Christmas Present & Berries and Bluebirds

Postie finally pushed my Christmas present from Marcel through our letter box this afternoon. The pattern and kit for Lynette Anderson's In Full Bloom. Those fabrics are so gorgeous in person! And the patterns look like fun. I ordered the Cosmo threads I need this afternoon, so hopefully they will arrive soon.

De postbode bracht vanmiddag eindelijk mijn kerstcadeau van Marcel: het patroon en de kit voor In Full Bloom van Lynette Anderson. De stoffen zijn prachtig in het echt en de patronen lijken me leuk om te maken. Ik heb vanmiddag de Cosmo-draadjes besteld die ik nodig heb. Hopelijk komen ze snel hier aan.

And here is my progress on Berries and Bluebirds block 3, by Gail Pan. A tall and narrow block which is fun to stitch. I think I have finally found my mojo with this project, whilst stitching this block.

En hier zien jullie hoever ik ben gekomen met blok 3 van Berries and Bluebirds van Gail Pan. Een small en hoog blok dat erg leuk is om te maken. Ik geloof dat ik eindelijk mijn draai heb gevonden met dit project, terwijl ik werkte aan dit blok.



I forgot to mention in my previous post that we celebrated Kruimel's third birthday on the 28th of December. He wasn't very cooperative when it came to having his picture taken with three 'candles'.

In mijn vorige blogje vergat ik te melden dat we in december de derde verjaardag van Kruimel hebben gevierd, op de 28e. Hij werkte niet erg mee toen ik hem op de foto wilde zetten met drie 'kaarsjes'.


When Kruimel first arrived at our house almost three years ago, Elvis didn't take to him at all.
Now, three years later, with Elvis on a special diet called 'Calm' by Royal Canin, and using a Feliway plug which emits feromones, our boys seem to be hitting it off much better.

Toen Kruimel bijna drie jaar geleden bij ons kwam wonen, vond Elvis hem helemaal niet leuk. Nu, drie jaar later, met Elvis op een speciaal dieet van Royal Canin 'Calm' en het gebruik van een Feliway-stekker die kattenferomoon afscheidt, gaat het steeds beter tussen onze jongens.

They look like they are practising synchronised sleeping below. Elvis needs to work in his tail!

Het lijkt wel of ze oefenen om synchroon te slapen. Elvis moet nog een beetje oefenen met zijn staart!


Back to work on Berries and Bluebirds 3, so that I can hopefully show you my third block soon.

Nu ga ik gauw weer verder met Berries and Bluebirds 3, zodat ik jullie hopelijk snel mijn blok kan laten zien.

Thanks for all your good wishes for the new year and other kind comments.

Bedankt voor al jullie goede wensen voor het nieuwe jaar en andere leuke berichtjes.

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you a very happy and healthy new year 2012. May all your dreams come true!

So sorry for having been so quiet recently. My book translation was in its last stages and it took me longer to get it completed than I had thought. This drastically cut down my stitching time, so I don't have anything to show yet.

I'm working on part 3 of Berries & Bluebirds by Gail Pan. And guess what? After my recent post about parts 1 and 2 of this design, the designer herself posted a very kind comment on my blog. Thank you so much, Gail!

I also started working on one of the blocks for QuiltAid2011, but since my Presencia threads have not arrived yet, I cannot complete any of them. Hopefully the threads will arrive soon.

Back soon with part 3 of Berries & Bluebirds.

Berries and Bluebirds parts 1 and 2

I never got back to you last week, did I. It took me forever to complete block 2 of Berries and Bluebirds by Gail Pan. I finally got it finished yesterday evening and I joined the two blocks this evening. Coincidentally, I received word that part 3 is on its way to me from Australia.

Lots of dithering is going on, trying to deciding whether to join in with the Building Houses From Scraps project. It took me all evening on Saturday to get the pieces ready and to piece the sky, the chimneys and the roof, and I would need to piece a complete house every day of 2012.

The houses are tiny, one completed block is 3" x 3".

Guess who is helping me to decide?

Thanks for all your lovely comments!

WOW: Berries and Bluebirds block 2

For the past week I have been working on my second block of Berries and Bluebirds by Gail Pan. Here is my progress so far, in time for Esther's WOW (WIPs on Wednesdays):

I was supposed to travel to Engeland on Monday, but I've been struggling with a chest infection for three weeks now and I didn't feel well enough to travel. Very disappointing, also for the friends I was supposed to spend some time with.

But it did give me a chance to make some progress on my birdies. Once the second pattern arrived last Monday, I just couldn't stop myself from starting it.

Most of my QuiltAid blocks have been ordered now and will be posted out to me tomorrow. I'm still trying to decide which finishing kit I like best. Each of the stores has designed their own finishing of the 12 blocks designed by Australian designers.

WOW: Birds and Berries Block 1

It is Thursday already in Holland, so I'm too late for WOW, but I'm hoping to just make it to Esther's WOW before it closes.

As I was still struggling with colour choices for my first block of Berries and Bluebirds by Gail Pan, Kruimel decided to give me a helping paw. He has never before seen his mummy struggle for so long on one block!


After a bit of reshuffling, he came up with this:

Did I mention I love his paws?

Yesterday I *finally* managed to complete the first block. Please excuse the creases. I couldn't iron the block because the tracing hadn't quite vanished (for those who don't use magic tracing pens, the lines vanish by themselves but if you iron them, they are fixed forever).

Since Christmas will be upon us in less than six weeks, and after seeing Lynette Anderson's completed quilt, I pulled out my Christmas Fun project to see at what point it had got abandoned for something much more 'interesting' at that time. These are the WIPS of block 1 and 2, which still need quite a bit of work:

Thanks for all your lovely comments!

WOW: Berries and Bluebirds block 1: new layout

I can't believe a week has gone by and we are once again showing our works in progress for WOW: WIPs on Wednesdays

Nor can I believe that I'm still showing you block one of Berries and Bluebirds! But in a different layout now.

Luna says thank you for all the lovely comments.

WOW: Lots of Birdies

Wednesday has only a few minutes more left in Holland, so just in time for WOW, Esther's Wips on Wednesdays.

My week was filled with birdies. Tail Feathers Quilt is coming along nicely and I completed block 9, assembled these two rows and took block 1 apart, because I was not happy with how it looked. It was the start of my patchwork, stitchery and quilting journey and that was quite obvious.


I was also naughty and starte a new project, Berries and Bluebirds by Gail Pan. The pattern for block 1 arrived and I just couldn't stop myself from starting it, not helped by Michele who showed her lovely block!