Holiday Greetings

Wishing you all the best in 2007 and a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas ornaments

These are some christmas ornaments I made as gifts. they are inspired by Hillary Lang from Wee Wonderfuls.
They were really fun to make so I hope their new owners also will like them.

Happy Handmade Giveaway Winner!!!

I am a Happy Handmade Giveaway winner. I received box 31, which was a box filled with handmade goodies like: Furnace Glass Toddler Bracelet, Carmel Pecan Crumble Candle Tin, Large Dog Blue Bandana Scarf, Yellow & Turquoise Earrings, Pearl, Crystal & Sterling Silver Earrings, Designs Mint Julep Earrings, Wine Bottle Kimono, Nikko Card, Gift Certificate, Black Denim Zipper Pouch, Quilted Wristlet, Paint Sample Journal, Purple Skull Necklace.

Great stuff, I really feel lucky.

Group picture

This is the result of an hour hard work, trying to put all the children into place, so the photographer could take a group picture.
It resulted in this picture, but still 4 children are missing in this picture. An believe it or not, this is the first picture taken.

I present to you : Anna

I made Anna for a little cousin of ours for her Sinterklaas, which is a holiday celebrated on December 6th here in Europe.
She comes with her own matching little quilt and pillow. Our cousin Anne aksed for a quilt for her doll carriage, but I also made her this doll. Isn´t she cute?

Shirley

I made this wonderful doll from a pattern that I bought from Hillary Lang (http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/). Isn´t she lovely.
I made a couple of mistakes, but she was also my test doll. But even then I think she is wonderful. I called her Shirley and she will stay with me.
Hillary Lang has the greatest patterns for dolls and stuffies. I can´t wait to order the second part of the Make-a-long patterns.

Halloween swap

This wonderfull bat was made for me by Melissa Steward for a halloween swap. Isn´t he the cutest?
This is the same swap for which I made the wee mummy.

Book cover

I made this book cover for Celine, the daughter of friends of ours. She turned 11 and writes little poems, so I thaught this would make a perfect gift for a little writer in spe...
I made it from different girlie fabrics and put some beads and a small felt flower on it. I hope she makes good use of this book.

Halloween swap

For my Halloween swap I made this Wee Mummy. I think he is cute.

Felt food

I started with my felt food kit, and I am making a little mandarine, hope this is what it is called in english...
It is really great fun to do.

The midnight stroller

Last weekend, we went sailing with my in-laws. We had a great time, the weather was good, for a minor part of the trip we had strong winds and rain. But for the general part of trip, the weather was great, nice and sunny.
We just took the boat for a sail on the Ysselmeer, which is a big lake in the middle of Holland. It used to be a sea, but by building the ´Afsluitdijk´ the dutch people turned this part of the North Sea into a lake which is used for fishing and recreation.

Surprise exchange

Today I received my surprise exchange gift in the mail. I got a lovely purple needleroll featuring my birth month: February. Jackie (from Australia) also included wonderful purple goodies. Thank you very much Jackie, a really lovely exchange.

SWAP

Today I finished a stuffie that I made for an upcoming swap. In the picture it is not finsihed yet, but I can´t show the finished stuffie, before the intended swapper receives him.
But I can tell you that he turned out very cute.

Cactus man

I made catus man for a green swap on swap bot. I made him a while ago, but I now got a message from my swap partner that she received her package. You can´t see it on the picture, but he has tiny needles (pieces of thread), but I think it made him look more like a real cactus.

Eve´s jewels

My friend Evelyn makes the most lovely jewellery. These two jewels were custom made for me. She has a new homepage: http://www.evwaes.marktplaza.be/.

Trip to France

Last Thursday we drove to Dun-Le-Palestel, just above Limoges in France. We left at 6:30 and we arrived around 11 in Orlèans where we stopped for a cup of coffee. We had a cup of coffee fo which we paid 8 euros! (4 euros per cup).
I have never seen so many shoe stores as in Orlèans. My DH saw some boots for me that he liked, and I also liked them so I bought them. I also came across an Accessorize shop (http://store.monsoon.co.uk/catalog/Welcome?catid=3), I really love their stuff, but it is quite expensive. So I didn´t buy anything. A great French brand is Pylones (http://www.pylones.com/) they sell the funniest and nice looking stuff.
We arrived in Dun-le-Palestel around 15:00 where we were welcomed by a lovely English couple named Vic and Penny. They are lovely people that live in the centre of Dun-Le-Palestel.
Vic got our antique cupboard, which we got as a present from my aunt, out of his barn. And we were invited to stay for diner, where we had a lovely French meal with cheese at the end.
We stayed the night at the local hotel (www.hoteljoly-limousin.com). And had breakfast the next day at Vic and Penny´s. After breakfast we drove back home.
It took us three hours longer since there was a big problem with floodings on the highway in Gent and Antwerp.

Cookies

Nic helped me make chocolate chip cookies. Helas, I didn´t take them out of the oven soon enough, so they are a bit ´very brown´. But Dad will like them anyway.

While visiting Germany, we had a cup of coffee in a local cafe which did a lot for SOS kinderdorpen (http://www.soskinderdorpen.nl/cgi-bin/sos/jsp/starter.do?site=NL).
The lady made woolen quilts which she sold for this charity so I couldn´t resist. The blanket now has a new home on our couch.

Craft

This gorgeous T-shirt is made for a craft contest. Isn´t it wonderful, I would like to buy it, but the T-shirt is a medium, and … well… need I say more. Medium is not my size. But if it were a XL…
The maker´s website is http://incraftwetrust.etsy.com She has really great stuff for sale. I especially like her vintage quilt tote bags.

Back from Germany

We just returned from Germany, where we spent some days with my family. We stayed in a nice German family hotel with great food!
We visited some local viillages and a leisure park, so Nic also had a great time.
This Mail art is the latest I made. I also finished a new stuffy which I can not show at this time since it is for a swap and at the moment on it´s way to his new owner.

Holiday!

I haven´t written this last week, because have been performing a safety study in Feluy, between Brussels and Charleroi. It takes me one hour and twenty minutes to get there. We work approx. 10 to 11 hours and then back home, so there is not much time to do anything else.
Today our holiday starts, Niels has 2 weeks off and I one week. We will be leaving for the coast this afternoon, but if the weather stays as bad as it is now, we will come back on Monday and stay at home, here we have all the facilities we need. On Friday we leave for Germany.
Hopefully I have time to do some crafts because I have a lot of swaps coming up in September.

Babyquilt

I just finished the top of my latest babyquilt. It is made out of traded white fabrics and contains also parts of wedding dresses. Which makes it even more special, I think.

Felt food

Look at what this lady makes. I can´t read Japanse, which I guess the signs are, but this site is too cool.
I would love these cakes: http://5.pro.tok2.com/~mic/sub/dessert.html
I know now what I am going to try to make, these adorable cookies, aren´t they just the cutest?

Tree House

My dad made Nic and Peter a tree House. This picture was taken this morning when my dad and my DH started to build the house. As you can see Nic is helping.

My SIL´s website

I added a link to my Sister in Law´s website. She makes beautiful wall paintings, three of the pictures are taken in our house. The giraffe is in the children´s playroom. The sleepy sheep is in Peter´s room and the jungle is Nic´s bedroom wall.
I think she makes lovely paintings. See her work at www.fiebeldekwink.nl/index.swf

Looking for white fabric

I am looking for white fabrics to make a babyquilt for friends of ours who are expecting their first baby. I like to make those babyquilts from traded fabrics rather than bought fabrics.
Are their quilters among you that would like to trade some white fabrics, I am looking for size 10 cm x 10 cm as a minimum. Just let me know what you are looking for, maybe I have it.

Groetjes,

Margy

Aren´t these pincushions, the cutest? I really think they are great looking and they are made by a dutch lady, see her website: http://www.mariekuniek.nl/weblogs/wolenzo/archief/needlefelt/
pincushions/index.html
I have a couple of pincushions and for some reason I never use them, but when I see these, I think I would use one of these for sure.

Watering the plants

Since it is so hot here, I think this is a great way to water your plants: http://www.vitaminliving.com/shop/iv.php

This is the coolest plant pot I have ever seen…, but they are a bit expensive...

My DH´s boss brought me these two magazines from Japan, so I am very excited! I haven´t read them yet, but today is a public holiday here in Belgium, so I have time for myself to browse through them. Just got to go and make myself a cup of Java and start reading.

Today the ambient temperature reached an ultimate record of 37°C. At my office it was really nice to work due to the airco, but outside it was really hot.
Moeke went for a walk with the kids very early, so they had their walk for today, but not in the blistering heat. The kids spent the whole afternoon in the swimmingpool. At the moment it is still unpleasantly hot and we moved the kids and ourselves for the upstairs bedrooms to the guest bedroom downstairs where the heat is a bit better bearable.
Oh ja, the picture is one of the Cathedral in Antwerp.

I did it!

Tomorrow, we have to return the income tax form, so we had a bit of stress here at home, getting it all filled in correctly, especially since my DH works in Holland, and I work in Belgium. But managed and got the thing in the tax office´s mailbox this evening! Yippie!
So I haven´t been able to do much cross stitching, am still trying to get trough DMC´s Wild ones ABC for my son Nic. It is also too hot to do much, temperature here is 33 °C and it is 20:30.

An´s birthday

My friend An had her birthday yesterday. I had a great idea for a gift, however, they were closed so I couldn´t get her the gift on Saturday... (So Idea an 8, execution a 2).
So I made her this Wee one and she got a raincheque (I hope I spell this correctly). But it was a great evening.
Happy Birthday An!

Newest stuffes

My two newest stuffies. I made them after the Wee Ninja from Shawnimals Plush. I really like their simple form.

Peter´s first day

Well, today Peter went to ´Moeke´ his 'second' Mum, she takes take of other people´s children for a living.
She told me he did fine and Nic was also very proud that his little brother also went with him to Moeke.
Haven´t been able to do much crafty things, but tonight I will try to finish my octopus/cat-like stuffy.

Starting my very own blog

Well, I started my own webblog. I will try to keep you informed about live here in Belgium and about my craft projects.
As a first picture I included a picture of Nic and Peter taken the day before yesterday. They are lying on a quilt I bought second-hand.
The quilt was made with a lot of love and dumped in a second-hand store, so I couldn´t resist.