Livia

This is Livia,

Although she has been with me for a few weeks, maybe a bit more, I hesitated to make pictures of her and 'put her on line'. Also it has been such a long time since I have been here! Today I took the chance;)  Enjoy her pictures!

It started back in April with a pattern called 'Big fig' I bought from Fig & Me 

Here her head is covered. The whole process took days!!!

Here she is finished and ready for clothing.

Her hair is made of wild brush-able mohair yarn. 

With this doll I learned to make little knees 💖

I made her a dress and underskirt from woven Japanese fabric and embroidered it with small silk ribbon flowers (my own pattern)

Her shoes are crocheted, made to fit (no pattern)

We went out today to explore an abandoned house site. Lots of wild flowers here. Because it is very windy she wears her woolen col. May be she will need a cardigan and hat later.

Her undies made of quilt fabric, has a pocket because her skirt doesn't have one and I believe one always need a pocket😉

The sun came through. 

Livia with her little family, a little baby brother and a small toy doll in a all in one suit. ('Baby fig'  and 'Wee baby' pattern)

Well you know how little sisters are.....

And how hard it is to choose from all the pictures!

And one more, 

lots of love and thanks for visiting!

Groetjes

Annemieke

 

Manx log cabin

This is a doll quilt (or little wall hanging) I made, using a folded log cabin pattern. Oscar our Dachshund, was thinking about joining my doll I guess!

It is also often called: the 'Manx log cabin', originated from the Isle of Man. Fiona of this blog post here wrote a very clear tutorial and nice story of it's history, worth reading! I added a practical little step to this tutorial.

 Like a regular log cabin you start with a square and add strips of fabric in a chosen width.

 Only before stitching the next strip, you fold the sewn strip back (mostly 2/3 of the width, minus the seam allowance). So far the same tutorial like Fiona's.

 What I did to make it easier to iron the fold in the strip is: I used a template (made out of a cereal box) with the desired width.

In my case my strips were cut to 3,5 cm (very narrow, you would prefer to make wider strips). After sewing with a 0,5 cm seam allowance, 3 cm was left. 2/3 of 3 cm is 2 cm. So the width of the fold is 2 cm as is the template is.

 Here the fold is ironed down and you can take a peak under the fold.

a few blocks done

 There is no need to quilt this, which I think is a great advantage! To join the blocks you work like a quilt as you go method ( just picked a clear tutorial by Leanne and Marci with pictures) only in this case you don't have to worry about the batting.

 The things I learned is to: 1st pay attention with what thread you sew, because it shows on the back. Secondly how you start and stop your sewing line, this will also show.

And thirdly only sew the logs length without the seam allowances at the beginning and the end (like in the improvised drawing above). I'm referring to the last rows because this will make it easier to sew the blocks together. 

Sewing the background squares together I chose to do this by hand, probably the only method without sewing all through the front. 

The little quilt is finished with a little binding. I used mostly woven fabrics and linens. Also lots of Japanese woven fabric scraps. I love the feeling of all these types of fabrics, lots of texture!

I first saw an old quilt with this pattern at a friends house in Maryland (USA). Her family called it: 'a toe catcher log cabin', a funny name, I think, but very understandable if you look at all those folds!

Oscar thinking: She smells nice...may be I could try something here....

Me talking to Oscar: I know it seems tempting but you are not going to fit in there as well.....

Enjoy your week,

GroetjesAnnemieke

Crib quilt with 8 pointed star

Just a simple little quilt, crib size, finish. I started the top in 2004! The pattern inspiration came from old antique Dutch crib quilts.

The white fabric with the little flowers was a handkerchief and small tray cover made by my mother-in-law. Although the edges were worn, I could use the middle parts for these patches and made a top in remembrance of her. I chose the other fabrics, because I thought they could have been her colours as well.

The initials of her surname and maiden name are written in the middle with the year of her birth: 1918 and the year she passed away, 2004. I admired her because she had a strong personality, was a positive thinking woman, could be very strict, but took care of her little family the best she could, no matter what.

At the back is a lovely bird fabric. I saved it for several years. It feels good to finally have made use of it.

GroetjesAnnemieke

facts:
Size: 78 cm by 91 cm (about 31"by 36")
fabrics: all cotton
batting: 100% cotton Hobbs
sewn and quilted by machine, except for the circle in the middle, it is appliqued by hand.

Apple core doll quilt finish

A small finish today: a doll quilt, started many years ago, with the apple core pattern (and a little 1950's Steiff monkey;). It was a sandwich for a long time waiting to be picked up again.

I stitched the apple core pieces together by hand (English paper piecing method), appliqued them on top of the border fabric and machine quilted the quilt. The backing fabric is a second hand fabric from France (from a booth at a Show in Nantes I think).

I remembered myself how much I love making doll quilts! I hope I will make more.

GroetjesAnnemieke

Three quilts for one family

Last week, my sister became a grandmother again. A little girl...we are very happy all is right with the little one and her Mum. So I thought I would give her a little quilt to play on.

Nothing complicated. I started with a little favorite brown bear fabric piece. And continued adding strings of fabric.

On the back are two strawberry fabrics, small and big prints. The binding is made of leftover pieces of fabric of the quilt.

It has been washed (and being folded, hence all the wrinkles) and ready to play on!

Because she already has a small brother and sister I thought I would give them quilts to play with or snuggle under. This one is a rag quilt and full of birds, turtles,

Dachshunds,

Fish, flowers and...

different animals on the back. 

It feels soft and is not very big. I hope her brother likes it!

 Her older sister of 4 will be given this quilt. It is full of little houses, trees,

 Forest animals,

 And all different kind of fabrics, a bit whimsical and strange.

 It is big enough to fit her big bed or make a tent!

 At the back you see a Kaffe Fasset print. I had lots of it but this is the last piece. In the corner some of my favorite left over pieces.

 A few close ups. It is quilted with a Aurifil thread with different colours which was in my closet for long!

It fitted this quilt well.

Yesterday I met my sister's grandchild only 2 days old! I think I could have stayed there, just adorable!  

I left these 3 quilts with their new owners. I hope they will be used over and over again!

GroetjesAnnemieke

All quilts are made out of cotton fabrics, sewn and quilted by machine.