A windmill and again ... a house ;)

This week I was able to finish part seven of Holland Springtime. A windmill standing in a field. A quite common view in our country. It didn't take too long stitching it and I love the result.

Besides that I have been stitching on LHN, Home of a Needleworker Too. Did I tell you I had to frog almost everything? This is how it looks after a week stitching. The rank on the left side is stitched again, the house is done, even the first words appear.

Last thursday I had to travel to Zwolle, to attend a workshop for work (LOL). I raised early and because I had lots of time so I decided to go to Deventer to visit a lovely quiltshop. This is what I bought, I 'm going to use it for a new quilt, which I want to start in July.

Next week is an almost stitchless week. Tuesday and Wednesday I'm visiting Amsterdam with a bunch of 16-year-olds. I expect to come home exhausted Thursday!

Houses again and a windmill coming ;)

It seems I'm in the mood for houses, maybe because our house needs to be painted again. Anyway, I finished house number 7 of HOHRH!

In the third onion of Holland Spring I'm heading the windmill. A few stitches to be done, so watch out for my next post :)

Last week I frogged quite a lot of a LHN Design, Home of a Needleworker Too. I started this last year, on our way home from France, where we stayed a two weeks holiday. I like to stitch in the car on long hour drives, bur this time I miscounted, so .... Coming home I threw it into a basket and never looked at it again until last saterday.
DH and I went for an hour drive and it seemed a great idea to frog during the ride. So, yesterday I could stitch again on Home of a Needleworker.

And I finished block 5 of Red Delicious. Quite a productive week, as I may say so LOL

An overview of all blocks on the fabric I plan to use for sashings:

This week's progress

It's been a busy week, work is hectic so there's no energy left for complicated projects. My Holland Springtime has to wait until things are back to normal, so HOHRH has a new house under construction. In the afternoon, coming home from work I sat down for an hour or so and started to build the houses on block nr. 7. I decided I want to have it finish by the end of June, so in July and August I can continue my 'summer stitching' that has been waiting for me all winter.

I have two works I concentrate on this summer. The first is the Mary Wigham Sampler, stitched on 40 ct fabric, the second is a design of Ink Circles, Cirque des Carreaux. This is how I left them at the end of summer, 2009.

I spend my evenings stitching on Call of the Raven again. She's been neglected for some time and I want to give her some extra attention. Besides that it is an easy stitch, so I can accomplish some progress without getting exhausted.

I also made a good start on block number 5 of Red Delicious. Fanfare it is called and I have been puzzling and thinking about how to do this all week long. Finally, this afternoon I started and this is how it is now.

Houses, houses, houses

Finally I finished house number six this week. It was the black that took me so much time, and I don't like stitching black. I have been thinking about skipping the black, and considered the block finished with only the house in it, but then I was chosing the easiest way. And that just isn't me.
So here it is, house number six at night ;)

Another thing I finished this week is block four of Red Delicious. I stitched the applique with feston stitches and it took quite some time. But I love doing this!

Holland Springtime, again

Somehow last weeks Holland Springtime draw my attention. Maybe because it is really springtime in The Netherlands. Trees are full of buds and this morning when I went through the park to go to work, I noticed the buds of the oaktrees almost burst out into little leaves. The weeping willow is having a greenish layer over her branches and on our terrace there is the forsythia covered with little yellow flowers.
So, here is my Holland Springtime!

There's some progress on HOHRH too. I am still hoping to finish house nr. 6 this month, but I also want to finish block 4 of Red Delicious. I think it's not realistic to want both LOL I have to finish the applique with feston stitches.

Did I tell you lately I most value your comments ? Every single one I read makes my heart jump a little bit for joy!

Quilt retreat , Holland Spring and Love Apples

Last weekend I went to Andijk for a quilt retreat. I met six other members of a Dutch group to quilt, stitch, chat, laugh and visit quiltshops. It was so nice to meet others that have the same love for fabrics and fibers and we had a great weekend. We agreed to make a little gift for each other and this is what I did. These are from Lizzie Kate and I stitched the month of their birthday and finished it on top of a little suitcase.

Of course I took my Red Delicious blocks with me, so I can show you block three today, Love Apple.

During the week I have been paying attention to the Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I almost finished another house, but I don't show a picture until that's done. The weekend I have been stitching on Holland Spring and in the second onion there is a bridge coming up.

Here are some pictures of the Quilt retreat. At first our group (I'm on the leftside) and the presents we received/made.

Winter Exchange and Spring arrives!

Finally it seems Spring arrives in The Netherlands! Snow disappears and today it was sunny, so I installed my chair on our balcony and stitched! I have a sort of rotation between winter and summer works, so I pulled one of my summer works out of the drawer, Cirque des Carreaux, an Ink Circle Design.

All week I have been stitching on some presents for our quilt retreat. I had to make seven presents and I am finished! Obviously I can´t show them yet. Last week I received this beautiful Winter Exchange from Edda. She stitched me two lovely items, a biscornu and a fob (or little ornament)

and she knitted the perfect shawl for me, in a bright orange/yellow. It makes me feel sunny and it's warm and cozy on my shoulders.

Edda also added a little booklet in Icelandic and English (as I don't read Icelandic, I am happy to be able to read in in English). It is about thirteen Icelandic Christmas lads, a Christmas Rhyme. Isn't that a perfect exchange?