LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL...

Some quilts just draw your attention,

only by their name.

That's what happened to me,

after the difficult moments I recently lived...

When I discovered that gorgeous new pattern

from HELEN STUBBINGS,

it couldn't have come at a better moment in my life.

It's red and warm, like love.

It's full of cute stitcheries & quotes

about the beauty of life,

come rain or come shine...

Moreover, Helen is offering a complete

pattern set, as a giveaway.

Wouldn't it be GREAT being the lucky winner ?

She also asks for a favourite quote that

the beauty of life inspires to us.

So, here is mine :

Life is a gift we are given each and every day,

that is why it is called THE PRESENT...

***********

A HEARTFUL THANK YOU

Dear friends,

Your comments, emails, phone calls, and prayers

were a true blessing.

I wish hereby to tell you how deeply I appreciated

your friendship and care

One day after another,

One stitch at a time,

I'll soon be back with some quilty news

Take care,

ENJOY YOUR SEWING!

BLOG BREAK

This 28th October,

early in the morning,

my father passed away.

May he rest in peace...

15th EUROPEAN PATCHWORK MEETING - VAL D'ARGENT - FRANCE

Helloooooo, there !

Still alive.... and still playing the "globe trotter",

Aaaah, retirement is a real treat !

I was lucky enough to attend my first BIG quilt show.

Oh, it was such a wonderful week ! Pure delight in quilters world ...
Better than words, here's a slide show,with (some) of my favourite pictures,e.g. Dutch quilts, and also those from Hungary & New Zealand (special guests), not to forget a -Yoko Saito, 30 years of quilts -retrospective, and soooo many, many others...

I was also speechless and much moved, when seeing the Amish quilts(these were antique quilts from a private collection). The Amish works are so special to me...

Of course, I dived into the shopping mall, with 146 European quiltshop owners - Aaaaarghghgh !... but that's another story, for my next post.

(you can click on any picture, for a zzzzoooooom)

ENJOY !

;>)

Looks like I've got some problems to upload my slideshow on my blog

(still have to learn/practice, HeeHee..)

Please, click on "view all images", hereunder...

THANKS for your visit !

SUNSHINE & SHADOW - STEP ONE -

So I decided that Sunday would be the day for starting with this quilt, and carefully read JERI 's instructions sheets, starting with choosing the 13 colors I needed, among the 18 ones she had sent to me (this was not so easy, as they're all so beautiful).

Jeri cleverly divided the quilt in 9 sections, the first step being the 4 corners - each corner composed of a 10 x 10 squares...

The pictures below are showing the upper right corner.

I cut ten 2,5" strips, each of a different color, corresponding to my choice, and pieced them together.
Then I cut 2,5" strips accross them


and started to arrange them, unpicking at the top...

until I reached this arrangement (which was half the final big square I needed)...

Then I completed each row, using some of the unpicked squares...

Back to machine piecing, watching carefully to the matching seams, and...

T A D A A A A ! ;>)

Happy dance, here is my first upper right corner...

Now, on to the 3 other ones, before reaching Step 2.

If the mountain looks too high to climb,

divide your efforts into several achievable goals.

Sooner or later, you'll reach the top...

;>)

OH HAPPY DAY.... ;>)

"Heaven, I'm in Heaven...."

(love that song!)

This morning my door bell rang,

and I knew this had to be a package of happiness !

;>)

It was a BIG box, coming from JERI

Lookie, lookie, all those wonderful solids (22 different colors!)

that will soon become that "Sunshine & Shadow" quilt that I love so much

(see picture on my blog header)

Jeri will make it with me, so she wrote step-by-step instruction sheets, and she cleverly labelled each color with a number, so that we don't mix anything...

Dear Jeri, thanks to you, one of my quilty dreams will soon come true,

and I'm sooo grateful !

;>)

KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND...

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit May Britt, in Norway (such nice memories!)

One day, she told me :

"you can dive into my stash and, please, help yourself"

Boy, I was in quilters heaven !

I cut little bits and pieces, including a piece of that cheater fabric, above.

It really fascinated me... Not only for the colors, the nice blocks arrangement, the scrappy, vintage look,but also the words on it. (click on the picture)

Back home, I searched the Web to find more of it, but couldn't...

Yet, I wanted to make something simple out of it, as a memory.

I kept it in my sewing box for a long time, until this weekend,

when I decided to make this humble wallhanging.

I just added the black fabric, it didn't need more. I know, it looks more like a table mat,

but I wanted to cut the least possible out of the fabric...

Now it's hanging above my computer screen, and I'm happy.

"Keep your feet on the ground, Nadine !"

(especially when you look at sooo many beautiful quilts in Blogland
BUT

"Reach for the stars !"

anyway.... with Love, Wisdom and Virtue

BECAUSE

"Success is a journey, not a destination"

;>)