Quilt and Dolls

Planet of the Apes!

2012-01-26T10:31:00.004+01:00

Near the apple crocheted hat from the serie fruit - The sock monky with the red pom pom is also very much admired in Etsy. I am working on new color combinations all the time (the time that I have, that is...) and would love to hear suggestions for suprising combinations.

I also developed the same sock monkey hat in a helmet version and matching leg warmers!

There are already some monkeys on the way to Amerika and Australia!
The apes take over the world!!!

Great treasures

2012-01-19T10:29:00.006+01:00

Ayalaythe Red apple crocheted hat for Blythe from the serie fruit is very much loved. This item in my shop has the most hearts and is featured in 2 wonderful treasuries:

I heart Blythe is curated byEmma Jansen from BlytheScrapbag. Thank you, Emma!

Red & turquoise treasures is curated by Belinda from TheWiggleTree,
Thank you Belinda! It is really a stunning treasury with a gorgeous un-usual color combination that I am so proud that my apple is featured in it and Kobi is also very very proud!

a Never-again-moment

2012-01-10T23:15:00.001+01:00

Just on time I finished the top of the quilt "Bouquets withought brides" for the Open European Quilt Championship 2012. It was my first pieced block quilt and at the moment I am thinking: also the last time.
I think I used the seam-ripper more than the sewing machine for this one. And accurate measuring and perfect points are really not for me. I neglected the idea to make another semi-traditional pieced blocks quilt for the competition of the dutch quilters guild. I need to make something free-style with LOTS OF BEADS.

Bouquets withought brides is not yet quilted but for this competition I could send a photo before it was finished. The photo's were sent today.
I am going to quilt with the sewing machine with madeira halloween thread. This thread glows in the dark.

Customizing Amika - part 2

2012-01-09T23:01:00.000+01:00

I made a little progress in the customization of Amika.
She's got her eye lids customized and new eyelashes. These are party eyelashes with feathers.
I carved her lips, nostrils and the bridge between them.

I am not sure I will not cut the feathers eventually. They look great when holding the doll and seeing her in 3D but in the photo's when loosing one dimension they don't look so good and I want to keep taking photo's of Amika. I will try some more. Maybe it is just a matter of the right angel.

Last week Kobi and Amika said goodbye to Amika's scalp with red hair. It was sent to a friend of ours who wanted red hair. I don't need this scalp because I am going to root a coolcat scalp.

Next steps: hair as soon as possible because she looks sick (but beautiful) makeup - I have new pastels and eyechips, waiting for metalic colors I ordered... Oh, and I may change her body too.
Amika is wearing a new party dress I made. I like this pattern I will use it again.

Feministic Kobi

2012-01-08T22:44:00.003+01:00

A few months ago I shared tokidoki® Barbie® Doll on my facebook wall and a former friend of mine commented that it is suprising to see a feminist like me praise the controversial Barbie doll because everyone know she represents the oppression of women with impossible body (as if Blythe's body is possible LOL) and her blond hair and permanent make-up. She didn't understand two things: one. I didn't praise Barbie, I actually didn't find Barbie to be so interesting (before I knew you can also DO things to THEM) and second, there are no "unfeministic hobbies". Feminism is about everyone being able to choose from all the possibilities and I like dolls, especially ones you can create or customize (and also cute little miniatures like the cactus dog the tokidoki® Barbie® Doll is walking with, if you find anything similar PLEASE let me know!).

And yes, Kobi wears make-up and she loves dresses and to change hairstyle but she also likes comfortable shoes and she reads!

After a little walk in the garden and some mud on her shoes she decided to sit down and read her magazines. She is subscribed to Ms. magazine. I read their blog.

And then a little friend on 4 feet came by. It was a nice day but then it got cold so we went inside. Kobi doesn't have a coat yet. we are still waiting for the mail.

New year's resolutions

2012-01-04T14:37:00.003+01:00

First I want to wish all my readers, family and friends a happy, healthy and creative new year.
I looked up last years new-years-resolutions and turned out I forgot all about them and I haven't fulfilled most of them.
And I know it is a known problem with new year's resolutions but still I can't resist making a new list for 2012.

First looking back at this year many things have changed. I tried opening my own patchwork shop and was really excited about that but only 2 weeks before Christmas we heard that the banks are not going to help us. I am still kind of mourning this dream. The online shop stays of course but the fact we could grow at once means I will have to keep my day job.

My Etsy shop is changed completely. Due to the high costs of posting a packages outside the Netherlands I had to make my products smaller. I stopped making bags and started crocheting Blythe hats. This is fun because I really like these dolls.

My goals for 2012 are:

Customizing Blythe dolls.

Quilting: finish the English paper piecing huge quilt

for the first time participate in the contest of the dutch quilters guild.

re-organize my creative space.

Write often in my blog

Under the x-mas tree

2011-12-24T10:34:00.005+01:00

Blythe dolls are members of the family right? Do they also get their presents under the x-mas tree?

Here are some idea's in the gorgeous treasury that my friend Inbaliya made:

winter GIFTS for Blythe

Thank you Inbaliya!
to see the listings just click on the image of the treasury or the title or here

Kobi, Amika, I, John, Denzel en Shaun wish you all happy cozy and warm hollidays.

So many fruit, so little time

2011-12-19T22:40:00.004+01:00

There are just so many fruit and vegetables in the supermarket that I haven't ran out of idea's yet!

Amika wears Cherry

Kobi wears watermelon with seeds and pom-poms

Kobi wears Orange

Amika wears Plum

I am working on a white vegetables at the moment. Guess what it is or wait and see, it is a surprise.

p.s Yesterday Amika had a nose and mouth job and her eyelashes are out.

I wish you a warmy winter

2011-12-18T08:06:00.000+01:00

Gray, brown, bordo are great winter colors, don't you think?
I also find knitting, crocheting and felting to be THE creative activity for the winter. I can knit in the livingroom for the fake fire place, crochet in bed because the crochet hook is not sharp and I always have at least one child in bed. Only needle felting I do in my creative space upstairs while sitting behind my desk. you can't be too safe with felting needles.

These are few of my winter favorites. To find the listings go to my treasury: Winter wishlist or click on the image above.

Have you notices I wish also for winter clothes for my dolls? I didn't take them outside for photography yet because it is so cold and they don't have coats and socks (ordered and waiting for the mail wo/man)

Customizing Amika - part 1

2011-12-14T22:32:00.012+01:00

I started customizing Amika
Work done so far:

Sleep eyes
Sand matting

Amika wears cucumber amigurumi hat

Amika wears empire dress with 2 pom pom hair elastics

I am waiting for the clear eye chips and scalp to continue but already after sand matting she is much more beautiful than with shiney face and yellow stock make-up. I haven't decided yet if I will change all the chips or leave some of the stock chips in place. I find these pink chips special.

Sock monkyes for dolls

2011-12-11T16:56:00.005+01:00

Blythe dolls love crocheted hats!

They are lots of work, these hats. 4 parts and the eyes that needs to be sewn together. But they are cute, right?

bouquets withought brides - TOP

2011-12-08T22:30:00.000+01:00

In a previous post I wrote about the quilt that I was making for this year Open Europian Quilt Competition - OEQC 2012 with the theme FLORA.

Finally the blocks are ready. I am still hesitating about constructing the top - should I use sashing and what would be the cross-point, or a white block between every 2 tulips bouquet?

I also revealed in my previous post that the name of the quilt is bouquets withought brides
and promised to explain why. I was inspired by a youtube video and a subject that troubles me a lot: 10-13 women are killed every year in the Netherlands alone in what is called - honnor killing. They are being killed by a family member, mostly father or brother in order to "protect the family name", that is the men of the family because a women is a possesion of her father, brothers, uncles and cousins and later her husband. If she talks with a classmate or have a relationship with a man her family didn't choose to her or want to divorce an abusive husband she puts her family to shame and to restore the honnor of the family she must die.

bouquets withought brides is dedicated to the honnor of these honnorable women who did nothing wrong. There is no honnor in killing.

It is the time of the year again

2011-12-07T22:23:00.003+01:00

This week I took out again my fondant cakes book. It is the second time this year - because it is the birthday of my oldest son today.
For his classmates I made these:

Well, I didn't actually make the cakes. I bought them and I only decorated them with cars. 23 cars - 92 wheels!!

And for our little family celebration I made him a race circuit in the shape of the number 6 because he turned 6 today!

I am getting better every cake but practicing 2 times a year only will take long before it will be perfect. I can't cover the whole cake with one piece yet.

The book is already in the closet. Next time in July.

Fruit hats

2011-12-06T11:25:00.006+01:00

After letting Amika wears the half amigurumi airplain I thouhgt - there's an idea!
There were also instruction for fruit in the amigurumi book I lended from the library and I thought - what if I wouldn't close them but leave them half open....

I have lots of ideas - strawberry and cherry and some vegetables too!
I currently working on a cucumber!

Getting creative again

2011-11-30T23:46:00.001+01:00

I need to hurry up with the quilt for the OPEN EUROPIAN QUILT COMPETITION.
That is why I try not to get stuck behind the computer too long.. because the computer (with blogs, facebook, etsy and ebay) is time consumer number 1.

I came up with the idea months ago and I started constructing the blocks and made a mistake with the seam allowance. It would be my first real tranditional quilt with blocks.
The theme of this year competition is FLORA and the name of the quilt would probably be "bouquets withought brides". When all the blocks are ready I will explain the idea and the name.

Making doll clothes

2011-11-29T22:40:00.001+01:00

I am getting to like making doll clothes. It is not so simple as it looks and even though or maybe just because I used to sew clothes for myself I hade to forget things. The order of the steps is just the opposite because it is so small. My attempts to sew a dress with sleeves has failed but I plan on trying again soon.
Taking photo´s of Kobi wearing the new dresses is also not so simple as I thought would be. We don´t have much light anymore and outside is rainy and wet and muddy. I have found that at noon the most lighted room in the house is the bathroom. Kobi is standing agains the bathroom door. But once the light is good she is a natural!

And of course for the photo´s I hade to get her shoes. Love this adorable tiny sport shoes

I have uploaded some of the dresses in my Etsy shop. The first dress is already sold and shipped!

Amigurumi

2011-11-25T11:50:00.000+01:00

My first attempt at crocheting stuffed dolls AKA amigurumi resulted in a bear with strange eyes, a squirrel and an airplain. Amigurumi is an excellent way to use yarn left overs and I have lots of them because my mother-in-law knits for the children.
Denzel is almost 6 years old and already asked why does the airplain have eyes and mouth ‬
He is crazy about airplains and knows all about them.. you can imagine what a look he gave me when I accidently said it was a helicopter...

A new friend

2011-11-24T23:19:00.004+01:00

Kobi was a little lonely so I had to get her a new friend. When she arived nude Denzel said her name is Amika so here is Amika:

In the first photo she wears a half amigurumi airplain I was making for Shaun

In the second photo Kobi and Amika are sitting on a styrofoam packagin material that I put on 4 empty thread spools. I am planing on making it a designers sofa for the dolls.

Amika has a lovely red hair but she will get a new hair that I have already ordered MOHAIR Strawberry Blonde curls:

Customizing Kobi

2011-11-23T00:01:00.005+01:00

Kobi's customizing includes:

sand matting
sleep eye
replacing one pair eye chips ( I bought a pair in etsy)
replacing her eye lashes
nose and lips carving
new pastels make-up including Freckles
sealing

She is beautiful but I am not 100% happy about it. I think I will change it soon. when I will start customizing my new doll. The new doll is going to get also a new hair. I would like a doll with curly red hair. Orders from the far east take so long to arrive that I need to make a big order by coolCat: eye chips, eye lashes and scalp. In the meanwhile I sew and crochet clothes and hair accessories.

Found old love again

2011-11-08T12:13:00.003+01:00

Years ago saw photo's of a doll with a very big head, baby face and little body but I didn't pay attention to them because I was busy growing up
A couple of months ago I saw a photo of one again on a FB album of a friend and asked her what was the name of this doll that I remembered seeing years ago lots of photo's mostly in flickr.
She answered and added me to the Blythe group and the rest is history but I didn't have time to post in my blog therefor I must start at the beginning.
I always loved dolls of all kinds. I played with dolls long after all my youngers nieces found that dolls are for little girls. In the past weeks I am looking in flickrs account and blogs of blythe fans. I loved the idea of customizing the doll and of course clothes making.
A couple of weeks later I had my first Blythe a Bohemian Piece. Denzel, my son, gave her the name Kobi.

She is a nature beauty but Kobi doesn't look like this anymore. In the next post I will show what I learned about customizing blythe dolls and post photo's of Kobi's metamorphosis.

Phone cozy

2011-07-29T12:56:00.006+02:00

Until mobile phones will come with a scratch-proof screen they must be carried in a phone-cozy. I made my phone cozy a little too late. My dear can't-live-without mobile has a little scratch right in the middle. But they will be no more because now it has a needle felted cozy. I have dyed the wool roving myself and needle felted with the embellisher with some bits purple yarn left over from making pom-poms.

Vintage button:
Phone-cozy near my new bright blue chic-from-the-market bag, that I bought because I really would like to figure out the pattern

Sunday findings - Dirty ovens

2011-07-24T11:03:00.000+02:00

Do you think it is a brilliant poster? sooooo true and something to put on the refrigerator door?
Or do you like me a "party pooper" who find this poster sexist?

My friends saw in this a positive message - you don't have to do everything. choose your tasks, the children are important than the floor and children are happy even when (or just when) the floor is sticky.

I was surprised to realize that many of my female friends failed to noticed the "hidden"message.
let's see: moms, floors, ovens, kids.
If mom doesn't clean - the floor stays sticky,
the oven is dirty because mom cooks and bakes
children are happy because they get to make the floor sticky and eat home baked cookies.
And mom choose the happiness of the children over the cleanness of the floors - therefor she gets the title a good mom.

But I still have one question and that is - WHERE IS DAD?
can't he clean the floor? and if daddy cleans the floor and the floor is not sticky anymore and mom "got help" from daddy is she not a good mom anymore because she gets "help"?

At my home it is quite different because I am not the one who makes the oven dirty and you know what I mean and still my mother-in-law thinks that kitchen set for children is "girls toys" and when I saidI wish to buy my sons such a kitchen she objected. Of course I bought them a kitchen, I bought one in a second-hand market and than I started making accessories for their kitchen. I started of course with kitchen gloves and pot holders. and I am planning on making felt food.

I drew the pattern myself with the help of the hand of my almost 6 years old son

One fat quarter quilted with the machine on a piece of white fleece was big enought for 2 gloves and 3 pot holders of 6 inches

They love them!

There are lots of kitchen related items in Etsy. I don't make treasuries anymore. I have heard that Etsy plans to change the whole concept of the front page and it isn't exciting anymore as it was at the time whe had to catch the treasury window when the number of treasury went below 333. Now there are so many of them ever second and they never expires.
So I will just post in my blog every sunday 4 items

1. Vintage Set of 3 Caravelle Sizzling Servers. from WhitlockandCo
2. Mens Digital Camo Chef's Apron from annabelsaprons
3. Handmade ceramic baking dish from claylicious
4. Manzanita coffee scoops from KitchenCarvings

VariaHex progress - hexagons turn into diamonds

2011-07-20T23:03:00.004+02:00

When John is rehearsing with the band (friends band. not yet performing in public) I turn hexagons into diamonds. 2 hourse of creating almost without interferences.
The results: 30 diamonds.
Here are some of them

Als John met de band aan het repeteren is maak ik van zeshoeken diamanten. Vrijwel zonder storingen kon ik 2 uren met BOM 2011 van Quilt&zo bezig zijn. Het resultaat: 30 diamanten. Hier zijn een aantal van hen

VariaHex progress - I see triangels

2011-07-19T13:31:00.009+02:00

I was ready with all the blocks of the last issue of Quilt&zo so while waiting for the new issue I started making the triangels that would be patched between the hexagons.
I have recently learned how to baste the fabric to the paper template stitching only the corners of the fabric and not through the paper. It will be much easier to remove the papers at the end.

first I press one edge of the triangle (of any other shape), then stitch the corners (I don't even make a knot at the end of my thread and it goes faster so), I only pull the needle through the fabric and not through the paper! and at last I press the triangle again.

I choose moda marble swirls off white and already made lots of triangles to take with me when I am going on vacation next week

Sunday findings - Play time

2011-07-10T23:24:00.011+02:00

In my previous post I wrote about how difficult is seaching for a present for a second child's first birthday because we already have so many toys at home and how I love wooden toys. I didn't tell how difficult it was searching for a present for our second son's first birthday WITH my mother in-law. We went in a wonderful store of wooden toys and she found everything is pale and doesn't looks like a car/train/truck/airplaine and kitchen is for girls (I will write about this in another post soon).

In de vorige blog post vertelde ik hoe moeilijk het was een verjaardagscadeau voor Saun te vinden omdat we zo veel speelgoed thuis al hebben en ik had het nog niet over hoe moeilijk het was met mijn schoon moeder te gaan winkelen. We gingen een houten speelgoed winkel binnen en ze vond niets mooi. Alles was of saai of lijkt niets op een echte auto/vrachtwachen/trein/vliegtuig (en ik wilde helemaal geen voertuigen meer!! ons huis ziet er al als een garage eruit) ze vond de keuken en toebehoren "speelgoed van meisjes". Volgende keer shop ik voor verjaardagscadeau in mijn eentje! liever op het internet, op Etsy bij voorbeeld.

I promised myself that next time I will shop for present alone and on the internet. Just for fun I have search Etsy and found a gold mine of organic/wooden/handmade toys. This is then the theme of my first Sunday findings: Play time

1. Dark soft penguin from timor from Israel
2. Double Rainbows, a Wooden Puzzle and Balancing Toy of Manzanita Kids toys
3. Vacation Gnomes - Mini Handmade Wooden Toy Play Set from Armadillo Dreams
4. Plush bear with green knitted hat and scarf of Zita Meilinger from Hungary

Check out this play time treasury and don't forget to give ♥

Shaun's first birthday

2011-07-02T23:39:00.005+02:00

I can't believe it has been a year already since Shaun's birth. We celebrated today his first birthday.
Of course I made a cake. The first cake for Shaun. Now on I will have to make 2 cakes a year instead of one. Denzel already "ordered" a cake of CarsII, we'll see about that...

Shaun is already a year with us and I can't imagine our life without him. He is a happy laughing baby, very smart and very social. He loves his brother and always wants to be around him.
It was very difficult to decide what to give him for his first birthday because we have lots of stuff from Denzel. We went to the store of the wooden toys and we bought him a drum. I love wooden toys. They are made with so much thought and care. the drum has a curved opening on the upper side so hitting different area's gives different sound. Wooden toys cost more than other toys but they are durable.

And they have different uses too..

The banana's cake was good and Denzel already had eaten the head of Bumba the clown.

De Bananentaart van deleukstetaarten.nl was lekker en ook Bumba's hoofd is al opgegeten.

VariaHex progress

2011-06-14T23:16:00.013+02:00

The summer seems to start early this year and is warmer than usual according to the weather forecast. When our garden is full with flowers and the smell is intoxicating who could think of siting closed in the over heated attic in front of the sewing machine.
Therefor I only go upstairs to cut fabric with my paper templates . I am completely addicted to this English paper piecing!
When we go to the camping I cut ahead and pin the templates and take everything I need with me in a cartoon suitcase I received when I was pregnant with lots of commercial material for must-have for babies that I threw away.

De zomer lijkt dit jaar vroeg te beginnen en warmer te worden dan gebruikelijk. Wanneer onze tuin vol met bloemen staat en de geur heerlijk is kan ik me natuurlijk niet op zolder achter de naaimachin sluiten.
Op deze dagen ga ik alleen naar boven om de stoffen te knippen voor de papieren sjablonen. Ik ben helemaal verslaafd aan English paper piecing!
Als we naar de camping gaan knip ik de stoffen vantevoren en neem ik alles mee.

Here is block number 7 of the Quilt&zo BOM 2011. the other blocks I already made are in my facebook page Making a new quilt

Hier is blok nummer 7 van de Quilt & Zo BOM 2011. De andere blokken die ik al gemaakt heb zijn te zien op mijn facebook pagina Making a new quilt

OEQC 2011 Veldhoven, Holland - part 3

2011-05-23T10:33:00.003+02:00

The last part of the photo's I took from the Open Europiean quilt competition for inspiration before the battery of my camery was empty:

Celtic coffee, cream and caramel - Joyce Dawe (United kingdom)

Graceful dance - Janneke de Vries Bodzinga (The Netherlands)

another amazing machine quilting

My Blues - Claudia Pfeil (Germany)

Blue Flowers - Christa Strohmaier (Austria)

Colorful New York beauty - Claudia Pisternick (Germany)

with briliant border quilting:

Star of Bethlehelm - Ines Klingebiel (Germany)
I have recently discovered and fell in love with english paper piecing and would love to make this:

an interesting way to attach parts of quilts with metal rings:

Music of freedom - Natalja Kapajeva (Estland)

And my quilt: Mata Hari, I wasn't so happy about it and I have thoughts of changing it. But the theme for next year competition is already published and is FLORA so I am already busy thinking about a new quilt.

OEQC 2011 Veldhoven, Holland - part 2

2011-05-13T19:28:00.012+02:00

It is really irritating that I have to write the post again because blogger has deleted all the new posts of the last 30 hours without a warning!!
I had to look up the names of the quilts and quilter all over again.

Octopussy - Janneke de Vries Bodzinga (the Netherlands)

This one is amazing: all of the pieces are needle -turn appliqued by hand!

Star dance - Sabina Schröder (Germany)

Lovely hand quilting stitches

Bride bouquet - Maya Chaimovich (Israel)
Maya made this quilt using pieces of her daughter's wedding dress

This one is not in the catalog. I don't know the name of the quilter but really admires her free motion quilting!

Tropenwinter - Annette Valtl (Germany)
Beautiful quilt and a technique I never saw before: The whole picture is made of tiny bits of fabric under a layer of tule! Wow, what an ECO idea for using "fabric trash" instead of throwing away...

Quilts in Miniature - Lisa Majerus (Luxembourg)
check out how tiny this paper-pieced birds are near my fingers in the photo

OEQC 2011 Veldhoven, Holland - part 1

2011-05-11T11:57:00.012+02:00

It took me 2 and half hours to get to the location of the Open European Quilt Competition 2011 and 2 and half hours to get back home. Next time I will go out earlier because I didn't have time to see all of the quilts and next year I will reload the battery of my camera the whole night before so I could take more than 30 photo's..

I didn't take photo's of the quilts because I got a catalog with the entry ticket. I took close-ups of machine free-motion quilting en interesting techniques for my inspiration and because I saw that other bloggers show even photo's of whole quilts I guess it is ok to share my photo's in my blog.

It is only fair I give credit to the quilter. I looked up the names of the quilts in the catalog.
Here is the first part of the photo's. There are so many I will post them in 2-3 different posts.

Blues - Elly Prins (The Netherlands)

Heus of blues - Gabriela claus-Heinrichs (Germany)

Alhambra blues - Anneke de Jong (the Netherlands)

Blue cats - Berta Berendsen (The Netherlands)

Blues Old Tallinn - Galina Kozulina (Estland)

Little things

2011-04-11T22:55:00.006+02:00

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things.
I am tempted to think there are no little things. Barton, Bruce

Such a tiny leaf seems harmles but it gives me itches and causes me to sneeze 10 times one after another. This happens when we go to the camping. Our caravan stands right under a birch tree. Between one sneeze to another I manage to patch some hexagons for the Quilt&zo Variahex BOM 2011 project. I had miscalculated though. the plan was to make 8 of each blok but I made 9 of the first blok and 7 of the third..

And the kids ♥♥♥

Fortunately we don't go to the camping every weeked. this weekend we are going to stay at home and I really have to finish quilting my "mata hari" quilt.

My first BOM

2011-03-29T23:41:00.005+02:00

It is this time of the year again!!

In the dutch patchwork and quilt magazine they started a new BOM 2011 project and this time I have decided to quilt along my own english paper piecing king size quilt!

This is what I have done so far. I am a little bit behind the schedule but we started going to the camping in the weekends so I will have plenty of time to catch up. I prepare the scraps and papers and take them with me when we go.

Howto: felted balls/beads

2011-03-18T11:55:00.006+01:00

I have felted things I have knitted using the waching machine for sxample the flowers I attached to my winter hat.
I also felded some beads using soap and water and it took much time and I didn't like the feeling you get in your hands when they are wet for a long time.

What if, I thought, I make pompoms with the Clover pom-pom maker using the 100% wool left overs? I think I could make felted balls/beads really fast.
That is what I did.

You will need:
Clover pom pom maker ( I used size small)
yarn 100% wool.

step 1: make pom-poms

With this tool, the Clover pom pom maker I make lots of pom poms in a very short time.
I didn't trim them or made them ball because I would put them in the washing machine anyway.

step 2: put in the washing machine.
I put them in the washing machine for a week. just with the other clothes that I would wash anyway. after the first time they are already felted. not yet round though but more oval. After 3-4 washings they are perfect round and ready to be used.

Apples and pears - quilt

2011-03-08T23:15:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I said goodbye to my recent finished quilt "Apples and pears" and send it to the quilt exhibition in the fruitmuseum in Kapelle, Netherland there it will stay for almost a year.

It is difficult to see the first-time hand quilting I did arroud the fruit. I took some close up photo's of the stitches but I can't find them on the computer

Back

2011-02-28T13:26:00.005+01:00

The vacation was so short. Seeing my family after so long was great and emotional and the weather was fantastic. Now we are back in the rainy/gray/cold Netherlands and it seems like a dream that just a few days ago my son lay on the beatch with swim-pants and I had my sandals on.

A few photo's of Israel in february

Tel aviv - you can see the sea on the horizon!

Going back - the weather is still wonderful above the clouds...

Under the clouds, home rainy home

With lots of memories, photo's and presents we are back at home. Also nice.

Ready to go

2011-02-17T12:44:00.001+01:00

Our Suitcases stand ready
We are waiting for Denzel to come back from school
Then we will put the pizza in the oven
Eat, clean. check check dubble check if everything is in my super-big handbag
And than we go out to the airpirt!

I am so excited!!

In the last minute I made luggage labels and passports covers with iron-on vinyl. For the children each with his initials on the front.

Happy vacation to us!

Happy friday

2011-02-04T23:59:00.002+01:00

A short time after the new treasury system of Etsy replaced the old exciting system (where you had to wait till the treasury count dropped under 333 and hurry up to catch a treasury before the window was closed again, I stopped making them.
I made some and also posted them in my blog but the fun was out.
I found it less exciting when you can make every hour a new treasury and because of that and the fact that some sellers make in face every hour a new treasury if your want your treasury to get exposed you should keep up with those and also make more treasuries.. It became (too much) work.
I have also noticed that almost all the comments on a treasuries are from the ones featured in it. I am not surprised. I guess that is because I am not the only one who don't enjoy surfing down the list of treasuries anymore because there are just too many I only comment on the treasuries I get a link to in the mail and not all of them. And that is also irritating - the amount of mail is multiplied!

Anyway, one very pretty treasury I got in the mail because my OOAK fabric knitted tote is in is
"Happy friday" curated by gunnelsvensson artquilter, contemporary embroiderer and mixed media artist from sweden.

The treasuries never expires anymore. You can check the link behind the image any time.
Yesterday was also happy Friday in the mail. I received my new book

Can't wait to try it but first I must finish some presents I am making for our visit in Israel and one quilt and in the last issue of "Quilting Arts" was an article about machine quilting and I decided that I must practice more. I don't know about 20 minutes a day, I don't have always that much time but I must try.

Altered/embellished

2011-01-24T22:50:00.004+01:00

First I needle felted green and some yellow wool roving with the needle felting machine and then quilted leaves on the felted surface.

Then I cut the leaves out

Then I made some felted roses using the tutorial from TeaPartyHats
Next time I must not sew the roses too tight. Then I sewed 2 blue roses and 2 leaves on my boring winter hat and got a hat for singing in the rain!

Almost wish the winter doesn't end.. NOT!!

New year resolutions

2011-01-24T00:15:00.006+01:00

First new year resolution would be to write often and on time..

I was planning to write this post for ... 24 days now and didn't find the time.
Between work, the kids, laundry (My task at home and ironing) and a little bit of quilting I don't have much to write about or I am too exhausted and go to sleep.

I am busy with some quilting for competitions and learning new methods (still trying to get fine little stitched with hand quilting )

My etsy shop would have to get a thorough shop make-over after the new rates of the dutch post office were publishedl. It would cost 22 dollars(!!) to ship a bag to America or Canada. And that is not even for registered post! It was already expansive and I had to absorb some of the post costs in the product price because no one would even pay so much for shipping but now it is even more impossible. I would have to take some bags out of my shop because selling them would just cost me money!

We have bought flight tickets to Israel and we are going to visit my family. It has been 3 years since the last time I was there. I will take the bags and give them away..
I need to make some presents for the kids though. and for my mother. I already gave her a bag once.

As for my new year resolution:

apply to quilt competitions
Learn new techniques for example: one block wonders, english paper piecing, machine embroidery
make at least one quilt with traditional method
finish 10 UFO's
give more structure to my blog and have columns names such as "Gadget of the month" for example.
Built a dollhouse (started already) with my son.

Birthday

2010-12-07T22:21:00.003+01:00

I have heard before that the birthday of your first born is always special and I felt today it is true. It was a very emotional day. My son turned 5 today. In the netherlands everyone use to congratulate not only the birthday kid but also his parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters. I alwasy found it strange that people congratulated me for the birthday of my mother-in-low but today it was very appropriate because it was not only the birthday of my son, it felt actualy as my birthday, as a mother. 5 years ago I became a mother to Denzel, a sensitive and smart boy! 5 years ago I couldn't even imagine how much you could love someone.

And at school he treated his friends with some cakes with sugar-paste Pingu's I was busy till 23:0o yesterday evening...

And he got presents of course and the- present was his new real electric guitar!
He already had the first guitar lesson with papa as the teacher.

Changes

2010-10-31T22:33:00.002+01:00

Autumn is a period of changes so it is just appropriate that my maternity leave ends tomorrow (after 6 weeks unpaid extension) and a new period begins.
It was so nice to be at home with John and the children. It was great and I made lots of pictures to take with me when I go to work just like nature gives us the last amazing landscapes right before becoming gloomy and cheerless so we could cheer a bit up before the winter..
Today Denzel and I hanged in the trees food for the birds and took some pictures of the beautiful fall colors in our garden.

UFO's

2010-10-04T10:35:00.001+02:00

A few weeks ago I tidied up my creative space and gathered together from all the corners, boxes, shelves, chairs and closets the UFO's, the Unfinished Objects.
they where EVERYWHERE! I thought they would fit the box ha ha!

Everything in the heap is something I still want to finish one day. Therefore I set a new rule. If I want or need to begin a new project I must first finish one UFO.
The first finished UFO is the OOAK Moss green Fabric knitting tote:knitted with 10mm knitting needles, I used sheer fabric and green satin cut into strips and yarn and decorative yarn. The tote is fully lined with green satin and has 2 bamboo style bag handles. There is an inner zipper pocket inside and it closes with a brass antique magnetic snap.

And then I started right away my new quilt, with the temporary name (which may become it's name): "Cat counts sheep"

The cat's silhouette is needle felted with the machine to make it hairy.

While he is sleeping (or eating)

2010-09-23T10:40:00.003+02:00

Yet another thing I found I can do while feeding my son of having him sleeping on me, besides reading or going to sleep myself is knitting and crocheting and I like it.
Especially in these last days of the summer beginning of fall when we can still sit in the garden en enjoy the sun.

In the summer I crocheted some baskets for baby-carriages. one pink for my niece and one white for our own baby-carriage.

you make it small because it stretches and holds lots inside.

I don't feel that old

2010-09-22T22:47:00.003+02:00

When I cycled today to the post office, the sun above, the wind in my hair ‬ I felt almost like a teenager again. Then I passed near a parking car and saw in my reflection the child seat on the back of my bicycle and recalled I became 34 today. A mother of 2 (handsome!!) boys.
Funny I don't feel 34. I don't feel 19 (luckily ), 25 or 30 for that matter.
I was just happy today. Not usually to my birthdays..

First publication

2010-09-20T22:07:00.004+02:00

My mini-quilt has been published in an Israeli patchwork magazine!
"Bad va-od" (translated: fabric and more) is a new patchwork magazine in Hebrew. The only one as far as I know. I participated in the challenge "In my shoes closet"
my first publication.

I wrote: Being an untypical woman, my shoes-closet, if I had one, would have been very boring. Therefor I decided to design my fantasy pumps. The mini quilt is called : "I wish"

As I wrote in my Etsy profile : My grandmother was sewing custom dresses for living and had 100 pairs of shoes, all colors, mostly very-high heels. She walked on high heels when she was 80 years old!

Techniques:

vlisofix applique
machine quilting
beading and 3D sweetheart roses.

Last weekend of summer

2010-09-18T22:48:00.006+02:00

I tried springing from one end of the path to the other, tried walking on the side breaks and still everytime it rains I get water in my shoes.
It doesn't look best but it works.

In a few weeks it will be cold all the time, the trees will be naked, everything will be gray and I will have to go back to work after my maternity leave ended. It actually ended last week but I managed to get 6 more weeks..
I took some pictures today of the last weekend of summer:

dry Clematis

last grapes

last rose

Crosses and circles blanket

2010-09-05T22:27:00.003+02:00

First I get an idea and than I look for a way to work it out. That is how it went this time too. I had the idea of quilting a circle in every cross. Every circle with a thread in the color of the cross. That is a lot of thread changing...
I found a round dish exactly the size of the circle that I needed and drawn circles on a A4 sticker. Thank cut the circles and stick them on the fabric. I used 6 stickers and at the end they didn't stick anymore.
I used green fleece for the backing and no batting because the fleece is soft and warm as it is.

At the end the back looked like this:

And the whole blanket after binding it this weekend (binding, yet another thing to the list of things-you-can-do-while-breastfeeding) is already in use at the moment while Shaun takes a nap in the baby carriage.

This week I also got the new "Quiltnieuws" the magazine of the Dutch Quilters Guild and the themes for the 2 quilting exhibition/competitions are known: Blues and Climate. I started working about ideas.

4 days basting

2010-08-27T14:02:00.006+02:00

Can't believe it took me 4 days to baste this little blanket!
But that is just my new reality - with a baby in arm I can't sew.
I try not to complain, I love having him and holding him and he smiles and even laughs but sometimes when he cries and I jump with him in my arms on the physioball I wish I could be just for a short time somewhere else..

I use the time that he shortly sleeps to blog about something I have made before he was born: a baby cocoon and a matching gnome cap.

Once a quilter always a quilter

2010-08-19T23:51:00.003+02:00

A quilter stays a quilter even when feeding a 7 weeks old baby 8 times a day...
Between all the new exciting tasks I started cutting squares 2 weeks ago..

Yes, time passes really fast. 7 weeks ago at this time I timed contractions and today Shaun already tried to grab the hanging soft toys and laughing.

Have you noticed that he is wearing the kimono set that I have made before he was born?With his slanty eyes he looked a half Asian! so cute!

Vacation is over

2010-08-18T23:35:00.004+02:00

It was a long vacation and now it is over. We spent 4 weeks in our caravan but came back home to do the laundry. I posted some photo's in facebook while the washing machine was spinning but didn't find time to blog. sorry for that.

We didn't do much besides getting use to being a family of four. We walked around in the forests around the camping. Shaun spent most of the time wrapped on me. When I put him there he falls asleep almost right away.

But we managed to take some photo's of him awake after all.

Denzel spent time getting acquainted with little brother.

Of outside getting himself wringing wet

I rested a lot while Denzel spent lots of time with grandma but it is good to be back home.
School year begins again on Monday and my maternity leave is almost over. Exiting and tensed time ahead for us.

Shaun is here

2010-07-05T15:14:00.002+02:00

Friday 02-07-10 on 05:40 after a sleepless, hectic, painfull and noisy night Shaun was born at home. 3760 gram sweetness.

Brother Denzel slept the whole time and woke up 5 minutes before Shaun was (finally ) out!
He was very happy even though he was sure for a long time he'll get a sister.
We are adjusting to being a family of four and it is not always easy, specially since I still have to physically recover.

I am a proud and happy mother of two boys!

Romantic pair wristlets

2010-06-28T15:22:00.001+02:00

Just on time before the heat wave started I finished some UFO's.
To the scrap collages on a piece of self coffee-dyed canvas with frayed edges I added here again a luscious roses-bouquet and made wristlets out of them.

My creative space is the attic and it is very hot there. Besides I already have once in a while a surge.. I guess it won't take long till I hold my baby so I can't think of bags at the moment

The black forest bag

2010-06-26T14:58:00.001+02:00

I don't remember such a bloomy year! Everywhere flowers, bees and butterflies!
It is very warm these days and I am starting to feel too heavy. I wasn't impatient till now, on the contrary, everyone arround me admires my patience to wait till birth to know if I have a boy of a girl.. But now that everything is ready I don't really mind meeting our baby tonight

My sewing machine doesn't remember such busy weeks either... Everyday after taking my son to school I go to the attic for 2-3 hours of creating. I took out the UFP's box and started finishing things...

This needle felted bag waited with the rest.

I needle felted all kinds of fabrics and thread trash together and then beaded en embroidered by hand!
The bag is embellished with 3 hand made Turquoise roses and 2 long needle felted leaves to give it a fantasy-world look.
2 roses and one leaf are attached to the flap and one rose and one leave to the bag. when the bag is closed they all form a bouquet.

The quilt

2010-06-21T23:57:00.001+02:00

Measures: 26 X 17 inches.

shoes

2010-06-13T16:58:00.011+02:00

What would I do withought a mirror?!
Probably go out wearing slippers..

Besides being busy with the impossible task of wearing my shoes when I go out ( 4 times a day I ride my bicycles to my son's school and back) I was busy with quilting shoes.
It all started as a challange in a magazine with the theme: my shoe-closet. But I don't have any shoe-closet. I hardly have shoes. Really, I have 4 pairs: slippers, boots and 2 pairs of sandals - one flat and the other on heels (short heels). What could I create inspired only by my own shoes?!

The shoes I don't have!

High heels pumps. I never had those.Searching in google I found some pictures for inspiration and one image I edited to be the scatch And here is the quilt:

It doesn't have a name yet and it is also not completely finished. I am busy at the moment beading and embellishing!

Pink

2010-06-12T11:48:00.000+02:00

Pink it´s my new obsession
Pink it´s not even a question
Pink on the lips of your lover,
´cause Pink is the love you discover

By chance our garden is very pink at the moment. I love roses, they are the most practical plants to have in your garden. once in a year trimming and they come back and blossom from spring to autumn! The pink roses where the first this spring.

But the red and white roses are coming out soon. The smell is intoxicating already!
click on the image to see the romantic and lovely handmade items with roses on Etsy.

And one last pink photo: me in my pink dress in a warm day (last weekend)

Pink it was love at first sight
Pink when I turn out the light,
and Pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be all right
No matter what we do tonight

Long time

2010-06-10T10:09:00.003+02:00

Thank you, Galit
for bringing my OOAK Fabric knitting shoulder bag with a bow tie to the front page of Etsy!

There's no smoke without fire

2010-06-07T22:57:00.003+02:00

As I said before, Motherhood is one challenge after another and I think I did it fine this time. Denzel wanted to go as a fireman to the school fantasy fair.
I made the fireman helmet from packages of cornflakes, cover it with paper strips and water-flour glue (paper mache glue)

I also made the pants and yellow strips for his summer jacket but it was really hot on friday.

There were no fires and no smoke so our little fireman took ice-cream break(s)

Cute and fluffy

2010-05-31T23:40:00.004+02:00

These are some of the cutest things you find when searching on the term "fluffy" in etsy.com.
Click on the photo and give some ♥

And here are some of my creation of the first week of my maternity leave.
Thanks to Amy of Habitual…. creature of habit. and her great kimono pattern I made this NB kimono set.

The pattern of the pants are from a pattern found in a dutch sewing magazine for babies clothes.

Blue

2010-05-27T10:51:00.006+02:00

Blue sky in Amsterdam

Last day before my maternity leave
Wisteria (blauwe regen in dutch means blue rain)
Can you smell it?
backpack I've made for my son

Hand dyed lace

Hand dyed lace used to make too short curtain
(and I did measure the window, twice!) longer

Hand dyed wool roving

Etsy treasury from 11 minutes ago
Don't forget to give ♥
Wild trees

A baby blanket is born

2010-05-21T23:24:00.006+02:00

My belly has just began showing when I was basting the babygirl blanket (not for us, we only know that it is a baby)

Eventually so far. Last weekend I finished binding the blanket and today was my last day of work and I started my maternity leave.

I still have 4-8 weeks to go but so many things to do for example a baby wrap and some sets of baby kimono top and pants but first we have the end of year school fair in june and Denzel wants to go as a fireman.. Motherhood is one challenge after another

Still hearing the music

2010-05-11T22:30:00.003+02:00

Music expresses that which cannot be
said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
~Victor Hugo

Still under the influence of f Rhythm and music, the week before going on vacation I finished the small quilt for the Quilting Arts "How Entertaining" readers challenge.

In my small quilt (8.5 X 11 inches) a violist.

As in the venus mini quilt I used here also coffee dyed and rust dyed fabric and lace, scraps, beads and found objects.
I have found the sunflowers in the street one day and put them in my pocket for later.
The image is printed on fabric but not by me. I bought some fabric collage sheets in Ebay.

Without music life would be a mistake.
~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Home sweet home

2010-05-09T22:41:00.005+02:00

Is it possible to have a too long vacation at the wrong time? That is how I felt already 4 days ago and was counting the days to be home again. home - is where my washing machine, sewing machine and connection to the Internet are..

I think the problem was visiting the Quilt exhibition because since then my head was not where I was but where I could be with my fabrics, threads and sewing machine...
After seeing how wonderful it feels to see my own quilt in a real exhibition I couldn't wait to start on the new project to be presented somewhere..

Of course the windy rainy colder-than-usual didn't help. But I came home today, the washing machine is busy and I spent hours quilting a baby blanket (just to warm up)
And finally I can show my quilt "Crazy Notes":

Goddess on the mountain top

2010-04-20T11:43:00.007+02:00

Goddess on the mountain top
Burning like a silver flame
The summit of beauty and love
And Venus was her name

My dear friend, the dream designer, used to sculp ancient goddesses of clay. I loved them. I also treasure my goddess necklace forever and actually feel the energy when holding it and wearing it.
My dear friend, Inbal, celebrated her birthday last week and I have made her a quilted ancient goddess because of who and what she is.
Inspired by herself and The Venus of Willendorf (22,000 B.C. and 21,000 B.C) I needle felted my own version of venus and she stands proud in the center of a mixed media mini-quilt (8.5 X 11 inches).

Look at the richness of texture that the lace gives! I couldn't have embroidered it richer myself.

I love mixing techniques and materials.
In this piece I used:

coffee and rust dying (inner background, various scraps in the corners and the lace)
beading
needle felting (venus)
found objects (tree branch I found in the forest near the camping)

Silence

2010-04-13T22:35:00.004+02:00

"Young man, if God had wanted you to see me that way,
he would have put your eyes in your bellybutton. "

Lillian Gish , The First Lady of the Silent Screen

In the center a printed on fabric Portrait.
And arround with the needle felting machine I punched wool, silk, lace, satin and other yarns and embellished with satin ribbon roses.

It turned out to be a little (4X8 inches) nostalgic romantic wall hanging.

Forgot how much I liked

2010-04-08T10:25:00.005+02:00

Making Etsy treasuries
This week I curated enjoyably 2

Drama
(hurry up klicking on the link above because it is about to expire in less than 10 hours!)

Sweet

Reading
I think I am done with birthing books. After "childbirth without fear", "Hypnobirthing" and "Unassisted childbirth" I am ready and eager to give birth but still have 11-13 weeks to kill.
I turned back to leisure books.
The last one I have read was "The eye of the leopard" by Henning Mankell. I recommend.
It has been a while since I just could put a book down.
Now I read a dutch book "Duet" by Céline Linssen. It is a roman about the last 3 months of Mata Hari life in prison.

There are lots of photo's on the web if you search Mata Hari. I would like to make a quilt of her.
But I have so many things to do before. The birthdays and visits just keep on coming and I am busy with presents and must-does-before I couldn't reach the sewing machine over my belly anymore. This baby seems to be not so fond of the nooisy needle felting machine.

Two pages

2010-04-06T22:31:00.001+02:00

The cover and 2 text pages of my project fiber book "The magic hat" are ready.
I have printed the text on a thick paper and then sewn the paper on the fabric covering it with transparent vinyl. It is faster and easier than printing on fabric. I will come to that later, someday.

The first signs of sprig

2010-03-18T22:25:00.005+01:00

Finaly, colors are back!
Some new photo's - The first signs of spring!

Crocuses

New leaves

Ladybugs!

EVERYWHERE

And they are not always acting as ladies.. these ladybugs

And one new fiber painting, "The sisters"

Pretty as a Package

2010-03-14T17:32:00.000+01:00

Everyone who is familiar with my Art bags knows that each and everyone of them is unique and that lots of the work on one piece is literally hand-made. The ones who bought an Art bag by me know that I also make the packages myself.

I have decided to share my packages. I pack my bags in a brown paper envelop I sew (yes I sew the paper) with stamps and tie it close with a cord I make of yarn and zigzag with metal thread. here is how:

I did it!

2010-02-25T13:16:00.005+01:00

Weeks ago (or is it months? ) I told you about starting piecing the blocks for the "music quilt".
what I didn't tell you is that I was planning to apply for the first time for an exhibition.

Due to unfortunate events, that is, fabric got stuck for 2 months in customs, I had to change my original plan but finally I finished the quilt at the last minute to make photo's, cycle downtown to get the photo's and send them 2 days before deadline!!

This week I got the letter!

My Quilt "Crazy Notes" has been accepted to the OEQC (Open Europian Quilt Competition)!!!!! My first creation in a real exhibition!!

If you happen to be in the neighborhood:

Open European Quilt Championships 2010

29 April untill 2 May 2010

KONINGSHOF IN VELDHOVEN
THE NETHERLANDS

The book writes itself

2010-02-14T21:59:00.005+01:00

I am still busy with the illustration for "the magic hat" I am making for my son.
My last purchase was a great improvement. Janome Embellisher Replaceable Needle Kit. It is soothing to know I don't need to loose my head if I break only one needle

Clover Felting Claw & Mat Cleaner is also not bad either
It really helps holding yarn in place when writing letters with the embellisher. I can hold it very close to the needles when working with the machine.

The cover of the fiber book is almost ready. I only need to add a feather to the hat.

The magic hat, my first fiber book

2010-02-04T11:30:00.038+01:00

Earlier in my creative life I painted and illustrated flat images on paper.It was too flat. I didn't know yet, I was very young, how to create textures. Later I experimented sculpturing with paper mache, an area that I still feel I haven't explored thoroughly and will certainly go back to.
Then I discovered textile and fibers and a new world opened to me.
To combining making pictures with textile fibers I came via my son. I read for him every evening before he goes to sleep a book. I still love children's book illustrations and besides the story the pictures have a great factor for me when approving a book in our little home library. But we don't have many books and we both get bored reading the same books over and over and over again.
I thought - why shouldn't I make for us some books?!
Why not?
I am busy now with the picutres of my first fiber book. I didn't write the story. The story is written years ago by one of my favorite poet and writer, Lea Goldberg.

The magic hat

My inner animal

2010-01-27T15:38:00.009+01:00

So today Pokey Bolton , Editor-in-Chief of Quilting Arts Magazine posted in her blog the list of Quilting Arts Inner Animal Challenge Finalists and my name is not in... it was lots of fun doing a piece for a challenge and I will certainly do that again.. who knows, maybe one day my name will be on such a list?

I can't wait to see the finalist's pieces but I don't have to wait to show mine.

My piece name : The lioness.

And my motivations was:

My name is Ayala, it is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is a gazelle, a female deer.
On the outside my name suits me, but my inner animal is actually the opposite of the petite and shy looking deer. In the inside I am a Lioness, Feminine and sensual, the core of my family, queen of the pride, a total mother.
I never run away but always move forward!

Creating while expecting

2010-01-18T21:15:00.000+01:00

Expecting a child is a very special period in my life. I feel super feminine and glamorous even when my sweater hardly covers my growing belly and I am only just beginning the 4th month..
Luckily I wear my coat most of the day

Everything I feel has of course influence on my work. With the CD of birth confirmation playing on the background I create with sensual colors and dreamy materials as wool and silk, feathers and sparkle and the sweet nostalgia of vintage.

And how could I forget the roses!

And then came Quilting Arts with the challenge "The inner animal" right on time.
I can't tell yet which animal I am inside but it is something wild
I am looking forward to the following 6 months!

1+ 50%

2010-01-16T16:42:00.011+01:00

1+ 50%

Making room in my etsy shop
for the new exciting collection

EVERYTHING MUST GO - NO ITEM WOULD BE RENEWED!!

Buy ANY item from my etsy shop and get refunded for 50% of the price off of every additional item!!

for example:
If you buy two pencil cases for $18 each you'll be refunded for $9!!
If you a knitting shoulder bag for $85 and a quilted pink clutch for $50 you'll be refunded for $25!!

What's coming next?
In my new collections more fiber arts and not only bags!!
More romance, familiar techniques with new motiven, new designs, new materials!

M for martine

2010-01-10T21:36:00.000+01:00

A day before new years eve was my son's last day in the kindergarden we had a little farewell party. I made a cake for the children and we gave his teachers thank you gifts that I made and my son was so proud to tell everyone that his mama made the cake and the presents

His teachers names are Martine and Debby and I made for each a little jeans purse with her own first letter

M for Martine

D for Debby

I used purse frame with sewing holes and instead of attaching them with glue I stitched them with sead bead.

Happy new year!

2010-01-04T13:05:00.002+01:00

Beter later than never
I began the new year with some exciting events...
Best 2010 to everyone!!

Xpressing myself

2009-12-14T19:00:00.003+01:00

The top of the music quilt is ready and now I am waiting for the fabric I ordered for the back and binding. They are already shipped and I hope they will arrive very soon because the dead-line is closing in....

In the meanwhile I celebrated my son's 4th birthday. I promised him weeks before a pingu cake.
Sculpturing with sugarpaste was harder than I thought. luckily he has a birthday only once a year

While waiting for the fabrics to arrive I prepared my sewing table for quilting of a large quilt. and then when the table was clean and empty I took Janome Xpression out the corner, wool, scraps and embroidery tread... I would have to clean my table again before the fabrics arrive..

Have I mensioned it before how I like sheep?

A green landscape with sheep is a typical dutch view. but these sheep are french(knot)

I had a idea to write a children book and to felt, embroidery and sew the illustrations. Is that something?

Every child is an artist

2009-12-02T15:06:00.006+01:00

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up"

~ Pablo Picasso ~

This is one of the quotes about art quoted on the new art quilting and mixed media custom made for order bag. It was such a pleasure making this bag!

I strated with the base. layering lycra, chiffon and lace and quilting them together with batting underneath.

Then I went through all my scrap boxes pulling out cotton, coffee dyed scraps and lace, tule, vinyl, lay them above and under each other, change this and that and again until I came up with the composition I liked!
I remembered a tip from the book Creating with fabric, I wrote about earlier in my blog: I took photo's of the final composition!
It really helps because when I want to sew everything together I must of course begin with what I added in first. It is easy then to forget the plan but the camera remembered!

Then I beaded all over my work beads, buggles, pearls and flowers. It adds texture and sparkle. I like that.

The bag is shaped as an envelope. Because the bag is quilted with batting it is soft yet super strong as a quilt!

Piece-full?

2009-11-19T22:15:00.004+01:00

I haven't done much lately. no treasuries, no new quilts, clothes, bags, nothing
But this week I have decided to take matters in my own hand and not wait for inspiration or even to be awake ..
Started piecing the music blocks for my next quilt. 17 at a time!
And cut all the 17 at once!

51 blocks so far..

Done for today!
Good night!

Announcements

2009-11-12T23:45:00.001+01:00

ø¤º°*°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤ °º¤ø

ISART TEAM Celebrates December!!
10% off an entire order
Throughout the entire shop this weekend, Friday, November 20 through Sunday, November 22 , 2009
you will be refuned via PAYPAL after purchase.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Find all our shop that participate in ISART TEAM Celebrates December discounts in our team blog:
http://etsyisrael.blogspot.com/

ø¤º°*°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤ø,¸.¸,ø¤º°*°º¤ °º¤ø

My first YouTube

2009-11-09T12:16:00.006+01:00

Thank you, Inbar from bouji & nouna♥Unique designs for the contemporary Baby, a memeber of our ISART team who came up with this great idea of putting our shops in youTube!

I made the slideshow using the software video delux but the music comes from the music library of YouTube.

My boyfriend is a minimalist

2009-10-31T10:30:00.000+01:00

His favorite colors are black and white. oh, and red too but only on cars..
When he asked why don't you make some of your patchwork for us for a change.. but... not so many colors like the blanket for the baby.
I have heard: Black and white, can you make something colorless?
Can I make something colorless.
OF COURSE NOT! mmm maybe?
I chose monochrome fabrics but also ones with a touch of green (leaves), red (autumn leaves), orange and yellow. made nine patch and then cut them to create a disappearing nine patch little tables covers.

Here they are:
Disappearing nine patch 12'' squares (one is narrower) , free motion machine quilted

Thank you theBeadAerie!

2009-10-22T23:02:00.005+02:00

My crazy patchwork pencil case was today on the Front page of etsy thanks to theBeadAerie

Thank you, Peggy!

This is one of my pencil cases I like so much to make. They are all made of scrap fabric and decorated with machine decorative stitches! There are no two alike and it would be impossible for me to produce the same pattern twice because... I don't use any pattern
However I do make custom orders. You can ask for a color, color combination or theme and I will be happy to take the challenge.

Green fields

2009-10-19T23:10:00.005+02:00

My new OOAK Embroiderd green all purpose clutch wristlet
I named it "Green fields" because I was inspired by the endless green fields of sheep and corn surrounding our camping.

For the first time my clutch has a matching detachable wrist strap on a Swivel Clip so the clutch can be used as a wristlet or clutch!

Approximate measures:
Width: 10 inch (25 cm)
Height (when closed): 6 inch. (15 cm)
Weight: 120 gram.
Wrist strap (folded dubble(: 8.5 inch (21 cm)

Inspiration

2009-10-14T21:53:00.000+02:00

“Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”

~Robert Frons

It has been awhile since I posted inspiring photo's. These are taken at the end of the summer before the colors begin to change when autumn began.

The last disordered fence inspired me in my last crazy quilting

Hope you'll be inspired too.
Now I have to hurry up and make some photo's of the red and yellow trees before they'll loose all leaves. But taking photo's while bicycling became difficult because my fingers get too cold to turn on the camera!!

Poetry

2009-10-09T23:10:00.005+02:00

Years ago I wrote some poems and I also entered an online competitions and forgot about them somehow. Few weeks ago I googled my name in a blog search and in the 3rd page out of 5 I came across a blog post published in 2007 and titled "Poetry" that was written in what seems to be russian.
I klicked on the link and to my astonishing surprise was confronted with my own words! my poem "Missing you" that I wrote 7 years ago after my first visit to the netherlands.

Missing you

Someone is missing
Something is wrong
Somehow the days became
Awfully long
Hours of nothing
When I don't hear a sound
Helplessly searching
Your invisible face in the crowd

How come I am so far away?
Remind me again, why didn't I stay?
The man of my dreams
Where I can reach out and touch
But I always wake up
To miss you so much

Ayala Levinger

Copyright ©2003 Ayala Levinger

How strange is that?!
I TOTALLY forgot about it but at the moment I began to read it I knew the rest by heart..

Thank you Black bird for reminding me.

Invitation

2009-09-19T22:41:00.007+02:00

After my last post it is not a secret anymore, I want a second child. I want a baby but he doesn't come. I am trying to lengthen my luteal fase with acupuncture and I am in a crucial moment "as we speak".

But (Jewish) new year new approaches. I have decided to invite the baby with the energy created while creating! When I create something I actually feel the energy! when a project is finished I am not tired but actually LOADED!

The battery was full today!

If you look closely you see I was holding the blanket upside down! (note the tulips...) and I am not even pregnant yet....
The rest of the photo's were taken by my boyfriend and NONE of them contained the whole piece with binding...

I love the corners!

I am going to sew more baby things.

Life should be a roses garden

2009-09-14T23:13:00.005+02:00

Life is not a roses garden. I know.

If life was a roses garden I wouldn't be living in the same neighborhood as my mother-in-low.
If life was a roses garden I would be carrying my second child by now instead of laying every Wednesday with needles in my legs and belly (though acupuncture is sooo meditative I recommend!)
If life was a roses garden it wasn't already the last week of the summer and I wouldn't have to go to work tomorrow.

Life should be a roses garden!

The last week of the summer and the last week of the 33rd year of my life. I will be 33 the day after the autumn begins. In my little garden the roses are in full blossom! and in my sewing room too... ever since I tried for the first this brilliant gadget of clover - The sweatheart rose maker

Brilliantly simple and easy to use. Every 5 minutes a new rose is being born on my studio table...

Praise to Prym Vario

2009-08-24T22:53:00.004+02:00

Not only I won't bang anymore with the hammer, I will also never be afraid to use snaps. Oh, I had so many idea's that I neglected just because of a snap... Because the snap is in most case the last thing to insert it can ruin the whole bag!

Many months ago (or is it years?) I made a purple-orange bag with a crazy quilted flap.
I made the bag in one weekend and that is why I think it could be last summer because I think I remember me sitting outside in the camping embroidering the beads..
Anyway, I was stuck at the point of making a hole to attach the strap with a jeans-jacket style buttons. The fabric of the bag is thicker than quilting cotton and the strap is one piece folded in 4. that makes it a hole through 12 layers!!

I can't believe how easy it was making the holes with my new Prym Vario-Snap Kit that I wrote about in the previous post!

I can't believe I waited that long....

as they say in the home shopping program on TV:
Prym Vario-snaps kit has changed my life!

No more banging

2009-08-23T22:42:00.005+02:00

I am done with banging snaps with a hammer. I hate the not knowing if I hit hard enough when I bang with the hammer and when I check what I did I realize it is only half inserted or bended... one down.. the plastic tool breaks usually before I use all the snaps. I hate these plastic tools.
But no more because I bought in my vacation the set of prym. found it by coincidence on the Wednesday market. My boyfriend had cash so I bought it right away before anyone else got his hands on it. it was the last one...

And WOW. what a difference! When I make the hole I actually feel it being created and when I attach the snap I hear and feel it's done! one click and over.

No more banging then!

I am back

2009-08-16T22:08:00.008+02:00

The vacation was fun and now over and we actually came back home a day before planned. It wasn't my idea although I secretly felt it was already the right time to take a break-off-mother-in-low.

I still have huge piles of laundry and ironing to do and to take care of some orders so here are some photo's

Denzel new tractor

One crocheted flower already attached to a new eyeglass case.
not yet on Etsy.

Denzel and I playing with water on a hot day

They've got mail.

Check out Denzel's new trend: sleeveless t-shirt on top of the t-shirt he sleeps in.

A short message from vacation

2009-08-05T13:32:00.007+02:00

The day before we went away on vacation finally my new sandals arrived!
I bought them from BABOUCHESHOP in Etsy. They write:
All cuts, seams and joints are made entirely by hand, in a small leather workshop in Marrakech.
I like it.

It took a while for my surprise.Marokko is not that far from holland. but they arrived and I am wearing and enjoying them endlessly almost a week now!

The party was a success and I had my layers skirt with tule on. It is always great to get compliments for self made clothes. It is
I am sitting these days in the sunny garden learning myself to crochet. I made some flowers. It took me hours to understand the instruction but I never give up!

I'm also happy when it rains

2009-07-13T16:07:00.005+02:00

It's still raining...

outside and in...
I am still embellising one piece of needle felted base and I still have no idea what it will be..
But it's raining purple rain.

Before we went to the camping this weekend I made a treasury and included my teammembers from 2 teams: the Israel artists team and European Street Team (EST).
I named it "I'm also happy when it rains". I had a good feeling about this one but we don't have internet connection in the camping.

Only when I came back I could read all the messages I've got thanking me for bringing us to the front page of Etsy!

I have finished my party skirt and waiting for my new sandals to arrive. I am now working on the top and trying design an new purse and to figure out an easy way to insert a metal purse frame.

Red hot

2009-07-08T15:57:00.004+02:00

Last weekend I was busy the whole weekend complaining about the weather and how it was too warm for me. It amazes me how fast your body can get use to a different climate than you were used to for years.. But now after two rainy days with wind I want the sun back! and my boyfriend says I became a real dutch - always complaining about the weather no matter what it is...
Last weekend we spent in the camping when suddenly a flying balloon appeared awfully low almost landing on the roof of our caravan!

I Wonder how we looked from above, with the naked kid sitting in a rubber boat filled with water and all my embroidery threads and beads all around the garden table..

I left my project in the caravan because we go back this weekend and at home I am busy wih the making of my party skirt for the camping party on august 1st.

Trying something different

2009-06-29T23:55:00.006+02:00

In the Israel Artists Team we discuss often the importance of good photo's.
The background color is the source of all disagreements. Solid backgrounds are good for the treasuries and front pages but with other backgrounds you can create a feeling.. Solid background could be white or colored but if the background has a color it could only be in treasury where the color matches..

Not an easy one.

I chose white because my bags contains lots of colors and details.
But every now and then I get bored. I like taking photo's and it is fun creating a scene for a bag.

For my last bag, a fabric-knitted bag with organza flower with felted leaves, I decided to go outside and make something different.

I find the change refreshing

Summer coat

2009-06-29T22:17:00.006+02:00

Can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow These last 2 weeks were wonderful. With my son at home and out, great weather, traveling, visiting, talking... Fantasy!
But tomorrow I go back to work and he goes back to kinder garden. He actually wanted to go already today (he misses his girlfriend )

When my mother was visiting she looked after Denzel every day in the afternoon and everyday I progressed a bit and after a week and half Denzel had his new Cool Jeans Summer Coat!

Sewing clothes is more complicated than sewing bags but it is also more interesting and I still have lots to learn. I love to learn new things and I like clothes! I will certainly make some new dresses soon.

Inspiration

2009-06-24T23:53:00.006+02:00

Two weeks with my mother are almost over... We have taken lots of photo's to remind us later of a time that will never come back. my son is growing at the moment...
It is great, sometimes tiring though because I have to translate dutch to Hebrew and otherwise because both sides are a bit lazy to speak English...
Sometimes I ask Denzel to translate. he can.

I did create something though, I have sewn Denzel a new summer coat but it is surprisingly sunny these days in June that he hasn't got a chance to wear it yet (I have a feeling he will have in a short while...)

Anyway, instead of writing about not much or about boring things like visiting zoo, parks and forests I will just post some colorful photo's, as usual, for inspiration.

Not waiting for mama

Nature

Denzel's new watch

Colors in Amsterdam

Enjoy the weather !

Little girl again

2009-06-14T23:04:00.005+02:00

This morning we drove to the airport to pick my mother. She'll staying with us two weeks.
I was very excited the whole week and Denzel too. He hasn't seen grandmother 2 years. In a life of a 3.5. years old boy that is almost a lifetime!!

It was strange though.. seeing my mother after so long. while waiting for her to show up (a whole hour!) I had tears in my throat but when she was finally there I didn't cry. Strange. I feel like a little girl and at the same time such a grown up like I never felt in my life...

My last creation was a needle felting project for myself - No swaps this time!
I needle felted with my machine some organza fabric and wool and silk roving and silk carriers. Then I was busy the whole weekend embroidering and beading..

It turned out to be a mobile hanging from the ceiling in my studio...
I like it. It reminds me the little girl I once looked like (although it is not me in the photo!) and the girly girl I still have inside...

Sewing machine meme

2009-06-11T23:48:00.004+02:00

My sewing machine meme for Sew, Mama sew collection of sewing machine meme's

What brand and model do you have?
Huskystar C10 of Husqvarna

How long have you had it?
1.5 years

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
€ 450 (in holland)

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? Quilts and bags

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
5 hours a week. I wish I had more time but something I sew and embroider by hand and I also use a needle felting machine.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
I love my machine but I don't give machines names
I was very upset and missed her greatly when she was being checked out.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

free-motion quilting
needle position adjustment (great for top stitch)
decorative stitches that I use a lot,
the ability to set maximum speed
needle up/down selector ( I didn't know how much I need it until I used for a week another machine which didin't had it!)

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
When I sew and sew and sew and when I finish I realize the bottom bobbin was empty..

Do you have a great story to share about your machine?
I haven't found my machine under the Christmas tree because we never have any...
I bought it myself for my self. and yes, I had sewn my finger once.. ooouch that hurts! since then every time I sew my son shout to me "MAMA, LOOK OUT!"
And another time that my machine didn't sew I found out it was full of scrap-bookings felt flowers! My son have pushed a whole package inside! I had to open it and the lamp was still hot... oouch again.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
yes. But it is not only the machine. I recommend the shop where I bought the machine because good service is also important if you want to keep your machine in good shape for a long time.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
First factor is what do you plan to do with it.
Second factor is what do you think you would like to do with it.
I knew I was interested in patchwork and quilting. It was very important to me that I could free motion quilt, use 1/4 inch foot (I looked for machine with needle position adjustment), and because I sew bags I wanted a machine that could handle layers and thick fabrics.
I don't sew clothes or baby clothes so it was not so important to me if I could use twin needle. Decorative stitches are nice and I heard many people say they are useless but I use them all the time in my machine-crazy-quilting.

Do you have a dream machine?
Janome 6600