House number three

I was determined to finish house number three last week and I succeeded (of course LOL) I didn't show you the picture right away, due to the weather. It has been hot in the Netherlands, really hot! As I am getting older (I'm already in my fifties LOL), I can't stand the heat that well anymore. And my craftroom is in the attic, right under the roof, and therefore the warmest place in our house. I simply hadn't the energy to sit there and update my blog. But, today it is much cooler and with the window wide open I can sit behind my computer again without melting like a snowman :)

In a few days holidays are over and we are preparing going back to school and work again. I can't complain as I had nine weeks off from work, being a schoollibrarian at high school has its advantages :)
We had a wonderful holiday, went out for daytrips several times, I had lots of time to stitch and trying out some quilting. There was also time to go for a swim a few times a week and the weather was great, it really was a wonderful summer! And besides all that we went to France for two weeks were we spent quality time with our family!
I started a new project, A Kitten's Tale. The first block isn't finished yet, but the main part is, so I thought I could show already.

Back from France

Last Saturday we came back from our holidays in France. We had a wonderful time with warm, sunny weather and the house we rented was just perfect! It was about 60 km from Paris, so we also visited Paris a few times. Add extra time to sleep, to eat (French bread and cheese, yum!) to stitch, to read, to play games and the result is a perfect holiday! Pictures can be seen on Flickr. That way you can skip them if you want, and stick to my stitch-related news. I have to tell you, We also went to Beauvais, to the Tapestry Musuem and there are some beautiful pictures of tapestries.

Coming home I found out the pinkeep I stitched for the Summer House Exchange (HoE) was received by Sadie, so now I can show it. I stitched her a freebie of LHN, named Summer House (just a coincidence LOL) and used special threads from WDW and GAST from my stash. Finding a suitable ribbon wasn't that easy, but I think I succeeded.

Talking about stash, I added quite some items from LNS's at Paris. I visited three shops, and I loved all three of them. 'DeFil et Une Aiguille' was my favorite I think, with lots of charts and different threads. I didn't take pictures of this shop, because on one occasion DS was visiting The Louvre and he needed the camera.

I do have pictures of Bonheur des Dames which is located in a very nice passage. Looking at the last picture of this, isn't it great, having a job that suits your passion?

On to progress pictures. I had quite some stitching time, mostly in the evening and early morning. I was rising early in the morning and that gave me some ' me-time' for a walk on my own through the fields and some extra stitching.

Of course I took ' Mary Wigham' with me. I can only work on her in daylight, outside in the shadow, so I could do quite a bit these weeks.

A little progress on HOHRH. Somehow this piece doesn't call for my attention and yet I like it, so I am determined to finish the third house this week. That means I have to pay les attention to my HAED's this week, but so be it!

My two HAED's, Call of the Raven and Vibrant Vista, went also with me to France and I am quite satisfied with the progress I accomplished on them.

The Plantation sampler is the last one I have to show (you can see how it was folded in my suitcase). Considering I had only two weeks, with long days in Paris, I am more than satisfied. Except for my car project ... I always work on something smaller and on 28 ct. during long car-rides. This year I started LHN Home of a Needleworker Too. I thought I was doing fine, but one the ride home I found out I had miscounted, so I have to adjust the design OR frog .... Neither one of those options attracts me, so I think I'll let it be for a while.