ATELIER SOED IDEE

We have such wonderful weather over here! So this afternoon I spend stitching on the deck in the backyard. I finished Block 5 of the Snowman & Reindeer Quilt. Too bad there weren't any snowman or reindeer in this block.... Hugs, Simone

I had this stitchery from Hatched and Patched stitched a while ago, but I still had to finish it. So this morning I turned it into a pillowcover: I think it will look great outside in the garden! Have a nice and sunny weekend! Hugs, Simone

Yesterday evening I finished the stitching on Souvenir de France, by Blackbird Designs. It was a fun and quick stitch! And I really like how it looks... Design: Souvenir de France - freebee by Blackbird Designs Fabric: 28 ct. Pink Graziano linen Floss: Best Friend Faded Red by Victorian Motto Finish: pynepillow On the backside I sewed an antique French monogram, with my initials. I'm now working on the free SAL van Isabelle Vautier "Le Grand Marquoir". Hugs, Simone

Wil (from my quilting bee) showed us a method to make easy, but perfect triangles. I used some fabrics for it that I should never use normally ;) But I thought it would make a perfect piece to do some experimenting with my new machine! So I made the triangles into a little top and tried all kind of different stitches on it. And here's the result: Don't forget to wear your sunglasses ;) A close-up of some of the stitches. I think I like the back better than the front! Wil, I know you read this... Thanks again for the great workshop! It's going to be very useful in the future. Hugs, Simone

On Sunday morning, DS had his Judo-test: He now is the proud owner of the yellow band! Congratulations Tijmen! We're proud of you! Hugs, Simone

Last night I finished the binding on DS's quilt. It's too large for him to hold it up ;) And heavy too, because the backside is made of jeans! I've made the lable with my new sewing machine. It says: "For Tijmen, made with love, by Mom, May 2009". Hugs, Simone

After a lot of thinking I finally made a decision and bought a "new" sewing machine! It's not actually new, but it's a second-hand. I bought it at a dealer, so I still got 3 years guarantee, instruction, service and anything. It's a Husqvarna Quilt designer. I allready tried some options and it's great!!! So much different than my 30+ years old Bernina! We are going to have so much fun together. I'm sure of that! Have a nice weekend full of stitches! Hugs, Simone

Did you already see the new Blackbird Designs freebee at Alma and Barb's weblog ??? (picture from Blackbird Designs) I think it's gorgeous!!! You can download the chart here . I've already kitted it up! Hugs, Simone

In my quilt group are two ladies (Els and Joke), who makes charity quilts for children. And since we're doing a lot of stitcheries lately, they came up with a great plan! They asked if each of us wanted to stitch a picture of a fairy tale, in different bright colors. And ofcourse we all said yes! I got a picture of "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater" and I had to stitch it in bright green. I finished it yesterday. I'm very curious what the others will look like.... I'm sure we get a picture when the quilt is finished! Hugs, Simone

Zaterdag met Bep en Hester naar de Naald en Draad dag van Els , Marloes en Liezbeth in Heenvliet. Bep was uitgenodigd om daar ook met d'r winkeltje te komen staan en wij mochten meerijden ;) Ik moest al vroeg op, om 6 uur zat ik al in de auto op weg naar Bep! We waren mooi op tijd in Heenvliet (leuk dorpje trouwens!) en konden even bijkomen van de lange reis en Bep d'r winkeltje opbouwen, voordat de drukte los barstte. Wat kwamen er een hoop quilt- en borduur-dames! Ik had amper tijd om foto's te maken... Gelukkig nog wel deze prachtige tas op de foto gezet: En de achterkant is bijna nog leuker.... Els en Liezbeth hadden de "Grand-opening" van hun nieuwe samenwerkings project "2SIS". Sam had de eer om de officiele handeling te verrichten: Knap hè, van zo'n klein ventje? En kijk de dames eens stralen! Dit is het eerste pakket wat de "2SIS" aanbieden: Is het geen schatje? Hier Els nog even in actie. Let vooral op al die leuke quiltjes! En

For the crazy exchange I had Joke as a partner in the Birthday exchange. Joke likes Blackbird Designs and her favourite color is blue. So I've made her this: Design: Reward of Merit Pincushion - Blackbird Designs Fabric: 32 ct. cream linen Floss: GAST (changed into a blue colorscheme) Finish: pincushion Pics of the whole exchange are on Joke's blog! Hugs, Simone

Here's what I stitched on Bianca's RR: Design: "Stitching is Heavenly" by Alma Lynn. Floss: DMC Bianca's theme was "Stitching", with a large Alma Lynn piece in the center. So I thought this was perfect for it. I've sent the RR to Bianca right after I finished it, so it's the first RR of our little group, that's back home. Hugs, Simone

Drumrolls please....... The winner of the Blogoversary Grab Bag give away is nr (drawn by randomizer): Which is Sharon from Sharon's Cross stitch obsession !!! Sharon, congratulations!!! I'll contact you for your address. The package is all wrapped up and ready to send. Thanks everybody for all your wonderful comments! I still can't believe I have so many readers all over the world! Hugs, Simone

I was planning to make a jeans ragtime quilt for DS and had already cut all the fabric for it, but somehow it didn't work for me.... And then Tijmen saw this wonderful whales/orca fabric, so I changed all my plans and made this top out of the blocks: Finished sewing it this afternoon (took me longer to design it!). The back is going to be made out of all those jeans-blocks. So only 135 squares to be sewed together... Have a nice weekend! Remember: tomorrow will be the drawing for the Blogoversary give away! Hugs, Simone

This morning my friend (and neighbour) Gerja and I went to Bep's for a surprise workshop. And this is what Bep had planned for us; a pincushion-button-jar! Vanochtend ben ik met m'n vriendin (en buurvrouw) Gerja naar Bep geweest voor een verrassings ochtend. Bep had een speldenkussen-knopenpot voor ons verzonnen! I think it's a great idea! Hugs, Simone

Yesterday evening I finished the stitching on Carolyn's RR. Carolyn made her own DMC conversion and wants us to stitch the date also. Hugs, Simone

I also have some stitching updates to share... Before the weekend I finished the first page of Nell'Aria. I really love how this come out! I wish I could have worked a bit more on it, but I had other obligations.... Yesterday evening I finished the heart on Sara's RR. Sara wants us to pick one of your favourite threads. So I chose one from Victorian Motto shoppe "Faded Berries", with DMC ecru for the dots. Here's a close-up: BTW.... I'm overwhelmed by the comments on my Blogoversary give away! 62 comments.... I never realized I had so many readers! You can still add your comment till May 9th... Hugs, Simone

So yesterday, I could finally open up my presents! The first one is from Joke for the Crazy exchange group: She must have known my favourite colours are Autumn colors! I've got some quiltfabrics, a package with felt and threads and this gorgeous set of floss tag and needlebook: Isn't that pretty? Thank you so much Joke! And than there was the exchange of Tineke for the Borduurhoekje group: She sent me some ribbons, buttons, a beautiful piece of Silkweavers linen, a lovely wooden chicken and this wonderful pincushion with trashbag: Now, that's useful!!! And I love the LHN design Tineke used for it. Tineke, thank you also for this great exchange! And here's what came out of the big box from Sonda , for the SBBC: Sonda made a "Christmas-in-May" present of it! So there was a Just Nan chart, DMC gold thread, a package of Kreinik metallics, a finishing fabric, napkins, a planner, lots of DMC varigated threads (which I didn't had yet) and this gorgeous Christma