Colors of Indian Summer

After a 3 weeks stay in the USA we are back home again. The weather was beautiful, the company even better, and the pictures will remind us of another unforgettable trip.  Not only did I bring back a collection of fabrics, I also left something behind in the States: a friendship quilt for our friends in Pittsburgh on the occasion of there new home, where we had a very pleasant stay. 

The colors of Pennsylvania Fall are magnificent, with a broad scale from bright red, corn yellow to rusty brown. I learned from a tourist info flyer that "Pennsylvania has 127 varieties of trees and every one turns a completely different shade in the fall." I believe we saw them all during our trip! And they are a true inspiration for more quilts.

Shopping for fabric will always be one of my favorite things; my friend Kathy knows that. Since we did not have the opportunity to go together this year, she brought me a package with fat quarters in 'American Stars and Stripes' style.
 

Besides visits to the City Quilter in New York, and the always necessary stop at a Joann Fabric store (this time in Pittsburgh), we planned to visit some shops in the heart of Dutch Pennsylvania. These shops have possibly the largest variety of fabric I have ever seen; the Zook's shop in Intercourse claim to have 20.000 bolts in stock! Some people were wondering whether I would make it in time for our flight back ;-).




The almost confounding quantity of material, didn't it make any easier to come to a choice...but I think I pretty well succeeded to buy just what I needed! Next time I might consider to check another bag....

Patchwork to comfort

Sunday is my radio day: I use to sit in our down stairs room, looking out over the garden, working on some patchwork project, and listening to The Sandwich: a radio breakfast.  This Sunday is a sad day: the last broadcasting The Sandwich. It will be strange to sit there and not hearing Jacques Klöters on the radio...luckily the patchwork will be there to comfort me! And there is a lot of work to do: in October we are visiting friends in Pittsburgh, who have moved into a new house; I am working on a little memory quilt. The nice thing about a memory quilt is, that it is growing while you work on it. Usually I only have a vague idea in mind, and just start somewhere. I have made a few memory quilts, one is the Europdonor quilt, made on the occasion of our organization moving into a new building. I have tried to reproduce aspects of  stem cell transplantation, the search for a donor and the international collaboration. The quilt is hanging in the hall of the Europdonor office in Leiden.

Cats and quilts

During my last visit to the US, I bought fabric to make a quilt for our new guestroom. I decided to use the twisted sister design by Ami Simms (www.amisimms.com/twistedsisters.html). Making the blocks is fun and the result is every time a surprise! After finishing the top, I used the living room floor to make the sandwich. Within seconds our cat Lotje decided the new top was a far better spot sleep on. Cats and quilts....they seem to attract each other....