Finish, HOHRH and Mary

Again a finish to show. I finished it some time ago as a present for the SBBC's member Lynn. I stitched her Schoolgirl Lessons, Little House Needleworks Design and I finished it as a little bag. The floss I used is handdyed (over-dyed) embroidery floss from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe
Nancy, the owner, is very trustworthy and she compensates your shippingcosts by adding free floss to you order (No, I don't have any financial benefit of advertising, I'm just a very satisfied customer LOL).
For a change I took a lot of pictures of it, hanging in my craft room, on top of the stairs etc. And for a change, I lost all those pictures due to a computer crash. So I took (part of) Lynn's picture, I hope she doesn't mind!

And another goal achieved: House Two of the HOHRH is up. I wanted it finished in June, and this afternoon I succeeded. Do you notive the second (lower) crow on the left? I miscounted there, but decided I like it this way. This crow must be a curious one and since I am curious too I think I like it this way LOL.

Third picture I want to show is my progress on Mary Wigham, as promised some blogposts before. Here she is, part one finished, and part two is on the go! And as I see the pictures I think I might learn to iron my work before taking pictures. The two houses are perfectly in line, in real life that is!

Ready to see pictures?

Today I have a little finish again. I think I mentioned the Chat SAL in an earlier blogpost. Well, yesterday evening we had another chat, and we received the last part of this cute SAL. Today I finished it.

It was a lovely day today, sunny and warm, but there was a little breeze, so it wasn't too hot. As it was our wedding anniversary (19 years!) we decided to go for a bikeride to Garnwerd, a little village on 15 km from our hometown. We went there together, DH, DS, DD and me. At Garnwerd, we climbed up the mill and took some lovely pictures and we had a cold, delicious milkshake before we went back home again.

Actually, I quite forgot about our wedding anniversary and DH mentioned it to DS, but wasn't sure about the date."Is it June 28? I think it's our weddingday, but I can't get my weddingring off my finger to look at the inscription" DH said LOL

I also took some pictures of my first attempt to make a little quilt. Just for fun, because it's not finished, but I love to see my table covered up with little pieces of fabric :) I have sewn the blocs together, and'I'm almost done with sewing the triangles together, so I can make a border of it. I think that will be the most difficult part, but we'll see....

A little quilted totebag

Some time ago I told you I was determined to try some quilting. And I made a start! I finished a little totebag, called 'Holland tasje'. I bougth the design and fabric in Deventer, Quiltshop 100 Roses, some weeks ago. And now I can brag a little bit about how difficult it was, but how perfectly handsewn! Look and judge!

And isn't this a typical Dutch picture? A Holland bag in a Holland garden, under a blue summer sky.

I also have some progress on Oakhaven SAL, finished until September now.

And Vibrant Vista has a real American flag now. I changed it a little bit, because while stitching and using the colours as charted, I noticed the stars weren't visible. And how about an American flag with only stripes? No way, although I am not an American woman, that just isn't done! So I added some white stars and here she is: The well-known Stars & Stripes! I have to admit I have been thinking about changing it into a Dutch flag, but then I considered the artwork isn't Dutch at all, so why change it if it is not for the better?

Being so proud on achieving my goal (Holland tasje) I spent part of the afternoon cutting squares and triangles for a real (small) quilt. And my goodness, that takes quite some time! I have to cut 16 squares and 120 triangles. I'm halfway now, so I can't show any results.

Also busy stitching for a 'Christmas in July' exchange, and there is Mary Wigham. But she has to wait until next time ....

Mary and other WIPs

Due to the lovely weather this weekend, I could stitch on my terrace. Bright sunlight is the best to stitch by and that sure is for Mary Wigham SAL. As I told you I am stitching on 40 count, and I can do without a magnifier, but only outside in clear daylight. So this weekend I made a good progress, although I didn't finish the first part yet. The picture shows the result on yesterday afternoon. This morning I managed to stitch the white flower and I started the dark green flower next to it. I also finished the ornament in between. No picture of that, because DH and DD went to a horseshow, and took the camera.

I did some other stitching too this week, mainly on Vibrant Vista

and HOHRH. The second house still isn't finished, I still can't live in it, for the simple reason it hasn't a roof yet. But the walls are standing, and the first crow has landed, most important details LOL

Mary Wigham caught me :)

Yes, Mary Wigham caught me and I know I'm not the only one. There are a lot of stitchers involved in this SAL, and that makes it even more fun. Today the second part is downloadable, but I didn't even finish the first part. I can't stitch on it for hours, my eyes are getting tired, because of the 40 ct I am stitching on. It's the first time for me to stitch on 40 ct, and I think I get hooked. So delicate the stitching is looking (as long as you don't look at it through the magnifier LOL)
Here is Mary and notice the blue part on the left. I took a shot ahead, a little bit gambling, for, again, add some danger to my stitching. The chart isn't that far yet, but experience tells me the upper and lower side are the same. If not, I'm in trouble ...

Chatelaine framed and other updates

Yesterday I picked up my framed Chatelaine, Celtic Garden Mandala, from my LNS. It was quite fun, because there was a workshop going, and there I was, showing off and being proud :) And still no voice, so all I could do was whisper, giggle and show a big smile. I'm sure I showed that smile to all the stitchers who were ah -ing an oh- ing! The framer did an outstanding job, so I already know who is to frame the next finish LOL. This is the last blogpost I'm going to talk about her, time for something new! I will put her away in the sidelines.

In the meantime I started a new SAL, Mary Wigham. Interested? You can find her here, free to download. Quite some time ago, I purchased a big piece of 40 ct R&R Fabric. And the moment I saw the Mary Wigham Sampler, this piece of fabric came into my mind. It sure was to be meant to be Mary Wigham fabric. I stitch it one over two and bless my Ottlamp for having a magnifier!

I can't help myself talking about Chatelaine, but now it will be Holland Springtime, started some weeks ago.

And my HOHRH is getting a little bit progress on the second house. Being at home from work had its advantages LOL

Forgot to share

Due to not feeling well (I even stayed home from work) I forgot to share something nice I received last week.

It was a belated birthdaycard, hand made by Joan from the Yahoogroup Sapphire Stitching (I asked permission for showing on my blog). The thought she handcrafted this specially for me (using oriental themed paper, she knows I love) and the words she wrote to me, gave me such a warm feeling.

Knowing I'm surrounded by stitching friends is special, the more since I hardly have any 'real-life' stitching friends.

Also a little finish, from Oakhaven Group again. Stitched on Silkweaver's Golden Promise, Belfast Linen. Nothing much more to tell you girls, except that I got notice I can pick up my framed Chatelaine from my LNS tomorrow. I can't wait to see it!

Small finish

Today I have this small finish to show. It is small, but it took me quite some time! Okay, I'll admit I have been busy with the larger WIPS, and somewhere in my mind I seem to be thinking I can finish a smaller one whenever I want. And that means it lays on my desk, and weeks later it still lays on my desk. Sounds familiar?
Maybe because I am not that well today (some kind of nasty bug) the larger pieces don't get my attention, I finished finally. It's a little SAL of the Oakhaven group, a great, helping group. Tonia, the leader of this bunch of women is a sweetie, and she provides us with lots of surprises (you might want to join us? ). Some days ago she organized a group chat, and although I didn't manage to join (due to my settings on Yahoo messenger) some girls didn't give up to get me in. And yesterday it worked out great. We had a little group chat, and is great fun, hearing each others voices, some of them with a great American accent LOL As a common Dutch girl a pleasure to hear! My microphone kept fading away, but I hope that's fixed now, DS gave it a look this afternoon. I tested with Skype, and I think it's okay now, so I'm looking forward to the next group chat. Anyway, here is Love Grows.

Last saturday DH and I went to Doesburg. There's this quiltshop, Atelier Bep, I heard about and I wanted to take a look and add some things to my stash. I was planning to go by train, but Fridaynight DH all of a sudden suggested we could go together, by car. Always good, doing things together as a couple (keeps the fire burning LOL), so he didn't need much time to convince me.

For all of you, interested in other places, this is (part of) modern Doesburg.

View over the IJssel

And 'Old' Doesburg