The Singer FW was purring

the whole weekend to finish the frugal quilt and as the weather was as bad as can be, i was glad to stay home and sew.

The soft red Moda fabric blends in nicely with the muted colors of the triangles and comes from my stash.

The borders are more or less dicted by the amount of left over triangles.

I'm happy with the result and the size of the quilt.

I went to my Paris bee on wednesday knowing i would have a surprise, but i've been spoiled beyond my wildest dreams.

Instead of blocks, we usually make blocks for each other, i asked for doll quilts, made with orphan blocks from my fellowquilters: 

the first is from N, she made the improved puss-in-the-corner.

H made de adorable pumpkin quilt,

C the turn of the century hole-in-the-barndoor

And last but not least the cashmere- yes, cashmere- woolen logcabin, made by A

Am i spoiled or not???

Greetings from Paris, a lot warmer than last week and some sun this morning, Will V

A white world

Another frugal quilt on the way: these are the leftovers from the fisrt FQ i made a few weeks ago and i played with the small triangles.

Each block measures 8 and a half inches, and i have 30 blocks.

The background fabric is an old kimono, the weaving makes it less flat, more dynamic.

I will dig in the boxes again to find fabric for the sashings.

The overall quilt finished will not be enormous, but cover a double bed.

This we saw this morning from our window, white roofs and the snowing goes on and on.

Rue des trois frères

Théatre Charles Dullin

Rue des Abbesses - rue Lepic

Rue des trois frères, at my doorstep

rue Yvonne Le Tac

Place des Abbesses

Place des Abbesses

Rue Lepic

At home it's warm and cosy, DH just served me a cuppa, and i count my blessings

Love to all, whereever you are.

Hottest item on Dutch quilters blogs

Dutch quilters share pictures at their age of 21, so i digged in my album: here's a picture from my 20first year.

It was'nt the happiest period  in my life, found myself ugly, was covered with nasty pimples, had serious overweight, and fell in love every six weeks, always with the wrong guy.

But then, oh my, when i was 23, i met  HIM, the one in the middle, and nothing else existed anymore.

He's still the love of my life and i'm grateful to feel him near to me.

He is a painter and made my portrait quickly after our first meeting.

Where does time go?

And how did you look at the age of 21?

Last bee in 2012

was at Anne Marie, see her working on her embroidered wedding ring quilt.

A gorgeous quilt, and her embroidery skills are much improved now.

Dominique worked on her blue hexagon s while telling us about her move to Normandy.

We will see her less now, and regret her lovely garden, but Normandy is not THAT far, beware Dom....

Michele quilting her thorn of crowns, looks very antiqui, as she used an old sheet as a background.

Sylvie was designing and the serial you-know-what knitted a pull-over inspired by a book about the Muhu island, i just couldn't take my eyes of the book...

Meet our eldest daughter, Stojanka.

This brave young woman lives in London and we don't see her as much as we would like.

I'd better say we miss her dearly...

She came to see her old mom and pop for a few days, we spoiled her, we talked about the past and childhood and then she left on a plane for two months in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Hooray for skype, e mails and internet

what would we do without it nowadays? 

This is what i saw on a rainy decemberday.

But by the time i grabbed my camera, the rainbow had faded away.

 I took a walk in the Marais last week and took some pics.
All around the rue des Francs Bourgeois.

This is the scrapbox: a wooden hatbox i found long ago in the street on a winternight.

The diameter is 50 cm, about 17 inches, and my goal in 2013 is working from this box.

Instead of buying more and more fabric i will spend money on some quilt related trips like Nantes and Ste Marie aux Mines and socialize with my quilting buddies.

The box is incredibly heavy and is good for at least 6 or 7 tops i guess.

A junkshop find, no idea what for...

And a frugal bag project:

Every day the postman leaves behind a few meters of thread, i've crocheted a bag, started in October, crochting a bit every day.

A friend gave me the leather handles, rescued from a Longchamp bag, I will dig out some African fabric for a lining.

Soon more about this.

More frugal stuff, flying geese                               and triangles, leftovers from the flying geese.

No decisions about settings or such.

Dear Mary Elizabeth Kinch in Canada, you've made my day: i received this morning your sweet letter and my copy of your book is now signed.

I'm sure we will once meet somewhere, but Paris would be wonderfull.

I wish you a very happy new year, there will be ups and downs and the crisis is a nasty beast for many of us, but we will all try to keep an open eye on the small things and joys of life, i'm sure,

Will V in Paris