Happy dancing with a limp...

A limp you ask? No I did not twist my ankle, break a leg or anything like that but I did seem to trip over my needle. Here is my first Beth Twist design done and dusted in just a week. Woohoo!


Perhaps it was my excitement to get this sampler finished so I can frame it and hang it on my wall but I made a very blatant and visible mistake. Can you see it? I sure can. *grins*

Here it is...
A. ??? How did that happen. I started stitching the letter B and then skipped over a row and started stitching it again. How silly of me not to notice it until I only had the letter O left to stitch. I found my mistake when I was working on the top edge.

Since there was plenty of space to stitch the O, I decided that my little Abigail will keep her mistake as is to be her own unique self. *wink*

I have a vintage frame waiting to be used and think I will frame this with the help of some fabric to make the frame work like I did with my saying. And look at the fabulous little pincushion! It was a Christmas gift from Tam and I just love it. I am using it for decoration on the table in my living room.

Speaking of gifts, I am up late wrapping these...

Tomorrow I am off to the Hobby Market (Handwerkbeurs) in Zwolle with Saskia, Joke and Joanne. I thought it would be fun to make each of them a scissor fob to remember the day by.
Hope they will like them.

Pondering on strawberries and needles...

...and in this case, they do go together. I started my first design by Beth Twist right after I posted my last blog entry. It is a basket of strawberries. So do you now know which design I stitched first? Yes, it was 'With My Needle' which Jackie and Sonja guessed correctly. Since Sonja is someone I see almost weekly, I can just give her a little gift for correctly guessing when I see her. Would you please tell me your favorite colors Jackie and also email me with your mailing address?


I knew many would guess I was starting with 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm' knowing that I love snow. Speaking of which...wish we had some. *grins* I did give a clue when I talked about my sampler wall. I really want to add another sampler so decided to start this one thinking it would stitch up the quickest of the three. But now that I am busy working on this, some strawberry shortcake would sure taste heavenly right now. Just a few short months and we will in the thick of strawberry season. In that state of mind, I thought this quote would be a fun addition to my post...

“One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Speaking of children, my mother says my birthday is postponed due to the loss of her gift to me in the mail. So gals, I am still only 5. *wink* So I suppose that means I can tell you all about the sweet sunshine you taste is a good strawberry but also the sweet pleasures you have from stitching them too.

Various packages arrived today in the mail. I am saving one for a future post but I also ordered hand dyed threads from Nina last week. They arrived making me feel like I bought a gift for myself with the beautiful way she packaged them. I almost hated opening the package. Almost mind you but had to do so to see the beauties contained within...

I just love these threads which make me want to grab another needle and start something with them. But no! I will try and finish one of two of my other projects before I succumb to temptation. Now the definition of succumb is something for all of us to ponder but that would be a very long blog entry. *grins*

Sharing my joys...

And what better joy to share than first that of a new start? I loved my last finish and decided not to wait before starting the next of my Blue Ribbon Design sayings. I am so anxious to get another one done and add the patchwork to frame it.


Isn't this such a great saying to go by in life? It is certainly a fun thing to stitch. Notice the new fob on the end of my scissors? It was a parting gift from Barbara who moved back to America. Missing you Barbara but so glad you are so happy. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.


I had a reason to start this one quickly too. After 3 years of stash dieting and not ordering things online, I could not resist when I discovered Beth Twist's Heartstring Samplery. I just love her charts and knew I had to break down and order them. I bought three and they are fabulous! There were so many that I could see hanging on my sampler wall in my bedroom.


I am off now to dig into my linen stash so I can start one of them. I decided which one will be the first. Can you guess which?

Enjoying a finish...

Yes, my friends, I am a very happy person today since I am enjoying yet another finish!


The first of my Blue Ribbon Designs sayings is done. I stitched this on 34 count linen over one so the design is only 2-3/8 inches high.

I had purchased frames for these 5 sayings some time ago in a discount store here in Holland. It means playing with each design to make them fit. Answer to this dilemma? Why patchwork of course. I filled up some excess with little one inch squares from my scrap box. Unfortunately, I see in the photos that my frame is scratched on top. Funny that I did not notice them just sitting here looking at it but they show up in the photo. *sigh* I do need new glasses and this must be proof.

I want to give these an old fashioned country feeling and the patchwork works really well for that. And I already know exactly where I am going to hang the 5 framed pieces so I think I will have to consider pulling out the next one this weekend to get started on it.

In the meantime, I am back working on my Quaker Row. I want to get this project finished soon too. It feels huge compared to having stitched this saying since I am stitching it over two. What do you think? I am on a roll? *grins*

I should be doing the ironing...

...but it is more fun to do my projects. I have been stitching today but more about that in my next post. Then I decided to do a fun project that I thought up over Christmas.

I found this wooden sign on sale in a garden center just before Christmas. I could see right away what I could do with it as a quilter.

So I pulled 5 fabrics from my stash cupboard. I was honestly thinking about the dark chocolate, strawberry filled Leonidas (bonbons) that I soooooo love while I was doing this one. *wink*

Traced the heart onto a sheet of paper and then measured and made an inch smaller version of the heart.

Then I drew 5 sections on the paper to create a crazy quilt heart.

This is a heart?

Yes, just trim it half way between the two lines.

Cut out a heart shape in a piece of cardboard and glue a piece of quilt batting to it.

Then glue the heart onto the cardboard. Make a large cup of tea as you have to take a break and let the glue dry.

Glue the heart to the wooden sign and then glue trim around the edge to finish it off.

And suddenly a plain wooden sign becomes a fun quilted hanger.

I always say a quilt is only really finished when it has a label. But when I finished this quilt back in December, I did not get the label made. So I thought I really had to get it finished. I use small scraps of muslin for my labels. Even if they are a bit small, they work if I use pinking sheers to finish the edges. They are fun to sew on the back of the quilt with a contrasting color in a primitive quilt stitch. I often use calligraphy to write my labels and then draw something fitting to the quilt.

I am searching for a set of fine tipped permanent markers as my set is drying out. Does anyone know where I can order some?


For this label, I drew some snowflakes and was thinking of many of you in America who are getting hit with another snow storm today. You can send the snow here if you would like! I would love to share. *grins*

In the meantime...my ironing still awaits!

Sunshine and showers...

Life is full of sunshine and showers. First some sunshine...


Last night, everyone brought their first blocks of our theme quilt. I am going to take photos as the year progresses to share the various quilts. My block (above) ended up going in a different direction than I expected. I wanted to make a sepia quilt but when I started pulling out my fabrics, I can across a set of fabrics that Annemarie gave me. I decided this was a perfect project to use them in so my quilt is now pinks, beiges and browns. I choose to substitute a few of the flowers in the field for ribbons daisies. When I was a little girl, I always said daisies were my favorite flower. Nowadays, I do not have a single favorite flower as I love all old fashioned flowers.

The slideshow contains all the blocks that were brought last night. If you want to see them larger, just click on the slides.

And the showers you ask? We had a big sadness last night as one of the members had to tell everyone that her breast cancer has spread into her bones. She is receiving treatment to reduce the pain. We are all hoping it will help and that she will receive the gift of time. So if you are inclined so, please say a prayer for Joke that she has the gift of time. She is dear to me.

Love in in the air!

Love is in the air...
Everywhere I look around...
Love is in the air...
Every sight and every sound...


Oh sorry, I didn't hear you come in. *grins* Sorry that I have been away so long. I am not really away, just very busy with many projects. All fun things. I am also always very busy the week before my quilt group comes each month. Tonight is the night and they will be showing their progress with the first block of our theme quilt Leanne's House. I have the block done but thought it would be fun to wait and show it to you along with the others. Now all I have to do is turn on my memory switch and take photos. I am really forgetful lately. It can be dangerous when you even forgot to turn the fire off of the gas under you dinner pan. *sigh*

But anyway, I am really off the subject now...I was working on the second block this past week and thought I would share a little glimpse. As you can see love is in the air. Just perfect with Valentine's Day just around the corner. Why love is in found in my sack of potatoes. *wink* I pulled this potato out of the bag to make dinner the day I finished sewing love so needless to say I did not have the heart to peel it. Forgive the pun.

So how is your Wednesday?