Quilting the town red

Run and wait, run and wait, run and wait....

2012-02-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

Thursday Agnes, my Quilt mom, had her birthday, and she was so happily surprised with her In the limelight! Especially all your kind reactions! Thanks for adding to the virtual gift. And I hope you enjoyed her website with all the quilts she made.

Writing and publishing a book is a process of run and wait. Run with your proposal. Wait. Run with writing the book. Wait. Run with the first text check. Wait. And this week was another run phase: proofreading. Proofreading means checking the text as it will be published with pictures and all. That was a lot of fun! The last time I saw my text, it was a simple Word-file, nothing fancy.

With proofreading all the illustrations are added in the book, photographs, a great bright layout, it was a joy to read and check if all the dots were on the i. And although I had two nights planned for proofreading, I only needed one night. Hardly any mistakes, a great layout, and the proof needed just adding some pictures to give extra information.

It is the last time I have seen the book in an unfinished stage. Next time it will be the printed book, my first book with my name on it! But, in this run and wait process, it's now waiting time. The corrections have to be put into the file, the printer has to make all preparations, proof has to be checked at the printer so before the book will be taken into press. I am lucky to be experienced with the printing process due to my day job, otherwise I wouldn't have believed publishing a book would take such a long time! And mine is even a quickie. Normally it would be published in November...

I hope the editor, Andi Reynolds, Melissa Potterbaum, who did the wonderful layout, and the printer can realize publication in Paducah. I did what I could and I look forward to traveling to Paducah and receiving the first print of the book!

And because proofreading is the last step I can do in the process, this weekend will be one of seeing people, enjoying the milestone and doing nothing. Sort of. ;-)

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

In the limelight: Agnes ten Hoeve, my Quilt mom

2012-02-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

First Sampler by Agnes ten Hoeve

In the limelight is about quilters who inspire me. Who just give me that little bit extra, who boost my creativity, who inspire me with fabric, techniques or their work. Famous, or just met, contemporary or very traditional, hand work or machine work. And today, because it's her birthday, my Quilt Mom is put in the limelight. She inspires me every day!

Agnes ten Hoeve started quilting in 1991 and made her first sampler. Everything by hand, as many of her quilts would be. In that era quilting started to grow in the Netherlands and with the exhibitions the amount of quilters grew.

Agnes worked as a nurse with psychiatric patients, and during her night shifts she made many a stitch. Or when a patient was restless, she helped him or her by putting the patient next to her, showing her quilting and letting him or her piece with her. And they calmed down!

She made a Dear Jane, entirely by hand.

Dear Jane by Agnes ten Hoeve

What inspires me in her work is that she is as willing to work with machine as by hand. No judgment, no opinion, just what fits better with this quilt, this time of life. And that might even be sending a quilt to a professional longarmer, because another quilt has to be hand quilted. That accepting of every technique for its value, that inspires me.

Her next achievement is something that is a big dream of me: she made it to have her quilt judged in in Houston and Paducah. If I could ever achieve that!

Birds and Flowers, made in 2003, was winner in the European quilt show in the traditional quilts group, was part of the "Full in Bloom" exhibition in Houston and on show in AQS Paducah.

Birds & Flowers by Agnes ten Hoeve

The last few years she is working on a quilt, mainly made by hand, and she hopes to have it ready and hand quilted in 2013. When it's time to show, I will show you!

And the last thing why she inspires me? Well, she is my Quilt Mom. [Edit: she is not my real mom. She adopted me as a quilt orphan ;-)] She believes in whatever I do, although she might not always agree. She lets me play, warns me for working too hard, and at the same time puts seeds of creativity in my mind. She says she doesn't speak English, but when we need a room in Paducah, she sends a mail in her own English and has a room arranged for all us. She is not among the youngest of us, but when last year our flight to Paducah was cancelled due to the flood, she was happy to go by train, and later with the 4 of us in the backseat of a pick up truck. She is a no-nonsense, authentic, my kind of woman with whom I share my love for quilting.

My Quilt Mom inspires me to be open to all possibilities and to find out what works for me. Thanks.

Happy Birthday Quilt Mom!

Have fun quilting,
Annemart

P.s. Agnes does not know I write this blog, as it is her birthday surprise. She doesn't want to be featured, focused on or whatever. But her work and her personality deserve a focus on what she has made. I hope you enjoy it too!

No chores, just quilting!

2012-02-21T08:00:00.001+01:00

Saturday morning I was looking at my to do list for the weekend. Shoes to decorate, lessons to prepare, clothes to buy, texts to write, and all the things that belong to showing what shoe decorating is all about. Then there is cleaning, wanting to start to run, work for my day job and the list goes on and on and on. Knowing that proofreading will be planned for the upcoming week, I knew I had a busy weekend ahead.

Saturday my spouse and I went into town and I bought some vests and shirts (check), spouse bought a book, we had lunch, and came home after a 2 hour train trip, that usually takes 35 minutes. Tried to work on some texts, but it just didn't came (postpone again). And I was asking myself; what do I miss to feel inspired to do all the other things on the list, I usually am I inspired for?

And sitting in front of the open fire, I suddenly knew. I missed quilting! I have been busy with shoes and books, testing and reviewing, decorating, writing, planning, in the mean time working a 60 hour workweek and didn't take the time to get my inspiration up!

So Saturday night I went to bed with one big plan for Sunday. Quilting.

As my quilt room is occupied now with shoe stuff everywhere, I woke up Sunday morning, and started to rearrange the living room, to fit to my quilting needs. In the mean time my spouse started working on sticky baby ribs for that night. How more in heaven can you be!

At twelve I had my quilt, my sewing machine and everything arranged to start working on Splinter's Delight. As the quilt is 9 ft long and 7,5ft wide, quilting on my Bernina is not an easy one. Especially because I wanted a diagonal grid, and then the diagonal is almost 12 ft... So, don't laugh, but here I am with my purple boa constrictor, while my spouse is taking a picture and bursting out in laughter. And I quilted till 9 PM, except for some shoulder rest and food and sanitary breaks. My first spool of YLI jewel is already gone!

YLI machine quilting Jewel

It is not finished yet, but I expect to finish it soon. At least a big dent is made into the quilting. And inspiration is definitely up!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Notion Alert: Ewesful pin cushions

2012-02-19T08:00:00.000+01:00

Now why o why would a pin cushion ever be a notion to love? Well, because there is a lot of difference between pin cushions.

There are funny ones:

And tasty ones like these cakes and donuts.

But I really love the Ewesful pincushions. Why? Because they are made of wool. And wool is full of lanolin. And lanolin is a great protector for your needles and pins against rust. And the pin cushions are available in many colors, made by a small company that just makes, well, pincushions. I love the colors, the simpleness and the effectiveness. Available in smaller and bigger sizes.
What more is there to say about this pincushion? Except that I love them.

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Paducah, everything in preparation

2012-02-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

Now the release of my book is planned for July, and if possible, Paducah in April, I am working hard to have everything prepared. I promised you to keep you informed, so here is the update. And the list is long!

First, my flight and lodging had to be arranged. Three months before show, that's an ordeal, because lodging in and around Paducah is tight. Very tight. A friend of mine did a great job with finding a condo in the center of Paducah, just across a great restaurant (I love American steaks, check out my profile...), called Max's Brick oven and next to Whaler's Catch. Can't wait for my first blooming onion! So food and bed are arranged.

Then I ordered my flight. I also arranged a Frequent Flyers pass, because I will be coming over more than ever this year. Last year it took us 43 hours; a flight of 9 hours, a wait for 12 hours in Chicago, an overnight in Chicago, an underground, a bus, the Amtrak and an hour by car from Carbondale to Paducah because of the floods. I hope this year it will be a lot shorter! Although this year I still have to wait for 8 hours for transfer in Chicago. My on the go project (0.5 inch hexagons with Cherrywood fabrics) will keep me busy! And of course I will eat my first American steak on this trip there. So the trip is arranged.

The shoes that are in the book are with AQS, and they are using them to for photography now, and decoration of their booth as long as the book is available. I am working with a friend who already has a booth, who will sell everything you might need for shoe decoration in Paducah. And she needs samples too. So last Saturday, during the bee, I worked on samples for her and experimented with new techniques on my own new quilt show shoes. And there still have to be a few more samples made, so working hard on them.

I am waiting for the proof to proofread. Fingers crossed the book designer can make a great book out of the manuscript. I so hope the book can be ready for Paducah!

Then there is demos to prepare, and a lot of preparation with me and my friend for arranging all materials to be ready for show. I also would like to contribute to Community College online, a cooperation between West Kentucky Community College and AQS to get people into education again, and make them earn credits by following classes online. Will hear soon whether that will go on.
Some things seem to have nothing to do with the book and quilting; shopping for new clothes. Because I really do want to look smart for show!

And quilting? Hardly any. Splinter's Delight is still waiting for the quilt work. Alice is standing in the room with my Broken Star on it, waiting for a stitch. As soon as I can, I will return to them.

So that's for the update. When there's news, you will hear about it!

Have fun quilting,
Annemart

Your natural stitch

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

Some people are convinced that hand quilting is all about the tiniest stitch, 20 stitches on an inch and then the question: how did you count, upside or both? Karen Fae wrote about that on Celebrate Handquilting.

First quilting work in quilt class

When I started with quilting, I didn't know what the quilt police requested. I just quilted, and after my first class my teacher told me to work bigger. I did 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted. Until then, I didn't know what was good. But when I told people I did 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted, they were in awe. And because of their reaction I thought I should be proud of that, especially because my arts & crafts teacher in 4th grade told me and my parents that it would be better for me and the world that I would never hold a needle again.

Since then I developed. Yes, I can do 20 stitches on an inch if I try. But as my profile says, I do not try that hard anymore. I quilt like what feels good, what is fun. Quilting is for me relaxing, meditating, finding rest in the rhythm of my hand cooperating with the needle and my quilt. Tension in shoulders, neck, arm, wrist, hands and fingers influence my stitch and I wouldn't like that to happen. I believe in the natural stitch, my own developed theory, based on theories in other areas like singing and dancing.

I noticed, when I stopped trying very hard and started to move my hand relaxed in a full move with arm and shoulder without tension, my stitches became more even, consistent, and my quilt work didn't feel or look tensed.

That's what I call my natural stitch. My natural stitch is now 12-14 stitches on an inch. Yep, upside counted. I know that's tiny, and that's what belongs to me. I have seen great quilters with a natural stitch of 8-10, others 6-8, and also 14-16. For me a natural stitch, made without effort, consistent because of going with the flow of your body and mind, is the most beautiful stitch to look at, whether it's 6 or 16 stitches on an inch.

Be proud of your natural stitch, because it is you. It develops, grows with you, reflects where you are in life. If you are working too hard, too tensed, you stitches might be uneven, small, too tight. When being too relaxed and laying back, your stitches might also become sloppy, big, loose.

Consistency and follow your own path. That's the trick. Life is a path. It's not a racing track ;-)

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

New shoes for Paducah!

2012-02-13T08:00:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we had bee, and usually the three of us (yep, a bee of three!) quilt and chat. But this time everybody was doing nothing like quilting!

Debby rediscovered her love for embroidery. She is making tiny, tiny stitches on a very fine linen (40cts). The name of the pattern is Kind Fond Love of the Sampler Company. She is now so getting into embroidery, she is making a new blog about that too. The adress of her blog that started yesterday: www.crossstitchstyle.blogspot.com
Check it out on her blog and you might find a lot more about this pattern and her amazing embroidery work!

Friend M., who has a very busy life with her own company, a part-time job, 2 children, a husband with a very busy job, parents and siblings to look after, is working slowly but steadily on her Sinterklaasstraat (street of Sinterklaas). It has to be ready the 5th of December, as you might remember from my explanation in the Sinterklaas Give Away. With felt she makes tiny Black Petes, the horse and the houses, and she almost finished Sinterklaas yesterday. The good man is filled with rice now, so he can stand up. He just misses his beard, and for an old man (some estimate his age to be around 1700 years old, as that's the date of birth of Nicholas of Myra), he should have one. The crosier he holds might also be welcome at that age... So that's M.'s next job, the beard of Sint. With M.'s busy life it's a smart thing she works on this the year through.

And then me. I needed a new pair of Paducah quilt show shoes. My original ones, that appeared here more than once, will be coming with me to Paducah, but with all the new techniques I developed and discovered, a new pair was needed. So here they are! Metallic purple, with golden swirls, and a green and pink flower on a simple leather slipper I can walk on for hours. It's a new technique, not discussed in my book yet, but experimenting is so much fun! The tiny color spots give a sparkle.
Oh, and again, the problem with photography; on the photo they look really very, very purple. In real life they're more a bronze purple. Purple seems to be a very difficult color to capture in picture...

Have fun quilting. Or embroidering, making Sinterklaasstraten or decorating shoes! As long as you have fun!
Annemart

Notion alert! Aunt Becky

2012-02-11T08:00:00.001+01:00

In all the rumour and humdrum around the book publishing, I still have a promise to hold, After the TJ Quick Quilter (or quilt spoon as I call it) and the Marian's Magic Quilt Thimble, the Aunt Becky deserves a review.

The Aunt Becky is one of the first items I got for quilting. My mother-in-law, who taught me to quilt said: well, I can't work with it, but maybe you love it. I learned hand quilting without. And when I went to my first hand quilting class, the Aunt Becky was put aside. It was in my needle box, just laying there.

I got used to quilting without a thimble on the underhand. And my Aunt Becky was still there, unused after years. So now, with reviewing the underhand options, I wanted to give my Aunt Becky a try. The Aunt Becky is really not expensive and I found her available for as low as $4.00. That's the same price range as the Marian's Quilting Thimble.

The Aunt Becky can be put on your fingers in several ways. I found these positions:

And these:

Apparently, there is no must in how to use it. I wore my Aunt Becky as in the second picture where's mentioned Frame quilting. And of course I checked out YouTube. I found an old television programme, please forgive the quality of the movie, in which Jean Brown gives excellent information about how to use the Aunt Becky.

Now how did it work out for me? The simplicity of the Aunt Becky really is an asset. The tool can be adapted to fit my fingers, gives room to my own preference in holding it and is light and does what it must in all it's simpleness. However, I make tiny stitches. And where the TJ's quilt spoon gives a sharp ridge, the Aunt Becky is a bit to round for my preference. It took me minutes to learn to work with it, the thin material between my needle and my fingers gave a great feel of connection. But even after hours, the quilting didn't feel natural.

So now, after three reviews my personal ranking:

1. TJ's Quick Quilter

2. Aunt Becky

3. Marian's Magic Quilting Thimble

If you have experience with these, what's your ranking? Look forward to hear from you!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Decorate Your Shoes, how it all started... Part 2

2012-02-09T08:00:00.001+01:00

Here is part 2 of how Decorate Your Shoes came into the world! Part 1 can be found here.

I walked with Gloria and we chatted a bit. Until we arrived at the entrance of the Pavillion where a lady said hi and introduced herself as Meredith. Now I may be blonde and I may be naive, but I quickly understood that this was Meredith Schroeder, CEO of AQS. We spoke, she saw my shoes, and asked whether I ever thought about writing a book. Eeeehmm... well no. But I can give it a go, because I love to write... She asked me whether I had a spare pair, as there always has to be a sample project with a book proposal. I had not. But I just bought an amazing amount of markers to experiment with them on other shoes in the Netherlands. Here we do not have that many colors!

Meredith sent Gloria out for a pair of white leather shoes, and when she came back, I sat behind a curtain in a little corner of the show, decorating a pair. To me, that was really amazing and so much fun! Because I had not everything I needed, just my markers and a borrowed pencil, the design is a bit bold, but it gives an idea what is possible with shoe decoration.

After I finished the shoes, Meredith asked me to send in a book proposal, explained to me what was expected and gave a short, very short, idea of the procedure. First thing was to write a book proposal with 2 full patterns worked out, pictures and everything, rough sketches for more patterns, and other information necessary for AQS to decide whether the book was worth publishing. Check out here if you want to be fully informed and are thinking about entering a proposal too.

That was April 30, May 1 I would be flying home. Deadline for the book proposal: May 15, ready to be discussed, on Andi Reynolds desk. I got my work cut out.

I made it. Every hour in those two weeks was spent on planning patterns, making two pair of shoes, photographing the work process and writing the proposal. I sent the proposal in, and only days later I was informed that, with a few points of advice, my proposal was accepted! Deadline for the full manuscript was 15 November, release date planned for Fall 2012. I decorated shoes, experimented with different markers and paint and enjoyed the process a lot. Writing about it was pure fun!

I finished my manuscript in time, had some stress, because US Customs believed my sample shoes might be weapons of mass destruction and needed extra forms, x-rayed them and let me fill out a form for each pair about the way of construction inside the shoe. I couldn't have laughed more when I read something along the line of: "the construction of the shoe is visible when the sole is cut in three parts like this:...". Sure! I was ready to fill out whether they were for evening wear or not...

My manuscript was edited by Andi herself and she rephrased, corrected and ameliorated the original manuscript to make it the best it can be. When it was decided the book release would be not in Fall but in July, and working hard to make April possible, the circle was round. My shoes will be returning in Paducah.

Andi from AQS has been an angel during these 9 months (hey, that reminds me of something?!). Andi, if you read this: Thanks!

For me, this whole journey has been a roller coaster, and so much fun, and it opened a new world. And I feel welcome!

Hope to meet some of you in Paducah. I'll be there, I will inform you in another post about what the plans are. First I do what I promised you last week, when I wasn't in the know of the new release date: the review of Aunt Becky.

Have fun quilting! And writing, if applicable.
Annemart

Thank you Caron, for a special give away prize!

2012-02-08T08:35:00.001+01:00

Usually I blog every other day, but now I have to make an exception!
My online distance far away hand quilting blogger friend Caron had a give away on her blog with a very special prize: one of the two books she has written, Contemporary quilts with traditional designs. It's only available on the second hand market, and because I love books and quilts, I really wanted to win. So I entered. And you know what? I won!

Today I found in my mailbox a big envelope with the book and a lovely message in the book from Caron. I thought it was so sweet to have a personal message from the author in the book!

Caron, thanks for the great gift!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Decorate your Shoes, how it all started... Part 1

2012-02-07T08:00:00.002+01:00

The last days were amazing. All reactions, the amount of visitors, people congratulating me on the boards and groups I'm on and in (the Dutch Prikbord, about.com, the handquilters yahoo group), it really is amazing. And although I just started on Pinterest, it was picked up there too.

And because my message on the what and how was on the short side last Friday, I'll tell you about what happened in Paducah, and how this book came into the world. It will be a bit of a long story, so have patience. I'll do it in 2 posts. Thursday you can read part 2.

I was definitely not planning for a book. I was planning for quilt show. First, in 2009, I went to Houston, and as you might have read in a former post, I decorated my shoes to have a fun pair to walk on. My spouse thought I was crazy to "spoil" a pair of almost new leather Birkenstocks. And in the office store they were looking at me to check whether the light was on, and whether somebody was home. Would permanent markers be fit to decorate leather??? It took me some time to work out a good way, but then it was done in a few hours. In Houston the shoes were already a communication item, but I was so NOT prepared for what happened in 2011 in Paducah.

In Paducah it wasn't possible to walk for me for more than 10 minutes, without being asked, complimented and whatever about my shoes. A whole guild came to me, spoke to me for 45 minutes, wanted my shoes next to my head (remember, I walked for almost 3 days on them...), wanted autographs, instructions, everything. I literally spent hours talking about my shoes.
On Saturday I decided to put a silly hat on.That would distract from my shoes, as I had no other shoes. But JoAnne from PaperPieces.com saw my shoes and went crazy over them. She wanted them there, on the spot. And when I spoke to her about all the people that were coming to me, her light went on. JoAnne contacted Gloria Bolden from AQS to come to her booth, where I was.
Gloria saw my shoes and just said: Come with me.

In two days the rest of the story!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

In the Limelight: Ricky Tims

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

In the Limelight is about quilters that inspire me and maybe you, show me that little bit extra to find my creativity and give me that extra push to go out of my comfort zone. Some are very visible, some just came around the corner and I happened to meet them. This time it´s a well-known quilter, who inspires me because of the way he is capable to make quilting bigger than life itself!

Ricky's first quilt

Ricky Tims, quilter and musician, started making quilts in 1991. His first quilt was no indication to what he created 20 years later; a sampler like many of us have made. In the years after he developed a career in the quilting world that's focused on designing and making the world know about quilting.

Ricky is known for his Convergence and Rhapsody quilts, his books, the Quilt Show with Alex Anderson, the seminars with Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman, the Quilt Life magazine and his own retreats in La Veta, Colorado.

Next to that, he dyes his own fabric and is a musician with a wide collection of cd's. In Houston I went to one of his concerts. I was told before, but many of the persons visiting weren't aware of Ricky's qualities in music. While Ricky wears a cowboy hat it doesn't mean he is a country guitar kind of guy! He is a great pianist, and if you would like to experience that, check out one of his cd's or go to a concert during a quilt show in, for instance, Houston.

For some inspiration, here some quilts Ricky has made:

This quilt is part of the exhibition All that Jazz, part of the Road to California Quilt Show last January, curated by Ricky Tims. All that Jazz was about improvised quilts, without a pattern and just starting.

Lifelines III quilt of the exhibition All that Jazz, quilt made by Ricky Tims

Some more well-known quilts are the Convergence quilts and the Rhapsody quilts:

Convergence quilt Spirit of the Deep by Ricky Tims

Dad's lone star quilt by Ricky Tims

Ricky inspires me first because of his energy in bringing quilting to the millions. With his dvd's on quilting, the Quilt show and his many books, it is inevitable you know about him. He also travels the world to tell about his designs, to teach and train. Within a few weeks Ricky will visit the Netherlands and Belgium too, (8 and 9 March), so quilters from my home country and the Southern neighbors, go to the website of Bernina (Dutch) and check it out! I have been told there are still places available!

For a color freak like me, the second inspiration are his hand dyed fabrics. Sometimes a fabric is just too beautiful to cut. And his hand dyed fabrics are really beautiful. Check out this Caveman fabric; how not to love it!

Hope you feel as inspired as I do after looking at his quilts and his fabric.
And for the Dutch and Belgian visitors: Hope to see you and Ricky 8 March in Utrecht!

Have fun quilting,
Annemart

P.s. Ricky Tims does not know who I am. He didn't ask me to write this, he didn't force me into loving the fabric and if I wouldn't show up in Utrecht on the 8th of March, he wouldn't miss me. I could be deep sea diving in the Atlantic Ocean without oxygen and he would live happily ever after. I just love how he helps to make quilting big. Period.

You're the first to know: My first book published!

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

I told you about Houston, and going to QuiltMarket and QuiltFestival. And then I told you about going to AQS show Michigan. And then AQS Paducah was added to the tour planning. But what I couldn't tell you why I was going to all these shows. And I was so eager to tell you all!!!

Tadaadaadaaa....My first book will be published!

It is planned for summer, but AQS Publishing and I are working hard together to get it out in April, in time for AQS Quiltshow Paducah.

The book is filled with the techniques how to decorate different materials and it includes 11 patterns to decorate your shoes to make a unique pair. I hope it's ready in April, so I can show all the people in Paducah who saw my shoes last year, how to make their own.

And how it all happened is just a more amazing story. I showed you my shoes, the ones I wore to Paducah. And AQS saw them too, on show last year. We spoke on show, I designed a pair on the spot and was asked to send in a book proposal. That was April last year. It became a roller coaster ride, that hasn't yet finished, to get everything ready in time. And let's keep our fingers crossed it will.

I promise you, I will keep you all informed about the events related to the publishing of my book and I'll tell you all about what is related to publishing your book with AQS. And of course, I will have a give away for a signed copy when I will have the copies in hand.

But for now: I am so happy I can finally tell you!!!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Notion alert! Marian's Magic Quilting thimble

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

After reviewing the TJ's Quick Quilter or quilt spoon for the underhand, it's time to go to the second underhand gadget in the series, the Marian's Magic Quilting Thimble. I found out about this thimble through the Yahoo group for hand applique and hand quilting and had to try it myself. So I contacted Eric Joy and got the thimble to review on my blog.

The thimble looks like a cone with a rim. The rim is to catch the needle on, to form a ridge and make your stitch. I got the blue thimble, but there are 7 colors to choose from, so no issue in finding your personal favorite. The thimble is worn according to the website on the left index finger, but I know there are people who love to quilt with their middle finger or or even their ring finger. As the thimble is cone shaped, almost any finger will fit in. Price of the thimble is 5$ on the company's website, and I even found them on the web for as little as $3.48, so the price is not a big issue.

Visuals in manual

Text in manual

In the manual a visual is added about how to use the thimble, and some text, though short, is added. I also googled and found a video on YouTube. The instructions are short, and the principle is the same as with most underhand gadgets: a rim to catch your needle and build a stitch.

Now that's the theory, professor, how does it work in real life?

Well, actually, the video shows how the company uses the thimble. No hoop, no frame, the quilt on the lap and the thimble under. Unfortunately the upside is in the video not visible. So I tried it.

Thimble on my finger

I am a hoop and frame quilter, so that's the first difference. Then I am a quilter who loves to quilt relaxed and having contact between underhand and needle. With the TJ's Quick Quilter I could feel that connection, as the spoon and the needle formed a direct link to my hand, and I could come close to my needle. One way or another, I could not feel that connection with this thimble. I have thin fingers, so the thimble went way over my finger (see picture), but there was still room between the top of my finger and the top of the thimble. To me it felt like steering the rim in distance. Even after trying for hours and experience with several underhand gadgets now, I could not get rid of the feeling of a loss of connection.
I also felt that in a frame or hoop, the fabric is not that giving to let the fabric follow the thimble. So I had to bend my finger a bit more. That made the top of the thimble go upwards to much, which causes my needle to touch the top of the thimble and prevented a supple stitch. To me the rim was also a bit to round. A sharp ridge is needed to make a small stitch, and this was a bit too wide.

The Marian's quilting thimble might be great for working with a quilt on your lap, or even for piecing. All in all for me, the Marian's quilting thimble did just not what I hoped it would for hoop or frame quilting. The thimble might work for you though. For $3.48, it's worth giving it a try to experience the thimble. You might be very comfortable with it!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

WHOOOHOOO, Paducah too!

2012-01-31T09:36:00.000+01:00

Now , this year is by far the craziest quilting year for me. And I mean really by far! I already posted about visiting Houston 2012. Going for 2 full weeks to visit a great quilt show.
Then I posted about AQS Michigan. That I would be going twice to quilt shows in the US. And yesterday I was invited to come over for:

AQS Quiltshow PADUCAH!!!

I will be 4 days at AQS Paducah from 25-28 April. I will definitely take my decorated shoes or make a new pair. How could I not go to a quilt show without my shoes?!

In the upcoming time I will be very busy on planning AND Paducah AND Michigan AND Houston.

Of course I will keep you up to date on all the events and adventures.

First of all: I have a place to sleep. Rule one when booking for Paducah, as lodging is tight. Very tight.

Still celebrating my hat trick in my little corner of the world.
Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Getting inspiration by Pinterest

2012-01-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Recently I was invited by Caron to join Pinterest. For the American readers of my blog Pinterest might be very well known, the Europeans and Australian here might not know what I am talking about.
Pinterest is a collection of pinboards where you can tell how you live and what you like in pictures. Check my boards here.

It's so much fun to stroll over the internet and over other people's boards, checking for the pictures that really show who you are, what you love, do, hope and believe. Sometimes a picture can tell so much more than a 100 words.

How can I tell you what I love about color, without showing you a rainbow?!
And I hope the way I write and answer people show my believes in kindness and honesty. How I believe in optimism and giving things a go. Starting things without knowing where you're going and where it ends. That's how I started this blog. But one quote can say so much more.

That's why I like Pinterest. People pin the most beautiful quotes, greatest places and interesting books. And by repinning, liking and following I can express what I like, what I love, and feel connected with those who love the same things.
And other people repin my pictures and comments, like what I like, and feel inspired by what I see as inspiring.

Is everything great about Pinterest? Ummhh... No. I noticed spending 2 hours on Pinterest, not doing anything else, while I should be writing and working. And together with Facebook and Twitter, it's a bit much. But as I can tweet and post my pins on Twitter and Facebook, there is a work-around. And actually, I love Pinterest a lot, because I can inspire and feel inspired. So it works both ways, and people who I love to read, become a completer person for me when I read their boards.

So if you want to share your inspiration, your goals, believes, dreams, your lifestyle, your esthetic views, let me know and react with an email address included. I will send you an invitation!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

From flat boring to funky, a new pair of shoes!

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000+01:00

Before

I promised you I would keep you up to date with my shoe decorating. Well here we go, my first pair this week, a pair of white shoes are now shiny and funky! I have a friend who has particularly difficult feet. Because of the loss of feeling in one foot, she doesn't feel whether she has her shoe on or not. And because she lost the use of one hand too, tying laces is not an option. So she has to wear shoes with Velcro or elastic laces. As she uses a wheelchair, the shoe better has an extra high rubber heel, as she uses the back of her shoes for moving around. So there you go, finding a pair of shoes to fit that is quite difficult. And she found a pair. Actually two pair, and she bought both, because finding one pair is already a problem. Leather, and exactly what she needed. One problem. White. Plain white. No joy, no fun, nothing to look at. And white in winter is not my first choice. So I offered her to decorate them.

After

We talked over the design and the colors. First she wanted earth colors. Brown, orange, yellow. Nothing fancy. But after she saw the colors I have, she changed her mind. The neon yellow, the gold, the pink, the red and even the purple had to be in there. So today I had my work cut out. I cleaned them, because even shoes straight out of the box have to be cleaned. Manufacturers put a lot of wax on them and stain protecting chemicals. Then I drew my design, painted them, lacquered them and here they are!

She hasn't seen them yet, but I think she will be more than surprised how it worked out. They still have to dry for a day or what, but then she has her own individual pair of patchwork shoes. I am even thinking of tying a charm onto the shoe. That makes them really individual.

Next pair will be my own pair of shoes, to be made ready for pounding the pavement in Michigan. They will be with metallic paint, so even more bright than these I think!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Notion alert! TJ's quilting spoon

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

OK, here we go with another review! I love to have a direct contact between my left index finger and thumb and my needle. I use nothing on the underhand and work hard to get some callus as a natural thimble. Because of a mean little cut in my left index finger top I could experiment with some gadgets for the underhand, which is for 92% of the people the left hand. I have three gadgets I never used before and tried to work with all of them. I'll give you my honest opinion (read opinion, not the truth!) on all three. This week the first, the TJ's quilting spoon, and in the upcoming weeks you will read about the Marian's Magic Quilting Thimble and the Aunt Becky.

But first TJ's quilting spoon. I heard some good stories about the TJ's Quilting spoon. My teacher, Ted Storm, works with a normal spoon. For me, that was a bit big. And a teaspoon was too small. I felt like Goldilocks and the three Bears!
So I had to try out this spoon that was discussed in the hand quilting/hand applique Yahoo group. Janet, from Quiltsalott, wrote about it on Celebrate Handquilting. I found it available at Jinny Beyer, and at TJ's own website.

First of all it's bend, which makes it a more comfortable spoon than a regular spoon. Secondly, the top is straight, not pointy, so I didn't have to search for the top, but have a complete ridge to use. For thirds, the grip is a soft plastic in a triangular shape. The spoon does not turn in the plastic because of the hexagonal shape of the handle of the spoon. So no turning in the grip, and the grip is great to fit in my hand. And finally the spoon is short and small enough to offer as much direct influence on my quilting stitch as possible.
Don't think the top end is damaged because it is not flat and neat on the back side. Would it be nice and shiny, your needle would slip off in no time, making unsteady stitches.

I also ordered the DVD with the spoon. Although the DVD is more expensive than the spoon, I thought it would be a smart choice and expected an extensive lesson. Well yes and no. The spoon was well explained, movies and all, but in reality, what's there to tell about a quilting spoon? When the use is explained, and all advantages are mentioned, that's it, more movies are unnecessary. Just exercise with it and the rest will follow. So the DVD helped me, but 20$ was a bit much for what I got.
On the other hand, could I have done without the DVD? I preferred having it. It's good to see how the spoon is held, and how the stitch is made. And without the DVD it might have been another gadget in the drawer.

I worked with the spoon for a while, and actually, I liked it! Check out also the YouTube video from QNN. The ridge is sharp and clear, I have quite a direct contact with my needle and after an hour of exercise I could make 14 stitches on inch, upside counted, at a regular distance. For me that's good enough to pass!

Then there is the thing that I work with a thumb quilt ring and also work the other way around. The bend in the spoon is for working towards you. However, because of the grip, I could hold the spoon a bit more diagonal way and work with my needle to form an even stitch. I got used to the spoon quickly, although working without a gadget on my underhand still feels best.

Everything taken in account, I am happy with the TJ's quilting spoon, or the TJ's Quick Quilter as it is officially called. I work with it now when I cut the top of my left index finger (fortunately healed now!) and I notice to grab it just because my finger gets sore.

I love to hear what you think of the TJ's quilting spoon!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Everything going on at the same time...

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000+01:00

Do you know the Quilter's brain? Just too full of everything, busy with one project, thinking of the second and the new to come, oh where did I put that fabric, and how should I quilt this top? Thinking of a new project that is just a bit more challenging than this one, and in the mean time decoration of shoes, blogging, checking out my handquilting yahoo group, the about.com forum, the quilters board, the Dutch message board, my email, pinterest, facebook, twitter... Then the mails for asking for admission to use a picture or to write an In the limelight about an artist, because I do not even think of infringing copyrights. Answering your kind reactions, new friends I made and who I contact through other networks and email, making pictures, all that.

Edit: Thanks to Sharon: it seems like cafepress.com is owner of the design, so if you want a mug or a t-shirt designed with a Quilter's brain, go to Cafepress!

And I didn't even speak about working a more than full time job, traveling to and from work 2 hours a day, having a spouse, social events, eating, taking a bath (otherwise the social events will be getting limited very soon), thinking about building my own website, dreaming of things I want to do, arranging my vacation in Michigan, testing some new quilt gadgets I want to write about, dreaming of new subjects to write about, thinks I would like to ask you...

I am now convinced my condition is diagnosed. I have a quilter's brain.

Anyone knows when it will calm down? Does somebody have ice to cool my precious brain cells? Would chocolate work? Is there a doctor in the house?;-)

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

P.s. I am truly sorry to the designer of this picture. I do not want to infringe copyrights, but I couldn't find your name, the picture was all over the net, and your name was not there. Send me an email and we will work something out. I couldn't find the time to go deeper into this.... You'll understand. You drew the picture. You know what I am talking about...

In the Limelight: Caron Mosey

2012-01-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

In the Limelight is about quilters that inspire me and maybe you. Quilters that do or make just that what makes me do an extra step. It might be their quilts, the colors they choose or the things they do. One of these quilters is Caron Mosey.

Three months ago I did not know Caron, never even heard of her, althought she wrote two books about quilting. Well, it's a little while ago, so I was treating my pimples in the bathroom while she was writing two books, America's Pictorial Quilts and Contemporary Quilts from Traditional designs.

I was never interested in blogs. To me blogs were for those people who had nothing else to do than writing about what they ate that night. Well, Debby, from Quiltstyle (Dutch) taught me what blogs were, how to find the interesting ones and who are fun to read in quilt blog land. It caught me. And then I started blogging myself. Within no time the blog of Caron came up. She makes the most beautiful hand made and machine made quilts. Check these out:

Emma's babyquilt by Caron Mosey

Floral Star of Bethlehem by Caron Mosey

Her quilts is one thing. What inspires me most in Caron is the effort she puts in promoting hand quilting. I am guilty, convicted and all. I am a hand quilter, a dinosaur, who isn't willing to step over (completely) to machine quilting. And then I found her post, Hand quilters Unite. It was just 10 days after I started blogging. She was inviting people to use her blog to find hand made quilts all over the web. I promoted that post from her in Holland, and it worked! We have a lot of hand quilters here, so loads of people entered their handmade quilt to be part of the web hand quilt show.

Logo of Celebrate Hand Quilting

It was such a success that Caron decided to make a new blog entirely focused on hand quilting. We all could contribute, and of course I decided to be a participant too. On Celebrate Handquilting a lot of information from all contributors can be found on hand quilting, the tools and the quilts.

In the mean time Caron and I developed an online friendship that's just great. She inspires others to hand quilt, to finish a top, to make the best of their applique and to involve others in making everyone aware that hand quilting is alive and kicking. And I am living proof of that, as I am a hardcore hand quilter, and I already was at the age of 31.

Celebrate hand quilting, unite and all good things. Caron, thanks for starting all that.

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

p.s. Caron does not know what I am writing about her. She didn't ask me, nor does she pay me to write this. I could get lost in Transylvania near Dracula's castle and she would live happily ever after. Well, she would miss my posts maybe. And my contributions to Celebrate Handquilting. But that's all. I just love her energy for hand quilting. Period.

Decorating shoes with a goal in mind....

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000+01:00


My quilt shoes need a sister pair!

Remember my quilt show shoes? Quilting is my main thing, but decorating shoes is something I also love to do. People asking me to decorate theirs, and I do, although I didn't post the pictures here. And even now, months after posting about my quilt shoes, people are reacting to the post. How I made them, what they need, where to find the material. And I love to talk about that!

So, you'll hear more about decorating shoes in the upcoming time. It's so much fun to have your own pair of shoes! Next week I have a week off and am planning on decorating a pair of light shoes for a friend of mine. She has particularly difficult feet and found the greatest shoes in the world. In white. No other color available. I will decorate them and make them wearable for an everyday shoe at the office, with some extra to make them hers. It will be a very individual pair, nowhere else available. And as she is unique and special to me, I think her shoes should be!

And I will definitely have to start designing a new pair of my own, because....

I will be going to AQS Michigan Quiltshow!

I know, it's August, it's far, far away, but knowing to be at two quiltshows this year, Houston and Michigan, is really great. And as I am not a member of a Dutch quilt guild, and only of American Quilter's Society, I am literally coming back to my home quilt group.;-) They might be called the American Quilter's Society, I, as a plain Dutch girl, feel at home with them. I was in Paducah last May, and I met so many great people! So my new pair of quilt shoes will be prepared with Michigan in mind for the future, and the great atmosphere in Paducah as an inspiration.

The upcoming week I'll be busy with two pairs of shoes, one for my friend, and a pair for me. I'll show you what I start with, and I show you where it ends up. I hope you'll be surprised!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Color checking on the internet

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

After my issue with the color of the backing for Splinter's Delight, and receiving a new backing that was great, but totally different in color than I expected, I dove into it and tried to find out whether there was a way to see the colors of a fabric correctly online. The monitor was one thing. But then came this.
When I received the backing for Splinter's Delight, I planned on receiving this:


Photo of fabric by OQS (online quilt store) where I ordered

What I received was a total different color, a red purple, that was not even close to the color I was searching for. I noticed the colors of my monitor where not set correctly, and found a picture of Red Rooster, the manufacturer, that came way closer to the real fabric, but is way too bright. Check out the difference in appearance, for the same fabric:

From Red Rooster

And I found some more pictures, that differ from each other and from the pictures above:

OQS 1

OQS 2

Actually, none of these come close to the original! Although OQS 2 comes close, the redness in the fabric is not to be found. And trying to make a picture myself of the fabric did not show the different colors in the fabric correctly.

Then my new backing. I expected this from the OQS:

Color presentation of OQS where I ordered

What I received, compared to quilt

This is what I saw when it came in. I expected a color close to the triangle mid right or the one up right. The color came closer to the blue purple in the green/blue/purple swatch in the middle.

So I checked out the color presentation of the same fabric from other OQS.

Check this out:

None of them come even close to my picture, what to me is as close as I can get to how I interpret the color. Then the color presentations also do differ from each other in size.

So whatever you do, whatever you need: check out a specific fabric on the internet for different pictures. And then do not expect to receive what you saw, be in for a surprise. You might see it in reality way different, as photography is an art, and there are so many influences on how a color is represented in a photo. And interpretation of color is very personal. Your red might be my pink... If you want to be sure, your Local Quilt Shop might help you out!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

Sunday, lazy sunday. With Kwik Klip

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

The cat is on the dinner table under the lamp, being quiet (although snoring) and waiting for winter passing by. He thinks summer should last from February till November. Spring from December to January. Now he has to find the warmth under his personal sunbed, the dinner table lamp. He refuses to move. Only to get baked on the other side.

I was up at 7 this morning, and had one plan and one plan only: basting Splinter's Delight.

The livingroom was moved all over, Alice on the side, two chairs on the side and Splinter's delight on the floor. I got my curved basting pins and started. After my first nail broke and the three layers had moved more than I preferred because of trying to close the pins, I remembered a gadget I took with me from Paducah last May. You see, a girl can never have too many gadgets.

So I got my Kwik Klip, made by Paula Jean Creations. It is a strange looking device with no purpose at all, until you try to baste with pins. In the video you can see how I use the thing. It's actually quite simple and that part of the basting was done quite quick.

I wrote you can never have too many gadgets. You can have too little though. I got myself an extra package of curved basting pins last May, but even that extra package was not enough to baste this quilt. So I stepped over to what I do with a quilt that will be hand quilted: basting with needle and thread, which took a lot longer. I prefer the pins for machine quilting, because the feet otherwise will get entangled in the thread. With hand quilting a threaded basting offers me more possibilities to control the basting.

Finally the basting is finished, after hours on my knees on the floor. Next October in Houston I will get myself my own Q-snap table to baste my quilt in parts on lap level. My back will be happy for it.

This week I will be very busy with work. Next week I have a week off. One day will be totally focused on quilting Splinter's delight. You'll receive report!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

p.s. Paula Jean Creations do not know me. They do not pay me or ask me to write this post. I could drift off on a rubber boat on the Atlantic Ocean and Paula Jean and her crew would live happily ever after. I just like the thing. Period.

Notion Alert: Quilting Needles!

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

As you might have noticed, I am fond of notions. Gadgets, scissors, pins, needles, thimbles and every thingumabob that's there to have. So I tested nearly every needle for my quilting. As I make very fine stitches, bending and breaking is a big issue to me.

Hand held thimble

When I started quilting with my MIL back in 2001, I started with the Leo Lammertz needles, size 7. Those needles didn't break (how could they!;-)) and were great for a first start. They are also a great combination with the hand held thimble. I tried working with the hand held thimble. I could, but I preferred a more direct contact with my needle.

After I discovered that those size 7 needles were big enough to poke a fire with, I started a search for the perfect needle. I make tiny stitches, I don't know how to make bigger ones, even when trying, so I tried and tried. The length, the strength and the stiffness became an issue.

I started with Piecemakers, the brand that's widely available here. I used the nr 12 Betweens. They were a great length, had the right stiffness and made it possible to go for 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted. While the needles were great for me in 2003, I started to notice a few years later that bending and breaking became an issue in the way I developed my quilting. And although I use a needle one a day, my Piecemakers became a package a day.

I tried Roxanne's quilting needles, size 11 (size 12 is not available). In a tube, closed with real tiny shell on the top. Now, how cute is that! Although the size was great, they bended too much for a tiny stitch. And even adapting my stitch by not having 7 or 8 stitches on a needle but only 3, did not help. So although I liked the brand a lot, the bending was too much for me.

After trying some more brands, I found Clover in 2006, the gold quilting needles. They were available in size 12, are easy to thread and great to quilt with. But also here a tendency to bending, and that influenced my quilting too much.

Then I was in Houston, 2009, and a new Clover product was introduced: the black gold quilting needles. I tried and tested, and this is the brand I quilt with now. They are available in Quilting and Quilting/Between, are $1 a needle but what a great needle! No bending issues, no breaking, and the needle stays sharp. Only downside is that these needles are black and are therefore hardly visible on a dark background. And my current quilt is dark green. So here's an issue. And the price ofcourse. But I can deal with that when the needle is great.

There are, after reading many opinions on Celebrate Handquilting, some brands I will also give a serious try, like the John James Big Eye Quilting. I hope they are as great as the Clover, so I have an option for a less expensive needle.

If you have a brand I haven't tried yet, please let me know. Maybe you have the perfect needle for me!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Color in quilts: why yellow looks sometimes like green

2012-01-12T08:00:00.000+01:00


Color wheel by Itten

Some people asked me how it was possible that some quilts that have yellow in them seems so yellow, and Splinter's Delight (click here for picture) has no issue of looking too yellow. The pattern "dictates" that half the fabric is one color and the other half is another color. Others ask me how I created a diamond glance, and how I created depth. Well, I developed an infection with color theory a year ago, and the quilt, in all its simplicity, proved to me it works!

What I used when choosing colors for Splinter's delight is the color wheel of Itten. There are many more, like Goethe, but I've learned my ways with Itten, so I stay with that for now. I chose to stay simple, by choosing two opposite colors, that is complementary. As we have a yellow living room, that is, from light yellow to a dark mustard, yellow would be my base color.

Every color of yellow

Plain purple

Then the second color became very easy. Purple. Not blue purple, not red purple, but really purple. Now I had my colors, the next step was defining which colors. Yellow has the risk of being too visible, to dominant. Purple and yellow have a big dark/light contrast, which adds to a half square triangle pattern, but it also risks the yellow to be too bright and the purple too dark. So I took my ColorSchemer app, and checked every color of yellow and purple there is. And lo and behold, there are loads of yellows and purples. Trick is to lower the lightness of yellow and to brighten up the darkness of purple. Check out in the picture all the yellows and purples there are!

Grocery list

I picked up every color of yellow and purple I had in my stash. I have a Dutch stash, and as fabric is 22$ a yard here, that wasn't much. I started shopping for FQ's, so I would have a lot of different fabrics. And each time I got a new fabric, I glued a small piece to my grocery list. That way I was always able to check whether I was going too bright with yellow, too dark with purple, or that the fabric didn't even fit in! I also had some cross over fabrics, with purple and yellow in both of them, I had some screamers, ugly fabric as I showed you that give life to a rather safe complimentary color choice, and the dark yellows and light purples were my main purchases. That way the balance would be better. And by choosing a lot of extreme darks and extreme lights, the contrast realised the diamond glow, as each triangle became a facet.

I was so glad I took this course, because even a simple quilt became more interesting with the use of it. If you want to know more about color theory, google on "color theory" and "Itten" and don't be afraid to experiment. My class on color with Ted Storm gave me the basic tools to work with color, and to experiment further. This was my first try, and it worked out great, I think. I like to tell a lot more about color, but a post can only be so long. In this stage of my quilting life, color is a major thing to me. And the use of color demands courage. So here you are... Word of the year to me!

Edit: The fabric for the backing came in. Oops. Disadvantage for ordering online. Way too red! Readjusted my screen colors and ordered this backing. See the difference? ;-)

Way too red

Let's hope better...

Anybody interested in 9 yards red purple?

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

Edit2: The new backing fabric came in yesterday and was just fine! But see the difference between the picture of the fabric from the seller further above and my picture from the backing here? Whole different color! Glad it worked out this time.

Progress when none

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

Splinter's Delight is ready, the top that is. The batting is here. The quilt is for on the couch, where the cat will be on it, wine will be spilled and children will be eating ice cream, so I chose a simple batting: IKEA Irma fleece for $2.49, €1.49 in the Netherlands. Look at my post on Celebrate Handquilting how I choose my batting. However, I want to try bamboo too...

Yippee..Daisies, Red Rooster fabrics

So my fleece is in. My backing isn't yet. I ordered my backing with Thousands of Bolts, and even with P&H, it saves me about 100 euro to order there. I ordered from Red Rooster Yippee..Daisies in purple. Nine yards for close to $5 a yard. In the Netherlands that would have costed me 150 euro. No kidding. Thank you Thousands of Bolts and USPS!
When I wanted to get the picture for you from the website of Thousands of Bolts, the last of the fabric seems to be gone. Not available anymore. So I am happy I got it in time. It has the right value of purple, the dark, the light. It was just perfect. So now we wait. It's in the mail, order sent on January 5. Usually a week. Fingers crossed!

So I wanted to start with quilting my Broken Star. Yeah well, that has to wait too. I had a loaf of bread in my left hand, and the knife in my right. A bread knife, you know, a really sharp serrated knife. And I cut off a piece of the loaf of bread. And the knife was sharper than I thought. And my fingers closer to the knife than expected. Well, you get it. My left middle and index finger were cut. And as I am usually a bare back quilter (no gadgets on my left hand while quilting), especially after not having quilted for a while, quilting is a nogo-area now.

On the other hand, I have time now to test the things that are used on the left hand. So soon you will read a review about them. And I am trying to get some video with that. Trying. I really am. But one way or another, the shot is too light, too dark, the technique not visible... So I keep on trying. In the mean time, I just post along.

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

In the limelight: Caryl Bryer Fallert

2012-01-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

In the limelight is about those quilters that inspire me, and maybe you!

After less famous quilters, I would like to introduce to you, for those for whom she needs any introduction, Caryl Bryer Fallert. Caryl is an American artist, a well-known quilter in the USA, less well-known in Europe, who inspires me with her colorful and vivacious quilts, full of movement and depth.

The first quilt I saw from her hand was in Houston, 2007. Feather Study #30 won the

Master Award for Contemporary Artistry and showed me a very different approach to quilting. A full design, one movement, that filled the whole quilt, but also made the surroundings of the quilt move. It felt like a breath of air was going through the quilt in the room. The energy in this quilt was amazing. Before I went to Houston I only saw art quilts made of chicken wire and beech bark. That was so far away from the more traditional applique I was interested in, that I would not look even further. This quilt is one of the quilts that showed me that contemporary quilts can be attractive and intriguing, even seducing.

Then I came back in Houston in 2009. Caryl again entered a quilt, but one way or another, this quilt was from a different energy. Where the feather quilt was bright, happy, almost celebrating, her entrance for 2009, On the wings of a dream was not so much happy as well as powerful, full of dynamics and strength. The quilt showed to me a woman who was ready to jump into a new life. The quilt has a flying crane quilted in the background, exactly on the position of the woman giving over to, what's for me, the energy of life. In her technique she showed how quilting can emphasize the choices in fabric and shape, adding an extra layer that gives meaning to the movement of the woman.

Who was I to know that her personal circumstances literally had her moved into a new stage of her life, and this quilt was the living proof of that? The quilt gave me the energy of freedom, the dream of flying.

Also the jury in Houston must have been convinced the wow-factor was undeniable. Caryl won Best of Show in the Houston International Quilt Festival that year. This year I am going to Houston again. I am looking forward to the quilt she will be entering then.

Rainbow spectrum

Caryl has for me the gift of using color and movement in quilts. She also proofs that in her fabric designs for Benartex, where the Gradations fabrics offer every color in the book. These fabrics inspire me to use color gradations in leaves, backgrounds and shapes, instead of using plain fabric or prints.

If you want to know more about Caryl Bryer Fallert, her work and her fabric designs, go to her website and check out her extensive Gallery. Without a doubt, the amount and quality of her work will amaze you!

Have fun quilting!

Annemart

p.s. Caryl Bryer Fallert does not know who I am. Nor does she pay me or asked me to write this. I asked for permission to use the pictures, and that's it. I could get lost in the jungle in Cameroon and she would live happily ever after. It's just that I love her use of color and movement. Period.

Tulip Tiles, my reality check on the treatment of silk

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

After learning how to hand quilt with Ted Storm, I got hooked. I just wanted more and more and more! I took further classes on applique and white work. All Ted's classes are based on a tulip design she made. Every tulip is made in a different technique and form a 9-tile quilt.

Tulip Tiles, design and made by Ted Storm

I decided to follow all classes to make this quilt. I worked on it for two full years. I used silks and cotton, and because I love silk, I used it in a lot of colors. I pre-washed all my fabric. I made the appliques in four techniques, I made the corded and the padded tulip, I made the trapunto, I made a triple padded tulip. I embroidered. and I quilted a very fine grid at 14 stitches on an inch. And I planned to send it in for an international quilt show. So I washed it. Reality check.

Here is how my version of Ted's Tulip Tiles came out. The folds and wrinkles are from laying in a cupboard for too long, in reality it is straight and flat. You will notice in a few seconds why it ended up in the cupboard.

Tulip Tiles by Annemart Berendse

Seems o.k., doesn't it? Now take a little better look.

Yellow silk has bled and shed on the white

The green silk was even worse

Look at the result of my reverse applique

So there was my entrance for quilt show. And whatever I tried, the discoloration has persisted up to this day. Although pre-washing is great for cotton, it is not enough for silk. I learned that the hard way.

When you use silk, the quality differs a lot. Not all silk can stand being soaked for more than five minutes. When you use a silk, check whether the dye is a quality dye. Price is no indication, as I paid top price for some of the silk and it was unusable to use in a quilt because it kept bleeding. I tested it with the remaining swatches that were left in my stash.

Soak the silk for at least a day, then change the water. Put them in the water again, then take some white cloth and roll in the silk. If you see any shedding or bleeding, do not use the fabric. Be aware, chemicals to get rid of excess dye are not all usable with silk, as silk can't stand acids.

On the other hand, this one event that destroyed the result of two years of work learned me how to wash a quilt, how to pretest silk, how to work with silk and several washing techniques and ways to remove bleeding spots. I will share those with you in the upcoming time.

But foremost: pre-washing and pre-testing prevents a lot.

Have fun quilting and pre-washing!

Annemart

Anymart or Annemart, up to you!

2012-01-05T12:00:00.000+01:00

When I started this blog, I spoke with a friend in America. She can't pronounce my name the Dutch way (Ah, like in wall, -nuh, like in nudge, -mart, like in Walmart), so she calls me Anymart. Just like Walmart and Kwik-E-mart. The Any-Mart. For all your groceries and hardware.;-)

Now the Mart is close to the Dutch pronunciation, but the Any is, well, different. I am proud of my name, but I am not very attached to the correct pronunciation. I work in a very international environment with Asians, Americans, Japanese, French, Spanish, so I am used to hear my name pronounced in many different ways. Let alone my last name. If I would be bothered by that, I better take on another job!

So when I started this blog, and decided it would be English written, I also decided to call myself Anymart in the blog. That way anybody can pronounce it, and I don't have to explain how to pronounce it.

Well, the blog got bigger, I write on Celebrate Handquilting now and sign with Annemart, people email me and call me Ann, it's all fine with me. And then I noticed I needed to think about how to sign my mail. Does this person know me as Anymart or Annemart?

And where I thought I would make things easier for you, I made it more difficult for me. And why would I bother what to sign with, when I really am not bothered with a different pronunciation?

So, for all of you, it will all be Annemart from now on. And if you want to call me Ann, Anymart, or Annemart and pronounce it in your own way, you're welcome.
That makes it all a lot easier!

Have fun quilting!
Annemart

My word for 2012: Courage

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Inspired by Karen from Passionate Quilter who was inspired by Ali Edwards, I started this year to choose a word for the new year to come. All my dreams, resolutions, goals will be built around that word in 2012. It's easier to remember one word, than to remember that I will lose 1000 pounds, eat healthy, go to the gym every day and oh by the way, I will finish this quilt, design two more... Well, you know how it works. In February I forgot what I thought of in December.

One word can mean a lot. Karen chose Nourish, to feed her soul, body and family. Others chose Nurture, Moderation, Believe or Time.

For me, 2012 is Courage.

Courage to finishing my Broken Star and see how much I have developed in eight years.
Courage in starting a new project that is more demanding than all projects I did before (how about a handmade Baltimore?! Still thinking though).
Courage in developing new horizons in my work.
Courage in learning new quilting techniques.
Courage to invent, discover, explore new ways, to develop new horizons to enrich my life and that of those around me.

And Courage gives also meaning to other words: Courage gives growth, Courage also means daring to have the patience to learn (because grass won't grow faster when you pull), Courage as in persistence to develop. Courage inspires me to experiment, to try, to discover and to decide what not to do.

The word fits me like a glove for all my plans. I'll keep you updated!

And you? Do you have New Year resolutions, a word, a dream for 2012? I am eager to learn!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

2012 with Splinter's Delight

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

I did it! At 7.15 PM 31 December 2011 I stitched the final stitches on the top of Splinter's Delight!

Splinter's Delight

It was a race against the clock, but I made it! And can you imagine that in this purple yellow quilt are the most ugly fabrics (to me that is!) incorporated? Look at these!

How about this psychedelic one?

And this large flower red and purple one?

Next step: getting batting and backing. The quilt will be machine quilted in a very simple and straight way with a purple variegated cotton.

And in the mean time? I promised myself to finish my Broken Star in 2012. So I'll be sitting a lot with Alice, handquilting. It will be a lot slower than this machine quilt, but I hope as much fun!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Newyear in the Netherlands

2011-12-31T11:29:00.002+01:00

While I am working my socks off to finish Splinter's Delight before midnight (half blocks are finished and pinned to be completed to 30 full blocks), I'll tell you more about the Dutch way of celebrating Newyear, as we call it "Oud & Nieuw". I won't bother you with pronunciation however. When you know that ie is pronounced as the ea in lead, and the ou as in cloud, you can have a guess!

In the Netherlands we celebrate the Newyear with family or friends, either at big festivities for the younger people or at home for anyone older than 30. Now that age limit is very subjective and based on my own experience but one way or another, in my experience, it's something like that. The big festivities are with a lot of music, at home we have television on or play games.

Most important part. We have oliebollen. Oliebollen are like doughnuts, no hole, and raisins in them. We also have appelflappen, that's oliebollen with apple in them. Lots of sugar on them, and enjoy! It's a lot of fun to bake them yourselves, but as it also is a lot of work, we buy them. Tomorrow we stood in line for almost an hour to get ours! Added to the champagne that's opened at 12 exactly (or 0.00 AM 1 January...;-))
Everybody in the family stays awake until 12, and at 10 seconds to 12 the countdown starts. At 12 the champagne is opened and we congratulate each other with the New Year and say "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!".

For those who are interested, here is the recipe of oliebollen from allrecipes.com with a link to it. Enjoy and have a Happy Newyear from the Netherlands!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Oliebollen

Prep Time:
2 Hrs
Cook Time:
8 Min
Ready In:
2 Hrs 8 Min

Original Recipe Yield 1 dozen
Ingredients

1 (0.6 ounce) cake compressed fresh yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup raisins
1 Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 quart vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

Break up the compressed yeast, and stir into the warm milk. Let stand for a few minutes to dissolve. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir the yeast mixture and egg into the flour and mix into a smooth batter. Stir in the currants, raisins and apple. Cover the bowl, and leave the batter in a warm place to rise until double in size. This will take about 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a deep-fryer, or heavy deep pan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Use 2 metal spoons to shape scoops of dough into balls, and drop them carefully into the hot oil.
Fry the balls until golden brown, about 8 minutes. The doughnuts should be soft and not greasy. If the oil is not hot enough, the outside will be tough and the insides greasy. Drain finished doughnuts on paper towels and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve them piled on a dish with more confectioners' sugar dusted over them. Eat them hot if possible.

Splinter's Delight progress

2011-12-29T08:21:00.002+01:00

After the second Christmas day I could just think of one thing. Finishing the yellow purple quilt, Splinter's Delight. All squares were made into three square rows that day, and I thought I could manage before 31 December, while working this week full time at university. I'll manage. But don't look at the mess! Splinter was watching carefully whether the progress was up to his standards. Under the lamp checking out whether the sewing machine was moving fast enough, supervising me working late in the evening. Dinner on the other side of the table, eating on 2 square feet with me and my spouse. No complaints though! It works, I get the top finished. But it will be a big job to handle!

Here they are, all the rows, first seam done, second seam pinned, neatly in a box. The first seam has been done Tuesday night, and the third row was pinned that night and yesterday evening. Then I started sewing the second seam. It just feels like labor... Seam, after seam, after seam... Although, when I open up the blocks it looks amazing.
As long as you don't look at the corners. I am a hand piecer/quilter. I always make sure my corners meet. But now my machine is thinking for me. And it sometimes just doesn't work out! I promised me and my quilt mom that this quilt is for the cat. And cats seem not to notice that corners do not meet.
So this time I decided that I will only sew in a negative way (i.e. seam ripping) when the blocks are positioned wrong. But I will not rip any seam for corners that doesn't meet. With that in mind, and knowing it's my second machine quilt, first with triangles, I am doing pretty o.k..

And here is what it looks like now in the living room. Going seam after seam, working the whole stack to finish the nine patches.

It's a huge organized mess. On the right on the floor is the box with nine patches to be sewn. In the middle on lap level is my sewing machine. And behind the sewing machine on the left all the finished nine patches end up like a large chain of flags. 120. Fast accountants now figured out that the quilt will not be 8*10 ft. I measured it. It would be too big for the couch. So now it will be 7*9 ft. Still large, but manageable.

I promise you, 31st of December the top will be finished. Don't know how, but I will. Will show you at 31st December 0.00 AM. But I still have to decide whether that will be Dutch time or US Westcoast!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Treasures and Splinter's Delight

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

It was second Christmas Day, and my spouse and I celebrated our own small Christmas: me quilting, my spouse cleaning the garage. That was what was needed and so that was what was done. I was behind my sewing machine, sewing seam after seam, and later on ironing to get all those seams on the right side. In my old clothes, my hair not done, no make up, in my pj's. Terrific!
When you look at the picture of the box, progress might seem limited. I am, however very proud of me. All the rows are finished and I already pinned together the rows that need to be sewn together in the next session. That will be tomorrow night. Then two thirds of the quarters are done. I love seeing progress! And the cat? He sleeps somewhere on an old cushion my spouse threw out of the garage. Now so much for all my effort! Fortunately I like the quilt better on the couch than the old cushion.

I was also surprised with some gifts for Christmas. A fountain pen, really beautiful, and a book (not on quilting) I really wanted. But the biggest surprise I got is an old sewing box, a so called Juffertje, made in the end of the 19th century. A "Juffertje" always has a pincushion on top and is usually made of a more expensive wood like mahogany.

And look at the inside of the box! Isn't that amazing? It used to be purple velvet, now through the years the velvet has discolored and is a greyish purple. But the mirror and the decoration is still beautiful. I really love this box. And in the box are some old notions like a braider (I think it's called), some old thread and needles. The thimble I bought a month ago is great with it, so you can already see it in its new habitat. It is such a special feeling to own something with a history that goes way before I was on this earth. Even my parents weren't alive when (I assume) a woman was mending her socks or making clothing using this box.

I hope Santa has been good to you too? Any gadgets I definitely need to be aware of? Always interested in new tools and notions!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Christmas Eve, low-budget fun!

2011-12-25T11:09:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Christmas Eve here, and this year, a friend, M. came over. With this friend we have a Christmas tradition of celebrating a low budget Christmas, with as much presents you can get for 25 dollars. That means we saved halve of the Customer #1000 groceries for her (they costed nothing), kept the mini tooth paste of the dentist to add and found at the thrift store and the outlet store many items that added to that. And as we both give 25$, some bigger gifts, can be added to that. And M. does the same for us. Note that with 100$ under the Christmas tree it was loaded with about a hundred gifts!

Quilt books from M.

And for 25$ M. even got me amongst DVD's and kitchen utensils some quilting gifts, really fabulous books she found in low budget bookstores and thrift stores. Look at these! Aren't they amazing?
Quilt books in the Netherlands are usually very pricey, think of 25 dollar for starters. That's a thin one.
And she got me a beautiful hardcover Amish book with fantastic Amish pictures. Then M. got me a pattern of a White-on-White quilt as you go hand quilt. If I won't make the quilt, the quilt patterns are amazing!
The final quilt gift from M. is the $100.000 contest Best Quilts 2006. Some of these quilts I have seen in Houston 2007, some of them are new to me and inspire me to do an even better job.

My spouse also went with the minimal budget job. We give each other tiny presents, because the bigger presents to each other are now planned for second Christmas Day. And even my spouse found something quilty! Although it may be kitsch, cheap and whatever, it is a rarity to find something quilty in a thrift store here. Look at this, a polystone cat family on a stack of quilts and yarn.

Kitschy, plastic, great quilty cat statue!!!

It will be standing proudly in my quilt studio. The planning is that next year my quilt studio will be redecorated, with a full design wall and more room for books and fabric. The cat family will get a prominent place!

And yesterday I did even some quilting. I pieced on Splinter's Delight, the yellow purple purple yellow quilt. That is, I did something stupid. I thought I sew the wrong ends of my squares for part of the blocks. I didn't. I just had to turn the rows 90 degrees. But I realized that after negative sewing (that is seam ripping...) for half an hour. Tomorrow I will do it all again. Let's make you a promise. The top will be finished before 1 January 2012. With or without negative sewing!

Have fun quilting, even during Christmas!!!

Anymart

Quilters do not iron. Unless it's for quilting.

2011-12-23T08:00:00.001+01:00

The last week I have been away for a week training for my day job. It was great, in Belgium, on an estate with amazing woods around it! It was really great, and although it was intensive, I enjoyed it.
Being there gave me hardly time for quilting. I had some hexagons with me to work on (a project that's always with me for on the go quilting), but I couldn't manage to do more than a few. When I came home I started ironing on my yellow and purple blocks. By Twitter FabricsNquilts suggested Splinter's Delight and that's what it's name will be.

Although at this stage it's not my delight. Because I was ironing like no girl has done before!

All squares done!!!

Triangles to go

Every square has to be ironed open, to prepare it for sewing it in to rows into blocks into rows into a top.
See those stacks of triangles... I had some ironing to do! And this was when I was halfway done. I am organized in that all the triangles have the purple side up, so the seam is always on the purple side when flipped open.

Square after square after square popped up from under my iron. All put with the yellow site to the same site, to be quicker in putting them together in rows, and the rows into blocks. And when my squares were all flat and neat, I couldn't stop starting and finishing my first block. Tadaa!

The blocks are arranged on color only. No light, no dark, just purple with purple, yellow with yellow. And because I have all the yellows and purples in the book, the quilt gets (well, according to me) a more playful design. And as it is a big quilt, the pattern has to be bold, and not to tiny. So at this stage: 1 block finished, 34 to go! The second Christmas day will help with that.

Have fun quilting. And ironing is part of that!
Anymart

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

Splinter is laying on the table, purring and telling it's his favorite time of the year. The lamp above the table is on, and as it gives lot of light, but also warmth, it is his favorite spot. Whatever we are doing, when the dining table lamp is on, he is right under it. Is that why he is black on his back but white on his tummy?!

The open fire is on, the Christmas tree is fully decorated and full of lights. In the Netherlands giving presents with Christmas is not a habit with everybody, but in our house it is. So slowly and gradually the presents are appearing under the tree, the usual cd's are replaced with Christmas cd's and the groceries for the upcoming days are already in. And as we do have Christmas eve, and two (yep 2) Christmas days, it will be Tuesday before Christmas is over in the Netherlands. Christmas eve will be with a friend, the first day with family and the second day with just the two of us (and the cat). On Christmas eve and first Christmas day, quilting will not be in the planning. But on the second day, with just the two of us and the cat, quilting will definitely be part of the festivities!

For all of you, from the warmth and quilting happiness of my home
I wish you a very warm, happy, quilty

Merry Christmas!

And for all cats a very warm lamp to add to that.;-)

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

My Quilt Mom

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000+01:00

Christmas Tree Rag Quilt

In this week just before Christmas I start to think nostalgic. About the year that has almost passed, about family, about friends. I write my wishlist for Santa, and one way or another, I do have everything I need. My wishlist is very short. As we do not have Thanksgiving in the Netherlands, this is also the time that we express our thanks, remember the bygones, are grateful for new friends and think about the people around us.

And when I do that, I first think of my Quilt Mom. I have a Quilt Mom indeed. She emails me every day, writes about everyday life, about her quilting and about her progress with her quilt work. She asks me how my quilting goes, taught me how to machine quilt (with tweezers!), and worries about me when I work to hard. And I email back with all my stories about work, life and quilting. Sometimes I am so busy, I cannot find the time to email her back. And that always makes me feel ungrateful. And when she doesn't agree with me, she tells me. Like a real Mom she gives advice and her little notes get me through rough times. But I always can count on her being there for me. Also when she is in rough times and I help her in my way to pull her through.

My Quilt Mom is so precious to me. She filled in a part I didn't know it was missing in my life, makes me happy, gives me advice, is always there when I need her (and I do need her).

She hates it when she is put in the limelight, she doesn't want to be named so I won't do that. But Quilt Mom, I know you read this, because you read every letter I write on this blog twice: Thanks for being my Quilt Mom. It means more to me than you'll ever know.

And for all others who don't have a Quilt Mom? Get one. They are hard to find, but when you have one, don't lose her. But not mine. She's taken!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Quilting 2.0: Infinite variety

2011-12-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

In March 2011 the Folk Art Museum in New York had a quilt show that was absolutely astonishing! Red and white quilts from all ages were brought together in a great exhibition. All quilts were on loan from the collection of Joanna S. Rose. Quilts were built up as spirals, walls, circles and the red and white only was terrific to see. I wasn't able to be there, but saw so many pictures, and that gave me a good impression of what has been there. 650 Quilts in red and white, it is an amazing sight on photographs and film.

Now why would I post on this in the Quilting 2.0 section? Well, the app belonging to this exhibition is just as amazing.

The app is available for Apple and Android and gives an overview of the quilts and the exhibition. Of course it's not possible anymore to follow the audio tour as is given, but the app leaves a lot left to experience! A video of the show, photographs of the quilts, background, audio information, it is really terrific. Just to enjoy the story of 650 quilts, in public gathered for a few days in history only!
And the best part of this app. While other apps are filled with great quilts for $2,99, this app is free. Nothing. Nada. Niente. No reason not to get it.

And while you're downloading, enjoy the following three videos on the exhibition. Enjoy!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Quilt Artists in the Limelight: Cass Mullane

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

What if we put aside our unspoken fears?

In the limelight is about quilt artists that inspire the people around them by color, technique, a special use of design, or anything that makes my heart jump for joy to start quilting again. And Cass Mullane is such a quilter! Certainly not a traditional hand quilter, but a fiber artist who uses color and fabric as her means to make the most intriguing quilts and other works of art.

I met Cass in Birmingham UK on a quilt show when she visited the UK with her mother and sister. The girls were a show by themselves! We had so much fun. Little did I know that this woman made the most beautiful quilts, certainly nontraditional, in the brightest colors of the world.
The quilt "What if we put aside our unspoken fears?" intrigued me by it's name. The fluent characteristics in contrast with the straight horizontals reminded me of crossing a river by sheer determination. That makes me feel powerful!

Cobblestones

The quilt "Cobblestones" made me looking at what was falling down, it creates movement by color, quilting technique and size of the quilt. It really looks like every cobblestone will fall down on the right! I love to look at it.

I also loved the use of the 3D technique on the left part of the quilt composition.

First Flight

The last quilt from Cass I keep looking at is "First Flight". It brings back memories of my youth, when blowing dandelion seeds in the air. And every umbrella of seeds was a wish that would come through. The quilt makes me playful, creative and happy.

Remember those summer days, running around in an open field?

Check out Cass's website and see her other fiber art, so totally different than mine, and so joyful to look at.

And while you look at her work, remember her motto:

Stay curious, make art!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

The purple and yellow quilt, the name game...

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

While working a busy job, currently a full week of in-house training to follow, a spouse with a job and a passion next to that, I try to plan in as much quilting as possible, if only 10 minutes. Although I asked for extra quilting time from Santa, I'll have to plan in what is possible and make do with the time I have. All the 2500 triangles are sewn in pairs to squares by chain sewing, and I am ironing batch by batch, while watching television, checking my mail, answering the phone and twittering with girls from all over the world (Hi FabricsNquilts!). Never a dull moment!

See here the batches of yellow and purple ironed blocks that will be formed into bigger squares, based on a pattern as you can find in this antique quilt from the Dutch Quilting guild.

And while I am ironing and all the other stuff I am doing at the same time, I am thinking about a name for this quilt. It's a half square triangle quilt, 8x9ft, for the old cat on the new couch, machine made by a hard core hand quilter. Yellow and purple, but you couldn't guess that I suppose, by the working title yellow and purple quilt, sometimes purple and yellow quilt. Now tell me, the name game:

What will be the name of the quilt?!

Help!!!! Any suggestion is welcome!

And while doing other things, have fun quilting!
Anymart

Alice Dressed Up

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000+01:00

In two of my first posts I posted about Alice, my Jasmine Heirlooms Quilt frame. She's dear to me and with her history she is a great part of my living room. When I started to work on my quilt frame I noticed working on a frame is different than working in a hoop. Working in a hoop means I can have all my stuff next to me on a table, the couch or a chair. My frame doesn't have that option. I worked with a bag hanging from a strip, but it wasn't really handy, to say the least. Ever tried to find needles in a bag? There you go.

So I needed another option. The original manufacturer of the Jasmine Heirlooms Quilt frames made a caddy that works really well. The caddy is positioned on top of the quilt and hangs on both poles. Unfortunately the caddy is not available here, and I have heard the frame and its accessories are also hardly available in the US.

So a carpenter in the family (Paul Pluijms) was prepared to check out the original caddy from pictures and to make one especially for me out of beech, based on his own design. He did a great job! He even added another feature: the back of the caddy is open, so I have made a mini quilt in it, hand trapunto and hand quilted. This addition to my quilt frame, with room for scissors, thimbles, pin cushions, needle pullers and everything you can imagine, is a great asset! I have everything I need just in reach. It was a tough job and Paul promised me he will never ever do it again, although he has made one in the same time for a quilting friend of mine on my request.

If you happen to have a frame and are struggling with where to keep what: you know now what to look for: a very skillful carpenter!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

What did they say about your quilt to you?

2011-12-09T08:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes remarks of people can be funny, blunt or ignorant. Or all of the above. I know many of us have heard like remarks that, in hindsight, are just to laugh about.In this post I just let it all out and you may join if you want to. I'll tell some of mine and you're invited to enter yours!

I gave a handmade quilt to a person with the remark: "I made it myself by hand." She answered: "Oh, that doesn't matter, financial times will get better." Next time this woman gets a voucher for a book or something alike!

And what about the question when I told I quilt: "You mean those Scottish skirts?".

A few months ago somebody asked whether I would like to make a quilt for her. She was prepared to pay a lot for a king size handmade applique quilt, she said. I had to buy the fabric and she would pay me 100 euro (about 130 dollars). And that was well paid, she told me, because fabric on our local market was offered for 2 euro a meter ($2,20 a yard). She was so surprised when I told her I wouldn't do it! Now she is happy with a "quilt" from the dollar store...

A few years ago I made a wedding quilt according to the design of the invitation. I did everything I could to make it exactly alike. The kind remark when I gave it: "I don't know whether it fits with the colors of the couch". Hey thanks, you're welcome!

The last remark is about a wall quilt I made as a thank you gift for someone who did a kind thing for me. When I gave it, they looked at it and said:"Now what am I supposed to do with that?".

And really, I noticed, most of the times it's ignorance for the effort you gave and the unawareness of the costs and the work spent on a quilt. Nowadays I laugh about these things. And of course you get the remarks like: "Why would you cut the fabric if you sew it together later on?" and "Why don't you buy one, that's faster/easier/cheaper?".

Now tell me, did you receive funny, strange, bold remarks that are to laugh about? I look forward to them!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Notion alert! What is it and what do you use it for? The Tweezer

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

Have you ever seen these? Those tweezers with a bend point? Some use them for stuffing or for boutis. Some very clean women use them to pick up cotton wool for their make up. Others use them to remove lint from their quilt. I use them for something different.

Currently I am machine patching. Something I hardly ever do, because I am a hand quilter, but for the cat and the couch a machine quilt has its benefits. And so I am machine patching.

Maybe you have noticed that, when you have a patch to go through your feed dogs, one way or another the corner closest to you will not stay nicely in its spot. The upper fabric moves away from the lower fabric, leaving a gap that's the difference between a perfect corner and the always so nice question: "Shouldn't those corners meet?".

Therefore I use the tweezer! I work for my yellow purple quilt (I still haven't thought of a name) with a Marti Michell template 3 inch triangle, so my corners are all blunt.
I stack a yellow and a purple triangle and feed the first corner in. Then my tweezers come in. I grab with them the corner closest to me and assure the upper and lower fabric stay together. The final part of the fabric is fed in with the tweezers right up to the end, so everything stays in place. My tweezers help me out here without risking my fingers.

For a more visual description, see me here on this video behind my Bernina while sewing those triangles into squares.
Have fun machine patching and quilting!
Anymart

Winner of the Give Away!

2011-12-05T14:48:00.000+01:00

So many people reacted on the give away for Sinterklaas! And many of you wanted, next to the batiks, the running shorts and the Millenium Long Arm (;-)), time, health and a job. I hope for all of you Sinterklaas, and otherwise Santa Claus will hear your wishes and fulfill them.

One person will have an additional wish fulfilled today: She is the winner of the Sinterklaas Give Away!

The winner is number 41, Caroline. She said:

I was born and lived in Germany (as a young child, my step-father was in the Air Force) and remember St. Nickolaus Day being on Dec 5th. Your post brought back memories of my childhood. Thank you for the giveaway. What I want the most this year is for my children to find happiness in life and their relationships. And also, for my husband to come to his senses and decide to stay here with his current job and not to move with a new job. I do not want to leave my family and friends.

Congratulations and I hope everything you wished for will come true!

And because the reactions were so overwhelming, I added two extra presents, two real Dutch chocolate letters, a treat that is so related to Sinterklaas that a Give Away for Sinterklaas really can't be without it.

The two winners of the chocolate letters are number 21 and number 48, Anja M. and Gill!

They wrote:

Anja M:

Wat lief van de Sint, hij gaat hier al jaren ons huisje voorbij, niet dat ik daar mee zit.
Want wensen heb ik niet veel, een boek of een lapje daar ben ik al blij mee.
Quilt groetjes Anja.

[Translation: How sweet of Sint, he has passed our house for years, although it doesn't bother me. Because I do not have many wishes, a book or a swatch makes me happy already]

and

Gill

How lovely to read of your Christmas traditions!
I'm hoping Santa will bring me a Kindle!

Enjoy the treats (although at the time of arrival Sinterklaas has already gone back to Spain, according to the legend).

The winners have received an email.

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Grey, wet and loads of fun!

2011-12-04T17:01:00.000+01:00

Do you have those days too? That the weather outside is grey and wet, nobody is outside and the world looks like there is no color at all?
And inside, the closed open fire is on, the lights are shining, the cat is purring and... my sewing machine is doing her best to give everything she can. Making a quilt for the cat who is now laying under the lamp in the middle of the dining table. And that's where I am sewing. I do have my own quilt studio, but with the fire on, it is so much more fun to be down in the living room.

Yesterday Sinterklaas came. This year he came two days early to the house of my SIL and my nephew and niece. And I must have been good, because I got everything I wanted and more! Some kitchen stuff, candles in purple, a notebook with cats on it, a bag full of bruschetta and the Quiltmania!
It was great for me, but also for my nephew of 9 years old, who, although he lost his faith in Sinterklaas, was as nervous as ever. My niece of 15 is a real teenager. We had to twitter(!) her down the stairs, because her planning was a bit messed up, to say the least. Her poems were finished on the spot.

Today was a day of recovery, being inside and doing what I love most. I'll show you what I have done. Do you remember the triangles and the 7500 corners to cut? All those triangles are now made into squares. 3 inch squares, to make a huge quilt for on the couch. For the cat. Or for the couch, depends on how you look at it. The cat claims it's for him. He's 15 years old. I let him.

And although it might seem less on this picture, this heap of fabric makes a quilt of 8x9 ft. Yep, not 10ft as I posted earlier. A lot of quilt on a couch can be too much! So an 8x9 ft quilt to comfort a cat.

Next step? Ironing. 1250 squares. Making them neat, handy, obedient squares for the blocks. Not that I like ironing. Not at all! But on the other hand, when it's for a quilt, ironing can be so soothing for the soul. And with an open fire, a purring cat and 1250 squares in a basket, ironing is as good as it gets.

A quilter must sometimes be crazy...

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

P.s. Don't forget your last chance for the Sinterklaas Giveaway!!!

Quilts in print: Quilts 1700-2010 by Sue Prichard

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

I have two passions: quilting and books. And if you know your ABCs, you'll know my quilt book collection is growing per day. Each Christmas, Sinterklaas, birthday, blogaversary or whatever I am celebrating, a quilt book is on my wishlist. I usually do not ask for the ones with patterns, I ask for the coffee table books. And especially those of museums and special exhibitions. Those are the most beautiful to look at!

One of the books that is very dear to me I received last Christmas.
It's Quilts 1700-2010, edited by Sue Prichard. It has been published by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and is a book after the exhibition that ran there for months in 2010. I wasn't able to visit the exhibition, but the book is really beautiful.

The book is focused on Great Britain, but offers also insights in the expats from Britain in Canada, Australia and the US. The book describes the history of quilting, with examples as early as 1690, that proofs quilting has a long and fruitful history in Britain.

Detail of Hexagonquilt 1863-1877
believed to be made by
Francis Brayley

This quilt for example dates from the 19th century, is made in England. The maker is believed to be Francis Brayley, an English soldier who was in the 13-year tour of Bengal, India, in 1864-1877.

He made this beautiful and very contemporary quilt during his service there. Check out the tiny hexagons in Indian Wool. This photograph only shows a detail of the quilt, but the thousands of hexagons in this photograph already show an intricate quilt design that is so beautiful to look at. In the book is a photograph of the biggest part of the quilt.

Also paintings that contain quilts are featured in the book. Sleeping by Sir John Everett Millais is such a painting. The paintings give a great background to the history about the quilts in the book. And there are a lot of pictures of quilts and their background in the book!

Sleeping by Sir John
Everett Millais, c 1865

Many examples are given of the very well known English paperpiecing, but also of the wholecloth Welsh quilts, quilts with a special history and the more modern pieces. It really is a beautiful book to have and to hold.

On the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum you can find many pictures of their collection, and you can even download an app for your Ipod/pad/everything to get an impression of the exhibition that was there in Spring 2010.

When you are looking for a book with patterns to finally start your Christmas quilt for uncle Harry, please pass by. But when you are looking for a great coffee table book to read about the history of quilts in Britain, with great pictures and beautiful description of the era the quilts are from, you will not be disappointed!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

P.s. Sue Prichard or the Victoria & Albert Museum do not know me. They are not aware that I write about this book or pay me in whatever way. I could get stuck on the Eiffel tower for ages and their life would continue as ever. I just happen to love the book.

P.s. 2 Don't forget the Sinterklaas Give Away!

Sinterklaas Give Away!!!

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Winners Announced!!

For all those who just had Thanksgiving and are now preparing for Christmas: the Dutch do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but we celebrate Sinterklaas.

Sinterklaas is a bishop who celebrates his name day each year by giving presents to children on 5 December. He brings his helpers, Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes), who have a sack full of candy and baked cookies (pepernoten). Every child who has been good gets presents. That's every child nowadays. In the earlier days children were threatened to be taken back to Spain (where Sinterklaas supposedly comes from) or to be whipped with the "roe", which is a bunch of twigs. I am happy that time is over!!!

For adults Sinterklaas is the time of year where they kindly tease each other with their bad habits and events that happened in the last year. Each one receives from one other person a poem and a package. The poem has to be read out loud. And with the "pepernoten" and the chocolate letters that are part of this feast, Sinterklaas is an evening of fun and laughter.

And because 5 december is getting near, Sinterklaas is always very generous and he offered me some gifts for a give away to celebrate an international Quilt Sinterklaas!

Sinterklaas gave me a Quilt & Zo (a Dutch quilt magazine), the book Love to Machine Applique by Caroline Price and a quilt book mark of AQS to give away to one of you!

If you would like to win this Sinterklaas gift, tell me:

What would you like to receive from Sinterklaas?

And that's of course besides this give away from him!
From all reactions one will win this whole package. International entries welcome! On the 5th of December at 8.00 AM Dutch time (we are hours ahead of the US, so enter in time!) Sinterklaas will announce on this website who is the happy winner.

Please enter your reaction with an account where your email is enabled, or enter by email, so I can contact you directly when you win. Only one entrance per person.

Have fun celebrating Sinterklaas and have fun quilting!
Anymart

Celebrate Handquilting part three!

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Celebrate Handquilting from Caron Mosey (see her button on the left of this blog) is getting a sequel. And what a sequel! She started a blog to which we all can contribute. Isn't that neat?! And I decided to contribute to it, so now I am an official http://celebratehandquilting.blogspot.com/ participant. I never would have thought I would be something official in the quilt world! For me quilting is about fun, and certainly not about official.;-) But I am proud I am now.
And if you want to add, feel welcome. The more the merrier!
I wrote about my needle puller and my thimbles, but also about my collection of scissors. Well, some of them.

Box of purple triangles, cut and trimmed

Box of yellow triangles, cut and trimmed

For now I am working on the yellow and purple project. It's supposed to be a quickie for the cat. As it has to be put on the couch, it wil be 8ftx10ft.

Well, after 2500 triangles to cut and 7500 corners to trim, the word quickie gets to be another word for preparing for days so the sewing is a quickie. And then somebody tells me that I have to trim the squares too after sewing the triangles together...

Who said machine quilting is so much quicker than hand quilting?! I 'll keep you informed about my progress.

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

In the limelight: Thea Himpers

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

When reporting about the campaign of Caron Mosey, Celebrate Handquilting!, Thea Himpers reacted to me and wanted to contribute to the campaign. However, she does not have a blog. I asked her to send a picture to me to put it in my blog. At least she would be visible for the world then.
When she sent me her pictures, her Celtic work inspired me. And what inspires me from a quilter goes In the limelight!

Thea patches mainly by hand, quilting is always done by hand. Her work is not definitely Celtic, but a lot of the patterns and applique refer back to this ancient design. This quilt is a Celtic Dog, an ode to her Irish Wolfhounds. The Celtic quilt pattern is very visible on the backside of the quilt.

The label says "The Celtic Dog, Ode to my Irish wolfhounds".

In a mystery quilt of the Dutch National Guild of her hand, you can find the Celtic pattern in the border. As Thea works with a contrasting color as her quilting thread, the quilting is very visible which gives the quilt another layer.
Also her Jinny Beyer quilt, Galaxy of Stars, contains a Celtic quilt pattern, which she designed especially for this quilt.

Thea has made many more quilts. What I liked to showcase here is the use of the Celtic patterns which are so beautifully geometric in a soft and warm quilt.

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Cutting triangle after triangle after...

2011-11-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

We have a cat called Splinter, although he could have been called Garfield too. He eats and he sleeps. 24 hours a day. Sometimes more.
And when he sleeps, he sleeps under the lamp above the dining table. Perhaps he thinks he will tan. And when the lamp is off, he chooses our couch. Now half a year ago I couldn't bother less, as we had an old couch. Quilt on it and everything solved. Half a year ago we bought a new couch. Bigger and way more beautiful than the old one. And Splinter thought it was a better bed. But as the quilt is a one person quilt, it is way too small for the new bigger couch. And he is trained too sleep on the quilt, but hey, sometimes, when your dream is really good and you're chasing a mouse and you almost got it? You end up right next to the quilt.

So a bigger quilt is needed. 8 ft long, 10 ft wide. I said bigger!
So now I am making a machine quilt, no handwork this time. This needs to be solved quick, and a sturdy quilt is needed for those cat paws! Marti Michell template, the 3" triangle, and a quick pattern. 50 FQ's of yellow and purple fabric, washed (yep, I am a washer), dried and ironed.
Cutting FQs into strips, strips into squares and squares into triangles. 2500 triangles.

And here they are in their finished state, and Splinter is inspecting them for soft surface to sleep on. 2500 triangles. You thought I finished? Nope. 7500 corners to trim. Triangle by triangle. A Go cutter anywhere?

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Finding Treasures

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday I was in Utrecht, one of the larger cities in the Netherlands. For American reference: 312.000 citizens. It's a city with a long history dating from 50 AD. Finding a house there from the 1500's is as easy as finding a fastfood restaurant in New York, and in the middle of the city a building can be found dating from 1276. Utrecht oozes history. As I love the antiques and especially needle craft items, that's where I did some finds that are great for a passionate quilter like me.

First I found these buttons of mother of pearl. Those are dated prewar, about 1930. The small ones are certainly from that era, the big ones I have some doubts about the date, but as they are so beautiful, I couldn't not take them.
The shiny surface, the rainbow of colors, and everything I plan to do with them (no, not sewing them on a shirt), I just love them. I will show you what I will do with them.

In the same booth I found this hanger with two stylized insects on them. It looks like the two insects are butterflies, I think. The mother of pearl is old, the engraving is recently done and it looks just amazing. When held before a bright light, the thinner lines are visible as yellow lines in a brown background.
A girl can never have too much jewellery, can she?!

My next item is very Dutch, a so called "stopei", an egg-shaped piece of wood to put in a sock to darn the holes in the heel and toe. This piece dates from 1920-1930 and is beautifully hand made with inlayed wood. On both tops a checker pattern from different types of wood is made. Oak and mahogany are at least some of the woods used.
The egg shows the marks of use through the ages and feels just great. I can't stop touching it! Lynn Dykstra also showcases a different darning egg on her website.

And then my final treasure: a real bone thimble dating from 1870-1890. It was just shouting at me, asking me to be taken home. I could have bought hundreds of silver thimbles from more modern years. But this plain bone thimble was just what I wanted and it fitted just right! Not that I will wear it much. Showcasing it is more my style.

I was so happy with all my little treasures from so many years ago. I am always on the hunt for needlecraft antiques, I'll keep you informed.

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Quilting 2.0: ColorSchemer app

2011-11-21T08:00:00.001+01:00

Quilting has developed in the 21st century. And so have I! That means, I am a dinosaur and proud of it. I quilt by hand, patch by hand, and do make the incidental machine quilt for a quickie. But on the other hand, I will use apps on my Iphone and software to design my quilts, to get inspiration by looking at other quilts and color palettes.

Choosing colors for a quilt is for a lot of quilters a difficult step in the quilt making process. I followed a great course, bought a color wheel, learned about tones, hues and color value, but still it can be difficult to interpret whether the colors should be darker, lighter, more values, less of one color and more of the other.
And that's where my Iphone or PC comes in.

Today I downloaded for my Iphone (today for free in the Europe Appstore, don't know how long that will be, US 2,99$(edit: today I was informed that the app is free in the US too!)
ColorSchemer.
A much simpler product to develop color schemes is available from the same company, it's meant for working online with PC and Mac and for free, check out this website.

Homepage

ColorSchemer gives you the opportunity to work with prepared color palettes of participants, but you can also create your own color palette. Let me take you through the app.

Opening the app gives you the homepage. It's a huge range of color palettes, developed by all users of the app, who uploaded their palette for others to use. All these ranges of colors may inspire you to go out of your comfort zone and check what others did create.

Now suppose you are a in a creative mood or want to get creative without spending tons and tons on fabric in all tones, hues and values. Click on the plus-sign on the top right. That's where your creativity will start!

In the plus section are 4 options: the Color Wheel, LiveSchemes, PhotoSchemer and Spectrum. I'll guide you through all of them.

The Color Wheel is based on the standard color wheel (Itten, I presume, correct me if I'm wrong, because Goethe and many others have been working on color theory too) and offers you the opportunity to select 5 hues all over the color wheel. By tapping on the middle of the color wheel you can select darker and lighter versions of the same color (tints and tones).
For the more advanced: By tapping on the three horizontal stripes you can influence the color by moving the cursor on the line for Red, Yellow and Blue. When you experiment with it, you will notice you can find your greys, blacks and whites, and play with shadows and saturation.
For those who read this last part and think it is Gobbledygook, forget all the theory and play!

Check out that you can also change the width of the block you color. A lot of dark red (see the photo in the middle) gives a whole different palette than when the palette is divided evenly (see the picture on the right).
When you got this, you got 75% of the app. If that's what you get from this log, you can create a lot! But there's more!

LiveSchemes

The next button (second from the left) is the LiveSchemes. When you made a palette in your Color Wheel, you can refine it in the second step, or start from scratch. The five circles are your colors, the lines are the representative of the spread of your colors. You can play with your palette by moving the circles on the line, or by turning the lines. The chain sign on the lower left fixes your lines. That means you can turn your lines, the spread will remain the same, but the colors change. When you see dotted lines, you can move one line instead of all of them.

The greyish dot on the lower right offers you the option to change from hues from a center of dark to medium on the outside to a center of light to medium.

PhotoSchemer

The third button is about selecting colors from a photograph. Take a picture or select a picture from your film roll and select the colors you want to see. Just tap the swatch you want to have that color and click on the picture which color you want. It's as easy as that!

Spectrum

The last button, Spectrum, is for professionals IMHO. It's about finding the exact value of a color yourself. I love the option of the color wheel, the fine tuning of the LiveSchemes, but for me this is a bit too much for now. However, you might be delighted with the option. Just slide over the color line, tap in the cloud of values above and your selection is there!

The app does not offer options like automatic color schemes for monochromatic, analogous, triadic etc., but for a free app, I certainly do not complain, I love it! Would I pay 3 dollars for it? Yes. It would give me the opportunity to play with colors, check out combinations and even take pictures of several fabrics and combine them in this app. For the more advanced stuff, like working with specific spreads following the color theory, other, more expensive apps offer more opportunities to be assisted. This app gives you the opportunity to do it yourself. And that's a boost for your creativity!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

P.S. The ChromaOM company doesn't know who I am and do not pay me to write this. I could get lost in the middle of the jungle of Africa and they wouldn't know. I just love the app.

Houston, calling Houston: part 2, the hotel

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000+01:00

I promised to keep you on track in our preparations for Houston. And although QuiltMarket and QuiltFestival 2011 just finished, the reservations of the room already started. So how to arrange your lodging?
First of all, be aware that there are hotels that are specifically mentioned on the website. The site for 2011 has just been removed, but I just found the hidden website ;-) (edit: the new host hotel website 2012 is online, click here!). The Host hotels are Hyatt Regency downtown Houston, Hilton Americas, Embassy Suites downtown, Doubletree, Four Seasons and Crowne Plaze.

Now why would it be important to be in one of these hotels? I prefer the official Host hotels as they are called, because they are connected to the Convention center with a bus route. That means you will be able to walk to your hotel for those hotels very close by, and step on the bus for those hotels that take a bit longer to walk to. For Dutch girls: a 15 minute walk is considered a long walk in Houston! All these hotels are close by, within a 15 minute walking distance of the Convention center. Or take the bus!
With your bags full of quilting stuff, you wouldn't want to walk 15 minutes when it's very hot.

An other asset is that these hotels have a special rate for QuiltMarket and QuiltFestival. That might help. Outside downtown you will find better rates, for example near Galleria or in the medical area. However, that would mean that you will have to take a bus or a cab to travel to and from the exhibition. After a full day of walking all these aisles, that might be a bit much. I do not prefer to have to take a cab, I love to roll into my bed and do nothing!

Now why, oh why do I start now with hotels? Well, this year we wanted the suites with two queen beds. A queen bed is what in Holland is called a two person bed, the alternative, one king bed, is what in Holland is called a grand lits jumeaux. Well, all the suites with two queen beds are already reserved for 2012! And sleeping with two girls in one king bed, although big, is not preferred by all.

So if you are planning to go to Houston and you have preferences, be quick. Houston is big, so if you plan on the 30st of October to go to Houston for show, you will find a room, but perhaps not downtown, or against a higher rate. Hilton Americas is sold out very quickly as it is attached to the Convention center. They do even have a lottery for hotel rooms there!

Embassy suites is new, has only suites, and is already sold out on queen bed suites, as we found out.

The two times I visited Houston, we went to Hyatt Regency, and that was fine.The other hotels I do not have any experience with. If you have, please let me know, so I can report here.

Rates of the hotels are from around 150 dollars per night without tax (that will be added) for a one or two person room, to executive rooms and suites for 4 for around 250 dollars without tax. Again, check the rates of 2011 at the website and then check what you need.

Be aware that these rates are for 2011, 2012 will probably be a bit more.

When you reserve, be aware to mention the magic word QuiltFestival or QuiltMarket. That means you profit from the specific rates arranged with the IQA. Reserve your room by email or by phone and have a credit card ready. Most hotels demand a deposit. The reservation system with the magic word is probably not working yet. An email works just fine.

Now check out the hotel website, reserve a room and start the fun!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Wow, about being inspired!

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

The day before yesterday I wrote about Supergoof in In the limelight. In the limelight is about people who inspire others to get the best out of them. And what a reactions! My mailbox was full. Just because I wrote about what I thought was important. Having fun in quilting, that's key. Even an American lady who never heard of Supergoof mailed to ask me how to use Google translator on her site, so she could read it. Isn't that fun!

I hope I can bring you more of these kind of quilters, people who bring pizzazz to your world because of sheer beauty, enthusiasm, fun or whatever they bring to inspire us!

If you know a quilter who just brings you that, let me know. Maybe I write a log about him or her. It doesn't matter whether they are famous or not, working by hand, by machine, whether they inspire by technique or by their use of colour, it can be anyone. My email address is in my profile.

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

In the limelight: Supergoof

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

In the limelight is my chapter for all quilters who make something, do something, create something that inspires me and the people around me in the quilting world. Sometimes a world famous quilter with a unique technique, sometimes a not so famous quilter who just happens to make the quilts that are just right and inspires others by doing.

Supergoof, Ingrid in real life, is such a not so famous quilter. Because her blog is what she is famous from, everybody knows her as Supergoof. So I'll keep it that way. Her blog is an enormous hit in the Netherlands and growing internationally, in which she writes about her life and quilts from her old 1600's house in a small city in the Netherlands. Supergoof works by hand, has a license to work without supervision of the Quilt Police and therefore just makes whatever she likes. And that's viral! Without anybody knowing she started it, she created a hype with the so called "klosjesquilt".

Klosjesquilt and dog Bregje, photo by Supergoof

The "klosjesquilt" means in English the small spool quilt, where klosjes are the spools thread are wired on. Supergoof started it somewhere November 2008, when she and a friend where working on some scraps from Den Haan en Wagenmakers, a Dutch chintz fabric manufacturer. She reported it on her old blog (that has unfortunately been made inaccessible by a not so clever blogprovider...) and people reacted to it. And everybody liked the "klosjesquilt"! Within a few weeks the klosjeswave started! The Saturday became klosjesday and all blogowners who participated visited eachother on Saturday to show and tell about the progress on the klosjes. And not just the Netherlands. Also internationally, as far as Australia and Korea girls started on "klosjes"!

Vingerhoedjesquilt, photo by Supergoof

And that's not the only one. How about the "vingerhoedjes", the little thimbles or tumbler quilt that she started? Now in the Netherlands the "vingerhoedjes" are like a virus. Every little scrap is used to make a "vingerhoedjesquilt" like Supergoof.

You might think she just makes one patches. You couldn't be more wrong. Supergoof made a lot of applique and patchwork quilts, all by hand, all in the Supergoof way: With loads of fun and all by hand!
Look here for some of her work:

Clockwise, starting top left: Basket quilt, Pockets of Posies, Nearly Insane, Compass Rose, Home Sweet Home, Housesquilt and "Willemijns Kraamquilt", photos by Supergoof

So if you want to be inspired, just enjoy quilting by hand and read a blog (in English with Google translator) that's easy going, no Quilting Police around: visit Supergoof.

You will receive a very warm Dutch welcome!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

P.s. Supergoof gave me an o.k. for using the photos, but that's all. She doesn't know me, and I could fall from the earth tomorrow, and she wouldn't know. It's just that I like her blog.

Number 1000!!!

2011-11-14T19:29:00.001+01:00

Today we went for a quick round to the supermarket. At the checkout bells were ringing, we were customer number thousand and received a large bag of groceries! Wasn't that neat!!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Houston, my quilt shoes

2011-11-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

When I went to IQA quiltshow Houston in 2007 I was warned, just as I will warn you in my to come Houston preparation logs: wear comfortable clothes, especially comfortable shoes. I was packing my suitcase and remembered to take a vest, to take a back pack, to wear easy trousers and I remembered fashion stops below the knees at show.

Well I could deal with that. So I looked in my closet and checked the shoe department. Ouch. I needed shoes to walk the aisles up and down, and that's 15 miles a day in my pace. In my closet were great pairs of high heels for office, more pairs great for business meetings and sandals with an open toe. No comfortable shoes. Ah well, there were two pair of Birkenstocks. One pair of open toe sandals, not too smart when 50.000 people will be wanting to pass you when you are checking out a sign in the middle of an aisle. Unless you are particularly font of blue toenails. But I do advise nail polish for that.

And there they were. A pair of clean white nursing shoes. Bought them when I thought a training as a pedicure would be the greatest thing in the world. Well yeah, I took the class two years and then my career at work was booming. So much for being a pedicure. But the boring pedicure clogs were still in the closet. And I could walk for hours on them. Thinking about wearing them gave me the strangest ideas. I thought if I would enter the George Brown convention center in these, I would immediately be referred to the Red Cross desk to offer my services for first aid.

I had 3 days to think of a plan. It took me 2 minutes. I went to the Office Store round the corner, bought permanent markers in every color I could get and just started decorating. Everybody around me thought I went nuts. Decorating a close to new leather pair of Birkenstocks is generally not acceptable. We are Dutch, so we're a bit tightfisted...

They ended up like this, and I was happy to wear them. NO WHITE Birkenstocks!!!!
These shoes became my quiltshow shoes. They have seen Houston, they have seen Paducah. And I meet the greatest girls on show, just because of these shoes. As these shoes are getting close to the end of their technical life cycle, I plan on making a new pair. I will show a picture when they are finished!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Celebrate handquilting! Part two

2011-11-11T11:43:00.000+01:00

After my log about Celebrate handquilting! and a message on a message board here in the Netherlands, Jeanne Litzouw asked me to show her quilt online, as she does not have a log. Jeanneke as she is called online has made the SBS Bridal sampler completely by hand.

On the back the quilt pattern done by hand is shown:

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

My first quilting class

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000+01:00

I told you about my first patchwork, the four pointed star with eight points in the middle. Let's say that was a bit enthusiastic. The blocks to finish that place mat were a bit easier for a beginner. As I was working full time and going to university in the evening, time was one of my least available assets. But after patchwork, I should learn quilting, wouldn't I? My MIL taught me the first steps, and I thought I would never learn to quilt!

Especially because I had an Arts & Crafts Teacher in primary school who told my parents that it would be better for me and the world that I would not hold a needle in my hand anymore I was a bit scared. My MIL advised me to take a hand quilting class from the teacher she learned it from. That would settle my nerves. The teacher, you guessed it, Ted.

So I went to my first quilting class and had to design a feather wreath, just like Ageeth shows on her blog (it's the homework of the first class and Ageeth follows this class now). After that, we had to design the lines and quilt them. In class Ted taught me her technique with the thumb quilt ring and a normal thimble and that helped a lot.

With 4 weeks between classes I was ready to go. As usual I jumped in with both feet, so in the first week after the second class, in between work and study, my quilt was designed and I started quilting. I tried my best and as I had heard that small even stitches were best, and particularly if front and back are difficult to separate, I knew what I had to focus on. I can do as I was told. Sometimes.
And although 4 weeks are a long time slot, one way or another, time was too short. I only had to do the straight lines, but I took days off from work to get it finished. But I was happy with what I did, and enjoy the homework.

After 4 weeks the next class started. I came in early and spoke with one of my class mates about the homework before class started. Ted heard me saying that I had to take days off and wanted to see my work, why taking days off would be necessary. And when she saw my work, it was clear. In my effort to make small even stitches, I created 20 stitches on an inch, upside counted!
Look at the long straight lines in the pattern, the vertical and the horizontal, especially those on the right upper side. I don't know how I did it. But I did.
Not surprisingly Ted ordered me to go bigger....;-) The quilt was finished with 12-14 stitches on an inch. It saved some days for my vacation.

Nowadays I still make tiny stitches. I don't know how to make bigger ones. I just can't, don't know how to. On the other hand, I still learn a lot and I hope to be able to finish one day a quilt that is juried in at Houston or Paducah. Keep your fingers crossed!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Celebrate Handquilting!

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

As handquilters seems to be dinosaurs, close to extinction, Caron Mosey from Michigan Quilts started a project to celebrate handquilting. Every handquilting can enter a link to his or her (99% of the cases) handmade quilt on his or her blog. I promised myself when I started this blog, that only a small selection of buttons would be allowed, so for me it is a real step to put that button on my blog.

I linked her page to my log about the Broken Star, and when another piece of work will be on my site, I'll link to that. I hope you will all enter yours, so we will get a ring of handquilters, to enjoy the quiet hours of making tiny stitches and the pride when you finished your own handmade quilt. In my case, on Alice.

I am eager to see your entrances!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

You can quilt that out!!!

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000+01:00

Just for fun, turn the volume on, for machine quilters and hand quilters alike!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Thumbquilting questions: how to work with Ted's Thimble

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

Linda and some others asked me how you work with the ThumbThimble, because it's "just a cup". The trick is to work with your lower arm, not your thumb, not even your wrist.
I keep my hand open and make a mirrored c-shape with my thumb and fingers (as I am right handed). My movement is like turning a large 4 inch volume button on a radio on and off. My thumb does not turn compared to my hand. My full hand is making a half circular motion to my elbow.

My quilt ring therefore does not move in relation to my needle. The needle, the ring and the tip of my thumb are in one line and stay that way. Then the needle will never leave the cup and the stress is on my lower arm instead of my thumb. Does that help you Linda?

The idea that a tiny hole would be better is experimented on by others but does not have my preference. It means I have to keep on searching where the hole and the needle are, and it is more like a game of hide and seek to me. With the ThumbThimble the needle is always in place.

I will make a short video about this later and post it here. Maybe a good idea to make a video about a few of the options that are created to make life easier? Love to experiment. If you have a weird, great, funny, interesting thimble, let me know. I'll try and report. Anybody a camera spare?

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Houston, calling Houston: part 1, the bucks

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

After the message that I will be visiting Houston, I could just copy my answer from quilter to quilter from the Netherlands and from America: what would that cost and how long should I go? So why not putting it on my blog!

O.k., here is the Anymart's travel guide to Quiltfestival Houston for Dutch and American girls alike!

First, because that defines the amount of sleepover nights: How long should you go? Well, IMHO, at least 7 days. Arrival on Tuesday, leaving on Monday after show. That means you will:
1. see preview night on Wednesday
2. be able to go to Winner's Circle on Tuesday, where the Best of Show is presented
3. have a full Sunday at show, including sales of batting (take a vacuum bag with you)
4. have extra time on Wednesday to spend your money at Galleria, the upmarket mall. Take the bus for $1 at Hyatt and you're there to spend 500$ on a clutch. A girl's gotta do what girl's gotta do!

So that's settled.
Now what would that cost you?
For the flighttrip from Holland to Houston 550-700 euro (715-910$). Depends on when you book. Well in advance and shortly before the trip, you pay full price, but 3-6 months in advance the prices may drop. Don't book your flight to soon. Don't forget to get your online visa waiver, costs 15$. Otherwise no entrance to America.
American girls: Sorry, you're on your own here. Strangely enough I do not have a pricelist from each place in the US to Houston with the various prices per flight per flight company. Don't know why, just it is that way.;-)

Now your hotel. To make it easy book your hotel at one of the official host hotels that's associated with QuiltFestival and Quiltmarket, see www.quilts.com. There is a discount then, and usually you pay (including Sales tax that is not mentioned on the site) 200$ per night for 2 persons. 100$ per night per person, about 80 euro. You're staying 6 nights, so that's 600$, 480 euro.

Getting from the airport to your hotel can be done by Metro public transport, costs something like 5$ one way,75 minute drive. You could also take a Supershuttle, 30$ per person twoway ticket, 9 persons in a van. You can check it all here.

You're in Houston, you're at your hotel. And as there is for a quilter nothing else to do in Houston (besides looking at handsome builders, oil company workers and men on space conferences), you have to get into show. In July before show you can buy your ticket online. When that's on, I'll blog about it. You might decide to just get into show and pay your 40-ish dollars for that, but you might also be interested to visit a lecture, a sampler (you'll learn what that is) a class or a workshop. Even events like a quilter who plays the piano (Hello Ricky Tims, and no, he is not a cowboy on his guitar) might be on your list. 100 Dollars is a good estimate, for Dutch girls, make that 80 euro.

Food: for Dutch girls, American food is low priced (when you are not into finedining) and the portions, especially in Houston, are enormous!!!! For breakfast, go to a supermarket (ask for a refrigerator in your room at your hotel), or have a great breakfast at McDonalds for 5$. It's okay for 6 days. Really. Your husband told me you could. And during Houston calories don't count. I have been told so by the Quilt Police.

Lunch: at show count on 10-15$ a day when you eat in the convention center. Eating in the center saves net quilting time, and that's invaluable, so I am prepared to pay 8$ for a stuffed baked potato. Buy a gallon of Diet Coke with it, and you're stuffed till dinner. For who's on a diet: No eating or drinking allowed on the show floor. Stay on the show floor and walk the aisles. Lots of training, exercising for free! Or offer to carry everyone's bag. No need to go to the fitness room back in your hotel!;-)

Now for dinner, you can eat very cheap at a Mexican diner, take a 5$ wrap and for Dutch girls it's enough, and for 20$ you have a great meal or a buffet at Hilton America's. Finedining is not my piece of cake for a quiltweek in Houston.

For a day I plan on 40$ a day, that's about 30 euro's. With some snacking, make that 240$/200 euros for 6 days.

Now here the wrapup: Including flight for Dutch girls: 1400 euro. For American girls without flight: 960$

And then the most important issue: what do you spent on the booths? Well, here, you're on your own. I have been there with a girl who is on wellfare and got the trip as a present from her kids. She was happy as a kid to have 100$ to spend without thinking about it and just couldn't decide which fat quarter to buy, because fabric was so cheap. And she bought them both. That was her kick. Another girl just didn't have enough spending 2500$.

Just be aware, a second suitcase will cost you extra, somewhere around 50$/35 euro, if I am well informed. So if you're going on a spree, take that into account.

Now start couponing, saving, ask your needed budget for Sinterklaas (American girls, I'll explain that later) and Santa Claus, or whatever you're celebrating. And don't forget your camera!!!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Notion Alert! What is it and what do you use it for?

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

After the load of reactions on the needle puller (including her), I promised to tell more about the hardware on my hand and around me while quilting.

It's a Ted week this week, don't know why, just happens to be! She taught me how to quilt, so she pops up when I tell about my notions and quilt technique. And she doesn't even know anything about it.

So here about another one of my hardware notions stuff thingies:

My thumb quilt ring, the ThumbThimble

I am right handed, so on my right thumb is this:

The thumb quilt ring (or Ted's ThumbThimble) is on my tip of my thumb, just above the joint, where it leans comfortably. On my middle finger is another thimble I'll will blog about later, but it is like a regular thimble. Working with both thimbles give me the opportunity to work both ways. And that's great when you work in a frame!

With my normal quilt thimble I work downwards from the right. With my ThumbThimble I work upwards from the left. That means I never have to change seats, and that's great when working on a frame. Because my thumb is stronger than my middle finger, my hand and wrist are not forced, and I can hand quilt much longer.

On Ted's website there is a guideline how to work with the ThumbThimble.

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

p.s. Although Ted knows me and I know her, she doesn't now about this blog. And I don't earn a thing by blogging about it. It's just because I love to work with the thing. Period.;-)

Quilt artists in the limelight: Ted Storm

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

You might have noticed that Ted Storm is mentioned a few times on my blog. She (yep, Ted's a woman) is my teacher but also a good quilt friend. I met her in 2003 with my first hand quilting class. I made 20 stitches on an inch and she told me to make bigger stitches. ;-)

Besides being a fantastic teacher Ted is a great quilt artist. Ted was the first quilter to make the hat trick of Best of Show IQA Houston, Best of Show AQS Paducah and Master Quilter NQA, Columbus. Next to that she won several awards for traditional artistry and workmanship.

Ted works by hand, that is applique and quilting, and makes the most beautiful quilts! As she works 4 years on a quilt, it's all about quality and not quantity.
Check out her quilts, and if you want to see the big picture, go to her quilt gallery online!

Hollands Glorie (Dutch Glory), 1992

The workmanship on this quilt is beautiful, especially the trapunto in the white background.

Tableau de fleurs, 1996

This quilt has a very fine quilted grid, and each square is square.

Nocturnal Garden, 2001

This quilt is the first quilt with shi-sha mirrors in it. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny mirrors in the border, and amazing quilt work in the center on the birds.

Spring of Desire, 2006

Spring of Desire is based on a lace hand kerchief and a fabric with gradations. Also in this quilt the mirrors can be found in the border. The diagonal grid in the background is made with the tiniest stitches.

If you want to know more about Ted and her work, go to her website and check out her work!

Be inspired and have fun quilting!

Anymart

Visiting Houston in 2012!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's definite now. In 2012 I will be in Houston! I'll be there with some of my Dutch friends (like Debby from http://www.quiltstyle.blogspot.com/. Isn't that great! She has a counter on her blog, so we check at her blog when we will be going. She also embroiders, but everybody has it's deviations, and we accept her the way she is.;-)

I am already couponing (is that an American word?) to pay the trip. And then some, to pay everything I will buy there. Usually I end up with bags and bags full of notions and books. In the Netherlands quilt stuff is pretty expensive, compared to American prices.
I know from the quilting board and from this quiltforum that Americans are complaining about the prices of fabric. When I tell you that quilt fabric in the Netherlands costs around 22-25 dollars a yard, you may understand that America is quilt heaven for us. When a book in America is about 25 dollars we usually pay around 30 euro. Exchange rate 1,4 dollars for your Euro, so that would be 42 dollars. And importing means costs for postage & handling, customs for packages above 32 dollars and VAT if it is above 150 dollars. And for all this, the mailing company asks another 20 euro. So yes, we buy online, but only small packages.

Picture Debby, http://www.quiltstyle.blogspot.com/

With prices like that going to Houston pays for itself!!! I will keep you informed about our preparations, special events and who and what we are going to visit. Houston itself is not so much our focus, although Galleria is always in the planning.

And then meet our list of preferred suppliers of Dutch quilters:

Cherrywood Fabrics, hand-dyed cotton with a great look and feel. I love it!

Threads and More, because they are so low priced, it pays our trip!

The Scissors man from Famore

Paperpieces.com, because you can buy your paper piecing by the bulk, instead of 50 in a package. And what can you do with 50 hexagons? I am busy with a king size now. Bought 3000 1" hexagons, so I can prepare them all and then build up my quilt colorwise. No flowers, I want a more abstract color pattern with gradations.

And most of all, the sweet guy from Famore, who always flirts with Agnes, another girl in the group, who wears her red hat with pride for several years now. We see him every show we visit, and he always has a kiss left for Agnes!

I am very excited that everything is arranged. We will book our flight later, but our hotel room will be booked first day after Festival 2011.

It's a pity I can't take a flight now, but next year is second best. Keep in touch, and maybe we meet in Houston next year!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

The magic button — Make Everything OK

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

For everybody whose life is a bit difficult, whose corners do not meet, whose quilting stitches are getting closer to one per inch:

The magic button — Make Everything OK

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Where it all began, my first quilt block

2011-10-29T08:00:00.000+02:00

It was 2001 and my MIL is a quilter. She wanted to make me a quilt. As I would love to have a quilt, I joined her to the quilt shop to find fabric. Well, there you are. There are only two options in a quilt shop. You run out as hard as you can (ask any quilters' husband) or you just get infected. I got the quilt flu. Badly. On the spot, no incubation time. Have been diagnosed, worst case ever, incurable. Have to learn to live with it. Ha!;-)

Before I got out of the shop, I had to have fabric. Within 10 minutes I had 5 fat quarters and held them close to me. This was going to solve everything, this would make everything o.k. My MIL promised me to learn how to quilt. It was a Saturday. Sunday, the day after, less than 24 hours away, I would have my first quilt lesson. We would start with a nine patch, I was told.

Well, it went a little bit different. I am not known for obedience, following the rules and doing as I was told. I came home, checked the internet and saw the nine patch pattern. I thought there would be more interesting patterns to make with that beautiful fabric I had. It was much more worth of a star, particular the one where each point was split in two, so in the middle eight points come together. And actually, I couldn't wait till the next morning, could I? And why would I? I had my fabric, a pattern, some sewing thread and a needle I found in the needle case in the attic.

The next thing I did was making my own templates with plastic to make my star. With a stitching stitch, very tightly, so an elephant could make it his hammock, I finished the block that night. The middle was a little bit on the high side, but hey, who cares! On the picture it is the block on the right upper side.
I had a block, and it was my own! My MIL was more than surprised, to say the least. After that block she taught me the rules from the quilting police, which stitches to use, and how templates are made. And I still use the rules. As long as they work. I rather create my own rules!

The other blocks followed within days, and I was so happy with my new found hobby. I worked full time and went to university in the evening, so my days were (and are) very filled. But I learned to stretch my time and make the most of it!

Nowadays quilting is my way of life. I could not imagine living without my frame, my fabric, my threads and my needle. How did you begin? Love to hear it!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Wow!!

2011-10-27T06:45:00.001+02:00

When I started this blog two weeks ago, I thought so many things. I had some ideas about what to write, but on the other hand who would read that? Most blogs are about people's own lives, but although I have a great live who would be interested to read it?

I doubted whether to blog in Dutch and English or only English. Many Dutch people do read English but prefer Dutch. My blog is meant for everybody who's interested, but a one language blog is just easier to read I think.

I promised myself some extra chocolate on the day I would have had a thousand unique visitors. Otherwise it would be simple: go to my own blog a thousand times...;-)

I did not look until this morning. And you know what? More than 1200 unique visitors in two weeks!
And then all the other great things that happened.
I digitally met Linda who led me to her hand quilting/appliqué group. Sue and her family reacted to the story about Alice. They didn't know my part of the story.

I am so happy I started this blog!
Feel free to ask if you want to know a bit more about an issue I write about.
Thanks to you it is so much fun!

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Always time for a quiltshow! Houston 2007, the first.

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000+02:00

In 2006 it started. I was in a quilt class with Ted Storm (yep, a woman) and she told us about the quilt show she would be visiting in 2007. I will tell you a lot more about Ted in later stories, as she is my favorite teacher. During that class she showed some work from the Hmong. Geometrical patterns, fine intricate reverse applique, with tiny stitches, colored stitching in between.

Let me show you what I mean. This is work from the Hmong, people from Vietnam who fled after the Vietnam war to the US where they build up a new life. From Vietnam they took their cultural heritage with them. And among that is this fine art.

To get back to the story, Ted showed this work and told that the Hmong people sell it in Houston on the quilt show. I asked her to take some with her for me. Although she was always very kind and wanted to help out, this time her answer was a straight forward no. If I wanted it, she said, I better would go with her and buy it myself.

Well, quilting is my passion, and going to a show is one thing, but going to America for a show is a whole different ball game. I doubted a lot a spoke about it with my spouse. Then it was Christmas 2006. And although not everybody in Holland celebrates Christmas with presents, we do. On first Christmas day (in Holland we have got two, plus Christmas eve), I received a 7 day trip to Houston International Quiltfestival. Almost 10 months in advance I contacted Ted, booked the flight and Ted the hotel. My first trip to a big Quiltshow was planned!

If you have never been to a big quiltshow, you can't prepare yourself. It's so big, so impressive, it's very special. When I entered the exhibition hall for the first time, I was alone and I fell quiet. And I never am quiet. Never. All those amazing quilts, rows and rows of the highest quality in one big hall. And then the shops! Hundreds and hundreds!

In the Netherlands we do have quiltshows, but the level of quality of the big quiltshows is seldom reached by our quilters, as we have around 30.000 quilters in the Netherlands. In the US estimations are around 21 million. Chances are that there are a few more great quilters among them!

During my first quiltshow the biggest surprise happened. Ted won with her quilt Spring of Desire. She won the Master Award for Traditional Artistry, and the whole show became a big party for the group we came with.

And wasn't she beaming! By the way, the woman with the camera is me, the photo is made by Karen, a friend of Ted.

You can imagine that my first trip to Houston was the most impressive of them all. The full week was a blast and I had so much impressions. That's when I decided that I would go to American quiltshows at least once per two years, and more if possible.

So in the upcoming blogs I will tell you more about the quiltshows I visited in the US and in Europe. If you have any questions, ask them! I'll tell you all about it.

Have fun quilting!
Anymart

Notion alert! What is it and what do you use it for?

2011-10-23T11:13:00.000+02:00

Have you ever had the most strange notion in front of you and you couldn't imagine why it would be handy? Or you saw it in a shop, it looked so handy, but now you don't know how to use it any more?
Notion alert! Notions and books are my pitfalls in life. Send me into a quilt shop and I'll come out with books and notions.

Some notions are very generally known. But be aware, a needle is not yet another needle. Comparing the Clover size 12 general quilting needle to the same brand with a golden eye, or to the Clover black ones with a coating, really offers differences in the largeness of the eye, the flexibility and the chance of breaking. And what about the unknown notions? Today I have an unknown one for the American readers. Dutch readers may be fully familiar with it.

The needle puller

A needle puller is specially developed for hand quilters to pull your needle through the fabric. For a video with a demonstration by the inventor Frederik ten Broek, check here on YouTube.

The needle puller is during handquilting on the hand you quilt with, on your index finger.The yellow extension is on the inside of your middle finger. The button you push is in the inside of your hand and the metal stick with the hole in it on the outside. How to describe a thing with holes and a metal thingy?!!
Although the inventor has the puller on the end of her fingers, I have mine pushed fully against my palm top. I prefer that because it doesn't wobble or is in the way while quilting.

When I have made my row of quilting stitches, my needle may be difficult to get out of the fabric. That's where my needle puller comes in! I lay the hole at the end of the little metal stick around the tip of my needle. Then I push the button which fixates the needle in the hole. I start pulling my needle softly through the fabric. And because I use my hand and even my arm now to pull instead of just my fingers, my fingers do not get sore.

So check out your local quilt shop and find out whether this is the one for you. It's around 10 dollars and saves you a lot of tension in your fingers!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Quilt artists in the limelight: Yoshiko Jinzenji

2011-10-22T08:00:00.001+02:00

Hi y'all!

One of the things I wanted to blog about is all the quilt artists in the world. Some of them are very famous in America, but in the Netherlands the information is scarce, especially if you are not in the situation to travel to the big shows in the US. I did visit a few now, and I love it! Yep, I love the shops, but moreover I love the quilts, the quality, the love and the feel of being amongst quilters. It's like coming home.

And then you see some quilts that are not just amazing, they are astonishing! Artists who just happen to have that special technique, the color, the design, the composition to make that special quilt that blows you away. My first time on a big quilt show in the US, I was crying for joy. And you know what, I could not speak for an hour. Never ever happened.

As I plan to have my blog for the years to come, I promise you to feature once in a while a special quilt artist that just has that bit extra. As my view on the world is quite international, all nationalities come along. So maybe you will meet a quilter you haven't met before! Then check out her work. As I am a traditional quilter by heart (or a dinosaur, or a purist, or whatever you want to call me!), you might think that only traditional quilters are in my book. Nope.

I am not the kind of girl that loves chickenwire quilted with bark on a stick as a statement, but a great artquilt and interpretations of traditional quilts are very welcome in my world.

May I introduce to you a traditional modern quilter (yes, they exist!):

Yoshiko Jinzenji, copyright APQS

Yoshiko Jinzenji

Yoshiko Jinzenji is a Japanese artist, living in Japan and working in a studio in Bali. I met Yoshiko in Birmingham and saw her quilts there for the first time.
Her crisp and clean look and the modern interpretation of traditional patterns are of such a level that I could not understand what she had done, until she explained.

She for instance makes a log cabin from pure white fabric and adds some log cabins based on a very modern white self made print with japanese design. Koi karpers in orange and brown stand out on a very clean near to white background. Unfortunately I was too late to get a yard. It was sold out in a day.

Her quilts are amazing. The white crisp look with just some detail, or the self dyed fabrics built up in great fall colors just make her traditional quilts look so modern.

Look at these great quilts from her hand:

Just a hint of color on white by Yoshiko Jinzenji

White and crisp, a simple design, and it makes the fall colors just stand out. Ever thought of brique and brown as a feature in your quilt?

All made with tiny quilting stitches by Yoshiko Jinzenji

I am a quilter. It's the part of the quilt I like most. Tiny stitches, and building up a pattern on a pattern.

It's just great to see what tiny stitches can do to a white background.

Ever seen a courthouse steps like this?
by Yoshiko Jinzenji

This delicate and transparent top just gives me goosebumps! The courthouse steps are white, with just a hint of golden and browns. It's so totally different than an Amish Courthouse Block. Each to be valued for their own merits. This is to me a fantastic use of color and design.

And then a log cabin with just the greatest colors, an amazing use of transparency in a so traditional pattern. So much for "a log cabin is just for beginners!"

If you want to know more about her quilts, she wrote a few books like Quilt Artistry and her new book Quilting Line + Color.

Hope you enjoyed this first Quilt artists in the limelight, and be inspired!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

PS I do not get paid for writing about these artists. Nor do I get promised anything else to write about them. Yoshiko Jinzenji doesn't even know I exist. Just love the quilts.

The amazing story of Alice, part 2

2011-10-20T16:42:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all!

Waited for part 2? Here it is!

I was getting frustrated, wanting to have my frame, that special maple one that would just fit in with everything, the only thing I ever wanted. On Craigslist, but never for me.

In one of my final attempts, after four years of searching, I decided to do a different thing. I placed an advertisement on about.com/Quilting, Help, I need.... And Help, I needed a Jasmine Heirloom frame. Explained that Craigslist would not be an option, that I was searching for four years. And you know what? Zip. Nothing. A few private messages that I should be careful, that I could be scammed. But not even a person who wanted to scam me!

After two weeks I got a reaction. A woman who just registered for the first time on the website wanted to sell the frame of her sister, who had died two weeks before. It was everything not to believe. First registration. Frame of a deceased sister. Sure. Hidden name. Yeah, good to run away from.

But one way or another, I believed it. One way or another I trusted this was true. I replied by mail, the woman send me the pictures and signed with her real name. I googled, found out there was in the whole of America just one person with that name, registered to one address. And when I checked her address on Google maps, I could literally fit in the background on the picture with the house on Google maps.

So there was this woman, this existing frame and foremost, her willingness to send it to the Netherlands. And an ocean and the biggest part of America, as it was in Oregon, between the two of us. I googled her, she googled me. The dance to find out whether she could trust me, and I could trust her. We found each other through different mail adresses and checked each other out. We found out it was o.k.. For both of us.

In the mean time the whole forum community sent me private mails. "Be aware, she is a first time visitor" and "Check whether your payment can be done through Paypal". I really felt they cared!
And then came the moment I decided to trust her. Sue, as she was called, and I discussed through the mail how to deal with transport. I knew it would be costly, and I was prepared to pay a 1000 dollars for transportation and customs. Paypal and my credit card could take care of that.;-)

I didn't need to. As if it was meant to be, she happened to have a friend in the area, who was moving to the Netherlands. He had a container shipped with all his household goods. And the frame could be added to that. For free, no customs, no tax, no nothing. Just the costs for packaging and picking up. Two months later the frame arrived in the Netherlands, and I could pick it up.

And there she was. My maple frame. So beautiful, so perfect, complete, with everything it needed.

This whole agreement was meant to be. Finding eachother through internet, the move of the friend from her area to mine, the exact right frame in great condition. Be assured, I love my frame.

Don't laugh about it. After my spouse and the cat, it is the first thing I would save from a fire. Certainly after this experience. The frame is meant to be with me. It will never be sold.

And why is she called Alice? The day I was preparing my advertisement was the twentieth of April. On the twenty second I finally decided to put the advertisement on the forum. The sister of Sue left this world on the twentieth. Her name was Alice.

Still, when I think about it, I am amazed. And Sue? Although we speak to eachother far too little and a meeting in the Netherlands had to be cancelled because of having to cancel the trip, she is a friend for life!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

The amazing story of Alice, part 1

2011-10-19T08:47:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all!

In my second blog I showed you the Broken Star, my long long long term project! It's now on the frame, waiting for me in the living room, to make a few stitches. If I wouldn't have a frame that was so beautiful, it would never have been in the living room. And where would you find room in a Dutch home to have a quiltframe of 10 ft long?! Our Dutch homes are nothing compared to the American homes I've seen. And that's not Homes and Mansions on MTV!

So here's the Broken Star on frame. Doesn't she fit in well in the living room? I am so glad my spouse understands the need of your passion to be around you. That's why I accept all the books in the house. Sometimes I think I am living and sleeping in a library.

But hey, what does it matter, if that means I can have my quilt studio, my frame in the living room, threads and scraps all over? My spouse's a keeper!!!

And now you might be thinking about that Alice in the header and whether it is the cat, the dog or the gnome in the garden.

Nope. Alice is the frame. And the amazing story of Alice is really amazing.

For four years I have been searching for the frame I always dreamt about: a maple Jasmine Heirloom Quiltframe. Not the newest one, but one made by the old owner. This man did not only put a lot of work in his frames, but also loads and loads of love. I had to have it. But being from the Netherlands, no second hand were available. People who own them, sit on it. I have never even seen a second hand Jasmine Heirloom frame been advertised for in the Netherlands. Never ever. End of story? No way! Ever seen Anymart quit? Quilt yes, but quit...;-)

Then I found Craigslist. Advertisements for Jasmine Heirloom frames all over. But, as to be expected, nobody wanted to sell their frame to a Dutch girl, not knowing whether I would scam them. And according to the e-mails I received, I could have been scammed too. "Send me the money, I'll send you the frame, I prefer Western Union". Yep sure! Or how about this one:"Here's the frame I would like to sell, look at the picture". And then the pictures from the Jasmine Heirloom website. I never give up, but I seriously thought about taking a plane to America to pick it up when I saw one on Craigslist. Shipping costs would be a 1000 dollars anyway, regardless of the cost of the frame. But then something special happened. It's the most exciting story ever, and I'll tell you all about it in a few days!

Have fun quilting!

Anymart

Second post, second step

2011-10-17T13:29:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all!
As this is only my second post, stay patient. I try to enter some pictures. Getting used to this, but step by step!

Here is the quilt I am working on right now. Well, actually, for quite a time now. Actually a few years. Actually 8. It took me so long to get to this stage, I really must enjoy it! Started the patchwork in 2003 while going to university at night and working during the day. During traveling to and from university the first steps were made. Now the quilt is on my frame to be quilted. Having a busy day job makes it difficult to add quilting to that. But we'll manage. The whole quilt is made by hand, so it will take another year. And my quilting goes very slow, so don't worry. It will be there for a while, waiting for me.

In the mean time also working on some other projects, large and small. Let me promise you to tell you about them later. Some are hardly worth mentioning, however fun, some are growing bigger than life itself. And that's where the fun starts!

Have fun quilting,

Anymart

The first, just for fun!

2011-10-11T09:08:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all!

There's Walmart, there's A-Mart, there's GasMart. And I am Anymart, Dutch quilter, with a Dutch name I won't bother you with. Just call me Anymart and I'll listen. Living in the Netherlands, married, one cat, age not to be mentioned. Although the red hat society is not on my doorstep soon. You just don't ask a lady.;-)

About quilting, say the word and I am gone! Focusing on 14 stitches on an inch, making my points meet, but most of all, having fun. If a quilt is made without fun, to me, it's not a quilt. Life is great and to be enjoyed, although circumstances may be difficult.

And yes, I am Dutch, but do blog in English, because for quilting my focus is on the US. Love going to the US for quilt shows, and have been over now for several times. I promise, I will be for more!;-)

Because of a quiet demanding job as a department manager at university, time may be not my most available asset, but I make good use of it.

Hand quilter, fond of applique, crazy about Baltimore album quilts and a passion for color and silk. Also busy with things that are quilt related and developments in that area are now going for me. As long as it's fun, I'm there. You'll hear about it later!

Enjoy my trips to the US, the shows I visit, the people I meet, the projects I make and every development coming round the corner. And if you want to react, you're welcome. Oh yeah, if I make a mistake in grammar, spelling, semantics, I put my best foot forward, and a kind remark is always appreciated!

Quilt and have fun!

Anymart