Biene's adventure blocks #13, #14 and #15

 Today I have three more adventure blocks to show. They are all from late summer/ fall last year (2019).

This one was from a mini holiday in a national park about one hour drive away from home. It was rainy, but we had some beautiful walks and Biene really enjoyed it. 

This is the block and I like these big trees. 

And we've been to the dutch coast again, our favourite spot with endless walks on the beach. 

I pinned this beach block to the timber poles, otherwise they would have been blown away! 

This one was in autumn with lovely autumn light and lots of fallen leaves. 

Here's the block with a lovely autumn tree. 

This still is a very enjoyable project. I probably need about 5 to 6 more blocks before I can assemble the quilt top. 

I made a couple of blocks during this summer and will show you more soon! 

Biene's adventure blocks #10, #11 and #12

I still have a lot of catching up to do!
I continued to make Biene's adventure blocks and took them with me on our tours. Biene has grown so attached to us that it feels that she has been always with us.

We went on several day tours and lovely walks during this year, so here is just another scrappy tree block in the woods.

Biene is eight yers old now and her face is getting very white now. Even her feet turn white. But she is as active as ever and sometimes she still behaves like eight months old!

During another hot summer we went swimming at my rowing club. Biene loves the cool water and she can't get enough of that ball.

I pinned the whe water quilt block to our garden shed that is painted in blue and provided such a great backdrop!

Here's another improv pieced tree block at another hot day in the forest.

Biene is so incredibly photogenic! And she looks as happy as she makes us!

Biene's Adventure Quilt block #7

After this super hot summer we're having an amazing autumn. Sunny, not too warm but with beautiful blue skies and sunshine. We decided to spend a few days at the Dutch coast again, time for long walks and relaxing evenings.

I made another adventure beach block and got Biene to sit beside it in the sand. Not an easy task when the dog has nothing else in mind but running after that ball.

It was still warm enough for Biene to dip her feet into the water and trying to be faster than the seagulls.

Here's the block I made. Pretty simple beige scraps for the sand, wavy print for the water and a blue solids for a clear blue sky. With the recent adventure blocks I'm tending to keep the block design horizontal to achieve a cohesive overall look. I hope that'll work out.

Oh I love this coastline so much. The minute I reach the beach I have a feeling of deep relaxation. Walking along the shore is almost therapeutic, there's nothing better than listening to the crashing waves, the wind and being in great company. 

Another rare selfie of the three of us in the dunes. The only way Biene would sit still is waving the ball in front of her face. 

Even when we had a break from chasing ball she could hardly sit still. If we wouldn't play with her she would play by herself, hiding the ball in the sand, only to dig it up again a few moments later. Even though Biene is already seven years old, at the beach she behaves like a puppy. 

Biene seemed to enjoy herself most wen she was absolutely covered in sand. That's what I really adored about her playful behaviour. Have fun, no matter what. With her at the beach it's a bit like: play like there's no tomorrow. Doesn't matter if you're getting dirty, if you have sand all over your face, it's the moment that counts.

In these few months since we have her Biene has taught me so much. A dog doesn't want much of you. Whether it's going for a walk, belly rubs or playing ball: A dog wants you to be present. It actually is that simple.

Biene's Adventure Quilt - block #6

We enjoyed the last bit of the hot summer days in August with Biene and went for a swim. Well, Biene did, we just had fun watching her.
As with previous water blocks I opted again for a nice wavy print to represent the water.

Biene loved the water and the welcoming coolness of it, no wonder she kept hopping in an out.

Give that dog a ball and she's happy!

The excitement was big and it was hard to have her sit still. She would lay down for just a few seconds, not leaving the ball out of sight.

And that's Biene in what used to be green grass. This heat wave has burned all the grass that Biene now is pretty much camouflaged.

Biene's adventure block #4+5

We're having such a hot summer here in Central Europe that we are not able to go on long walks during the day. Temperatures between 30 and 37C (86 to 99F) left us with longer walks in the mornings and evenings and only very short walks during the day.

Nevertheless we went into the forest at weekends, that was the only place we could actually stick this heat. Biene had fun no matter what. I didn't do much sewing either, when you have temperatures of 26 to 29C (79 to 84F) inside the house you do not turn that iron on!

However, I made another tree block, improv pieced, in turquiose this time. Who said that trees need to be green all the time?

We have the feeling that in the forest Biene is her most natural self. Very alert, very active, always searching. A true hunter. A very beautiful one though (and not hunting at all, we would not have her run free if she would).

Here's another improv pieced tree block in the forest with a very playful Biene, having picked up every stick along the way.

This tree I made with small scraps and pieced them randomly together until I had a form that kind of looked like a tree. Variety is good!

And that's Biene seeing if we really, really do not want to play with that sick laying in front of her.

Temperatures are suppose to drop in the next two weeks or so, I guess the quilty summer adventure is turning into a year long project which I don't mind because we go on adventures with Biene all year round!

Biene's Summer Adventure Quilt - Block #2+3

We're having so much fun with Biene and I can't wait to show you more summer adventure quilt blocks.

We are having fantastic spring weather here with temperatures that feel like summer already (27C / 80F). So we decided to go in the forest and remain in the shade, otherwise it was just too hot.

So this is the first imrov tree block for the quilt and it has very subtle colours. Again I used only scraps and worked with what I had on hand.

We had a lot of fun and enjoyed a long walk.

Who would have thought that Biene is such a poser?!

The following day we went to my Rowing Club and Biene went for a swim. The previous owners told us that she loves to swim and we could see it recently that she attempted to hop into every pond she saw. (Not every pond is suitable for a dog swim though, especially not with lots of birds currently breeding at the banks.)

Usually we don't let her play with tree branches but in the water it was an exception.

So and that is block #3, I used some Alison Glass fabric from her collection 'Sun Print Bike Path' in blue to represent the water, some green for the river banks, birds and flowers and a blue sky.

She hopped into the water a couple of times but was dry very fast in this lovely weather.

And that's Biene with the quilt block pinned to our boat house timber facade. As if she knows that this quilt is going to be about her and our adventures!! She looks so good!

Biene's Summer Adventure Quilt - Block #1

Ever since I can remember I wanted a dog. As I was young I walked every dog in the neighbourhood but was never allowed to have one by myself.
As I got older life got too busy for a dog: university, high performance rowing, working full time, living abroad.
My dream has finally come true in December last year when we gave Biene a new home. 

So why is there a story about a dog on the blog today? I got inspired by Kitty Wilkin's beautiful lecture 'Quilts to mark milestones' at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena earlier his year. Kitty made quilt blocks of family adventures and brought them with her on hikes, boat rides and even flights. She documented the adventures with her beautiful photography on her blog here and here. Kitty brought her finished quilt top with her to the lecture and it was so beautiful to look at all those fun improv blocks that documented a whole summer.

After the QuiltCon lecture I immediately knew that I wanted to make my own 'Summer Adventure Quilt' marking adventures with Biene. This April we went on the first adventure that is also our first holiday with Biene to the North Sea in the Netherlands. 

There are endless sand beaches in 'Zeeland' and they are famous for the timber poles which break the waves in stormy weather.

The first quilt block was inspired by those poles in the sand. I improv pieced this block using only scraps. I took Kitty's advise and decided for a 15" height of this block and all coming blocks. The width will vary but 15" is the consistent height I'm aiming for.

The weather forecast was not the best so there is a bit of a grey cloud in the block as well.

It was too windy to hold the block up so I taped it down to the lovely timber huts that are all over the beach.

We had so much fun at the beach and Biene just did not tire of running after that ball.

Her whole face was covered in sand but that didn't seam to bother her.

Her floppy ears were going nuts with her speed and that wind. Isn't she beautiful?

 We got Biene to pose with the quilt block and the poles but she could hardly sit still, too excited!

The weather did improve after all and we had some really lovely sunny days.

If Biene wasn't playing ball she would dig holes.

Or dip her feet in the water.

I think she did have a lot of fun!

We all did actually! This is one rare selfie with the three of us where Biene did sit still for a couple of seconds...

I can't wait for our next adventure! And the next quilt block!

(I hope that weren't too many dog photos, but given the fact that I needed to wait for sooooo long to have a dog I think the amount of photos are in order. Quilty photos coming soon, I promise!)