Hand me downs.

I made this top last spring. Over the years i collected antique workmens shirts, the kind of fabric is a little sturdier than nowadays shirts. A soft glow comes from the oranges and my beloved holy virgin blue. I had great fun making them; still a lot leftovers so i go on hunting this kind of shirts.

Today was the magical days i realised that spring is not so far away, the light has changed, bright sun, still very cold but i like that, so had a long walk.

Tonya was still here when we both looked at this top and she mentioned that the charm would have been greater if the blocks would have been made in a slightly more uneven way, the Gwen Marston way. And you were right Ton, i will do so in a future top!

A public transport strike made things difficult for a lot of working people, i'm lucky girls, time for sewing now!

Three options for finishing: just ticking,normal quilting, or a rustic quilting with thick thread, any suggestions?

Today some pics from Aigurande: the Mariner's compass is a floor motiv in the local church, just to show you something quilty.

Apart of the ceiling was painted in a very lovely way,but later than the middle ages, maybee the barock period.

The girl's gang is in front of George Sand's manor, we've been inside for the visit with a guide.

We've finished at the wonderful Sarzay castle, from 1459, the surroundings are breathtaking, both are in total harmony.

We hope to organize an other trip in spring.

Back to the crumbs now, i have 45 of them, growing growing!

The CREUSE convention

So i'm back from a wonderful weekend in the Creuse, central France. Friday wweather was realy bad: storm and rain all over the days. We had food and wine for the whole stay, so we started sewing straight on, and we did it the BONNIE HUNTER way.

Some of us, we were six, are very experienced with machine piecing, others less, but at the end

we had 180 blocks, and, believe me, there was also time over for eating, drinking, and LOL!

I think that Bonnie's blocks are great for such a gathering, progress was quick and we all went home with nearly enough blocks for a quilt.

Of course we also did some sight seeing, more tomorrow!

Reactions from all over the world and lovely comments come onto my blog: be sure i value your attentions and i'm very happy to share my love for quilts with you! Happy quilting ladies!

Mosaic my way

As so many others, i made this top after having seen it in VINTAGE QUILTS, the Mc Calls's magazine. I had quite a stash of poison greens, shirtings ,turkey reds and chrome yellow. On the first picture you can see they are not all the same, but that doesn't bother me at all. The turkey red border has a black, rather big print. The blue fabric is the only one i bought for this top.

Just have to find time to hand quilt it!

Yesterday i spend most of the time watching TV, Who didn't anyway???

Thinking also about Rosa Parks, that young black girl in Little Rock going to College ,and the Obama's, just splended! I wish him all the best, and consider him also my President!

45 crumb diamond shaped blocks are ready since a few days, my inspiration was a quilt seen in and older QNM, some pics in a next post.

Happy quilting and greetings from Paris, Will V

I don't remember exactly when i made this quilt: it might have been 1996 or close. the stripes and plaids are Roberta Horton's , the light blue a kind of chambray i bought for a nickle and a dime in my favorite junk shop. I also used freezerpaper, great helpfor perfect corners. It's one of my favorites.
I'm still waiting for my Amazonbooks, wishing i had them for the weekend, so i go on with the crumbs and preparing some blocks for next week, a weekend with my quilting friends in the Creuse, a lovely region in the middle of France. Cooking will be a big item and i promise you a nice reportage.
Nice weekend for all of you, with some quilting in it! Will V in Paris

Antique Dutch Quilts in Leeuwarden

I spend 2 weeks in The Netherlands in December: a week with my sister Hanne and her family, ( she is a very talented quilter btw ) and afterwards a week at Joes' ( Dutch quilt cat blog) with

Tonya (Lazy gal ) . It happens that Joes owns the most extended quilt book library we have ever seen, so inspiration was everywhere! We had a trip to Leeuwarden up north in Friesland, passing by the dike between North Holland and Friesland, through the flat country to see the Quiltshow in L . A dazzling collection of antique Dutch quilts, garments, presented in a very seductive way.I bought the latest book of AN MOONEN, who is a well known textile and quilt historian. She published two other books about Duch quilts before and she has a website too, partly in English.

Tonya has also shown lovely photo's from Leeuwarden, look at the art-deco phamacy! More about my stay in Holland next time, greeting from Paris, bright light today but chilly and windy! Will V

The make-do pincushion from Houston

I bought this broken crystal object from the one dollar table at Linda Pounds on Westheimer's in Houston. She and her husband are open at the weekends, but check out first if they are still there if you want to take a look, the last time i visited was in 2005! I deeply regret a beautiful, wornout but soooooooooo rustic acorn and reel quilt, she asked only 45 dollars for it! Such a strong contradiction between the fine and carefully made hand appliqué and the machine quilting. All ended up in a thick comforter. AND, how to bring this back in my luggage? I should have send it back in a package, separated the three layers, whatever, i missed that quilt and will regret it for the rest of my life. This is a rather quiet day, dull weather, cutting out some baskets and sewing crumbs the Bonnie Hunter way, waiting for books i've ordered from Amazon. Happy quilting ladies!

Ton's gone and the cold in Paris

Last meeting with Tonya today. Hard to believe she's leaving Paris for Florida, and i will not see her back for a long time? BUT!!!!!!!!!!! we have great plans for the future! Ton, enjoy your home-coming and take good care of the cats! More quilty stuff in the next days, dd from London is here and promised to help with putting photo's on the blog. Happy new year to all of you, quilters or not, Will in Paris, very cold these days.............