My mom's vest....

Last time I blogged (I'm sorry it took me two weeks to blog again but I've been very occupied with school)I wrote about finding my mom's old favorite vest and I wanted to suprise her with a bag.
Today I finished the bags.
Yes I managed to get three bags out of the vest and fabrics! So now I'm going to suprise my mom ánd my sister with a bag.

I do, however, have one bag left. And if there is someone who would like it? I'm willing to sell it! It's the bag on the next picture, the bag in the middle of the three bags. You can mail me.

The next weeks I'll be occupied with the Dutch Sinterklaas and our school art project about Africa. But I'm going to try to blog as often as I can!

More bags

The big advantage of being a teacher, are the many holidays. The kids and me have the same holidays. This week is autum holiday week. And besides doing all kind of creative things with the children... I have been busy making more bags.
We made some felt toadstool candle lights
My oldest son made this building from Kapla blocks
My doughter had this little wool dress when she was two years old. I was always in love withe the little dress, so I saved it in a box. Until now. I made two bags out of them.
with the dress, my husband old jacket, fabrics and ribbons from my moms attic....
I started to make the two bags
I love to sort out were to put al the pieces.
And here you see the result.


Today I found my moms old favorite knitted vest... I think I'm going to suprise her with .... a bag.

Finished

Yes! Yes! I just finished my first "Dutch colours" bag! It was so much fun to make it, and to sort out all the right fabrics and ribbons. Also the way to develop the bag was exciting. Because I put details of my old sweater and old fabrics in the bag, it has become a very personal bag.
front side

back side
connecting-piece with mobile pocket
other connecting-piece with smal pocket made from the bottum of the sweater
I made a lining in the bag with two pockets. The great thing is, I only spend money on the linig fabric.

And now it's ready and waiting to be used.....And me, I'm busy, busy, busy making my next "Dutch colours" bag!

Thoughts at night

Verry often my head can be so so full with all kind of thoughts. Thoughts about my children, about work, philosophic and creative thoughts, etc.... These thoughts can keep my awake at night and get my out of bed in the middle of the night.
One of these thoughts I'm sharing with you now:
I want to make a bag from a part of an old sweater,
bands and ribbons found at my mothers attic,
and different materials.
I made a little drawing that plopped up in my head.
I hope it's going to work out right....therefore
To be continued....

Almost finished

I want to share with you my almost finished little bird quilt. The top is ready and i'm starting to quilt it now.


Yes, every spare moment I feel the NEED to finish this quilt and 'forget'all the houskeeping activities. The homefront does love the little birdquilt and they do allow me to have manny creative moments...... but there are these little softly annoying questions plopping up; "mam, do you now where my...is" "did you wash my ...." And yes it can be a little messy in the house while I'm fulfilling my needs.
'Oh' how good it feels, those needs, and how cheerful we are while doing it.
And the homefront? wel, they just take and like us as we are with all our crazy needs!

Look what I found!

Isn't it great, sometimes you'll find things you even forgot you had them in the first place.(I'm sorry for my English)
I have these easy to make Yoyo thing, and they really are easy and fast to use. My sister has a heart I have a flower, so we can exchange them. Anyway I was making lot's of flowers and was in search for new material in my "bright material basket"


Then suddenly there they were...my four little (crumpled) applique birds. I really forgot about them for years. But now I have all this new inspiration. I'm going to make a little quilt with the birds and the yoyo flowers in all these bright colours that I love so much. I think things always come together the way it's supposte to be!

New Item

Hello again,

Most of you probably seen the new item my sister introduced on her blog. It's called "what's in the box". I think it's a great item. In my family we all have lot's of boxes filled up with 'work in progress'. As a child I'd love to peek in all the boxes our mother piled up in our house.

But today I want to share withe you my first "what's in the box" item. Every autumn I open this box to get the little gnome's and dwarf's out, which I made a few years ago. The children always love playing whith them.They give autumn a fairy-like feeling. Each year the collection grows. Yesterday I made this toadstool.I made it from wool whith a dry felt technique. I buy the pattern's for the gnomes and dwarf's in this store; de vuurvogel . There also are great internet store's like de witte engel where I like to get inspired.

Childrens work

Al thaugt me and my head are very occupied with schoolstuff, I notice blogspotting can be a good distraction. It is'nt working with the children that troubles my mind. It's the operating system that can make it difficult for hard working teachers.

Anyway I want to share with you some of the things we (me and my very creative colleague)do with the children in our group. We just finished the subject "me and my house". this year I work children in the age 4-5 and 6. I'm so proud of them!

two quilts

I want to show you two of my quilts.


This pineapple quilt is a disign from


The Haan en Wagenmakers it's made from typical 'old-dutch sits' design material. it's a very large quilt. I made it with the machine but quilted by hand.
The other quilt is a sampler I made with material from my childerens clothes. I also used material from Oilily wich they used to sell in Alkmaar in an outlet store. I made and quilted this one by hand.





this quilt is my daughter's favourite, because it has all these bright colours.


In my classroom Me and my colleague also use a variety of colours, I will show you next time..

Thanks

I want to thank you all for the positive remarks you send me!
Thank you, Thank you, dank jullie wel (in dutch)

Cold feet

I'm sure you know my country, the Netherlands, From all the tulips,windmills, van Gogh and Rembrand. But maybe you do not know the weather in my country ?!
It can be very windy, wet, sunny and cold...
This morning we started with a nice little sun, So, I pute my bare feet in my Italian shoes....
later on this day, it's getting grey, with rain and wind. My husband says "it's a typical womens thing" but then suddenly my feet become like ice lumbs. And I need socks and my quilts to heat them again.

That's why we have a coffin in our livingroom with different kind of quilts.


We each have our own favorite blanket, except my husband....
Yes I think it's a typicale male thing,
He never has cold feet!!

My first picture,

Hello, my name is Heleen. I live in the south of The Netherlands. I have a hard working husband and three children in the age of 8, 11 and 12.

I work at a primaryschool as a part time teacher. A job I really enjoy!!

But when i'm not occupied with work or my family I try to practise my hobby's. Like quilting, drawing, making felt, I also like to embroider, cook and read.

My sister is a real passionate and creative'"blogger" she encouraged me to make my own blog. And with her help I have a blog. Now you are reading my first selfmade message.

My only problem will be: time... time to sit down and work at this blog. I promise to do my best to become a good and frequently blogger. So till next time..