Meet Ralph!

Meet Ralph...Rudolph's little brother. You mean you never heard that Rudolph the Reindeer had a little brother??? He is too little to work hauling Santa's sleigh so he hangs around the Elves Workshop instead. 

This UFO almost got thrown out. I started him and was not happy at all with it. I did not like my fabric used and felt it was not well sewn. But a number of quilt friends and family convinced me to finish him off. I am glad I did because now I love him because he is so different. *grins*

Since I have been good and working on some UFOs, I decided I was going to start on a quilt which has been on my wish list for some years now. I have been wanting to make a Baltimore Album quilt but with a twist. What is that twist? I am using a taupe background fabric instead of white and using all taupe inspired fabrics for the appliqué instead of primary colors. My first block is all but finished...just doing some french knots above the tulips. 

I have to make some decisions about the setting for the quilt and if I want borders. I have had fun looking at lots of pictures of antique Baltimore Album quilts. I will share more as I progress.

And finally...since you met Ralph...I have to show you something that happened to Miss Pickles the Elf (who masquerades as Heidi ... lol). Last Friday was a really hot day here in Holland. Actually it was tropical at 34C on the terrace of Cranberry Cottage. On the way up north, Miss Pickles spied this truck in front of her. WOW! What a great way to have cool thoughts for an elf in hot weather.....CHRISTMAS TREES!!! 

Heidi

Advent mystery solved.....

The mystery of my advent quilt is revealed today...Christmas Day. Here are the 25 little quilt blocks on the reverse sides. I really enjoyed stitching them all. You can see the other side on this previous post.

There are references to the patterns my quilt group members turned in along with some things dear to my husband and I. A few examples are in the photo below but enlarge the first photo to see all the blocks. The "Joyeux Noel" as my way of saying thank you to the various French sites where I found some designs, a candle in a lantern on the 13th for Santa Lucia as Jos and I lived in Sweden when we were first married, the nativity for the 25th, a pretzel which reminds of the German Weihnachtsmarkts which we love so much and my kitty Dagi and Miss Pickles the Elf. These are just a few of the motiefs I used. 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas wherever you are celebrating and may 2015 bring you happiness and many creative moments!

Heidi

Quilted Christmas 2014.....

Last week was our annual Christmas party for my quilt group. Each year, we have a 3-course dinner which is planned by half of the group members. This year our theme was "Nederlandse Nostalgie" or "Nostalgic Dutch style". We started with old fashioned Dutch vegetable soup with bread and herb butter. Our main course was kale stamppot, hachee (goulash style) meat and a sauerkraut casserole. Dessert followed with ice cream tarts and homemade orange bavarois. We topped our dinner off with coffee or tea served with assorted Christmas chocolates. It was all delicious!

It is quite something to see the tables all set up for 16 people. The feeling of belonging together among this group was very obvious around the table. Christmas cheer was in great attendance and we all had a fun evening.

This year, there were two challenges. The first challenge was for everyone is the group. I gave them each four small squares of various Christmas fabrics from my stash. They all started with those same four fabrics and were asked to make an ornament to be swapped during the dinner. They were allowed to add their own fabrics as long as the original four were in the ornament. Above shows the results of everyone's labor. It was fun to see what they all made. 

This is the one I made. A wooden spool tree with my fabrics glued to the spools. 

We also had a mug rug swap for those who wanted to do something extra. Names were drawn and you made a mug rug for a specific person. Eleven of us participated and here are the results of everyone's creativity. They all turned out beautifully!

I had drawn Bep's name. She loves going on vacation in her caravan so I made her and her husband each a mug rug to use while out travelling in their caravan. 

It is hard to believe that a another quilt year has passed so quickly. As the year draws to a close, I am working away now on the quilt theme for 2015 for our group. It promises to be a fun year to come.....

Heidi

The advent of peace and happiness.....

It seems impossible that December has arrived. I spent the last few months redoing my advent quilt. This quilt had been a project I designed for my quilt group's theme in 2012. Throughout the year, the ladies were allowed to submit pattern ideas for each other to use on the figure side of the little quilts hanging on the large quilt. This quilt became something I could not appreciate any longer after a rift some members of the group caused. I needed to do something to give myself the gift of this quilt back again. 

So I went about carefully taking my blocks apart and redoing them all in red French inspired stitching. I did use the ideas of most of the patterns from the group but in my own way. I am really happy with how it has turned out and it has become a symbol for me of the peace and happiness that Christmas is all about! 

For today, I am sharing the number side of the quilt blocks and the first block of December's figure...a house in a winter mountain setting. 

So as the holiday season begins and we await the arrival of Christmas, I am inspired by the council of many of the quilt group members who have given me wisdom over the past year...

May your December be a time of special blessings in your own life.....

Heidi

Note: More blocks on my advent quilt will be revealed as December progresses.....

An early Country Christmas.....

Spring is definately in the air here but still it an early Country Christmas as I finished my quilt at the beginning of February. Another UFO can be crossed off my list...woohoo!

Lente is in de lucht maar bij ons is het nog een klein beetje kerst. Begin februari heb ik mijn laatste steekje in mijn quilt gezet. Een affo voor mijn lijst!

This quilt was fun to do. I loved doing the quilting freehand to give it a country feeling. I did use a hera marker to be sure I got my lines in the outer borders from point to point. If you have never used one, I can highly recommend it. I even use them for tracing quilt stencils onto my quilts. 

Wat een leuke quilt project was dit! Ik heb het met de vrije hand gequilt. Echter heb ik een hera marker gebruikt om te zorgen dat ik goed in de hoek uitkwam voor de buitenste border maar verder alles gewoon gequilt zonder lijnen om een "landelijke sfeer" te houden in het quilten. 

I sometimes think I would like to quilt with only homespun fabrics. They give such a pretty country feel. 

Geweven stoffen zijn geweldig om te gebruiken...meteen een landelijk gevoel in de quilt. 

*** Dreaming of a Country Christmas *** 

Heidi

Christmas bowl this year.....

Each season, I decorate my dough bowl. It is a great way to give an instant feeling of a season or holiday. This year, I put in springs of holly berries with pinecones around the collection of little pillows and pinkeeps. 

The quilt is one I made about 17 years ago. 

Heidi

Quilt group's annual Christmas party

Last night was the annual Christmas party for my quilt group. It was preceded by an incident that really tore into the core of the group. Words can be uplifting and encouraging but can also be used to be hurtful and hateful. We made it through the riff with all but the two members in question and it put a new light on our Christmas party. A couple of the ladies expressed how rich they feel from our group's time and friendships together.

The ladies trickled in and placed a gift under the tree. We sat down to a table set for an Italian style Christmas. Three courses were made by half of the ladies in the group. This meant the other half could sit back, relax and enjoy. We opened a few gifts after each course that was served giving lots of time to admire all the beautiful creations. Our theme for this year's gifts was "A Tisket, A Tasket". 

Elly found the pickle in the Christmas tree again this year. I give a gift to the person who finds it each year. This year, the gift was a winter themed key fob. I found the ice skate charm at a German Christmas market. 

And just look at the many beautiful gifts given and received!

I had MiekeV's name to make a gift for. I wanted to make something special for her and when I saw this sweet chart on Cathy's blog I knew it was perfect for her. Mieke loves her garden which is a thing we share in common. 

I also made her a pincushion. It is large at 8 inches square but you will see why I made it large. One the one side is a patchwork block which is called Cake Stand or Amish Basket. 

One the back, I stitched a triangle of fabric which I lined with lace and embellished with a button and bow. A piece of satin ribbon was sewn just above the triangle so that when a pair of scissors is in the holder, they are secure. A safety pin keeps the fob for the scissors also secure. I handquilted the pillow front and back before assembling it. 

My gift received was a **beautiful** quilted wallhanging by MiekeW. She made me a basket in all the pretty warm tones I so love. Even the bottom of the quilt has tiny baskets across it. Her husband made the wire hanger which says "yellow basket". How wonderful is that! And she "wrapped" my gift in a big burlap stocking with white yo-yo's on it. Humm....I think Jos might need to fill this stocking for Chrismtas...what do you think? *wink*

Heidi

A terrible thing has happened.....

As the temperature registered 40C/104F here in Elf Central Workshoppe, reports came in about a terrible accident with Miss Pickles the Elf...

She melted away in the heat. An SOS has been sent out to the North Pole and reports are that they are working away on restoring this elf back to health so she can be busy again soon with making gifts.

It's C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S once again!

The postman rang my doorbell today and handed me a package from Jeanne. It is Christmas in July once again today. Yippee!

When I saw the adorable paper, I hated to open it for a minute. Just a minute mind you! I had to see what was in the packages. *grins*

Jeanne made me a project bag with a beautiful vintage Christmas postcard fabric. That is going to be put to good use already as my current project is going to be held in there while I work on it. It needed ironing with the instructions Jeanne sent along to protect the vinyl front cover. Jos was working in my studio so I had to wait with the ironing.

Here is the beautiful ornament. She told me she choose this pattern with a cat on it to remind me of Dagi. Just look at Santa's scissors. I do love it and want to thank Jeanne for a fun swap. I told her this was a perfect time to do the swap with all our hot weather this summer in Holland. It is reminding me that the holidays are going to be here before we know it.

Heidi

It's C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S!

Remember that little peek at the ornament I made for a swap with a blogging friend? She emailed me that it arrived already. That went so fast and it got to her on Christmas Eve...lol. Well a girl can wish in the middle of a heat wave, can't she??? Or maybe the heat has really gone to my brain and I am hallucinating? *wink*

Anyway...my swap partner was none other than Jeanne over at WillowTreeStitcher. I wanted to make an ornament that looked European for her. The St. Nicholaas is stitched in reverse on the other side so even if it turns on the tree, it will always be facing the right side. I added a little snowflake to the bottom and all is sewn together with some of the French ribbons I bought in a needlework shop up in the north of Holland.

I also decided to use the opportunity to RAK Jeanne as well. I sent her a couple of non-stitchy things but also made a fob for a pair of embroidery scissors. It is made with silver, white and blue beads and a porcelain Delft Blauw wooden shoe with a windmill on it.

I am thrilled you got it all in time for Christmas in July (25th) Jeanne and hope you will enjoy using both items in the years to come. Just as the feeling of Christmas, I am anxiously awaiting the postman ringing my doorbell with your ornament. Can't wait........

Heidi 

Looking back - part one

In the coming days, I am going to reflect back over 2012 and what I accomplished or not as the case may be. I am working on setting goals for next year and working on. I have a number of fun projects planned.

 Each year, one of the projects I start working on in December is samples for our quilt group theme project. The project for 2013 is going to be such fun and has a connection back to the US and a blogging friend. But that will be revealed in January. In the meantime, here are some photos from our annual Christmas party...

This year, I asked the ladies to split up in little teams and plan out a three course sit down dinner. One team came early the day of the dinner and helped me to tranform my living room into a huge dining area. We lit candles everywhere and it created a really magical atmosphere.

Don't forget you can click on the collages to enlarge them.

Our gift exchange theme of Make Do and Mend really brought out the ladies creative sides. There was a great deal of ooohhhing and aaahhhing that evening.

A number of the ladies brought their advent quilts along for us to see them all together. Now each December, this year will be remembered as each of us uses our own advent quilt.

See you again on December 31st with a review of my projects from this year...

Heidi

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! May you enjoy an old-fashioned and handmade holiday!

For us, this Christmas is extra special as our cat Dagi turned 15 years old on December 23rd. It has been a touch and go year for him. He has aged to a cute little old man when his breed normally never reaches this age. We are really feeling blessed this Christmas!

Here is the applique block I made of him back in 2010. If you want to see more of this, read this old blog entry.

Heidi

Smoking crochet hook!

Phew! I am done. It has been a busy week crocheting like mad to get a scarf ready for Jos for Christmas. I did it...yeah! That even after having to take it all out and start over when I tried to work on it while having a major attack in my eyes early this week. I thought I could do the crochet by feeling and I could but was making it far too wide. I took it all out and started over again. Here I am modeling Jos' scarf...

I made it just a little longer than I am tall and hope it will be okay for him. I don't think Jos will like having a scarf that is way long after being looped around his neck. I also have to be careful as I am afraid it might stretch a little. I used double strands of grey wool blend yarn. It is a double crochet simply switching from stitching in the back loops for a row and front loops for the next. I used a larger hook (6,5mm) which might cause stretch.

This morning while checking my emails, I was reading the Lion Brand newsletter and this is the Lola cartoon for this time. I had to really laugh. Up to now, I often sneak onto my mother's blog and put them on there as they make me think of her but I think today....Miss Pickles is Lola. *wink*

Heidi

Will the real elf stand up?

Miss Pickles is so busy with real elf duty instead of playing around on the advent calender. *grins* She has made a few more gifts. This is a yarn holder for Mieke. Miss Pickles crocheted a cover for this tin to hold the yarn and keep it from rolling away on the floor.

Miss Pickles also stitched up two snowflakes. Did you know that elves make snowflakes? This is a hanger that she found while in Germany last month. It is supposed to be hung outside with a suet feeding ball for a bird. But Miss Pickles sees things other than what they are and decided two snowflakes would be very pretty hanging there instead.

There is so much fun in looking at things in a different way. She hopes Silvia will enjoy her gift...

Are you helping the elves to be creative this week? Miss Pickles is still very busy with a surprise...

Heidi

A Christmas Potpourri

This post is a true Christmas potpourri of things to share. I have been and still am sick so not posting much but I have lots to add as the last weeks of the year wind down.

Remember my large dough bowl? I played around with my stuffed Santas I had made of the years and decided this year to use a couple of them in my small dough bowl.

And part two of my advent quilt calender.....

I love being able to use my collection of ribbons, laces and trims on the number side. For my other side, there is a mixture of images.....

And what is Miss Pickles the Elf up to? She is wrapping your gifts and placing them under the Christmas tree.....

Our annual Christmas party has come and gone. This year, I gave the group a Make Do and Mend theme for their gifts. They were to either rummage in their houses for something old or buy it at a charity shop or flea market. The idea was to take something unloved and give it a new second, homemade life.

I bought an old footstool. Sorry to say that I forgot to take a photo of the before but I did include the ugly heavy fabric that had been on it in the first photo of the collage. Jos sanded the dark brown wood and painted it a matt black for me. I sewed a crazy quilt top using my black fabrics and various lace trims. It went from being out of date to being trendy.....

A tradition of mine is to add a gift on the outside of my gift for the quilt group. This time, I also bought a huge paperclip at the charity shop which was a very ugly baby blue. Jos again sanded and painted it for me. I stitched a small design and them glued it onto the front of the clip. Now it can be used as a pretty card or photo holder or to hold a pattern as you stitch.....

The point of these gifts was not to spend much money on the item but to invest time and creativity to make something really beautiful. I am working on the pictures for the next blog post to share more of these Make Do and Mend gifts.

Heidi