Little joys

I'm back! I never intended to be gone so long, but such is Life! (mine, at least...)
:)

I have many things to share with you. And I am so sad I have not been able to keep up with what you have been up to, either. But I am hoping things will be more settled in the next few weeks. (fingers crossed!)

Here are my October Clams, good thing these don't spoil... :) Jossie, I really need to thank you for this project, as I am really having such fun with these Clams. And the more time I spend on them, the more I enjoy working on them.

Halfway there!
Can't wait to see what the other Clam-girls have been up to...

Shruti has been patiently waiting for 2 baby-quilts I promised for her 'SPREAD THE CHEER' initiative. Now they are finally en route to India!
Once I had tidied up my sewing room, it was a delight to work on these little ones (32" by 35").

I even went as far as trying out the things I had learned from Leah last year. I kept hearing her encouraging voice in my head, and took out the Supreme-slider. Do I need to say more?! I kept breathing- relaxing my shoulders- listening to my machines' motor- foot completely on the pedal- breathing... And kept repeating to myself what I heard Leah say that learning came from doing...
:)
My loopy loops just kept getting more fluid and by the time I got to the second quilt I even had mustered enough courage to try some McTarvishing...

Thank YOU, Leah!
:)

And the back wasn't too shabby, in my humble Beginner's opinion.
:)

Oh wow: fun, indeed!  I wish I had more time to spend practicing free-motion quilting. Maybe I should make it a point...

In the meantime, I have kept up the Klosjes production in the evenings, over the past weeks. I am happy to say that another 44 Klosjes have been added, making my total 445 out of 600+. I was so encouraged by your lovely comments and amazing support on my last Klosjes update: THANK YOU! Van Harte Bedankt!

I also had the joy of meeting Kristine this week. It was so very nice to share our quilting stories.

We had a great time together, and I even had a chance to ask her to coach me on my hand-quilting.

Kristine showing me how she handquilts

As a self-taught quilter, it was a real dream come true to have someone with so much experience looking over my shoulder and giving me tips. She told me to cut the tail off from my thread once I made my quilter's knot. Also she showed me my quilt had to be tighter on the hoop. She encouraged me to graduate to a much much smaller needle. ( Just like Ria had done, and so I had 12's at home and was able to start practicing right away). And Kristine also showed me how to position my thumb closer to the needle, and as promised I couldn't believe how teeny tiny my stitches turned out!
Thanks Kristine, it really was so nice to meet you!

Yesterday we added a new member to our little family.

This is Daisy. The boys chose her name, and I was really happy with it, as I think it suits her perfectly!  I am sure we will have lots of fun together. She is one of the smallest sized dog I have ever owned, but she holds her own and is perfect with the boys. Rehoming has been going amazingly smoothly, and we couldn't be more thrilled: Welcome to our pack, Sweetheart!


I have one more thing to share with you today. Look what we picked up this morning at the newsstand:

And inside we found this:

My dear friend Elena was invited to be the stylist for this article in this month's Madame Figaro Maison.
And whose quilt is that stylishly draped on the hammock...

It's the same quilt that keeps us warm at night! :)
This is really exciting, especially when you see that I don't even get a last name in the credits... LOL
in greek: Handmade Quilt created by Valentina...
Remember I told you about this quilt here ...

:)

These are the little joys of my busy life.
And since everyone is still happily napping, I will go and see what you have been up to!
See you when I see you!
:)

ps If you like listening to uplifting things while stitching I recommend you listen to this. Thanks for the tip Nadine, who by the way has a new blog!

Found here

Brene has such an amazing blog Ordinary Courage.

Enjoy!