I bought myself a present

I bought myself an Ipad, what a nice and clever toy!!! And of course I made a sleeve for my new toy. I used japanese fabric in different designs in my favorite color . For some accessories I made a small pouch, also in red

How I love these Japanese fabric designs. Tomorrow I will be in Paris on my way to Holland  and I will visit Kaetsu. They sell handmade  clothes and accessories made with japanese fabric and they also sell their left-over scraps............. When I am back home i will show you what I bought!

Memorial quilt

Some years ago I read this blogpost on Barb's blog about the memorial quilt she made for her mother. Her mother died at the same age as my mother and also , like mine, of breast cancer.  Barb and I discussed in some emails how important such a quilt can be as a tribute to the beloved parent.

And then this year Marjo  offered me her already cut strips of Dutch traditional costume fabric in mourning colors.  The strips were too small for the purpose I had in mind so I said :no, I cannot use them.
Then there was another coincidence: I saw a picture of Jeanneke's quilt and immediately I knew: this will be the pattern for the memorial quilt for my parents.
So I mailed Marjo and asked for the strips and this is the result:

I used the strips in traditional mourning colors to make logcabins . My father was a nursery man and the small shed on his nursery was a very important place when I was young, it happened often that my mother, me and my brother went to my father's nursery to drink a cup of tea; We were sitting around the shed and we played around. Life was calm and peaceful..... there also were besides bushes a lot of flowers on his nursery. Both, my mother and my father loved to have some flowers on the table.

After his retirement my father had a vegetable and flowergarden till two years before his death.

I embroidered their names and for both of them  I added some important words which were the guiding motives in their lives .

For my mother those words were  'de heer is mijn herder' (the lord is my shepherd, psalm 23).

And for my father 'ik ben op weg naar de stad' (I am on my way to my lord).

Yoko Saito Floral Bouquet quilt finished

No words, only pictures!

An in-between crochet project

For my crochet inspiration I often visit the blog 'Madame fait du crochet' (madam is crocheting). every month they have a crochet challenge. For september the challenge is crocheting in Japanese.
You could sign up for a crochet pattern in a Japanese crochet book.
So I decided to sign up for a small  scarf/shawl.
I used merino/silk lace yarn, hook 2,25.

I cannot give you the pattern . If you are interested in the pattern you need to buy the book, those are the rules of this challenge.

Brocante finds

Every saturday and sunday there are lots of brocantes/fleemarkets all around the area where I live. Last sunday.  I went to a big one, more than 130 stalls. It was terrible hot so I went early.

My first find was this cute owl, made with organic material.

I saw someone working on her spinning wheel,  not usual here in France....it was a Dutch woman!
She sold her handwoven kitchen towels and scarfs. I could not resist and bought Three kitchen towels, so soft and so beautiful. The white one is cotton with linen.
Here she is:

And these are the towels:

These are small envelopes to hold your napkin, very vintage. each member of the family had his one napkin holder.

Some embroidered  handkerchiefs

A beautiful table center, I don't know if it is crocheted, the stitches are so delicate....  

And a dollie in the same technique

On Conny's blog I saw that she bought an old iron. I already saw on other blogs that it's perfect to keep your applique work in place, while working, so when I saw this beautiful decorated one for 2 euro, it was mine!

The yellow jug is exactly the color of my new kitchen.  The other jug is an old one, which you see often on fleemarkets.

Do you know this bird......and a bit of this and of that.

Last week in the evening while taking our dinner there was this bird sitting in the field about two meters from the house. It's the hop (upupa epops),    when he is singing you hear hup-hup-hup. On this blog I found these beautiful photo's from the hup.

More common here are the swallows, this year again making their  nest in the barn. yesterday the four little ones were flying in the courtyard. On these photo's they are already very curious....

And is there some quilting news over here? Yes there is.....the flower Bouquet top is finished and I am quilting it in the shadow. Here is a sneak peek.....

Floral Bouquet quilt, 2 more blocks ready

Weather is so beautiful here in the center of France. It's too hot to work in the attic where I have my sewing machine. So I am doing some applique work in the shadow of the tree. I started this Floral Bouquet quilt last year after I saw the quilt hanging in Nantes.
In this post you can find the 6 blocks that I already finished.

hi

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