Centre Block is finished!

I’m really enjoying putting up posts. This weekend I placed about 3. This is most likely because I had a real relaxed weekend. No appointments, nothing planned.
Yesterday evening I first enjoyed listening to my new CD. A present from JW. I really like Barbara Streisand, she did a great show in 2006. Her ‘live in concert’ is fantastic, at least I think so. After that I started with my quilt. A lot needs still to be done, but I finished the centre block (60cm x 60cm). I think it look great, and once it is quilted it will really look good!
While quilting we watched a dvd. Blood Diamond (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou). Very impressive. I’ve been asking for a diamond ring for some time, but after seeing this film I don’t think it is quiet appropriate to wish for one. JW was naturally very happy when he heard this. I kind of wanted to get a diamond ring as a present ;)

We also played with the Wii (from Nintendo) – we visited the 'voting channel'. I have my own Mii :)
The Wii is funny, but not really my kind of thing. I’ve already played golf and done some bowling on the Wii. I’m not so good with tennis on the Wii, in real life I was a lot better. According to JW practice makes perfect.

By the way the block I started on, while watching the dvd, is half-way finished. I’ve been very productive so far this weekend. Hopefully I will get some more done this afternoon.

As you can see hand quilting isn't always easy, especially when Teddy wants to watch and play with my hair.

Random Things about me

The order of things don't reflect on the importance!

Things I love:
- I love cooking, but don’t often make the effort. Have to watch my weight :)
- I love coffee, especially the bro that come’s out of my Gaggia Titantium
- The early mornings
- I love my Hubby
- The beach and bush (especially Durras, near Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia)
- The dolphins and wallabies at Durras
- My whole family
Things I wish:
- I hope that ‘the crazy quilters’ stay together for a long time, and we have many creative hours together
- A two seater swing chair for the garden
- I would love to have more hours in a day
Things I want to do before I die:
- Nothing my life is perfect the way it is (I achieved what I wanted to achieve, got my PhD)
- Want to visit my friends in Australia, soon!
- Find new goals
Things I want to learn:
- Make a Dear Jane quilt
- Become a good healthcare consultant/adviser
- Getting the best out of people
- Patience
Things that makes a man attractive to me:
- (emotional) Intelligence
- (deep) Voice
- Tallness (by the way JW is 1.98 m and I'm only 1.60 m)
- Humour
- Quick thinker
- Adviser when my computer lets me down
Places to visit:
- Boston
- Rocky Mountains
- Want to travel with a camper van from Toronto to Vancouver (see Canada)
- Norway
- Scotland
- Ireland
Celebrity crushes:
- George Clooney
- Robert Redford
Favourite TV programs:
- Old childhood favourites > Flipper, Skippy – the bush kangaroo, Lassie, Waltons, Little House on the Prairie
- TV programs I now like to watch > ER, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, Cold Case, Lewis, Judge John Deed, Silent Witness

A lazy saturday

This morning I’m a busy little bee. First I cleaned the kitty litter boxes and updated my blog. Then I decided to get dressed, as yesterday there was no bread at the supermarket. So after getting dressed, I went to get the bread (and other things). Naturally, after I got back I had to have a coffee break.
Did I ever mention my Gaggia, Titanium espresso machine? It’s one of Gaggia's top end automatic bean to cup machine. The coffee is great. I wouldn’t be able to live without this machine, anymore.

Anyway, a cup of coffee, a newspaper and magazine, is a nice way to take a break.
Naturally Charlie (the cat) had to look.

Here is a small impression what I read when I’m taking a break.










Having updated this my blog with this post, I will now continue with updating one of the page elements ‘great blog’s to read and follow’.

Other things that need to been done:
- washing (luckily I have a washing machine and dryer – it’s raining again today)
- cleaning the house, tiding up the place
- quilting!

Charlie & Teddy

It’s a terrible job but someone has to do it, and that is me. This morning I decided the kitty litter boxes needed cleaning. Last Wednesday I did one of the three and this morning I decided to do the other two. Yes, we have three kitty litter boxes. One in the hallway downstairs, one in my study and the other one is in the bathroom upstairs.
By the way it is amazing what you can get for cats. I think I would love a Self-Cleaning Litter Box. The litter-Robot self cleaning system looks great. But it is a little too expensive. The Litter Round-Up® One-Touch Litter System is a little cheaper. But according to JW if we go electronic we have to go for the real thing.

Actually it doesn’t take up much time. The boxes are clean!

What is a little harder was making a collage of Charlie & Teddy. I wanted to give you a impression of my cats. Teddy, is like his name suggests, a real teddy bear. He is a big, cuddly, cat. Charlie, is a real lady. Both are very social.
Teddy is however showing some behavioural problems, and had to have some therapy, as he all of a sudden pees on carpet. It has been a very expensive year, as all the carpet has been removed (to be truthful, had to be removed, cat pee really smells). The therapy seems to work except when I go away for a longer period, like two days. Teddy makes it very clear when I come back that he was lonely and mad at me for leaving him. Teddy is becoming an old man with strange habits (although he is only 9).
A little side note – we first had Teddy checked out physically by a vet before he went into therapy. There is nothing wrong with him. It’s all in his head.

But let it be clear – I love my cats.

We have a name!!!

After much thought and discussion last night we gave ourselves a name! Our quilting bee is now called

the Crazy Quilters

Time

Well I found some time this evening to work on my quilt. After a long day at the office (I was there for nearly 10 hours) I got this urge to do some quilting. The centre square is nearly finished!! Tomorrow night I will get it finished for sure as we are have our Quilting Bee. No we still don’t have an original name for our Bee.
We are getting together at Caroline’s place. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as it’s always inspirational. It also motivates me to keep on going. I so really want to start on a new project! But I know that this quilt I’m working on will become a beauty.

If any readers have a suggestion for a name for our Quilting Bee, I would love too hear about it.

Mardi Gras

This afternoon, yes I’ve got the whole week off, I continued with the other half of ‘my quilt in construction’.
The fabric that I’m using is from Jinny Beyer, Madri Grass nr 5863-02. I’ve cut the fabric for the remaining corner stars (three sets).

In the corners the ‘evening star’ will be placed.

I’ve also cut the borders for the quilt, as I don’t want to be confronted with a shortage of fabric when I put the quilt together. It is amazing how much fabric is going into this quilt. So far, I bought nearly 8 meters of Madri Grass.

Wales, a small impression of our holiday

In May we went to Wales by car. We used Speedferries at Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France to get to England. We arrived in Dover and drove up north to Matt and Nic’s place. The next day we drove towards Wales. But we first made a stop at Iron Bridge.

We entered Wales near Llangollen. We drove up to Colwyn Bay then down tot Betws-y-Coed to Frongoch. Here was our B&B, near Bala. One of the things we did was take a ride in a steam train from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Snowdonia is terrific. I think I would love to buy a house there, but I love the Netherlands, my family and my job!

We went through betws-Y-Coed area twice. I love Craghoppers. They have great outdoor clothes. And in Betws-Y-Ccoed they have lots of outdoor clothes shops :)

At the restaurant in Bala they played the music of Dylan Rowlands – Telynor Portmeirion. A great cd, which I bought the next day. Sadly, once in the Netherlands, we found out that the cd had no music on it. (The company is going to refund me the amount I payed!)

We did the coastal route! From Bala to Dolgellau onto the A493. The welsh coast is fantastic. From Abrystwyth we made an attempt to find Devil’s Bridge. Cassie, JW’s Garmin navigation system decided to lead us the quickest route, a one-way road, to Devil’s Bridge. After a while we gave up, and decide to travel onto Llanybydder, Ceredigion.

I really wanted to visit Jen Jones Welsh Quilts really badly. Sadly, once we arrived in Llanybydder we found that no one was there.

See my disappointed face.

We waited a while but no one turned up. I learned my lesson the hard way. Next time I will phone first and make an appointment.

We travelled on to our next B&B. Sadly; I wasn’t very impressed with the reception as with the hygiene of the place. Late in the afternoon we decided to travel on to Swansea, using Premier Travel Inn.

From Swansea we travelled on to Brecon. The Beacons National Park is another great place to visit. It was there I found out my walking shoes had finally given up, after 16 odd years. They were a great buy. Naturally, we bought new ones in the next large town we visited.

We also decided to visit the Cottwolds, on our way back to Matt and Nic’s place. A small impression of one of the villages. It was amazing how many houses were on sale in this area.

JW really hoped we would see Jeremy Clarkson. We drove through Chipping Norton twice :).
Here is my next car! Land Rover Freelander. JW is getting ready to make a photo.

As you can see Wales is just great. England (the Cottwolds) was also good. It was a busy holiday; we did a lot of kilometres. I would love to go back and stay a while in the Snowdonia National Park or the Beacons National Park and rent a little cottage for a week or two. Maybe I would then have some time to do some quilting :)

Quilting in Australia

I’m always a little interested in what is happening in Australia. During my teen years I lived there. To be truthful from the age of ten till the age of nineteen. First we lived in Melbourne but after one and half years we moved to Sydney. In Sydney we first lived in Cronulla and later we moved to Kareela. These were my forming years! So I’m a little bit Australian and the other part of me is Dutch.

I found this great site I want to share. It’s about Australian quilt history. I especially like the Australian Quilt tree.

Quilting in America

According to the recently released Quilting in America™ 2006 survey, the art form with roots in the past and a vision of the future is not only alive, but more popular than ever. Read the outcome

Sadly no survey has been done in the Netherlands (I think), although I think a lot of people practise the art of quilting.

To read more about quilting in the Netherlands visit our national quilting association .

Silly me

I thought I still needed to do another star, but I’m actually half way. Words can’t express how I feel. I’m happy :).
I only need to make another 8 stars and I can actually put every thing together!!
If I only had counted them and had carefully looked at the pattern I was given at the beginning of workshop 2. I tried to make the quilt in EQ6 this afternoon to show how it will become, but I’m having some trouble with the program. It isn’t doing what I want :(

It's early ...

.. in the morning! It is Sunday and the sun is shining. Wow, I haven’t seen the sun for some time and it gives me all the energy I need to continue with Zoë’s quilt. Here I am behind my mum’s sawing machine.

And here I am ironing the little windmills I’ve just completed.

My quilting friends are having a get together this afternoon and sadly I won’t be able to join them. I got an invitation for a BBQ. I love BBQ’s!
Most likely Caroline will publish some photos so that I can see what I’ve missed.

Making progress!!

It is hard finding time to work on the quilts, however last week I made some progress. I made a border and started making the little windmills.

Last year I bought the materials and last winter started cutting the little squares. Quilting with a sawing machine isn’t quicker or easier. I thought it would be, but I'm finding out that it isn’t. Quilting is a tedious process. But lots of fun!

This quilt in progress will be for Zoë. Hopefully I will finish it

before she is four! Coming Wednesday, 4th of July she will turn three. This is a picture of Tess and Zoë (left to right).

Zutphen

… is a small city in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands on the right bank of the IJssel at the influx of the Berkel. It lies about 30 kilometers north-east Arnhem. Zutphen received city rights between 1190 and 1196, making it one of the oldest cities in the country.
Zutphen is one of the seven mediaeval cities along the river IJssel. It is one of the ‘Hanzesteden’ in the Netherlands. It resulted from the cooperation between a number of North-German merchants: the ‘Hanseatic League’ This league grew in the 14th and 15th century into a powerful economic factor. Its main objectives were to protect the affiliated merchants and to expand the trade. Prosperity also influenced other regions. Painters, architects, poets and philosophers settled down in the city and created a hey-day in the artistic field. We are talking about a Golden Age “avant la letter”. Elements that have left their tracks together in this beautiful Hanseatic city. On our wonderings through the old town, we saw ample varieties of historic buildings. Some of us couldn’t contain their curiosity.

We, the quilters, were searching for the quilt shop – Petra Prins. And, we found it!

Petra Prins is a great shop with lots of goodies. I bought a book (naturally) and an appliqué pattern.

We also had lunch. From left to right: Helen, Jacqueline, Tonny, Jannie, Caroline and Joke. Two of our members were missing: Marja and Mattie. Hopefully they can make it next time!