North Sea Quilters in the Patchwork en Quiltdagen in Rijswijk

Of course it can't be a"North Sea Quilters and Friends" exhibition without showing our own works. We selected "Little Amsterdam" and "Kyoto Nights" to exhibit during the Patchwork en Quiltdagen in Rijswijk.

"Little Amsterdam" quilted by Marybeth Tawfik,
designed and pieced by Maria Laza, Leslie Carol Taylor, Marybeth Tawfik

72” x 72”, 2007

This quilt was conceived by the North Sea Quilters as a tribute to the beautiful and distinctive architecture of the Netherlands, our host country. The house facades are all based on real houses found on the canals of Amsterdam. The quilting was done to replicate all the different textures found around these houses: smoke, wind, vines, bricks, cobblestones, and water.

This quilt won 1st prize for Long Arm Quilting at the Open European Championships, Waalre, the Netherlands, 2007.

Kyoto Nights (2008)
by North Sea Quilters: Maria Laza, Leslie Carol Taylor and Marybeth Tawfik
67” x 73”

Kyoto Nights celebrates the large-scale asymmetrical Japanese floral prints that have been so popular in the last few years. Using a hexagon as a base, North Sea Quilters have isolated vignettes of the fabric to give the impression of looking into a Japanese garden at night through a window. The Japanese crests were stitched from patterns on the Statler Stitcher™, the chrysanthemums were first drafted and digitized by Leslie and the “rain” in the bamboo forest was stitched freehand.


This is the end of our report on the exhibition. Thanks for following it during the last couple of weeks.

Participation at the ASH PTA Information Fair

In the last couple of weeks we were very busy attending various open days, fairs, patchwork exhibition, which meant less time for writing our blog. I'll try to make up for it and give an overview about these events. Let's start with the ASH PTA Information Fair at The American School of the Hague, which was hold on the 6th September. This is a great event for the parents to meet the representatives of local organizations, clubs, churches, small business. This was the second time that we took part in it and we met many familiar faces. Thanks to "Little Amsterdam" everybody knew where North Sea Quilters was. It was nice talking to all the quilt loving/admiring people and to give information to the newcomer quilters about quilting in The Netherlands. I hope this will help them to carry on with their hobby even in their new home.

Maria

The ten-weeks Little Amsterdam Course Finished

After ten weeks of hard work, but spiced up with a lot of laughs we finished the course of Little Amsterdam. During this course the participants made their own version of the prize-winner Little Amsterdam. Though they used the same color scheme, all of the quilts are different and very special. The quilters let their creativity fly incorporating their own houses, personal memories into their quilts. On the right you can see the first finished Little Amsterdam quilt. Below there are some photos from the course.

Having fun with the embroidery stitches on the Bernina





Photos of the finished projects



Thank you for participating in the course.

www.northseaquilters.com

The Short Course of Little Amsterdam Finished

We had our last lesson of the shortened Little Amsterdam course. During this course the participants pieced only the center part of Little Amsterdam, the bridge houses, they appliquéd the bridge over the water, added the sky border and the dog-tooth border. We had a lot of fun during the class. We would like to thank the ladies for participating in the course.
Here are some photos from the class and the finished works.

Happy quilters with their work



During the class

Little Amsterdam Course Started

Yesterday we had the first lesson of the ten-weeks course of Little Amsterdam in the new studio. We began by focusing on tips and advises on the design elements of the quilt, than we choose the fabrics for the houses and started to make the bases for the regular houses. The three hours passed very quickly and it was already time to write down the homework. Everybody enjoyed the class and are looking forward to the next Tuesday.

Maria
www.northseaquilters.com

Little Amsterdam with a Twist

I would like to introduce you some quilts which were made by our friends, using our pattern book Little Amsterdam.
Fiona Williams made her "New Amsterdam", using her fabric stash just within two weeks. It's a true scrap quilt, the only fabric she bought was the "sky". According to her this project is really addictive, she could hardly stop making the houses.
Here is the result:


Elaine Suller made a cot quilt for her little niece. She adapted the pattern and make three rows of houses from the funky Moda fabrics and the result is a very cheerful baby quilt.


She used the fancy stitches from her Bernina sewing machine to embellish the roofs and windows. Here are some close-up photos:

Maria
www.northseaquilters.com

1st Prize at European Quilt Championship

We were surprised and honored as the competition was so stiff, that our "Little Amsterdam" quilt won the 1st prize in the long-arm quilting category at the European Quilt Championship in Waalre, The Netherlands in October 2007.
For four days visitors could enjoy the exhibition of patchworks from European quilters, stroll around the patchwork shops and look at the exhibition of the special guests, the Hungarian quilter, Eszter Bornemissza and the Dutch Henk van Kooten.
You can see the photos of prize winning quilts at the following website:
http://www.eqc.nl/nl/eqc2007/index.htm

Here we are in front of our quilt in Waalre.

I think quilt exhibitions/competitions, like the European Quilt Championship play an important role in the European patchworker's community, especially now that the European Quilt Expo ceased to exist. In a way they can take over the role of the Quilt Expo. It gives opportunity to see other quilters' work from all over Europe and gives a boost and inspiration to quilters. I would encourage every quilter to dare to submit their work to competitions, to share their patchwork with the quilters' community. The deadline for the next EQC is the 15th January 2008.

Maria
http://www.northseaquilters.com