In the Netherlands

A few weeks ago I spent a wonderful week in the Netherlands, the land of windmills and cheese. And cows and sheep and ships and canals and tasty, international food and great coffee and cakes and a beautiful, windswept landscape and cute villages and …. and …. and …. You get the point – a beautiful country with nice people. I really loved it.


The vacation was built around my husband’s schedule of conferences. He happened to be there and I just joined him. So it really was a coincidence that at the same time the Quilter’s Guild of the Netherlands had their annual show in Alkmaar. And since nothing is really far away in Holland we drove to Alkmaar, for me to see the show.

The quilts were hung in a beautiful and really huge church with enough daylight through the large windows to see the quilts in their real colors. The quilts were all by quilters from the Netherlands and it was an interesting overview of the different styles. One could see everything from traditional to contemporary, from appliqué to paper-piecing and everything in between.

“Colourful Escher” by Henny Meerman. 105 x 105 cm / 41 x 41 inches

“Mijn papavers” by Ria van den Bosch. 110 x 110 cm / 43 x 43 inches

“Geometrisch Alfabet” by Laurence Schoemaker-Aaftink. 125 x 175 cm / 49 x 69 inches

“Indonesische sawas” by Nelleke Kooij. 10 x 100 cm / 39 x 39 inches

16 quilters from the quiltgroup “De Lakenquilters” made this groupquilt, clearly inspired by the great painter Piet Mondrian.

“Stijlvol 2017”. 120 x 180 cm / 47 x 71 inches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Paleishet Loo” by Maaike Bakker. 160 x 214 cm / 63 x 84 inches

“Losing my marbles” by Marina Brito de Campos. 162 x 162 cm / 64 x 64 inches

“Amish Circles” by Ingeborg Nyqvist. 129 x 129 cm / 51 x 51 inches

“Zweven” by Jeanette van der Linden. 150 x 110 cm / 59 x 43 inches

The quilters of the Netherlands always had a special affinity towards appliqué and I remember breathtaking quilts which weren’t only marvelled at in Europe but also in the United States (i.e. Ted Storm won at least 3 times Best of Show at Quiltweeks). And they still make beautiful appliqué quilts…

“Slingerkrans” by Ineke Goulmy-Hendriks. 250 x 210 cm / 98 x 83 inches

 … or use a combination of piecing and broderie perse.

“Antique Wedding” by Jannie de Wilde-van den Eijkel. 160 x 160 cm / 63 x 63 inches

 

 

“Ximeroni” by Jenny Kanakis. 85 x 55 cm / 33 x 22 inches

“Elke dag een draadje” by Marjan Rijnders. 240 x 240 cm / 94 x 94 inches

“Spanish dream” by Anja Kok. 185 x 200 cm / 72 x 79 inches

Holland was not only a great place for vacation but also a marvellous place for the travelling quilter (there even was a second, totally different quilt show – more about this one next week).