Klosjes Quilt on Klosjes Saturday

I am so happy I can finally show you the progress on my Klosjes Quilt. Yes, now I can, for the first time, refer to it as a Quilt and I am so excited to share it with you:

These are a total of 240 Klosjes stitched together. Sue-Anne and Michele have been so encouraging to me, believing I could get hooked on Applique, and well: Teachers, you like? :) THANK YOU!
I wanted to make something special to mark 10-10-'10 and so I just 'pinched and stitched' myself to this. I know I have so much to learn about applique, but this little wobbly vase was a big step for me. (I am growing as a quilter! Yeay!) I know that the proportions are not right, but I stitched myself into a corner, so to speak. My Flower wanted to keep growing, but my Klosjes were only allowing a 10 inch opening. But it's a start, isn't it? And yes, I can see me getting totally hooked on Applique!
:)

I really find that the best incentive to keep making Klosjes, is to stitch them to each other and see them grow. As you can see I am thinking of a central medallion, setting corners and then a 4 or 5 Klosjes wide border all around. This means I still have a lot of Klosjes more to go. It really is a work in progress, and I am excited letting it develop as I go. (I will be 'Kloss'-ing for quite a while longer!)



The great clean up of my sewing room is going really well, and I am rediscovering why I love being in MY Room so much. I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend to continue reclaiming my space.
And my hexies are impatiently demanding some attention...
:)
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too!
Valentina

orange crush

Today for Robyn's Colourful Friday's we are looking at Orange. Of course I wanted to take pictures of oranges and pumpkins, but quite unexpectedly it turned into another introspective post. I am fascinated with how this exercise has really made me think of colour and how I relate to it.  In quilts, Orange is a colour that I love to pair off with reds. But also with pinks, and yellows of course. My favourite orange is Tangerine, no question about that. And can any colour claim to smell better than ORANGE?

:)

I love Tangerine and Turquoise together

 Babushka

Ukrainian tablecloth

As a little girl, I stared at her in the china cabinet endlessly

Russian wooded spoon

One of the many giraffes that live at home with us

A mini quilt from left-over triangles

a special gift from a 'Turtle' friend

Cosy orange corner

the top of last week's tin

happy curtains

Couldn't resist adding these...

or these... :)

Flamboyant in my parents garden

Nemo is so loved around here...

" This is my Mama!"
and I nearly passed out from the excitement!
:)

Little butterfly didn't know how she would travel the globe

sunrise

sunset

siesta

 Best friends
 I still miss you, Amber!

I have been quite slow this week, pacing myself and getting a handle on the ups and downs of adjusting to the new meds. I have been carried away working on my Klosjes-quilt and have continued work on preparing more charm hexies during those 'in between' times.

Today I attempted to climb over some hurdles get to my sewing machine to work on a few baby-quilts.
It was tragic.
My sewing-room is officially declared a disaster zone. But I cannot ignore it any longer. It has gotten to the point that it is not a fun place to be. I know it needs to get worse before it gets better, so I have resolved to spend friday morning tackling the monster by taking everything out...
And no, you cannot expect 'before and after' pictures. Not while I still have a shred of self-respect!
LOL
ok, maybe an 'after' shot, but I do have to go to work tomorrow afternoon, so maybe not...
(Oh man, maybe I should just delete this last paragraph! Because now you guys will hold me accountable... oops! But isn't THAT what friends are for--- right? So I will be brave and let you know!)

Looking forward to seeing everyone's Oranges this week!

xox
:)

going green

 

Hello everyone, this week the assignment for Robyn's Colourful Fridays is Green.

Some of you know that I have been struggling with my health. Well, the good news this week is that I started thyroid medication and have already started feeling so much better. So green this week has meant a lot of health and hope for me.

It has also meant Cleansing, as I am on a strict detox fast, so I am literally going GREEN this week!

:)

and detoxing does bring out the grouchies!

I think I can... I think I can!

if not, just go over it!

but I also feel deliciously fresh

my ripple blanket

luscious

if I could only grow two plants in my dream-garden it would be Ferns and Ivy

how can one resist such a tin?

hand-quilting, one of the biggest joys in my life

Quilting greens

Lovely...

Mami and me
"Te quiero mucho, Mami"
I was always fascinated by my mother's green eyes.
As I child I used to love looking at the multicolour flecks in her eyes.
So when I asked her what colour her eyes were she would reply:
Cocktail!

so you can imagine the thrill the day I found two flecks of green in my right eye!
Brown eyes, with a twist!
:)

My little one has a fascination with nesting dolls

oh, how I love my green tea...

To infinity and beyond!

washing up is just so therapeutic
:)

I also have tried to give back this week. I met 2 wonderful 2 quilters from Greece. Theodora is in Athens, and she introduced me to Kristine who is in Thessaloniki. Please, visit their blogs and get to know first hand what amazing women they are.

Kristine has a calling to make quilts for those that need them the most: orphans, destitutes, and victims of human trafficking. I was so moved by her work I was able to send a little quilt top with my Mother in law, who coincidently was traveling to Thessaloniki, Greece and met with Kristine.

Encouraged by Victoria's 15 minutes Play
this little top came together using scraps.

I have been working on attaching Klosjes this week and it is going really well. I hope to show you my progress on Saturday. I am still experiencing problems with my blog and hope this post uploads, after I have been struggling all day to get the pictures up. I really enjoyed all your emails since saturday, letting me know my comments form is not working. I hope it doesn't happen again in this post, if it gives you problems again, just blow me a kiss and 

she will bring it to me!

:)

Klosjes saturday celebration

I have been riding the Klosjes wave this week, and having such fun. First I found a whole lot of prepared klosjes pieces that had been marked before going to Holland. This was a great boost. Also wanting to reach 400 has been a milestone for the whole summer, so just as we experienced our first rainfall in months: yeay!
I reached 401 by thursday. And then I was tempted to start stitching some together and this is where you find me this afternoon:

I had to tear myself away to post!
:)

I don't know if I have been the only experiencing some problems with Blogger. I have tried leaving comments and nothing. (I hope this post gets uploaded!)
I hope you have a lovely 10-10-'10 tomorrow. I plan to spend mine stitching away, and drinking fruit and vegetable juices... but that's another story.
sending you my love,
Valentina

true blue

Today is Blue Friday, and I have been enjoying the incredible exercise in Colour that Robyn has come up with with her Colourful Fridays assignments. I have been focusing on Blues for the past few days and I am amazed what feelings have arisen. And if you look around in my blog, you already have a hint as to what blue means to me:

 living in the Mediterranean

Coming from Aruba

in the deep Caribbean Blue...

Respect and Awe

Travel

Growing up

My kids and 3am feedings...

My favourite use of Blue in a movie

My little city veranda

Hexies!

My first ever quilt 1994

My current hand-quilting project

My umbrella

my threads...

How fast are they growing?!

my break from quilting

more threads...

our blue bathroom

Royal Blue stenciled border in our hallway

Nicosia in the Blue Hour

responsibility

joy

our Blue Egg lamp

My Blue Dragonfly lamp

My blue glass

My Mother's Blue painting:
My mom commissioned this painting before marrying my dad from her former  art-teacher.
As a child I remember her turning the lights low and telling us stories about Ukraine. She would tell us that if we looked intently at the windows we could see the candle light flickering...
Growing up in the tropics, these snowy moments were truly magical.

And I think you know by now that I am a true blue friend.

Can't wait to see what Robyn and the rest of the Colourful Friday girls have in store for us today!

:)