Netherlands Part Four Lucie Huig-Dunnebier

First Staircase Up!

I was recently told the Dutch quilt community is small. It might be small but it has so much talent!

Dorry introduced me to Dutch quilter Lucy Huig-Dunnebier.  I am honored that Lucie invited us into her home and studio.

As we walked the beautiful tree lined canals of Amsterdam one can't help but wonder what lies behind the 400 year historic doors of canal houses.

With Lucie's generous invitation, we toured her 400 year old home and studio.

This wonderful staircase is the first flight of steps on the  way to Lucie's Studio.

Ready?

Let's look at a few of Lucie's quilts.

Swirls of folded fabric create circles

Lucie is brilliant - her quilts are all made from 100% natural fibers. Silk, cotton or linen.

She does amazing handwork as she manipulates the fabrics in fine art quilts.

In these examples Lucie folds the fabric into textural circles that gleefully swirl across the surface of the quilt.  All of her quilts are hand quilted.

My photos won't do the beauty of the quilts their due justice - they are exquisite in quality, color and details.

This is the first room of Lucie's studio space.
She draped quilt after quilt across her hand quilting frame.

The room exploded in color and texture.
It was an experience I will never forget.

Same quilt - two views (top left)
Opened silk flower petals (top right)
Closed surface flaps (middle right)
Lucie opening a compartment (lower left)
Opened layers (lower right)

Each work of art has a story and Lucie relates the stories with passion and detail.

Quilts that change color and form as they are held in different directions.

Hand applique flowers that open to reveal pure silk petals with the tiniest accents of glass gold beads.

An architects daughter, Lucie plans intricate closures that facilitate the transformation of her quilts as layers are opened and closed, exposing delightful surprises in color and treasure.


Lucie has exhibited and taught all over Europe.
If you have the chance to see or experience these textile wonders - take it!

Studio view - a few of Lucie's quilts draped on her quilt frame

Her ingenious way of designing, and manipulating premium fabrics like wool, silk and linen is spell binding.

Add the color and texture and it is a feast for the eyes and hands.  I am guessing exhibit attendees always want to touch the quilts.

The quilts in this room were several layers deep.  I wish I could show them all to you.  Day and night backs and fronts remind children to sleep and wake with charming details.

Lucie's recently completed wool quilt

Lucie's new wool tweed piece hangs in the main front room.
The rich wool glows in the sun lights. I had an instant desire to run my hand over the surface.

Each square of wool was individually hand quilted.

The colors are arranged light to dark as the light enters the front window and adds to the dramatic effect.

Lucie collects the fabrics and then decides how she will use it.

The quilt hangs from the ceiling picture rails along with her talented husbands oil paintings, adding to the gallery effect.
We felt as if we were in an exhibit within each room.

Built in 1616, Lucie's family acquired the home after WWII, with muddy windows they weren't sure what they were getting. Grateful for the opportunity of a home after the devastation they have made it a beautiful and welcoming home.

Hand quilting detail (top)
One of her diagrams (middle)
Night time quilt back (bottom)

I found Lucie's studies and diagrams very interesting.


For exhibits she includes diagrams to assist viewers in understanding what the quilts do, how they transform and change as the surface is "opened".  Since exhibits are so stationary, I can see that some people may have a hard time understanding the quilts.


Lucie's hand stitches are beautiful, and enhance each quilt.
They are the subtle finish to the intricate surfaces.

The second room of her studio includes a large window overlooking the canal, her cutting table and shelving for her fabric collections.


What a beautiful space to create!

Lucie with one of her quilts - opening a compartment

Lucie had several quilts with children in mind. Compartments that opened to reveal treasures like baseball cards, dinosaur figures and rocks - special places for a child to stow away treasures.

As the treasures are placed in the front compartments, the quilt can be flipped to the back. The back reveals a sleepy theme such as a moonlit sky and twinkling stars - encouraging sleep and sweet dreams.

Each quilt back is as interesting as the front.

Wonderful aren't they?

Each of her quilts truly embodies what a real art quilt is.

Amsterdam Row House Poster

You never know what's behind those historic facades that line the canals, and now we can say we toured one.

Lucie's home is on this poster charting out the canal homes.

Thank you very much Lucie for generously sharing your home, quilts and art with us!

2016 Gallery Exhibit

Please leave a note for Lucie in the comments.

Kind Regards,
Dawn

Netherlands Part Three Quilt It & Dotty

While in the Netherlands I shared some of my hexagon quilts at Quilt It Dotty.

Quilt-It Dotty, (Dorry van Osch) a quilt shop in Overloon Netherlands hosted me. Generous, gracious exceptional hostess!

She booked two full days of fun!  The hexagon program we did Saturday we repeated with another group on Sunday.  I am so thrilled with their interest in antique quilts.

This is a view from the kitchen door - looking through the French door window panes into the great room.
The quilts are laid out ready for the lecture and trunk show.

This room was later transformed into stitching space for the afternoon workshop.

Dorry's Shop, Quilt-It-Dotty is filled with wonderful fabrics and trims, gift items as well as women's clothing.

The shop is light and airy - a happy place to gather.

Attendees had so much fun shopping, we had to hurry to make the program - it was fun!
Sorry started everyone off with wonderful baking from the Aga and fresh coffee/tea.

Dorry set up beautiful seating all over her gardens. Quilts adorned the seating while fresh flowers were on the tables.

Large shade trees provided comfort from the noon sun.  The weather was beautiful so lunch was served outside.

Delicious gourmet lunch was served with elderberry lemonade, tea and more baked goods!

I bought a few little extra pieces of antique chintz to share after ahttp://hesterpatchwork.blogspot.com/2017/10/hexagons.htmlhttp://hesterpatchwork.blogspot.com/2017/10/hexagons.htmlhttp://hesterpatchwork.blogspot.com/2017/10/hexagons.htmln online discussion about the "hand" or feel of 19th century chintz.

Always fun to share a little something extra.

Everyone got to see and feel the antique fabric.

The attendees were fun, attentive, curious and a joy to spend time with!  I hope they enjoyed the days as much as I did.


I was so busy talking, I am glad others were able to take photos.  This was the only group photo I got. (Hello Ladies!!)

Also thank you to the ladies who brought show and tell - amazing quilts!




You can read more about the events on these blogs:

Oh, Oh, Quilts! - Phyllis Blog:  HERE
Me And My Needle - Ageeth's Blog: HERE
Workshop Prince - Betty's Blog:  HERE
Quilt It & Dotty - Dorry Blog:  HERE
Juud's Quilts - Blog:  HERE
Quilt Things & Stuff - Marieke's Blog:  HERE
And
http://hesterpatchwork.blogspot.com/2017/10/hexagons.html
Please let me know if I can add more links here!

Dorry will have many of her patterns converted to English soon!  Including the medallion quilt in the picture. She has some family history on this Dutch treasure so stay tuned.

THANK YOU DORRY!!
Happy Stitching,
Dawn

Netherlands Part Two

The next part of our adventure takes us to the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.

I took more than 500 photos and was almost speechless at the quality of the articles on display.

It was a stunning exhibit of Dutch Chintz in garments, quilts, hats/bonnets and home goods.

I think the exhibit is now closed.





The exhibit book was not printed in English, but I purchased it anyway.
With Google translate and the photos it was worth the price.

This sign tells how cherished the chintz is.

It is carefully preserved and cared for.  The Frisians were wealthy enough not to wear their clothing out. Their chintz rich traditional costumes and related items were carefully preserved.

The children's garments are in exceptional condition. Larger worn garments could be remade into smaller articles.

Chintz also had a second life wine used for linings in blankets, bed capes and cloaks.

This was my favorite dress.
India, second quarter 18th century. Painted and dyed using the chintz technique.

The cut outs show incredible embroidery.

The skirt was also magnificent, not to mention the neck scarf.

It is in the collection of the Fries Museum.

The dolls and doll clothes were very detailed.
This doll wears a wool under dress with a chintz apron and cap. Dates first half of the 18th century.  It is in the collection of the Fries Museum.

This doll was displayed with a mirror under the feet so you could view the layers of petticoats.

Next to her was an oak chest of doll clothes. Numerous outfits all made in chintz.  Even the straw plaited doll bonnets were trimmed in chintz.

Infants were wrapped in specially shaped 'blankets', secured closed with ribbons. I think these are "wikkelkleed".  Dated second half of the 18th century.

This infant sized doll, wearing a chintz bonnet, is shown wrapped in the (wikkeleeded) somewhat "T" shaped blanket.
One of the prints is French (Jouy-en-Josas, 1788
printed cotton from Oberkampf cotton printers.

Numerous examples were in the exhibit.





There were quilted petticoats, stomachers and quilts. This quilt is still in the makers family. Joes Meester is the owner.
(Blog: Dutch Quilt Cat)

It is a double sided quilt. The other side is quarter square triangle blocks.

A wonderful reproduction fabric line was produced from fabrics in this quilt, titled, "Josephine".

Thank you for joining me for part 2 of the trip.
Did you like the exhibit?

Happy Stitching,
Dawn
Link to Dutch Quilts I have reproduced (HERE)
Link to our Easy Shop (HERE)

Netherlands Part One

We are home from our trip to the Netherlands.

Velma had a nice time with the house sitters, but was very happy to have us home.

She has been my shadow every day!

Only a sunny patch in the window keeps her away.

Please continue - as I take you through Part One of our travels.

Our first couple of days after arrival we take it easy.
Why hurry? We are on vacation!  There is so much to see and do in Amsterdam before we take off to other parts of the country.

Landing at 6:30AM local time, we try to stay awake and moving!  Options include luggage lockers prior to check in at the hotel or concierge services at the hotel desk. After taking the train from the airport to Central Station, we were fortunate to get early check in at our hotel. We were able to shower and freshen up.

We took a morning canal ride and soaked in the sunshine.

We enjoy seeing the construction techniques.

This is stonework on a bridge we cruised under.





This is the famous spot where you can see the arches of seven bridges in a row.

Click to enlarge, maybe you can see them too.


The fresh air and slight rocking of the boat could have very easily lulled us to sleep!

The beautiful sights and sounds kept us energized.

We also had tickets for a wine and cheese pairing. We learned about the aging (ripening) of cheese on wood shelving. The wheels can be aged to about 2 years.

Very large mature wheels of cheese are then sent to market where they are sampled and auctioned.

We had five cheeses with three glasses of wine! Then, a sixth cheese paired with a glass of Port.  It was magnificent.  We were advised to find the true Dutch cheese in the USA - check Whole Foods.

Evidence of an early afternoon well spent.

This was the leftover wine.

The "pours" were generous and we couldn't finish all of it!

Of course I had to visit Den Haan Wagenmakers.
I was fortunate to meet Petra and Elsbeth. They even wanted to see a couple of my little quilts.  What an honor.

I was fun to see the hexagons Elsbeth was working on in Dutch Heritage fabrics.

Petra shared her new Dutch Heritage fabric lines.
Of course, I placed and order.  They are all so beautiful.

Web Image

Barnsley - strike off

This is the new panel.

10" x 11.5" - of course wonderful quilt shop quality fabrics.

As if it couldn't get better - -





Check out the project and matching border prints.

You can order yours Click HERE.
I was told it is only available in the Netherlands.
A few tips:
   * The postage will not calculate correctly!  The shop will adjust the postage to reflect the actual amount when they ship it. The postage will look very high as you checkout. While it isn't as low as ordering from within the US, it is a web shop issue.
   *  The pattern or kit is designed to also use your stash. The center panel, second border print and final floral border are all you need - along with your stash!
It is beautiful!

After my first quilt shop visit, (more quilt shop info in part 2) we went antique shopping.
On my last visit here I only had an hour.

So, this trip I made sure I had more time.
It was wonderful!

I did make some purchases this time.
Those I will show you in a future post, dedicated just to Dutch antique needlework tools.

It was early to bed and up the next day for some touristy things!

We went to Zaanse Schans to see the windmills.

The sky teased us with potential rain, but stayed dry.

It was refreshing to be out on the water.

One of the most interesting windmills to me was the color mill.

Beside the mill was a storage shed with 17 shutter units that were opened and closed to facilitate drying.

At capacity it contains about 11,000 pounds of pigment that can be dried in about 2 months,

Pigment is used for coloring many things, textile pigments interest me most.

The operation and staffing of the windmills is done as part of a heritage/history program that keeps the mills functioning as they did centuries ago.

We were allowed to enter the windmills, and even climb up to the balconies.

I couldn't help but think in the US, they probably wouldn't be operating and any are potentially dangerous would be roped off and off limits.

We loved exploring the old timbers and stone.

We were lucky to leave before bus loads of people descended on the little village.

Back to Amsterdam we went - ready for some sleep.

Dreaming of our next adventure to Leeuwarden!
Stay tuned for Parts Two, Three and Four.

Thanks for coming along for Part One.

Happy Stitching,

Dawn

Treasure Hunting In A Barn

We had a fun weekend.  So many things on our "to do" list we ignored. Sometimes you just need to have fun.

Heading to rural areas west of us, we went to a flea market. In the early morning sunrise we walked heavy dew in the grass down row after row of vendors.The smell of hot coffee and fresh picked produce lingered in the air. I found a few smalls and was so "in the moment" I didn't take any photos.

After breakfast in a small cafe we decided to visit a few antique shops - one in a large barn.  I love barns! The old timber and construction techniques are fascinating.

This quilt was interesting to examine. Hand quilted, narrow back to front binding.
The red was unstable and had faded to a peachy-brown shade.
Note that orange block in the lower left corner.

Hand Quilted, Double lines in the alternate blocks

Rework Top 

Several personal blocks, beautiful embroidery
at the seams

This 1916 block must have had personal
significance

1905 block with the month of Feb. next to a block of hands

The blue ink is from the brand label of the original flour bag

Skirt bottom of a christening gown

Two color quilt - hand quilted

Detail of hand quilting - Lovely stitches

Wonderful scrappy look to this one!

It wasn't just a textile day - this sweet

doll dresser has great details

I think this may end up in a quilt or two

Sometimes, it's just fun to remember

Wooden Spool Foot Stool

Barn Floor and Stairs from the Loft

Have a great week!

Happy Hunting and Stitching,

Dawn

Link to Our Easy Shop HERE

Link to Flea Markets HERE