Strange day...

It was a very strange day here today... I was supposed to have an ear operation today and had to be in hospital 8.15 am. So far so good, we were in time, I was installed in a room and prepared by a nurse. We waited and got to hear that I was scheduled for 10.15 am. At 10.10 am the doctor came in and told me there were complications in the surgery before mine, and there was and emergency in line behind me. And there wasn't enough time to perform my surgery in between... so I was skipped of the list and sent home. I was so disappointed, everything was arranged to go well at home and at work, and I had been so nervous yesterday, I finally calmed down this morning since I knew it would be done in a few hours... NOT! Now I have to go through all this again next week, I am scheduled again for next Wednesday. I'll believe it when I see it...
We decided, since Eric had a day off after all, to go for a walk in the woods this afternoon, and treated ourselves to hot chocolate with cream and a good piece of applepie at a little café in the woods. Although it was good, up until this moment I haven't lost the restless feeling I have since this morning when I was sent home.
So, Eric will go back to work tomorrow and see if he can move his days off to next week, and then I will start preparing myself again... Since I didn't have any plans for the next few days I think I will try and do some stitching instead!

Another finish!

Wow, two finishes in one day, that has been a while! But I managed yesterday, and in the evening my halloween biscornu was completed:


I used some Kreinik "glow in the dark" floss in this, in orange and green.
I found the pattern on a French blog, called "Les Chroniques de Frimousse". They have a lot of free small patterns, quite cute. And the language shouldn't be a problem for the patterns. There are some very cute moose and snowmen patterns on it now, already for Christmas.

Halloween House Sampler

This morning I finished my Halloween House Sampler, just in time for Halloween! Unfortunately the frame I thought I would use doesn't fit... so I have to go on the lookout for another frame or finish it otherwise. I will think about what to do with it... but I thought I would show it to you anyway:

I haven't been stitching much the last days, have been too busy with other things this autumn holiday. But today is a rather gloomy and cold day (at least I feel cold) so I like to stay inside where it is warm, the children are playing so it is a good day for some crafting! I already cut some fabrics for a miniature quilt I want to make, and ironed on some little pieces for applique. I don't have the right needles to fasten those pieces properly though, so I put it away again until I have bought the right needles. I have some little halloween stitching projects to finish, I think I will make myself a warm cup of tea and get to those!

I'm still here!

Voor mijn Nederlandse lezers: ik heb besloten alleen nog in het Engels te schrijven, mocht je dit echt een probleem vinden dan kun je de pagina vertalen met Babelfish.

Wow, I cannot believe it has been a month since my last post... I have been so busy with lots of things, but I missed blogging though, and most of all I missed your comments...
I will not even try to tell you what I was so busy with the last month, I will just show you some pics of my stitching since I did do quite some of that...
Two weeks ago we had a get together of our Dutch stitching group at Chantals in Belgium, and it was such a nice day. I stitched quite a lot on my Quaker sampler that day, and got to see a lot of beautiful things everyone made. I made two presents for that day, one for the present basket, everyone got one present out of that before leaving that day, this is what I made and it went home with my friend Jacqueline:


I'll show you what I got later.
We also have a birthday exchange on this list and I had to make a present for Diana, who has her birthday in September. This is what I made for her, as I know she loves snowmen:


The last few days weren't very good, it seems like the flue has visited... both my husband and I were feeling sick. But today it seems to be better. Fortunately, I wasn't that sick I had to stay in bed all day and that way I got quite some stitching done. I have finished my model stitching job for The Sampler Girl, which I think turned out very well. And I stitched a little freebie design of hers as well:

I'm going to attach that to the lid of a wooden tea box.

After visiting the Hobby Salon in Mechelen (Belgium) in September, and buying some very nice wool for a scarf there, I also took up knitting again, I have already finished my scarf and almost finished another one for my eldest daughter. My youngest has ordered one now too...

And last but not least I owe you a pic of my Halloween House sampler up until part 5:

Sorry the pic is a bit dark, it is a gloomy misty day here...
The last part is to have it finished before October 20, so it will be ready in time for Halloween!

Weekend

Het was weer een fijn weekend, met prachtig weer, en we besloten daar gebruik van te maken, omdat je maar nooit weet wanneer de herfst echt begint (en als ik zo naar buiten kijk dan is hij wel begonnen, het regent pijpestelen en de blaadjes vallen in rap tempo). Dus besloten we de zaterdag aan zee door te bregen, wat best nog een eindje is omdat wij in het zuidoosten van het land wonen, vlakbij België en Duitsland. Dus zaterdagochtend vroeg stapten wij in de trein om 3 uur later in Schevingen eindelijk de zee te zien!!! Zoals gezegd was het prima weer voor een dagje zee. De kinderen hebben zoals je kunt zien naar schelpen gezocht.

We zijn naar Sealife geweest, waar we prachtige vissen en andere zeebewoners zagen (vooral de piepkleine babyzeepaardjes maakten indruk). We spraken met mijn nichtje af, die in Den Haag woont, en aten lekker vis en wandelden over het strand, kortom het was een lange maar geslaagde dag!
Omdat er zondag nog een herdenkingsdienst was voor mijn oma en we daarna met de familie bij elkaar kwamen was er in het weekend weinig borduurtijd. Op vrijdagavond heb ik aan de model job gewerkt. Gisteravond heb ik het derde deel van de Halloween House SAL geborduurd, wat best een groot deel was dus ik heb het nog niet helemaal af. Ik hoop dat vanavond nog te kunnen doen voor ik naar mijn vergadering moet. Ja, het is een drukke week hier, morgen ga ik naar de Hobbysalon in Mechelen, daar verheug ik me erg op!
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Our weekend was a good one, with lovely weather and we decided to make use of that, thinking this could very well be the last beautiful weather before autumn really kicks in (and judging by the view out my window it does that now, with pouring rain and falling leaves...) So we decided to spend the Saturday at sea, which is quite a ride for us, as we live at the southeast side of the country, near to Belgium and Germany... So we took the train early in the morning and about 3 hours later got to see the sea in Scheveningen!!! As said, the weather was just perfect for a day at the beach. The children searched for seashells as you can see.
We went to Sealife to see some beautiful fish and other sea creatures (especially the teeny weeny baby sea horses were impressive). We met my cousin, who lives in The Hague, and had a fun afternoon eating fish and strolling down the beach. It was a long but enjoyable day.
As at Sunday there was a memorial service for my grandmother and we had a family get together afterwards, I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend, just on Friday night I stitched on my model job. Yesterday evening I worked on the Halloween House SAL which was quite a big part this week so I haven't finished it yet. Hopefully I will get that done tonight before I have to go to a meeting. Yes, it is a busy week here, tomorrow I will visit the Hobbysalon in Mechelen (Belgium), so I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

Halloween House Sampler

Een paar weken geleden was ik aan het lezen op de prachtige blog van Anne-Valérie en zag dat zij een SAL ging organiseren voor het patroon "Halloween House Sampler" van The Drawn Thread. Ik vond het zo'n leuk patroon dat ik daaraan mee wou doen. Helaas was ik net te laat om me in te schrijven, maar ik bedacht dat ik net zo goed toch mee kon borduren. Dus hier kun je mijn werk zien van de eerste twee weken.
Ik heb de speciale garens vervangen door dmc. Het stof is 11 draads vintage beige linnen van Zweigart. Ik vind dit geweldig stof, het geeft je borduurwerk een speciale uitstraling.
Wat de rest van mijn borduren betreft kan ik maar weinig laten zien, het is allemaal geheim. Ik werk aan een model stitch job die goed opschiet, het patroon is zo leuk! Maar daar zal ik jullie meer over vertellen als ik daarvoor toestemming heb van de ontwerpster.
Ik was trouwens nieuwsgierig: heeft iemand al het recept van vorige week geprobeerd?
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A few weeks ago I was reading the beautiful blog of Anne-Valérie and saw she was organizing a SAL for The Drawn Thread's "Halloween House Sampler". As I liked the pattern very much I decided to stitch along. Unfortunately, I was just too late to sign in for this SAL, but I decided to follow it anyway. So above is my progress of the first two weeks.
I have substituded the special threads for dmc. The fabric is 28 count vintage beige linen from Zweigart. I just love this fabric, it gives the stitching a special look.
As for the rest of my stitching I still cannot show you much, as it is all secret stitching. I'm working on a model stitch job that is coming along nicely, and I love the pattern! I'll tell you more about that when I have green light from the designer.
I was just curious: anyone tried the recipe from last week yet?

Zoervleis

Yvonne vroeg naar het recept voor "zoervleis", dus hier is mijn versie, genoeg voor 4 personen:

500 gram runderpoelet
50 gram boter/margarine
ca. 200 gram uien, in niet te kleine stukjes gesneden
1 eetlepel appelstroop
2 laurierbladeren
3 kruidnagels
1 koffiekop azijn
2 koffiekoppen water
zout-peper
maizena

Laat de boter bruin worden in een stoofpan en bak de uien goudbruin. Neem de uien uit de pan en bak in het resterende vet de blokjes vlees rondom aan. Strooi er wat zout en peper over (proeven doe je later). Doe de uien er weer bij, net als de laurierbladeren, kruidnagels en de appelstroop. Giet er de azijn en het water bij, het vlees moet onder staan. Breng het aan de kook, doe er dan de deksel op en laat het op een laag pitje 2 à 3 uur sudderen (de ene keer heeft het vlees wat langer nodig dan de andere). Ik vind het het lekkerst als het vlees zo gaar is dat het een beetje uit elkaar valt in de saus, maar dat is persoonlijk. Proef de saus en doe er eventueel nog wat zout, peper of zelfs een klein schepje suiker in als je het te zuur vindt. Er zijn ook mensen die een klein stukje pure chocolade toevoegen om saus donkerder te maken, of ze laten een stukje peperkoek mee sudderen. Het laatste wat je moet doen is de saus binden, ik doe dit door wat maizena aan te maken met koud water, en dit door de kokende saus te roeren zodat je geen klontjes krijgt. Eet het lekker met frietjes, het is ook lekker met gekookte aardappeltjes en sperziebonen!

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Yvonne was asking for the "zoervleis" recipe, so here comes my version, this will serve 4:

500 grams of beef to simmer (not sure how to call that in English), cut in dices
50 grams of butter
about 200 grams of onions, sliced into not-too-small chunks
1 tablespoon of apple syrup
2 bay leafs
3 cloves
1 cup plain vinegar
2 cups water
salt-pepper
cornstarch

Take a simmer pot and melt the butter in it until it gets a bit brown. Fry the onions until golden brown. Take the onions out, and fry the meat in the remaining butter. Add a bit salt and pepper (you'll taste later on). When the meat is sealed on all sides put in the onions again, and add the bay leafs, cloves and apple syrup. Pour over the vinegar and water (the meat should be covered) and bring to the boil. When it is boiling put the lid on, place it over a low heat and let simmer for about 2-3 hours (depending on the meat you are using, sometimes it needs a bit longer, sometimes a bit shorter). I like it best when the meat falls a bit apart in the sauce, but that is personal. When it is ready taste if it needs some more salt/pepper or even a bit of sugar when it is too sour. Some people even add a little piece of dark chocolate to make the sauce darker, or they put a piece of gingerbread in before simmering. Then the last thing to do is to thicken the sauce, which I do by mixing some cold water into cornstarch, add it to the sauce while it boils and stir so there will be no lumps... Enjoy it with fries, it also is good with boiled potatoes and green beans!