Stitching & Stuff

Masterclass

2012-02-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, saying "masterclass" isn't enough. You can follow a masterclass, or you can follow a masterclass given by an excellent teacher. There definitely is a difference. And Ted Storm makes the difference.But lets start at the beginning. Sunday afternoon I went by train to my friend Karin. She waited for me at the railwaystation and the welcome at her home was heartwarming. I stayed there for three days and never felt supernumerary. Thank you Karin!My head is still spinning from all the information I got and I have been practising the rest of the week. Here are some pictures (taken by Karin)

Listening to the explanation (this is the third day, I 'm tired as you can see)

Practising

There are more pictures here.
At the end of three dazzling days I finished this tulip. Front and back (yes, I even dared to trim away the excess fabric on the back!)

Seeing this you probably understand the lack of time for knitting this week. But I managed to did some stitching done this weekend. Block seven of VHRH is done!

It's still winter

2012-02-05T03:46:00.001-08:00

Like this blogtitle says, it's still winter here and yet my cowl and shawl aren't finished. Oh well, there will be plenty of winters after this one LOL
I have been mainly stitching on VHRH.

I want to finish this one this year and with six blocks to go that means I have to do at least one block in two months. That doesn't seem too much, but with other activities as work, quilting, knitting, it means that I have to hold on to this schedule.
Block seven is coming to an end. I hope I can show the finish next week.

There's only one obstacle, I am going to follow classes from Ted Storm. Three days of fun with friends, paying attention, doing applique (homework included!) and learning all the ins and outs of applique needlework! I will be staying at a dear friend's these days, leaving DH and the children to their own ;)
I am starting off with these FQ's. At the end of the week I'll show the result of three days with Ted ;)

As for my capelet, the crocheting part is done, so I am knitting .... and knitting ... and knitting.

I also try to add at least one square to Expectation and until now I succeed. I don't take it with me these days, so no progress next week, I suppose! To be able to take this picture I had to lay it down in a bow. In fact it is twice as long.

Too late, winter is here ;)

2012-01-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today, much later than weather forecasters predicted, winter came. And as I started knitting at the end of november for some projects for DD, scarfs and capelets and other woollen stuff aren't ready. Besides that, I also have some stitching to do and my goal was to finish block 7 at the end of this month. I didn't make it ... There is some progress on other things too, look for yourself:

Broomstick Scarf

Expectation

And a new start, a capelet.

This is the original, mine is going to be red.

VHRH and my knitting projects

2012-01-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

One project finished this week, DD's cowl is done. She is quite happy with it and wears it with pleasure as you can see.

The scarf I am knitting is coming along slowly. Not really slowly, I have been knitting every day for the past week, with a result of twelve squares. In fact after taking this picture I finished another one and started number fourteen, so tonight there will be fourteen squares.
I have to knit 17 squares in total and then the challenge begins, knitting them together!

I also did some stitching on Call of the Raven, little progress, bus steady she goes!

And a new block of VHRH is started. Not much to see, but I know you followers are curious and love pictures, so here is a little flower :)

First finish of the year

2012-01-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've got my first finish of the year! My Garden from Lynette Anderson is finished, inclusive quilting and binding!
These two weeks I have been quilting the border, I was determined to get it done, so I can remove the Christmas quilt that has been at my wall for two years (yes, two whole years!)

The cowl I am knitting for DD is almost done, this picture is from last friday, but there is more progress.

I also started a new knitting project, a shawl. I have to knit 17 quarters and then knit them together. Three quarters done this week.

Today was a Tweet day. I have been busy with the border. The original border is too much in addition to the blue blocks and I adjusted the border to my own taste.

One year of Tweets

2012-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Twelve blocks of Tweets are done! Almost every month of the past year I finished a block and today I have been sewing borders to My Tweets. I chose not to add sashings, but instead just sew the blocks together.
Without further ado, here is block twelve:

And here is the quilttop as it is now. I want to do mitered corners, but I have to find out how to do that exactly. So I saved that part for next week ;)

A new year and a new challenge!

2012-01-01T09:42:00.000-08:00

Of course I can't start this post without wishing you all a happy and, even more important, healthy 2012!
Having said that I have to close the year 2011. Just in time I finished block number 6 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow (I set that as one of my a goals for 2011).

And my Lazy Katy is done. Do you remember the first Lazy Katy I knitted and turned out to be too small? A friend enlarged the pattern for me (thank you, Cindy!) and I started all over again. It is now blocked so I think I can wear it tomorrow.

Here are they both, the Mother-and-Daughter-Shawl ;)

And now on to the new challenge. This year I will attend a masterclass Applique in February. After that I wil start a new project, Red December (Esther Aliu). Not in red, and not in December, so mine will be called Purple March ;) I already received the fabric for it.

And I will try to get at least half done of the applique blocks for Kim Mclean's Flower Garden.

Here's an updated picture, these are the right colours, loose threads woven in ;)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:14:00.000-08:00

First of all I want to wish all readers of my blog a Merry Christmas! Thank you all for reading my blog this past year. I also want to say thanks for your lovely comments. I really enjoy them all!

Last week has been a busy one, again, it becomes boring. But as holidays started last Saturday (two weeks off, yeah!!!) I feel quite relaxed.
In spite of being busy I still have accomplished some progress. My Tweets block 11 is finished!

And I started block 6 of the VHRH. I want to have half of this sampler done by the end of the year and there's a lot to be done, so you girls do some cheering from the sideline, please!

And my Lazy Katy 2 is almost done too. The only thing left to knit is the lace border, so maybe its a finish this year.

All trees are up ;)

2011-12-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

Not only our Christmas Tree is up, all other trees in Block 5 are done! I am surprised I did it, it took only two weeks for this block and I had little stitching time this week.

No handmade ornaments in the tree. These are stored in my sewingroom, apart from the tree stuff and I simply hadn't the energy and spirit to gather them.

Not much going on this week, besides from work. Yesterday DH and I took a ride to a Woolmarket. While DH waited for me in the car (he doesn't like to come inside and loves to read a book while waitng, so no need to pity him LOL) I enjoyed the handwoven and handdyed woollies. Of course I took some of them home with me. The first is dyed by Dutch Wool Diva, the second by Monique

While DH drove the car, I simply sat beside him and enjoyed the ride, meanwhile sewing on block 11 of My Tweets. I hope to finish it this week.

Planting some trees

2011-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I mentioned I was making a gift to someone. Well, now I can show and tell. I'm a member of a Dutch internetgroup and through the years we became good friends. It's a small group and one of our friends is an expat, living in The United States. And... she is pregnant of her third child.
We wanted to surprise her with a giftbox and a good opportunity was Sinterklaas. So we all did our share and there was a box with goodies sent to her. This is my contribution, a hanging quilt.

This week I have been busy planting trees, block 5 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow.

And I started a new project, a small one, a broomstick lace scarf. Although the loops look a bit of a mess now, after blocking they will be nice and round (I hope).

There's also some progress on Lazy Katy 2. The colours aren't as bright as in real life, due to dark days before Christmas. We already have the tree up!

House nr 4 finished

2011-12-04T05:45:00.001-08:00

In spite of a busy week (I had to do fun shopping for Sinterklaas, click on the picture for an explanation) I finished house nr. 4 of The village of Hawk Run Hollow. I love this boarding house and I will remember this in case of emergency LOL

There also is some progress on Call of the Raven. Every month a small part will, in the end, result in a finish, isn't it?

Besides stitching I restarted a Lazy Katy shawl. A friend did the awesome job to enlarge the pattern (I never could do this!) and I trust the better outcome so I started with the same yarn. It looks a little bit like this, except I now started with purple (this is a picture of the first Lazy Katy)

House nr. 4 and knitting

2011-11-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Me and my family had some emotional times this week (sometimes life is unfair) and the best way for me is to stitch. It's quite relaxing and it helps to get my mind clear.
So I stitched on house number four and as a result the house is finished. Of course there is some more stitching to do to fill the block, but in a way I always feel satisfied if the house is done!

Do you remember DD and I visited prison? Well, the slouch hat I promised to knit for a little girl is finished and on the mail.

Yesterday a friend and I visited the 'Handwerk-en Quiltdagen' at Arnhem. We had a great time together, looking, feeling and discussing the fabrics and woollies. We returned home with some more stash in our bag...

Today I was busy preparing block 11 of My Tweets. I thought you might like an overview. I only show block 11 when finished. Only two blocks to go ...

Constructing and a walk through the woods ;)

2011-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

One of the comments on my last post is from Olivia. She only wrote 'please post cross stitch projects'. I don't know who whe is, so I don't know how she meant this comment. It maybe short because she lacks English words, it may be because she dislikes the knitting and quilting projects. However, I like to think she meant well, so maybe she wrote this comment because she loves my cross stitch projects. Of course I have been stitching these last weeks, but not as much as I would like. Some other projects asked for attention. I stitched on the Village of Hawk Run Hollow this week and I constructed another house. That is, part of it.

These last days were sunny, with in the late afternoon and the early hours of the day a, sometimes dense, fog. This afternoon DH and I went for a walk in the woods and DH took some nice pictures. Maybe you enjoy them too ;)

The stork's nest is waiting for next spring

I am waiting for next spring too ;)

New look!

2011-11-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

I can image followers of my blog look surprised seeing my blog. I did too, this evening. It seemed to me photobucket had taken over the template I used, there was a sort of watermark in my blog I couldn't remove, so I decided to remove the whole template. Next days I will be playing around with templates and pictures to create a new look.

Fashion item ;)

2011-11-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Wow, a week passes by quickly! First of all I want to say thank you for your comments! Two of you asked if I blocked Lazy Katy, that way it becomes larger. Well, I did! I blocked it well, so that isn't the problem. I think it's the yarn I used. So I'm starting all over in a while.

But before that I have some other items to knit. Last week DD and I went shopping and she wanted a little slouch hat. When we noticed the price (€ 10) I told her I could knit one for her and I gave her the link to Ravelry.

She told me she wants several things: hats, shawls, mittens. So we went to the market last Tuesday and bought some yarn. And yesterday I finished it, so she has this little black slouch hat. After this one, she wants a coloured one, and a grey one and .... when I asked her how much she wants me to knit the answer was: I'm going to collect them ...

When we had dinner yesterday evening we (her parents) asked her to put off her hat. She kindly refused, telling us : "this isn't a hat, this is a fashion item" LOL

This afternoon we went to Holy Stitch, in Leeuwarden. It is a craftymarket, located in an old prison.

While we were having a good time, DD was asked if she could tell where she bought the cute little hat she was wearing. And before I knew it I had my first order: knitting a slouch hat for a little girl that likes it so much!

Of course I did some stitching too this week, but sorry, no pictures of that. And I did some working, no pictures of that either LOL.

Lazy Katy finished

2011-11-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, frequent readers of my blog may have guessed that Lazy Katy is finished by now. As far as the knitting it was a nice project, the scarf looks good, but I am not satisfied with it. Lazy Katy is smaller, much smaller than I reckoned it to be.

According to the picture on the pattern it is rather long scarf, long enough to cover your shoulders. In fact it only covers my neck and I don't think my shoulders are that way out of shape... I figure it must be the yarn I used, so I'll knit another one, different yarn, different needles.

Almost finished ...

2011-10-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

My Lazy Katy shawl is almost finished! After a very busy week (again, I know, it gets boring) in which I hardly did any stitching I enjoyed a weekend full of quilting and knitting.

The quilting is something I can't show you, because it is meant to be a present, so be patient, somewhere in December I'm able to show what I did.

The Lazy Katy I am talking about is almost finished, I think I can manage this week. So here's an update. Do you see those lovely markers? A dear friend made them for me ...

Shawl , Tweets and a short break

2011-10-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Last week DH and I went on a trip. We left home on Monday and returned Friday, leaving DS and youngest DD at home (they were invited to come with us, but they declined). We hired an appartment at Fronhofen, near Simmern in Germany. And, as DH said, we must have had hard times, to deserve this beautiful weather! The days before we left it rained and rained all day long, but during our stay in Germany the sun was shining.
As usual, I'll add some pictures at the end of this blogpost, for those who are interested.

Of course, it wouldn't be vacation without my stitching and quilting. Having lots of space in our car I took several things with me. During the long drive I stitched and finished block 10 of My Tweets.

The third block of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow is finished too.

And there is a little bit progress on Vibrant Vista. I'm filling in the window with Kreinik, not my favorite stitching job, but, one has to do what has to be done ;)

And last but not least, a shawl was started, Lazy Katy, the pattern can be found by clicking on the picture.

Mine is like this now:

And now our trip to Fronhofen. Nature is beautiful this time of year and we enjoyed the coloured trees and little villages in the Hunsrück.

Traben Trarbach

We took the ferry to the other side of the river.

Wiesbaden

Beautiful tiles at the bath house

Bad Kreuznach

Rise and Shine

2011-10-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

Normally I rise and shine with the help of DH. No cocks and hens are around, so the alarmclock does the job. DH listens to the alarmclock and I, as a good wife, listen to DH LOL.
In spite of that I really liked Rise and Shine, a stitchery by Lynette Anderson. I finished it today as a hanging quilt. If you look closely you can see I still have to sandwich and quilt and, in the end, add a border.

My stitching also has some progress. There's a townhall rising in Hawk Run Hollow.

And in Vibrant Vista some wheat is appearing outside the window of the barn.

Extreme make-over

2011-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

For almost a year I looked in the mirror and wondered who that elderly woman was that looked back. She was familiar, but she sure was not me! Does one of you know this lady?

I am a much younger woman, sparkling and vivd. This lady looked tired and far from happy.
So, last wednesday I went to the hairdresser and asked her to do something about it. Not just something, but I chose a different colour and length. So, coming home I was a totally different woman. DH was surprised (but he likes it!) and when I look in the mirror I see ME!

As for quilting and stitching, I finished My Tweets block 9.

And I stitched quite a bit on Call of the Raven.

Autumn

2011-09-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Autumn is here with sunny days. It seems those sunny days we missed during last summer are coming now. Trees are already colouring and they made me long for Vibrant Vista. So this is what I've been stitching last weeks. The first picture is how it was back in February, the second is how it is now.

There's also a little stitchery done. Lynette Anderson's 'Rise and Shine' is finished, but of course I have to add some coordinating fabric to make it into a hanging quilt. I already know the fabrics I'm going to use, now find some time to do so!

Holland Springtime finished!

2011-09-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, I finally finished Holland Springtime. The beading is all done, the last stitches are stitched and I can sit back and look at it! Time to dream about framing and how it want it to be framed. I don't have any ideas yet and I will take my time. Maybe end of the year I take it to the framer.

Time to start a new design. I'm in doubt which one to choose, I have two Chatelaines kitted up, German Ostsee and Classizism Mandala. I think I'll choose the latest, what do you think?

Holland Springtime , Jane and exchanges

2011-09-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Lots to show this week! To start with the last, I now can show the Lizzie Kate Christmas Exchange we did on the HoE Group. I received a lovely ornament, stitched by Anne . It is Noel, a Lizzie Kate Flip-it. She added a gorgeous scissor-fob in exactly my colours (she told me she looked at My Tweets to find out what I like, isn't that sweet?)

Of course I sent an exchange too, mine was stitched for Carla, an item from Tiny Tidings XI.

I have been busy this week. Another block added to The Village of Hawk Run Hollow

and the beading on Holland Springtime is almost finished.

Besides that I finished the quilttop of Blonde Jane. I only have to add the border. Don't look in close-up, I didn't iron her ... I'm not going to back it yet, because I have too many quilts asking for more attention. So she just has to be patient....

From now on stitching and quilting will slow down, because holidays are over, next week duty calls!

Vacations are over

2011-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

We came home last Friday and we really enjoyed our vacation together, DH and I. We went to Valkenburg, and from there we visited several places like Maastricht, Luik, Aken, Spa. It was great, after months of cold rainy weather we finally gor some sun! Like usual, I added some pictures at the end of this post, for those who are interested.

On to quilting. I finished block 8 of My Tweets this week and I also took some overview pictures.

Today I was busy sewing on my Jane Austen quilt number two, Blonde Jane, as a friend called her. The middel part is done now and I hope I'll find the time to finish the whole quilttop before the end of this week. Next week duty calls and from then on I don't have that much time left for quilting as I do now. Working on this quilt brings a little sun in my life!

Do you notice the little tool as a ring on my finger? A friend made it for made and it's quite convenient!

And here are the promised pictures of our vacation.

View of the Ardennes

Spa, a lovely village!

Spa

Maastricht

Valkenburg, dinner on the terrace

Vaals, where the borders of Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands come together

Aachen, funny fountain

Dinner at Hoogeveen and after that we drove straight home!

It's been two weeks already....

2011-08-21T08:12:00.001-07:00

We went on vacation last week and I couldn't find the time to blog before we left. So now I have a lot to show. There are three finishes of LHN Ornaments 2010. Two blocks of My Tweets done, a start on block two of the village of HRH. And a precious gift to show. And for those of you who like to see pictures of our vacation, I'll put some at the end of this post.

About a week ago I visited my friend Christine. We met each other on the internet and found out we get along very well. Last year I went to Breda, where she lives, and this summer we wanted to meet again. She had a surprise for me, a cute little bear (Christine makes beautiful bears!). It's one of a couple, the other half lives at Christine's place. I decided to name her Filia (Greek for friendship).

On our holiday trip we went to Brugge (Belgium). As I like to stitch when we are on the road I prepared the last two blocks of My Tweets. I managed to do one on our way to Brugge, the other one on our way home. Block six ...

...and seven

Three of the LHN ornaments are done. He's a Flake:

Frosty Flakes:

Joy to the World:

When I put them together into a quilt they will look something like this.

At the time I had to decide what I would bring as a stitching project I thought it might be time to finish some blocks of the Village of Haswk Run Hollow. Block one was done quite some time ago, so I started to stitch block two. So far, so good.

Brugge has very nice little streets, canals, and of course, bridges.

During our stay at Brugge we also visited Gent and Brussel.

Courthouse Brussel

Next week DH and I go on another short trip, to Limburg, but this time just the two of us.

My Garden and Christmas

2011-08-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you only need an afternoon to get done what is waiting for you for months... Lynette Andersons My Garden was waiting for a finish. I had two blocks left to do and this week I finally finished the last two stitcheries and made them into blocks. Now it is a finished quilttop!

Another small one is finished, Peppermint Twist by LHN. I have four left, they are meant to be made into a quilt, but of course I have to stitch them first. So eight done now.

To show all the finished ones I made an overview

Visit from overseas and, of course, stitching

2011-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Last week my friends Marne and Elaine from Seattle visited Groningen. They have been in the Netherlands for over a month now, time to come to the most northern part! We spent some lovely days together, in spite of the rain. It was nice to guide them around in my own town. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, but Marne and Elaine did. So pictures are on Marne's blog, here and here.

Saturday we drove to the most northern part of the Netherlands, Noord Kaap Noord. There was not much to see, no tourists (did they all blow away?) only a few sheep. And us.

We also went to Dokkum, the place were Bonifatius was murdered, to give a small lecture on Dutch history ;)

Time for some lunch!

And into the rain again.

On the stitching front there is an update on Call of the Raven. Another page finished, 40 pages done, 29 to go!

And I'm still beading Holland Springtime.

Mission almost accomplished!

2011-07-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a rainy week. Almost no sunshine, so I had to stay at home. I didn't care, beause my roommate Jane was at my side whole week, although the way she looked changed by the day ;)
The only thing that was stable, was her heart.

Wednesday July 13th she looked like this:

Friday July 15th :

Saturday July 16th. You can hardly see it, but there are three parts now, just laying in the right position.

Sunday July 17th. All I have to do is add the borders. But I ran out of fabric, so I ordered some yards and all I can do now is wait for them to arrive ...

Jane

2011-07-10T11:03:00.001-07:00

As expected Jane took over my life this week. She is already becoming a dear friend and not only she took over my life, she also took over the livingroom.

It started, like every quilt, with dreams, buying fabrics, sorting them and then, last Tuesday, a friend came over to my house to start our 'Jane project'. She is also piecing the Jane Austen quilt, but in totally different fabrics , so finally we will end up with two different quilts. We cut our fabrics together, at least, that is what we planned (dreamers as we still are!). Ohhh, that first cut in new fabric, do you recognize the feeling? It's exciting and frightening at the same time!

Of course we ended up chatting and even paid a visit to our local quiltshop to buy some paterno to cut some new templates. So after a great day of cutting templates and fabric we still have to do most of the job. However, we did cut our centerblock. This is mine:

During this week I have been cutting ...

and cutting ..

and cutting ... (bless my Olfa!)

As my holidays started last week I had plenty of time to get it on the roll, so here the first rows. My goal is to have the top finished at the end of August.

Some updates on ongoing projects

2011-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know I have quite some ongoing projects. Progress is not always as fast as I would like to, but there is progress and that's what counts, isn't it?

This week I have to show some beading on Holland Springtime. It takes a lot more time than I expected, so there is only a small area done.

Call of the Raven however, is going fast. I have been concentrating on her this whole week and I finished another page. Only one to go and than there's a row finished again.

My quilting blocks are also coming together. Block three of Hearts Desire is stitched now, two more to go before I can move on to block four.

This weekend I have been washing and ironing the fabrics I am going to use on a new project, a Jane Austen quilt. The pattern is in a book of Kaffe Fassett and I am going to use fabrics with an Asian print. The pink/lilac fabric is meant to be used for background.

There's only one week in which I am going to work and then the LONG holiday starts. Nine weeks off from work, so in that period I am planning to work on Jane. I think I can make a good start :)

Tweets and Hearts

2011-06-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

First, thank you all for your nice compliments! I really love reading them and they make me happy!

It has been two weeks since I finished Red Delicious. Every morning when I wake up its the first thing I see (I sleep with my back to DH LOL) and every morning I enjoy it. But time to move on, so some other things are catching my attention now: I finished block 5 of My Tweets and I prepared block 3, 4 and 5 of Hearts Desire. To give you an overview I made a collage (in fact Picasa did it for me).
My Tweets

and Hearts Desire

This week Call of the Raven has been my stitching project for the evening and I achieved quite some progress.

Of course I have been testing my new quilt hoop stand. It's a pleasure to work with it. The hoop is bigger and I don't have to hold the heavy quilt! I am quilting on Baltimore Bliss.

Yeah, I made it!!

2011-05-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Do you remember my goal to finish the stitching part of Holland Springtime? Of course you do :)
Well, I'm proud I can say: I made it before the end of May, the stitching is done! Now I can add the beads.

And another goal is reached. I wanted to finish Red Delicious this month and I did. The binding is finished and it hangs at my bedroon wall. I hope DH likes it, otherwise he will have to close his eyes entering the bedroom ;)

I have been working on this quilt for a year and a half and I think I will miss it. It's the first I ever actually quilted and I really love how it turned out.

Busy weekend and the benefit of blogs :)

2011-05-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

You all know how I (as most people) value my weekends :) It's a time I need for me, my family and my stitching and quilting. This weekend I did hardly any quilting and stitching and yet I had a great weekend!

First of all, there was this motorcycle tour organized by colleagues. And I had the opportunity to join them! As it was my first time I didn't own any appropriate clothing, but lucky me, I could borrow the right suit and helmet. So off we went on Saturday for a tour of 150 km.

Second, I had a long birthday party on Sunday. Some visitors came in on Saturday evening, the whole bunch of friends visited us on Sunday. I have been spoiled with some great gifts, but there are only two of them I mention here.

A week ago DH and children asked what I wanted as a birthday present and I told them it was a quilt hoop stand. And they gave me permission to order ond LOL. It arrived some days before it was my birthday, do I had to control my curiosity.

Another gift was a very special one, as it came from eldest DD. She didn't know what to buy for me and she didn't want to ask because I would say I needed nothing and I like everything she comes up with.

So she visited my blog and scrolled through the blogposts and that's were she discovered the link to my favorite quiltshop. She took a picture of me with her to that quiltshop and showed it to the owner, telling her: this is my mother, do you know what kind of fabric she likes?
And yes, the owner does! So I was surprised by a perfect FQ and a gift certificate. Isn't that a great benefit of having a blog?

Now, at the end of this story I have to show another finished block of My Tweets. That's all I did this week.

We're back!

2011-05-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

We're back from Berlin and it was great!! It wasn't the first time we visited Berlin and I hope it will not be the last time. It's a beautiful city, with a history you can see around you. Most special for us was being able to walk there in freedom on the fifth of May, Liberationday in the Netherlands.

For those of you who are interested in pictures of Berlin, I'll add a few at the end of this post. As we had only four days, DH and I were discovering the city from 10.00 a.m. until 10.00 p.m. And you can imagine I had little time to stitch. Yet I finished two blocks, mostly done on our way to and from Berlin.

My Tweets block three is done:

And Hearts Desire block two:

And here are the promised pictures of Berlin. Do you see that tile floor? Reminds me of flying geese....

Quartier 206

Neptunus Brunnen

Berliner Dom

Chinese Teahouse at Sanssouci, Potsdam

Holidays!

2011-05-01T12:31:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we leave for Berlin and we are looking forward to celebrate spring in this beautiful city! But first I owe you an update of my Holland springtime. The last tulipbulb is stitched and I started to stitch the border.

And, as usual, at the end of the month I have a 1000 stitches added to Call of the Raven. For now, that is all I have to show :) See you all next week!

This April looks like summer

2011-04-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

It has been like summer, high temperatures all week. And this week I am a very lucky woman, because I'm off work from last Thursday until today. So I got an extra long weekend to clean the terrace, rearrange my flowerpots and buy some extra geraniums for my hanging baskets.
Besides that I have been stitching a lot!

Holland Springtime has great progress. As you can see I added the flowers on top of the left onion, and two tiles. Now I only have to stitch the last tulipbulb and then on to the border. I am more confident on reaching my goal , to have the stitching finished by the end of May.

Besides stitching I have been preparing some blocks. From May 2nd until May 6th DH and I leave for a trip to Berlin. We go by car and as I like do some stitching I prepared two blocks. The first is the third block of My Tweets.

The other one is the second block of Hearts Desire.

My Garden and a little bit springtime ...

2011-04-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Is it spring in your country too? Here it is! Flowerbuds are opening, the sun was shining this weekend, so all of a sudden I noticed the dust in my house. And I started a little bit cleaning ... Luckily I don't have to clean the windows yet, because the carpenter is still busy to replace some rotten parts of the window frames. So in spite of cleaning activities I could find some time to stitch this weekend.

I'm a little behind on the BOM of Lynette Anderson, My Garden. But today I finished block 7, only two more to go.

And Holland springtime has some progress too. The tulip in the corner is added. Now I can move on to the left part of the design.

Still spring and a new project

2011-04-04T08:37:00.001-07:00

I hope you don't get bored by seeing an update on Holland Springtime again. It's just a nice tile that I stitched this week, typical Dutch, a small village, a church, a windmill and a sailing boat.

I also have some progress again on Call of the Raven. I am almost done with the dress and there will be more variation in colours again, stitching my way to the left.

A new project, another quilt again. It's Hearts Desire by Esther Aliu. I did the first block and like you know me, I did quite some colour changes.

Esther Aliu is the designer of Red Delicious too. I quilted all the blocks and now I continue with the borders. The outer black stripe is going to be cut down to the binding, it's the overlap of the backing fabric, so I only quilt the first stripe of black and the white stripe of fabric.

Again: Holland Springtime and a flower

2011-03-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Do you know the feeling to be close to someone you never met? I do. I have a friend, I can call her my dearest friend. We share not only our hobby, but also our feelings. And although we never met, I feel as close to her as I do to my sister.
As she is going through a difficult time I want to give her some signs of spring. DD made these pictures exclusively for her. But all of you: enjoy these signs of life, after a hard winter.

As for stitching: Holland Springtime is here again. I added a tile this weekend. My goal is (was?) to finish it in May but I am not convinced I am going to make it. June is okay too, don't you think?

And a flower to add to Flower Garden. Makes a total of seven flowers.

And for fun: some pictures of my local quiltshop Cordi (with permission of the owner). It's a party to enter that shop, all vibrant colours, it always makes me happy.

Small finish and new pictures of wellknown projects

2011-03-21T09:38:00.001-07:00

This week has been a busy week (workrelated) so there were some evenings I just could sit and do nothing. Yet Holland Springtime has some progress again. I added the clouds in the lower onion and the corner at the right, just beneath the tulip.

Yesterday I had a small finish, another LHN Ornament. I didn't fill in the year at the bottom, because it's saying 2010. I am using this for a quilt and it might be 2012 before it's finish. Or even 2013 .... so I thought I'd better leave it open, to minimize the pressure LOL

DD took some new pictures of My Tweets and Red Delicious. She has a brand new camera and she makes great pictures with it. The colors are more like in real life, so here they come! Red Delicious quilting, only one block and the borders to go before it's finished.

Center piece of My Tweets, I'm not finished stitching yet, but there is progress!

Small finishes

2011-03-13T12:20:00.001-07:00

This week I have been busy quilting on Red Delicious. Another block is done, so only two more to go.

To spare my poor fingers I have been stitching in between. On one of my groups they were going to stitch a scissorfob and I thought it would be nice to join.
We could choose one of the freebees of The Drawn Thread and I decided to stitch Four Fat Friends. However, this isn't meant to be a sciccorfob. It's to big and it isn't square. Stubborn as I am I finished the stitching and decided not to add some backing fabric, but just folded the stitched piece and sew it together on top. It's not my masterpiece, but I am rather satisfied.

I think it's alright to show another finished object. It was sent for a Christmas exchange back in January and I suppose it arrived. The new owner, Gabi, is on holidays for quite some weeks and I think she just isn't at home to unpack.

And I prepared the centerpiece for My Tweets. The pictures aren't very well, I'll give it a try again tomorrow.
The second picture is without flash. Quite mysterious, I think.

Springtime

2011-03-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

This afternoon it was sunny with a rather cold wind. But ... I could sit on the balcony, face up to the sun and do some stitching (then looking down of course LOL). The first time this year and first things always have something special ;)

This week I have been busy stitching on Holland Springtime. The lower onion is decorated with flowers now, all I have to do is add some clouds. I think I'll do that this evening.

Another flower has grown in Flower Garden. It is number six.

Besides sitting in the sun I have been preparing part of Miss Kelly, the centerpiece for My Tweets. It's a rather big one, 32 inch square.

Again, My Tweets and a holiday

2011-02-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

Last week DH and I went on a short trip, we spent some lovely days together in a hotel near Zutphen. As DH loves me and I love my quilting, he suggested I made a program to visit some quiltshops. So on our way to the hotel we made a stop at Wapenveld, to visit Klazien's Kreatie, I was welcomed with a laugh and I bought a great knot of wool to knit a shawl. She even taught me how!

After that we went to Zutphen, where Petra Prins is located. While DH visited the church (which was closed) I dreamt about quilts ...

The days were filled with trips to Deventer, where Quiltshop 100 Roses welcomed me, with a cozy walk in Oldenzaal, where I visited Lohuis-Tijhuis.

Friday our ways seperated. DH dropped me off at the station in Zutphen and drove to Doorn, to visit Huis Doorn, purchased in 1919 by Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, as his residence-in-exile (1920-1941) after World War I.

I went to Zwolle, to meet some friends and visit the Handwerkbeurs together. We had a great day, talking, laughing, looking, buying fabrics, woollies and threads.

And in the evening my Red Delicious waited for me in our hotelroom ;)

Of course I have some finishes to show you. My Tweets, block two:

Another ornament of LHN, All is Calm.

And, just before we went on our trip, I finished another flower for My Garden.

My Tweets

2011-02-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

Today I proudly present My Tweets. Erin provided us with the design, but after selecting fabrics, transferring it to the fabric and doing the applique, these little birds really feel like my tweets.
I love how they turned out, a little magical, like paradise birds ;)

Also finished is block 6 of Lynette Anderson's My Garden. Only three to go ...

The old friend that entered my home last week didn't leave. She stayed with me all week, so now another page is done.

An old friend came by ...

2011-02-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

This week an old friend came by, named Vibrant Vista. I didn't see her since 2010, September and last Monday we had an appointment, just the two of us. She didn't change a bit, since I saw her last time,

but after a week of stitching she looks quite different.

A close look at the tiles.

I also had a small finish of LHN, Falala. You know I don't really finish these, as I am planning to use them in a quilt? That's also the reason I don't add beads yet, because they give me trouble when I want to quilt. I add them after finishing the whole quilt. And it's the reason why I use different shades of fabric, to bring some variety in it.

So far, so good, only seven to go ;)

I want Spring ... and an exchange

2011-02-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

That's the reason I have been stitching on Holland Springtime this weekend. I added another corner tulip. Doing that I found out I forgot some eyelets in the right upper corner, so I did those too. Pictures are below, but the first picture in this post is for the lovely exchange Ellen sent me. I participated in the HoE Reindeer Christmas Ornament Exchange and Ellen stitched me this lovely Reindeer. It is a design of Oakhaven Designs. She added a lovely card and a thimble of her homeland, Singapore. Ellen, thank you!

Of course I have been stitching on other things this week. I have been busy quilting, but no pictures of that until I have some more to show. And there is some progress on Call of the Raven, but another picture of a blue dress might get you bored ;)
So this week the only pictures of my work are from Holland Springtime. I just noticed I forgot to stitch the gold thread in the left tulip, so that's something I will do tonight, that's for sure!

A BIG thank you

2011-01-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your useful comments on my blog and groups! I asked for your opinion on block 4 of My Garden and I got some good advice. I have been tossing it around and around in my head and last night I decided to rip out the orange parts and replace them. So here is the result, block four of My Garden. I really think it fits in better.

Holland Springtime needed some attention too . I promised myself I want it to be finished in Mai 2011, is it realistic? I don't know, we will see.

And I prepared block one of My Tweets. The colours are quite different , but that's what I like ;) Now all I have to do is stitch it.

Also stitched on an ornament for the HoE. I finished it today, but no picture for obvious reasons. And I have done some quilting on Red Delicious, I am halfway now, I want this to be done before summer.

And last but not least I added my 1000 stitches to Call of the Raven this week Looking at this it seems I had a busy week, but it really felt like normal ;)

Foregone, My Garden and a new project

2011-01-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

This week I finally finished page three of Foregone and I am so proud of it! It has been a long way to reach this point , it was confetti stitching and only confetti stitching!
But stitching her comforts me with my own grey hair ;)

The fourth block of My Garden is also finished. I am not quite satisfied with this, I have doubts about the bulb beneath the orange flower and about the leaves too .... Maybe I am going to do this block again. If you want to help me with some advice, please!

And a new start! I showed the cobalt blue fabric last week and I went shopping for some fabrics to use on My Tweets at my local quiltshop. I added some fabrics of my stash and here is the very first beginning of My Tweets!

Small finish, a girly day and a third flower

2011-01-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

It's a great combination, stitching and quilting. I enjoy the variety between both and I try to do some stitching as well as some quilting every day. The first quilting stitches on Baltimore Bliss are done and so is the third block of My Garden. Together they look like this:

The back

And, obviously, the front ;)

And there is the first finish of the year, LHN Winter Sheep.

Yesterday I met some quiltfriends again and as always we had fun! We laughed, talked and went to visit some quiltshops. A girly day! Of course I spent my pocket money (even more than that) on background fabric for some new projects. The black fabric is meant for Fiesta, the new BOM at Fatcat Designs. I am planning to do it in this colour combination, although I might change some of the colours. Just have to look what I've got in my stash.

The blue is meant to be the background fabric for the new BOM My Tweets. Erin Russek is giving us this beauty! I am going to change some colours to make it fit in with the blue.

I'm going to use the other FQ's in My Garden, but I have second thoughts about the red ones. Well, I'll just wait and see ;)

Quilt sandwiched and a new start :)

2011-01-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday my friend and I did a perfect job: we sandwiched my quilt, the old-fashioned way. We spread it out on the floor, and then crawled over it to thread it. It took all day, we only allowed us to have a break at lunch. A back breaking job, so today I feel like the Princess and the Pea, "my whole body is black and blue this morning" LOL. Every time I turned myself on the other side tonight I felt my knees and hips hurt. But it was worthwhile! We had a great day together and my quilt is sandwiched! The picture is a bit dark, but I'm the one on the left and as you can see we are almost done here. On the second picture notice we are exhausted!

As I finished the top of Baltimore Bliss I allowed myself to make a start on the beauty I showed you before, this beautiful design of Kim Mclean: My Garden. Of course I choose my own colours and I decided from the beginning to do it on black.

I finished two blocks this week.

Finished before the end of 2010!!

2010-12-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

So last post wasn't really last post! Yesterday I managed to finish the top of my Baltimore Bliss Quilt. In order to make it into a kingsize bedquilt I added white blocks. I am going to quilt those white blocks in a coordinating pattern, but I haven't decided yet how. I think I will follow the original blocks, but I have to figure out how to bring th pattern on to the fabric. Now, without further ado, here issss ..... Baltimore Bliss!!

Only thing left for this year is wishing all my visitors a happy, healthy, wonderful 2011! Stay safe and warm and see you next year :)

Last post 2010?

2010-12-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

Did you all have a Merry Christmas? I hope so, our family did have a good time with the traditional walk in the woods and the traditional dinner together. Now for a few days back to normal until we're heading to New Year's Eve.

This will be probably the last post of 2011 and I have something to show again. A small one, but a finish! The Raven's Roost by The Goode Huswife. I already added it to my list of Up for a Challenge, but last week it just stitched so quickly that I could finish it this morning.

Most of my stitching time I spent on my Baltimore Bliss. I managed to finish all the blocks now and last Friday I went shopping for some fabric for borders and sashings. I hope to assemble the top before the end of the year.

Holland Springtime, Baltimore and möbius

2010-12-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

Two weeks holidays! Yeah!! I spent my day well, I finished block 10 of the Baltimore, a möbiusscarf is finished and I have some progress on Holland Springtime.

Block 10 of Baltimore Bliss, two more to go, before I can go shopping for fabrics for the sashings, border and the backing.

As it is cold and snowy weather I didn't feel the need to go outside, even the picture of a little blackbird is taken from my livingroom ;)

The möbius is a simple quick crocheted one. It is finished in a few hours and I can do this anywhere, even behind my computer, strolling the web for blogs to read :)

And another crocheted scarf just made in one hour, even quicker than the möbius!

Today ...

2010-12-15T04:10:00.000-08:00

I will meet the 10.000th visitor on my blog within a year! I want to thank all my visitors for reading my whereabouts and looking at my pictures. And of course a big thank you to all the visitors who left a comment! I read them with joy and without your response I wouldn't have been blogging with so much pleasure. Thank you!

Finished scarf

2010-12-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you last time it was winter? Well, it was! We had snow, cold, and slippery weather. And I fell off my bike! Trying to avoid a confrontation with a lady who crossed the street unexpectedly I fell down on my knees. No, not for admiration of the lady LOL. It hurt that much that the day after I went to the hospital to have an x-ray taken. Lucky me, my knee is not broken.

Because I couldn't go dancing this week, I sat down to knit after work. My scarf is ready! Now it is pinned flat to shapen it and tomorrow I can wear it :)

Winter

2010-12-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, it is really winter! This week all of a sudden there was a cold wind, making me long for hot chocolate and warm woollen scarfs. So, apart from stitching on my Chatelaine Holland Springtime ...

... I made a moebius scarf. And what is more, I crocheted this one! I think the last time I did some crocheting was in my childhood. Proving my device: "whatever you learn, it is yours forever!"

I am looking quite concentrated, but did you ever try to take a picture of yourself in the mirror without showing the camera? And without your pair of glasses, which you wear all the time?

I also did some quilting on my Red Delicious. Things are going slow but steady :)

Quilting and some stitching

2010-11-28T06:36:00.000-08:00

Fingers sore and only one block done ... But I am satisfied with the result! My Red Delicious, becomes even more delicious.

There's also block nine of Baltimore Bliss. I finished it this week and only three to go!

About my new challenge I showed last week, as I am only starting in 2011, January, nothing is sure. But one thing is: I am doing this wonderful quilt on black. I love the way colours 'pop' on black. Here is a picture of the fabrics I am going to work with. I might add something, I might skip something, but probably this is it!

I also did some stitching on Call of the Raven. I'm almost done finishing another page.

Yesterday a friend came to visit my place and we had a great day. Talking, laughing and a visit at our local quiltshop. She made me this lovely purse to fill with paper handkerchiefs. Those little fish bring happiness, she said. she is right, Chinese believe it too ;)

At the shop I managed to throw on the floor two containers filled with fabrics ... Luckily the owner didn't interfere and let me be ...

New challenge!

2010-11-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Last week a beautiful pattern arrived at my house. It's the newest design of Kim Mclean, Flower Garden. From the moment I saw it I knew: this is something I must do! I am going to try needleturn on this one, but I don't start until 2011, probably January.

Of course I did stitch this week, although I have to confess it's difficult no to dwell around the web for fabrics for this beauty!

My Call of the Raven has quite some progress, but as it was too dark outside to get a decent picture I will add one tomorrow. The same for Holland Springtime.

And I had a lovely trip to Zutphen, together with two quiltfriends we visited the quiltshop of Petra Prins and had q great time, looking, chatting, laughing, longing for time ... time to get everything done what we want! And there was this wonderful quilt 'Phebe'.

Tapestry with Japanese scene

2010-11-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Not only work, also sew-related it was a busy week (do you hear something different, or is every week a busy week?). Yet I don't have anything to show you! I tried to do a small design, but it turned out to be even more work than doing a big one, so there's hardly anything to show. Besides that I have been sewing and doing some applique for a friend meant to be given on Sinterklaas. Remember Sinterklaas?

Last week I received something beautiful. A friend told me she bought a tapestry and planned to use the cloth for sewing. She showed a picture and I almost fell of my chair! She couldn't seriously cut this into pieces! So I tried to convince her not to and lucky me, she listened and told me I could buy the tapestry.

Look at this:

The colours seem to be faded and I think it is made for the European market, back in the sixties perhaps? If anyone of you knows more, please tell me!

Holiday's progress

2010-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

Holidays are over again , so tomorrow duty calls! I wish we could survive without jobs, life would be much easier, at least I would have plenty of time to stitch and quilt. But no complaining, I know I am lucky to have a job!

Last week DH and I went on a trip to Germany, near Trier. We had a wonderful time, the weather was like it should be in autumn: dry, sunny, some clouds now and then and even some fog. We visited Trier, Koblenz and made a great tour along the river Moselle (Moezel). The area is known for the steep slopes of the region's vineyards overlooking the river. And all in beautiful autumn colours, we were blessed to be able to go there!

Before we left for Germany I finished a tile of Holland Springtime.

Also in Germany the evenings were for stitching and I managed to do quite some stitches. At first block eight of Baltimore Bliss.

Also two blocks of My Garden.

And quite some progress on Call of the Raven.

Yeah!! Autumn holidays and progress

2010-10-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Finally we have a week's holiday! I have been looking forward to it since a few weeks, we had enough trouble last weeks on our jobs, DH and I. Thank you all for your sweet words, I'm glad to know you care!
Next week we are going to spend in a cottage near Trier, Germany. Of course I'll show you pictures after we come back.

But for now I have some progress to show. You do remember Holland springtime? Friday I discovered I did quite some stitches a totally wrong colour so I had to frog .... But now I can show you some progress on it. The first picture below is how it is now and right under that is the picture with the lighter blue. See the difference? I like it even better now!

Foregone is coming along nicely. The lady's face is about to be stitched, maybe next time ...

Block one of The Village of Hawk Run Hollow is also finished. I don't think I'm going to stitch a block a month, but then, you never know, sometimes I even surprise myself LOL

And I finished block number 7 of my Baltimore blocks. There are 12 blocks, but maybe I'll do some more, because I planned them on our kingsize bed.

A new start and knitting

2010-10-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Am I insane? Did I get fired? No, I didn't get fired and I think I'm not insane (who can better judge myself than me??) . And yes, I did start a new design. It has been waiting for me since 2010 January and each month I get a new block. I'm talking about the Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I finished the Houses of Hawk Run Hollow this year in June. At that time I didn't feel like starting another Hawk Run Hollow design, but every month, when I get the new block, it tickles me. So, this is the start of block one of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow!

Between stitching and work I have been knitting. I discovered I can also knit during a car ride, so yesterday, when we went to visit Leer (Germany) to do some shopping I took my knitting with me.

When I was much younger I used to knit. I knitting sweaters for me and my children and I loved it. For years I didn't touch the needles but I'm in the mood again! So I bought some yarn in the sale of a local shop.

Springtime in Fall, My Garden and knitting

2010-10-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week with some unexpected nasty things. DH was told he will be without a job from the end of this year (boy, am I glad I did some stashbuilding last months!) I also had some trouble at work, so this weekend wasn't a very happy weekend.
I did quite some stitching, like I always do, happy or not ;)

I added a corner to Holland Springtime.

There's also some progress on Foregone.

My Garden has another block, block 3 is finished.

Also finished a scarf and started another one, in the beautiful blue yarn I showed last week.

Yesterday I found a lovely surprise in my mailbox. A friend made me some knittingmarkers, to cheer me up and to help me follow the pattern in knitting. Aren't they lovely?

Paper piecing and Baltimore

2010-09-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

As I had a busy week at work last week I decided I could give myself a friday off. At first I had a really long sleep and when I got up at 09.00 a.m I remembered I had a little paper piecing kit waiting for me. I bought it last autumn and it was still waiting for me to make it. At first I had a little problem to understand how to do it, but that problem was solved after looking at some instruction video's. So at the end of the morning I had a small top finished, ready for me to quilt! It was fun and easy and perhaps I am going to do this more often.

Friday afternoon I went shopping for some knitting wool. I want to knit a scarf and this is what I came home with.

My plan is to knit this scarf and have it finished by the end of the year. I hope the pattern is not too complicated, because I haven't been knitting in ages! I hope I look as young as the lady wearing this :)

Saturday DH and I went with our two DD's to visit Leer, a small town in the northern part of Germany. It's about an hour drive from where we live so I took the opportunity to stitch on block 6 of Baltimore Bliss. At the time we were home again it was almost finished so in the evening, instead of doing some cross stitching, I finished it.

Autumn and Spring

2010-09-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Autumn has come with lots of rain and wind last week. I have to admit I am a nice-weather-type. I love autumn. I love the sunny days, the colouring leaves and stormy weather, but only when it's not raining. The same with winter, I love it when its freezing cold, but only without snow ;)

As for stitching, I have been working on several things this week. First of all Vibrant Vista.

Second is Call of the Raven. I committed myself to put in a thousand stitches every month and it looks like I did it again, this month.

Then there is Foregone, a gift from a dear friend. Chrissie asked me about the whole picture, well, here it is.

And this is mine, not yet finished LOL

And this weekend I concentrated on Holland Springtime. The stitches I put in Holland Springtime are dedicated to a dear friend, who is in need of springtime like we know it in the Netherlands. A blue sky, a fresh air and crocuses and tulips everywhere. It has the promise of life, love, laughter and happy times. Stitching on Holland Springtime, she was on my mind.

An exhibition and stitching

2010-09-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

Last weeks have been very busy, business as usual ... I've been working for two weeks now and most things are back to normal. I have been stitching on several things last weeks, mostly on my HAEDs, so it seems I have accomplished only a little progress. Maybe I need to stitch on something small, to have a finish now and then.

Holland Springtime is getting some tulips and crocuses, many more to go, but I'm in no hurry, if only next spring it's finished.

Here's my progress on Foregone. The hair is getting clearly now, even a part of the lady's forehead.

As Autumn is coming quickly now I thought I should stitch on Vibrant Vista again. Do you remember how I left it last February? Like this:

Now there is some progress, the house is almost finished.

Yesterday I met some friends at Deventer, we visited to a quiltshow together. We had a great day and a lot of fun together. Coming home I was very inspired to make the most beautiful quilts, but today I am more realistic and know most of them only get finished in my mind LOL
Here are some pictures of quilts I just loved. There's also a stunning coat, made by a group of quilters.

It's been almost two weeks!

2010-08-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two weeks since my last blogpost. I have been terrible busy with (mostly) very important things like visiting quiltfriends, taking care of computeritems (yes, my computer is reapaired, I have a new (secondhand) screen and I am online again) and visiting quiltshops all over the country for fun and stashbuilding.
Speaking about quilting: there are five blocks finished of Baltimore Bliss.

Of course I have been stitching too, Foregone is growing slowly, and Call of the Raven does also.

DH and I went to Breda, four hours by train from here. We had a lovely, sunny day and met one of my quiltfriends, Chrissie.

Last Thursday another quiltfriend and I went to visit Tineke. We had a wonderful time showing and admiring stitching and quiltwork. In fact, we were so busy talking, showing, looking, that we forgot to take pictures!

As I am supposed to start work again tomorrow I thought I might as well take advantage of the last days of summer, so yesterday I went to Deventer and Zutphen. Both places have a lovely quiltshop and in Zutphen I also met Jacqueline, we had a great day!

Last month Kaffe Fassett visited Deventer for teaching about patchwork and giving soms lectures. As you can see there's a lovely quilt in his style hanging outside the Quiltshop. I couldn't help myself buying these lovely FQ's.

Now, unfortunately, fun is over, tomorrow real life is starting again. There's a job to be done but I hardly can wait until next summer!

Bird Exchange landed

2010-08-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

This week was a week of computer problems. Every time I thought I had things solved, another problem became clear. It started with the router that broke down. Guarantee wasn't over yet, so we went to the shop. The router we needed wasn't in stock, so we got a router for the time being.

Then I found out my wireless computer couldn't get the signal from the router. So I went to the shop to buy me 30 meters of wire, to get my computer wired to the router.

Next day my computer broke down. I thought it could be a virus, so I send it into repair. This afternoon it came back, all fixed. But then my flatscreen turned black and stayed that way. Luckily I had another screen ready for trash, so now I'm using it for a while. I hope I will get a new screen next week.

On to stitching stuff. Today I noticed Cindy received my For the Bird's Exchange from HoE. I'm happy she likes it and now I can show it to the world :) I stitched Watermelon, a design by LHN and turned it into a needlebook.

Apart from computertime I also had enough stitching time this week. So I did quite a bit stitching on Foregeone. Finally I am stitching something else than brown! At the left side there are some stitches in light grey, showing the lady's hair is about to be stitched.

I also finished block 2 of Baltimore Bliss.

I prepared block 3, for tomorrow DD and I are going to visit Rotterdam, three hours by train. I plan to take Baltimore Bliss with me.

An exchange, a new block and holidays aren't over yet

2010-08-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to welcome my latest follower Deborah, she is number 100! I really feel honoured for so many of you read my blog and follow my stitching life. I always enjoy your nice comments, thank you all!

Life is getting normal again. DH's holidays are over, DS and DD are busy working too (they earn some money doing vacation jobs). My holidays aren't over yet, so I enjoy a good swim in the morning, do some extra cleaning in the house and spend most of my time stitching and reading. I love this life!

This week I received a 'For the Birds Exchange' from Carol from the HoE board. She stitched me an exquisite needlecase, Bluebird Needlebook by Blackbird Designs. Carol does excellent stitching and I appreciate her work very much.

I have been busy quilting this week. I finished the first block of My Garden, a new BOM designed by Lynette Anderson.

I also have been preparing block number two of Baltimore Bliss and I am ready to add feston stitches now. It's fun and easy to do, I hope to finish this block before the end of the month.

In the evenings I am stitching on Foregone, but as there are only browns in the part I am stitching, a picture lacks this post until I reach a more colourful area. I can show a picture of Call of the Raven. There's some progress on that one too. Sorry for the fold in the middle, ironing isn't my hobby LOL

How much can you stitch in Vienna?

2010-08-03T05:36:00.001-07:00

To answer the question : quite a lot. That is, if you can stitch in the car, anywere, anytime! We had a two-day-car-drive to Vienna and as DH is driving the car, I only have to sit and stitch. And so I did ... I prepared the first block of Baltimore Bliss before we took off and I it was finished by the time we were home again.

Of course we did a lot of other things. We visited Vienna almost daily and although the first week of our vacation it was acrually too hot, we managed to see most of Vienna's highlights! Think of Schönbrunn, The Belvedere, the Hundertwasserhouse, Stephansdom, Kahlenberg, where you have a magnificent view over Vienna, the Naschmarkt, a unique mixture of Austrian traditions and oriental influences. Need I say more? Of course we took lots of pictures, and for those of you who are interested, look here.

In the evening we had a cosy little house of our own, we read (the four of us took about 30 books and they are all read in two weeks!) played games and stitched. Time to show my finishes. At first there is a little one for a Bird's Exchange. No picture of course. Second, there is LHN Snowy Pines. I don't finish the ornaments, as I plan to make a quilt out of them.

Third there is LHN Red House in Winter.

Then I managed to finish page six of Foregone by HAED.

I also did a little stitchery, the first block of a new BOM of Lynette Anderson, My Garden.

And then there is my first Block of Baltimore Bliss.

For those of you who want to see some Vienna in this post, I put some pictures here. Enjoy, and if you ever have the possibility to visit Vienna, go and enjoy this wonderful Old Lady. She has dignity and is worth every minute you spend with her!

Holland Springtime in Summer

2010-07-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Temperatures have been very high last week. It is almost too hot even to sit down and stitch. Yet I finished the last 'onion' of Holland Springtime. A lovely lighthouse appeared.

Some time ago I joined a German Quilt Forum and I have been sewing my first blocks of the Forumsampler we are going to sew. There are some other Dutch girls involved too and it will be a large project, it will keep us busy for almost two years.
The first two blocks are done, here they are.

This Friday me and my family leave for summer holidays. We are going to visit Vienna, we rented a lovely house there and the family and I are looking forward to explore this beautiful city.
Of course there is some stitching travelling along. I kitted up a lovely Mirabilia, Christmas Flourishes. I also take a little one with me, meant as an exchange. And I prepared a new applique block. The first of twelve, together it will be Baltimore Bliss by FatCat Patterns. I love to do this kind of stitching on long rides and to Vienna it will be a two-days-ride.

Besides all this one (or maybe two) of my HAEDs is accompanying me. And of course there is a pile of books waiting to be read. Maybe we better stay home LOL. See y´all after July 31st!

A purple Red Delicious

2010-07-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the finishing of HOHRH. I enjoyed reading all of them!

Much faster than I expected I finished my first quilttop, Red Delicious. I started in January and you have seen the variety of blocks come by on my blog. My summerholidays started last week and I had plenty of time to assemble the top this week. This morning I finished the border and now it is sandwiched and ready to quilt! I am so excited about it, and apart from some minor things I am really satisfied with the way it turned out.

There's a little stitched item finished too, Pear Tree from LHN. I did finish the stitching, but decided not to tinish it as an ornament. I think I'll stitch up the other eleven ornaments of this series and get them into a quilt at the end.

Two finishes and holidays

2010-06-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Two finishes this week, HOHRH was finished last Tuesday, so I had a happy, happy dance. I started this one in February 2009 and now it's done! And I am so happy with how it looks :-)

I also finished a small one, Betty W. asked me to stitch it for her, as part of a quilt-to-be. It has to be done at the end of June and this afternoon it was sent off to the USA.

From this week on my holidays started, so I don't have to go to work until the end of August. Lucky me!! I have plans to start a new quilt, I want to finish Red Delicious and I want to start the Mirabilia I showed you some time ago.

And today we celebrated our wedding anniversary of 20 years! DH had to work all day, so this evening the family had a lovely dinner together .

Last house and a happy family

2010-06-20T10:05:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday we got notice our DS passed his final exams on high school. He did very well and so we are the proud parents of a student-to-be!
Yesterday evening I finished the last house of HOHRH. One final block to stitch, but that is only the saying, so I expect this to be a quick stitch.

Now I have to think about what I'm going to do for a new start. I have some WIPS, but every BIG finish needs a new start, don't you think?
I have kitted up quite some things, but among them a Mirabilia, Christmas Flourishes. I won it in a give-away at our HAED blog several months ago. Maybe I'll start that one.

Ruby Tea

2010-06-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

This week I have been quite busy, but mostly non-stitched related things. House nr. 11 isn't finished yet, although I made a fair progress. I started a small one from LHN, Pear Tree. I also prepared for stitching block 11 of Red Delicious. So actually I did quite a lot, but little to show.
But.... I can show block 10 of Red Delicious, Ruby Tea.

The weekend was filled with quilt stuff. Friday I took a day off from work and together with some members of our internet quiltgroup I visited a Quiltfestival in our beautiful province of Groningen.

In several small churches quilts were exhibited and we had a wonderful time ooh-ing and aah-ing. It all started with this bike, isn't that great, having those bags?

Saturday some of the same quiltgroup and I went to Zutphen to visit a quiltshop. Of course we sat around the table, chatting, showing, laughing (picture isn't mine, in the right lower corner, that's me).

And of course we bought several FQ's. I have been buying browns and pinks lately and now this is waiting to become a quilt.

I think it will be a Fat Cat Pattern, I think about Baltimore Bliss, or Southern Gentleman. But you never now, it might turn out something else as well ...

Friendship exchange

2010-06-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I told you I was involved in a Friendship exchange of the Crazy Exchange Group. Well, my exchange is with its new owner, Caroline, now. She told me she loves boxes, especially this one ;) the little thing on top of the box is a pincushion.

This week I have been busy stitching on HAED's Call of the Raven, but only if I finish the page I'm working on, I will get a picture of it, so be patient!

Yesterday we went to The Hague. DD and some of her friends wanted to go to Amsterdam, to visit a concert. As she is 'only' 16, we didn't allow her to visit the concert (that lasted until midnight) and come home (a two-and-a-half-hour trainride) after that. Imagine three girls in the big, mean world! So, being the greatest parents of the world, we decided to bring them by car and to pick them up after the concert.

That way they had a great day and so DH and I. We went for some quiltshops and after that we had a stroll on the beach, had dinner in an Italian restaurant at the beach (the weather was great so we could sit on the terrace!) and after that we drove to Amsterdam to pick up the girls.

Given the fact we had a long carride, I took the latest block of Red Delicious. I almost finished it! Again, a picture will come after finishing LOL

A cow and a pair of shoes

2010-05-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

I can almost hear you say: no house this week? I thought you girls might get bored seeing all those houses so this week I decided to stitch a cow. Okay, next to it there is a house, but do you care? So, on to HOHRH house numer 11! Two to go and I expect them to be finished before the end of June.

Remember the UFO, Kouangsi Slipper, I showed you a couple of weeks ago? I managed to add some stitches to it.

And there's my Call of the Raven, also added a thousand stitches.

Besides that I finished a little something for Caroline, as a Friendship Exchange. Next week I can show it to you, so be patient.

I did it again :)

2010-05-24T03:55:00.001-07:00

Yes, this week I managed to finish another house! It looks like I didn't do anything else but stiching, but I can assure you there's also work and household jobs. Yesterday I finished house number 9, so on to number 10!

I belong to a small group of people that are doing exchanges, Crazy Exchange. We are doing a Friendship Exchange now and I have been stitching on it last week. I started a little late, but deadline is June 1st, so I have some time left. My partner is Caroline and last week I received this wonderful embroidered little bag. It says : 'The road fo a friends house is never too long'. She colored the fabric with tea, to get that old look. She also stitched me a lovely needlebook and added a, by her father, handmade notebook. I'm very pleased with the exchange, thanks Caroline!

Yes, another house and Red Delicious again!

2010-05-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last week was a great week with a party and a holiday. I only had to work three days and from Thursday on we had holiday again. So lots of stitching time! I was able to finish house number 8 of HOHRH.

And there are two blocks of Red Delicious finished again. Today I started block number 9, so only three to go. Part of those blocks were done during our trip to Brussels. I like to stitch while DH drives the car and doing applique means you don't have to count, so you don't have to frog either LOL

Yesterday I turned 53 and I had a great day, celebrating with family and friends. I joined a birthdayclub last year and after been sending FQ's tot every member of the club, I finally was able to unpack mine! When I woke up I found the couch like this, a very thoughtful action of DH!

This is how they look unpacked :)

DD bought me some lovely FQ's too, and I got some from a dear friend (the ones with flowers are from DD).

I was spoiled with presents and we had a great time laughing, talking, laughing together.