SOON ON HOLIDAY

Only 2 weeks and my family and I will be going on holiday in my home country: Brittany!

In the meantime I finished some projects.


The 6th BOM from Bea, as usual the design is lovely and it was a pleasure to stitch.





Then I completed my scrappy stars top. The colors are not really true as the weather was quite wretched over the week-end. That was my excuse for not working in the garden and spend my time sewing!




After a discussion with Angela about sock patterns, she gave me the idea of knitting some Monkey socks.
These are knitted with a cotton/wool yarn and are not as springy as pure wool but warm enough for this time of year!

On Thursday, 3 friends from my quilting group are coming to visit and to discuss and organize our regional meeting in November. Not only work but some laughting and giggling will be taking place I am sure!

At the moment, whole Europe is in soccer fever. Tonight is a game Germany against ??? and although it only starts in 30 minutes, there is nobody anymore on the streets! Just to show...

Anyway I wish you a nice week, with or without soccer.

ANOTHER WEEK GONE BY

Time seems to fly by at the moment. I have been busy at work and did some extra at the week-end (like sewing 8 pairs of trousers for a circus show at my DS´s school). That means there was not much time for quilting.

To show you something nonetheless, I took a picture (or rather my DH took the picture!) of my Picovoli I finished one month ago. I like that pattern because there is no sewing at the seams (there are no seams!).

Last week I received some goodies from my family too. My mother sent me a pouch, a self-made card, a pin-cushion and some japanese fabrics. Everything lovely. My sister, having heard of my battle against slugs sent me a very funny book with some good ideas (like put a cabbage leave upside down in the garden and all the slugs will gather underneath) and some weird ideas (once you have picked up the slugs, put them in the mixer and give that to the cat!!).














Speaking of cats, look at the cuttie! This is the daughter of the "cat which has adopted us". It was born on the first of May at the neighbours´. The proud mother (she only got one kitten) brought her along for us to have a look at.















The young boy next door decided to keep it. And as you can see on the second picture, the kitten already likes shoes (girls!!!) .

This week I will try to finish sewing the scrappy star blocks and try some ideas for my 4SSQ.

Have a nice week too!



P.S.: Margit, konntest Du mir Deine Email geben, so daß ich auf Deine Frage antworten kann?

QUIET WEEK-END

After a busy week and nothing much going on the sewing and knitting front, I spent a quiet week-end.

I started by making some strawberry jam. My recipe is with black pepper and fresh mint from the garden!

Then I managed to sew some more blocks for the scrappy star quilt. I like to see that I (will)use up some fat quarters to finish the top. Only 4 more rows to go!
Then I finished a very boring knit: the circular shrug. It is a very easy construction but with nothing much to make it interesting to knit. Now I need to find a brooch or another king of pin to hold it closed.

I received the name of my 4SQS partner and now I have to think of something to match her taste. She just gave a few restrictions so I am free to make what I want. I was thinking of something provençal but we will see.

I wish you a nice week with some nice weather (like we had today but it won´t last it seems!).

FETE DES MERES

Bonne fête Maman!




Sunday is mother´s day in France, so here are some flowers for my dear mum.

I discovered that place through my yahoo quilt group and I found it so inspiring that I had to make a cup of tea straight away! Next time I make one, I will change (read: try to improve!) some details like the size or the fitting of the zipper.

I started a new project too! Yes I know, I need a new project like a hole in the head but I have to try to get rid of some of my fabric before it gets bad!

The blocks are 6" x 6" and easy made. My plan is to make a 8 x 12 blocks. I am just over the half now.

I will finish it before I buy the batting for my scrappy delectable mountains quilt so that I can purchase 2 packs at once, hence saving on shipment costs. That is what I told myself anyway for starting a new project!

I still haven´t heard of Margaret about my new 4SQS. I hope I will receive the name soon so that I can start.

Oh no, yet a new project!

I wish you a nice sunday, wether it is mother´s day for you or not!

SUN, RAIN: SRING!

The weather was so nice last week and now it is only rain, rain, rain and snails!
This week I have been busy sewing some hearts for my DS. It is her birthday soon. She wants some hearts to hang at door knobs and at bed posters. Let´s hope it is shabby chic enough to her taste.

I have been hand-quilting on my scrap basket quilt. I wonder wether I will finish it one day. Each time I start quilting on that one, another project appears which has to be finished before it!

I have registered for the last round of the 4SQS. I wonder who will be my partners this time. The picture shows the mini-quilt wall in my sewing room. The summer swap quilt (when I receive it) will hang where the black quilt hangs now. This quilt was my first attempt at free machine quilting and does not have to be on show all the time!
And finally, the socks I have finished this week too. They are the Leyburn socks which I knitted from the top down with some of the handpainted yarn from my spring parcel.




I like that pattern a lot and it looks nice on variegated yarn I think.

That is all for today. Snails and slugs here I come!

SPRING SWAP QUILT

My Spring Swap quilt is here! Margy sent it to me from from Belgium.


I like it very much. It conveys very well the idea of spring and I like the quilting.
The back is lovely too. Margy also sent me a lovely card and a needle holder full of needles. Thank you again Margy for the nice parcel.
I heard as well that my partner has received my quilt so everything is for the best.
Now to the last round. The Summer Swap.





Here is a sneak peek of what I will show next time.


The weather is wonderful and so I spend a lot of time in the garden, just a shame that my DH has such a bad hay fever.

I wish you a nice week-end.

SOME FINISHED PROJECTS

Last week-end we had a bank holiday and we stayed at home as my DH is ill (heavy cold with some bad cough due to allergies) and so I had time to finish some projects while my DS played outside with friends.


First the Bea´s BOM for May. I am still pondering heavily how to set these cute blocks so that they come out at their best.


Then I machine- quilted my nine-patch. It was the first time that I used cotton thread for machine-quilting and I am very happy with the result. I washed the quilt and it came out lovely: a bit shrunk and not at all stiff as is often the case with machine-quilted tops.
Here a detail of the border. I love quilting feathers!

Then I finished yet another shawl, this time the Swallowtail shawl from Interweave Knits. I used for it my left-over yarn from my Icarus shawl.

It is not very big but still large enough to wrap around my shoulders.

I still haven´t heard anything from my swap partner. I hope that she received the quilt and that everything is allright at her place.

I haven´t received mine either but that is not a big surprise as the postal service is on strike here.

I wish you a nice week.