Whooo hoot! *updated*

Just a quickie to bring these fun guys to you.
First, how big are they?  On average about 2" / 5cm tall.

These three I made just for me ... (but if you really want, I can make kits)

These little five are looking for homes ... just drop me a line and let me know which one wants to come live with you.  (they're filled with polyester and lavender so they make perfect drawer pomanders)


This sweet trio is available in kit form for you to make yourself. Kit includes tummies and bodies and vintage porcelain button eyes - you'll need to provide needle, thread and filling of your choice.


These three are ready to hang out under the Christmas tree!
What? Yes! Already ... and yes, I know - unheard of!


If you'd like to see my flock of owls grow, keep on eye on my flickr set "Owlets."


UPDATE for KITs and OWLETs:

I am embarrassed to say that I finally made it to the Post Office to check on shipping to the US.

• All owlets and kits contain hand-dyed felted wool (not felt), 100% cotton fabric and a pair of vintage porcelain eyes. 
• All prices include shipping from Belgium and generally take about 7-10 days to arrive in the USA / Canada.

Kit = $6.50 (includes fabrics and porcelain eyes, you need to provide filling of your choice) 

Owlet = $9.50 (sewn entirely by hand and filled with polyester batting and a teaspoon of lavender buds to repel insects and give off a wondeerful scent when lovingly squeezed.

The easiest way to do payment is for me to send you a paypal request. Paypal now allows you to pay by credit card without setting up an account with them. 


Thanks for your interest in my little creatures - they're guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!

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dark and bleary

I am so sorry for not posting this week. I really have been busy and have lots to show, but after kermis and the resulting lack of sleep I came down with something. Enough that I even broke down and went to the doc - probably the first time in 10 years ... it's all in my head. No really, stuffed up nose, sometimes weepy eyes, heavy and tired. So I spent the weekend on the sofa - but not with empty hands ... I made these ... but the weather is not cooperating so good pics were hard.

Whhoooo hoot!   Can you see us in the dark?

I've also been fast and furiously busy with more blocks from my Bunny Hill Designs BOM from *last* year. Pulled fabrics and prepped pieces for at least another dozen blocks (because I'm doing two quilts at the same time). Hopefully I'll get the embroidery done on them soon so I can show off too.

Got Dots is growing as well ... and I promise an update post soon.

In the meantime it's another busy week in the shop - quilting bee today, QUiPs tomorrow, open also Thursday. Hmmm, maybe Friday ... bear with me.

xox Jovita Pin It Now!

My muse made me do it

So when I gave Axel a quick kiss on his way out the door this morning I forgot that he wouldn't be home tonight.  He's delivering something for work about 4 hours away, then heading back to Duisburg to take his aunt out for afternoon "kaffee und kuchen," then spending the night at his parents and heading home tomorrow.

Wow ... a whole day and a half to myself.  I have so much to do ... I should be working on this, that and definitely this (especially because I really need to hang it in our living room soon - see below)!

Unfortunately my day has been a little bit all over the place. Yesterday (and again this morning) the electrician was here to repair numerous things including re-wiring the corner of the kitchen where our microwave - I won't bore you with the details of this job - suffice to say I now have an ugly cable on the *outside* of the house. Regardless, this meant I needed to move everything the cupboard holds onto the kitchen table. Then when he left last night I decided that since the cupboard was empty and moved I should paint the wall behind it ... I have been toying with this idea for awhile and wanted to use the same dark green I had painted the kitchen in Schellebelle.  It was a quick job first thing this morning but hmm ... now I'm wondering if it's too dark ... ?


We've also been trying to figure out what to do with our living room.  We just moved it upstairs ... it always think of Jane Austen's period when I think of this ... but our house is nothing like that.  It's just that I really needed my office to be bigger and have a dedicated class table in the shop.  So we hired a furniture lifter to shift our vanilla sofas upstairs through the french doors.  But that created the whole problem of the dealing with the ghastly wallpaper.  When it was our bedroom I could live with it - eyes closed!  But now it's driving me crazy.  Look at this horrible texture.  So ... what would it look like if I painted it?  Or if my muse painted it?

First I tried the new color I was considering for the living room - ugh - I accidently bought oil-based. Ah-ha! When I was digging out the kitchen paint I also found a partial can of my favorite favorite blue that we had in the living room in Schellebelle. I dashed downstairs, cleaned my brush, stirred that blue and ran back up to see what would happen - I LOVE IT!  Now if only that oil base would dry so I can paint over it before Axel gets home.  It is going to make the room a little bit darker but it has those lovely windows / door.  And the sofas are light - very light - too light.  Will deal with that in another 5 years ...

In the end not a single stitch was put into anything today.  But the shop just closed so dinner, walk Whisper and then ... hmm, paint or sew?  Which one will it be?

Oh .. and I promised to tell you about the Mülheim girls' dots ... before I head to get dinner I will blog about the Under the Willow Tree - so be sure to check them out there! Pin It Now!

The best Medicine ...

... is a day with friends ... I guarantee they will chase away all the cobwebs and snarls.

And Wow - what a day I had!! Yesterday Axel and I jumped in the car for a quick (2-1/2 hour) drive to Germany. Before he went schlepping groceries for his parents, he dropped me off with a bunch of girlfriends who meet up every Tuesday.

I first met this crowd when we moved from England simultaneously into our storage-apartment in Geldern (about 45 mins from his parents) and back to the States. We knew we'd be flying over often enough that a regular place to stay would be important. It only took a little bit of research to realize this little apartment just a few minutes walk from one of Axel's best friends was cheaper than a storage unit in England. It meant I could sew and have a "normal" life when Axel was out touring and it gave me the opportunity to meet THE GIRLS.

They're all quite a hoot and keep each other in stitches. Somebody always has something new to share ... and more often than not there's 10+ things to show each week. They are a constant source of inspiration and ideas.

Gabi was working on her flower garden - isn't it gorgeous?  Every tiny little scrap of fabric is Kaffe Fasset.  The hexagons measure about 3/8" on each side.

I met Karin for the first time - a warm, friendly lady who can KNIT and I mean really knit.  Gabi knits too and was working on a gorgeous shawl, but she had already put her project away by the time I pulled out my camera.  Someday I'm going to get the two of them to teach me how to do this.  First I need to finish sock of my socks.  I have knit three, but still don't have a pair - the story of my life :)

And Angela dyes her own fabrics and makes the most outstanding quilts. She's been working on this one for a couple of years ... 9-patches made using the English Paper Piecing method.

It was a wonderful day ... packed with laughter, ideas, inspiration, friendship and best of all patchwork and creativity. I also showed the my GOT DOTS project and immediately "infected" three of them. I'll save those pics for tomorrow. I was exhausted at the end of the day mostly from trying not to mix up my German and Nederlands (which was pretty much a lost cause).

There was a semi (lorry) accident on our normal motorway so we came home via a different route.  Quite tired and too three four-legged critters that were happy to see us. Today I've come down with *another* cold, the shop is open, our village is getting ready for Kermis (the ferris wheel will be set up across the street - right in front of our bedroom window).

I want to do is stitch, stitch, stitch - I have a few more Got Dots blocks to show you, another snowflake and more.  But I need to take pictures of everything.

I hope you're happily stitching away!  xox Jovita Pin It Now!

"Not I" Said the Little Red Hen

If you're saying this, you should head right over here to enter my give-away going on Under the Willow Tree.

Thanks so much for all the comments and ideas I've received so far for my first 9-patch.  I don't think you'll mind ... but I've decided to keep the drawing open for another week.  It's my fault ... I *finally* sent out a big email to all my friends in the States to give them the heads up that I'm blogging again.  Otherwise, just those who are on Facebook knew about all the recent activity.

Plus after reading a few of your ideas I browsed through my stash and found these ... I thought it might inspire a few more ideas :)

I have all these ideas about decorating my studio in these colors and would love for it to have the feel of the little tableau you see below.  But unfortunately I don't think it will work in this house ... it was built in the 1930's and has a wildly patterned cement tile floor in brown, greyish and creamish.  The fireplace is also quite a statement ... oh, what to do ... what to do ....

Still I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite inspiration pics ...

(i've lost my source, if you recognize
this please tell me)

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Big huge, happy sigh!

My class schedule for September - December is finally, finally finished.  Many many thanks to go friends who helped with the translation.

Apologies to those of you who can't read Nederlands - but this is such an achievement I had to share it. My new goal is to start NOW on the January - June schedule and include color pics of the projects ... but first I'm off to play with my dog, do some laundry and maybe a cartwheel or two.

xox Jovita

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Announcing GOT DOTS and a Give-Away!

So we're ready to begin ... I've had so much fun getting this all ready to share with you!
First I'm going to blame Barb for getting me all worked up about dots, cherries and berries again ... I've always loved them and have so many quilts I would like to make that include these lovely polky dots.
Barb's quilts reminded me of the dot quilt that has been lingering in the back of my brain ... one I had seen with my "sista," Dana, in an exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum.  It has such charm.  The maker was obviously using up every little scrap she had.  Well I have scraps too.  Boxes, buckets and bins of them!  So I'm all jazzed to use up a bunch of them and I'm hoping you'll join me in the fun as we venture into the great Got Dots Quilt-Along.

How does it work?  Easy, download and print out a little explanation and a few templates here.  Then dig out your scraps, start sorting and snipping.  Before you know it you'll be ready to make a bunch of these fun dotty blocks.
What do you need?  Background fabric(s) - each block is 6" finished but to allow for applique shrinkage I cut my backgrounds into 7" squares.  Each dotty block requires twenty-one 1-1/4" scraps of fabric.  That's it.  Oh yeh, you'll need needles and thread and a bit of spray starch is recommended - see Barb and Crispy's tutorials below.
Want to join us?  Please leave a comment on the blog and/or in the Flickr group - we would love to know who is going dotty with us.
Share your blocks on Flickr too!  I've already opened up a group and added pics of my blocks and some of the original quilt.  I look forward to see these dots multiply.
Want to win some dots to get you started?  
We've got lots of ways for you to enter a give-away for some great dots to get you going ... dotty ... hehe.

1. Leave a comment here on this blog and tell us what colors you are already dreaming about.
2. Become a follower of my blog Jovita's Patchwork Atelier
3. Become a follower of our blog Under the Willow Tree.  By the way - there's a give-a-way going on there too ... i really really looking forward to reading your ideas :)
   
   
4. Add a Got Dots button and link to your blog - and be sure to tell me about it.
5. Tell us what you think of the pics we've already uploaded to the Flickr group.
   

Wow - that's a lotta ways to win - good luck!

Want to share it with your friends?  No problem - point them to my blog, print out the info for them, whatever you like.  (But please remember - my "pattern" is for private use only - in all fairness, please don't sell it.  You are welcome to share it (hand it out for FREE) in your shop, guild or amongst friends but please make sure to leave my info on the copies.)  The "patterns" will be released as part one, part two ... not sure how many yet.  But it's all free, you'll just want to stay tuned to get all the parts.

Tutorials

• Barb's method - I do mine exactly like Barb but I have a TIP ... let the spray starch soak into the dot before you put the iron to it.  Otherwise you end up with a lot of burnt starch on your iron - trust me, I've done it too many times.
  
• Crispy's method - I am very intrigued and think I might have to try this for my next project or for my own dots that I don't swap.  
  
• FYI - for the great Dot Swap I think it's better if we all stick to the same method - ie. basted over cardstock.
  

Feel free to give a shout out on your blog!  If you have a blog, please then grab a button below - yes I had fun making these too - there should be one to coordinate with the colors of everyone's blog - but if not, give me a holler and I'll custom make one - just because I can :)

Linky info ...

• Cut and paste the following HTML code into your blog or website.

<a href="http://www.jovitaspatchwork.eu/gotdots.html/"><img src="http://www.jovitaspatchwork.eu/gotdots/gotdots_YOURCOLORCHOICE.png" alt="Jovita's Patchwork Atelier - the great Got Dot quilt-along"/></a>

• Choose  your favorite Got Dots button.
• Then where you see YOURCOLORCHOICE in the HTML code - change that to the button color you would like.  Change only those words, everything else should stay the same.
  
• If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Button choices 

fresh2

berry2

choc2

figtree2

green2

melon2

redteal2

rwb2

teal2

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Going Dotty

It's been quite the busy week ...

In Belgium you can tell summer is winding down and everyone is keen to get back to quilting. A total of 12 ladies joined us for a fantastic quilting be on Tuesday - half the group used our new table in the classroom, the other half gathered in our kitchen.  It was lovely ... but after a 5-week break speaking hardly any Nederlands I was exhausted.  Darn, I forgot to take pictures.  But I *promise* I will next month.

The shop also re-opened after our summer break so I've been busy getting the class schedule figured out and translated. It's quite a job but I think it's nearly finished.  As soon as I can I'll provide a link where you can download it.

I'm also working on a really fun quilt-a-long idea involving dots - lots of dots!  More soon, but in the meantime let this inspire you.

Unfortunately the biggest down-side to me being so busy is that Whisper is acting up ... you know I only ignore her and never play with her ... Yesterday I took her to the field behind our house .. it was gorgeous, the sun was shining, the cats were playing (going to the field is an all-family outing) and Whisper was in heaven.  The nice thing is I have this video to make me smile all the times she's driving me up a tree.

Here are a few more pictures from our "outing."  And there are a few more in my Flickr gallery.

Today was our monthly Crazy Bee ... here are just two of the four "bugs" we embroidered.  There others were a ladybug and a snail but didn't photograph well so I'll show those on another day when the sun is out.

The weather has taken a cooler turn and I'm loving it ... sweaters! Plus I can wear my wool vest with felted wool rose corsage - someday I'll write up a tutorial. They're a breeze to make and are lovely gifts.

The bad thing is that I'm feeling a bit yucky, that obligatory fall cold - but Axel's gone to get chinese for dinner - yummm, they make the best Chicken Soup.

The shop is open tomorrow so no sleeping in and Axel has to work all weekend (12 days straight - thanks UEFA).  Hopefully I can hole up and stitch and just jump up when customers come in ... so I can finish a few Got Dots blocks to show you next week!

xox Jovita Pin It Now!