:00.000-07:00

It's nearly finished. I hope to show you the sampler tomorrow. I already give you two leaves.......

See you tomorrow!!

Flowerborder bag

2011-07-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Finally I fished the flowerborder bag. I am not so satisfied with the model...... But I Love the fabric combination with the embroidered flowerborder. I hope to sell this one at the next summermarket the 15th of august. The bag has a zipper closure, 2 inside pockets and is very roomy.

My Orvieto leaf sampler

2011-07-25T04:54:00.000-07:00

When you know Sue Spargo's work you surely admire here leaf samplers. I real they are even much more beautiful than on her blog. She had taken them to Orvieto. This is just an example:

It's a perfect way to experiment with all sorts of embellishments and stitches.

In the group we swapped pieces of fabric so that everybody could make a leaf sampler at home as a souvenir of this wonderful week in Orvieto.

I started some weeks ago with the leaves.

And after the summermarket I continued with the layers, sometimes two or three...

I am working on the embellishments now ......

tea cosy giveaway

2011-07-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that I told you about the tea-cosy giveaway on Gayle's blog?Now i can tell you that I am one of the winners. My favorite was the mushroom one and ...YES ....I got it.
The box that I arrived in the mail was full of small packages, like Christmas....

And look what I've won.....

Thank you Gayle for those lovely presents!

A knitted pea-pod

2011-07-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a knitted pea-pod? Erica sent me the pattern, which she found in 'Tijdschriftook' (Dutch magazine). She wanted one.....

What kind of things were for sale......

2011-07-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

In front of me was a stand where they sold some strange things....

Here you could buy beautiful old French pottery.

And here is a picture of me and my friends from the village, who visited me .

It was a perfect day!

2011-07-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

Thank you my friends for your support, for crossing your fingers and your toes, for sending the sun this way, it was really helpful!

Weather was so nice, not too warm, not too chilly, a lot of sun, the perfect weather for people to go out for a walk. There were much more stands than last year and a lot of visitors.

In France the summermarkets are a kind of garage sales, you can buy new , second hand and antique things.

I sold 6 bags, some shawlettes and many, many small things, so I am very satisfied....

Here are some impressions of my stand.

Tomorrow more pictures.

Please cross your fingers

2011-07-13T00:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the summermarket, in France called Brocante. The 14th of july is the French National Day, it commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789, so it's a free day for everybody.

Yesterday we had heavy thunderstorms and today it's raining...... What about tomorrow???? Weather forecast is better but you never know.

I found the picture here.

What did I finish this week 2

2011-07-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Now you'll understand why I did not blog a lot this week. This is all I made:

I also finished this pouch, I already made the embroidery panel last year and this is what i made :

I have chosen Aunt Grace fabric for the pouch, I think that goes perfect with the romantic heart panel/

I still have to finish the red flowerborder bag before next thursday and I have to price everything....some more work to do!

What did I finish this week 1

2011-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

I embellished the three Sue Spargo BOM blocks. It was really fun to do the embellishment and to learn new stitches. Sometimes i changed threadcolors and added some stitches, so my blocks will not be the same as the other 400 participants.

I also crocheted some flowers for the summermarket, next thursday.

Tomorrow more finished work.

More work in progress

2011-06-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Last week in the mail was block 6 of the Sue Spargo BOM, while block 4 and 5 were still in the envelope..... So I started this weekend to appliqué lock 4 and 5. I am working now on block 6. After the appliqué work I' ll start the embellishments.

And of course I knitted a bit, I am halfway the body of the Cladonia shawl. I use lime green and light brown 100% pure Alpaca .

And i am crocheting cute flowers for the summermarket. I ran out of yarn, (I use embroidery thread perlé 5 and 8) so i could nor finish. I'll make scissor keepers and keyholders or even brooches with the flowers.

It's a free pattern that I found on a French blog, if you are interested I can translate it for you...

Work in progress

2011-06-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

Although I a not blogging a lot, I am very busy.......
I am working on some bags for the summermarkets (I signed up for two this year).here are the two flowerborders, that will be attached to a bag.

This border was made by my friend Dorien, she wanted it to be a quiltborder but was not really satisfied. So she send one border to me with the idea for a bag. I embellished the flowers and already have chosen the right fabric.

I made another red one and this bag is almost finished.

I also made this housewife/needle roll. Do you remember i already made one? When I was in Italy Angela from Ireland loved it so much so I gave it to her. But this needlerol is so practical, not only when you are i traveling but also when you are sewing outside, under the tree, like I am today. It's so HOT here......

I asked Dorien to buy for me a ribbon , so I cannot fished it yet.

I uses Civil-War fabric, love the result.

Tomorrow more work in progress....

Off the needles

2011-06-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

I finished the second Lace Baktus shawl, made with Drops Delight, so soft ........ The color is called heather!

I already started another one, the 'cladonia' pattern.

Tea cosy giveaway

2011-06-18T01:38:00.001-07:00

My blogfriend Gayle has a giveaway on her blog. She gives away FOUR handmade tea cosies.
For a chance to win go to her blog and leave a comment. I did.
Good luck!

More harvest

2011-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

A friend phoned me that I could come and pick her raspberries. I picked about 4 kilos the day after again 5 kilos of cherries. Here is what I made with the fruits.

Harvest...no much time to craft

2011-06-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

The cherries are ready to pick and there are so many. I already made 18 pots with cherrie jam, I added some Amaretto (an Italien almond liqueur). And 16 pots with Amarene cherries, 15 pots with Kirsch/Porto cherries,they are delicious with icecream.

In the meantime I finished the shawlette , which I started in Orvieto .

I already cast on a second one!

It's such an easy and pleasant pattern to knit, the pattern is free.

I also finished this cecilefacile pouch. It's perfect to keep your threads and needles.

My trip to Italy 7, Orvieto....the food

2011-06-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

You cannot talk about Italy, without talking about the food. Mary and me, we started each day, rather early (7.30am) with a cappuccino at Pastericceria Scaponi.

This picture was made on thursday, marketday, we bought delicious food for the picnic in the courtyard.

I talked with this farmer about one of his vegetables, he told me the name but I cannot remember .I bought his tomatoes, and carrots;

He also had the zucchinis and their flowers.

We visited a vineyard, in the surroundings of Orvieto. Delicious wine, beautiful views an d a nice vineyard-owner.

On wednesday we had a cooking class, so much fun!!!

Janet and me worked very concentrated....

Together we made: parmiginana di melanzane , panna cotta and rotolini di zucchini e ricotta.

These rotolini were delicous!!!!

Our last groupdinner on friday gives us lots of wonderful memories. The food was 'divine' as they say in France, I heard you Americans say 'to die for'.

One of the starters, there were four different starters...., was cheese with truffles. I had never eaten truffles, they are rather expensive here , but Orvieto has summer and autumn truffles, black and white.

This is my last 'Trip to Italy' post, thanks for joining me . I hope to return in May 2012. If you want some recipes, I have some typical of Orvieto, you can send me an email.

P.S some pictures I used are made by Janet, Bill and Mary, thanks.

My trip to Italy 6, Orvieto.... MY show and tell

2011-06-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

My first day in Orvieto we (Sue, Mary Vanelle and me), went to the museum next to the Duomo. We saw these wonderful birds and I immediately knew that I would use them in my work.

And this is the result of my class with Sue Spargo in Orvieto:

I hesitated about yes-or-no adding a border. I went through my fabric and found only one fat quarter that should be perfect for a border, but a fq was not enough.

So I decided to finish only with a binding.

My trip to Italy 5, Orvieto.... show and tell

2011-06-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

We started on monday layering our wool Fat Quarter. On tuesday Sue told us that she wanted us to CUT our fat quarter in 3 or 4 pieces so we could arrange them in another way. Finally most of us agreed and the result was wonderful. Then we started to applique the images and after that the embellishments, the real fun!!
On friday, our last day together, we had a show and tell in the courtyard. Although most of us had not finished their work, the results of this great week, were already beautiful

In everybodys work you can see images of Orvieto: the Duomo, the abstract images outside the Duomo and on the gates, the mosaic tiles, the vineyard that we visited, the jasmine which was blooming everywhere.....

Renée from Missouri, she made a lovely owl and snake....

Vanelle from Montana made the Duomo .

Janet from Ohio with some tiles and other elements of the Duomo

Lynn from Illinois also made some flowers/tiles

Mary from Illinois made the artichoke she saw on the saturday market, the bird is from the museum.

Kathy from Utah made an Orvieto landscape.

Angela from Ireland was inspired by the grapes and leaves, look at the embellishment of her grapes!

Elizabeth from Sydney ,Australie also made leaves.

Kori from Ohio started with the cappuccino cup and filled it with flowers.

Cathy, Kori's mother made the twisted Wisteria in the courtyard.

Carole from illinois made an Orvieto landscape with houses.

We put all our work on the table so everybody could make pictures of the details.

Tomorrow my personal Show and Tell, see you tomorrow!

My trip to Italy 4, Orvieto.... the convent

2011-06-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

Our B&B in Orvieto was a beautiful convent with a large courtyard.

We often had a picnic in the courtyard, thursday it was Sue's and Kori's birthday.

We were sitting there for a drink before going outside to explore New Things.

Our classroom was upstairs, bright and spacious.

Everybody worked so concentrated, there were lots of fabric to choose, lots of embellishment threads....

My trip to Italy 3, a walk to explore Orvieto

2011-06-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Even the roofs are beautiful in Orvieto.

When we walked in the alleys of Orvieto, we saw this gorgeous bottle brush climber.

And what do you think of these two patio's?

You 'll have to wait another two or three days before I'll show you my work, I want to finish it before showing!.

Tomorrow more pictures....

...

My trip to Italy 2, Orvieto

2011-05-31T04:01:00.000-07:00

I came back from Italy saturday night with my heart full of wonderful memories....
It was such a great experience to be in Orvieto with all those lovely people. Bill and Kristi, who organized this trip, were so enthusiastic and such warm persons, they let you feel at home immediately!

And for me, Sue was the best of all, she was so dedicated, so inspiring with such an eye for the beautiful. I learnt a lot new embellishment stitches. And I am so proud of my work, thanks to Sue, for me it became a real piece of art.

And the whole group were such lovely women. We shared a lot, laughed a lot and worked hard together.
In one word this trip was STUNNING.
If you'll have the chance to go there next year, do sign up immediately. It's worth it.
(I already did !)

Next coming days I'll show some pictures.
To day the wonderful city of ORVIETO.
But I start with a picture that I found on Sue's blog, the delicious cappuccino, I never drunk one like these before....

The first day we went to the Duome, a beautiful cathedral. In our work everyone was inspired by things they saw that day....

The small alleys are very romantic.

To be continued!

My trip to Italy 1

2011-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I 'll go to Italy for a craft holiday. Sue Spargo will teach a 5 day class in Orvieto. We'll have class in the morning and in the afternoon we visit the city, do wine & olive tasting, learn how to cook Italien food, go to the market to buy food for a picnic........
You can imagine that i am looking forward to arrive in Orvieto tomorrow night!
I made a simple backpack to keep my things when I am discovering Orvieto city.... I also finished a little pouch to keep my scissors and my threads , and I made 3 little treasures to 'identify' my scissors.

Pumpkins

2011-05-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that i sowed a lot of pumpkinseeds?

This week we planted about 60 pumpkinplants. First we met newspapers on the ground , covered with soil and then surrounded them by straw to prevent them of becoming too dry. Hope this will help!!!

I hope that i can show you tons of pumpkins in october!!!!

My grandmother's flowergarden

2011-05-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

I found the perfect fabric for the border. I had to puzzle a bit because there was only 1 yard.....

Bloggers' quiltfestival, spring 2011

2011-05-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

For the second time I'll participate in this festival.

Last year in october I visited all the blogs and admired all those different, beautiful quilts. At that moment the quiltvirus HIT me.......... I started to make some doll quilts and I am working now on a Grandmothers' flowergarden quilt.

I bought some books about antique quilts. I bought this book:

It's beautiful , I can recommand it to you! Of course I also bought a book about Dutch antique quilts, it's translated in English , a beauty!!! It's called A history of Dutch quilts, by An Moonen. I am sure you want to make a lot of quilts that are represented in this book.

And now where you are waiting for, the quilt ........

After making some doll quilts I wanted to try a bigger one, I already had the Fandago fabric, designed by Kate Spain, that i bought because of the beautiful colorcombination.

The pattern is based on the 'bluestone walkway pattern', that you could find here. The quilt measures 63 x 84 cm.

I made it all by hand, not a single machinestitch!!! And I can tell you, I am very happy with the result.

Here you can find all the other quilts.

Macaroon party

2011-05-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

Macaroons are very popular in France. These small round cakes, crisp on the outside and smooth and soft in the middle are delicious.

This is the collection of Ladurée macaroons, Ladurée is the famous macaroon shop in Paris.

With two friends we had a macaroon workshop given by Christine, she has a lovely cooking blog and lives only 15 km from here.

Here are some pictures:

We made two varieties: chocolate and pistache and they were delicious!

Penelope, NF Flowers #1

2011-05-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

NF Macro has started a weekly theme of flower photos. I've read about this on Ann's blog. You know that i love my garden so I'm going to join in.
Today is my first NF Flowers photo.

Penelope is a Hybrid Musk rose and was introduced in 1924. The rose forms a strong branching shrub, about 1.8m high and wide. It's fragrant creamy-pink flowers are born in large trusses. They are following by coral-pink hips. (from the book ROSES by David Squire)

It will be interesting to see what is blooming around the world each week. Do you like to join in?

Chouchou

2011-05-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

I again made a Facile Cecile pattern., it's called chouchou.....What do you think of the result?

My garden is so beautiful

2011-05-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

So early this year the roses are in bloom and there are already so many flowers. I wish you were here so I could show you all my favorite plants. Here are some pictures....

White in the garden

2011-05-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

The white wisteria is so beautiful this year and the perfume is overwhelming!!!

My garden

2011-05-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

The garden is so beautiful, there are already 2 roses in full bloom.

The scent is sooooooooo sweet!!

My grandmother's flowergarden

2011-04-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

The whole Easter weekend I worked on my flowergarden. I made a lot of progress.

I hope to finish the quilt soon . But I have some questions.

Should I make a border, if so a solid border and which color? And how to sew the border on the hexagons?

How about the binding?

And the quilting, of course I will do this by hand, but where should I quilt..... Only the hearts of the flowers? Only the gardenpathes?

Maybe you could advice me......

How about the binding

Backpack

2011-04-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

I made a backpack for Sylviane's daughter -in-law.