First Christmas in Vught

Our rental home in Vught is full, all the kids are home for Christmas.
We will celebrate Sinterklaas surprise tomorrow, like we always do on December 26th.
Preparing dinner, writing poems and enjoying the 'full house'.

Merry Christmas to all my Blog Friends. A lot has happened since my last post, I met the nicest quilt ladies, went to bees, started my second mystery block and a lot more.

Talk to you soon in the New Year!!

Rose-Anne

How many projects will fit in one basket...

On the dining room table there is an old basket. It comes from my husbands aunt, lovely old fashioned with a plastic lined base inside.  In there I put the projects that I am currently working on.
After I moved in to our temporary home I started working on the family tree quilt for my son. I have 7 blocks sewn together and the other 11 in bags sorted out, ready to go.
Second layer in my basket is the stitchery teapot blocks with all the fabrics I selected and got from my friend. A hand work project, maybe I will take it along on our trip to Berlin next week.
And then there comes a third layer.....Last Saturday I went to the Quilterij and signed up for the Mystery Quilt Project 2011-2012 called Carrousel, starting first week in November. I picked purples, greens and reds. The kit comes in a nice box together with embroidery thread. I decided to make the small version (75x100cm). Can't wait to start working on it, but most of all meeting the other ladies that will work on this project for the coming year. Meeting other quilters through a quilt class is the best way to start feeling at home where ever you live. I miss all my quilt friends in Singapore, Shanghai and Chicago a lot. Don't want and cannot replace them, but just want to add some friends to my list.

Happy quilting,
Rose-Anne

Inspirational visit

Yesterday I went to visit my old friend Astrid. We were roommates in Leiden and she is a quilter like I am. After a cup of tea and a lovely apple/pear crumble I showed her my teapot stitcheries and a few of the fabrics I am planning to use for the connecting blocks.  Her fabric stash is amazing and I was lucky enough to find some matching solids to use with the prints I already selected.
I am going to hand sew this quilt so I can also work on it during the quilt café at the Quilterij in Den Bosch.

The pattern is from Crab-apple Hill called : Remember Me.

Happy quilting,
Rose-Anne

family tree quilt progress

Last Friday I went to the open day at the Bernina Creative center in Breda. Had a look at the newest machines and signed up for a workshop in December. Hopefully my container has been unpacked by then and my Bernina can come along.

In the mean time with the limited tools available I have managed to stitch 7 blocks together for the family tree quilt. Using the Laundry Basket Half Square Triangle Paper and the fabric kit I bought from Edyta Sitar. Nice batiks combined with prints, give a scrappy look.  Just right for a quilt for a young man.

Happy Quilting,
Rose-Anne

My first quilt exhibition visit in the Netherlands

Last Sunday I went to the Algemene Tentoonstelling of the Quiltersgilde. I have been a member of this guild for 10 years, but never attended this exhibition. September is the beginning of a new school year and I was always busy getting the kids back in school around this time of the year. Not the right moment to leave them alone and travel to the Netherlands.

Pieterskerk where exhibition was held

But this year nothing could stop me and off I went. First I took the train to Utrecht and my friend Astrid picked me up and we drove to Leiden.

our favorite quilt of the show

It was a fun day out, we saw lots of beautiful quilts and had a look around in the shopping area. There I met Françoise from the beautiful shop de Quilterij again.

But before I unpack my container, I have told myself not to buy any fabric. I was strong, only bought the greeting cards of the Quiltergilde.  Building a new kind of stash???

After the show we had a cup of fresh mint tea at one of the many bars. The weather was nice, so we sat outside. Both Astrid and I studied in Leiden and have good memories of our time living together as students. 

It was a special weekend, because all the monuments were open for the public. People in traditional costume and even this carriage pulled by horses past us by.

Next year we will definitely go again!!

Rose-Anne

How desperate can you be....

It's about time for another post. So much has happened since the first posting. I don't know where to start.
The quiltshop www.quilterij.nl in Den Bosch celebrated its' 10th anniversary. Finally I met the lady behind a blog I have been following since a year or so www.fabricwonderland.blogspot.com . She organizes a quiltcafe every month and it was a lot of fun meeting other quilters that afternoon. I didn't bring anything to work on, but that didn't matter. I smelled fabric again and could see other projects that inspired me.

I have my mothers' old sewing machine with me and finally got it working again. It drank half a bottle of sewing machine oil ..... In the Quilterij I bought a ruler and some pins and with that I thought I was ready to start sewing my tree blocks from Edyta Sitar. So on the day that I had to stay home for KPN to install the internet connection I planned to start cutting the squares I had been sewing with the triangle paper. But I was still missing one more tool: a cutting mat !! So I took one of my plastic cutting boards from the kitchen en started cutting. How desperate can you be.....

a new beginning

For almost a year I have been told by my friends I had to start blogging about quilting, traveling, cooking and gardening. But I had to wait for the right moment. That moment has come now and here is my first post.

After living abroad for 12 years, I have returned to my home country, the Netherlands. Closer to my family and friends, but further away from all the friends I made in the past 12 years living all over the world.


Through this blog I want to keep my friends from all over the world posted about my new life here in the south of Holland. Finding new friends through quilting, gardening and maybe starting playing golf again.


No pictures and links for now, I am a novice in bloggers-land.


Rose-Anne