Spring!

Although it's still below zero at night, it seems that spring finally arrived, at least during the day. The sun is shining, people are in much better spirit and the house blackbird is already busy building a new nest!
Looks like DD Maren is trying to tell me something..perhaps it's about time to play with something else than fabrics?

Well it's ready and very shiny for many miles to come!
(She apparantly got so inspired by polishing mine, that she's doing DS"s bike too as we speak. Boy, he's into a surprise when he comes home tonight, "cause his bike is waaaay more dirty than mine was:)

Yesterday evening DD and I went to Ikea. It was quite a hazard to get there. The highway around Ikea had completely changed since I last drove there. It;s a good thing the work on the roads are finally coming to an end, but I would have aprecciated a sign saying "Ikea, turn right here"...
We came home with this towel rack,(among some other stuff!) perfect for displaying quilts. Since they were on sale, I got 2. Perhaps Lotte wants one in the future or else I put one in my sewingroom and another in my bedroomcorner.


I have nothing much to report, expect that I'm still quilting! The border is halfway done now. "Just" the other half and another quilt can go on the new rack. I can't do the binding yet: I got an email that the fabric I ordered (M Miller Krystal) is out of stock and it'll take a week or 3 before it's in store again and another week 0r 2 to get here. Postponing sewing on a binding is no problem for me *lol*: I HATE sewing bindings!

Stitch by stitch....

Yesterday I tried to photograph my quilting progress on the red/white quilt. (BTW any suggestions for a better name for this quilt?)

I crawled on the floor on my knees, the fattest part of my body high up in the air. What my family calls "not a pretty site Mum", but still I couldn't take a good pic in which you can actually see the quilted lines :( It's either my photografing skills, my quilting, the thin batting or it's just not possible to photograph it. Judge for yourself!

Even on the back it´s not really clear to see what I quilted. Next time I´ll try a solid fabric!

I quilted increasingly bigger squares on point, following the diagonal lines of the patches, and 75% if the inner part is done. I´ll do some round shaped border design in the solid red borders and staight lines again in the middle border. I´ve been a good quilter, spending an hour or 2 every evening with an inbetween size 10 in my hands. I do hope I´ll finish this one soon, ´cause there are at least 3 new quilts in my head!

One of them is similar to the red-white, different lay/out, but the same blocks in BLUE and white. I found the perfect bright blue fabrics at my favourite store. The blues have just enough white and the whites just enough blue. I also like that the background is pure white. It makes the blues very bright and `fresh´.

Mamaspark´s Pam sent me a link to this great design: the Pie and Tart quilt.

She found it at www.honeysucklecottage.com.au and thought I might like it. In fact, I love it and I'm absolutely going to order this pattern. It would be great for my ever increasing dot and circle fabric collection!

Terracotta Army

Another non-quilt post..

Today I went to Maaseik (Belgium) to see an exhibition of some soldiers of the famous Chinese terracotta army of Xi'An. DD Lotte, her boyfriend and a friend where going and I could hitch a ride. I own a creditcard and you could pre-order tickets online. Could be that's why I was included in the party.. And ofcourse I payed for coffee and cake :)

The figures are very fragile and are not often allowed to travel because of that. They were to be seen in London (England) and in Assen (Netherlands) and now for the last time in Maaseik. There were only 14 life-sized ones and some smaller artifacts, but at least you could get the idea. And 14 is better than none at all!

Some pics of the life-sized figures..

This archer was my favourite..

The horse is probably most fragile. As all the others it's hollow.

This is a reconstruction on how the figures probably looked like originally. I definately prefer them without the paint!

Pity is was so crowded that it was impossible to walk back and see some things again. We also watched a short movie about Xi'An but the voice-over spoke so quickly that the information given couldn't really sink in.
Wanna know more about this terrific archeologic find?

Check this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army

Now I got a glimpse, I sure wish I could travel to China and see it all. Perhaps when we retire :)

More of Brugge

Let's contnue with the tiny houses, built for religious widows..




...and more views from the town..



Belgian "wafels"!!!!

..and dreadfull cobblestones that made your feet hurt and gave both of us backaches!


Needles to say that we saw a LOT of people stumble *lol*
Could you believe that there were quite a lot of ladies on high heels and even on stiletto's!?

On sunday we took a walk down the nearby beach

In Blankenberge they still have these old fashioned beach carriages. In the summer you can rent them for the season to use as storage and dressingcabinets. Not hard to imagine ladies with bonnets and bathing dresses
in it, a century ago!

Next time a quiltrelated post: I got 2 books from the Quiltersguild library today: Liberated quiltmaking from Gwen Marston and Kaffe Fasset's latest book.
The last one I actually borrowed for Corrine. She's collecting Fasset fabrics and is on the lookout for a good design. Well Corrine: you're going to love this book!
More about these books and another great pattern I found next time!

Brugge

Yesterday we got back from Brugge (Bruges) in Belgium. Unfortunately the weather was grey, windy and rather cold, but the city itself was rather beautifull. We walked through town from west to east and from north to south..
I have some pics to share so....let's visit Brugge!


Yes, I brought a quilt along! There were blankets instead of duvets and DH turns and takes it all and I have to wrestle with my bedcovers due to nocturnal hot flashes. We each have our own at home.
He got the blankets, I took the quilt...









In town....

I even found a quiltshop! Lots of Windham and Lecien blended and roses fabric. Very gorgeous, but not my cup of tea.

Look at these doormats! They also had one saying: "oh no, not YOU again".

Pity they were so expensive..

More pics tomorrow!