Fair & Square round 5 and another finish...

I got word from Danica that she received my squares in Round 5 of the Fair & Square exchange so here they are:
And today I did some finishing, when watching "Idols" last night I did the last stitching on it and today I finished it in a biscornu:
It is stitched with the lovely silk I received in the surprise exchange on a Silkweaver fabric which I forgot the name of... I think it was something with "clouds" in it...

Spring fever...

With two beautiful weekends behind us I was getting a bit of spring fever, and since I had to stitch something for Verona in the birthday exchange of our Dutch group, I decided to stitch her the needleroll of the "Spring fobs" pattern from Heart in Hand. Thursday was Verona's birthday and she ysterday told me she has received her package. So here is the needleroll:
I already made her Heart Fob from this pattern earlier, so now she has a set! Now I don't have that many "obligations" on the stitch front anymore, and I decided to take a break from the Fair & Square exchange for a while and so did not enter the next round. I want to focus on my own stitching and on sewing the dress for my daughters First Holy Communion on May 25. Wednesday evening I drawed the pattern so hopefully over the weekend I'll find some time to make a proof before cutting in the good (and expensive) fabric...

Almost forgot...

... the most important thing of all... I have been awarded the "You make my day award" by Iris, which means she is inspired by my blog! Isn't that an honour? Thanks so much Iris!!!
Now, I have to do a most difficult (if not impossible) job: to name the 7 blogs that inspire me the most... let me say that all the blogs you find on the left side of this page are an inspiration to me, or they wouldn't be in that list!!! But here are 7 that I think definitely deserve to be awarded in one way or the other...

Stukje bij Beetje (Bit by Bit) by the lovely Francine, who makes photographing daily things to an art and makes me smile while reading her lovely blog

Wacky Wanderings by dear Annemarie who I've been lucky enough to find just about right next to my door

xstitch.nl by surprising Harmien, I guess she knows why (think Holiday season...), it was a joy to meet you in person!

Stof en Draad by Chantal, who is just such a dear friend

Sommeke by Yvonne, who always is willing to answer with my beginner patchwork questions

Mainely Stitching by Barbara, because I just don't know how she does it all, and I mean that in the most complimentous way!

The Twisted Stitcher by Vonna, who is an inspiration and a big help through both this blog and her tutorial blog as well

Well I could go on and on, and please note I put that in the most random way I could, because, like I said, every blog I follow is of the most importance to me!!!

It's been a while...

... and I have lots and lots to show and tell!

First of all, I already told you we were celebrating carnival here last week. I owe you the pics of my two beautiful daughters during those days, so here they come:
Isabelle as Pippi Longstocking:
Veerle as a Japanese:
After the celebrating was over, we were of course worn out so we had some quiet vacation days afterwards (with a bit of the flue here and there which luckily didn't last that long), in which I did quite a lot of stitching. I finished my round 5 Fair & Square blocks, which I am going to bring to the post office tomorrow to be sent to Danica. Then, I finished the first block in the Quilted Hearts Afghan, which was quite a relief, as this was a difficult block. Unfortunately block 7 is the same, only mirrorred, that is something to not look forward to... but the result is stunning I think:
I already am quite far along with block 2, which is a lot easier to stitch, I expect to finish that in the coming week. But first I am working on a birthday exchange for our Dutch stitching group, which I have to send out soon. Can you believe I stitched that in the garden this afternoon, we have had such a beautiful weekend here with lots and lots of sun! I think I even got some tan while stitching!

I told you last week was the 3rd anniversary of our Dutch Borduurhoekje, and this is what I made for the exchange:
It is Heart in Hands' Heart Fob (from the pattern Spring Fobs) in DMC floss on 32 count beige vintage linen.

Oh, and one more pic to show you: my cousin from New Zealand sent me a very nice present:

Some very nice Maori quilt fabrics to play with and a beautiful quilt magazine.
She told me she wants to see the result on my blog, so I guess I'll have to get to some patchworking soon again..

Last but not least, I got some good news last week: I passed my exams last December and so have earned myself the "Certificate of Proficiency in English" from the University of Cambridge!

Suprise exchange

The Dutch Yahoo Group "Borduurhoekje" (which translates as Stitching Corner) is celebrating its 3rd Birthday tomorrow! It is such a wonderful group to be a member of, lots of lovely ladies (and one guy), some of which have become such dear friends over the years. The owners, Iris and Simone, decided to organize a Suprise Exchange for this event, and I was the happy receiver of a package sent by Eva. I think the pics speak for themselves:


In the meantime we are preparing for carnaval here. I made new costumes for my daughters, for my 7-year old a kimono and for my 3-year old a Pippi Longstocking costume. The latter needs only a few stitches today and then I'm finished. Of course I'll make pics when they are wearing their costumes to school tomorrow. Here's a pic of them in the new princess dresses we bought last week (they were so cheap, I couldn't compete sewing them myself):

Today I'm going to try and finish my block 1 from the Quilted Hearts Garden afghan, that would be great to close January with...

Two finishes to show!

Today I got word from Joan that she received my Fair and Square exchange blocks, so now I can show you my first finish of 2008:

It's Waxing Moon Designs'"Winter Cardinal" in DMC floss on 32 count beige vintage linnen from Zweigart.
Also, I have my second finish of this year to show:

This is Bent Creeks "Swirlygig" in WDW Mauve on 28 count "Angel Blush" Lugana from Silkweaver. With the approaching Valentine's Day in mind, I added some tiny heart buttons.

I have already received the name of my new partner in the next round of the Fair and Square Exchange, and that is Danica from Virginia! I am looking forward to stitch her some nice blocks, they have to be sent out February 29th at the latest.

In the meantime the first block of my new afghan is coming along just fine. After the first struggles with the confetti stitching I finally seem to be getting the hang of it, but I will save a picture for later, hope to have this block finished quite soon.

A bit of love...

One of my stitching goals for January was that I wanted to try out some stitchery, as I like those patterns very much and thought it would be very nice to do. And it was, I took it up one morning and had it finished in not too much time at all. Here's the result:

The free pattern can be found here, among a lot of other nice patterns.