Little stitches

Snow Globes part 5/8

2012-02-04T22:01:00.002+01:00

I finished the next part of this SAL, now only 3 to go! I've already started the 6th parth (not done much on it yet, but well, it's a start, right?).

and this little girl already turned 19 months!

she's having some trouble with the upper airways, and is on antibiotics, I don't like giving antibiotics, but I guess I have to trust the doctor.

Winter!
It suddenly turned winter! Until last week, we had warm temps for the time of year, but this week, we suddenly had -10°C in the morning, brr, it was cold, bycicling to work! Luckily no ice on the roads, so no riks of slips, but that changed yesterday, because, we had SNOW.

thank you for visiting my blog

Snow Globes part 4/8

2012-01-23T22:16:00.002+01:00

A bit (a lot!) later than I had hoped but I've finally managed to finish part 4 of the snow globe SAL, a SAL which is organised by CSL-group This one is a cute snowman.

It was my sisters birthday, she requested an apple-pie.

Met het overgebleven deeg, maakte ik een appelflapje. Ik maakte ook briochebroden.

And just because...

Looking back/looking forward.

2012-01-19T20:31:00.003+01:00

2012 is already 19 days old, so it’s more than time to look forward, but also look back to 2011 for one more time.

Stitching-wise I didn’t get much done in 2011. My little darling (my pride and joy), takes up most of my time and energy. What I did finishes can be found here.

Goals for 2012? I don’t have many of those, as stitching-time is still very limited, here is what I do hope to get done:

Finish the snow-globe SAL, organized by the CSL-group (still 4,5 globes to go)
Finish Lanarte Cultures
Start (and finish?) Jelena’s Christmas sock
Small Christmas-ornaments
Cards

Lanarte Inca and Maya cultures

As you can see, not really ambitious, but even this might be too much, we’ll see. And of course, try not to expand the stash too much ;-)

2011 was also the year I saw the ER on the inside (luckily it wasn’t that bad: 3 stitches and some nice color in my face – and the blue/green/yellow finally disappeared after about 3 weeks), and the year I lost Princesje, she is still missed dearly.

On personnel level I have one big hope for 2012 – one I actually already had in 2011 but that didn’t get realized, so fingers crossed for the next weeks. Other than that, I want to spend quality time with my daughter, watch her development, and just love her. I also hope for good times with friends and family, no more falling :), and get some of that clutter out of my house (look of shame).

RAK'ed

2012-01-14T21:28:00.003+01:00

I mentioned on a previous blog-update that I recieved something awesome. I finally got around to getting a pic of it (sorry, Jelena just takes up all my time!). I did thank the wonderful sender of the gift immediately :)

so here's a pic of it:

I got nice stash (and doesn't she know me well, with the Winny the Pooh kits!), lovely stitched goodies, and the cutest necklace!

Thank you!!

more give-aways

2012-01-11T20:33:00.003+01:00

If you like mail-art, you might like this give-away as Wendy is gifting one!

Cindy is also holding a give-away.

Heather is also having a give-away.

Both end january 15th

And what's more, Nancy is having yet another give-away, this time for dyed floss! This one ends january 30th.

Blog-winnings and give-away's

2012-01-06T21:48:00.003+01:00

A little while ago, I mentioned the christmas give-away from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I was one of the lucky winners! I recieved this beautiful chart. Thank you Nancy!

Nancy is already organizing a new give-away. Check out her post here if you'd like a chance to win a gorgeous needlebook. And that's not all, she's also giving away lovely Black Crow Spice Bags. Go here to take your chance in this give-away.

Craftymoo is also hosting a really really awesome give-away. Go check it out!

I've also recieved the most wonderful surprise in the mail, such a wonderful surprise, it will get it's own post :)

Snow Globes part 3/8

2012-01-03T20:57:00.007+01:00

A day later than I had hoped for, I finished the third part of the snow-globes SAL: a cute RUDOLPH. He got finished on the first day of the new year, so he's my FIRST FINISH OF THE YEAR! :-)

For the newyears celebration, I've been baking again :-). I made cookies, a vanille-chocolate cake, biscuit with creme au beurre, cupcakes, and dessert was a combination of mascarpone, passionfruit and whipped cream

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T21:27:00.003+01:00

Pff, already the second day of the new year! I hope everyone had a safe end of the year and a good start of 2012!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:18:00.013+01:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

No stitching in this blog, but all the more place for food and pics of Jelena :)

As usual, I was 'in charge' of dessert and cakes for christmas with the parents.

For dessert, I made a white chocolate-mousse and a dark mousse (a very light kind) and some fruit

I also made the traditional christmas cookies, this time with colored glacing (my first time, lol)

and the traditional cake (Kerststronk), this year with buttercreme and jam

aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnd CUPCAKES! Had a lot of work on those, but I'm quite proud of the result

And then there were the christmas-presents. Jelena had a great time giving the gifts to everyone. She also wanted to help unwrapping everything. Her doll was a huge succes! She already knows how to feed her :)

(the plaster on my head, is where the stitches after my fall are hiding, tomorrow the threads will be removed).

Also, Chaotic Crafter is having a give-away for a 10.00 gift-certificate at 123.Stitch; enter here

SAL Snowglobes: 2/8

2011-12-19T18:42:00.001+01:00

Snow-globes
I've just finished the second snowglobe, about a week late (ouch). It's another christmas-themed one, with a nice christmas tree. Unfortunately, the frogs really seem to love this SAL as well, as I've been visited many times on both globes.
On to number 3...!

(click to biggify)

T-shirt
I've taken the challenge to stitch on clothes, nothing complicated though, just a tiny Hello Kity on a easy t-shirt. I used the DMC soluble canvas for this. It melted away quite easily, and I'm rather happy with the result.

Baking
I found a new recepy that looked quite delicious, and since it was my father's birthday, it was a good occasion to try it out!

give-aways
Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a hand-dyed floss New Years give-away. She's also having a Christmas give-away!! That's two chances. Go check it out!

Blogger
Thanks for the suggestions! I have closed the google-toolbar as suggested by Miek, we'll see soon if it has helped :)

Edit: still not able to post, which means I'll have to start it the old old slow slow slow desktop
Edit 2 to change time of publishing to current time.

Weather
This morning the streets were quite icy. My bike (the two-peddled kind) decided to flirt with the ice on the street while I was on my way to work, the result: a couple of stitches in my face. I've told my bike never to flirt again!

Snow-Globe 1/8

2011-12-07T20:45:00.006+01:00

Blogger problems
Updates come slowly, for two reasons. Not enough time to stitch..., but also problems with posting on blogger. I can type up my whole post on the 'new' (secondhand) laptop perfecty, but the stupid thing refuses to publish. So I have to start up the old computer to publish a post, and that one goes as slowwwwwwwwwwwww as a snail! So that takes a lot of time, that really could be used for better purposes. I also have difficulty reading other peoples blogs, so that takes up a lot of my time as well :( (but it's worth looking at your work!)
Any one have an idea whath the problem could be??; The laptop has Vista and I work on Internet Explorer 9

Snowglobes
I joined a new Sal at the CSL-group and finished the first part. The SAL exists out of 8 snow-globes with a Christmas or winter-theme. The first one has a Santa inside.

Sinterklaas kapoentje
December 6th we celebrate Sinterklaas. For the adults that means chocolate, marsepein, nicnacs (little biscuits in the form of the alphabet), yummy! For the kids it means... toys! And even though Jelena is little, she got visited by Sinterklaas too :-)

First she put her shoe with a little something for the horse.

The next morning her shoe was filled with some nicnacs (she doesn't usually get anything like this) and something more healthy ;-)
And of course toys!

she was very happy with her little shop, her kitchen-stuff and building blocks!

Till next time!

comments are loved and appreciated

Lanarte Cultures: another update...

2011-11-16T15:26:00.008+01:00

This time I got some more progress on Lanarte Cultures, I can finally get rid of one of the two (very big) pages of the pattern, yay!

what can you see on it this far:
- El Castillo in Chichén Itza: temple pyramid
- Sandstones
- Lama
- The statue of chichén Itza in Yacatan
- The 'drawings' on the top and bottom are Maya script; with the typical round forms
- a Mixtec cooking pot
- the agave: used for distillation of liquor
- A woman and flute player in colourful attire from Guatemala, a weaver from Hondura, a guitar player and woman with child dressed in poncho from Peru (still one to stitch!)
Unfortunately, now progress is once again nill, as I haven't stitched for a couple of days again :(

A couple of days ago, it was my birthday, Jelena drew me a drawing as a present:

comments are loved and appreciated

Lanarte Cultures: Inca and Maya Cultures - progress pic 4

2011-10-30T22:06:00.004+01:00

Grab a Brownie and come along...

Lanarte Cultures

Not as much progress as I had hoped to show, but at least there is some.

Baking
I don't often find the time to do some baking, but I finally managed to get the brownies done, and made some more cupcakes as well. Obviously I'm not that good at 'drawing' witches hats, ghosts and pumpkins!

16 months!
It's only a couple of blog-posts ago, I mentioned Jelena being 15 months, and now she's already 16 months! And she's already choosing her gifts from Sinterklaas in the toy-shop catalogue!

Also, Meagan is having a blog-giveaway, go check it out.

comments are loved and appreciated

Lanarte Cultures: Inca and Maya Cultures - progress pic 3

2011-10-12T22:35:00.000+02:00

I'm still very slowly progressing on my Lanarte-kit Maya and Inca Cultures, so I hoped you might enjoy a new pic of it.

Autumn has now really arrived with rain and wind, but the temps are still quite high. Christmas-decorations are already showing up in the shops - way too early for me! First sinterklaas will come, and then I''l think about Santa :)

comments are loved and appreciated

It was a

2011-10-05T20:23:00.000+02:00

Hi all,

thought I disappeared of the face of the earth?; No, still here, but my laptop died on me! Now I'm figuring things out on my new (second-hand) laptop. A lot could be recovered from the old laptop, but still lost a lot of my links and patterns :(

It was a
itsy bitsy teenie weenie ~~yellow polka dot bikini~~

finish!

RAK'ed
Lisa N. rak'ed me with a cute Eeyor-chart! Thank you Lisa!!

Autumn?

so we're autumn, but the last days were really summer-like, we had more sun and warmer weather then during summer! Enjoyed them while they lasted, and now we seem to be heading to real autumn weather.

15 months!
Time sure does go fast!

Coming next: update on Inca and Maya cultures

comments are loved and appreciated

Inca and Maya Cultures: progress Pic 2

2011-09-22T20:27:00.002+02:00

Hi all,

I've made a little bit more progress on my current WIP, Inca and Maya Cultures by Lanarte.
Stitching keeps going slow, but well, at least there is some progress :)

Till next time

All comments are appreciated!

Some progress

2011-09-09T22:17:00.004+02:00

I've made a bit of progress on my newest WIP. It's not exactly a small piece but not really BAP-size either, but it might still take me a while to finish this one; since I only get to stitch a couple of hours per week.

Every year, we have a sand-sculpture in Blankenberge, this year the theme was Disney.

more here

and for closure of this post ;-)

Pics, Pics and more Pics (part two)

2011-08-17T21:41:00.006+02:00

Soooooooooooo, here is the stitchy part of the update!

Yes, the long awaited pic of the baby afghan is finally here. What fun I had pulling out all the threads (not!)

So here it finally is: Farm Animals Baby Afghan by Dimensions (designed by Barbara Mock)
29" x 45"/ 73 cm x 114 cm

A finish also means a new start! I had planned to start the Christmas-sock for Jelena put didn't have the kit with me on vacation. I did have another one with me, here is what I have so far:

I did already get the encouraging comment that I had done only a little bit on it, and that there is a lot of work left on it :( Yes, I know, my stitching does not go that fast anymore. My days are filled with walking little circles with my daughter :)

Give-aways:
Daffycat is hosting a give-away, go check it out!

Pics, Pics and more Pics (part1)

2011-08-16T21:29:00.003+02:00

When in need of photo's my friend really comes to the rescue! Thank you very much for the pics of Jelena's birthday-party.
First a pic of the big cake I made for Jelena's birthday :)
It's made out of 3 biscuits on top of each other:
- regular biscuit with crème au beurre filling
- chocolate biscuit with strawberry-mousse filling
- regular biscuit with crème pattisière and kiwi.
I did make a change to the biscuit-recepy, but that's my secret ;-).
All decorated with rolfondant and marsepein. The decorations were 'glued' onto the biscuits by home-made edible 'glue' :-)

Next to this big one, there were also strawberry cakes, flan bresilienne and misérable, and Jelena had her own special cake with fruit and pudding.

After the cake it was time for presents!

Nancy, my apologies ;-) there's no pic with cake all over her face, but I hope this one (with spaghetti-sauce over her face) can make up for it :-)

I've been on vacation at our coast, here Jelena was taking a walk on the beach:

And when it was finally warm enough, she had to try out her new bathing-suit

Since she's now a big girl, I've been cooking some 'special' dishes
(the second one is courgette-gratin) It was very yummy!

here she had her first professional haircut

playing and sharing:

Hot-air Balloon
I gave a gift-certificate for a flight by hot-air balloon to the god-father of Jelena, here are some pics of his trip

And I hope this works:

MOV00895.MPG
(ps. she did not get hurt during the making of this video)

Stitching: to follow in part two (not tired of all my pics yet?)

Baby Afghan: FINISHED

2011-07-24T22:33:00.001+02:00

Happy dancing right now, I finished the stitching part of the baby-afghan. Now on to the real finishing (which may take some time, no acces to the necessary materials right now).
Pic of the stitching will follow (I was just so happy to have finished the stitching, I couldn't wait until I have the pic up and running to post about it!).

Baby Afghan: the final sprint

2011-07-18T21:14:00.002+02:00

Baby Afghan: status update
Not yet the news I had hoped for, but since it had been quite a while since I've been able to get a stitch in (Jelena's birthday-party took much prep time), not surprising. But this weekend, I was finally able to get the afghan back out from under the dust it was gathering :-) I've finished another square this evening, now it's just ONE MORE left. I HOPE to get it finished this weekend (well, the stitching anyway, who knows when the actual finishing will be done). And since the weather is really autumn-like, she could really use it!

Party-time
Unfortunately, not that many pics too share, since my photographer of service (my brother) gave up after only a couple of pics :-( (apparently, there was a problem with the memory-card), boohoo! Luckily, someone else was happily taking pics, so maybe I'll be able to share some pics later.
It was a great day, my cakes looked and tasted good, so good they all asked if I had really made them myself (YES, I did!). Here's a pic of me coming with the big birthday-cake.

There was some others next to this big cake, but no piccies :(
Jelena looking at the cake.

And just to make you hungry, some pics of other cakes made for other occasions
this one is a little cake with the left-other cake batter and creme au beurre from the big cake.

and since there are never too many pics of Jelena:

GO!Baby give-away by DEB

2011-07-09T09:01:00.001+02:00

Deb is hosting an awesome give-away. Go check out her blog

1 year!!

2011-06-27T20:54:00.002+02:00

Today was Jelena's birthday, still can't believe how fast that year went by! Last year this time, I was at the maternity-ward, looking in awe at that tiny little girl, wondering how something so precious could be my daughter.

We celebrated her birthday with my parents, brother and sister. Saturday she'll have her other birtday-party (can't have too many of those, right).

her grandma made her a crown by these instructions.

She was quite happy with her new bear and car

She also recieved a package by post. In it was the cutest bib I've ever seen! Thank you Annette!!

Baby afghan and other

2011-06-22T19:43:00.002+02:00

Baby afghan: status update
I had good hopes of finishing the afghan before Jelena's first birthday, but with Princesje's death, I just did not feel up to stitching for a couple of days. Eventually I did pick up the needle and thread again, but now I'm still 3 squares away from finishing the stitching, so it won't be finished by then. And of course then the afghan still needs to be 'finished'. Let's just hope I'll be able to show you a pic soon!

Weather
We had a long dry spell that made my (vegetable) garden cry out for rain. That cry was answered last week, and I was actually happy to see the rain (not many people were, but I'd like my vegetables to grow!), but the heavy rain pouring down from heavens while I'm at my way to work by bike wasn't really necessary! I arrived at work, looking like a soaking wet cat
Even with al that rain, the underground is actually still very dry and hard, so some more (gently pouring down during the night) rain would still be welcome ;-)

It didn't look like it, but yesterday the summer-season started. It was also the longest day in the year. I don't really won't to think about the days already getting shorter again. Hmm, maybe time to start that christmass-sock for Jelena??? (although I don't think it will be ready this christmass).

Princesje
Thank you all for your sympathies and support, the meant a lot.
Her loss is still felt, but the biggest sadness has at least lessened. She was my four--legged baby and will always be remembered with much fondness. I'd like to share this pic with you, this one was taken in april this year at Maxi Zoo by Portrait Studios (copyright of this pic is by them). I didn't really take that many pics of her during the last two years, now I off course regret it :( Stupidly enough, I had just planned to take a new pic, but I was already too late.

Jelena
Almost one year, and I'm busy prepping her birthday party. The invitations went out a month ago with a pic of my little darling

My - not so little anymore - daughter now walks some steps when she has support of the furniture, off exploring the world!
Here's another pic of here, with Pralientje, my sisters Yorkie of 16 years old (she so loves those dogs!)

And just a pic to make you hungry :)

(all pics are clickable)

Goodbye

2011-06-14T21:23:00.004+02:00

my little Princesje, I will miss you, your playful attitude, your cuddles, your good nature. I love you.

Born 15/02/1997 - passed on 14/06/2011

Baby Afghan: row Three

2011-06-09T20:47:00.002+02:00

Yep, more stitching got done on the baby afghan, and I finished the third row with a cute dog and bunny.

From now on the motives are returning, but some in mirror image. I'm not going to bore you with the images again, I will put up a pic of the whole afghan next time :)

And here's a pic of little cool Jelena at the beach

Thanks for viewing (and commenting), I appreciate it!

Baby Afghan: second row

2011-05-29T21:10:00.003+02:00

stitching
I finished the second row of the baby afghan with a little bear and a duck. If the frogs wouldn't be interfering, these would be quick finishes.

All of these designs will come back in the lower part of the afghan (but in mirror-image)

11 months
This little one turned ELEVEN months, where does time go???

Experimenting
Apparently cupcakes are THE cake right now, so I couldn't stay behind, here's my experiment with them:

Baby afghan: elephant

2011-05-21T21:01:00.003+02:00

I've been stitching!! :-) I've got the next three squares done on the baby afghan: two hearts and a baby-elephant.

Here's another pic of my little darling who loves standing!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:07:00.005+02:00

to all moms (to be) in the world.

Jelena made something for me in daycare :)

I've also been experimenting with my baking for a mother's day-cake. I've made a small biscuit and a somewhat 'normal'-sized biscuit, made two kinds of fillings (banana-mousse and strawberry-mouse) and covered the cake with marsepein (sorry, don't know the English for that one). Still a loooong way to go with the decorating, but it's a start :)

birthday card

2011-05-01T15:38:00.002+02:00

Just a small stitchy update. I made a birthday card for someone who could use a little cheering up. At the moment I (or someone else) seem to have misplaced the pattern for the baby-afghan, all 'find-lost-item'-vibes are welcome ;-)

In between these updates, I've taken a little trip to Lourdes. It was Jelena's first big trip. We went by car, she was such a good girl!

She's really changing these last few weeks, she can now really crawl on hands and knees, althoug the other way goes faster at this moment, so she still prefers that. She's also trying to stand, and pulls herself straight on anything she can.

Last wednesday, she turned 10 months.

And here's the result of my Easter-baking. The writing on it was done with white chocolate. The result was really yummy! :)
the glacing wasn't dry yet, on the pic.

And lastly, thank you everyone who has been commenting on my blog, I appreciate them all! And welcome to the new follower(s)! :-)

Back...

2011-04-14T19:22:00.003+02:00

A late update...

Health
We've had another round of little health-problems, I suffered about a week from a flue-like something, Jelena had an ear-infection, she passed the ear-infection to me by sneezing in my face, got an infected eye out of it (ouch!), and now we both have a cold :( So here's hoping to finally get rid of all the bugs...

Stitching
Not much stitching happened, with tiredness, bugs and bacteria, and FROGS! The frogs seem to love my new baby afghan, but by being persistent, I finally managed to get the first square done, at this rate, she'll have it just in time for her own kids!

And on request: here's a pic of the whole LK SAL

RAK'ed!
A little while ago, Meari wrote about a Tide Pin on her blog, I commented that sounded really handy, but I've never seen such a thing around here. Such a wonderfully as she is, she e-mailed me she was going to send me a Pen! Last week the package arrived, it didn't only have a Tide Pen inside, but some other wonderful goodies as wel:

And since I don't remember if I ever mentioned these on my blog (luckily I do remember e-mailing the people to thank them):
These was rak'ed by Evalina because I became her 100th follower.

stitching on clothing will be a whole new experience. I'm keeping it for when Jelena is a bit bigger :)

And this came from Lisa N

Thanks ladies!!!

Jelena has already turned 9 months, she can now go back to sitting after crawling.

LK SAL: finished

2011-03-15T20:31:00.003+01:00

I finished the last stamp on Sunday, so I'm done with the LK-SAL. The group started a new LK-SAL, but I've opted not to do this one, since I still have so many projects to do, although it is with a little regret, as I've really come to like the Lizzie Kate designs!

In the meantime, I seem to be catching all the bugs out there, hardly recovered from one cold, and I (and unfortunately Jelena too) have the next one! Luckily it's allmost spring!

I bouhgt a Baby Afgan at a fair, a good week ago, came home, realised it was one of the choices I'd selected last year at 123-stitch (but didn't buy at that time due to circumstances), and that even with the sending-cost from America, it would still have saved me 10 euro's, it was not such a good day :-( Now of course, I have to get started on the Afghan, so Jelena won't have outgrown it by the time I've finished!
Jelena is still mostly 'dragging' (snake-like) over the floor (fast!). She does put herself on hands and knees sometimes, but doesn't quite get it yet. She's also almost putting herself in sit-position from lying down.

get out of my way, coming through!

solving cross-word puzzles!

LK SAL: two for one

2011-02-28T21:04:00.003+01:00

hi there

Yesterday, I was too lasy to go pick up the cable to transfer the pics to the computer, but in the meantime I finished not one stamp but two of the LK-SAL, so now only december is left to stitch.

click for bigger pic

Look at her go ...
My little baby is growing soooo fast, she turned 8 (EIGHT!) months old yesterday. I just can't believe where the time went. My little baby girl has two teeth by now, can sit of you put her that way (until she's distracted and falls sideways), andddddd she's moving! Not 'crawling' yet, but she's going forward and fast! Nothing is safe anymore, and the words 'no, don't do that', have made their entry in our household.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post!
Comments are loved and appreciated :)

LK-SAL: 3/4 done!

2011-02-13T11:13:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

I finished another stamp! Now, be honest, you didn't expect one so fast did you ;)

Now, I need to clean up in the house a bit (blush), and then on to the next one!

And just because, here is another pic (or two) of Jelena :)

LK-SAL: August

2011-01-31T19:12:00.004+01:00

Stitching update
yes, I finally have another update! You thought I'd be quicker from now on, didn't you! :-) But no, stitching-mojo left me hanging, probably scared off by my tiredness.
So I begged for him to return, so I could at least finish one little LK-stamp this month, and look...! I did it, not without lots of visits from the frogs, but none the less, it's done, finished, all stitched up!

I hope stitching-mojo will stay around this time, because I really would like to stitch up the next months a bit quicker!

New stash!
I treated myself to some new stash (but please don't ask me when I'll ever be able to stitch it)
*

Jelena
Can you believe she's 7 months already!? She likes to hold big converstations now, they go like this: dadadadadaiiidaidaidaikaallalaprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpffft One time she had to have al talk at 2 AM :-)
The poor darling is getting her first tooth, she's drooling, biting, and in pain :-(
She really loves her vegetables now, eats everything she's served, lets hope it stays that way!
A week and a half I also started giving her fruit, she likes it! :-) Apple, pear and banana so far.
*

I'm still trying to get the remaining pregnancy-kilos off, I can fit most of my clothes again (even if some are a bit too tight), but I still get remarks from some people about my figure :-(

In Memorian

Rene, you will never be forgotten!

A baby is a gift from God

2011-01-06T21:04:00.003+01:00

First of all, happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2011 will bring time with your friends and family, stash and stitching time and especially good health!
My new years baking was very simple, didn't have time to try something more adventurous, but it was tasty.

I've finished Rene's gift! It still needs to be ironed, washed, and then framed, but here's a pic of how it's going to look:

That pic is from when she was about 4 hours old :)

And here's another pic of the cutie (that almost never wants to smile on camera, the moment she see's you're going to take a pic, away goes that smile!)

stitch-a-ton

2010-12-27T22:13:00.004+01:00

A couple of days ago, we recieved bad news about the health of one of our moderators of ILCS, one of the members suggested a stitch-a-thon in honor of our moderator. Here's what I accomplished:

LK-SAL
I finished the next in line: July

New WIP
I started a project that was RAK'ed to me by Rene (view my blog-entree april 4th): A Baby is a gift from God
(and what better project to start now?)

6 months!
Today my darling daughter turned six months young, where did the time go??

And the winner

2010-12-25T22:18:00.001+01:00

of my 50-followers give-away is Donna's Stitching. Congrats Donna!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T22:21:00.002+01:00

Jelena and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

vegetable time!
Since Jelena is turning six months old (young), it's time to start with vegetables. It wasn't a big succes yet, ah well, she'll learn with time I guess.

Christmas baking
I've been baking ...

LK SAL
I finished the next one in line: June
On the July...

all pics are clickable

LK SAL: May

2010-12-15T21:27:00.003+01:00

My wish came true, I finished May a LOT faster than april :) But boy, am I tired!

Here's a piccie (click to enlarge)

by the way: Mel is having a 200 followers give-away, go check it out!

LK SAL: april

2010-12-12T20:25:00.003+01:00

Having a little girl that prefers to spend the evenings in mummy's arms is not productive for mummy's stitching, so even this little pattern took me more than a month! (schock!!)
But I finally managed to finish the April stamp.

Hopefully I'll get May done a bit faster!

Sinterklaas and Give-Away

2010-12-06T21:39:00.004+01:00

Sinterklaas
kapoentje,
leg wat in mijn schoentje,
leg wat in mijn laarsje,
dank u Sinterklaasje!

It's the 6th of December, the day to celebrate Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas brings gifts and candy to those who've been good, and black coal to those who have been naughty! The kids give their wish-list and hope the good man will bring something from the list.
Of course Jelena is way to young to celebrate Sinterklaas, and yet, a tiny shoe appeared at the fire-place, with a carrot for the horse of Sinterklaas, and apparently a wish-list. The good man obviously understood what she wanted, because ... a new pacifier was lying in the shoe.

Weather
While it's not actually winter yet, the weather is obviously winter-like! Brrrr, it's cold outside! And ... we had snow!

give-away!
Since today is a day for gifts, it's the perfect day to announce my 50 followers (+1) give-away! (thanks everyone for being interested in my blog!)
The give-away once again contains 2 magazines from Borduurblad: the numbers 4 and 6 and a kit (aïda fabric, dmc-floss)

The drawing will happen on another perfect day for gifts: 25th december!

little model

No news worth mentioning on the stitchy front :(

All pics are clickable

Shelley's giveaway

2010-11-14T20:35:00.002+01:00

Shelley is having a birthday giveaway. Found it about it on her blog

And the winner is...

2010-11-11T10:05:00.005+01:00

giveaway

There were 16 people wanting a chance of winning the give-away, and the winner is ...
(sorry, no pic of it, the light was to bad to make it readable)

MEARI Congrats Meari!! Please contact me with your adress so I can send the package your way :)

Since I have 50 (+1) followers, I'll do another give-away soon, so stay tuned!

Thank you all for the birthday-wishes!
So yesterday was my birthday, 30! I survived it :) Had a nice lunch at my parents house, had some cake. Boohoo, no new stash, but my sister have some cash, so I can go shopping myself :)

Let's (rock and) roll!
Jelena is now also rolling from back to tummy, and she really really really likes it! Every time I lay her down (doesn't matter where: bed, box, play-carpet, when she need's to be changed ...), she rolls to her tummy! It's been a week now, and she's still not tired of it. It also means I have to go 'rescue' her and turn her back (even though she can roll from tummy to back herself), everytime she gets too tired.

Blog give-away!

2010-11-04T22:12:00.005+01:00

In honor (ahum) of my upcoming birthday (the big 3!), I'm organising a give-away. The prize are 2 magazines borduurblad number 13 and 14 and a kit Gerbéra Saumon.

The patterns in the magazines are to be stitched with DMC.

Just leave a comment on this post if you want to be added to the give-away.
I'll be drawing a name on 10/11/2010.

Here you can also find some free patterns from this magazine!

LK SAL: march

2010-10-20T20:50:00.003+02:00

I finally finished the next one in the LK SAL: March. The others are about done with october, but we won't think about that!
Here's a piccie:

On other news, Jelena is now almost 4 months (only one week to go), she can now roll from tummy to back, she 'talks' and laughs, just a joy to watch and hear. The formulae-milk did not go so well, I had to change it a couple of times, I hope I now have the right one, because it's just awfull to see her in such pain from the cramps :(

Mel's giveaway

2010-10-10T20:23:00.000+02:00

Mel is holding a giveaway on her blog. Go check it out!

LK-SAL: february

2010-09-24T17:00:00.005+02:00

LK-SAL
Soooo, we're almost a month later ... and I finally finished another piece of my LK-SAL. Since I didn't have any inspiration on how to finish these stamps (and since I can't sew, there aren't that many things I can make), I decided to make one big piece.

Proud mummy!
Can't believe she's now almost 3 (three!) months old, where did those weeks go?? She's now at the stage of making funny sounds (prrr, wawa, hé), and putting everything in her mouth.

Unfortunately, I have only one more week of vacation-time and then it's back to work (but luckily I start on half days), so I'll have to start her on powder-milk (keeping fingers crossed the transition goes smoothly!)

LK-SAL: january

2010-08-31T16:08:00.003+02:00

SAL
Finally a cross-stitch update! Time just flies by and my cross-stitch just lies there :(, but now I managed to complete January of the LK-SAL from the CSL-group

I didn't have the suggested fabric for it, just used what I have: 18 ct Aïda champagne color.
I stitched without buttons or beads, might add them later, when I find something that fits.

2 months old!
Unbelievable that she's already 2 months and a few days old! She's growing so fast, the newborn clothes are making place for '3-months' clothes. My maternity-leave is almost over, yikes! Luckily I still have my holiday-time saved up, so I can stay home for 4 more weeks.

click pic to enlarge

babygifts!

2010-07-29T18:37:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I got a big surprise in the mail! The mailman rang the doorbell and had a package in his hand, I hadn't ordered anything though! Then I saw the sticker of airmail on the package and the name Debbie B., I recognised the name as a member of the ILCSgroup. Inside I found a nice card, and two very cute and beautiful outfits!

and here's another piccie of the cutie that's going to be wearing them :)

Princesje would like some attention too, so she got a new haircut :)

Egypt: the promised pic

2010-07-20T20:01:00.005+02:00

The Egyptian Empire by Maria Van Scharrenburg got started on 01/01/2009 and finished on 18/07/2010, so I've been working on it for a longtime. I'm so happy (and proud) to have it finished. Especially the backstitches were a challenge. Egypt is a cross-stitch kit from Lanarte.
Finished size: 47x56 cm
Stitched on 27ct evenweave

And because I'm a proud mommy, some pics of my cute daughter :)

A big finish!

2010-07-19T15:21:00.002+02:00

I've been saying for about a month that Egypt was ALMOST finished, almost to my frustration, lol, but since yesterday, I can say, it's FINISHED! A pic will follow as soon as it's cleaned up a bit and ironed.

Can't believe my daughter is already 3 weeks old, and boy does she have a strong grip, she really seems to enjoy pulling my hair! I guess it will be ponytails from now on for me :) When she's on her belly, she can push up enough and lift her head and turn it from one side to the other.

Cindy's giveaway

2010-07-12T20:35:00.002+02:00

Cindy is doing a blog-giveaway in celebration of her 100th follower. Interested? Go check her blog

2010-07-03T20:53:00.007+02:00

Stitchy update
I was working on Egypt, as previously said, hoping to have it finished before baby came, and I was becoming sooooo close. (un?)fortunately baby decided to come about a day to soon to have it done. But here's a pic of the last part I was working on:

So the big news
On the 27th of june (just a few days after my last check-up in which there were absolutely NO signs labour was going to start in the next days), my water broke at 3.45 AM. So off to the hospital I went. I had before hoped to have an underwater delivery, but the new hospital forgot about the waterpipes for the bath, so no underwater delivery was possible. I did want to do everything without any pain-meds, and once again, it wasn't possible. At 12.30 the doctor came in and decided for me I would need an epidurale, because the labour wasn't going as needed, and they were going to stimulate it. At 18.30 hours, my daughter was born (with a lot of pushing on my belly by the mid-wife, OUCH!). Call me crazy (every one does), but I had so hoped she would wait until it was July to be born :(
She measures 50 centimeters (19,68 inches??), and 3540 grams (7,80 pounds??), she recieved the name Jelena.
Here's the cutie at 4 hours old

and yesterday

More Egypt

2010-06-22T18:00:00.006+02:00

Egypt has grown nicely (even if I do say so myself, lol) since last time. I'm taking advantage of the last days of my pregnancy to get as much stitching in, as I can - since it will probably be a while then before I can sit down and stitch again. So here's a pic of where I am today:

With the 'palmzuil' (Palmate Column) and the Albasten sfinx (Albaster sfinx) finished, and also the border, I finished the right side of the pattern! Yay me :) Egypt might even get finished one day!

The Egyptian Empire: tempel Aboe Simbel + Horus

2010-06-14T11:31:00.006+02:00

Stitching

A week and a half ago, the doctor gave me the OK to be a bit more 'active' again, so I've been sitting up more again, and taking mini-walks. The sitting up gave me the possibility to take up the stitching of the Egyptian Empire again. Remember where I left of?

I've been working on the Temple Aboe Simbel first (the statues behind King Tut) and then the statue Horus next to it. Here's a pic of the stitched area and one of the whole work. Next on the agenda is 'palmzuil'.

a bigger version of the pic can be found here webshots album

Pregnancy
I've hit the 37 weeks pregnancy mark! So from now, the baby is allowed to come from the doctor, I personally hope baby stays where it is for about 2 more weeks (or 3). It's wierd, but it's like I really need those 2 weeks mentally. And I have a tour of the maternity ward planned on the 24th (second try, the first appointment couldn't go through because I was put on rest) and I really would like to be able to make that appointment, I think I'd be more relaxed through the delivery if I have that preparation. We'll see have everything goes... as long as baby is healthy!

Another biscornu

2010-06-04T14:55:00.005+02:00

I finally managed to put together the third stitched up biscornu. This one is 39x39 in size.

(click to biggify)
This one is made from two free patterns from Miss T

Thanks everyone who's encouraged me in trying the afghan, I'm still doubting my own skills though :(, also thanks to everyone who voted :) For now Eyeore has won :)

Now I'm going to enjoy the hot weather a bit more (before it's too hot for me), since it will only last a couple of days.

Biscornus

2010-05-30T17:27:00.007+02:00

Since I have to take things easy, and try to keep bed-rest, I decided to try to stitch some little things (the pattern for Egypt is just a 'tiny little bit' to big work with :-) ) and decided on some biscornus. I've finished these two, one with a button and one without. The motives are 25x25 stitches, so these are real small ones. I've got one more to put together, a slighty bigger one 37x37 stitches

Someone asked me if I was going to make a baby afghan, that made me think about it :-) I'm in doubt if I have enough skill to make a beautifull afghan, but the question certainly made me interested in them! Unfortunately, it's not something I can find in my LNS, so it would mean some overseas shopping. I've been looking at 123stitch, and would prefer a kit, so I'm sure I have all the right things. But which to chose?; which ones do you like the most?
1 Snoozy Day
2 Pooh with bees
3 Eeyore
4 Sleepy Bunnies
5 Sweet Animal
6 B is for Baby
7 I have another idea...

For those following my pregnancy, I'm still and the meds to stop contractions, hopefully I'll know more soon, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed - praying - hoping that baby stays put where it is for a week or 4-5 more :) If you want to take a guess as to the babies gender (if you already know, please don't tell), there's a poll in the sidebar

Second finish of the year

2010-05-12T17:53:00.005+02:00

Winnie the Pooh Calender
Sunday evening, I finished the last backstitch on Tigger (March). With that finished I have my second finish of the year! Here's a detail of the last two months and a pic of the whole calender.

Pooh and Friends is a counted cross-stitch kit from Vervaco: 2575/70.910 stitched on a 14 ct Aïda. Finished size: 25 x45 cm (14" x 18").

giveaway's
Chef Tiger is having a giveaway here. Go check it out.

RAK
Dawn (no blogger) gifted me with a pattern and some floss! This is a totally new kind of floss for me, so anyone have ideas how I can use, please tell :)

Pregnancy update
Monday, it turned it I already have some contractions, since I'm only 32 weeks along, that's way to early :( So now I'm on meds to stop the contractions, and I need to rest as much as possible. Please tell the baby it needs to wait to come into the world!

Winnie the pooh Calender: only two left

2010-05-08T14:09:00.003+02:00

Hi all,

I finished two more months of the calender, so now only June and March are left to do. I'm working on June right now, hope to finish it today, so hopefully sometime next week I'll have my second finish of the year! For now, here's a pic of December and September.

Winnie the pooh Calender: two more

2010-05-04T22:19:00.006+02:00

Saturday I finished two more months of the calender which makes it 8/12th finished :) This part has another cute piglet, but here too, the backstitching was no fun; it looked nowhere near the pic of the kit, so I ripped them out again, and based myself on the pic instead of on the pattern and it looks much better now. :)

Pregnancy update
The furniture for the baby's room arrived on friday, saturday everything was set-up. So I'm starting on the clothes now. I recieved a lot of babies clothes from other people, but most are for 6 months, so I guess it's shopping-time! :-)
Here's a new piccie of me at 30 weeks.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Winnie The Pooh Calender: halfway there

2010-04-27T18:17:00.003+02:00

Waw, updates are coming fast this time :) I finished two more months (January and April) and with these, I'm halfway through the year :) These motives were fun to work on, and fast stitches, but the backstitches in little pigglet were a bit less fun. But he looks great, so he's forgiven, lol! Click piccie to biggify.

Winnie The Pooh Calender: update

2010-04-22T20:10:00.003+02:00

I've finished two more months: February and May. With these two the middle row is finished and 'only' 8 more months to go :)
Comments are loved and appreciated!

Newest WIP

2010-04-14T20:49:00.005+02:00

I started, or rather RE-started the Winnie The Pooh Calender. The frogs seemed to adore August though! Luckily they didn't really pester me on November :-) This is an easy stitch, so you'd think I'd avance quickly, but of course, as everything, it seems to go soooo slow! But anyway 2 months down, 10 to go :-)

Also Vicky is holding a blog-giveaway in honor of her 40th birthday with some very nice goodies! Go check it out.

2010-04-07T11:42:00.007+02:00

The Egyptian Empire
As I wrote in the last post, I've been working on Egypt, especially on Toetanchamon. I have finished him now, with all the backstitching (except the part where the other statues still need to come)

RAK'ed

Rene send me a very nice gift for the baby, it's a kit from Dimensions 'Gift from God'. Thank you Rene!

New start!
I have started my newest WIP, a pic coming soon!

Just because I like it
here's a pic of a rainbow, just because I happen to like them, lol!

First finish of the year

2010-03-31T20:31:00.006+02:00

A finish!
Last friday I was happy dancing because I finally have a finish. It only took my 3 months in the year :-) As you probably guessed my finish is the Animal SAL from the CSL group. This SAL actually finished a while ago, but I was way behind.

RAK'ed
Emily sent me a pattern she had recently finished, in case the little one I'm expecting is a girl. She even sent some floss! I still don't know it's gender but strangely enough everyone (except for my mother) who has taken a guess to the baby's gender thinks it's a girl.

Not really a RAK but a very nice gift from one of my co-workers who knitted a blanket

Egyptian Empire
I've been stitching a little more on Egypt, the stitches on Toetanchamon are finished, but he still requieres a lot (really a lot!) of backstitches, most of them in the so loved gold metallic.

A bit of this and that

2010-03-23T16:58:00.004+01:00

Animal SAL 9/10

Part 9 is finished!! Well, almost finished actually, because the white you can see between the pinks/red/purples, still needs to be filled with purple, but I'm out of DMC 553 for the moment. Will fix it when I'm doing part 10. I'm still hoping to make this one my first finish of the year by the end of the month, let's see if I can make it!

Winnie The Pooh year calender

I mentioned before that I had started the Winnie calender, but had a problem with it. This is what I had stitched on it, but I had a problem with the fabric (my own fault), and the stitches didn't really want to stay where they were supposed on one spot. I did get them fixed eventually, but I was soooo not happy with it. I e-mailed vervaco and explained them the problem, they immediately told me they would sent me a new piece of fabric and the thread I had already used. Two days later I already had it in the mail-box. And now to restart with it...

Blog winnings

As some might remember, I was the lucky recipient of Mel's blog-giveaway. I recieved this a couple of weeks ago, and remembered to let Mel know, but forgot to post here. Sorry about the bad pic.

The Egyptian Empire

While I was waiting to recieve the next part of the Animal SAL, I picked Egypt out from under the dust it was collecting. First piccie is where I left of somewhere in october/november 2009. Second pic is a detail of the work done on it, and last pic is a complete view of it. As you can see, I worked some on the statues behind the Pharao, also did some backstitching on the Pharao, with the much loved DMC gold metallic.

Pregnancy update

So, this is me, about one week ago (at 24 weeks pregnant), big belly no?; My father thinks so anyway, he asked me if the doctor had prescribed me candy instead of meds. I'm starting to feel it in my back though, so I bought a support band, hope it will help. The furniture for the room has been ordered, yay! Will be delivered in about 6 weeks :-) The little one is stubbornly keeping its gender hidden from mommy, but it's healthy, and that's the most important. It does prevent me from going wild in clothes shopping though, but that's a good thing, right? :-) It is a bit hard missing my work collegues though.

Animal SAL 8/10

2010-03-07T18:58:00.006+01:00

I've managed to reach my self-set goal and finish up the 8th part by the end of the week, only two more to go now! Sorry nog pic of the Pooh-kit yet, I had a little problem there, but I'll write more about it, when I have a pic to share.

Other news, I got a bit of a shock when I wanted to know how much I weigh now, but it turns out the scale doesn't work right, so it's wait and see untill I had my doctor's check-up. It's also been quite an emotional week, with me crying for no reason, but well, it's hormones you know! The blood-pressure is under control for now with the meds and the home-stay, although I'm worried now because I think I forgot one of my four daily pills :-(

Animal SAL part 7

2010-02-28T19:27:00.005+01:00

Yay, I managed another update for this month :-)

I finished the 7th part of this 10 part mystery SAL.

I've also made a start on the Winnie The Pooh kit I bought a couple of weeks ago. No pic yet, due to too many real live distractions.

I've also noticed I'll have to bend my no new stash rule a tiny little bit, I really desperately need new needles, to replace my (shame on me) bended needles. I probably have about 2 good needles left :(

Animal SAL part 6

2010-02-18T11:51:00.003+01:00

Looks at last stitching update, oh dear, time goes fast! I finally got around to finishing up the next part of my (not so mystery anymore) animal SAL. Oh, and I finally got an e-mail back from Lanarte, they couldn't really help me much because the pattern is out of their collection, but I'm just glad they at least let me know something.

I'm a bit sad

2010-02-12T19:28:00.003+01:00

It's been decided, I have to stay home in sick-leave from the doctor because of my blood-pressure. I thought I was prepared for this kind of news (he already mentioned it 4 weeks ago) but still, now that it's reality, some tears appeared. Especially because of some reactions from my sister and father.

Good thing I already bought the Winnie The Pooh kit, because I'll have to watch the money a bit closer now, so no more new stash for now :(

Hopefully a stitchy update soon.

Mystery Animal SAL part 5

2010-01-25T12:09:00.009+01:00

I've finaly been able to pick my needles back up and stitch the 5th part of this SAL. I had originaly already started this part back in november and done half of it, but when I started the bird, I noticed I had forgotten that there was an overlay of 3 stitches, big booboo! (and not good for my high blood-pressure, lol!) So after frogging it all, I didn't feel like stitching anymore at all! But after a few months (and new stash...), and my BP doing better (let's keep fingers crossed it stays that way!) I started this one again.

So here's part 5:

Curious about the stash I mentioned? Well... I bought this one I'm sure you can image for who this will be :-) I hope to start this one soon, but would like to have the animal SAL finished first.

I still also have 'Egypt' lying around, but the part I started seems wrong compared to the pic provided by Lanarte, it looks like 2 colors are switched, it's probably me who's wrong, but I asked Lanarte anyway, back in october already, they don't seem to find it necessary to answer :( It's a shame, this has been a really expensive kit, and this has diminished my trust in them (I mean, really, is it so hard to at least acknowledge my message?), but well, maybe I'm wrong for feeling that way (being overly emotional and all, lol)?

And to end the newyears-month, I want to thank everyone again for the cards I recieved, I had a nice display in my house with all the cards

Last post of the year

2009-12-30T16:04:00.003+01:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Mine was spent with the family, a little bit with sadness, as we had a funeral on the 24th (an uncle of mine).

Someone asked what was wrong with my fur-baby, she had an infection of the uterus. It was already that bad, that there was a little hole in it, and the infection had spread in her tummy. The vet wondered how we didn't notice before, but really one day she looked perfectly fine (still coming for cuddling, eating normaly, going outside when she needed, jumping in the sofa by herself) and the next day, she couldn't walk anymore. But she's all fine again, as you can see in piccie below :-)

Still no stitchy updates...

2009-12-14T16:58:00.002+01:00

Wondering were the updates are? There won't be any very soon. Stitching has come to a complete stop, I just can't seem to do it, high blood pressure is making things difficult. But I've got meds now, so hopefully everything will get sorted out soon.

On the positive note, my little fur-baby has made a great recovery! She was really shaking when she had to go back to the vet to removed the stitches out of her tummy, and she was really weak for about a week, but now she's back playing with her toys (and that at almost 13 years old!) I'll try to get a pic of my little one up next time.

Fur-babies

2009-11-28T13:24:00.003+01:00

Last thursday we had quite a scare, my little 12 year old fur-baby suddenly didn't seem to respond to anything anymore. So she was rushed to the vet. He operated on her the same evening, she almost stayed in the sedation, but my tough little girl pulled through. Recovery is taking a while of coursse, but she's definately doing better. Here's to hoping here recovery continues and she can stay with me for a couple more years.

Birthday Stash

2009-11-10T18:35:00.001+01:00

So, today is my 29th birthday, and yes I got new stash from my family! I recieved the Lanarte kits Day and Night by designer Maria Van Scharrenburg. These have been on my wish list for a long time. So I'm a happy girl :-)

The Egyptian Empire

2009-11-09T12:52:00.003+01:00

Well, being confined to bed is no fun! And of course, stitching is quite impossible as well. But, I did get some stitching done before my enforced bedrest, and my mother took a piccie of it for me :-)

I was working on lanarte kit The Egyptian Empire by Maria Van Scharrenburg. I did a look of work on Toetanchamon. This Farao demands lots of work, because there are tons of backstitches in it, and most of those backstitches are in DMC gold metallic, and that's not always fun to work with.

So let me know what you think of it so far.

and now it's back to bed for me...

Mystery Animal SAL part 4/10

2009-10-28T21:47:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I've updated, oops!

It's not because I haven't been stitching though :-) I've been working on the mystery SAL, this time with a print-out. It seemed my printer was hungry for more ink, silly printer not telling me such a small detail! So after feeding the printer, I got a very nice print out of it. That did help a lot to get the stitching done faster. And this is the result...

I've also been practising my culinary skills, by making a vegetable quiche and a clafoutis for dessert for a dinner party, but well that hasn't got anything to do with the subject :-)

Anyway, can I also interest anyone in an update on the Great Empire of Egypt?

And a stupid question, what do I have to do to get a notification when someone leaves a comment on my blog?

Mystery Animal SAL 3/10

2009-10-15T18:10:00.003+02:00

I finished the third part of the mystery SAL, and the mystery is starting to get revealed :-) I even did the backstitches this time for all the parts! I did have trouble with this part, because my printer seems to have taken a dislike to me, and decided to make it al quite unreadable, so I had to follow the pattern on the computer screen - which made me lose my place in the pattern often times. So I was very glad to be done with it! On to part 4...

Exchanges sent

2009-10-13T21:24:00.005+02:00

This post is about the exchenges I sent out.
I didn't really have many small Disney patterns, so I had no other choice (yeah right!) but to go stash-shopping. My LNS unfortunately seems to be diminishing their cross-stitch section, but I did find one pattern-book from Winnie the Pooh, the ONLY Disney one they had. I chose a silhoutte-pattern with Tigger, Winnie and Piglet.
Made on 18 count Aïda.

The Magnet - does it look familiar to you - yes, I chose the same pattern as Nel, who sent me a Magnet. Luckily I didn't have to send back to her :-) The pattern comes from Borduurblad 33. It was a fun quick stitch. Also made on 18 count Aïda.

Next update: Tommorow - Animal SAL part 3

Exchanges recieved

2009-10-13T21:09:00.005+02:00

I participated in two exchanges on the Dutch forum of the EMS cross-stitch board. One was a Disney Bookmark and one was an magnet with Autumn as the subject. I recieved two gorgeous exchanges. The bookmark was from Margot. She stitched Kwik, Kwek and Kwak.

The Magnet came from Nel, she stitched up a very cute magnet. It's in a protective plastic coaster, so it won't get dirty.

But I also had a few surprises in the mail. Evalina's blog give-away arrived, she gave me a pattern called 'Happiness' and a book of patterns 'Critter Careers'. And another surprise, I recieved my very first RAK. Lisa Nicholson send me three Winny The Pooh patterns.

Thanks everyone!

also
Annette is doing a blog give-away to celebrate her 6th blog anniversary. Check it out here: http://www.annettesacre.com/stitchblog/

Mystery animal SAL part 2

2009-09-26T18:00:00.002+02:00

I've been a good girl, and have been working on part 2 as soon as I recieved it. Last time I barely made the 'deadline', so I decided to do better this time! I still have a week left now :-)
Still haven't done any of the backstitches though.

For the rest I have been working on two exchanges on the Dutch EMS board: a Disney bookmark, and a magnet with the subject Autumn. No piccies until everything has been finished up and recieved by my partners.

Last weekend

2009-09-26T09:32:00.011+02:00

Last weekend, I went away on weekend to the Ardennen. We visited the castle of Veves. It's an 8th century castle, with other parts build on the original castle later on. It was the stronghold of the Lords of Beaufort, and the residence to their descendants, the Counts de Liedekerke Beaufort.

On the way back to our staying home we made a stop in Dinant.

In the afternoon we had a guided walk, we passed the Belgian borders into France. We went all the way up a look-out tower
It was quite a climb, but the view was definately worth it.

Had a lovely brunch on sunday, and then back home (with first some sightseeing) we went.

Egypt update

2009-09-16T20:07:00.003+02:00

As promised last time, this time I bring an update on my BAP Egypt. I've been working on one of the pilars and I also did some of the border. The backstitch of the border is in gold metallic thread. This pattern uses a lot of the gold metallic. For now, the thread seems to be cooperating :-)

I've also been working on a mystery animal SAL for the CLS-group. This is the first part. I'm still lacking two colors, so it's not complete yet, and I also haven't done the backstitching yet.

A finish and some other stuff

2009-09-03T19:17:00.004+02:00

I finally managed to finish Tiger's Chick! All those fractional stitches on the Aïda made it take a longer, but it's done! :-)

The last weekend of August, it's a bit of a tradition to go to the flower corso in Blankenberge. This year the theme was art. The flowers of Van Gogh, Magrit, Picasso... all made in flowers. These are two examples. More can be found at my webshots-page. (http://community.webshots.com/user/Katrien22)

I also have my own vegatable garden (tomatoes, beans, lettuce, potatoes), but this is a big example of a potatoe! It's about 24 cm long. It's too big for me, lol!

Next update will (hopefully) be about the Egypt-WIP!

Mel's blog give away

2009-08-25T21:36:00.004+02:00

Mel (http://www.thedailymel.com/) is doing a give away on her blog to celebrate her 8 years of blogging. Go check it out! Deadline is august 26.
http://www.thedailymel.com/2009/08/16/blog-candy-time/

The Big Ask again

2009-08-23T19:33:00.001+02:00

Next saturday (august 29th 2009), there will be another Big Ask dancing event in Ostend. See what's it all about, and the clip from last year here:

http://www.thebigask.be/nl/node/411

Late weekend update

2009-08-20T19:33:00.001+02:00

First of all, those finishes I promised in my last update! I made two small X-mass ornies. Both are made on 16 count Aïda. They're mostly try-outs as I never made any before. Don't know if I'm entirely happy with them...

I also made the same snow-man motief on a smaller count (18) Aïda, for a X-mass card, and made a card for my best friend who just bought a house.

Just as last year, the neighbourhood had a small hobby-expostion during the anual festivities. I had my own stand again this year. As you might guess, the Monopoly was a huge succes :-) My mother also had a stand this year.

and last but not least: since we were expected to stay at the exposition and do some work, I took a smaller piece with me (the Egypt is just to big to take to such places): Tiggers Chick

The Great Empire of Egypt update

2009-08-14T23:00:00.000+02:00

I have not been stitching as much as I would have liked - I used the month off from the IUI's for a thorough house-cleaning - but I did stitch some on my WIP. The pillars in backstitching are done, as well as the Hator Temple. The pillars were quite complicated, as sometines it went over one, other times over two but the pattern was not always very clear about it. I'm happy with the result though.

I had a few small finishes as well, but I forgot to take a pic. Will put them in a next post.

In a previous post, I showed the bookmark I made for Lila. I recieved a very beautiful bookmark from Lila in return, as you can see here: Thank you Lila!

new sofa's arrived

2009-08-14T22:56:00.000+02:00

I bought new sofa's several weeks ago. They finally arrived. It was quite an ordeal getting them through the door. Thanks to a dose of manpower, my seats are were they are supposed to be. We did find three (!) needles after we removed the old seats (hangs head in shame)

Dutch Typing Speedtest

2009-08-13T10:30:00.000+02:00

A little test I found thanks to Annette's blog (http://annette-werkjes.blogspot.com/). Since I took typing classes many years ago, and took my exams in speed-typing in four languages, I thought let's see if I'm still any good at it :-)

73 words

Speed test

You reached 350 points, so you achieved position 365 of 2266 on the ranking list

You type 447 characters per minute
You have 73 correct words and
you have 1 wrong words

real life stuff

2009-07-24T20:49:00.000+02:00

Yes, I said I wouldn't mention my real life to much on here, and now I do it two post after another...

After my failed 9th IUI-attempt, I went back full of courage and hope to my doctor on the 12th of my cycle for the check-up, turns out I now have a cyste, so I'm out of the running for a couple of months :-(
I have wished for a baby for years, it took 7 months to get the acceptance for the IUI-treatment, and that for 12 treatments, I'm already panicking because I only have approval for 3 treatments left, and then I have to start the whole procedure up again (and of course pay it all again too). So yes, I'm stressed about it :-(

June update, continued

2009-07-08T21:05:00.000+02:00

This bookmark pattern comes from Cyberstitchers.com It stitches up very quickly and I liked the result more than I thought I would.

This one was made for the ILCS bookmark exchange.

I grabbed pieces from several patterns, to make a bookmark for Lila, with her favorite color (blue) en subject (butterflys). I hope she liked it.

The next one was a small kit from cross-stitch greeting cards called 'pottery maker'. It was a quick stitch, fun to make.

On personal news, the 9th IUI-attempt was another big failure, and I'm really beginning to think I'll never become a mum., and my doctor just doesn't listen to my concers. Every one who knows I was trying is wondering why I still haven't brought any good news, and people are then wondering why I'm feeling so depressed?!

June update

2009-07-08T20:57:00.000+02:00

After my earlier small finishes, I decided to rescue my BAP "The Great Empire of Egypt" from the treat of becoming an UFO :-)

So for the last two weeks of june, I have been working on this one.

This is how it looked on June 30th:

I also got another finish: the small Kit I recieved from Rene. It's a pattern called Welcome. My father immediately wanted it for his house!

some finishes

2009-06-12T23:20:00.000+02:00

Since my emotional state isn't the best, stitchings has been real slow the last couple of weeks (and even a bit longer), so I kept myself to some small projects to at least see some progress happening. I finished two smal lanarte kits:

I also won a blog give-away from Rene a couple of weeks ago, she sent me a cute little kit 'Welcome' and have already started on it (bad quality pic!)

That's it for now.

2009-06-10T18:48:00.000+02:00

My first post on this blog :)

I'm an avid cross-stitcher and proud mama of a furbaby Princesje. This blog will mostly contain updates of my stitching and stash-shopping. Not much happens in my regular life, so don't expect much from that, lol.

what kind of patterns do I like?, Anything Native American (before I discovered the wonderful world of online shops, those kind of patterns where veeeerrrryyyy hard to find for me), wolves, fantasy, Disney (especially Winnie The Pooh), dollhouses, horses and much more, lol!
Piccies of my work (and a wishlist) can be seen at Webshots: http://community.webshots.com/user/Katrien22

What kind of other things do I like?, I have lots and lots of books, and I love miniatures and dollhouses.