Stitchery BOMs, Teeny Tiny Squares and A Sneak Peek

I somehow got worried that I wouldn't finish my stitchery BOMs for the month March. But yes, I eventually did. Only the poor little frog in Verandah Views block 3 - Bed and Breakfast, doesn't have its feet yet. Poor thing.


Last week my Teeny Tiny Squares Quilt Swap arrived. Such a wonderful small pinwheel quilt made by Christine. The small blocks are 1" finished. For this beautiful 15" x 19" little quilt Christine used Thimbleberries fabric. Thank you so much Christine! I was very lucky with this quilt!

I don't know if I will have time to make something for Easter this year, so I hung up this little quilt. It is one of my first appliqued works and even though purple is not really my color, I do think it is very nice for Spring and Easter.

These past two weeks I have also been working on my stitchery swap with Lyn. What I really liked about this one is that I used colors and fabrics I would never choose for myself. It is so much fun to do that! It gives me new ideas and possiblilities. So here is a sneak peek for Lyn.

Last week I finally joined the Siggy swap with Annelies at Quilts and Siggies. Next week I will show you the Siggy I will be making and the ones I have received until now. It is so wonderful that Annelies is organizing this. She has a lot of work, now having almost 700 participants. Thank you, Annelies, for doing this for all the Siggy swappers!

And then I wanted to share this with you ~ "When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace."- HH the Dalai Lama ~

Have a sunny and happy week!

Six years later

In 2003 I started a quilt for Laura, so she would have something nice to feel comfortable under when she went to high school. Well, 6 years later and only a few more weeks of high school left, I finally, finally, finally finished her quilt. Now she can take it with her to study in Amsterdam...

The blocks are quilted by hand and the border with the machine. For the machine quilting I used invisible thread for the first time. I really liked that.

Then, I finally finished my PIFs for four people. I enjoyed making the pincushions so much, that I made one for myself too.

Now this 'funny' thing happened when I sent away the PIFs. One was for an American blogger. And instead of sending it to the USA, I sent it to Australia. Lyn told me to have faith. And she was so right. Today I received an email, saying that my PIF had arrived in the USA! Thank you for the great service, mr. Postman.

A few weeks ago I send Suzie one of my packages from the Quilt Fabric Delight Pin Cushion Club. I didn't like it and after showing Suzie a picture, she said she would really like to add this one to her pin cushion collection. I told her she didn't have to do anything in return, being happy to have found someone who liked it. And look what the postman brought me this week:

Looking at the wrapped presents was already a delight! I guess Suzie really knows I love pink. She even added a poem about Pink to it. And look at the cute chicken. Thank you so much Suzie for the wonderful gifts AND candy!

And finally I want to show you what I have been working on this week. In Holland we have the foundation De Regenboogboom (The Rainbow Tree), a foundation for children with a handicap, a chronical or life threatening illness. Quilters can make a quilt, a droomdekentje (dream quilt) for this foundation, so that these children can find some comfort and warmth in them. I will be making a quilt for this foundation and a similar one for my 3 year old godchild Jasper. The fabrics are from the Vroom collection by Avlyn.

Here are the 260 blocks for two quilts and ...

here is the top to the first one. If ever, you are not able to find a fabric, go to this site and you will very likely find what you want. Debbie Taylor from the Fat Quarter Shop was so kind as to give me the name of this site, since she no longer sells Vroom.

Wishing you a very happy weekend with lots of sun shine and happy moments. And remember,"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose." - Kahlil Gibran

Already a week later

This week I received two wonderful parcels! One was from Sarah. Sarah and I have special themes to our swaps and this time it was Friendship.

Thank you so much, Sarah, for the wonderful stitchery and presents!

Unfortunately I forgot to make a picture of my present for Sarah. It is a stitchery with the saying: A friend is a present we give ourselves. This saying has been with me since I was 9.

And then two days later, a parcel arrived from Lyn. Lyn send me stories she wrote about her dog Monty. What a dog full of mischief! To the booklet she send me some gorgeous shoe fabrics. She couldn't decide on the color, so she send all three of them. You really made my day, Lyn!


I have been working on my calendar challenge again. February done and March is doing well too. Jutta and Lyn have send me some strips, which has made it very easy for me! The quilt will be special in many ways!


This week I have also been working on a quilt that I want to have finished by the end of this month. I'll show it to you as soon as I have finished it. This project has been a real WISP!

Then I've also done some stitching for a swap and send my PIFs away. Getting them ready always takes more time than intended. I hope they arrive savely!

Another challenge and some lovely fabrics

Last weekend my daughter Laura, mother and sisters started The 12 Days of Christmas, designed by Anni Dawns. I must say, they were all very talented. My father and youngest sister did all the catering LOL. We were very spoiled, which made the stitchery even more fun (O:

Look at Laura's tiny stitches. My oldest sister's stitches were this size too. She's the cross stitch specialist.

In May, my blogging friend Jutta (whom I met via Helen's Hugs and Kisses) and I will start a new challange: Leanne's House. I really look forward to this new project.
In my stash I found these fabrics, which I will most likely be using. The top three are from Jutta.

Then I added six new ones after going to The Log Cabin.

And here are the fabrics I bought in Amsterdam at Den Haan & Wagenmakers. A beautiful shop with designing and printing reproduction antique Dutch fabric. So very different from all the patchwork shops I am used to. Lucky my daughter will be moving to Amsterdam in August of this year to study there. Then I will get many many chances to visit this gorgeous shop (((O:

It is so good that the month March has started, with all those BOM designers bringing out their third block. And once again, all the new blocks are so pretty. I guess I'll put the 12 days aside for a while and start working on the BOM projects.

And last but not least, I finished my PIF's! I must say, I am quite happy with them. I'll post a picture as soon as the four 'PIF-people' received them.

Have a lovely week. "Don't wait. The time will never be just right." - Napoleon Hill

Back from my break

We're back from our short break and had a very good time! The weather was good, so we were able to take walks on the beach and in the dunes.
We also visited Amsterdam on a sunny day. Here's a picture of the four season houses. If you look closely, you can see 'lente' = spring and 'zomer' = summer. These housefronts aren't maybe the best ones found in Amsterdam, but I loved the 'lente' and 'summer' part (I left out 'herfst' and 'winter').


A while ago I won Clare's giveaway at Clare's Craftroom with the number 10. Read the funny story, on how I won this giveaway here. This is what I found in the envelop. The bookmarker on the left is a good one for me, since I read a lot, in several books at a time. And look at the pretty card at the bootom right. It is really beautiful!
And this is what I found inside the present. The buttons on the card are for the gorgeous stitchery! I will make it for my sister Engelina (engel=angel), who does of course collect angels of any kind.

During our vacation I stitched the first block of the Bunny Hill BOM. Behind it you can see the fabrics I bought at my local patchwork shop The Log Cabin and will use for the quilt. I'm not sure yet, how I will make it. I will probably get inspired, once I stitched several of these wonderful blocks.

A while ago I joined the Spring Fling Round Robin-3. Margaret, who organizes this, asked the Round Robinettes and one Lone Red Robin, to make her two youthful 12.5"x12.5" quilt squares, one colored for a boy and the other for a girl. Here's the one I made for the girl. I might even like it better than the one I made for myself, which I am not allowed to show yet.

Go over to Lani's The never ending adventure. She's having a 'green' giveaway with wonderful things! Her blog is so much fun to visit! She always brings a smile to my face and sometimes even makes me laugh out loud. Can you believe that ...

Have a happy and lovely week full of sunshine and laughs!