Back to normal?

IS it possible to go back to normal after the 7th of january?
I was in Paris a week after the murders , the banners and flags were still hanging at the statue on the Place de la Republique. Everywhere were flyers with 'je suis charlie'.
In the metro i was looking at people while thinking : are you Charlie or are you not Charlie.....
I heard on the radio that teachers have l problems to talk to children who said: 8 murders was not necessary but Charb needed to be killed because he insulted Mahomed.....
I think we have to live with these problems.....

I'll show you a logcabin quilt which i made last winter and finished quilting these days.
I used old and new Dutch traditional costume fabric from MarKen, Staphorst, Scheveningen ,Bunschoten, Spakenburg and Zeeland. The quilt is for Thom, he choose the blues and because I also had lots of reds, i used reds with blues to make a nice border.

I quilted a pencil ,  I saw the idea on the blog 'Crayon and Pencil', she wrote:

For the unspeakable and to remember

Let our needles go

Reaction to what happened these last days, against obscurantism of any form

But also for girls to go to school everywhere in the world.....

Let us sew, embroider, quilt a pencil on each work this year.

Spring is in the air .......and what I bought in Paris and Holland

A friend of mine told me that last week  bird catchers counted  20.000 cranes going from south to north.  Where I live you can see and hear them every day flying over.  Everybody here in the center of France talks about the first cranes they hear,  it's a sign that spring is in the air.......

I promised you to show the things I bought last week.......

In Paris I bought two skeins of  the very soft pure Alpaca yarn from Cascade Yarns in pumpkin color

I think I wil knit this shawl with the yarn: It's the Shaelynn pattern by Leila Raabe, you can find it on Ravelry.

I Le Rouvray i bought some reproduction Fat Eights and a beautiful piece of Toile de Joey.

I also went to the patchwork shop in Zwijndrecht (Holland), Aztec Rose.  There I bought some Japanese fabric. I needed a new impulse for continuing the Yoko Saito Mystery Quilt. When I saw the finished quilt in the december number of Quiltmania I was disappointed . I did not like how Yoko finished the quilt. I did not make the last block because I was not anymore inspired.

When I saw the red/purple fabric that Karen sold in her shop, I  immediately knew, that fabric will be my border for the Yoko Saito quilt. On the picture the fabric is more brown than purple but in real the color is very vivid! 

Today I started quilting my Union Station.....  pictures next wednesday!

  

A silk scarf and some garden pictures

When I was in Holland I had an appointment with Bette, my sister in law. She loved the present I made for her. I bought a scrap bag with vintage kimono silk, the color was lavender/grey/light purple. Just Bette's colors.

Some garden pictures: the rose Nevada was in full bloom for some weeks. 

Some poppies (pavot orientale)

This weekend family from Holland is coming to visit me so no time for blogging and visiting you. See you thursday..

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Handmade Christmas presents

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...... 

I love HEMA

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.

Trip around the world in Amish colors

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. 

Japanese hearts

After having my 'lessons' with Dorien I wanted to practice immediately. I searched for fabric and could find only a 6inch pack in blue and rose that I bought in the sixties from Laura Ashley. So I started with this dollquilt, I need to find a nice binding to finish it.

When I came home I started the Japanese hearts dollquilt. The indigo Japanese fabric has little owls, cats, fishes , which I used for the hearts.

I am already looking for the next quilt project, but first I need to finish two bags, they were commanded last year!

Mini mini quilt

When I was in Holland I visited my blogfriend Dorien. She learned me to cut fabric in a correct way. We made this mini mini quilt with two ways of applique. She also showed me how to sew a logcabin. And she showed me her quilts, so beautiful. I LOVE this red one, so gorgeous.

It' a pity that you cannot see the details with applique, beads, mirrors. 

And here is my mini quilt, I need to do the binding and then it's finished. 

After this very nice and inspiring day I think the quiltvirus has hit me........

Staphorst

In Holland I visited my blog friend Rolinda, she lives in Rouveen, a small village near Staphorst. In these villages there are still woman who wear the costume of the region.
Rolinda's aunt makes the buttons for the costume, wooden buttons covered with yarn, very exclusive.

Buttons in the Staphorster colors.

Rolinda's mother is the only one in the village who makes and repairs the lace bonnets , which the women  wear on sunday.

Made by hand!

Even the old farmhouses are beautiful....

And of course I bought some fabric, I'll show you this next week because the fabric is still in Holland, to heavy to take by train.......

When you have a look on Rolinda's site you could see what she made with the costume fabric....