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!

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!

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!

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

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.

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!

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....

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.

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.....

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!