Monday, January 7, 2008

Beginner's Sampler "Zinnia Patch"

InDecember our six week course has finished. This sampler quilt was designed by our teacher, Leslie Carol Taylor for beginners to learn the basics of quilt making.

During the course they learned how to cut fabrics quickly and precisely using a rotary cutter, special mat and ruler. How to sew them together neatly (by machine) and how to press the seams to make a nice flat and square top. They also learned how to look at fabrics and put them together in combinations that they like.

The quilt contained different blocks, like “Summer Winds”, “Ohio Star” and an adaptation of “Churn Dash”, “Log Cabin”, “Monkey Wrench”, “Maple Leaf” and “Pinwheel”, “Nine Patches”, “Four Patches”, “Quarter Square Triangles” and a ”Tree”.

It was good to come together on a regular base and sew together, make new friends. In the group there were absolute beginners and experienced quilters, but everybody learned something new. And the most important is that the quilting community became richer with new members, as the ladies got infected by the "patchwork bug". Here are some photos from the last lesson and of course the finished blocks.




THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR PATCHWORK COURSE!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Santa's Midnight Runner One-day Workshop


I wish all of you a Happy 2008 Year! A New Year, time for the New Year's resolutions. One of my New Year's resolution is to write more often in our blog and of course to catch up reporting on events, which we had at the end of the year.
One of them was a one-day workshop where we made a table runner, using Mt. Redoubt's Santa's Midnight Runner pattern. We pieced the background from different blues, than we placed Santa and his reindeers to the background, using a raw-edge appliqué technique with the help of fusible web. It was fun to go through the pile of fabrics to find the right choice for each piece of the appliqué.
Though each participants used the same background fabrics, each table runner turned out different, very unique. By the end of the day we finished the top and the homework was "just" to embellish your top and quilt it. I hope this table runner became a nice center piece on the Christmas table.

This day was not only about "hard" work, but also fun, helping each other, chatting, drinking coffee and tea, having a good time and eating home-made cakes and
Marybeth's delicious soup.
Here are some pictures, capturing the ladies while they are tracing the pattern. You can also read some testimonies.

Hanneke: "Loved the day, did far more work in one go than I ever do at home, and
enjoyed the company and the food! "

Elaine: "Thank you for great day out yesterday - Maria for the delicious4 cakes,
Marybeth for the lovely lunch and tips
on satin stitch and last but of
course not least - Leslie for your patience with fusing those blasted reins!
I had a great day and have all sorts of ideas for embellishing the quilt."


Sandra: "Many thanks for the workshop today. I had a great time - thanks for all your help, especially Maria for battling with my sewing machine!!!! Also for the great lunch."

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING OUR WORKSHOP!

Friday, January 4, 2008

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

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Updated Quilt Competition List

If you are interested in Quilt shows and Competitions you can find an updated list of links to different competitions and exhibitions in the Netherlands and all over the world on our link page http://patchwork.jouwpagina.nl/
On this website please go to Patchworkwedstrijden, you can scroll down (Click on meer Patchworkwedstrijden) to find the complete list of links.

Maria
www.northseaquilters.com

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Quilts, Cats, Christmas

Have you ever wondered why do cats love patchwork? How is it possible that they always find quilts, even in hidden places? My cat always sleeps on them, even if just a tiny spot is available for her (the rest is still under work - "unwanted" obstacles, like sewing machines, rulers or me prevents her from taking over the whole quilt). I took this picture during the Christmas holidays. It didn't take long for our cat to discover the patchwork tree-skirt under the Christmas tree and since then this is her new "bed". I'm afraid it's not for long.



Luckily she is also happy to share the new quilt with my daughter, which was a Christmas present to her from all three of us, the North Sea Quilters. It is a lovely Carol Armstrong's design, which we couldn't resist to make it. There are still some Cats in the Cabin kit available on our website.

With these pictures I wish you a very Happy 2008 Year and a lot of fun quilt projects and many happy patchwork hours!

Maria
www.northseaquilters.com
http://patchwork.jouwpagina.nl

Patchwork.jouwpagina.nl - a new website by NSQ

We've created a new website http://patchwork.jouwpagina.nl/ in order to share useful links, regarding to patchwork with other quilters. The site is bilingual in Dutch and in English. It mainly contains links, concerning the Dutch patchwork community, European quilt exhibitions, competitions, quilting associations and of course the North Sea Quilters. We will continuously add more information to the site.

Maria
www.northseaquilters.com