Needlemania again

Today I finished part 4 of Needlemania 2. It's really a quickstitch this way, one part a week until now! And I only stitch on it the weekends. This weekend was a short one, I had to work Saturday morning. Normally I stitch in the morning, that is, in weekends. As I was determined to finsh a part each week I started stitching on it yesterday evening and went on sundaymorning and even in the afternoon. It was rather snowy outside, so I didn't feel up to anything else.

This week I also stitched on Holland Springtime again. I managed to do to of the bows completely, the other two only partially. Now I have to decide whether to start stitching on the content of the upper bow ( I really look forward to that!!) or to stitch by the book and that means I have finish the bows completely before turning to the content of the bows.

Tough decision!

I also have some progress on Red Delicious. It's quite some work, I use the feston stitch to stitch the applique parts on black fabric and I do it by hand. I have to admit most of it is done in 'lost' hours, behind my computer when surfing ;) or waiting until my computer is finally started up.

Final finish!

Thanks you all for your kind birthday wishes on behalf of DD. I'm here to post a new blogpost earlier than my normal posting , but I just finished something I want to show you.
The stitching part was already done and shown, but now it's completed. I finished the stitching as a box top, and here it is. I painted the box, I used a template for the doves and added some ribbons. Inside the bow is the matching fabric and the 'needles' part is filled with fiberfill so I can use it as a pincushion I think it is gorgeous and I am soooo proud of myself LOL.

First finish of 2010

Yes, I finished the Travelling Stitcher, the first finish of this year. I am planning to finish it on a box and just painted the box. Pictures of that will come later, for now, here is the stitched part finished.

I also did the third part of Needlemania 2. I really love stitching this. The colors are great and I can almost do a whole part during Becky's SAT on Friday.

Yesterday youngest DD turned 16! But in the evening I had some stitching time, as she was watching a movie. Her birthday party will be next month, when the parent leave the house for a short holiday break. She promised to be careful and clean the house before we return LOL . DS will also be at home, so he can be the wise adult (just turned 18 when the party is going on LOL)

Progress, a workshop and sleigh driving

Last week I had some really nice stitching time and in spite of a huge frog who not only visited my house but was determined to sit on my lap I have some nice progress.
First part of the week I concentrated on the Travelling Stitcher, so I finished the main part (except for my initials) and started the small part, Needles, at the right side of the fabric.

Second part of the week I focused on Needlemania 2 and that is the moment the nasty frog decided he loved me and didn't want to leave my side. All the blue stitches in it were stitched three times before I finally found the mistake I made. But now I am ready to start part three of this SAL.

My new fabric came in, some wonderful colours of Silkweaver, on which I plan to stitch a new Chatelaine Design. It sure will be on one of the greens, but I haven´t decided on which one, as the material list isn´t up yet.

The design isn't out yet, starts in February, so I have some time to finish the one I am working at (Holland Springtime) first LOL.

Yesterday I followed a workshop on Miao patchwork. You can see some of their clothing here. The teacher, Ien Rappoldt, was tought by Miao women to do this patchwork and now she passes this on to Dutch women. I know her for a few years now, due to our shared passion for China. In the morning we were practising the patchwork with paper to learn how to build up this kind of patchwork.

In the afternoon we were allowed to work with the original silk fabric Ien brought from China herself.

While I was busy learning how to do Miao patchwork, DH and DD went to a competition sleigh driving in the park at our hometown. On these pictures you can see some traditional clothing and traditional sleighs. Santa wasn't there with his sleigh and reindeer. You can see more pictures here.

Frogging and a SAL

The New year started with some new starts, but I forgot to mention one : the Needle Mania No. 2 SAL on the Yahoogroup The Sampler Life. It's a quakerish design, a tribute to the founder of this group, who passed away last year. Sabine from the Hamburger Stickladen offered to design it and I think it's a beautiful design. Also it's fun to stitch. I'm stitching with handdyed floss from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.

I have been stiching mostly this week on The Travelling Stitcher and yes Debra, I planned to have it stitched by now, but I have to do some frogging. I just found out I made a tiny mistake between two letters (three instead of two threads open) so the other letters didn't come out well. So I frog .... otherwise I think I'll keep seeing it for the rest of my life and don't take my stitching anywere LOL

About normal life, it has been snowing all day, or should I say: all week. My DH made some lovely pictures of our hometown, so for all of you who like to see them, here they come :)

The pride of our town: the Martinitoren (Martini tower)


The old Korenbeurs, the building where grain auctions took place.
On top of the building a statue of Neptune. Behind it the Aa-kerk.



One of the canals with in the back a storehouse, in former times
used to store grain and other goods.



The statue at the corner of this bridge is referring to the trading tradition
of Groningen. There are four of them, one on each corner of the bridge.


This is something most of the Dutch love to see. Children iceskating on the pond.

A New Year and some new starts :)

Happy New Year to all of you! I thought the best way to celebrate the New Year is to start something new. So I jumped in at the Travelling Stitcher SAL, a good reason to start this one, in my stash from the moment it came out. The fabrics were also in my stash, given to me by a fellow stitcher (in an exchange) I think I might finish it on top of a nice wooden box, the matching fabric is coming on the inside.

And with a nice group of Dutch ladies I started a new quilt, done with a lot of applique, the Red Delicious BOM, by Esther Aliu. You probably have seen it last year, so we are a little behind, but who cares? As you can see, mine is becoming Purple Delicious LOL