Antiquing and a Finished Doily

every Sunday during Summer there is an antique market/ vintage sale going on not too far from us, in the little town of Aberfoyle. I was directed there by several people and finally we made it there. and oh what joy! such pretty display, friendly people, beautiful items, some rare finds and just a perfect atmosphere for a Sunday. I absolutely fell in love with that vintage jojo-quilt but it was out of my price range. but oh boy is that ever pretty? please don't tell me I should have gotten it...

I did take home some table cloths and aprons like you see on that red stand, and three little crochet items for a bargain: the little coasters with cute yellow flowers and the tiny squares attached into a pillow size square.

at the same time I finished a doily ~ oh yes, I am totally into them now ~ and all four went happily into the washer so I could block them. these are clearly the before-blocking pictures. stay tuned as I will reveal the blocking result soon!

in case you are in the neighbourhood and would like to check out the antique market in Aberfoyle, please have a look at their website for details.

Dutch Nursery in the USA

courtesy of the two nursery pictures: my friend L in Chicago

big reveal of the baby nursery set I made for our dear friends in Chicago. a total of 4 sheets, 3 large pillows, a little quilted cushion and drapery around the baby bed. made of fabric the mom and I carefully selected together, of the baby's dad's former favorite shirt, ultimate Dutch tile fabric, lovely ribbons with windmills, and Ikea sheets.

thank you very much again dear L for this lovely order, I truly enjoyed putting it all together and am very happy to see you love it too. for the rest of my life, when I see pictures of this set, I will be thinking back to a wonderful week together with the pregnant mama-to-be last summer, hours on whatsapp sending pictures and designs back and forth, and hours behind my cutting table and sewing machine, putting it all together.

I am quite proud of this set, totally in Dutch style with the colors of our flag, for a very special Dutch American baby boy.

happy weekend to you!

Quilt in Progress

my first quilt turned out quite large ~ to say the least

it almost fits a kingsize bed

I am working on the actual quilting now

machine quilting, piecing the top, batting and back together

I love to see this quilt getting closer to being finished every day

and I am looking forward to lying under it once it is finished

~ smile ~

wishing you a great week ahead and if you celebrate Happy Halloween

My First Quilt

thank you for your sweet comments on the previous post

they are all great projects to work with

this weekend we were invited to go to a cottage near lake Joseph, one of the Muskoka Lakes

two hours North of Toronto

 the cottage and it's surroundings are both so pretty

we consider ourselves very lucky to be here

I have to work on my first quilt this weekend

so I took it with me

and it seems to perfectly blend in to the color scheme of the cottage

I am taking the quilt class at the Oakville Sewing Centre

the store is packed with beautiful and inspiring fabrics

the course is taught by Linda, she is an amazing and very professional lady

and wow, she did a lot of pretty quilting and is so experienced, we learn a whole lot from her!

~

we started off with a sampler quilt

12 blocks with all different kinds of techniques

I enlarged it a bit though, to practice more and to make a quilt that fits our couch

the top is now ready to be sewn together

and I signed up for the follow up course to make the batting, the back and the edging around it

I am looking forward to a weekend full of quilting and pretty sights here around the cottage!

and after that... I will fly to New York City for a few days of fun with one of my Dutch friends

yes, Excitement All Over Here!

~ enjoy your weekend ~

WIP times 3

the weather has been so good here in Ontario

I totally forgot to go inside and share my world with you lovelies

so here is a little WIP show of what is going on here

I started knitting a scarf of the silk yarn I found in Vancouver

following the design on the right ~ large colored blocks with a little cream white in between

while enjoying my coffee or tea and the pretty Anthropologie mug

after repainting two thriftstore tables, which I will show later on

I decided to add some floral happiness to the drawers

which was so much fun to work on!

and the drawers are happy and pretty now in the fresh painted sewing table...

...on which I do my homework for the quilting class!

I absolutely love the floral fabric in the second picture

the rest of the quilt fabrics I picked to match it

and I never could have imagined quilting would be that much fun to do, really I love it

again more about that later

~ wishing you a happy new week! ~

 l o v e

Material Obsession

as you probably figured out

I have a little material obsession ~ smile ~

my sweet colleagues back in the Netherlands got me this book as a good bye gift

it is a very pretty book with the most beautiful quilts by the Australian ladies Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke

and from the basis to high level quilting, they all explain it in this book with clear drawings

really, with this book there is absolutely no excuse for me not to start quilting right away

so when I visited a yardsale last week, I took this pile of Christmas fabrics with me

and now I have to wait a few weeks more until my sewing machine arrives from overseas

until then, I will crochet and knit a little, and eat a mini cupcake or two from the amazing Cupid's

it was a delicious but dangerous discovery we did today in Canada...

~ love ~