Merry Christmas - Fijne Kerstdagen

Two months have passed since my last blog post. Oops! So sorry for ignoring you.
We have been very busy with the move, and getting sorted in the new home.
It took me about 6 weeks to get back to my quilting.

Er zijn ondertussen twee maanden voorbijgevlogen sinds mijn vorige blogje. Oeps! Sorry dat ik jullie heb genegeerd. 
We zijn erg druk geweest met de verhuizing, en op orde krijgen in het nieuwe huis. 
Het kostte me ongeveer zes weken tot ik weer ging patchen en appliqueren.  

I stitched some blocks for my Dear Jane quilt, which I prepared before the move and had ready in little ziplock bags.

Ik heb wat blokjes voor mijn Dear Jane gemaakt, die al grotendeels klaar lagen in zakjes voor de verhuizing. 

D8 - Dee Dee's Delight

D6 - Challenge

C11 - Soldiers and Sailors Monument

F6 - Deanie's Daisies

F13 - Tour de France

G7 - Indianapolis

H6 - Pie Sale

A1 - Pinwheel Gone Awry

Worked on some blocks for my Antique Wedding Sampler:

Heb gewerkt aan een paar blokken voor mijn Antique Wedding Sampler: 

Block 13, getting the block pieced...

... and getting the broderie Perse started

Two mini-blocks for block 11

We are loving living in the countryside, even though it has its challenges. Waking up to a beautiful sunrise most mornings

We vinden het heerlijk om op het platteland te wonen, al heeft het dan zijn uitdagingen. Bijna iedere morgen wakker worden met een prachtige zonsopgang. 

View from the sitting room / uitzicht vanuit de woonkamer

View from the kitchen / uitzicht vanuit de keuken

We were very lucky because Autumn and even Winter has been very mild so far. I'm still doing the gardening, just before Christmas. After the long wait since we said 'yes' to this new home, we moved in five months later just when Autumn was starting, and we have been able to enjoy lovely weather.

We hadden geluk, want de herfst en zelfs de winter zijn dit jaar erg zacht. Ik ben nog steeds aan het tuinieren, vlak voor kerst. Na het lange wachten vanaf het moment dat we 'ja' zeiden tegen dit huis, zijn we vijf maanden later verhuisd, net toen de herfst begon. En we hebben kunnen genieten van prachtig weer. 

Yesterday I found a new 'member' of my snowmen collection whilst out doing the Christmas shopping

Gisteren vond ik tijdens het inkopen doen voor kerst een nieuw 'lid' van mijn sneeuwpopjesfamilie. 

Even Christmas shopping is more fun here (I'm not a fan of shopping) in a little village, in a well-stocked supermarket with friendly staff and fellow-customers.

En zelfs inkopen doen voor kerst is hier veel fijner (ik ben géén liefhebber van winkelen) in een klein dorpje vlakbij, in een goed bijgevulde supermarkt met vriendelijk personeel en mede-winkelenden.

Life is good

Het leven is goed

Slight Delay...

Our Christmas cards are subject to a slight delay this year....

Onze kerstkaarten lopen dit jaar enige vertraging op....

Christmas Presents & Other Things

First I would like to show you two presents which I made.

The first one is for my sister, another version of the Christmas Kisses heart pillow. Very different from the one I made for Michele. My sister loves blue colours.


And this is Deck the Halls by The Birdhouse. I stitched this for my parents and made it into a little wall hanging:

Here are a few detail pictures:

Their favourite creatures are reindeer, sheep and penguins, so this was perfect for them.

Mother Nature did her best decorating the outside of our house for Christmas. These icicles were so beautiful!

Do you think the boys are trying to tell me something? Now there are TWO of them at it ;o)

This is the space where I always sit when I do my translation work and this is also my favourite place to do my stitching. But the boys appear to have other ideas ;o)

Nearly Christmas

Gosh, it has been a while since my last post! So sorry for 'ignoring' you.

So? What's happening on the decorations front? Well, we braved the snow on Saturday and bought a few Kruimel-proof decorations at a garden centre.

This garland came more or less decorated, but I removed the bits I didn't like and added 50 fairy lights. We're hoping there is enough empty space between the television and the garland to deter Kruimel from trying to wreck it.

He has been doing a lot of 'planning', but so far the garland is still safely up on the wall.




At the garden centre I found a lovely fir wreath and also this beautiful heart, which looks like it was stitched.

No Christmas would be complete without the quilt my Mum made us a few years back:

It is a pattern from a book by Art to Heart (Nancy Halverson).

Now that Michele has received the Christmas presents I sent her, I can show you the heart I stitched for her. I used the robin fabric as a backing. The pattern came from an Australian magazine.

I've since stitched another heart in different colours for a special person in my life. Once she has opened her present on Boxing Day, I will show you what it looks like.

This is what our front garden looked like when I woke up on Friday morning:

It is very unusual to have so much snow falling in Holland, and in such a short space of time too.

Yesterday afternoon I found our two British Shorthair sweeties sharing a cat bed. A tight fit, but because Luna is so tiny, it just about works!

The days up to Christmas are always very busy and because I felt rather under the weather yesterday, there is still a lot to do today and tomorrow.

Kruimel doesn't have all these worries and he just likes to relax 'sunbathing' under my daylight lamp.

Not sure where I'm supposed to be doing my stitching....

And last but not least, Margit - my stitching friend from Germany - signed me up for Chatelaine's Mini Mystery 01, which will be starting on the 1st of January. Thank you, Margit!The project is the perfect size to get me cross stitching again! Obviously I cannot show you what it looks like, as it is a mystery, but there are sneak previews to be had on the Chatelaine Yuku board if you are interested.

Thank you for your kind comments on my previous post.