Hugo's Gymnastics T-shirt Quilt

 I finished this quilt in August, but didn't dare send it to the Netherlands in the mail... So I waited until we traveled there ourselves, and on Friday, December 16th, the quilt finally arrived at its destination: Hugo's student accomodation in Wageningen!

He was very surprised, and loved it! He enjoyed looking at all the t-shirts that are part of it. So many memories!

I'm so happy with the final result!

T-shirt quilt top finished!

 Ever since my eldest son started gymnastics, back in 2009, I have saved all his club/team/squad/event t-shirts, knowing that one day I would make them into a t-shirt quilt. And that day has finally arrived!

After washing all the shirts (some of them had been in storage for more than 10 years!) I sorted them, and finally came up with 30 shirts that I wanted to use for the quilt. Here are the oldest (2009) and newest (2018) shirt from the collection:

I cut out the logos and ironed fusible interfacing to the fabric to make it easier to work with. Here is the initial lay-out of all the cut-outs:

Things got moved around a bit, as you can see in the first photo!

And now for the next stage, the quilting... That has never been my favourite part of the quilt making process, and still isn't. I haven't quite decided what to do yet - probably an all-over design. I am hoping to finish this quilt during the Easter long weekend.To be continued...

The last post of the year

 

 

2020 is almost over, and like everyone else I am glad to see the end of this year. Although the Covid situation here in Queensland, Australia, isn't nearly as bad as in many other places around the world, the pandemic has still had a large impact on our lives. The worst thing for me personally was that I couldn't travel to the Netherlands when a loved one got sick and died back in July.

Crochet, along with reading and running, has been a good way for me to deal with everything 2020 threw at me. I finished 12 projects this year - big ones, like my Up North Cardigan and the Lotus & Blossom Mandala, and small ones like the four colourful dishcloths (the fourth one was finished yesterday!):

 

 

I didn't do any sewing, quilting or knitting in 2020. I did discover a new craft: embroidery. I made two pieces and I really like both of them, but I don't think I'll be making any more anytime soon.

 

 

 

The best thing for us in 2020 was that after almost 14 years in Australia we finally bought our own house!

 

We moved in a month ago and are very much enjoying making it ours. The mandala has found a spot in the living room:

 

 

While unpacking boxes I came across this quilt that I made many years ago. I put it up on the wall over the dining table - everyone loves it!

 

 

Wooyung, Thinking of Holland and My Calendar are in the hallway:

 

 

Cycle of Life is also in the living room:

 

 

And my whole amigurumi family is on display on top of the bookcase!

 

 

There are some other quilts that still need to be put up on the walls, and of course it's too hot at the moment to have quilts on the beds.

Meanwhile some new balls of yarn have arrived for my next crochet project...

 

 

 

I hope you will visit this blog again in 2021 to find out what I am going to make with these!

Having said that, thanks for visiting this year, I appreciate it. And I would like to wish all my readers a happy, creative, and especially healthy 2021 - here's hoping that life will become a bit more normal soon.

Update

It's been very quiet here on the blog, because I didn't really have anything to share. But last week the quarterly magazine of the Dutch Quilters' Guild arrived, and it was a nice surprise to see two of my Lone Star quilts featured in an article about traditional blocks used in modern ways.

I made some more diamonds for my Lone Star Blanket, and also started a new crochet project that I hope to share here soon!



And other than that I have been working, reading a lot (you can see the books I read in My Bookshelf in the side bar), and running of course. Together with my eldest son and a friend I did the International Women's Day Fun Run 10km in Brisbane on March 3rd:



I also ran my 50th parkrun in February (in a tutu! See pic in sidebar) and brought my 5 km PB down by 2 seconds to 31:43. It's still very hot and humid here in Queensland, so I hope to bring it down further when it finally gets a bit cooler.

I have started training for my first half marathon (21.1 km) in July and am up to 14 km now! If you had told me three years ago that I would ever run that far, I would not have believed you...

Saty tuned for more crafty stuff soon!

Pattern for Mondrian's Lone Star Quilt now available on Etsy

I'm happy to be able to tell you that the pattern for Mondrian's Lone Star Quilt is now available in my pattern store on Etsy.
Personally I am a big fan of Mondrian's works in red, yellow and blue, but if primary colours are not your thing, this quilt would also look very good in sea colours (blues and greens) or in pinks and purples. The thin black lines add a stained glass effect.



Meanwhile, all the boxes are gone, the kids are back at school and I have started a new crochet project, so life is slowly returning to normal. Pics following soon!

The first posting of 2018

Happy New Year! After a lovely holiday in Canberra and Girraween (pics on my photo blog) we have touched down on the Gold Coast. Our possessions had been in boxes for almost two weeks and the quilts were a bit musty smelling, so I hung them out in the yard to freshen up:

My sewing room is ready for action, but I haven't had time to use it yet... However, today I have unpacked the last box, tomorrow the boxes will be picked up by the movers, and on Monday the boys go back to school, so I hope to start creating again soon! I did a little bit of crochet while we were camping, but not as much as I had hoped to do. I did read seven books though ;-).



I've found a yoga studio just around the corner from our new house and discovered that my Pineapple Bag is perfect for carrying my yoga mat!



And last but not least, after 11 years we finally have a pet! (until now we were never allowed to have one in our rental houses). This is Barney, an adorable 9-year-old part Long-haired Dachshund, part Blue Heeler, that we found at the local animal shelter and adopted.



We've all fallen completely in love with him, and he has taken possession of the Rainbow Floor Cushion:



Did anyone say dog portrait quilt?...

The last posting of 2017

While the movers are packing everything in our house, I sit in my son's room and write the last posting of 2017. Tomorrow we leave Sydney - first we go to Canberra where we will be until the 2nd of January, then to Girraween where we will be camping for four nights, and then on to our new home; Benowa on the Gold Coast.

Our one year in Sydney has been quite eventful. Some of us liked it a lot and are sad to move, others did not like it so much and are happy to leave. We are all happy to be close to our old friends in Brisbane again and we all hope that this will be the last move in quite a while! (we will make an exception for a move to a house of our own on the Gold Coast in 1-2 years time)

I am happy and proud that I managed to reach my goal of running 5 km in April of this year, and that I went on to do 10 parkruns (free weekly 5 km runs) - the last one early on Christmas Day!



Looking back at my creative endeavours, it has been quite a productive year. I only made two quilts, but they both did well: Sydney is currently in the USA for the World Quilt Competition...



... and Mondrian's Lone Star was featured in issue 19 of Make Modern:



I did do quite a bit of sewing this year and added some tutorials to the blog (how to make an oven mitt, a denim doorstop and a lined project bag):



Three patterns were added to my pattern shops on Etsy. There are now 18 patterns; the pattern for Mondrian's Lone Star will be added in January.



My love affair with knitting that started last year continued in the first half of 2017. I made my first (and second) pair of socks, lots of gloves, two scarves and a cabled cushion.



And then, in July, my mother-in-law in the Netherlands taught me to crochet... and I haven't looked back since :-)



Looking back at my creative goals for 2017, I said:

I hope to publish more knitting patterns after my first one, the Wine Bottle Cover!

No, that didn't happen!

I would also like to make more art quilts, and add some work to my sports quilts series.

Nah, didn't happen either!

And my final goal for 2017 is to design more patchwork quilts in Adobe Illustrator.

That also did not happen... I may keep my goals for 2018 more general!

I don't think I will be making any more quilts for a while. Maybe at some point in the future I'll get back to quilting, but for now crochet (and maybe a little knitting) is what I want to do. Eventually I would like to write a crochet pattern, but I think I still need a bit more experience and some more 'mileage under my hook'. (does that make sense?)

Most of all I hope that my family will be happy in our new home and that the boys will make friends at their new schools. That we can settle down and grow some roots again.

I hope you will continue to follow this blog and leave the occasional comment. Thank you for coming along on the ride so far!

I would like to wish all my readers a creative and colourful 2018!

Mondrian's Lone Star

UPDATE: This pattern is now available in my pattern store on Etsy!



May I present my latest quilt: Mondrian's Lone Star!



I made this modern baby quilt back in February, but have waited to show it here, because it is one of the projects in issue 19 of the digital magazine Make Modern, which is available now!



I have always been a fan of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, and last year I made a small Mondrian's Lone Star quilt (16'' x 16'') for the 10th Annual Quilt Alliance Contest (you can read more about it here).



At the time I mentioned that I would like to make a larger version, and so I did - this one is 39.5" or 1 metre square. It is strip-pieced and quilted in straight lines with white Aurifil 40wt thread, to emphasize the graphic effect.



For the binding I used a fun Mondrian-themed fabric that had been in my stash for ages, waiting for the right project:



I had to provide photos for the magazine, so took the quilt for a photo shoot to Edgecliffe Boulevard here in Collaroy Plateau, where you have a lovely view over Narrabeen Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean:



But indoors it looks good too!



Here is a close-up:



Mondrian's Lone Star is now hanging on the wall in my sewing room:



Piet Mondrian was one of the most famous members of the Dutch art movement De Stijl (The Style) and this year it's exactly 100 years ago that De Stijl was founded. In my home country the Netherlands lots of events and exhibitions are held this year to celebrate this (you can read more about it here). When we were in the Netherlands in July, we saw the red, yellow and blue everywhere - like this flag on a church tower in The Hague:



So it's very appropriate that I made this quilt this year!