Fabrics, a book, a bag and a quilt

Some of the fabrics bought during the quilters' gathering, 50 cent for each piece, and the red and off white is enough for a top!

The old fashioned book is from 1889, tips for young ladies, their household, how to take care of men and children, and good manners. Things i desperately need....

Sunset over Paris, direction south, from my window. Everything was pinky, and light flashes on windows. Click on the foto and you will see until Ile de la Cité. Even farther, because the skyscrapers are in the 13th, so south Paris intra muros.

I had a lovely meeting with LeeAnn , her blog is called Nifty Quilts and go and take a visit, she took a lot of foto's, tomoorow a last coffee, before she flies back with Bruce to Seattle.

It happens that we could meet Christine too, Christine lives in Athens,Greece, and is an avid quilter too.

I have shown this quilt before and you may have seen it. A more elegant an well balanced version was made by Esther Paap for the book ' 'Promenade dans un jardin Hollandais' by Petra Prins and An Moonen. The pattern didn't exist by the time i started the quilt in 2011, after seeing a foto in Quilts Japan. There are 2 antique versions of this quilts: one in the Netherlands and the other went to Pennsylvania. So it's about the "sisters quilt"

Judit Ebbelaar and her sister Karin have just finished both a top and Judith (Juudsquilts) has written several postings about their top and the finish during the Noroy Quilt Convention. So all at once it became a HYPE! Join us ! It's so much fun to make it!

The middle , including the part of the yellow triangles, is very big as i designed the templates myself with the help of papersheets with half centimeters squares, a pencil and a compass. Lazy as i am, i used a border fabric for the intermediate border instead of the tiny stars on the original quilts. The orangy cheddar fabric in the medallion was a men's summershirt from the junkshop. The quilting is simple and not very intricated. Made with what i had in the scrapboxes and boxes under the bed. Barbara Brackman noticed that i had used the very darkbrown in the medallion from a fabric she designed for her collection 'Lately Arrived From Paris" and wrote a lovely posting about my quilt and i felt very honored.

If you want to see more pictures scoll back on my blog to june 2012.

All the segments for the snailtrail are ready and prepared for the summer among some other little jobs. Maybe i won't tuch a needle, but i feel secure with some handwork in my luggage.

My Vanessa Bruno bag is from the junkshop and i payed 10 euros for it. It happened the the inner part was completely worn out and out of order. I carefully took it out and used it as a template. Spic and span again , using the leather parts on the new lining, i have a brand new bag, the bag costs a random 520 euros, no way, i cannot afford that!!

Keep on quilting ladies and let me know if you too are under the spell of the SISTERS - LES SOEURS - ZEUREN quilt! 

More from the secret hideaway

This kind of doors is common in the region, carefully assembled peices of worn wood and some carving, way much nicer than the modern ones....

Juud from Juudsquilts - go and see her blog, very vivid and dynamique and Ineke for a coffee break. We had no internet and no one turned the TV  on and we didn't miss it at all! Ed is standing on the doorstep, the only man in the house, but he bravely survived!

A pic taken around noon, but to hot to sit in the sun without protection

The progress on Mountmellick: i just bought the fabric for the background of the last border, the one with the sixpointed stars, for the final border i digged out a pillar print designed by Barbara Brackman in the nineties

Also progress on the snailtrail from Edyta Sitar for Laundry basket Quilts, called Slow and Steady, and that's the way i make it, with some method and not in a hurry.

Constantly looking at the pictures of these green pastures, with sometimes a village on the horizon, often empty but with thousand shades of green....

A week in the country

In the aastern part of France, with Vesoul as the nearest town of some importance, we had a wonderful quilt convention organised by Betty, who took care of us as a mother. The house, more than 200 years old, take a look at the floor! good for some quilt inspiration?

The tiny little hexies Betty is working on

And the sister's quilt Juud and her sister Karin are making, both took the quilt from Petra Prins' and An Moonen's book Promenade dans un jardin Hollandais. This quilt was the subject of much laughter and jokes.

It's called the ZEUREN Project and we call all quilters to join us!

The last evening we had dinner in a nice restaurant, from left to right: Ineke van der Molen, Betty Prins, Wilma Malenstein, Will Vidinic, Karin Siemes and Judith Ebbelaar.

At the end we closed this door, hoping to come back one day.

More to come fellowquilters, stay tuned!