Hopfaldera

What I made in 2012

Here is a summary of 2012 in photos of quilty and sewy things I made. 

2012 was special: I made so much and loved to do it, I got to meet quilting friends from the internet in real life, I sewed curves, I contributed a tutorial to a quilt-along, I bought lots of lovely fabric, I was part of some wonderful bees and other internet groups related to quilting and swapping, I learned so much!

Of course 2012 was not only wonderful; some terribly tragic things happened too. That is why I said special. 2012 was here, it will never return. I am looking forward to 2013, and I hope it will be great, peaceful, and full of health for everyone!

Happy 2013!!!

Sunshine

Last week we went to a chateau/farm in Picardie in France with my parents. It was partly to celebrate my mother's birthday (that was in September) and because we had our May vacation. It was a fun vacation, with sun, rain, farm and wild animals, cute authentic towns and markets, disneyland! We had a good time!!

I managed to make a sunny and quilty present for my mother before we left for France. And I also managed to keep it a secret, even though I posted two photos of parts (inner ring, outer ring) of it on Flickr! Here is what I made, a New York Beauty block #7, with lots of foundation paper piecing and curved sewing. It was a bit difficult but fun to make, fun difficult!! 

Here (on In Color Order) is where you can find great tips on how to make the block and a link to the pattern. I found Jeni's tip on using a notecard for folding and trimming particularly handy!

I signed the back and added a hanging rod:

What I did

This week I prepared fabric for the 6 blocks I'll be making for my fellow hive members in the 3X6 bee this quarter. I picked and tested a block pattern (it's still a secret) and I needed to cut 10 5" squares for everyone. Here is a sneak peek at the pile of squares.

 

Also this week I put my Etsy shop into permanent vacation mode. It means I quit Etsy. I had been feeling bad about the shop for a long time (no sales, and no clear indication of what to do about it, and consequently feeling bad about my products). Then I read on Carina's blog that she quit her shop on Etsy and a bit about why. Then I clicked on to the info she suggested and read some more. What I found out is that what I thought being part of Etsy was good for (the online community, treasuries, showcases and category pages) actually only generate 4 or 5 % of the sales, and that most sales follow from people being directed from a blog or other place directly to a product they want. This is exactly how I bought the Denyse Schmidt fabric last week. I knew what I wanted and just clicked directly through to somebody´s listing. So I quit Etsy. I don't want to feel bad about what I make. Because generally I feel really good about what I make! Just from within myself and also from people around me and all the nice people on Flickr that comment on what I show there. Only Etsy made me feel bad! And that is just stupid, right!

 

And then finally (or wow, already!) I finished the top of my Block-a-palooza Quilt. Find all the links to the block patterns here.

 

I'm taking a break now, but for when I return I have lots of new plans and ideas:

* the 3X6 blocks, of course

* this Supernova Quilt Along looks great

* this Japanese + and X Quilt Along looks wonderful too

* and I want to make a skirt for the summer from this fabric

 

On my break this is what I am going to read:

 
 

Summary of the week

Hi Hi!

Here's a new idea to make it a little easier to keep up this blog: a summary of the week! Some unrelated stories from this week...

Monday, Frederik and I were lucky enough to have tickets to the premiere theatre show of Hans Teeuwen in Carré in Amsterdam. We got (bought) the tickets because I put our telephone number on a list on the Carré website, and they just phoned me a couple of weeks ago to offer me some tickets. So no outrageous amounts of money were neccessary (like I read in the news paper), just a little bit of patience (a good lesson)! So who is Hans Teeuwen? Here he is in an older show he performed in the UK (including some strong language, but that's just the way it is, it's called absurdism):

 

Something else from this week: I started receiving a lot of quilt strips back from my fellow members of Bee Europa 2011. March was my month and I sent each of the other bee members a different color of fabric and the request to make a strip from it. I will sew them together in the order of the rainbow.

 
 

I made a gallery of the strips everyone made for me, you can see it here. Go look at the wonderful things they did with the fabric!

And now what I worked on this week:

 
A quilt block for Miriam for April in Bee Europa 2011 (she made the gray strip for me)

 

the center panel for my Waiting for Spring Block-a-palooza quilt

 
organic shapes in clay

 

My rainbow

Your rainbow is shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

That was a bit of webfun!

 

Present

Hey, hey, I'm back! From being quite ill with another infection in my leg. At the moment I'm feeling quite bad with the cold that is going around. I guess it's getting to me more, because I'm still on antibiotics, and I guess I'm still a bit weak, health wise.

But I'm on the way to recovery... As positive as I can...

Before I got ill I made my Mom some brooches for her birthday. Celebration of the actual birthday fell in the water (as we say in Dutch) because of [see above].

 

This brooch has Kaffe Fassett fabric that is reminiscent of Venetian glass, vintage embroidery, and a button that used to be on a dress of Damaris.

 

This brooch has Erin McMorris fabric that I like because of the mix of modern dots and romantic flowers, part of a vintage doily, and a cute purple lady bird button.
 

Fresh September

The new school year already started a couple of weeks ago with Damaris in the first year of secondary school (very exciting for her, and for us all) and Emil in 4th grade at the school we know inside out, with the same trusted teacher as last year. Today, on the first day of September, I am starting to feel the effect of the new routine. This means some fresh new activities!

* My yoga and ceramics classes will start in about a week.

 

* I'm excited to check out some new things that are planned for September in quilty blog land: Project Modern by the Modern Quilt Guild, a new round of the Quilt-As-You-Go Quilt-Along, a quilt-along with Fat Quarterly. Do you know of any other new projects, tell me!!

* I got myself lots of wonderful new fabric:

 
a charm pack cut out of vintage sheets, by JeniB on Etsy

 
Christmas half-yards, I got from Sew Mama Sew

 
a Christmas layer cake, I got from the Fat Quarter Shop

* I have some fresh new craft books:

and I'm even quoted in one of them, Craft Hope: Handmade Crafts for a Cause. Pretty cool!

 

The others are by bloggers I've been following for a long time: Alicia's Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living, and Hillary's Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love.

* New months, and new assignments, in my virtual quilting bees: stars for Anita in Bee Europa, flying geese for Melinda in Sew Buzzy, square-in-square blocks suitable for a boy in do. Good Stitches (I already made those).

 

 

I'm glad the sun is coming out today, and will be in the next few days. I'm not ready for a new season yet! Let us enjoy just a little bit more of the summer season before it gets really fresh!!

Textile festival

From Wednesday March 24 until Sunday March 28 there will be a National Textile Festival here in my town, Leiden in the Netherlands.

Bee Europa blocks for Tacha 

Tomorrow I will visit the Pieterskerk (a former church from medieval times) where the main exhibition will be held. I know that church from my student days because it used to be the place where our first year exams where held. I remember sitting at one of the wobbly little desks on top of the tomb stones, quite a strange experience! Now the church will be full of new fabric-y supplies and works of textile art. I can't wait to see it!

Corner Star block for a pillow cover made following the tutorial on Modify Tradition

The photos in this post are of my personal textile festival this week. I am trying to get a lot done...

Presents for the children of Emil's Chinese language teacher 

Three blocks in progress for the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along  

Valentine

Do you want to get something for your Valentine? Here are some suggestions...

A zipper pouch that can be used for gift wrapping but is also a gift in itself

 
 
A love bird

 

A bib for Baby Valentine

 

All (and more) available in my Etsy shop!

Window sill

Today I want to show you my window sill.

These are all treasures I've had since I was small. The rabbit is a pencil sharpener. I made the ceramic box myself.

Some great beads I found at a new shop in Leiden, Bijoux Le Nur. In a bowl by me.

Beads made from leather and kauri shells, and a turquoise bead. And birds and cups by me. More ceramic birds.