WOW: Wips on Wednesdays

Wednesday is nearly gone here in Holland, but I'm just in time to post a link to my blog on Esther's WOW.

My two main projects this week are Herbularius by Chatelaine and the rabbit applique block which I will be teaching in October.

I made some more progress on Herbularius. Part 1 is quite big and part 2 was published today by its designer Martina Rosenberg.


The bunny block got finished and I will take it to Samsara tomorrow or Friday, to be displayed in the shop. The design is by Edyta Sitar.

Our hydrangeas have started to display their autumn colours. August is nearly over and our summer has been very wet. Hopefully nature will have a nice Indian summer in stall for us.

My number of followers grew over the past week, and I would like to welcome my new followers.

Thanks to everyone for your lovely and motivating comments.

Herbularius: more progress

My Herbularius is growing slowly but surely. Only two more days to go before part 2 is published!

Here are a few pictures for those of you eagerly following its progress:

Not sure I will get part 1 finished before September 1st, but that's alright. It is not a race. I'm enjoying the journey.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and welcome to my new followers.

Herbularius

Last night I made good progress on Herbularius.

I worked on it till the wee hours, and only now notice that there are four stitches missing from the centre ;o)

I'm stitching it on 32-count Ivory Murano.

The applique bunny in batiks is coming along nicely too. I will post a picture of it soon.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my WOW post on Wednesday.

WOW: WIPs On Wednesday Once More

WOW, it is Wednesday again and time for WOW, Wips on Wednesdays by Esther Aliu.

For those eagerly awaiting progress on Herbularius, here is where I am at as of this morning:

No enormous progress, but I'm having to get used to stitching Châtelaines again and I've had frequent visits from the froggies.

This afternoon I prepared the applique pieces for the course I will be teaching in October and November. A block designed by Edita Sytar. Jacqueline of Samsara Quilting and I chose very pretty batiks for this project:

We've had very wet weather again today, which resulted in these beautiful macro pictures which I took only minutes ago. When I came back from doing the shopping, I noticed these water droplets on the clover flowers and leaves by our front door. I can't remember what these flowers are called. The leaves look like clover leaves and they must bring lots of luck, because all the leaves have four petals:

Isn't nature truly beautiful?

Those of you eagerly awaiting progress pictures of my Heart's Desire will have to be patient a little longer. We were away for four days and since we went camping (well, 'glamping' really) I didn't dare do any stitching.

Thanks for all your lovely comments, and welcome to my new followers.

Progress is Slow...

... because this is where we spent the last four days, 'glamping' (glamour + camping, I guess) in Holten.

Like me, Luna is catching up on the laundry and cleaning, before moving on to more interesting things!

WOW: Wips on Wednesdays

Well, it is Thursday here in Holland, but I'm hoping to crawl under the fence of Esther's WOW

My first WIP this week is Flowers for Me, block 4 of Heart's Desire:



And we have one big 'flower for me' all done:



Lots of puzzling went on for Henrietta Whiskers' layout, but I think I have got it now, so I started piecing some of the backgrounds of the last four blocks last night. I did sneak in some minor changes this morning ;o)

The last block is still empty, as it will be revealed by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs on September 5th. I'm hoping to get the quilt top done for 9th September when I will be doing an applique demonstration at the annual show of the quilting guild in Holland. My main project there will be Heart's Desire, but I would love to show the ladies this quilt top.

o-o-o

I also managed a small start on Herbularius, after a lot of dithering about fabrics. At last, I *think* I have settled for a 32-count Murano in the shade Ivory, which looks more like a tea dye than an ivory compared to the ivory jobelan I was planning to use. Guess I could have used the tea dye jobelan I did last week after all ;o)

I do like how the Copper Petite Treasure Braid metallic and the Chocolat Gloriana looks on this fabric.


Yesterday Jacqueline and I chose the fabrics which will be used for the applique course I will teach at the beginning of October:

Lots of gorgeous batiks! I'm hoping to get the example block done by the end of next week. I hope the ladies who take the class will love these fabrics and the chosen project too.

Thanks for all your lovely comments. They are so inspiring. And I love to click on your names and visit your blogs for even more inspiration.

70!

As of today, my blog has 70 followers! Thank you so much for being my followers. I'm honoured that you are interested in my pastimes.

Thank you!

Henrietta Whiskers: A Puzzle

I'm alternating between Heart's Desire and Henrietta Whiskers at the moment, since the 8th block has been released for the latter, and there is only one block left which will be released on September 5th.

To get a better idea of the total layout, I pinned all the completed blocks and the blocks in progress (I decided to do blocks 6, 7 and 8 at the same time) to a sheet which I hung in our living room so I can keep looking at it and changing bits here and there.

I need to replace a few green squares at the right hand and left hand side, because the first narrow border is of the same fabric and I'm not happy when bits from the centre of the quilt start 'sticking' to the border. Weird, I know :o) For now I have pinned black squares over those green ones, but I'm not sure yet whether that will work. More puzzling and thinking to do.

For now I'm switching back to Heart's Desire, my focus piece of this moment. Esther released her new free BOM today called Peaceful Pathways, so go and have a look if you are interested in patchwork and quilting.

WOW: Flowers for Me Progress

A week has gone by and I'm still workong on block 4 of Heart's Desire. Please excuse the picture, it is 10 pm here in Holland and I had to use a flash.

It is finally starting to look like block 4 is supposed to look, but there is still quite a bit of work to do. Several parts that I laid out on the block are not yet appliqued and I need to make a second sashing. The triangles are all ready to go, so that's what I will be doing next.

o-o-o

I also tried my hand at tea dyeing a piece of white jobelan, to see whether I could prepare a piece that would be suitable for Herbularius. The reason is that my favourite stitching fabric - jobelan - has apparently changed consistency and now has fewer natural fibers. The piece I received a few days back really feels very synthetic and is not very nice to stitch on.

The tea dyeing worked perfectly and I love the outcome, but it is not suitable for Herbularius, because of the yellow fabrics which look nicer on Ivory jobelan. So I'm still hunting for a suitable fabric. My materials for Herbularius have now almost all arrived. So now of course I want to start!

Thanks for your lovely comments on my previous post, and welcome to my new followers!

WOW: Flowers For Me

It is Wednesday once more and time for WOW: Wips on Wednesdays, organized by Esther Aliu.

My focus project at the moment is Heart's Desire, the beautiful quilt designed by Esther. Would you believe that she shared this design with us for free?! Thanks again, Esther!

This is Flowers For Me, my first block #4. There are four of these to do for Heart's desire, one in each corner:



Ever seen such a daunting pile of leaves still needing to be appliqued? Those of you stitching this project probably have.... more than once.... ;o)

This is the main flower in block #4. I'm not quite happy with it yet and still deciding on which colour to use between the pale pink one and the middle petal.

Whilst I have a think about that, I had better get moving with those leaves.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my Herbularius materials. I have now chosen my fabric: 32-count Ivory Jobelan, and it should be with me within the next few days. Another small parcel arrived in the post today, containing the Gloriana Florimell Peacock skeins for Herbularius. I had never seen a Florimell skein in the flesh before and I love the sheen and the amazing colour of this floss. There are still a few Florimells on the way and also some crystals and Delica beads.

Those of you who cannot wait to see my start, hang in there. Believe me, I will start as soon as that fabric arrives!

Herbularius

First of all thank you very much for your lovely comments on my Orkney skies photographs.

This afternoon I picked up a parcel from the post office containing most of the silk threads for Herbularius, the new Mandala by Chatelaine:

This is what it should look like in a year's time:

Here are some detail picture of the materials I have collected so far. There are some silks still to come and also some beads and crystals.

I will be back tomorrow for WOW (Wips On Wednesdays) organized by Esther Aliu, the designer of Heart's Desire.

At the moment I'm working on my first block 4 and I'm hoping to have more to show tomorrow.