Hopfaldera

Giveaway Day May 2013

***The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced as soon as possible.***

It is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day again!!

Welcome to my blog, if you came over from Sew Mama Sew! And welcome back, if you have been here before!!

This is the prize I have for you:

Crafty goodies including party flags, buttons and a postcard from the famous Dutch department store HEMA, and a piece of LOVE ribbon. But that is not all...

There is also a metric FQ (larger than a quarter yard!) of cute owl fabric.

Do you like the prizes? Would you like to have them? Then please leave a comment on this post (one per person). Make sure you leave your email address in the appropriate field of the comment form or in the comment. That way I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open internationally; I will be sending it to you from The Netherlands.

The winner will be chosen randomly. The comments close on Friday May 10 at 6 pm Central European Time. 

Please consider following my blog on Bloglovin'! It is not a requirement for winning but it would be very nice to see you here again!!

Visit the other giveaways on Sew Mama Sew. Good luck everyone!!

Plan for May

It's time to set a goal for the new month of A lovely Year of Finishes. This time it will be a project that I haven't started yet, but something I have been thinking about for a while. Actually, I had a similar plan last year but I just didn't do it. This month I want to make a skirt for myself.

The pattern, or method because you make the pattern yourself, is from Sew What! Skirts. The fabric that I got for the skirt is a linen/cotton blend from Field Study by Anna Maria Horner (I ordered it from her own webshop by the way).

The first thing I need to do to make this plan a success is wash and press the fabric. Then I will make a pattern on paper. I will need to check if I have a good zipper, otherwise I will have to buy one. Then I will cut into the fabric and follow the method to make the skirt. It will be an A-line skirt with a zipper in the back. (I like to make my plan as concrete as possible, so it is easier to accomplish)

I'm linking to the May goal setting party of A Lovely Year of Finishes.

 

A little house in Zierikzee

A while ago I made a quilt block  (for Charise in the Cocorico bee) picturing the house that my grandmother used to live in. My father liked the quilt block very much; it is also the house that he grew up in. He was sorry I had to send it to someone else. He 'suggested' that it would make a perfect birthday present for him...

So of course I made another block just like it, but in different colors, and made a mini quilt for my father's birthday. I kept it  secret from him, but we celebrated his birthday last weekend so now I can reveal it.

Here is a photo from Google streetview of the actual house in Zierikzee.

And this is the sneak peek I posted on Instagram of the back and a bit of the quilting.

Tomorrow is Queen's Day and the inauguration of the new king! We're going to have fun!!!

Some orange sunshine on the mini quilt I made for my mother's birthday last year

Converging corners quilt finished

Two bees with one stone... The members of two online quilting bees made blocks for this quilt using Kona Stone as the background fabric. Yes, I have finished my Converging Corners quilt (tutorial by Film In The Fridge) and so I have met my Lovely Year of Finishes goal for March! 

And it is a good thing we have another finished quilt in the house, because spring still seems very far away and last weekend we even had Siberian temperatures around here (this was what the weatherman on national television called it; he might have exaggerated a bit but not much...)!

on the back are four blocks from the 3x6 sampler bee and leftover scraps and yardage from the front

I used a teal solid for the binding

Quilt stats:

Pattern: Converging Corners by Film in the Fridge

Blocks made by: members of Sew Buzzy and Bee Europa 2012-2013

Batting: 100% cotton

Size: 48" x 72"

Sewn together, quilted and finished by: me, Muriël

A big thank you to all my fellow bee members!!

Getting there

How is it going with my goal for March? It's going pretty well.

the quilt top, consisting of 24 blocks

I have all the elements of the quilt sandwich ready to be piled on top of eachother and to be basted and quilted and I have already made a roll of binding. I chose a solid colored fabric for that, because there are already so many prints in this quilt. 

blurry photo of the quilt back, made from leftover scraps and yardage, and a few old bee blocks

double fold binding ready to go

Today I want to do the basting. I'm going to use my quilting safety pins. I want to try basting with temporary glue in the future, but I couldn't get it right now.

 

 

 

Goal for March

A dilemma: two days ago the fabric for my February goal finally arrived (safe and sound with a tax billl attached to it; 18.90 euro, I hope the government will spend it well ;-) ), so I could just repeat that goal for March but I really had a different plan. I want to finish a quilt that the members of two of my bees made blocks for, my Converging Corners quilt. Sorry Pippi, you will have to wait a bit longer, first those corners will converge!

The blocks for the quilt I plan to finish were made by members of Bee Europa (in September) and of Sew Buzzy (in November). I have 24 blocks, so I could use a layout of 4 by 6 blocks, or I could make one more block and make a square quilt of 5 by 5. I will have to decide.

The block I made for myself

This is the tutorial for the blocks by Film in the Fridge. I sent out Kona Stone for the background and strips from my stash for the corners. Also I sent everyone a square from a charmpack for the center of the block. The charmpack is from Flora by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda Fabrics and I also used it for color inspiration in choosing my corner fabrics. 

The charms I sent out for the centers

The fabrics I chose from my stash for the corners

I am very excited to see this quilt come together. It shouldn't be that hard: all the blocks are 12.5" and they are all in the house. I also have enough batting and enough fabric to make a backing. I will have to think about how to quilt it, but I will not make it too hard on myself. Making the binding is one of my favorite things, so I can do that when I get burned out on tasks that are a bit boring or take very long.

I am linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, of course! What have you got planned? 

Lone Star

I did finish something this month, but not the project I had planned for A Lovely Year of Finishes. Unfortunately my fabric still hasn't arrived, but I still have hope, because just last week I received a quilt block that had been traveling since December 6th. Still I would say normally I don't have any problems with the mail to and from the US.

Here is what I started and finished in February: a Scrappy Lone Star quilt.

Size: 32" x 40", so it's a midi quilt, not really mini, but not very big either. I could say baby quilt, but there aren't any babies here to use it.

For the star I used this tutorial on Better Off Thread. And then I added a bit of my own imagination to finish the quilt. I love the prairie points that look like bunting. The whole project reminds me of Easter and spring in general. I'm so happy we are heading towards a fresh new season!

I already know my project for March, and I even have all the neccesities in the house already. That quilt block that I talked about above was the last ingredient. I'll post about the new plan at the beginning of March.

Grandmother's Choice: we're half way there!

In the Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week we have just passed the halfway point. We've made 25 blocks, so that's a nice number to make a mosaic of. Here are my blocks:

See the blocks from the whole group here. They look so different when they are done in different colors. It's fun to see. And lots of people are keeping up with the project, really great!

As you can see I am using red and white fabrics for my blocks, with the reds ranging from almost purple to almost orange. I have been collecting fabric in these colors to keep my selection interesting and varied. Yesterday I added a lot of new prints to my red and white stack, because the prize that I won in A lovely Year of Finishes arrived from Stitches 'n Giggles. I chose 10 FQ's from Lori's shop and she added a cute little stack of Noteworthy charms, thank you!!

Links to individual photos of the blocks:

1. Grandmother's Choice block #1, 2. Grandmother's choice block#2 Amethyst, 3. Grandmother's choice BOW #3 Union Square, 4. New Jersey - Grandmother's Choice bow #5, 5. Grandmother's Choice bow #4, 6. Grandmother's Choice BOW #6 - Aunt Eliza's Star, 7. Grandmother's Choice BOW #7 - Alice's Flag, 8. Rocky Road to Kansas - Grandmother's Choice BOW #8, 9. Grandmother's Choice BOW #9 Brick Pavement, 10. Grandmother's choice block #10 New York, 11. Grandmother's Choice BOW #11 The Little Red Schoolhouse, 12. Grandmother's Choice block #12 Little Boy's Breeches, 13. Grandmother's Choice block #13 - Everybody's favorite, 14. Grandmother's Choice block #14 Bride's Knot, 15. Grandmother's Choice block #15 Centennial, 16. Grandmother's Choice block #16 - Capital T, 17. Grandmother's Choice block #17 Mother's Delight, 18. Grandmother's Choice block #18 Cheyenne, 19. Grandmother's Choice block #19 Old Maid's Ramble, 20. Grandmother's Choice block #20 Memory Wreath, 21. Grandmother's choice block #21 Parasol (I changed mine into a Pickledish), 22. Grandmother's Choice block #22 Jack's Delight, 23. Grandmother's Choice block #23 Girl's Joy, 24. Grandmother's Choice block #24 True blue, 25. Grandmother's Choice block #25 The Carrie Nation Quilt

Progress on Pippi

A little middle of the month progress report on my planned finish for February: it's not going very well :-( This is because the fabric that I ordered still hasn't arrived. I hope it will soon, but then I will probably have to pay import tax on it (so irritating, you have to pay more and as a 'reward' it takes a lot longer to arrive) or the package is lost of course (I hope not!!)

I did make the two blocks that I planned to add to the quilt though! The message in a bottle:

And Mr. Nilsson, Pippi's pet monkey:

In the meantime I have made all my bee blocks for this month, a quilt-as-you-go pouch and have started a lone star quilt from this tutorial. 

I think both projects have the scrappy spirit of Pippilotta...

Let's hope the fabric arrives soon, so I can start putting those quilt blocks together!!!

P.S. Did you see? Last month I won one of the prizes from the Lovely Year of Finishes!! I won a gift from Stitches 'n Giggles; I chose several lovely FQ's of mainly red and white print fabric. I felt so lucky to win!! Thank you, Shanna, Melissa and Lori!

Sampler of some sort

Besides setting monthly goals to finish projects this year (January, February), I am also starting a new project that I want to work on during the year or even longer maybe. It will be a sampler quilt inspired by the Random Sampler on Bloomin' Workshop (I saw Lotje's version in real life), Liberated Medallions and the new free (!) block of the month (BOM) on Craftsy.

What appeals to me is that there is no overall symmetry in these inspirations, and that they all look like little individual quilts put together to make a larger one. It is also an opportunity to put together favorite blocks or techniques in different sizes and come up with something unique.

Not long ago I bought two inspiring fat quarter packs (Fairy Finds and Modernista) of Art Gallery Fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics, and I want to use these for this project. And I'm sure I will add more fabric to that. I still need a background fabric, but I don't want white. I'm thinking of something textured and lively while being neutral.

The first blocks I made for this sampler were the Craftsy BOM blocks for January. They finish 6" square and together with some flying geese they will act as a kind of frame around a larger block.

January Craftsy BOM

I also made the February Craftsy BOM but now I'll wait until June to make a BOM block again, because the blocks that come in March, April and May don't really appeal to me. My plan is to pick my favorite blocks from the Farmer's Wife Sampler and several Japanese patchwork books and make those for this sampler as well. And maybe the Schoenrock Cross block found at Leila's. We'll see, we'll see...

February Craftsy BOM