pastries, tea cozy and a dollquilt

Oké, maybe I wasn´t that busy with reading blogs and posting this week but I managed to do some crafting instead.
The pink sneak peek from last post is finished and brought to the post office. I'll post a picture of the finished project soon as it has reached its final destination.
I already started a new project, nothing else to do, haha! I make flowers for a dollquilt using these fabrics. I just love the sweet printed designs on them, perfect for a doll quilt!



And another almost finished project I did last week...this tea house cozy no2.



And I've got a mail from Mary, she did received my valentine swap package and she liked what I made for her..phew!
These two sweet pastries I made from felt were my gift for her.


What a big success this valentine swap was! I´ve spotted some beautiful selfmade presents on blogs all around! Lucy, if there´s gonna be a valentine swap next year...you can coint me in!

Valentine swap

Yeah...today I received my valentine swap gift made by my swap partner Mary. I'm so happy....she made me this beautiful cushion.



It has a polka dot back, Mary must can read my mind....because I love polka dots!



Mary also made this lovely valentine card.



And to spoil me completely she did sent me these wonderful presents along. Yummy, yummy chocolates in a box, the most gorgeous fabrics, paper handkerchiefs with printed hearts on and a quilt magazine! Thanks Mary!



This oh so fun swap was organized by Lucy from Lucy locket recycled her pocket
I can't show you a picture yet of what I made for Mary. Right now my valentine package for Mary is probbably in a plane flying over the ocean somewhere. So I'll wait for her to receive the package first.
Instead I show you this photo, a peak of a small gift I'm working on at the moment and hope to send it of soon to someone special too!



Have a great weekend everyone!

feels like spring

What a lovely weather we had this weekend! It felt like an early spring.
I know it's a bit previous for spring but if it was up to me than I would say, let's skip the rest of winter and let springtime begin!
Well it isn't up to me so all I can hope is for this lovely weather to hold on a few more days!



Have a good beginning of the week!

Knitted star tutorial/ Gestrickter Stern

Ok, finally after promised months ago here my first attempt of writing a knitting pattern in English.

"A Knitted star"



What do you need to make one?

Yarn: To make a star with star points in different colours you need 5 colours. You can also choose to make a star in one or in two colours. There are many variations possible. The size of a star depends of the thickness of the yarn and the size of the needles. The thicker the yarn, the larger the star will be. I used soedan wool for this star and needles size 4.5.
Knitting needles: Size depends on the thickness of the yarn.
Needle: To sew the star points together.
Stuffing material: poly-fil or fiberfil or cotton.


Instructions:
1.) Knit 10 star points in five different colours, two of each.



One star point:

Row 1 : cast on 3 stitches
Row 2 : knit 3
Row 3 : purl 1, inc 1, purl 2
Row 4 : knit 1, inc 1, knit 3
Row 5 : purl 1, inc 1, purl 4
Row 6 : knit 1, inc 1, knit 5
Row 7 : purl 1, inc 1, purl 6
Row 8 : knit 1, inc 1, knit 7
Row 9 : purl 1, inc 1, purl 8
Row 10: knit 1, inc 1, knit 9
Row 11: purl 1, inc 1, purl 10
Row 12: sl 1- knit 1- psso, knit 10
Row 13: sl 1- purl 1- psso, purl 9
Row 14: sl 1- knit 1- psso, knit 8
Row 15: sl 1- purl 1- psso, purl 7
Row 16: sl 1- knit 1- psso, knit 6
Row 17: sl 1- purl 1- psso, purl 5
Row 18: sl 1- knit 1- psso, knit 4
Row 19: sl 1- purl 1- psso, purl 3
Row 20: sl 1- knit 1- psso, knit 2
Row 21: sl 1- purl 1- psso, purl 1,
Cast of by pass stitch over.

- sl = slip stitch from left-hand needle to right-hand one without knitting it.
- psso = pass slipped stitch over.

Slip stitch from left-hand needle to right-hand one without knitting it. Knit the next stitch. Insert tip of left-hand needle into the slipped stitch, pass it over the knitted stitch, and off needle.

2.) Press the ten star points carefully under a damp cloth with an iron.

3.) Sew the star points into two stars. Make sure you have a left and a right side, see picture below




4.) Sew stars together right side out. Leave one star point half open. Fill the star point with cotton or polyfill. Close the half open star point.
Note: Each star point has a short and a long side. Make sure all the short sides are pointed to the middle of the star.

You can decorate the star if you like. I used the bullion knot stitch. I did one in the middle on each side from the star and on the end of each point.



For those who like tho try this pattern out.....enjoy and good luck!

Thank you Barbara for your german translation.

Gestrickter Stern:

Was braucht man dafür?
Garn: je nach Wunsch bis zu 5 verschiedene Farben, man kann den ganzen Stern auch einfarbig oder zweifarbig … machen. Die Größe des Sterns hängt von der Dicke des verwendeten Garns und der Nadelgröße ab. Ich habe Soedan Wolle verwendet und Nadelstärke 4,5
Stricknadeln: passend zum Garn
Nähnadel um die Sternspitzen zusammen zu nähen
Füllmaterial: Füllwatte o. ä.

Anleitung:
1. Stricke 10 Sternspitzen in fünf verschiedenen Farben, zwei von jeder Farbe.

Reihe 1 : 3 Maschen aufnehmen
Reihe 2 : 3 rechts
Reihe 3 : 1 links, 1 zunehmen, 2 links
Reihe 4 : 1 rechts, 1 zunehmen, 3 rechts
Reihe 5 : 1 links, 1 zunehmen, 4 links
Reihe 6 : 1 rechts, 1 zunehmen, 5 rechts
Reihe 7 : 1 links, 1 zunehmen, 6 links
Reihe 8 : 1 rechts, 1 zunehmen, 7 rechts
Reihe 9 : 1 links, 1 zunehmen, 8 links
Reihe 10: 1 rechts, 1 zunehmen, 9 rechts
Reihe 11: 1 links, 1 zunehmen, 10 links
Reihe 12: 1 abnehmen 10 rechts
Reihe 13: 1 abnehmen 9 links
Reihe 14: 1 abnehmen 8 rechts
Reihe 15: 1 abnehmen 7 links
Reihe 16: 1 abnehmen 6 rechts
Reihe 17: 1 abnehmen 5 links
Reihe 18: 1 abnehmen 4 rechts
Reihe 19: 1 abnehmen 3 links
Reihe 20: 1 abnehmen 2 rechts
Reihe 21: 1 abnehmen 1 links
Abketten

(Abnehmen: Masche von der linken auf die rechte Nadel heben ohne sie zu stricken, nächste Masche stricken, erste abgehobene Masche darüberheben.

2.) Die zehn Sternspitzen vorsichtig unter feuchtem Tuch dämpfen

3.) Die Sternspitzen zu Sternen zusammennähen, dabei sicherstellen, dass man eine rechte und eine linke Seite hat, wie auf dem Bild unten .

4.) Sterne zusammen nähen, mit der rechten Seite nach aussen. Eine Sternspitze etwas offen lassen. Den Stern füllen mit Füllwatte und verschließen

Achtung: Jede Sternspitze hat eine kurze und eine lange Seite. Stelle sicher, dass die kurzen Seiten zur Sternmitte weisen.

Du kannst den Stern dekorieren wenn Du möchtest, ich habe einen Knoten Stich verwendet in der Mitte der Sterne und an jeder Sternspitze.

Für die die es versuchen wollen, viel Spaß und viel Glück.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Sweet gifts in pink

Remember these most adorable little birds from a post early in January. They are cups and are available in the DE stores in exchange for (many)coffee-points.
And guess what came in the mail saterday.....yes, many coffee-points! The oh so sweet Nicolette from "devliegendekoe" blog did sent me a suprise package. There where two thick envelopes in full with coffee-points. Wow am I happy with those...yeah!
She also wrote a cute cow card and to spoil me completely she made me a beautiful painting! I totaly adore this one! It's one of her designs she made for the 'pink ribbon quilt'.


See the little bird on the painting? It gave me the inspiration I desperatly needed.
So, thank you so much Nicolette for your most generous gifts and for giving me new inspiration. You'll be seeing some results soon!



I'm also busy making a valentine gift for my swap partner Mary. Hopefully I can bring it to the post office soon.
And some knitting news....I'm almost finished with writing the star pattern in English....finaly!!

Have a great week!

lack of motivation

It's true, quilters are inventive people! I've recieved some really creative and usable suggestions on what to do with my bleached out quilt. Thank you all! I've thought each advise over and over and I've decided to follow the suggestion that several of you gave to finish this quilt off and accept it as it is. And for the future...no more ink pens for me!
Lately I'm not so busy with sewing and crafts as I want to. Partly because I've other things to do and partly because of my lack of motivation. I managed however to do a little more sewing on the handkerchief blocks ( I want to make a tablecloth out of these blocks). The blocks are on the floor of my craftsroom...for some time now.



Luckely I've my own crafts room and I can close the door. That way nobody is bothered of all the mess I make! I'll give you a little glimpse around...
For things to pin on, for inspiration and to remember adresses I use these pinboards.



I've a small sewingtable in front of the window, perfect for natural light. The table looks bigger though when it's not so messy!
For blogging etc. I have a computerdesk made by my husband.






I like to listen to music while working. It's an old radio but with stereo sound! The books on the shelf are mostly quiltbooks. They are used for inspiration.



Here are some of my fabrics. I keep them in a closed dresser so that the colors won't fade out. I try to stash them color by color and usually there are more fabrics going in then there are going out (lol).
I'm very happy with my room, it's a place I spend a lot of time in. Hopefully I get my mind on sewing again soon. In the meanwhile I better tidy up my sewingtable!

bleached out

This is my blue-pink-red sampler quilt. I digged this one out the closet to show it to you and ask for your advise. It's one from my early quilting years. Today I still love the colors and fabrics I choose then. I also like the different blocks and quilting patterns. And I love to bring this quilt to a good ending.....if only I knew how!
It doesn't show on this photo....but I have a major problem!



To trace the quilting patterns on the fabric I used a special inkpen. The ink supposed to come out with water. Ehh..no, not this pen!! I don't know what went wrong but all the ink lines are bleached out. Did I leave the ink on to long? Did I use the wrong pen? Well the harm has been done, see photo below!



What to do?? I even thought about cutting the quilt in smaller parts and leave the bleached parts out. What do you think? I'm a bit desperate on this one. So If you have any suggestions are ideas, please tell me I really want to know!

handkerchiefs fun!!

Even a dull an simple activity can lead to something inspirational.
Last saterday I was in this store for buying some good old fashioned underwear when my eyes spotted something colorful.
Some lovely handkerchiefs, and the best part is, for a budget price!



The only thing was, they were made of "not" the finest quality fabric. I thought if I machine washed them on a hot program and put them in the dryer they would be oke to work with. But still, I could see right through!
So I decided to cut them in to 5cm stripes with the rotary cutter.



And sew the stripes on a background fabric. I used there for squares of onbleached cotton.



After sewing the stripes on I cut the squares diagonal in half.



I like the way it turned out so far, yummy bright colours...lovely!


Christine from Auntie's quaint quilts nomanated me for the "you make my day award". Thank you Christine!
Now its my task to nominate 10 other wonderful bloggers. There are so many its hard to make a choice. There for I give you all a "you make my day award", because you know.....you are making my day!

Special message for May Britt: I'm working on my WISP, I do. There are so many people already on your list that have finished off WISP's, hope you can put my name on that list soon.

Points please

I mean coffee points. I need lots of them for these "ooh sooo gorgeous" china.
I saw these in the DE brochure and I fel in love! This china is designed by Pip porcelain and I desperately want it!





See the little bird on top of the teapot, such a lovely detail!

On monday I recieved a very nice suprise in the mail.
Levineke from i wanna be crafty did sent me a parcel with some wonderful gifts. She sent me this as a thank you for the bag I sent her a few months ago. She didn't have to do this, I wasn't expecting something in return. She is so kind ! Thank you Levin!



I recieved a beautiful calendar with Australian landscapes. Four different flavors of Australian tea, can't wait to taste them!



A quilting magazine, my first Australian one!



The magazine contains patterns and photos of the most beautiful quilts. I totally adore this Lone star (above) and the Dresden plate (below). Both quilts are made by Emma Jansen. I love the way she uses colors and design.



My fingers are itching to cut up my Kaffe Fassett fabrics and start a new quilt. But I'm restraining myself, finish my January challenge first!

Two sisters and their dream

This is a picture of Heleen and me sitting in front of the tv on a Saterday afternoon.
We just came out of the bathtub, fresh and clean, wearing flannel pyjamas made by our mother. I'm the oldest one (left) eating an apple.
Two little sisters...so sweet! There was a time we didn't do many things together because of the age difference of four years. That doesn't seem much but when you're a child it is! Since we past that period ages ago we get along just great. The two of us have pretty much the same interests and hobbies. We both like to keep ourselves creative busy by making things. And we both like to shop and go thrifting.
For some time now we have a dream, opening our own store where we can sell self made goodies and our great thrifting finds. But with a busy life and both our jobs it probably will be a dream forever!
But a little shop on the internet...that must be manageable! So we decided to give it a try.

And after spending a free Sunday afternoon behind the computer we are proud to announce that our little shop is open!



Dutch sisters * little shop *
Please feel free to check us out! It's a beginning, we soon put new items on.

For now I'm off, quilting the starquilt for the january challenge.

January- finish it up month- challenge

I was catch up with blog reading when I came across the post on Nicolette's blog about the January finish it up month challenge. The idea came original from Kim and May Britt made a challenge out of it. (Go read all about it there!)
Well...and a challenge is maybe just the thing I need to get me going again! I haven't done any serious crafting lately. The idea of the challenge is to post a picture of your unfinished project before. And later a picture of the project after it is finished.



Oké, here is the before photo. It's a star quilt machine sewn and almost complete. It's a quilt I started in my early quilting years, measering 130cm by 130cm. For the back I used different blocks of fabric. I think this little star would look lovely on the couch.
So I'm gonna look for my hoop now and hope I can show you a picture again before February!



Have a nice weekend!

last post 2007

This will be my last post for this year. Wow...what a year it was!! I discovered a whole new world... blogging! It's so great to get inspired by all those creative people that are out there on the net. And through blogging I've met some wonderful new friends. I even got a little bit addicted on blogging and spend way to much time behind the computer!!
Yesterday I cleaned up my craftsroom, thinking not to start the new year in a mess. While doing that I came across these Dutch fabrics. I bought them recently in Marken. A Dutch town, very touristic and well-known for its characteristic wooden houses.


These fabrics would be lovely for making birds. I made one from polka dot fabric. She's a cheerful bird that love to have some family. So I'm going to make her one!



Have a wonderful turn of the year with fireworks en oliebollen
I wish you all a very happy, healty and creative 2008!
Thanks for stopping by! I always look forward to read every comment.

Groeten, Corry