wilma goes crazy

2012-02-19T16:16:00.003+01:00

Today I have finished the painting of this brown pelican, that I saw on Fort Myers Beach last April. It is done in acrylics.This week I have also been working on a CQ block from Sandra for First Timers 20 swap in CQI. Renee and Beth did already work on it before me. I have added the lace with the Lazy Daisies, the brown feather stitch on the right with the yellow beads and the red Herringbone stitch on the right corner, now it is on it's way to Donna in the USA.

2012-02-14T19:51:00.022+01:00

This is the second Journal Page I made for the CQJP2012, my challenge this month was to work with novelty fabric.
As you can see I used the colors of the novelty print all along the page for the embroideries and added some bling bling like in the costumes of Elvis and my pin from Graceland.
I already told you that my theme is "Memories" and I dedicate this page to my father, who was a big Elvis Presley fan and always played his records. When I grew up and was old enough to go to the cinema, he always took me with him to watch the newest Elvis movies. Songs he played often were Return to Sender, Wooden heart and In the Ghetto.This is a lovely memory of my childhood, since my father worked long hours, all time spent with him was precious....
In June 2009 my DH and I visited Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee, here are some pictures:

2012-02-04T18:55:00.003+01:00

My little TAST 2012, week 5 sampler with Herringbone stitches, for the first time I managed to finish a stitch in the same week as announced by Sharon!

2012-02-02T22:09:00.002+01:00

This week arrived the Crazy Quilt Gatherings Winter 2011 magazine. I am very proud that Pat Winter asked me to write an article for it!
Crazy Quilt Gatherings is a quarterly published magazine dedicated to Crazy Quilting, you can order it at MagCloud.

2012-02-01T14:38:00.003+01:00

On CQForNewbies I have joined an Orange Color Study last year. Although Dutch (orange is our National color) I have absolutely nothing with orange (sorry CJ), so I had to take the challenge.....
I have been working on Peggy's block and made this floral spray of feather stitches for her using EdMar threads, silk ribbon and some crocheted roses.

2012-01-30T19:51:00.011+01:00

It has been a long time since I wrote on my blog. A lot has happened these last months. We have closed our shop at the end of December, the results got worse due to this recession and we decided we could better stop. Due to this my son lost his job and home and it was very difficult to find a new place to live for him. Last week he moved into his new home, only I haven't been able to help because I got ill, at first it looked like I got pneumonia again (have had it 3x before)but luckely it is only a bad cold, hopefully it will get better soon. In December I decided to join Sharon Boggon's TAST 2012 (Take A Stitch Tuesday). With the busy program from the last weeks I started with the Feather Stitch of week 3, here you see the results.

In the last post I already showed you the first Journal Page I made for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012. The challenge I made myself for January was to work with plaids in a CQ block, so I used Scottish tartans. For February I decided to work with novelty fabric and bling bling. I have already used the Cretan Stitch (TAST nr. 4) on this block, the rest I'll show you when the page is finished!

Winter in Holland has started today with the first snow, temperatures will be -8 o C this night.

2012-01-07T16:28:00.008+01:00

This is the first journal page I have finished for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012. It is a year long project and you have to make one journal page each month. My theme is "MEMORIES". This block memorises the trip to Scotland I made in 2007 together with friends from England, Canada, Denmark and Italy. We stayed in a cottage in Fort William with view on the Ben Nevis and made great walks through the Scottish countryside.The tartan fabrics I bought during this trip from a kiltmaker next to the Tartan museum in Inverness. The black fabric represents the unfortunate end of this holiday when I was close to the terrorist attack at the airport in Glasgow, which gave me the Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

You can see more pictures of this project on the CQJP blog.

2011-12-25T13:36:00.005+01:00

My Christmas cake is ready at last and Christmas brunch is waiting...........
There has a lot been happening in my life this last weeks but I will tell you more about that later, let's celebrate now!
I am wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS, enjoy a quiet time with friends and family!

2011-12-01T16:19:00.010+01:00

Some projects for 2012........
Maybe you have seen the two new buttons on the right, I have decided to join Sharon Boggon's Take A Stitch Tuesday again next year, beginning Jan. 3th.
I have participated for some time in the last years and hope to pick up some new stitches again next year. In April in Connecticut I have seen Sharon's band sampler "live", what a gorgeous piece of work,it is now almost 23 metres long....
Also I decided to join the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012.
This is a great project to make Crazy Quilting more known all around the world. There are already hundreds of participants and I am really looking forward to see all the journal pages that will be made!
This week I received this Christmas Cracker from Theresa from the USA, I can't wait to open it!

The postcard above I made for a swap and sent out, haven't heard yet if it arrived!

2011-11-24T17:15:00.005+01:00

HONKING ORANGE!!! I already told you that I joined the Orange Color Study on CQ For Newbies, this is the first block I received from Angie to embellish. I have to embellish a quarter of the block and this is what I did. I found a piece of tatted lace in orange and it was perfect to make the striped piece a bit more quiet. Then I added a herringbone stitch with Edmar yarn above it and extended the seam with lazy daisies. Then added an orange trim to the top seam. I painted the lace rose and sewed that to the right part and added the feather stitch next to it and some sequins to the butterfly in the middle. The orange color is difficult to make a good picture.......

2011-11-20T16:33:00.002+01:00

This is the new issue of Crazy Quilt Gatherings and I am very proud that Pat Winter asked me to write an article in it! You can see my contribution at page 32/33!!
You can buy this magazine or watch a preview over here!

2011-11-18T15:55:00.009+01:00

My Christmas Cracker is ready to be sent out to the USA. It will go in the mail early next week. First have to buy a Christmascard for in the package.I have stuffed the cracker with a lot of goodies, hope the receiver will like it!
Have been to Artschool again yesterdayevening, made a small painting of a little bottle of Maja perfume.This vintage bottle was from my grandmother, she liked Maja soap and perfume very much, I can still remember the sweet smell. I always bought some Maja for her when I was on vacation in Spain. I have put a stylo next to it on the picture so you can see the 4" size!

2011-11-12T16:17:00.011+01:00

ANOTHER PAINTING FINISHED
I am now working on a serie of perfume bottles, new and vintage. This is the first oilpainting I finished, a bottle of my favorite parfum "Daisy" from Marc Jacobs.
And a close up:
Since this month I am participating in a Crazy Quilting color challenge on CQ For Newbies. It is a challenge to do this Round Robin because I don't like the color we have to make the block in and embellish: ORANGE!
Here in Holland orange is our National color, so I have to give it a try.......
This is the block I made for it:
Monday will be my mothers 82th birthday, she is very strong coping with her bad sight. I have bought her a big watch in black and white, because she can't see the time on her own watches anymore and I will make her a mango cheesecake tomorrow. We will go out forChinese dinner on monday.
The weather here in Holland is getting chilly, at night we have had frost already for several times.
Have a nice weekend!

2011-10-30T18:28:00.004+01:00

Finished today....
the outside block for the Christmas Cracker Swap on Crazy Quilting International, now I can fill it with goodiesand a heart for Betty Pilsbury who lost her beautiful garden due to the flooding in New York State some time ago.The colors are more turquoise and bold cobalt blue then on the picture, the fabric with the flowers is a piece of vintage traditional Dutch fabric from Staphorst with white and yellow painted dots.

2011-10-23T22:44:00.003+02:00

Can you imagine that in 2 months it is Christmas?
This week I made the decision to join some swaps to distract me from a lot of things happening in my life at this moment. Won't badder you with that... Today I have been making a block of 8 x 13 inch for a Christmas Crackerswap on Crazy Quilting International. After finishing the block you have to make a Christmas Cracker of it and fill it with fabrics, threads, motifs, little presents and a Christmas card. This evening I started with the embroidering.

Friday I have been to the institute for blind people with my mother. She would love to move to a home over there, but unluckely she has to wait for more then a year, there is a long waiting list. Now that she stills sees a little bit it would be much easier for her to get used to everything!

2011-10-13T20:58:00.003+02:00

On May 22th I told on this blog about the Crazy Quilt block I made for "Hearts and Hands for Sendai" to raise money for the victims of the earthquake in Japan. Leslie Ehrlich has done a great job sewing all blocks into many quilts and now they are on their way to our friend Hideko in Japan. All quilts will be shown at the Quiltshow in Yokohama in November. Here you see the Crazy Quilt with my block in it, it is in the middle of the upper row.

2011-10-10T21:45:00.008+02:00

Last post I told you that I was not happy with my Victorian CQ block. Gerry was so sweet to have a look at it and you can see her proposals on Gerry's Block Talk. I will show you the end result in time when I have decided what I will change.Now I'd like to show you a great buy I did some time ago. The lady I bought the crocheted pieces from told me that they were made by nuns as examples for later on. There were some very unusual pieces among them. I can't crochet at all, so I admire every piece. They will be great for CQ and multi media projects.After all the encrusted blocks I made I am now working on some very different CQ blocks. I got a postcard with a beautiful antique American Crazy Quilt made in the late 19th century on it and immediately fell in love with it. I think I may not show a picture of it because of copyright. Most of the blocks have an almost childish embroidery on them of flowers, animals, capitals or fans and the seams are stitched with thick perle threads. I have finished these 2 blocks and am working on a lot more. I will keep you updated!

I had not much time to post lately, my dear mother lost sight in one eye some years ago and now she has thrombosis in her other eye and has only 20% of sight left. Her eye-specialist told her that it isn't safe for her to live on her own. You can imagine that she (and me also) are very upset about this, friday we have an appointment in an institute for blind people to see if she can get a home over there.

2011-09-17T18:28:00.009+02:00

ENCRUSTED OR NOT? Some years ago I did Sharon Boggons Encrusted Crazy Quilting class. I thought I "encrusted"this crazy quiltblock very good.........Finding the block again after some years I thought it could have some more......so I added some cigar silkies and several leaves to the flowers and a bow. Didn't like the spider so I removed that one.And I still didn't like it. I removed the lace in the upper right corner and added some more butterflies and a flower spray. Now I am still not satisfied by it's look and I have to think deep about what to do more on the right side of the block, especially on the green silk. Any ideas?
Maybe I should ask Gerry?

2011-09-11T13:49:00.009+02:00

9/11/2001 - 9/11/2011 May we never forgetPictures made at Ground Zero/St.Paul's Chapel in April 2011

2011-09-06T20:58:00.006+02:00

My last day of vacation
I have spent making this crazy quiltblock, it is for the First Timers on CQI. Tomorrow it is back to work again and a busy working schedule is waiting. I am looking forward participating in this Round Robin.It is still summer over here, but it looks like autumn has already started. We have heavy rain and a lot of wind this evening, temperatures around 15 o C.

2011-08-28T21:27:00.010+02:00

My first try on Zentangles....During my vacation the last week I tried to do some zentangles, when in the USA in April I bought this little book about it at Barnes&Nobles. I really liked doing these.This is the second one I made, I think the first one was better. Think the Paisley shape in it doesn't work very well. Must say that making these little drawings is very relaxing.... On the third one I tried to add some color, have decided that I definately don't like them with color.This is the last one I made for now, I like this one, especially the dark beads.These zentangles are lovely to make when you have the time for it! Just give it a try if you can, it is really fun making them!

2011-08-26T20:26:00.011+02:00

The last days of summer......
The summer here in the Netherlands is one of the wettest ever, also the temperatures haven't been great either! The last months we couldn't go on vacation because of the illness of my MIL, now she is in a nursery home and we could leave for some time. We decided to stay in Holland (in case something would change in MIL's situation) and went to Kijkduin, close to the Hague on the coast. Well, we had some sun every day, but more rain..... We walked on the beach and in the dunes, the flora is very beautiful over there, here some pictures:This ladybug,"lieveheersbeestje" in Dutch, was enjoying the sun also!

2011-08-07T15:56:00.009+02:00

WEEKLY UPDATE
This week I received a present from Cathy, in return for some Austrian fabrics I have sent her. She made me some sheets with vintage Americana and Halloween prints, now my hands are itching to start something new! Thanks so much Cathy! Yesterday my MIL got a place in a nursing home, she will stay there for revalidation until she can go home again.
Since last weekend I am working on a 12"quiltblock that I started in 2007 (!!!) during Sharon Boggon's Encrusted Crazy Quilting Class. At that moment I thought it was finished, but now I am really "encrusting" it, will show you some pictures later this week when I feel that I am at last really finished, well, is a CQ ever finished?????? Last weekend I did a great buy, this little silver birdie pincushion, ain't it cute? Also found some pieces of vintage lace.From my mother I got some dahlia bulbs in Spring, the package said "red flowering dahlia". To our suprise the first flower was a white one with a few red petals, the next one was a red one with some white petals.....LOL The weather over here is still bad, rain almost every day and the temperatures still below normal for summer. I would love to see some sun!

2011-07-28T11:09:00.004+02:00

PLUTOI promised you a picture of the hound I finished painting this week. Yesterday I showed the painting to the owners of Pluto and they are very happy with it. Now they asked me to paint a former dog of them, Tommy.

A tip: Have a look here to see my friend Cathy's tutorial on making flowers from zippers, a great addition to your CQ block!

A close up of my Egyptian block

2011-07-24T18:03:00.005+02:00

LOST QUILTS After a quiltmarket in Salt Lake City Allison Aller's beautiful "Crazy in the garden"quilt that is on the frontcover of her book and 3 other ones are missing. Go to www.lostquilts.com to see pictures of all missing quilts. I sure hope they will be found soon! Yesterday I have been finishing some CQ postcards to sent to friends. I try to do some stitching every evening after work to find some relaxation. MIL is still in hospital and waiting for a place in a nursery home to recover.

Here in Holland the weather is terrible already for the whole month of July, it is supposed to be summer but we have rain almost the whole day and cold temperatures around 15 o C......
Today I have been painting all day, I have a commission to paint a hound called Pluto. The painting is almost finished, I will show pictures of it later this week.

2011-07-16T18:54:00.013+02:00

Egyptian block finished !? Last april I showed you this CQ block I made to embellish during Sharon B's lesson at the Adventure in Crazy Quilting in CT. Maybe you know that I love to make themed CQ blocks and because of the riots in Eqypt I picked this theme. My DH and I have always been very interested in the Eqyptian culture and history and I love the colors of Eqypt, the rich gold and turquoise that I combined with dark brown and terra colors. During Sharon´s lesson I added this to the block.The last weeks I have been working on it now and then and at a moment I thought I had finally finished it. After seeing the picture I made of it, I decided I had to add something to give it a more Egyptian look and decided to add an `all seeing eye´..... It looks a bit more Egyptian now, don´t you think so? I don't know what to add more, if you have an idea please let me know!

2011-07-07T17:29:00.007+02:00

Luckely it seems to get a little better with my mother-in-law, let's hope it stays this way. Going to hospital if possible twice a day and working fulltime does not leave much time to do anything else, all I did this week were some little stitcheries in the evening for a new Crazy Quilt I started.
It are images from a book I bought in the USA: Motifs for Crazy Quilting by J.Marscha Miller.Also I don't paint as much as I want to, I only finished this little oilpainting these last months. It got a place in my kitchen.

Recently I am working on 2 big paintings, one in oil, one in acrylics but in one way or another I don't get them like I want it, I think things in my life have to slow down a bit again to find the rest to finish them....

2011-06-30T18:58:00.012+02:00

The situation with MIL is still the same, critical. It is so sad to see what this sweet old lady has to go through at age 87, being operated twice in one week and still in pain.... Now back to blogging!When I was in the USA someone told me about the use of Press'n Seal for embroidery on fabric. I bought some at Target to try and must say it works fine. I have drawn the image on the Press 'n Seal with a permanent marker and did the embroidery with several different threads like perle nr. 5, satin DMC and silk yarn from Vicky Clayton. Removing the Press and Seal is easy for the bigger parts only for the smaller parts you need a tweezer.Also I'd like to show you some pictures from my garden, I love hydrangeas as you can see.

2011-06-24T21:44:00.005+02:00

It's been a while since I have posted, we went to the South of France last week in our camping car for a short vacation. 2 days after arrival we got a phonecall that my mother in law was taken to hospital in critical condition, so we had to return home immediately. We arrived back home on wednesday. MIL is operated but the situation is still not good, that's why I don't write on my blog this moment.....

2011-06-12T15:49:00.008+02:00

I just finished embellishing this crazy quiltblock I made for Sharon Boggons class during the Adventure in Crazy Quilting. I did not use it that day and decided to finish it for a fabric book I am making to remember my travels around the world. The star buttons I bought at Michaels in Orlando. I love the way it turned out.
Yesterday we celebrated my husbands birthday with family in Krefeld, Germany. Over there we visited the "flachsmarkt" around the castle. We try to go there every year, it is a market with hundreds of craftsmen showing and selling their work and of course lots of nice food and biergarten. I love to collect things for my garden, I love stuff like this.
I was doubting whether I should buy this little kingfisher, decided not to do it (maybe I would find something even better later.....) and now regret it!

2011-06-06T20:18:00.015+02:00

Have not been writing much lately, I was very busy doing the bookkeeping of our shop, I was way behind! Today I want to show you some goodies I bought on my trip to the USA. These charms I bought at Bead Empire Inc. at 1032 Sixth Avenue in New York City. I just love the little Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.
When you ever visit New York I recommend a visit to Sixth Avenue, here you find a lot of (bead)shops close together, I also loved Toho Shoji (Japanese beadshop) at 990 Sixth Avenue and M&J Trimmings. They had so much lace, trims and buttons, I was so overwhelmed that I didn't know what to buy!I am planning to make a CQ block with some small pieces of fabric I bought at the City Quilter, 133 West 25th Street in NY, they sell their own prints from NYC. I am making 8" blocks to remember all my travels, in the future I plan to make a fabricbook of them. This Victorian Americana fabric I bought in Orlando at Joann 's.

2011-05-29T20:54:00.020+02:00

An Adventure in Crazy Quilting - part 4 -
The last day I very much enjoyed our class with Allison Aller. Here you see her Crazy Quilt as example for the lessons. We made several flowers from all kinds of materials like wool, silk and rick rack. It was great to see how all flowers turned out and also much fun to make them. This is my result: I also bought Allison´s Crazy Quilting book and boy, this is a wonderful book, I can recommend it to all of you. Beautiful eye-candy and very handsome hints and tips!

There is already a website with the program of the Aventure in Crazy Quilting for 2012. I hope I get the chance to go again!
At the end I like to show you what I see out of my office window these days.

A pair of Nile goose have got 5 babies. Aren't they cute? You keep looking at them!

2011-05-26T09:41:00.008+02:00

The little sheep is a tape measure, the winner is Bobbi! I'll contact you privatly Bobbi for your addy! And now back to:

An Adventure in Crazy Quilting - part three -
On Saturday evening Shirlee Fassell gave a lecture. She showed us her stunning work made with a tambour hook
and the beautiful Crazy Quilt she is working on. You can read more about the making of her beautiful Art Crazy Quilt on her blog Needle and Hook. Shirlee will be a teacher at the next Adventure in CQ 2012.

2011-05-22T21:13:00.005+02:00

Sendai block finishedThis weekend I have been working on my Crazy Quiltblock for "Hearts and Hands for Sendai", you can find more information over here.

Some days before I left for the USA, it was my birthday. These beautiful white peonies I got from my friends Matty and Jan as a belated birthdaygift, aren't they beautiful, they smell lovely also! The vase my mother found for me on a jumble sale, can you guess my favorite color???LOL

And my friends Karin and John surprised me with this present from the Dutch isle of Texel, where they went on holiday.The first one who guesses what it is for, gets a nice Crazy Quilted postcard from me!

2011-05-16T22:13:00.018+02:00

An Adventure in Crazy Quilting - part two - At Friday evening I attended a lecture with Betty Pilsbury. She showed us the most beautiful antique Crazy Quilts, I so much loved to see them. Here you see some close ups.Isn't this fan beautiful?
When I still was only a "sane" quilter I loved to make quilts with an antique touch, but I had never seen a real antique Crazy Quilt before and never expected them being so colorful and lively! This is one of the beautiful Crazy Quilts Betty made herself. On Saturday I had my class with her. She learned us how to make these beautiful satin flowers and the SRE daisies and forget-me-nots and gave the most handsome hints and tips on sewing and stitching. I so much enjoyed this class!This is the example for the class, unluckely I have no good picture of the whole quilt, but believe me, it is awesome! More next time!

2011-05-11T21:17:00.000+02:00

CQ Block for SendaiToday I don't have much time to write, so I only want to show you the block I made for the Hearts and Hands for Sendai, hope I find some time to embellish it this weekend, since we have a wedding and a birthday to attend. When you click on the banner next to this picture you can read more about the Sendai project. I found the fabric with the Geisha in my stash and surrounded it with silks and Japanese fabrics (the reds and the yellow on the right). Will tell more about the Adventure next time as promised!

2011-05-09T20:45:00.024+02:00

An Adventure in Crazy Quilting - part one -
On April 7th we drove from New York City to Glastonbury, Connecticut, where I was going to attend the Adventure in Crazy Quilting. For me it was the first time to attend a Crazy Quilting retreat and what an adventure it was indeed!! Big compliments go to Maureen Greeson and her help Susan Elliott for the perfect organisation.Two days before I left to the USA I managed to finish (well, think I am still going to add some more to this quilt....) my "Austrian" Crazy Quilt, because I wanted to participate in the Show and Tell. The first evening we had "Meet and Greet" and we even had some patchwork cake! I'm sorry but I forgot to take a picture of it, so excited I was to finally meet my friend Beth from NYC. She brought me a present to remember my trip to New York. I was really touched when I got this quilt from her, once again thanks Beth for this wonderful gift!

It was great to put faces to the names from Crazy Quilters I already swapped with or read about on the Internet and at last meeting my "Dutch" friend Ing. During meet and greet we saw beautiful quilts, I especially liked the "English Royalty" quilt, made by Irene Leizer from the Baltimore Constellation Chapter.My first class on Friday was with Sharon Boggon from Australia. I had done 2 of Sharon's classes before on the Internet (Encrusted Crazy Quilting and Studio Journals) and learned so much from her. It was great to hear her talk about CQ in Australia and to see her band sampler and quilts in close-up! Wish I would have taken more pictures!Here you see Sharon with her "I dropped the button box" quilt. On Sharon's website you can read all about this sampler and the "button" Crazy Quilt. More next time!

2011-05-02T20:42:00.032+02:00

Today some more pictures of our trip to New York City, these were all taken from the 86th floor of the Empire State BuildingRight next to the black building you see the New Yorker hotel we stayed in. View on the Chrysler Building.
And a view on lower Manhatten.
We also went to the American Museum of Natural History, we loved to see the giant dinosaurs.
I liked the way they exhibited these animals! On monday we went to the Moma, but it was way to busy. Afterwards we heard that most of the musea in NYC except the Moma are closed on that day........Luckely I got a good look at Van Gogh's Starry Night ( sorry for the bad picture, but the batteries of my camera died over there!)and my all time favorite Waterlilies made by Monet.I could show you so much more pictures, since I took over 900....

This is the last one from NYC, Times Square by night.Next time I will show you pictures and tell about the Adventure in Crazy Quilting in Glastonbury, CT

2011-04-28T20:52:00.029+02:00

BACK HOME FROM A WONDERFUL TRIP TO THE USA!
The first week we stayed at the New Yorker Hotel at 8th Avenue, this was the view from our room at the 32th floor! And this was our view by night...ain't it beautiful? To the left we looked at the Chrysler Building. We have seen a lot of NYC, we went by subway to Battery Park and took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty: Then walked to Wall Street and to the memorial site of the WTC, which was very moving.

Here you see the rebuilding.From there we went to see St. Paul's Chapel and walked on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Then we went to Chinatown and Little Italy and through the Garment District back to the hotel where we had dinner at the Tick Tock diner.
Next time I'll tell you more about our trip!

2011-03-22T21:16:00.004+01:00

Hearts and hands for Sendai

When I heard about the earthquake in Japan I immediately thought about my Crazy Quiltfriends Hideko and Emiko. Luckely we heard from both of them after a few days and
they are both OK although very worried about their family and relatives.

I am participating in a project dedicated to helping those affected by the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.
This project is open to the quilting community at large, so if you are interested, have a look here at the blog of CQI (Crazy Quilting International).
Hideko is one of the listmoms of this quiltgroup.
You can see the blocks that are already made over here.
Please join if you can, our help is needed for our Japanese CQ sisters!

2011-03-21T22:37:00.004+01:00

Spring has definitely come!! Yesterday twins are born in the meadow in front of our home, aren't they cute?The weather is getting better, it was 14 o C today, although it is still freezing at night. The birds
have started singing again early in the morning and the daffodils start to bloom, it is good to see the nature awake!

2011-03-06T10:50:00.005+01:00

Austrian Crazy QuiltMaybe you remember I am working on this Crazy quilt made from mainly traditional fabrics, that I got for my birthday from Helen in Austria. She challenged me to make a little quilt of these fabrics and kept the other half of the fabrics to make one herself.
These are the blocks I made for it, they are 6"each.I am trying to get this quilt finished to take with me to the USA for Show and Tell. These are a few of the additions I did this week. I have not much spare time, have been to Germany this week to buy spring/summer cloths for our shop, doing the bookkeeping in the evening and of course I am also still working 24 hours a week at the vacation parc for disabled.
In a moment back to work again because our shop is opened from 12.00 - 17.00 on the first Sunday of the month. It will be busy because there is a carnival procession (hope this is the right word in English, think you will know what I mean) in town, luckely the weather is OK, sunny but cold, about 3 o C. Have a nice Sunday!

2011-02-24T10:25:00.007+01:00

Another CQ block finished......

The American flag fabric I bought some years ago during a vacation in Orlando at Joann's. I added some red velvet, white satin and blue silk, I also picked the embellishments in these colours. Think this block will become a great memory when coming back from my trip to the Adventure in Crazy Quilting!

2011-02-22T21:08:00.003+01:00

Some weeks ago I received a badge to decorate for the Adventure in CQ in april. To be honest I am not that fond of pastels, so I decorated it yesterday in "Dutch"colours and this is the result.Also I picked the threads and embellishments for my "Egyptian" Crazy Quiltblock. In my stash I found some Oya flowers (on the right on the picture) made by Rengin in Turkey, I think they will look great on the block!

2011-02-19T20:42:00.004+01:00

For my lessons with Sharon Boggon in April I have to bring two 8 inch crazy quiltblocks. This is the first one I made this week.At first I didn't know what colours to choose, but then I saw the revolt against President Mubarak in Egypt on TV and I remembered a little piece of this "Egyptian" fabric in my stash.
I have added fabrics in gold, turquoise, middle and dark brown and dark red to it.
Tomorrow I am going to search for embellishments in this colours. It is bitter cold again here in Holland and even some snow is expected. Weather to stay inside on your free Sunday..........

2011-02-12T15:55:00.009+01:00

The last fabric pages...
I was behind with making this fabric page for November for Lise in Denmark. Her theme is (as you can imagine....LOL) doors. It is called "a rainy day".
I sewed some iridescent beads to it for raindrops, it is hard to see on the picture. The next page is the february page for Claudia in Austria. She asked for a landscape and I made her Dutch tulip fields. Maybe you remember I made almost the same for Margreet. Now this serie of fabric pages is finished and I will receive the last page around the 15th also. Also I have to decide to make a fabricbook of them or not. The pages are hanging on the wall of my sewingroom and look so great together......
Also I like to show you my new teapot and mugs, just started collecting this "Pip"dinnerware
in my favorite turquoise color. I love it!

2011-01-31T20:49:00.004+01:00

January fabric pages This is the December page I made for Wendy in Australia, I was already worrying that this one got lost also, but luckely it arrived after a travel of 6 weeks....I took the picture in the evening,
so it doesn't show the right colors of this Victorian fabric page.
I made this Chinese lantarn for Maureen in Australia, she asked for an Oriëntal theme. Luckely this page arrived within a week!

2011-01-20T21:04:00.002+01:00

New fabric pages....
Maybe you remember that I sent out a fabric page to Ritva in Finland some months ago that got lost. This is the new page I made for her and luckely it arrived..... Her theme is art nouveau and I used a print from a card I bought in France long time ago for the middle and surrounded it with matching fabrics, old lace, a crocheted piece and some crazy stitching. The colors of the picture doesn't do it justice, but I had to make the picture in the evening with not much light. I received this week this beautiful felted fabric page from Marja in Holland, ain't it lovely?

2010-12-26T13:19:00.007+01:00

Fabric postcard I made for Helga in Germany in the Fibre Fever Christmas card swapMerry Christmas everyone!

You haven't heard from me for a long time, but much has happened in my life. During our holidays in France in september we decided to start up a new business. Since then we have been busy searching for a nice store and fitting it up and purchasing clothes. On December 1th my son and I opened our shop in men's clothing, so the last weeks I have been working 60-70 hours a week. I am really happy with this "free" Christmas weekend.

I think like in a lot of places in the world winter has started early here in Holland and we have had heavy snowfall since early December which is very unusual, it is said that it is already the worst winter in 100 years. I really hope it will rain warm water soon....LOL

In between I have tried to make my fabric pages as usual, but I am a bit behind, as you can imagine.

I'd like to show you today pictures of the beautiful fabric pages I received these last months.

The above one is made by Margreet from Holland. It is made from a lovely satin fabric with dragonflies on it, beautiful work Margreet, thank you so much for it.

The next page is made by Susanne from Germany. It is a wonderful beaded dragon floating in a pond on a wool felted leaf. Also thank you for your awesome fabric page Susanne!

2010-10-25T19:20:00.004+02:00

Halloween ATC's

These are the ATC´s I received from the Halloween ATC swap on Art4Mail. Thank you for your lovely work Vic, Debbie and Vicky! I think it is a pity that we don´t celebrate Halloween over here, I simply love the fabrics you use with skeletons, graveyards, ghosts etc.

2010-10-17T20:09:00.005+02:00

AUTUMN....
This autumn we have again decorated a table in front of our living room window and our little friend immediately came back like last year to get his peanuts!

This is the fabric page I made for Yoke here in Holland. Her theme is "Bridges". I immediately knew what to make for her. As a child I heard a lot of stories from my grandfather and father about WWII and the bombing of the Arnhem bridge, the town where I am born and lived for 50 years. Maybe you remember the movie "a Bridge too far"? My father was working for the airforce and we had Airborne veterans visiting our home every year in September, that is why I used "Airborne red" as background. On the back I printed this poem from Max Dendermonde,
I am sorry but it is almost impossible to translate..It is about the feeling in the rest of the Netherlands when Arnhem looked to get liberated and the hell they got instead.

Arnhem

Voor mij blijft Arnhem altijd zeventien september
altijd een beetje zondag, die grandioze
dag waarop de bevrijding hoog kwam aangevlogen

In Amsterdam, bij radio, telefoon, stemmen
en tegenstemmen, riepen wij: "Zij wel, zij wel!"
Atlassen gepakt, de loop van de Rijn bekeken,
een geluksland van Heveadorp tot aan Rheden.
Nog dachten wij aan feest toen. Zij hoorden de hel.

Ook wij, op die afstand, gingen grienend ten onder,
Arnhem en Oosterbeek, de brug, dat waren wij,
onherhaalbare tijden bitter en bijzonder.

Nee, geen enkele keer als ik door Arnhem rij,
dat ik geen spijt voel, zelfmedelij. En het wonder
van die septemberzondag: Ik ook. Ik ben vrij.

2010-10-10T15:46:00.005+02:00

BUSY.....

Life is so busy with work, birthdays and other festivities, that it is almost impossible to find some time to do something creative!

These ATC's I made for a Halloween ATC swap on Art4mail and they are now on their way to Canada and the USA.

The fabric postcard I made for Marja's birthday, it is made of a lovely handprinted piece of fabric made by my friend Frauke from Germany, I embroidered it with multicoloured Sassa Lynn yarn and added some sequins.

2010-09-29T20:56:00.008+02:00

LOST???

Don't know if it is something in the air, but unluckely my fabric page for Ritva still hasn't arrived........

Also the card I made for Margreets birthday is now on it's way for a month already. It is a pity but I can't make it again because it was made of mostly vintage pieces of traditional fabrics from Spakenburg, a small fisherstown here in Holland.

Here also some pictures from our trip to France as promised, next time I'll show you some more.

We stayed in Villefort, in the Cevennes, this are some gothic windows in the oldest house of the village

This is the castle at Altier, it is a privat property.

This is the lake of Villefort, we looked out on it from our mobile home. You can walk/climb around the lake which takes 2 1/2 hours.And some pictures from around Villefort

Would make a nice painting I think...........

2010-09-25T21:01:00.004+02:00

Back from France...

We had a wonderful vacation at the Lake of Villefort in the Cevennes in France. I will show you some pictures soon.

When coming home this beautiful dragonfly fabric page, made by Ritva in Finland was waiting for me.

This month I also had to make a page for Ritva, I made an Art Nouveau page for her.

Unluckely it hasn't arrived yet, although it was posted more than 3 weeks ago, so I am getting a bit worried about that.

The page is made after an Art Nouveau DMC embroiderypattern and surrounded by William Morris fabric.

2010-08-31T21:59:00.002+02:00

This fabric page I received this month from Yoke in Holland. It has a drawing of a dragonfly and the rest of the page is felted, thank you so much for your lovely work Joke! Beyond you see the page I made for Robin in Australia, her theme is nature.

2010-08-22T20:29:00.002+02:00

Sad week

We are very sad because our dear friend Gerard has died exactly on his 59th birthday.
He was a big, sweet guy with lots of humor and above all a great artist. He was also my artteacher until he got ill last year. Only 14 days ago we were still talking about going to paint
again together in September and now he is already gone, due to this dishonest disease we already lost so many dear friends and family to, life is so unfair sometimes..........

Rest in peace dear friend!

2010-08-08T19:29:00.002+02:00

I told you some time ago that I was busy with a portrait and this is the result. I found it very difficult to paint this little fellow, because it was the first baby I have ever painted.

The next picture is of the fabric page I just received from Wendy in Alabama, USA, thank you so much Wendy for the lovely dragonly. I have received 4 pages until now and they are all so different from each other, didn't realise that it was such a difficult subject to do. I love dragonflies, they are so delicate and colorful.

2010-07-29T14:35:00.003+02:00

Today I want to show you 2 postcards.
The first one I made for Ati in Norway, who celebrated her birthday last week. She has sent me an article about making fabric paper some time ago, so this was a good opprtunity to give it a try!The next postcard with the sweet little rabbit I received from Lisa, I swapped with her in the Pot Luck swap on Art4Mail. Thanks for swapping Lisa!

2010-07-21T15:57:00.002+02:00

This is the fabric page I made for Margreet here in the Netherlands this month. She wrote to me that she liked it very much, she is living in the Northwest part of Holland and sees this landscape with flowers often in spring.

2010-07-16T19:38:00.004+02:00

Today I received this beautiful fabric page from Lise in Norway. The background fabric is a rusted piece. I read about this technic in the Quilting Arts magazine, think I am gonna give it a try soon also.

The background of the page is also beautiful, wish I had a machine that could do such wonderful stitching......... Once again thanks Lise!

2010-07-10T11:06:00.005+02:00

Hi there,

I am back from a wonderful vacation in Florida!

We stayed in Orlando and Fort Myers Beach and have been driving around a lot.

The last part of the vacation at Fort Myers Beach was awesome. We stayed in a resort at the beach and have seen a lot of wildlife, I especially liked seeing dolphins and manatees diving up close to you!

Unluckely coming back in Holland we both got the flu, there were a lot of people sneezing in the airplane on our way back home.

Now life is back to normal (almost, there is a heatwave here in the Netherlands at this moment) so I started painting and sewing again. This weekend I have to finish a "landscape" fabric page for Margreet, I will show you a picture when it is ready. Last Thursday I finished this painting, some months ago I told you about the lambs that were born in front of our home, these are the little ones with their mother.

2010-05-27T17:08:00.008+02:00

The last weeks I have been busy making "pansie" postcards to sent out for birthdays and swaps.3 of these are sent to Jan and Lisa in the USA and Helina in Finland.

Beyond you see a picture of the lovely postcard I received from Sharon H. from the USA in the Pot Luckswap on Art4Mail.

2010-05-18T21:04:00.005+02:00

Today I want to show you some lovely items I have received. On the first picture you see a fabric postcard I got from Jan in the USA and 2 yellow ATC's I swapped with Lisa and Mary, they all belong to the Art4Mailgroup. The fabric page with the dragonfly I received from Maureen in Australia. The background is a beautiful velvet fabric all embroidered with shiny threads, this one is made for the monthly swap on Fibre-fever.Thanks so much for your lovely work ladies!

2010-05-13T16:58:00.003+02:00

This is the fabric page I made this month for Marja in Holland, her theme you must have guessed already: "Birds". I found it difficult to start with this subject until I remembered an article in a Quilting Arts magazine from some time ago. As I mostly sew by hand it was a little experiment for me to sew by machine and use paint on the fabric page, but I think it worked well. Here in Holland we call this bird a "Roodborstje".
On Art4Mail I swapped a bookmark with Miriam from Ireland, ain't it lovely. She also sent me this postcard she made of an Irish landscape.

2010-05-06T15:33:00.005+02:00

Another painting finished....
This is sweet little Poekie, the other dachshund of my friends Karin and John. I showed them the painting (40x40cm)done in acrylics last Tuesday and they really liked it. Today I have put varnish on it and it looks even better.
And this fabric postcard I made for Marja, she had her birthday last week. We are both member of Fibre_fever.

2010-04-30T21:27:00.010+02:00

Strange....

to find out how much you can miss the Internet! The last days we were out of Internet, TV and telephone until the Phone company found out the modem was not working as it should and changed it for a new one.........very annoying!!!!!

The good thing is that I read some books, heard lovely music and have started 2 new paintings!

Today I want to show you some ATC's I received and some lovely additions to my "Austrian" Crazy Quilt.These are the ATC's I received back in the Spring ATC swap on CQForNewbies, thank you Alice (2x), Beth, Genie(2x), Ira, Jocelyne, Lesa and Linda for your nice work.

As you might know, I love to visit collectors fairs. That's where I found these lovely additions last month. I just love the little spider brooch I have put on the spiderweb made of metallic Madeira yarn, ain't he cute? (As far as you can call a spider cute.....LOL)I was also very happy to find this vintage brooch made of beads and sequins, on top I have added a little organza bow.Also I found this vintage spider silkie, that came with boxes of cigars in the fifties. It's colors are perfect on this quilt. I have on and off been working on this CQ, made from Austrian fabrics I got from my birthday buddy Helen some years ago. She has the other half of the fabrics and has challenged me to make a quilt of them. I just fund out in an old blogpost that I started this CQ in september 2007 , think it is time to finish it soon!

2010-04-26T21:49:00.002+02:00

Today I received this colorful felted postcard from Sherry from the USA. We are both in the Art4Mailgroup and participated in a Pot Luck swap. Thanks so much Sherry for your lovely work.

2010-04-24T22:08:00.005+02:00

Exciting.....

Wednesday I already told you about all the pregnant sheep of our neighbours.

Yesterday afternoon I saw for the first time in my life the birth of a little lamb, here you see a picture of it 5 minutes old. It was very touching to see it stand up for the first time......

Half an hour later we came outside and saw a little head peeping out of mother sheep, our neighbour had to push it back and get it out again with the feet in front. The twins are doing fine,

there are now 11 lamb born and we are now waiting for one of the brown sheep to give birth.

Today there was an exciting envelope in the mail!

I won the give a way on Frauke's blog and got these beautiful fabrics she handdyed and printed. Of course I am very happy with them!

Frauke is a very talented quilter from Germany, have a look at her blog. If you live in the Netherlands, you can see 2 of her quilts on the European Quilt Championships next week in Veldhoven.

2010-04-21T19:46:00.011+02:00

Spring has definitely sprung!

Today we had to watch the sheep of our neighbours because they had an appointment elswhere. This morning twins were already born, just like some days ago and probably 16 sheep in the meadow in front of our home are expecting. Until now nothing has happened. Here a picture of the first born sheep.I have just been walking around with the dog and made some pictures in the neighbourhood, if you look very careful to the picture above you see our house peep through the blossom. Beyond you see a view to the right from our home and to the other side of the street.

2010-04-19T21:06:00.007+02:00

Fabric pages

This month I have started with a new round of fabric pages in the Fibre Fevergroup. We have to make a fabric page every month for a year long, the theme is chosen by the receiver.

As theme for this round I choose "Dragonflies".Today I received the first page made by Claudia in Austria and it is beautiful. Thanks so much Claudia for your lovely work!

I had to make a fabric page for Barbara in Germany, her theme is "View from inside to outside".

I appliqued a piece of fabric with a Tuscany landscape to a piece of sky fabric. Then made the window around it with "wooden" fabric, added some lace as curtain and did lots of French knots

to lighten up lavender and bushes.

2010-04-18T21:23:00.010+02:00

TAST 2010

I joined the Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge 2010 from Sharon Boggon, but after week 1 life got in the way again. I hope to make up week 2 - 4 in the coming time.

I found it very difficult to make the Diamond Stitch of week 1, had difficulties to get it even, combined the stitch with some Lazy daisies but the result was bad. This is definitely not my favorite stitch!

This afternoon I could sit in the sun in the garden and did the stitches for week 5,6 and 7.

Here you see the stitches of week 5 Knotted Buttonhole Stitch and week 7 Rope Stitch.

I will try some variations later this week.

Also I did the Buttonhole Eyelet Flower. I made the first circle of stitches a bit big, the red one has petals made of 15 wraps and around that petals made of 20 wraps. The pink one has more petals, they are all made with 15 wraps also. I will have to practice more on these stitches to get them even.

2010-04-15T19:55:00.005+02:00

New painting finished I hope you can see who this is, when you are above a certain age and love music I think you will know....... LOL
I find it sometimes difficult to find a subject to paint and must say that I have been strugling with this one because it is the first person I have ever painted.

Had a bit of bad luck on Easter Monday, fell down on the street and strained my left ankle very bad, it got twice as thick and got almost every color of the rainbow. Luckely it gets better every day now.

2010-04-03T19:16:00.006+02:00

Happy Easter to all of you!
This week I received a lovely prize from Nicki, as I already told you she has started a webshop (www.RavioleeDreams.Etsy.com)
I was 1st Runner Up in a contest on her blog and I am very happy with these lovely fabrics and handdyed laces, once again thanks Nicki and I hope we get the chance to meet next year in Connecticut!

2010-04-01T15:28:00.005+02:00

April 1th...
This lovely card I bought on a collectors fair last week. It is

really shiny, so it is difficult to take a good picture of it. The text says as I remember well in French: You wouldn't want to refuse this beautiful fish and my kisses. There were more cards with an April 1th theme and they all had fish on it. Does anyone know what is the meaning of this??

As you must have noticed last Monday was my birthday and I received this beautiful postcard from Ati in Norway.

I had a nice day, in the morning I had to work, in the afternoon my mother and MIL came for tea and cheesecake and in the evening we went out for dinner with our son and his girlfriend, friends and my mother, which was really cosy.
I have received lovely presents, some canvases to paint on, paint, brushes, books and a DVD, also I received these beautiful tulips.

2010-03-28T20:13:00.008+02:00

I have received four more fabric postcards for my birthday tomorrow.

The Crazy Quilted vintage lady is from Maureen in Australia, the next three are all from Dutch fibre fever members, the one with the coloured squares is from Marja, the one with the papercut is from Margreet and the one with the gold on it from Janny.

Thank you all for your wonderful work ladies, they are all so different and bring so much ideas for future fabric postcards I want to make!

Now I am going to make a peach/orange cheesecake for tomorrow!

2010-03-25T20:52:00.004+01:00

A little bit of Spring!

Today we had lovely weather, the sun was shining and it was 20 o Celsius. Doggie Daisy was enjoying herself very much in the sun!
Now it is raining again...

Last week I got mail from Ria who liked the ATC's on my blog and wanted to swap. I have sent her one Staphorst and one Spring ATC and received these lovely ATC's in return.

2010-03-24T20:56:00.002+01:00

I have received two more beautiful postcards for my birthday next week. The one with the roses is from Helina in Finland and the other one from Helga in Germany. Ladies thank you so much for your lovely work!

2010-03-22T20:06:00.008+01:00

Next week is my birthday and I have already received two lovely cards from ladies from the fibre-fever group.

The first one is made by Marja from the Netherlands, it is felted and embroidered, I like it very much and I'd love to learn that technique!

The beautiful crazy quilted postcard is made by Ritva from Finland.

Also I have exciting news. It is still far away but I am going to the USA next year april to attend an Adventure in Crazy

Quilting in Hartford, CT. If you are interested to know more about this meeting, you can click here.

There will be 3 wonderful teachers, think everyone who is Crazy Quilting would love to get lessons from them, Sharon Boggon, Betty Pillsbury and Allison Aller.

2010-03-17T22:10:00.003+01:00

This week I have finished 10 Spring ATC's for the swap on CQForNewbies, so I can sent them out tomorrow. They were fun to make.

Also there is a lovely Give away on Nicki Lee's blog. She has started an Etsy shop with wonderful dyed laces and embellishments for Crazy Quilts, go and have a look if you're interested.

2010-03-07T14:25:00.006+01:00

Antique Crazy QuiltSome time ago I bought 2 small Crazy Quilts on Ebay (the other one I'll show you later this week)and I am very happy with it. I just love the stitching on it and it's Victorian look. Also it is always nice to discover stitches you have never done before. I will make a try to sew the lace on again on the right side.This little Angel Annie redwork block I made for a quilt for a dear listmom who lost her DH some time ago, now that she has received the quilt I am allowed to show it to you.

2010-03-01T12:43:00.008+01:00

Crazy Quilt Give a way and some postcards finished

Dörte from Germany has started a blog and to celebrate that she has a great CQ give a way, so go and have a look over here.

Last week I have finished these fabric postcards I'd like to show you. The first one is made with pieces of traditional fabric from Staphorst, the second one is a bit of Holland for a friend in the USA and the last one some Spring that is so hardly needed!

2010-02-24T17:50:00.005+01:00

These are the first four ATC's finished for the Spring ATC swap on CQforNewbies. There are around 30 participants and I don't think I'll manage to make one for all of them but I hope to get at least 10 finished, due date is April 1th.

Next tuesday a new round of Sharon Boggon's TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) will start, she will publish a stitch to explore every tuesday until the end of the year, you can find more information here (see Febr.23th).

2010-02-22T19:56:00.002+01:00

This is our dear doggie Daisy. I have made the painting during the last 2 weeks. It measures 40 x 40 cm, 16" square.
I am very happy that I am back to painting again. As I told you already I am not well the last months, in December I was diagnosed with PTSD and my concentration span is only around an hour. Luckely I am feeling better bit by bit and next monday I am going to try to work again although I may start with only an hour at a time.

2010-02-15T19:58:00.005+01:00

Today I was searching for some fabric when I found this UFO (UnFinishedObject). It is from a libraryblockswap from some years ago, I hope to get it finished soon. Also I want to show you a little sampler that I bought some times ago, think I can use some of the stitches on my Crazy Quilts.

2010-02-13T14:46:00.001+01:00

Today I want to show you some ATC's I made this week from traditional Dutch fabrics from the town of Staphorst.

2010-02-10T19:28:00.011+01:00

Today I received this wonderful smelling fabric page from Margreet
It is the last page in this swap from the Fibre_fevergroup.
I have now 13 pages and have pinned them all to the wall in my sewingroom. Officially I have to make a fabricbook of all pages but
they look so great on the wall that I am leaving them there for a while.

I was so happy that at last all snow melted and temperatures were going up the last week but now we are back to snow again. I sure wish spring is coming soon. I bought this lovely tulips today, I loved the color of them, when coming home I was very surprised to see that it are all double tulips, never seen them before!

2010-02-07T19:58:00.004+01:00

This is Buster, the dachshund of my best friend Karin. I painted him for her birthday last Wednesday. It is 40x40cm (16"). I made it after a little picture of 5x5 cm. Karin and John always take care of our doggie Daisy when we can't, like last week when DH was operated and always when we go on holidays. Daisy loves to play with with Buster and their other dachshund Poekie.

2010-02-01T20:21:00.003+01:00

This fabric postcard I made for the birthday of Helga in Germany, I also made this one in bold

Spring colors.

Last month I made this fabric page for Mieke, as you can see her theme is "Being lucky". I made a Crazy Quilted page with fabric I bought last year in Las Vegas.

2010-01-26T17:17:00.007+01:00

NEED SOME SPRING???

Well, I definitely do! After a month of snow, temperatures were luckely going up this week but now we are back to a forecast with snow and icerain and -15 o this night.
I am at home for more than a month already with health troubles (I'd rather not talk about it on my blog) and definitely needed

some colors to cheer up, that is why I have been busy making these Artist Trading Cards.
If you are not familiar with ATC's, they
are 2,5 x 3,5 inch. You can read more about them on the Altered Art website. If you want to swap an ATC, please mail me through my blog.

2010-01-20T20:12:00.005+01:00

Pincushions
Today I want to show you a new addition to my pincushions collection. Isn't this music band cute? The figures are 3 cm / a little more than 1 inch big.

2010-01-15T20:02:00.006+01:00

New fabric page received!
Today I received this wonderful "Thinking of France" fabric page from Ati in Norway. Of course I am very happy that she made one with Joan of Arc on it, because of my fascination for Jeanne. It is a great addition to my fabric book, thank you so much Ati!

2010-01-10T20:36:00.004+01:00

Have been trying for hours, but finally managed to upload this slideshow from the paintings I made in 2009. When you scroll beyond the pictures, you can see name and size of the painting.

2010-01-10T16:18:00.002+01:00

Finished or not???

I am still doubting if I have to put something more on the right foot of this painting. Have been painting it in Summer 2009 but still not sure that the painting is finished. I always find it difficult to know when to stop.......

This sweet Haflinger horse always walks a while with me as I walk by with doggie Daisy.

2010-01-07T20:54:00.006+01:00

Fabric page for Maureen

This fabric page I made last month for Maureen in Australia, her theme is "Trees".
The idea for making this page I got when I was in bed with the flu and saw this branch with a few leafs left through my bedroom window!

2010-01-06T18:16:00.006+01:00

New fabric page

Today I received this fabric page from Cobi. She made this textile page called "Provence" for my fabricbook theme "Thinking of France" and did some lovely stumpwork on it.

Only 2 more pages to go in this swap, so I have to start making a cover for the pages soon!

2010-01-05T10:43:00.007+01:00

Dear Jane BOM

When I was still learning people how to quilt I had a big group of Dear Jane enthusiasts. Must say that I never completed a DJ quilt, just because I don't like to duplicate an existing pattern, but I have made around 100 blocks of them.

I had much fun swapping Dear Jane siggies with people all over the world. Here you see a top made of 140 of them, but I think I can make 2 more tops of the siggies left. About 10 years ago I had the pleasure to meet Brenda Papadakis, the author of the Dear Jane book in Amsterdam.

If you are a Janiac, she has just started a BOM on her website.

A lot of people are inspired through her, I have already heard a DJ song, there is a DJ embroidery pattern and even a DJ made of stained glass, look at: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/575060081RJBiPv!

2010-01-02T22:54:00.005+01:00

New challenge for Crazy Quilters! Barbara from Germany has started a stitch-challenge yesterday. She will show a combination of stitches every 14 days and challenges you to make them and show your result on your blog or website and sent a picture to Stickamazonen also. The page is in German but you can use the translator in the right upper corner. Have fun!

2010-01-01T20:19:00.003+01:00

Wishing you all a happy, creative, colourful and above all healthy 2010!

2009-12-27T18:27:00.001+01:00

My first painting (the little raven) is on display at an art-exhibition until Jan. 3th in the Schouwburg in Nijmegen, so if you're in the neighbourhood, you can take a look, admission is free. There are around 180 sculptures and paintings to see from amateur artists.
The picture is not that good I am sorry....

2009-12-25T13:08:00.012+01:00

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

DH and I are home alone enjoying a quiet day.

On Christmas Eve our son with girlfriend and

my mother and MIL came for dinner.

Here in Holland we are having a white Christmas which is very, very unusual....Here you can see some pictures I made this week, views from our window and around our home.