Threads and Thoughts

Houses and cushions

2012-02-08T23:11:00.002+01:00

I've decided to make 52 little houses from scraps, one for each week of the year. I'm busy stitching the 6th this week, so a picture of the 5 already done is at it's place here. I chose the fabric for the sashings and I think it comes out very nice.

My grandsons 'ordered' a cushion for Christmas. They chose the figures from fatcatpatterns. The little one wanted a car as he is mad about them, it had to be yellow as it is his favourite colour. The middle one chose the fabric and the gecko. He already ordered a gecko quilt! And the oldest one is crazy about dinosaurs since he was a little kid, so the chart was chosen quicxkly. They all were very happy with their cushion.

I want to make a quilt for myself in red, my favourite colour. I made the first block, itis in combination with white and black. I'll need to make many more blocks, but it looks so nice that I think that won't be a problem.

Then there is the alphabet. I started it long ago and it had to be ready when the oldest one went to first class. In two years the little one will be in first class, ready to read and write, so my daughter suggested that it would be time to finish it by then :-)

The last picture is from the latest workshop, it will be a map to put blocks in the making and ready made in it. You never can guess what my favourite animal is... The red fabric is a fairy favor from an American Yahoo pal and it is so nice in combination with the catfabric. I will show more of it when it is finished.

Scrap home

2012-01-05T15:49:00.004+01:00

Here they are, the first houses from scraps, they are so nice to make and the best part, you can use the tiniest scraps for it!

I want to make some more befor I decide what fabric I want to use for the sashings.

And now, while enduring the stormy weather, I will pick up some scraps and ...

Back again!

2011-12-17T11:50:00.004+01:00

Yes, it's too long ago since I blogged, no time (who can sell me a bottle of it?), too tired, a million other reasons...

But I'm back.

I already made a resolution for next year! Jeanneke has come with a challenge. To make a little house of scraps every day. I'm sure to have no time for 366 houses (next year being a leap year), but at least one a month. On the 15th she sent out the chart and I must say, my fingers are itching, I already searched through my scraps!

I did an appliqué course, the first two "homeworks" ar done. I'm rather pleased with them.

I worked on the fishes top for my oldest grandson. The cushion top of a dino is ready to quilt, the cushion top of a gecko is almost ready to quilt and I will have to do another one with a truck. The three of them will have to be ready for Christmas. Fortunately I had some holidays left, so I have the next week off to finish them in time. The fishes quilt has to be ready for the 15th of April, as a gift for my oldest grandsons Holy communion.

I also begged for selvedges with my teacher and did a little stitching with them, such a nice thing to do. There will be more added in the future. And I hope to make some more hexagons too next year.

I will have to start on another quilt, this time for my second grandson, he has his Commuinon in 2013 and he wants a gecko quilt to go along with his cushion. I have the fabric for a Halloween quilt for my daughter, to give her on one of her birthdays in the future. I also have the fabic for a red/white/black quilt for myself. So plenty to do, besides that there are the regular questions for siggies.

Meanwhile, if I don't come back before the 25th: a Merry Christmas to all of you!

Summerholidays

2011-07-29T19:01:00.004+02:00

July is almost gone and no entry in this blog. What have I been up lately?

Much walking with my dog and my grandsons in the nature reserve nearby. They have summer holidays now and love it to bits.

I did a workshop in dry needle etching and made something out of the picture which I took from them. It was a three day workshop an I had a lot of fun.

I went on a daytrip to Zeeland in the Netherlands with a friend. We did a museum about fruit and there was a exhibition from fruit themed quilts, very nice. After a nice cup of cappucino and a piece of apple cake, we went on and visited the quiltshops in the neigbourhood. I came home with nice fabric for my appliqué course in September, some other irresistable fabric, some charts and some quilt kits.

This log cabin chicken is one of them. There was enough fabric in the kit, fortunately, because my youngest grandson is on the run with it already!

Show & tell

2011-06-26T13:43:00.004+02:00

I didn't maka many pictures of the show & tell on friday, the few nI publish here.

Such an event makes you eager to finish things and gives so much ideas!

Finished!

2011-06-25T11:11:00.002+02:00

I did finish my two little projects in time for the show&tell yesterday. I'm very pleased with them. And fellow stitchers thought they were lovely too.

So up to the next project, which is the fishes quilt for my grandson Stein.

Progresses on appliqué

2011-06-18T18:45:00.002+02:00

The first picture isn't appliqué, of course. It's another contribition to the Regenboogkussens. The lady for which the cushioncover is intended, likes the sea very much. As I like lighthouses a lot (what a surprise, lol) I couldn't resist to stitch one for her.

A dear friend of mine loves cats very much (a lot of needle artists do!) and she has her 55th birthday this year, so I wanted to bring my new skill in practice. She has a grey and a ginger cat, so I appliquéd them, I used the free charts of fatcatpatterns for it, trying to addapt the character of the cats a bit. I still have to quilt it, this will be a work for tomorrow.

The hearts, made in the workshop are quilted already and lying in a big tub to rince. Tomorrow I will set it to dry and I hope to put the final binding on monday or tuesday. There are some mistakes in it, but nobody is perfect from the first attempt and as long as I'm pleased with it, its OK, isn't it?

I hope to finish the cats too. On friday, we have the annual Show & tell of Calico House and I want to show my first ever finished projects in quilting there. It's been a nice ature, all these courses, but they are well worth it.

Lighthouses

2011-05-04T10:24:00.002+02:00

A while ago, I decided to go to the frame shop and let some of my stitched lighthouses framed. They are proudly hanging on the wall, but haven't been photographed yet. So by this ...

There are some more in the closet to be framed and some are WIP's and UFO's and some unpacked... And some in my head for appliqué :-) !

Appliqué

2011-05-02T18:16:00.003+02:00

The workshop of saturday was a big success for me. I enjoyed myself so much!

Not all shapes are round enough, but I'm sure I will practice the techniques a lot. This was a basic workshop with traditional application. In the fall, ther will be a longer course and I'm sure I will go to it, my heart is captured by it.

Now I have to think how I will finish it, I'm thinking of some enbroidery to complete it and then make it into a little wallhanging.

But first I will go with a bunch of ladies to the European quilting championships in Veldhoven on friday www.oecq.eu I wonder with what treasures I will come home. Of course my camera is an absolute must that day!

SAL's and finishes

2011-04-28T21:01:00.004+02:00

The snowman is finished, I cut the fabric too short, so I had to modify the snowman, he is 40 rows shorter than in the chart. I don't think he is out of proportions, though.

The cushioncover of the sunflowers is ready, I think it came out beutiful. Those Regenboog cushions are so nice to give to people who need them.

The first part of the two banners are ready, except for the backstitch. The first one is a mystery Christmas banner, the second is a chart called 'our readingroom'.

I also finished the Lizzie Kate chart for this month.

So all of my cross stitch projects are finished, nothing done though on patchwork or quilting. On saturday is the appliqué workshop, if will involve hearts, I'm looking forward to it. It is a short one with the very basics, but knowing the teacher it will be tough enough to tackle.

Finishes

2011-04-08T14:31:00.003+02:00

Two finishes to show this time. First there is the kit 'Kites' from Michael Powell. The cross stitching is done, the Kite buttons are temporarily atatched for the picture. I'm going to search through my fabrics for a nice one to match with the stitching, so it will be a sunny wallhanging above my desk.

The second one is a sunflower, for the Regenboogkussens charity. The receiver of the cushion has the same type of cancer as my late hubby, I just had to stitch my part of it.

The snowman of the SAL I love snowmen is nearly finished. So I will have time to start to stitch on the next ones, there are two banners waiting and the 2nd part of the Lizzy Kate SAL.

End of the month is my appliqué workshop, I'm looking forward to it.

And I'm doing 4 aquarel workshops this month. They are subsidized by our local government and really fun t do. The teacher gives us free hand and all the advice we want. I hope to place some pics the next time.

The weather is sunny and warm lately, tomorrow is another day to rince fabric, yippee!!!

2011-03-16T10:12:00.002+01:00

Another Lizzie Kate SAL is going on at the Cross Stitch Lovers Yahoo group. As it is one of my favourite designers, I jumped it. There will be one design in a month, so not too much pressure. The first one is a very nice one, I definitely will frame it to remember me if I work too hard, LOL!

The cushioncover for the little boy for which I stitched the Lego logo is finished. As always it came out ver well. Regenboogkussens is such a good cause!

I stitched some more pincushions, the come so quickly and it is so nice to finish a project. Perfectly for having a good feeling about your work.

And the fishes quilt is going again too. I finished the 4th one and stitched them all together, now 6 more fishes to go, but I'm sure they will come along well.

The quilt course is finished, but I didn't finish the piece yet. I will have to do more about it the coming weeks.

Stitching is fun again!

2011-02-18T13:08:00.004+01:00

It's a while ago since I blogged, not much stitched neither.

I started going through the clothes of DH, thought I could start to do some of them to a charity organisation. And there was the pain again, unexpected and very hard. I'm going to see a psychologist next week, I think I'm not ready to cope with it myself alone.

My stitching was reduced to almost nothing.

First there is a pic of my youngest grandson, it's Carnival in his school and he will go dressed as Mega Toby, a character that is hughly popular in Flanders. I hope he will be able to go to school next week as he is with me, sick with chicken-pox, at the moment he has very few dots and isn't too itchy.

I did purchase various templates, I did some diamonds and made a pincushion from them. The backside colours are the opposite of the frontside coloursand also the button is white at the other side too. I'm pleased with it. Now I want to make a cathedral window pincushion.

I didn't make a single stitch on my quilting project for the course, so nothing to let see for the teacher!

The lego logo was stiched for the Regenboogkussens, for a little boy.

The heart was made for a Valentine exchange. I love the paper piecing technique, so I made it this way. I received a beautiful cross stitched heart in exchange.

I did some more hexagons flowers, want to stitch them onto the previous ones to make the piece a little bigger. This is therapeutic stitching for me.

I hope to blog more often again in the future, the sun was out this week and I felt it did so much good for all people, the mood seemed to change from one moment to the other. So hurry Spring!

Pics

2010-12-28T12:43:00.004+01:00

Lots of pics to show, it's a while ago since I blogged, times were hard, missing DH so much during these days.

The first pic is of the Christmas table, DD and her family came on Christmasday. Nothing special for food, but a festive table is always something nice to sit on. In the back you can see my youngest grandson has had a creative moment with the wallpaper. Christmas was quiet as will be the end of the year.

The second pic is my first attempt to snowpaint (a colander in a bucket, fabric in the colander, a big pile of snow on the fabric and paint on top of it, waiting for the snow to melt, drying and ironing the fabric to fixate the paint and a lot of rincing). As there was a big pile of snow and I had an old bedsheet, I tried to make some 'personalised' fabric. You can't see it very well in the pics, the blue/green/yellow fabric is the best, the red/orange/yellow was the first attempt and is less interesting. I used ordinary acrylic paint, which I use for my paintings, I should go search on the internet what paint is right for it.

The little turtle is filled with cherrypits, it can go into the microwave and the warmth is so lovely for little pains.

I did some work on the hexagons, have another pile waiting to join these ones. And a lot of little pieces of fabric to make into new flowers.

Stein has a second fish for his quilttop, the third one, a red fish, is in the making.

I also managed to finish the Lizzie Kate SAL, I want to make ornaments from them, so I can exchange them each month.

These last days of the year will be spent quilting, I'm way behind with my homework!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T09:44:00.000+01:00

A merry Christmas to all of you!

Lots of pictures

2010-10-17T15:33:00.004+02:00

The first pic is of my family. In front are my parents with all their offspring and in-laws. It was taken on the remembrance party for my late husband. Some of them are not on the pic, other commitments...

Then there is the start of the second fish, a green one this time.

I finished the first green block of the top we started in our patchwork course. The pic is how it is now (still have to press the seams and stitch the row together).

The 3 next parts of the Lizzy Kate SAL are done, 3 to go and it will be finished.

I started 2 other SAL's on another group, I just became member of it. The first is a series of Christmas socks. The first one has a Santa in it. Then there is the snowman bookmark, of which I stitched 2 parts already.

The crazy chick I stitched on a workshop in De Banier, the shop of the Chiro, a Belgium kind of scouting. I did another workshop for cherrypitcushions, but I haven't finished it yet.

The quaker halloween design is of Sanman, something different as tje usual designs.

And the cushion of Regenboogkussens where I stitched the 3 victorian kids is ready, another person happy with the thought that people care.

I won't be able tot stich much the next weeks, my daughter's collegue has become mum to Emma. The daycarecenter is run by the two of them, so In kept my holidays until now. So I will be in the middle of 14 screaming, drooling, pooping babies. And roll into my bed after an 11 hour workday!

On monday I will be having a day of as my quilting course starts at the Calico House in Antwerp. I feel my fingers itching already.

Fishes

2010-10-03T19:29:00.003+02:00

I did talk about the quilt with fishes I have been ordered by my oldest grandson. The picture is from the book where I found the design. I chose other fabric for it, not plain fabrics but ones with motifs. Today I finished the first fish, I think it looks well. Not all corners are as I wish for, but as a novice, I think I did the best I could.

Tomorrow evening is my second bee, I'm lloking forward to it, don't know yet what I will take with me, this one or the one that we started in the patchwork course (and which still isn't finished, although I did some work on it).

This month I also will start with the quilting course, I'm looking forward to it.

My late hubby's birthday was last week, the first one after his passing, it went well that day. On saturday we had a little party on his behalf, my family was there and some good friends. I had a good time and many happy memories were told. This month is the first anniversary of his passing.

Award

2010-09-24T10:06:00.003+02:00

I got this award from Yvonne, just have to write about 7 things I didn't write yet on this blog.
So here I go:
1) I had cats always since I left my parents home. I love ginger cats and had a couple of them. They always had the same name: Pallieter. It is a name of a character in a book of a Flemish author, Felix Timmermans. The character enjoys life as it comes in the rural landscape where he lives. My other cats had unusual names always, currently I have Wellington and Nessie. Before there were Napoleon, Tobias, Loebas, Dikkie Dik.
2) I always manage to cut my fingers using a knife or scissors. I even did it ones while just putting butter on a slice of bread. I was forbidden by DH to even touch the cook's knives in the kitchen.
3) I started Tai Chi lessons 2 weeks ago. It is very intensive, but at least I can relax a bit now. And I hope it can help a bit for my health
4) I still work for the same employer where I started when I left school.
5) I have a little pub in the back of my garden where DH could enjoy the last months of his life. There is beer and a lot of whisky. The only thing about it is: I don't drink alcohol!
6) I attended art academy for a couple of years. I wanted to learn drawing and painting. It was not a big succes as we were pushed in a certain direction, could not decide what we really wanted and the basics of drawing weren't thaught properly. I haven't touched paper and pencil since DH died, maybe in the future?
7) I have about 50 penfriends all over the world. We just talk about daily life, what we read, about the kids, what weather it is, it's so nice to find friendly post in your mailbox!

Now I have to forward this award to two other people. Here they come: Gerda and Chantal

from summer to autumn

2010-09-07T12:13:00.002+02:00

Another picture of my three rascals, I can't get enough of those momentos, every picture taken of them is perfect (says proud gran). School has restarted, Jelle goes to school for whole days this year, he likes to eat his sandwiches at school, but is very tired in the evening. Stein has French lessons for the first time, his dyslexia is playing, but he is very persistant and will make it. Robbe is his usual self, an unworried child, I hope it will end well this schoolyear.

June is the 6th part of the Lizzy Kate SAL, I am busy stitching August at the moment, friday the next part is already coming my way.

The All our Yesterdays kids are for a Regenboogkussen, the charity I stitch for. The theme of the cushion is the sea and the beach. I love the designs, cute and nostalgic.

And I stitched my first halloween item for this year, an entrance to autumn, the weather was nice this weekend, it rained tonight and more rain is predicted.

Yesterday evening I had my first gathering with fellow stitchers, met new and interesting people. i did some stitching on the quilt top of the patchwork course (which I wanted to be ready by the end of the holidays), bought some fabric (gatherings in fabric shops are dangerous!) for the quilt Stein ordered. The fabric in the book was in mpain colours, I thought it to be to flat for a young boy, so bought some pattern fabric for the fishes, I don't know what to do yet for the water, will see what kind of fabrics I have in my stash. And of course, I did a lot of talking and watching fellow quilters work. i loved it and am looking forward to next months gathering!

Hexagons and E'burg Tattoo

2010-08-30T22:04:00.002+02:00

I'm totally hooked on the hexagon theme now, did a lot more and even stitched some together. I've got to slow down this disease as I have other things on the go too.

Steinn ordered a quilt for his bed. He saw a nice one in a book, lucky for me very easy, only two templates to make, I will take a scan of it soon. Only plain colours used and he likes it that way. There's fishes on it.

This evening was the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh on television. For the first time I had to watch it without my husband. My three grandsons kept me company though and for the occasion, Jelle wanted to wear a little kiltlike skirt. My heart was bleeding. The Tattoo was beautiful, the little motorriders we saw also on one of the Tattoos we attended while on holidays over there. Will I see this beautiful country ever again? And will I be able to visit it without too overwhelming emotions? I feel for myself it is too early to even think about visiting.

Lambico

2010-08-15T11:50:00.006+02:00

The cushioncover for Marijn is ready, it has turned out lovely, as always with the Regenboogkussens. I'm sewing for another cushion with a sea theme, I will contribute with a All our Yesterdays design.

The Lizzy Kate Sal iw on his 6th month now, April and May are not shown yet, so with this...

I also finished another Christmascard, 2 others have to be framed yet and then I will be onn schedule for the yahoo group.

I did lots of little hexagons and finished some in flowers, boys, am I addicted! I alos made another basket, a red one for my red tinted hexies, the blue one has the blue tinted ones. Plans for a green one are on its way.

Stein and I went to our day out to the zoo. We had a lot of fun, especially in the frogs and birds department, searching for all the animals hidden between the leaves. We also spent time with Lambico, the little hippo that was born in May. This time I took my camera and I could shoot some nice pics.

Pokemon

2010-08-03T12:09:00.002+02:00

Here he is, as promised, the birthdaycard for Stein. I was lucky, the Blastoise was one of his favourtite pokemons, so I am a supergran in his eyes!
I had a great day out in the zoo with Jelle, he was in a cuddly day and just overloaded me with hughs and kisses in between the animalwatching. Especially the hippos were favourite this time, he wanted to see their mouth opening time after time.
I hope to have a lot of stitching done this week, it has been a while since I sewed some siggies and the bug is there again to send some out. And some stitching on the top we started in the patchwork classes need to be done too!

Fabric

2010-07-30T10:29:00.003+02:00

I have dismembered my hubby's shirts lately, not so many but in a variety of colours. It wasn't as hard to do as I thought, it was not that I just would throw it away. I also bought some Scottish background fabric. It isn't a big piece of fabric, but as the shirts are so different in texture it will be difficult to make it nice, so I better try a smaller quilt than a big one. As to the print of the shirts, I think it is best to do simple squares and mayby insert one of the breastpockets in the top. On the fabric of the white shirt I will try to make stitchery or application, I'm not sure what will be on it though.

The Christmasfabric I bought for pure pleasure. As a free bird I can enjoy looking at those cute hunks without complexes, after all the eye has the right to be spoiled too. I'm not sure for what purpose I will use it, maybe a naughty back for a Christmasquilt? I'm smiling while writing this.

As you can see, I'm healing now in a good way, I feel I'm ready for a new start. I know my darling didn't want me to be sad and mourning for the rest of my days, we talked about that. Of course there will always be a little spot in my heart that is bitterwseet, but I have to go on with my life, making new friends, set new goals.
The heath is gone now, today my grandson Stein has his 11th birthday. He will come this afternoon for his presents and a nice card. He gets a Wii game from Pokemon, I stitched him a Pokemon card, which I have to frame yet, so a picture in a next entry.

Hot weather

2010-07-05T17:23:00.002+02:00

We had such a hot weather last week, fortunately it rained on saturday and the temps are cooler now, at least for a little while, the rest of the week will be hot again.

My three grandsons were here for a couple of days, so I had put a little bathe under the big umbrella and they all had a lot of fun in it, even the dog was in it with them. Hmm, seems a bit overcrowded, need a bigger one next year!

The Lizzie Kate Sal had its 3rd part, a little leprechaun and its pot of gold, wonderful to stitch. I love all things Celtic.

The lego man was for charity Regenboogkussens. A little boy needs a cushion with lego to comfort him.

And then there are the birthdaycards, a cat for Ria, a cow for Gerda and icecream for Magda. Another is on its way.

I received a lot of siggies, I will make a 'group' photo of them for a next blog entry.

I started on a new block of my patchwork, a green one this time. It will come in the centre of the top. More about that in the next entry too. My basket of hexagons has become fuller too.

Big brother

2010-06-28T17:53:00.003+02:00

I made a big brother for my little basket, a bit more 'summery', I think. And look, it has found a purpose already, my little haxagons are feeling at home in it!

It's highsummer outside, coming home from work on a hot bus amongst sweaty people is exhausting. A quick shower does wonders! And many handwashings are needed when busy with fabric and threads.

Show & tell

2010-06-26T13:45:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for being together with fellow-addicts. We gathered by the river edge in the clubhouse of the sea-scouts to see wonderful things.

After a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, the show began.

My eyes grew bigger and bigger with every piece that came by. There were very big pieces and small ones, but all very beautiful. As a beginner, it is overwhelming. You have two choices as a novice: or you give up, thinking that you never can achieve such beauties, or you are hooked forever and determined to make a piece for the next Show & tell, even if it is small. I'm one of the last kind.

Then we had lunch, everybody brought his own sandwiches, and meanwhile the quilts were hung outside, to admire for everybody.

We got a present from the shopowner who did organize this show. We each got a magazine and a small packet to stitch. The result can be seen on the picture above. I started it in the afternoon and couldn't stop, I just had to finish it. I'm soo pleased with it and although it's in Christmas fabrics, it's on my desk to admire and to convince me that I can do it!

I spent hours into the nigth, looking through magazines and dreaming.

My aim is to finish the top we started in the patchwork class this summer and to see what is in my box that can be finished in a decent way.

I think my cross stitching will be on a lower level the next couple of months, no new commitments anymore (unless I can't fight it :-)) )

Cross stitching

2010-06-20T10:20:00.002+02:00

This time I have cross stitching related pics to show.

First there was the bookmark exchange. Instead of a bookworm, I stitched some readingbugs for Mireille. I liked the colours and it was very nice to see when it was finished.

There is a new SAL going on and the theme is Lizzie Kate. I subscribed to it. 2 of the charts are already sent and stitched. Every 2 weeks we get another month. I think I'm going to stitch a tuck-pillow to display it, see what nice fabric I have in my stach.

For the monthly card exchange, in May the theme was oriental. I stitched a freebie for Jean and she was pleased with it.

The charity Regenboogkussens had the cushioncover ready. I stitched for Marit, the cushionscovers were mirrored for her and her husband, they both have a rough time and the cushions will give them support.

Some more siggies arrived, as always very welcome. I made time to make some new ones and mailed some people who agreed to swap. So more siggies are on their way.

I stitched birthdaycards, but they haven't arrived yet, this time it really is SNAIL mail! The theme for the monthly card exchange is hearts, I finished mine, it will be framed this afternoon and tomorrow it will go to its new owner. I'm stitching another piece for the Regenboogkussens, some more birthdaycards have to be made next week as they are in early July.

So cross stitching will be the theme for the next week. Then I want to stitch on my quilt top again, block 3 is almost finished now.

My grandson is healthy again, full of misschief as usual. He will be with me the whole of next week, so I will have my hands full and stitching can only be done at nappingtime.

Yesterday and today are cold and grey, not very nice to celebrate the longest day of the year, weather will improve though. At the moment the loss of my darlinghusband is weighing heavy again, I feel very lonely and lost. I know things will be better again and those little arms and wet kisses will ease the pain the coming days.

I'm still around

2010-06-13T09:51:00.002+02:00

It's a while ago since I blogged, time flies by and I wonder where it goes.

Siggie harvest was good lately, several beauties joined the pile. Thank you very much, ladies!

Another Christamscard is ready for the end of the year. It was Margaret Sherry freebie, only the presents were stitched, but small and quarter stitches did not make it easy.

I had another painting workshop. This time I'm not so pleased with the result, it looks a bit empty. As it is acrylic paint, I am able to put some more things in it afterwards, I'm not sure what and where though. Time will bring inspiration.
My patchwork course has ended. I learned so much and I'm hooked forever! I went through a lot of bags and boxes lately and found loads of fabric and UFO's. Like this log cabin. With the techniques I learned during this last months, I know I wasn't doing right. I finished the two blocks that were almost done and made them into a pincushion. I will make some of the others into scissor keepers and start all over again. I love the colours and will make something in the log cabin style.

I also picked up my Christmas sampler again. Now I know how I can make those cursed trees in paper piecing. I will finish it in time for the season and proudly hang it on my wall.

In fact I learned so much that I can finish several things, also cushion covers with cross stitching.

I hope I can join the actual quilting course after the summer holidays, it sounds very interesting, though exhausing.

I will attend a tell and show meeting this month fot quilting, the first ever, I'm excited and I'm sure I will see lots of things and find inspiration.

We had some lovely sunny and warm weather in May. I bought a hughe hammock lately, it almost fills my terrace. It is under a large umbrella, so cool and out of the sun. I already spent hours in it, my grandsons are hughe fans of it too.

My little darling Jelle had a nice birthday, my parents and sister came for the cake. He got a lovely Thomas the Tankengine set and was very pleased with it. Unfortunately, he has painful ears and throat and tongue due to infections. He stayed all week with me, spoiled of course. It is a kid that needs so much attention when something is wrong. His big brothers were easier, they were on the couch with their cuddle when they were sick and didn't make much fuss. Well, in all we had a nice week together. Only he doesn't want to sleep in the big bed anymore, he claims there are pigs in it. I guess I do snore.

I will have him another week in the end of the month. His brothers are at sea classes and mum and dad want to do things around their house. I can smell the cookies already coming!

Today is election day in Belgium, wonder what will come out of it this time.

A bit of everything

2010-05-09T16:49:00.002+02:00

Two more siggies added to the collection this week. I've been busy wxith all kinds of things lately and didn't send out siggies, just will have to sew some and start to pick adresses soon.

I finished the first block of the quilt, the piece on the lower right seems to be bad. I don't know yet what to do, unpick and do it over, or let it stay as a reminder how it doesn't to be done. more blocks to go, the same ones as this one.

Birthdays in May. Saskia asked for houses, it looks crooked in this picture, it is better in reality. Mireille wanted her initial, I chose one with a teacup. My grandson Jelle is 3 this month, the Margaret Sherry cat was a SAL from a while ago, didn't know what to do with it, wanted maybe to make a glassesetui, but isn't this card adorable for a child?

Siggies, x stitch, paint

2010-05-02T20:47:00.007+02:00

Here I am again. Many pictures to be shown.

I received lovely siggies lately, a nice addition to the ones already in my box.

Then there was the birthday of Patricia, she wanted a Margaret Sherry design. I loved this sketch of two little beetles under an umbrella.

I did another piece for the rainbowcushions. Wim's cushion has a theme of hearts. The designs were made by a co-stitcher. It was nice to stitch once again for charity.

Then there is the quilting project. Finally the reds didn't bleed anymore. Our second lesson was very nice, we were tought to stitch the pieces together properly. Our homework is to stich four blocks, they are all the same. A pic of the layout of them and of my first work of labour, the top half of the block. It's far from perfect, but I think for a first attempt, it isn't too bad.

I also had a second painting workshop.This time I painted a poppie, one of my favourite flowers. In July I have a 3rd workshop, I would like to paint a scene with a lighthouse then.

Today was another competition in our crossbow guild. I was good, had 93 points and was fourth. The first had 95, the 2nd and 3th had 94. A very nice day, although the weather was very wet after some beautiful warm and sunny days in the past week.

Ying-Yang finished

2010-04-17T07:36:00.002+02:00

The ying-yang sampler is finished for some days, yet no time to show it. Next week is class day for the patchwork and then I'll try to find a fabric in the shop that matches to make a cushion. I'm very happy with it.

Another lovely cat siggie received. I always wonder why so many stitchers have cats.

The easter holidays are over, next monday back to school for the kids and back to work for me. We (me and DD) had a shopping week. Clothes for the kids, a new trampoline as the old one finally gave up. Especially Stein does a lot of jumping on it, all his anger and frustrations are forced out there. I saw a lovely hammock with a wooden stand that let me dream of warm summernights. And I ordered one! In summer, when it's too warm in the house, I love to sleep outside. I have a big umbrella on the terras and I put a camp bed under it (should it start to rain). I hope to sleep in my hammock this year!

I did a bit of spring cleaning too, the weather was nice and it's lovely to see through clean windows and sit in a bright house. Of course the cats always find a bit of fluff in a hidden corner to show afterwards :-)

Tomorrow is competition day in the crossbow guild. I'm not concentrated as I should lately, so the last shootings I was the red lantern (what we say for the last). Tomorrow won't be better I guess as today I won't be able to go to the workout. But I always have a lot to fun, they call me the jester in our guild. Next we have the annual dish for St George, after who the guild is named.

Seasons sal

2010-04-07T09:43:00.002+02:00

Finally the seasons SAL is finished. I did the backstitching last weekend on the fall part. There should be little swirls in fall colours in the design, but I left them out (I don't like doing backstitching at all) It doesn't feel as if something is missing, I think. It was nice to do, but as a project it was over a year and there were times I was bored with it. But now they are finished and I can decide what to do with it. Maybe little cushions or wallhangings, I have to go through my fabric stash to see what is available.

I also finished a litlle funny cow from a SAL on internet. My oldest grandson wants it for his birthdaycard in July. Speaking of being in time!

My ying-yang project is doing extremely well. I will get it finished this week and it will turn out into a pillow.

At the moment I'm washing my fabrics. Boy, do the reds bleed! So all I do is putting tubs out and rince, rince, rince. Lucky for me the weather is nice, so I can put them outside and dry them properly too.

Ying-yang and fabric

2010-04-03T11:56:00.002+02:00

I started (another) project which I fell in love with. It has one single colour and is a ying-yang design. I started it on monday and so it is when you see it now. Of course I'm stitching the dark side now, which is more work.

I also purchased the fabric for my patchwork lessons, it will be a piece in red and green. I'm not totally satisfied with the greens though, so next week I'm fabric hunting again.

This easter weekend will be quiet for me, only me, the animals and my needlework. I will totally enjoy it!

Patchwork

2010-03-26T15:29:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was my first lesson about patchwork.
I learned so much, but it was exhausting and sometimes confusing.
Colours are so difficult, I thought it might be the easiest part, but now I know it will be dificult to choose the fabric.
We learned how to draw a template correctly, also not as easy as I thought.
For next lesson we have homework: to make the templates for our top and buying and preparing the fabrics. I made a drawing in some colours and it is a real challenge!
Over all, I am very happy to have taken the lessons, at the other hand, I know I will say some bad words once in a while!
I also found the hexagons I was looking for, so for that I was happy too.

Zoo, BD card, Easter ornament

2010-03-25T15:26:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and DD and I decided to take the kids to the zoo on their school free afternoon. We had big fun seeing all the animals. Jell though had more attention for the tractors riding around then the animals. He loved the penguins the most. We discovered something unbelievable, hadn't we seen it, we simply wouldn't believe it. At the age of 10, Stein had his first grey hair!!!! DD pulled it out. Flegmatic Stein said to that 'thanks mum, now I get 2 insead the one you pulled out!'

The second BDcard of this month arrived, it was for Ingrid. We could choose what to stitch.

And my easter ornament arrived, now I can show it.

Tonight I'm going to attend my first patchwork class, I'm excited!

A walk to the zoo

2010-03-21T09:28:00.005+01:00

What a wonderful day was thursday, so sunny and warm, spring finally arrived. I took a walk in the zoo of Antwerp. It was nice to have a stroll withouth heavy coats and gloves, hat and shawl. I went straight away to the elephants. Kai Mook is almost a year old now, I still remember her being born while I was watching the live camera on my laptop. She has become a nice little girl! The zookeepers were arranging flowerbeds and preparing the zoo for Easter, when the official zoo season opens (it is open the whole year though and I have a subscription for it, so I can go as often as I want).

Sonja had her birthday this mint, she wanted Country Companions on her card, so I stitched my favourite character from them, Tom Mouse. Another card is on its way for Ingrid.

And my siggie collections has grown once again as you can see.

Next week my first patchwork lesson is on, I'm excited, but alos a bit nervous, will my skills be good enough and won't I be too slow? Time will tell. I have experienced that quilters are patient people, so I guess I don't have to worry.

Painting

2010-03-12T19:28:00.002+01:00

This afternoon I went to a painting workshop. I painted this highland bull. It will have a place in DH's pub, next to his beloved whisky's.
It's far from perfect, but I'm satisfied with it. I made appointments for two more workshops in painting as it was such a nice afternoon.
For the first time since DH's passing, I could concentrate on something without any further thoughts. I was really happy with the result and I felt happy over all. So this was really the first step into a 'next' life. It's difficult to explain, but I guess you understand.

A clown and a sock

2010-03-10T19:11:00.004+01:00

Some more siggies arrived, lovely aren't they?

I didn't knit much on my sock this week. So I made a picture of it the way it is now. It is colourful, isn't it. I'm a bit excentric about socks (an other things). I always wear two different socks. OK, I hear you say, I do too, a left and a right one. But mine are different in colour. So, a blue and a green one, or a red and a brown one... It's funny to see people watch it and whisper to their friends in disbelief. Sometimes the urge comes up to make a funny face and speak very slowly :-)))

And then there is my little clown Jelle. Last saturday was carnival parade in Ekeren, where I live. It comes right before my door. In Belgium, we have parades on different dates. In our place it's always the first saturday of March. The two other boys didn't want to dress up, but they had blue and red hair colour. They didn't want to be on picture though.

Our Robbe was 9 yesterday, we had little meatballs with cherries in sirop sauce, a kind of 'national ' dish in our part of Belgium. It is the food he likes most. Birthdayboys and girls can choose whatever he wants to eat on their big day. They grow so fast!

The weather was sunny but cold the last couple of days, although on monday it was terrible, we had 4 seasons in a couple of hours! But it is so nice to see the sun, bright light and behind glass, you can imagine it's spring. When does it finally come?

Many siggies

2010-03-02T20:35:00.002+01:00

This week was siggieweek! I received a lot of them and there are some more in the post. So I need to speed up my sewing. Until now I could cope with it and make some to send to people of my own choice.

But I need to do some cross sticht too, some birthdaycards need to be done.

My first sock is almost knitted. I will post a picture of it in my next entry (when I hope it is finished).

I got good news for the patchwork course. It will start at the end of the month, I hope I will receive the list of what we need soon, the preparation and the promise of going to do something really nice, can make you feel soooo excited!

Award

2010-02-23T17:38:00.002+01:00

I received an award from sommeke. She is a new friend on internet.

I should send this award further to 6 other bloggers. But I see so many nice sites, so many people who give their best that it is too difficult to choose, so it goes to all of you, my dear friends, who visit this blog and to those, whose blog I read and whose beautiful work I admire.

Puma

2010-02-22T18:19:00.002+01:00

This afternoon, Puma went on a big voyage to her master. She carried loads of kisses and stories from the past 4 months, she will tell him that he hasn't to worry, that I am doing well.
Puma was a lovely cat, always telling stories. She also liked to go on a tour in the neighbourhood, see if everyone was well. She worshipped the sun. She was our companion for 15 years, she wasn't a very healthy cat, born in winter. But she always managed to overcome everything, cats are such strong creatures.
When I took her to the vet, the clouds were crying for the loss of such a beautiful creature. She didn't suffer and passed away peacefully.
My 2 other cats and the dog will miss her too.
Goodbye little darling!

2010-02-19T15:26:00.002+01:00

I received another 3 siggies, it's becoming a real international trading.

The Valentinecompetition is over, I can show the card I stitched for Irene. It is a freebie from the Gazette94 blog. I love cats (have 3 of my own) and this one looks like a real gentleman with his ribbon and he is so kind to carry a little heart charm on his tail.

Yesterday I went to the hobbyfair. It was a nice day out. It is not very big but I managed to purchase some goodies. I first walked through it to see what was on. I stopped at Calico House for some fabric. I left my name for a quilting course. The teacher will contact me, I'm really excited about it.

I also bought some stamps for my siggies and good stamping ink.

Then I saw a book stall, I never can get passed books. I bought a book for DD, for her daycare center. And also some books on sock knitting, I really want to knit again. I used to do it when DD was young, she had nice sweaters with her favourite cartoon figures on it. I also knitted socks back then, and they used to be so comfortable, so I will give it another try. I know I have some wool somewhere, I will have to search for it this weekend. The knittingneedles are found already.

A new addiction is born

2010-02-12T20:59:00.003+01:00

Two beautiful siggies arrived, it's becoming a real addiction! There are always some of them in the make and on travel. It is so nice to find a soft envelope in the post, you know there is a treat in it.

Next week is a hobbyfair in Antwerp. I will go there and hope to find a shop in the neighbourhood, where I can go by bus, that gives workshops for quilting. And I need fabric and all kinds of things for making cards. You can never have too much stash! Until now I'm teaching myself from books and internet, but for the remembrance quilt, I want to do it perfect, so I better go and see how experienced quilters do it. You're never too old to learn.

I didn't cross stitch very much lately. I can show the birthdaycard for Tineke, who choose flowers as a theme. I also finished the Easter ornament for an exchange, which can't be shown for obvious reasons, it has to be a surprise. Some more birthdaycards are in the make, next months I need 2 cards. Plenty of time, but you know, time flies!

Also next week the kids in Belgium have a week of holidays. My grandsons will be here a lot of time, not much will be done, but we will have a lovely time together.

More siggies

2010-02-10T12:54:00.002+01:00

Siggie harvest was good the last days. I will have to start a stitching marathon to have some of mine ready in advance. And there are some participants I want to send too.

This morning the world was white once again. An unexpected snowfront came over. Fortunately I didn't have to go to work today as the whole of Belgium is one gigantic queue.

Kids had a carnival party at school today, so I had a little turtle, a Zorro and a Roman soldier picking them up at school. No pics though as they immediately put their clothes out when they came inside.

Whisky the day after

2010-02-08T19:24:00.003+01:00

My visit to the Scottish fair and Whiskyfestival was mixed feelings.
It was nice to see many friends and have chats and hugs and cuddles.
It was nice to taste some fine malted barley. I was clever enough not to go in overdrive though.
I had a nice meal of haggis.
I heard some good bagpipe music, different bands played their tunes.
I was in the middle of the world where my husband belonged, where he had some of his best moments. And I was there, alone.
Maybe for the first time since his passing, I realised there would be no more shared remembrances, no more reflecting (and gossiping I must admit) afterwards, no future together. I felt the loneliness cutting deep in my heart being in the centre of a crowd. It really was a big confrontation, as if I didn't belong to that world anymore. I felt lost. And the feeling lasted the whole weekend.
Still, it was good to be there and see that the world hasn't stopped. I don't know if I will attend gatherings of this kind in the future, probably friends will drag me there until I find my own place or until I definitely say I can't cope with it anymore.
Today was back to work and normal routine. It was good to be in my own world again.

Whisky

2010-02-05T22:30:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow, my late hubby's collegues will pick me up and bring me to the Scottish fair and whiskyfestival in Gent. Hubby went there every year with them, a boy's day out. This year it will be a girl's day out. We will start with haggis, to lay a good bottom for the whisky.
I will meet a lot of friends there, all enthousiastic fans of Scotland.
At the moment, I don't feel ready to go, but I know when I'll be there it will be very nice, although very emotional, I think.
I only can fear that no stitching will be done this weekend!

more siggies and cards

2010-02-02T16:26:00.003+01:00

With the cold weather, I was in the stitching mood for Christmascards once more. One is a little elf from a Sal from Hélène's blog, the snowman is an Ursula Michaeld designs from a magazine. Marion had her birthday in January and wanted panda's or lavender. As I have more with animals than flowers, I stitched het the panda.

I sent out siggies and could recieve some back already. It's so much fun to see them coming in and some are real jewels.

I received the last part of the season's Sal, but didn't manage to finish it yet.

Some more cards are on their way and have to wait to be published here.

We have a flu wave over here, my youngest grandson brought it home, so I was babysitting last week, he slept over all the time too. As you can guess, not much stitching was done. Of course it's my turn now to cough and sniff.

Siggies and card

2010-01-15T15:36:00.003+01:00

My exchange partner for the wintry scene sent a lovely snowy landscape. Thank you very much, Pat!

Also in siggieland I was very spoiled, this week the postman brought 4 of them.

I selected some names from the list I received, all from different countries. I hope I can find the time to stitch some more siggies and send them out.

I had some thoughts about the clothes of my late husband. I will gather his shirts (when I feel ready for it) and make a quilt out of the fabric. So I will have a beautiful remembrance and he will keep me warm always. I ordered some books to get ideas and than make some rough sketches to see what suits me best. I'm a beginner in that matter, only made some small placemats, so the design will not be too difficult. Also I want to stitch it all by hand. I wonder how long it will take, but it will be a labour of love.

The snow has melted away but the weather stays cold. I hope it will stay dry as I want to walk the dog, he wouldn't get out in the snow, only in the garden for a short while, but not for more than 5 minutes. I should excersise more too, so walking will be good for both of us.

Cards of all sorts

2010-01-08T19:32:00.002+01:00

My second Christmas card is ready, it was a little freebie I had in the stashbox. Some more are there waiting, I guess in summer I want to stitch other things than Christmascards, so as long as I like it, I will stitch this festive cards.

The birthdaycard for Heidi in the Crossstitchlovers was in the stashbox too, she chose Disney as a theme. I liked this little kitty from Aristocats so lovely, although not easy to stitch.

In the Xstichpals group the theme for this month was a winter landscape. This design was not so long ago in a magazine, I thought it appropriate for the time now, I think every country in Europe and the USA and Canada are cold and snowy, as I can read on all the blogs.

My three little boys are here for a sleepover, I guess no stitching will be done today. Being busy with them is more fun too!

Flowers

2010-01-07T10:43:00.003+01:00

In my last entry, I forgot to mention one of my dear penfriends. Anthea lives in Australia and she sent me lovely flowers for Christmas. I was very surprised to see the local flowershop van stop at my door and deliver the flowers. I wondered very much from who they would be as my family and friends know I'm not a big flowerlover (except when they grow in the garden or in the wild). At first I thought 'Is it possible I have a secret admirer?'. It turned out that someone at the other end of the world had thought about me. It was so very touching!
I'm blessed to have so many good friends all over the world who have thought about me in this difficult time in my life. Friends are the most precious gifts someone can have.

2010

2010-01-05T14:06:00.007+01:00

2009 has gone, a year of saying goodbye and mourning.

2010 has slipped into my life, still mourning, but also a promise of new loethings. It will be a year of "the first time without", full of remebrances, but also in the same time a new beginning.

Nothing special happened during the holidayseason, people knew I wanted to be kept alone, only my daughter and her family came on Christmasday and NewYearsday. We had snow just before Christmas and I made this picture of my 3 grandsons.

It was cold and wintry and I sat cosy inside with the dog next to me, the cats in the neighbourhood. And it felt good.

I did some sewing, some BD cards which still are to be received, so no showing.

I stitched a Christmascard for 2010 (I didn't send out cards in 2009, too much pain not writing my love's name on them), but I'm preparing for this year.

I downloaded Sandy's freebies on the Sanman forum. I loved the jars she designed and stitched the borders already. I stitched on evenweave, didn't use that fabric for ages, still not my favourite, but no stash can be sitting in the drawer forever.

I stitched a card for the Xstitchpals group, the theme this month was a wintry scene, post the picture next time as it is sent but not received.

I managed to stitch on the SAL and I'm not behind anymore, only 2 parts to go and it is finished. it took more than a year to finish all the 4 seasons, but I like them very much.

I reveived a siggie from Monique and sent mine back, made some more to send out in the next weeks.

I also stitches some freebies from magazines, just don't know what to make them into, time ill bring inspiration.

I hope I can stitch a lot this year, maybe finish some UFO's or WIP's. And do some exchanges of cards, siggies, and who knows what other things.

SAL

2009-12-11T20:49:00.003+01:00

I got the stiching bug back, I guess. I'm way behind on the fall SAL, but I will do my best to catch up. They sent our part 6 today, I finished part 2. The backstitch will be done later, when the motive will be finished.

Tomorrow will be a non stitching day. My new crossbow arrived, it was a present from my DH, he sold one of his bagpipes for it. As it is manual work, it took a little longer than expected and he never got to see it. Tomorrow will be the first time I shoot with it, our guild is having a 'Christmas shooting', just pure fun, no real competition. There is a Christmas market also in our village and all members of the guild will stroll over it together after the shooting. It will be nice to be among good friends, I know they will support me when it's getting difficult.

On sunday I will try to stitch another part of the SAL and make new notes for the quilt.

Siggies

2009-12-10T19:21:00.003+01:00

Life goes on, I'm lost without my love, but I have the dicipline to sleep, eat and do things. There are moments when nothing can comfort me, but doing things where he could be so enthousiastic for, make me feel good.

DH always admired all the needlework I did, every card, mailart, exchange was thought to be the best thing I made ever. So it comforts me being busy with those things. I did BDcards for my yahoogroup, the last one went out a couple of days ago and there are some Christmascard exchanges. Those will be the only cards posted this year, I just don't feel brave enough to send out good wishes and don't know what to wish for. I want to hibernate from the 20th of December until the 5th of january, no holidayseason for me this year. But there are of course the grandsons who will keep me awake.

I discovered a new thing in needleworkland: siggies. You send your own to someone and they send back theirs. If you got enough, you can make a quilt from it. I received two of them until now. Mine is the one with the mushroom. It's fun to do, the first one took me ages (insecurity played a large part), but the second one was ready in half the time.

Going through my stuff I discovered a little Christmasquilt, which I draw out myself and started stitching. It is halfdone and I will have to re-draw it as I can't read my notes from then anymore. But I want to finish it as much of the material was bought by DH. Maybe I get in the mood a bit for the 25th in this way.

Goodbye my love

2009-10-21T17:09:00.003+02:00

Tonight at 1 o'clock my husband died in my arms, fighting until his last second.
He was a wonderful husband and an even better good friend to me. He did his best to raise Heidi as a good father and his grandsons adored him.
His disease was long and painfull, he never gave up though, always cheered everyone up, I am so proud of him.
I have no more words today, he gave his body to science, so people can come and give their last goodbyes this evening. Tomorrow he goes to university.
Next week there will be a civil remembrance, we have no religious thoughts. He wanted a big party for all his friends and I will give it for him.
His collegues at work admired him for his work, his kindness to everyone from low to high, for his cheerfulness.
As a musician, he laid his hearth and soul to give the best sound in his instrument.
I will miss him so ...

Happy birthday DH!!!

2009-09-25T14:25:00.006+02:00

On the 23th of September hubby had his BD. His pub was finished in time, costed me a lot of sweat, but the result was there. It was my gift for him, I hope he can enjoy it for a long time.

I invited family and friends and we had a big party. Members of his band (he played for 25 years in the Belgian Red Hackle Pipe Band) came to give him a serenade. It was a very good day for him, he enjoyed it so much.

He was in hospital quite a bit lately, not much done in stitching and blogging. Going between hospital and working in the pub took up almost all of my time.

At the moment he is almost pain free, but gets loads of morphine. I'm glad he is back home and hope it will be so for a while, we feared the worst a couple of times during the last weeks, but it seems to have stabilized now.

Next time some stitching piccies!

RR and Regenboogkussen square

2009-08-20T21:47:00.003+02:00

I stitched this little bear in a snowball fight on the hottest days of the year. It brought no cooling though. It is for Nadia, she chose winter as a theme for her RR. Next month the last one, I believe it is puppies then.

The Lily of the Valley square is for the Regenboogkussens. The theme was flowers for several cushioncovers for the families of the people who died as a remembrance. Next we will stitch cushioncovers for the wounded people. I will stitch a rainbow for one of them, not sure if I will have the time for more.

DH was in the daycare center for palliative people yesterday. He was so happy, he was pampered all day, got a lovely bubble bath, a nice lunch and lovely companionship. He was full of stories when he came back home and slept like an angel. Next week he will go again.

And I got some time for my own. I've decided to go back to quilting. I made some placemats in a long forgotten past, but still have a stash of fabric. See if I still got the skill for it and make something small in the near future.

BD cards and Margaret Sherry sketchbook

2009-08-15T21:53:00.003+02:00

Since my last post, some BD cards have arrived with the BD girls of the Yahoo group.

There was Brigitta who wanted celtic, art deco or butterflies. I stitched this celtic knot and put it in a tartan card.

Greet wanted frogs, this colourful chap found its way to her place.

Wendy let us free choice, so I made Snoopy for her and you can see he's happy to celebrate.

Winny loved mouses, so I stitched her Tom Mouse, my favourite Country Companions character.
Margaret Sherry had another sketchbook design, the love bugs. I stitched it on fabric with a pink touch. It's hanging on my easel next to the duck, don't really know what to make of them. maybe tuck pillows is a good idea.

DH was in hospital for a few days to work on the paintherapy. He is doing very well now, morfine is given now epidural and he has a container for a week, no fuss 3 times a day with injections anymore. On Thursday his boss came over to fetch him for a tour around the factory labs where he worked. He was thrilled!

The weather is hot here so we sit on our terras very much, it is a cool area with a touch of breeze, lovely!

Whiskymap

2009-07-29T13:18:00.002+02:00

This is a UFO that has become an urgent project. I purchased the kit a couple of years ago and started it, but it became forgotten (like so many others I'm afraid).

I will finish it now as soon as possible, so that DH can see it finished and framed and hanging near his whisky collection, in his own private pub in the back of our garden. My family is doing the finishing of it as DH hasn't got the possibilities anymore for it. I will publish some pictures of it as soon as the work is done. At the moment they are making the counter.
It has a lot of French knots, not my favourite part of a design, but until now, they are fairly good, I think.

Today we were at hospital again for his pain medication, the dose has increased once more and if this doesn't help, he will be admitted in hospital to see what else can be done to be comfortable. I contacted an organisation who helps people who want to stay in their own house until the end. They are a hughe support and help with whatever they can, they are the cream of our society I think. I hope I can do some volunteerwork in the future for them.

Lightning Mc Queen

2009-07-23T13:13:00.002+02:00

I stitched Lightning Mc Queen for Regenboogkussens. It is for a little boy who is fond of the cartoon Cars. It was searching for a while for a chart with the right dimensions, but one of the members of the group sent a good one to me.

We had a couple of warm sunny days, so when Jelle, our youngest grandson was at our place, I filled a tub of water and he was enjoying it very mucht, as you can see. Kids and water and sand go very well together. No sand though at our terras.

Our good friend Jean-Yves came from Germany for some days. He cleaned up the garden and took us to the seaside for a day. It was very nice weather and we could sit for a while with a nice Belgian Beer and one of our national dishes Tomato with shrimps. Yummie! Zeebrugge is the place where we took the ferry to Hull in a previous life to go on holidays to Scotland. So lots of happy memories came back while sitting there. And some healthy air is always good.

Hubby is doing rather well, yesterday a kind of infiltation thing was installed and nurses come every day to fill it with morphine to kill the pain. Next week we will go to the pain clinic again to see if the amount they put in it, is enough. I'm reliefed that he is being more comfortable.

Bad bad news

2009-07-15T19:27:00.002+02:00

The therapy for DH has stopped, nothing what doctors have done has helped. The main thing is now paintherapy, so he can live his remaining days in peace. Friday we will have a long talk with the oncologist about the things to come. Now we are in tears, our brains know what will happen, our hearts are stil in denieal. It hurts so much and there is no cure...

Michael Powell and other finishes

2009-07-15T12:03:00.004+02:00

The blue themed card arrived with its BDgirl, so I can show it. I used variegated thread to stitch the carroussel horse and I think it came out very nice.

Summer SAL had his 4th part send out and I stitched it on immediately, so no thinking about that anymore.

I promised to stitch on my UFO's, I know, instead I took a new project. I stitched the Misty Hill Town mini of Michael Powell in 7 days. For the first time I was short of threads, never happened before in the kits I stitched already. I've taken a picture of the minis I stitched until now. i don't have a clue yet what I'm going to do with them. The lighthouse is not a mini, he has 3 of them in the mini range, which are in my stash.

Next project are two for the Regenboogkussens. One is a flower from the Ellen Maurer Stroh freebies. The tragedy in Apeldoorn has left 8 families with a member who lost his life. For each family there will be a cushioncover with a rainbow and 4 different flowers. Each cushion has a colourtheme. After that we will stitch cushioncovers for the wounded too.

The next is for a boy and his theme is Cars. I will stitch Lightning McQueen. I will put on the DVD while I stitch, to be in the mood.

And there are the BD cards, one is for my eldest grandson Stein who will be 10 on the 30th, still have to search for a design. He is a hughe dinosaur lover, so charts enough to go through.

Today DH has to go to hospital to find out if the chemotherapy has worked so far. My stomach is hurting for a couple of days already and I had some sleepless nights. This blog entry is one of the things I do to pass the time until it's time to go this afternoon.

Cushioncover arrived!

2009-07-08T18:25:00.002+02:00

Today the Scottish cushioncover from Regenboogkussens arrived at our home.

Heidi was home with us, so we could give it to DH together. I can say that is was a very emotional moment. Many tears were shed. It is so very beautiful and you can feel the love with which it's made! Thank you so much Angelique, Anne and Yvonne who stitched the thistle, highland cow and piper, and to Siobhan who put it all together.

I also enclosed a picture of DH with his cushion and one of our last trip to Scotland in 2006. It was our last holiday. We were at the campsite of Machrihanish in Kintyre. DH was practising on his bagpipes and you can guess what he was playing ... Of course, Mull of Kintyre! We went to Kintyre a couple of times, it's so lovely there (the rest of Scotland too!).

Another finish

2009-07-07T11:45:00.002+02:00

I started to stitch on the tiger last week, but soon got bored with it. Then I discovered another piece I started not too long ago, so you can still call it a WIP. The right lower quarter was done apart from the backstitches. So I did a good amount of hours of stitching an finished it.
It's a Michael Powell design, mini Greek island 1. I love his designs. I stitched some of his mini designs already, I will take a pic of it for another time.
He has designed a couple of lighthouses too, my favourite theme to stitch.
At the moment I'm stitching on the RR, with funny animals as a theme. The charts were with it, but I won't say which animal I choose yet.
The RR I sent to the next girl hasn't arrived yet, nor has the BD card. It's funny, sometimes the post to the Netherlands goes perfectly, other times it takes ages before it arrives. It's always worrying when it's delayed, sometimes things get lost.

Yippee BIG finish

2009-06-29T12:52:00.003+02:00

This UFO is finished! Yesterday I did the final stitches on the left bundle of light and I cut put downmy needle for a well deserved rest. I think I will make it into a cushion cover, have some lovely fabric in a tin which will match the stitched piece well.

Today is tiger time, with this heath (today we will have until 28° C = 82° F) it will be a challenge.

Another UFO and more others

2009-06-28T18:15:00.003+02:00

This is another UFO I discovered. It was in the same drawer as the tiger. It is called 'The Wild Ones Alphabet'. I plan to stitch on it one evening a week and on the tiger one evening too.

The map of Scotland is the piece that Heidi, my daughter, stitched for hubbies Regenboogkussen. Next month it will be delivered, I start to be very curious about it. I don't know what kind of fabric they will use to combine with the stitched pieces. The design was partly in a magazine, but I had to redesign the West coast as there was a thistle and someone else has stitched that already.

The duck is a design of Margaret Sherry, missed it in the Cross Stitcher, but I got a compy from a good friend. I hope she will design more of this type, especially a cat.

And the second part of the summer SAL is finished too, the chart of the third part arrived already and is very easy, so will be finished soon.

I stitched some BDcards for the BDlist I'm in, but I can't show them yet. It's the first time I'm pretty well in advance with my cards, very unlike me!

I hope to stitch a lot more next week, but the weather should be very warm and sweaty, not good for fabricstains! I'll let you see the result next week.

Hubby had another big session of chemotherapy last friday, it went well. He also got more painmedicin again, stickers with morfine based drugs. It's starting to work, the pain is much less, but he is more sleepy than ever now. He is contstantly losing weight, whic worries me very much, whatever I try, he never is hungry. In 3 weeks we will know the results of the therapy, so fingers crossed.

UFO and others

2009-06-14T17:43:00.004+02:00

This is a picture of the tiger from DMC. I started to stitch in 2002 en 2003. Then it dissappaered in a box. I was restless the last couple of days, due to hubbies condition, and started to sort out stitching stuff. I'm just over halfway and I will try to do some stitching on it, so it will transform from UFO into WIP. First the left lightray of the Bothy Thread lighthouse though, before it transforms in a UFO!

The lavender card is for Connie. It's for a card exchange group. This months theme was 'stitchers choice'. So I took this freebie and stitched it for her. I wonder what she will stitch for me.

Then there is the first part of the summer SAL, ready just in time for the next part.

The cat of Margaret Sherry was another SAL, waiting to be finished. So I finally did. I think it will be nice to ake into a cover for my glasses.

The little red car was Natascha's theme for her RR. As I like the seaside very much, I chose a chart with boats.

The Halloween card is for Magda. She chose Halloween as a theme for her cards. Funny to stich it in warm weather. The picture doesn't do right to the card, I'm afraid.

Hubbies chemotherapy is in its second week now. he is doing rather well considering the circumstances. He has a kind of vacuumtube which provides chemo all the time. He will get 6 weeks of treatment and then he will have a CT scan to see if the tumor has shrunk. meanwhile we try to laugh as often as we can.

Regenboogkussens

2009-06-06T13:38:00.002+02:00

Two pics today from Regenboogkussens. First there is the finished cushioncover for Ruth, a little girl. She has Nijntje as a theme. I stitched the central one for her.

Then there is Edinburgh castle which I stitched it for hubby, it will be sent to Siobhan together with the piece Heidi, my daughter, will stitch. She will put the cushioncover together. I stitched itunder his very nose and he hasn't got a clue for which purpose it is.

I have stitched the halloween card, just have to put it together and send it.

Today I'll start the RR, I chose the chart already which I want to stitch.

Hubby had his first chemotherapy treatment yesterday, it was a long day in hospital. It went very well. Now he has a kind of tube connected to his portacath, which will provide chemotherapy for the whole week. Next Friday he will have to go back for another tube and the week after that one more. The first results should be known by then.

Tomorrow is election day in Belgium, we will elect the people who will represent us in Europe for the next years and also some national elections are held. We are nor free to go, every Belgian has to give his vote or he gets penalties.

SAL, RR and BDcards

2009-05-28T18:31:00.002+02:00

Well, a lot of pics this time. There are the three BDcards, Marlies chose piggies and I got this little one who flew to her with its balloon. Mireille chose gardenflowers and I thought that sweet peas were appropriate. Sonja wanted things to do with the garden, so I sent her some tools.

My SAL is finished too, the fabric for the next season is ready cut already.

I also stitched the top from Barbara Ana's Frogscornu. Her designs are the theme of the RR I am taking part in. It will be all biscornus. We are 6 in this RR.

I also stitched on the Cut Thru' Lighthouse of Bothy Threads. The cross stitching and backstitching are all done. Only the lightbeams which are done in half cross stitches, so it goes very quickly.

For next month I hope to finish the lighthouse, the piece I have tot stitch in the RR (designs of Permin featuring a little red car and grey landscapes) and the next BDcard. Probably Summer will be coming up in the SAL too.

I asked for a cushioncover from Regenboogkussens for hubby and they accepted. The theme is Scotland. I will stitchEdinburgh castle and my daughter will stitch a piece too, probably the map of Scotland. Other people chose to stitch a Highland cow, a piper and a thistle. I will have to stitch in secret, it has to be a surprise!

I hope I can stitch in hospital, waiting for hubby when he's treated with chemotherapy. It will help to kill time. Small items like cards are ideal for this purpose.

Baby elephant

2009-05-17T15:36:00.003+02:00

This morning at 8.42 hours I was watching live on the website the birth of a baby elephant in our zoo here in Antwerp. It was so wonderful, I couldn't stop watching afterwards. It's sister and aunt were there when the baby was born, it was planned that way. After 20 minutes the little one (? +/- 100 kilo's!) could stand on its feet. And then the word came out: it's a girl! All of the citizens of Antwerp will receive a birth announcement and there will be a baby drink in June.

The baby is an Asian elephant and Tuesday its Asian name will be announced.

Of course the coming hours will be still critical, but a good sign is that it already drank with its mum. It's sister is jalous about all the attention the little one gets, but mum and aunty are very cautious. I am so happy I could watch this miracle. It's the first elephant being born in Antwerp, even in Belgium. I will visit it this or next week, when the first crowds have been there to watch it, I have a subscription for the zoo, so I can go as often as I want.

On the other hand, we had bad news from the oncologist last Friday, hubby's tumour is growing again, surgery and radiation therapy haven't worked. Next week we will sit down with the oncologist and the surgeon to see what can be done. I really hope there will be something that can be done. Maybe they will try chemotherapy again. At the moment we are in shock, it's so hard, his organs are clean, only the place where the tumour is growing is so hard to reach.

We are not religious, so no prayer can comfort us, even now I feel no need to search for a God. This does not mean we are unhappy, we cherish the moments without pain, sit quietly together, a cuddle, a kiss... We don't need many words, we understand each others feelings without talking. I still have good hopes (I am pathologicly optimistic) that something comes up. On the 25th we will know. Meanwhile stitching is a good therapy.

Loads of pics

2009-05-08T10:54:00.015+02:00

Loads to see in this blog.

I've managed to stitch all the parts of the SAL that have been sent, so I'm not behind anymore. Part 8 is ready to be stitched, probably this weekend and then it's only one more part before it's finished.

Then there is the BD card for Hendrica. She chose purple as a theme. I stitched some pieces in glittering threads, but it doesn't show in the pic.

For the charity site of Regenboogkussens, I stitched Nijntje for a little girl who has had a lot of health issues in her life already. I'll show the complete cushioncover when it's finished.

Then there is the mailart which had as theme 'countries'. I chose Scotland an Wendy has sent e a beautiful envelope with a kilted person and Nessie in the back, together with Scotland's national flower, the thistle. I had to stitch for Natascha, who chose her own country, the Netherlands. I thought a Delft blue tile would be appropriate and at the back I chose for tulips. She said she liked it very much.

I've been sick lately, had a bad cold, was in bed for a cople of days and it seems it's hard to recover from it, as all my reserves are gone during the two agonizing years of my hubbies cancer treatments. He is going to the psychologist now and I hope he can cope better with the situation once the sessions are going at a regular time.

This month I will have to stitch 3 BDcards, the finish of the SAL and my part of the RR.

I did manage to do some stitches on Michael Powell's mini Greek island 1 last week, hope to do some more on it this month. I saw he has some beautiful bookmarks, they surely are on my whishlist!

My diet is going very slowly, I manage to keep the lost kilos off and very slowly loose some more. I lost 13 kilos (28,6 pounds) until now and I'm very glad with it.

SAL

2009-04-18T12:44:00.003+02:00

I've stitched quiet a bit on the SAL and am almost there where I should be. So a little update from it here.
I made the decision to participate in a RR, it is a while ago since I did so. It is a 6 person RR, I chose Ana Barbara designs for biscornu's for it. The individual pieces shouldn't be bigger than 60x60 stitches, so I have printed those out who are small enough. I will make a bigger one myself.
This weekend is going to be hectic, this afternoon the last preparations in the day care center, tomorrow people can come and look. And hopefully subscribe their babies!
Next week is devoted to the mail art which has to be in place by the end of the month.

Easter

2009-04-14T13:32:00.003+02:00

I guess the desert I made for Easter was lovely. The shining face of my youngest grandson speaks more than words. I just had roast and veggies, and tiramisu as desert (with a splash of amaretto).
I did not much stitching lately, only a BD card which is sent today, so not publishing yet.
My daughter is in the middle of the preparations of building up her own business, so I helped out a lot. She will start a day nursery for babies from 3 months old until 3 years. She will do it with a friend. They rented a house in our street and were busy painting the ceilings and walls. There is also a big garden which had to be cleaned up. Plenty to do and help with the kids, but fortunately nice weather this week. She will start on the 4th of May. She promised I can be storytelling gran and als painting and drawing gran. I'm looking forward to it!

Rainbow cushion cover

2009-04-06T14:30:00.003+02:00

And here is the finished cushion cover for the charity Regenboogkussens. The boy who received it, was so happy, he wouldn't let it go for a second. His mum had to persuade him to hand it to her to wrap it around a cushion. This makes it so worth to stitch for charity!

I also received the card for the March exchange, it's a Lizzy Kate design, which I stitched last year too for someone else. It was a nice surprise!
Not much stitching done lately, the weather is too fine and we visited the zoo with our grandchildren and worked a bit in the garden and relaxed. How nice it is to just sit and let the sun shine on your face after a long, cold and dark winter!

Cows

2009-03-30T14:45:00.002+02:00

I managed to finish the second cow this weekend. I took a pic of it and also of the two together. There are 2 other cows, I guess they will appear soon in onother SAL. I want to make the four of them in a cusion cover. In the second cow there were an awfull lot of French knots. I let them out, I'm not a big fan of them, they never seem to get into the right place.

Tonight I'm going to visit my old collegues at the art academy, it will be nice to see what progress they have made.

Tomorrow I want to search for charts for the mailart I have to finish before the end of April. And get ready to stitch the 4 parts of the spring SAL I'm behind :-((

It seems to get warm this week, lovely to clean up the terrace and put out the garden furniture. I love to eat outside when possible. I hope we can do so this weekend!

Owls

2009-03-27T10:52:00.003+01:00

I know Ingrid received her BD card, so I can publish it. I chose a Maria Diaz design of a couple of baby owls in their nest, waiting for mum or dad to see if they get a juicy little bit of food. Tey lookto be curious to see what happens in the big world outside.

Next card I will have to stitch for the BDlist has the colour purple as a theme. I've chosen the design already.

Yesterday I stitched on the 5th part of the cow SAL, hope to finish it today and request the last part.

I was at the doctors yesterday for my finger. It seems there is no infection but a gel cyste. It should be squized out on regular times because the bulb is growing all the time and starts to hurt when it's too big. Or I should have a minor surgical incident. I don't like the latter at all. I can manage the first part without too much of pain. I'm afraid for doctors to cut into my precious fingers!

Duckling

2009-03-25T22:04:00.003+01:00

The little duckling is on its way to his destination in the USA. So I did manage to send it in time for Easter. It was for the card exchange of March, the subject was Spring or Easter. I think this duckling is a bit of bothe.

I also could finish the 4th part of one of my SAL's, I hope to receive part 5 this evening or tomorrow morning and stitch it before the weekend.

I also stitched for Ingrid's birthday, het theme was owls. The card hasn't arrived yet, so I will post it as soon she gets it.

I have this week off, next week I sart to work full time again, hubby can manage to stay alone during the day. I don't think I will enjoy it the first couple of days, the hour will be set back for an hour this weekend and I know I will be crancky the first week!

Mailart received

2009-03-17T20:19:00.005+01:00

Today the Ingrid's mailart landed in the mailbox. It is very beautiful, so much work done. I'm very glad with it. She inserted some skeins of thread and a card from Bruges, the town in het neighbourhood.

I didn't manage to stitch on my duckling. After the crossbow training on saturday our president asked if I wanted to compete the next day. So we went and there was a special competition added to the normal one. We had to aim for a very small target, when you hit it, you have a 'king's shot', very difficult to get. I really had a lucky shot as I hit it. In the evening the people who hit the target had to compete against each other, the winner would be crowned King for the year. Only 2 out of 47 shooters had a hit. Together with the king of last year we competed. After 4 rounds an older man won. I think he was in his seventies, a long carrier of shooting, so I think he deserved it. And I'm very happy to stay the courtjester :))) It was only the 3nd competition I did, I only started shooting end of January, so it really was a lucky shot! After all, a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while too!

Yesterday was so nice weather, I was out with Kwispel after work and was very tired in the evening. I hope to stitch today and finish tomorrow the duckling.

Regenboogkussens

2009-03-14T12:06:00.004+01:00

As promised, the pic of the little cute frog I stitched for Antoines cushion cover. I will put a pic in the blog when it is fully finished.

This weekend I will try to finish the swap card for Xstichpals. The theme for this month is spring/Easter. Yesterday I started of freebie of the latest Card shop magazine. It's a little duckling.

Next week I will have to stitch another BD card, the theme this time is owls, still have to look for a chart.

This morning started beautiful, the sun was out and it was so promising. But now it's cloudy all over again. In the afternoon I will attend the crossbowguild for a training session, but the evening will be devoted to my duckling.

Hubby stil suffers pains and had another raising of his painmedicin this week. The physiotherapist says his arm is improving though. So I hope in the future he can slow down with his painkillers.

My finger still is infected, I am on another type of antibiotics again (3rd try). I could take a swap today of what comes out of the wound, so the doctor can send it to the lab and hopefully he can prescribe the right medicin and it can finaly heal. It is there for about three months now. It's not hurting much anymore, but it's not nice to see and my fingernail is all disformed already.

Mailart and others

2009-03-13T10:21:00.007+01:00

Long time ago since I blogged, too much to do with hubby.

I made this BD card for Janien, she chose music as a theme. As I didn't know what kind of instrument she likes most, I stitched this nostalgic grammophone.

For my darling grandson Robbe I stitched the pirate for his 8th BD. They went to an indoor playground with some of his friends, which is called Pirates island. It is build like a pirates ship. They had a lot of fun!

We had a mailart going on with hobby as a theme. The person I had to stitch for chose reading. I gave her a floss tag with the same theme (it was the first one I ever made), a bookmark and some threads. And I wrote a message on a card of Antwerp. I hope Wendy likes it. I chose as a theme drawing and painting. I can't wait until I receive mine.

Now I'm working on a mailart with countries as a theme. I chose Scotland for mine. I can't tell yet what country I will be stitching, you'll have to wait until it is received.

Meanwhile I'm finishing a frog for 'Regenboogkussens', a charity which stitches cushion covers for sick people. I will post a pic soon.

Haven't done much on my SAL's lateley, will have to catch up.

Sal and BD cards

2009-02-15T13:03:00.005+01:00

I finished the third part of the mystery SAL. I found the originial chart while browsing through my magz for a design. It's one of my favourite designers. And it is the design I thought it would be.

Then there are 2 BD cards which are received already. Tineke chose birds, I liked this toucan very much. Carine chose for happy snowman, I stitched this freebie (don't know anymore where I got it).

The next is a mailart, it has to be on its place by the end of the month. The theme was 'hobbies'. I've got the charts and materials ready, this is my project for next week. And another BDcard, the theme is music. And the 2 other SAL's I'm involved in. Busy, busy,busy!

Hubby had his first check up after the surgery. The neurosurgeon was very blunt to us (it was the not favourite one), next time we will go to the other surgeon for a check up. The oncologist was lovely as usual. The little part of the tumour which couldn't be removed is sleeping, a 3 monthly check up with scans will be done the coming years.

Now he will go to the physiotherapist every day for his lymphatic arm, his shoulder needs some therapy too. But in all this was good news, so I'm pleased.

Another SAL

2009-01-28T20:28:00.002+01:00

These are the first two parts of the mystery SAL, I'm halfway now.

Tomorrow I will start the Spring SAL, just have to dive into my bobbin boxes to search for the threads. I've got all numbers of DMC and a lot of spare ones, so I never have to run for a missing number. Once in a while I check if the bobbins are full enough and while ordering with Sewandso, I fill if needed.

I hope to have finished the SAL by the end of this week, then tackle the BD cards for February. And finally go back to stitching the Cut Thru Lighthouse.

Yummie!

2009-01-26T20:24:00.003+01:00

My youngest grandson normally isn't a messy eater. But this time the dessert wasn't easy to eat. He looks so cute in this pic, isn't it? He was all over the vanilla&chocolate cream, we had to unclothe him unto his diaper. We put on his little wellies then and took a pic of him then, while he was mulling on his diaper, it looks like he was excersising for his carrier with the Chippendales. No pic of that here, it's for his privatealbum!
The next pic is of a BD card for the yahoolist. Just after everyone send her card to the BDgirl, she is exciled from the list, so I guess I will have one card less on my BD in November. She chose flowers, birds or butterflies as a theme, so I made her this flowers and put a butterfly sticker on it.
The third pic is of the Sal with the second cow. Two parts are already done. The lettering was with a lot of French knots, but as the previous cow wasn't having these beasty things in the lettering, I left them out. It looks OK this way too. The backstitching I will do the next time.
My diet is going well, I lost 6,6 kilos now, this is just a bit more as 1 stone. So this really is a good start.
Hubby has pains again, this time from the recovering of the surgery and his arm is swollen from the Lymph fluids. He will have to go to the physiotherapist, but first the wounds have to heal. One day is better than the other, yesterday was really bad. But this time he knows in a while he will be helped and it's not life threatening. His spirits are not high at the moment, but whose are when they are in pain?
I hope I can start stitching on the Mystery Sal I am in. I'm behind already one part. And I got the first part of the Spring Sal, so I better go now and stitch!

Kwispel

2009-01-20T20:14:00.002+01:00

Not a very good picture of our new dog, but I guess many more will follow. The cats still refuse to come out from behind the central heating burner. I have set some food and water for them. I hope they go out at night for a wee p... . Tomorrow I will buy a grid which is used for kids and place it so that they can get out without crossing the dog's path.
I am a bit dissapointed in Wellington, he used to sit near Kwispel before (ok, hissing, but he stayed) and the first evening he stayed in the kitchen for his leftover meal. Then his dissapeared. He's not worth his name at the moment. Neither is Nessie. She always was the coward one, fleeing when someone besides the household is coming to visit, so no wondering there. Puma is off and on in the kitchen, always yelling, no news there neither.
I guess in a couple of days, it will be better.
Kwispel and I enjoy our walks. Today we were out for an hour. DD said he was a lazy dog, but even after the walk he came with his tennisball to play. As she lives only 2 streets away, the air cannot be much different here!
I'm feeling a cold coming up. I need to finish my BDcard today, so it can be posted tomorrow to arrive in time. It's stitched for 90%, so not much to go anymore with a sore head.

American card

2009-01-17T23:38:00.003+01:00

This is the card I stitched for Heidi who is on the birthdaylist of one of the Yahoo groups I belong. I know she loves America and this year she chose this country as a theme. She is without PC at the moment, I read on the group, but the card is definitely on its place, so I can show it.
I didn't stitch this week, times were to hectic with hubby in hospital. The doctors had a nice surprise for us: he can come home tomorrow, the wounds are healing well and he is free of pain most of the time. I'm so happy for him, the poor darling has suffered so much the past half year.
And on Monday Kwispel (Flemish for tailwagger), a Jack Russell, is coming to live with us. It's DD's dog. They recentely got a second dog and they are quarreling too much. The other dog is too big to handle for my hubby (it's a Danish Dog), so the small one is coming to us. DD is very sad about it, but if she goes with the big one to an animal asylum, he will get a shot in the end. This is too sad as he only is 9 months old and very sweet. Kwispel is jalous and is making life bad for him, so the only option is to separate them. Our cats know him from his visits, so they will get used to him being with us all the time very soon. And he will be good company for hubby when I go to work. Kwispel is rather quiet for his race, DD took care that he wasn't too much agitated when he was a pup.
For those who are not used to kilos: I lost 11,44 pounds already. I'm thrilled!

Surgery

2009-01-16T09:30:00.002+01:00

This is a non stitching message.
Hubby is in hospital for his surgery (spreading of his cancer). It happened on Tuesday. It was a long surgery, it lasted 6 hours. But it went well. 3 surgeons did it and they could remove 95% of the tumor. It is now in the lab to determine what type it is and if something can be done about the last 5%. Surgery is impossible and radiotherapy doesn't work. And as for now, the doctor thinks that chemotherapy isn't an option either.
The tumor was around a nerve bundle. It caused the pain and the immobility. The nerves could be 'cleaned' from the tumor, but there is no way to say if they will recover. The damage could be permanent. But hubby thinks the pain is already less, so high hopes on that. Of course his wound still is swollen and healing will take its time.
Finally, after almost 2 years (when the cancer was discovered), I saw a glimpse of my old buddy again. It was if I lived next to a stranger all this time. I'm sooooo happy to have him back and the immediate danger is gone. He will be in hospital probably until next week Friday (although I hope he can come home earlier).
On the diet front, I'm booking very good progress. I lost 5 kilos now. And it didn't cost too much trouble until now. Yippee!!!

First BDcard

2009-01-08T10:37:00.003+01:00

This is the first BD card for a member of one of my Yahoogroups. The receiver got it now and I can show it. Natascha chose as a theme teapots. One of the last British magz had a teapot alphabet and I chose three of them (without the letter). I think it looks nice.

I'm stitching the second one now with America as a theme.

I started the Michael Powell kit. I am taking the Lighthouse kit to the hospital to finish.

DH will go into hospital on Monday, will have his surgery on Tuesday. It's becoming really scary now.

My diet is going well, I lost about a kilo now which is very good and stimulating to go ahead with it.

Old, new and finished WIP

2009-01-05T14:37:00.007+01:00

This is my almost finished WIP of Cut Thru' Lighthouse. I love the cut thru series so much, I have some of the kits in stash. The next one I want to stitch is Cut Thru' Haberdashery, but first finish this one. I only have to do the right bottom and the lightbeams, they are in half cross stitch, so it should go rather fast. It was in my UFO stash, but I'm glad I took it up again.

I want to pick up another UFO this year and finish it, don't know yet which one, probably one for DH.

My fist project is finished, a birthdaycard for my CrossStitchLovers Yahoo group, we have a birthdaylist once again, this month I need to finish 3 cards,one is already on its way, the second I found a suiting design and the thirtd I will have to go through my charts. I will post them once they are received.

I chose my first small project for this year, it will be a Michael Powell one, the first Mini Greek Island. I love the designs very much, have bigger and small kits, the small ones will be tackled one by one.

The mini Hollyhocks are from Heritage Stitchcraft. I try to finish one small design of the a year. I will choose another mini flower again this year. I did all the small kits with the animals already and some of the flowers. If I could only buy time and stitch a lot more.

I didn't stitch much already this year, my middle finger is very badly infammated. Its to is almost double its size and gone to purplish. I have got antibiotics cream from the doctor and hope it will cure very soon, my fingers are aching for stitching!

Today we went to hospital for the pre-surgery examinations. It's coming near now, next monday DH will be entering the hospital, the surgery will be the next day.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T14:21:00.002+01:00

I wish you all a good and healthy 2009, with much love and laughter.
I spent the last day of 2008 in bed with flu-type symptons. Took some pailkillers and could see the thirt part of Lord of the Rings on televison, which just ended before midnight. So could give hubby a big hug, wish him a year of full recovery and head back to bed again. Today is better already, I only can hope that the rest of the year will be better!
This evening the boys will come with theirNew Year's Letter to read and we will order take away, no fuss about food today!

Newspaper

2008-12-30T18:50:00.003+01:00

I'm going to be in the newspaper!
There was a forum for new years resolutions. I wrote that I wanted to go on a diet in 2009 because I am obese. They picked me and 4 others to follow for six months in the newspaper. They are doing 5 people too for stopping smoking.
Yesterday the photographer came to take some pics, I'm afraid they won't be flattering!
We will get the chance to write a blog about it (in Flemish) and people will give us advice end encourage us.
So I will have to diet now, I definitely won't go down in front of all those people who know me and read about it in the paper.
Long ago I did some weeks of Weight Watchers, I still have the books, so I will try to do that. The newspaper said they would send a book about diets, so I can pick some advice from that too.
The moment I got the phonecall that they picked me, I could slap myself that I had done something so stupid! But now I see it as an adventure. Until now only my family knows about it, so I guess some people will totaly be caugth by surprise when they see my picture in the newspaper, I hope they will support me.
I'll keep you update next year about what happens!
I did a lot of stitching on my Cut Thru Lighthouse, I hoped it would be finished by the end of the year, but it will be January. I've sorted out what I want to stitch next year (besides cards and SALs and exchanges). Just need to take pics of it all and then I can publish it.

Stitching pics

2008-12-27T16:26:00.003+01:00

A couple of pics this time.

First there is one of the Christmascard I stitched for my daughter and het family. I used satin threadfrom DMC, I'm a bit dissapointed in them as I thought they would shine more.

Then there is a little gem from Michael Powell, I will make into an ornament and it will be used for every birthday in the family.

Last there is the Winter SAL, only one part to go and it is finished. I will make it into a wall hanging, probably will have matching fabric in my stash.

I will post a pic of the Cut Thru Lighthouse next week, I hope to have it nearly finished at the end of the year.

Then it will be time to make my stitching (and other) resolutions for 2009.

2008-12-26T17:26:00.002+01:00

To all who read this blog: a very nice belated Christmas!
We spent Christmas eve with my daughter's family. Hubby was up for a couple of hours and enjoyed it. As usual there was nice food, small but many and different bit and bites. We played Wii games, after each game a number was drawn and the according present was opened. I got 2 fleece blankets with according reindeer, a little bath duck with reindeer antlers (yes, Rudolph is in town!) and J.K.Rowlings 'The tales of Beedle the Bard'. Hubby got nice pijamas for his hospitalvisit next month (year). SIL got DVD's, DD got socks she can put in nthe microwave before putting them on (always has cold feet) and bright pots for crisps and popcorn. Stein and Robbe got mainly Lego, Jelle got some more bath ducklings. Their dogs got a large yummy bone and the cats got little mousy toys.
Christmas was spent at our house. First Stein, Robbe and me read the Christmas story, each of us read loud a couple of pages of the child friendly story. Then we had a nice dinner, nothing fancy, roast with a variety of veggies, and we had a nice chat while the kids were playing. Stein wondered why we always talked about the virgin Mary, was Virgin her family name? We all laughed and said we would explain when he was old enough. Hubby was tired after all that and the kids went home, we settled for a quiet evening and so Christmas 2008 passed quickly without much fuss, just as we planned it. Our cats were happy with it, they don't like people to sit in their chairs, especially after a nice Christmas meal when their tummy needs a much deserved rest!
Today we had no important things to do, we eat the leftovers from yesterday, so plenty of time to stitch. I finished the 8th part of my winter SAL and took my WIP Cut Thru Lighthouse. I hope to have it finished very soon!

A bit of grumbling

2008-12-20T18:20:00.003+01:00

Not much stitching done lately, so no pics. I'll have to take myself together and pick up that needle again!
Last week we were in hospital because of the pain my DH experienced was so much, he couldn't cope with it anymore. They prescribed another type of painkillers he can take together with the ones he is taking already. He started with one dose, after 3 days it became 2 doses, now he is on 3 doses and it seems to work finally. He isn't in bed all the time and can do a little bit of reading and watching television again. He also can go for a beer to his favourite pub again (he drinks only one and according to the doctor there is no harm in it).
Another bad part of him being sick for so long and me being working part time is that the piggy bank is getting empty. We have a good insurance for hospital bills, but there is so much more you have to pay for and the mortgage, electricity and other monthly bills keeps running. Last month we got a bill from the Taxoffice from which we fell over. Today I saw what the income of my DH was this month, I even can't pay the Christmaspresents from it! And we even don't buy expensive things, but we want to eat something more luxurious as a Christmas dinner.
I guess I am a bit depressed by it all, not knowing what the outcome of the surgery is, having just enough money to pay for everything but no extras, being in the darkest months of the year so very much lack of sunshine.
Lucky for me I have loads of stash gathered in the past, so I can stitch for a long time before I run out of it! I always laughed when DH grumbled about buying things that would go into a box for 'later'. It is astonishing how soon 'later' has come around.
We have only a very tiny Christmastree, a few inches high. But I have taken my collection of reindeer (I'm a Rudolph addict) and scattered them over the house, so there is a bit of holiday atmosphere. Some presents are wrapped up and are lying under my painting easel, where I have put up the cards I received already. Every little bit helps!

SAL and more

2008-12-14T13:11:00.005+01:00

The mystery SAL is finished. I'm looking for a nice fabric to match the design and make a wall hanging for it.

The winter SAL has its 5th part done, I'm waiting for the 6th part to be sent now. The 7th part is already sent, so I will have to stitch fast. I've seen in the picture album that I'm not the only one who's behind, probably the Christmas period is so busy!

The Christmas card is for a penfriend in the Netherlands, it is the latest freebie of Michael Powell. I will stitch it for myself once more as he really is one of my favourite designers. I ordered some of his little gems and I got free stationary with it, so wonderful!

Yesterday was Christmas market in our village, we didn't go as hubby was too sick. On Friday we had to go to hospital for new pain medication. Fortunately the doctors are so willing to see us and help him. The good thing is that the pain will be controlled better, the bad thing is, he will be sleeping most of the day. I have put the bed from our guest room in our living room now, so he can be with me when I'm home, he always was upstairs and we hardly saw each other. Because of the pain, I can't sleep in the same bed with him, so we sleep separate already for some months. Now I sleep on the coach, the new medicines can make him dizzy, I want to be there in case he will fall. Fortunately I will have to work only one week more and then I have holidays until next year, so I don't have to worry about him being alone.
Our cats love to be on the bed with him and he loves the company of them.

Christmas cards

2008-12-10T17:38:00.003+01:00

These are the cards I stitched this year, I must admit not many, due to the circumstances. I would like to stitch one more for a penfriend, the freebie of Michael Powell. I think it is the first time since many years that my family got non stitched cards. I had the intention to make some in waterpaint, but that neither was time for (and no inspiration). I hope they will like the cards I sent though.

Mail art

2008-12-08T12:21:00.003+01:00

Finally the mailart is finished and posted to its receiver. Magda chose monkeys as a subject ( it was animals as a theme) and she loves Margaret Sherry. So I thought it appropriate to stich the alphabet monkeys, it is also the first letter of her name, a nice coincidence. I stitched on evenweave and used DMC threads instead of Anchor. I inserted a few skeins of thread, a small kit and a stitched Christmascard, after all it's the season!

I have the full set of DMC threads, only few Anchor's or Venus' ones. In Belgium needlework is rather expensive, so I always order my kits, threads, fabric and other haberdasheries online with sewandso. I'm very pleased with the service they do.

I'm a real stashoholic, have numerous kits an designs and loads of magz. My favourite designs are Margaret Sherry designs, especially the cats and chicks, Michael Powell and Bothy Threads cut thru's.

At the moment I'm stitching the Christmas exchange and then my commitments for this year will be done. Next year I'm involved in a birthday card list and I will try to take part in some exchanges, no RR's though, first I have to finish the ones who already came home. I hope to finish some of my own project and they always are put aside to stich for someone else!

Grandsons

2008-12-07T18:03:00.003+01:00

I promised some pictures in my last entry, so here they are, my three beatiful grandsons.

In the first picture is Stein at the left and Robbe in the right. They are ver instensly playing one of the new games that they received from Sinterklaas.

The second one is Jelle with his short heir. He didn't want to be in the picture I guess and is wobbling his tongue, but I didn't hesitate, these pics are the most beautiful.

On wednesday afternoon, while school is only half a day then, they come to our place when their mum has to work. Also on friday after school they come together with their mum and we take the evening meal together. It's always a challenge to make food that everyone likes! I have a grandson who doesn't like spagetti, another one likes Brussels sprouts very much while the two others get sick when smelling them, and so on. But I'm so happy to have a full table of people eating and chatting. Especially in summer when we can eat outside and it doesn't matter when the kids go to sleep.

Sometimes they have a sleepover and they love it, probably while they can do things that aren't allowed at home, but that's why grandparents are for!!!

At the moment they make my life bearable with their laughter and hugs and kisses. When I think about them, I get an energy boost and can go on for a while again!

Hubby's doctors appointment

2008-12-05T20:28:00.003+01:00

Today was the important doctors appointment for my hubby.
It was a bit of good and also bad news.
First the good news, the cancer hasn't spread at the moment to other places than the one we know about now.
The bad news is that the radiotherapy hasn't worked. The tumor still is there and it is still alive. No therapy will work on it anymore. The only option left is surgery. We spoke to the surgeons today, the tumor is in a difficult place where many bloodvessels and nerves meet. They cannot give us guarantee that they can remove all of the tumor, nor that no damage any nerve or bloodvessel will be done. The paralysis of his arm can be permanent or even worsen.
At the moment hubby is over the moon because of no further spreading. He doesn't realise the rest of the message they gave us. I let him in his believe, the moments he is happy are so precious.
The surgery is scheduled for 14 January. No more tests or hospital appointments this year. I don't know in what spirit we will be on Christmas or New Year, I guess see day by day what happens.
He is having a drink with his friends in the pub at the moment, I will take my mail art and stitch for a while. The kids were at home after school for their Sinterklaas presents. Stein and Robbe got a Nintendo DS game each, Stein chose Batman and Robbe Powerrangers. Jelle got a garage with cars.
The big surprise is that my daughter shaved Jelle's lovely curls. People started to refer to him as 'she' and so it was time to do something about it. I will post some pictures next time. He really isn't a baby anymore now, but a little boy. At 1,5 years old, it probably is time for a new look!

SAL

2008-12-02T13:46:00.004+01:00

I'm participating in 2 SAL's on one of my Yahoo groups.

The first one is a mystery SAL. it is the left one. I should have received the 6th and final part by now, but I'm behind, so only 4 pieces done and the 5th waiting to be done.

The second is a 4 season one, each season is 9 pieces. We started with the winter, the same time as the mystery Sal. And here the same problem: way behind schedule.

I have posted 2 Christmas cards exchanges today, at least they will be in time with the receiver. I am stitching an animal mail art, the receiver asked for monkeys. It should have gone out last week, circumstances have delayed it. The group owner knows about it. There is also a Christmas exchange which should go out next week, so I will have plenty of stitching to do! This means only a short blog entry today!

Sinterklaas

2008-12-01T16:53:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I went to St Nicolas (Sinterklaas in Flemish) with my grandsons. It was organised by the employees club of my job. Each year you can subscribe for a small charge and the kids get presents. First there is a show for the kids, this year there was a magician and he did a very nice job with the kids. Then each kid goes to the saint and his helpers (called Black Peter, there is a sweets Peter, a toys Peter and so on). When you are in the big book under the names of the good children, you get a present. Our youngest grandson Jelle wasn't pleased at all to sit in the Sinterklaas's lap! He cryed his eyes out. But he was pleased with the bag of sweets and his toy, a musical book of his favourite Bumba, a little circus clown. It is costum to get chocolate, speculoos (a kind of gingerbread) and oranges as sweets. The oranges come from Spain, where the saint lives during the year. The two elder know the truth by now and the magic is lost (although Robbe, who is 7 thinks there is a fake one and there is a true one, he still hasn't decided what to think). Robbe got a jumping stick and Stein who is 9 got a magnetic dinosaur.

The big day is 6 December, when the kids will find their presents shen they get up. This year it is a saturday and they can play all day long with the toys, yippee no school!

Hubby had a very bad day, was very angry at the whole world and went into the pub. He came home drunk and had smoked almost a package of sigarets (he quit smoking last year after his surgery). Friday is the day when we will get the results of the tests he has done, so I guess more unhappy days will come before that.

Robbe won a price for a drawing he made during the carnival week of our village. He got the 3rd price in his age category. He got a voucher of 15 Euro of the toyshop and wen immediately to buy a box of Pokemon trading cards. He was so happy, he jumped for joy the whole way home. We're waiting to see if a picture will appear in the paper.

Spending money

2008-11-28T21:02:00.002+01:00

Today I went into town to go shopping with my daughter.
6 december we have St Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Flemish), when kids find presents and sweets in their shoe in the morning. So we went shopping for the three rascals. Jelle, our youngest went with us, he is a very good tempered child and sits in his pram the whole day while we spend money.
We bought a lot of games, DS and Wii for the boys, and us! Jelle got a lot of clothes, they were so cute! I also went to the International Magazine store to get my cross stitch magazines and others. And I just had to stop at the shop Pippoos where little bibs and bobs are sold to make cards and scrap books. I spent far too much money and we still have the Christmas shopping to do! Help, who has the donkey with the moneybottem? Can I lend it for a couple of days? I will treat it very well!
Hubby stayed home, he can not cope with the city noises and business. He has a night out, a friend came to fetch him and go to a whisky tasting. I hope he has a good time. Yesterday he had a very bad day, was crying all the time. It's not easy to comfort a man in pain and fear.
I'm behind in stitching, normally I meet the deadline in time, my mailart will be too late, I am still stitching! And I still have to stitch an item for the Christmas exchange on one of my Yahoo groups.
I got my first Christmas cards today, sent out some with letters to my penfriends too. Will have to send the remaining out next week. And also those for friends and famuly closer to home. I hate the writing, takes so much time but when it's done and the mail is on its way, it gives a good feeling.