About

Liekie

Almost every blog has an About page. So I guess here I should share some – I hope – interesting details about me, myself and I. Here we go.

This is me. I am in my fourties, a crazy cat lady and married to the funniest and most caring and loving husband. Originally being trained as bespoke tailor for women’s clothing, I actually have never worked in this industry.

And after graduating from fashion school, I hardly ever used my sewing machine. Due to lack of time and I did’t enjoy the machine, because it wasn’t that good.

From a ‘career’ in a supermarket as head cashier to manager of holiday apartment rental in a metropol, I ended up going back to college in 2015 for a bachelor’s degree in translating german into dutch. My internship at a well-known manufacturer of broadband products led to a permanent employment contract as technical translator.

During all those years I still hardly used my sewing machine, which was a Singer Chic 4662, I bought in 1993. I didn’t like sewing with it because the stitches were so ugly – no matter what I tried. Stitching a nice straight line was very hard. The machine was unstable and almost jumped from the table during sewing. But maybe I was too picky, since I got used to industrial sewing machines when I was still in college.

This all changed in January 2020, when I decided it was finally time for a new sewing machine. I tried to sew a pair of pants, but the old sewing machine didn’t sattisfy me. After some research I decided to get a Bernina 570 QE, because it was the smallest model with dual feed. I didn’t care about the BSR that came with the machine nor the embroidery possibilities. I just wanted a decent machine that doesn’t have plastic gears, has dual feed, a knee lifter and a programmable foot pedal for thread cutting .

In June 2020 I finally got my Bernina 570 QE. I tested the machine by sewing made-to-measure face masks for my husband and I, because COVID-19 was going around. I also shortened my husbands new jeans – which was absolutely not possible with my Singer. He always brought them to the nearest seamstress. And after widening an old dress of mine – which I planned to wear on our wedding day later that month (shopping was hardly possible during the pandemic) – the sewing machine was sent on a long holiday.

The holiday lasted until October of 2021, when I stumbled upon the Minecraft quilt by Kelli Fannin Quilts. I fell in love with her quilt and decided to test the quilting functionality of my new sewing machine. So I went on this quilt journey that started with pillows and still lasts.