DYB block for Maureen

This block I have embellished for Maureen in Australia. We are both participating in a Do Your Block Round Robin in the "Crazy Quilters Around the World"group.
We had to make 6 inch blocks and send them out to the next participant, she has one month to embellish it, then sends them further to the next participant etc. etc. Maureen has made creme coloured blocks and we can embellish them like we want, with the only restriction not to use to much orange/red and especially have fun-no stress! I did make 6 blocks for this swap with an under the sea theme, I have blogged them some weeks ago. I am looking forward to the next block to embellish, think it is for Hideko in Japan, will keep you updated!

Another stranger in my garden.........

When I was working in the front garden I found this weeds(hope this is the right word...)and decided to let it stay for awhile, you can imagine how surprised I was when the flower opened, ain't it beautiful? Have never seen this kind of poppies.

Today I want to show you the wonderful Halloween card I received from Brigitte Trinkl from Austria. She was also participating in the Spooky Boo cardswap on the Engelbeeslist.
Thank you so much for your lovely card Brigitte!

ANOTHER LITTLE VISITOR....

The picture ain't that good but I just want to show you another little visitor in our garden.
I looked outside yesterday and saw this little squirrel eating some peanuts! Ain't he (or she?)
cute?

SPOOKY BOO CARD






And the winner is.............................
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......................................Gerry!!!

Sorry for being so late with my announcement but life got in the way!
Our son has got the key of a new home this week and we are very busy
with helping him cleaning, painting and moving! He lived in a studenthome with 4 other guys which was very noisy and bad for his study to become a producer/composer. Now he has a home of his own
where he can study quietly and he is so happy!

Gerry, congratulations, the card is coming your way!

NEW ADDITIONS.......
















Yesterday we went to a collectors fair in Utrecht with friends.
I found a lot of beads, sequins, rick rack etc. for my Crazy Quilting!

I told you some days ago about visitors in our garden.
Maggie asked the names of the birds and butterfly.
The birds on the 1th and 3th picture are coletits, on picture 2 you see a peacock butterfly and the bird on picture 4 is called a "boomklever" (Sitta Europaea) in Dutch, don't know the English name,
I am sorry, it is not in the dictionary.....

4 ATC's FINISHED

I made these 4 Christmas ATC's (Artists Trading Cards) this week for an ATC swap on the Chains of Hearts group.
I hope to finish 2 more tomorrow, I really love to make these little ones big as a creditcard! As you can see, for me Christmas is still red and green, very old fashioned!

VISITORS IN OUR GARDEN

Today I want to show you some pictures of visitors in our garden, it is a joy to see all kinds of birds flying of and on for some peanuts. Autumn is starting and the leafs are falling here in Holland. Temperatures are around the 15 o C right now. I hope to make some more pictures of the changing colors in the coming weeks, have already seen several mushrooms also.

Thank you all for your nice comments on my Halloweencards, the fabric was bought during our trip in the USA at a Walmart in Page, AZ.
It is a pity that we don't celebrate Halloween over here in the Netherlands, I just love the "spooky" theme and decorations!

HALLOWEEN POSTCARDS

For the SPOOKY BOO postcardswap from the Engelbees I made the first card. It is on it's way to the USA.

Postcard number 2 is going to Liz in Kansas, it was made for a Autumn postcardswap on Stitchinfingers.

Number 3 is a GIVE AWAY, write a comment on my blog and maybe this card will be sent to you! I will put all names in a hat and let my family pick a name at Sunday Oct. 12th.!

BACK TO CRAZY QUILTING....











This month we start with a new DYB (Do Your Block) Round Robin on the "Crazy Quilters Around the World" list. I have made 6 blocks of 6 inch with an "under the sea" theme for the other ladies to embellish.I have bought the fabric with the dolphins in Orlando, Florida 2 years ago. Unluckely there were only 2 dolphins to use in this FQ, the others ones had lost their head or tail....
In this DYB we do embellish one block a month, I am really looking forward to start working on the first block of Maureen in Australia!

AND SOME MORE PICTURES...

First I'll show you what I bought at JoAnns. I am very happy with the Crazy Quilt book
and all the fabrics for a new CQ project of which I'll tell you later. Now about the rest of our trip. From Monument Valley, Kayenta we went to Bryce Canyon. The first picture is from the Overlook across the Valley of the Gods, you can see how high we were on the mountain. The second picture is from one of the bridges in the Natural Bridges National Monument. Picture 3 is from Powells Colorado river near Hite, the rest of the pictures are all made in Bryce Canyon. From here we went to Zion National Parc and then back to Las Vegas. Sorry but Blogger is acting up again, can't change the size of the letters......

MORE PICTURES...






From Las Vegas we visited the Hoover Dam (picture 1), Kingman (picture 2, quilt in Mohave museum)and then we went on Route 66 to Williams/Flagstaff. From there we stayed in Page, flew by helicopter through the Grand Canyon and also drove by car through the Grand Canyon National Park (picture 3,4,5). Then we had breakfast at Lake Powell (picture 6), drove to Kayenta and Monument Valley, here we have spent a lot of time, the landscape is just as beautiful as in the Star Wars movies. We have spent several days in Navajo Nation, talked a lot with Navajo's and enjoyed every minute of it, sure will come back here once.
During our trip we also saw a lot of wildlife like eagles, a condor, wild mustang, a coyote, bisons, deer and a lot of those cute chipmunks, luckely no rattle snakes!!!


Monument Valley The Mittens
















and DH and I in front of the three sisters

"AWESOME" HOLIDAYS.......

Life is turning back to normal after a wonderful holiday in the USA. The trip we made was full of highlights. We started and ended in Las Vegas and inbetween we made a tour to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. The nature we saw on this trip was overwhelming, especially coming from a flat, green Holland. Already landing on Las Vegas airport almost at the foot of the Strip is sensational. Then stepping outside into temperatures of 106 o F (about 42 o C), it was like someone was blowing with a hairdryer in our faces.........LOL Must say I love this heath with almost no humidity, didn't have any trouble with my asthma!
In the next week I will show you more pictures of our trip, I will start with some of Las Vegas, where we have spent the first 2 and last 2 days and yes, we have been to the casino, but only a loss of $ 10..........

ANOTHER HEARTS AND FLOWERS SHOWER

This block I made to comfort Linda who recently lost her grandchild, it is on it's way to the USA. I hope Linda will like the colors and Beatrix Potter theme.
Linda, you and your family are in my thoughts!

Block for Lori
This block I made this week for Lori in the USA. She is a member of the CQForNewbies list just like me and has received a new kidney. On this list you can join a "Hearts and flowers shower" and make a CQ block for someone to show you are thinking about her. You have to make an 8" block and embellish 2 seams and one part of it. I made this one in mostly purple because that is Lori's favorite color. It will be mailed out tomorrow.

Luckely everything is OK again with doggie Daisy. Today we made a long walk for almost 2 hours through the woods and she has been swimming again also! This evening we went out for dinner with 2 of my old collegues and their DH's, we had a real Chinese dinner at Wing Kee (ate Beijing duck for the first time!)and after that we went to town and sat on a terrace and had some drinks, really cosy!

Soon we will leave for vacation to Las Vegas and the canyons and we are so much looking forward to that! I have been trying to get some summer clothes today which wasn't easy! The shops are all full of autumn/winter clothing already.....

A precarious week........

Last Sunday we went for a walk in the woods with our Labrador Daisy. When coming home she started vomiting and got very, very sick! We have been to the vet with her 3 times this week and he suspects that it was a poisoning. The poor girl couldn't stand on her feet at one time, so weak she got. Luckely we were in time with the medicine and on Thursday she started eating again and is getting a bit better every day!
Here a picture of our sweetie, hope she will be her old cheerfull self again soon!

SUMMER PACKAGE RECEIVED

This package I received from my friend Jenny from the UK. We are both member of the Sewpals, a group of 13 quilters from all over the world. We met up several times so she knows how much I like Piglet! It sure made me laugh when I received this package. We had to send something for every letter in the word SUMMER so you can imagine what she did with the letter U.......LOL

When visiting the Dutch Open Air museum here in Arnhem last week we saw this 4 piggies sleeping all curled up together, aren't they cute?
(When you click GB in the right corner, you get the English text)
Here another picture from the in the museum.