Last day of school

Tomorrow is the last day of school, so it is time to finish the gifts for the teachers. Because of my business trip to Spain, a lot of time slipped through my fingers but I managed to get everything ready in time.
This is the label for the frog quilt for juf Hilde, son#1´s teacher. It was my first attempt on printing on fabric and I am impressed.
And this is the Frog quilt I made her since she is teacher in the ´frog´ class.

Next is son #2´ teacher, who teaches the chicken class, hence the chicken. The label is a drawing son #2 made for an international contest. The drawing is on the internet, so I got it overthere and printed in on fabric. Son #2 recognized his drawing immediatly, so he liked it.

I think I made some nice gifts for their teachers because I want to thank them very much for taking very good care of my sons, the both love their teachers and the goodbye tomorrow will be very hard.

Marriage

A friend of mine got married yesterday and we were invited to the party which was held in a small village near Brussels La Hulpe and this is a picture of teh chateau were the party was held.
This is a very nice location and even Hubbie made plans to have our weddinganniversy in this place.
The weddingcake was delicious and the people great, so we had a great time. But we had to drag our butt out of bed because it is to time to pick up the kids...

Men and shopping...

OK, this is what DH came home with yesterday. I told him in the morning that we neede to buy a new ironmachine, but he went to the store with the boys and bought this ironing central... This is what you get when men shop.
The ironing board can blow air or pull the board vacuum for better ironing results. OK, sure, I will give it a try I guess.
It is so heavy that I can barely lift the thing, but as you can see it has wheels...

Belated post

Summer is here! Last weekend we went to the Valkenier, after I arrived back from Spain. OK, the weather was not so good then, but warm enough to walk around in a T-shirt. The boys took advantage of the situation and asked for all kinds of sweets, which is OK by me, if it is occasionally. The theme park is great fun for kids between 3 and 10 I guess.

On Sunday when I wanted to iron, the ironmachine died on me... not good with 5 people in the household.

Spain

OK, I am in Castello, Spain, a town near Valencia for my work. I come out of the hotel and what is there in front of me? A quilt shop…. Need I say more…
Unfortunately only few Spanish people speak English, so that makes shopping a bit tricky. But my Spanish is improving since I could pay the backer with the right amount just by hearing the amount. I am very proud of myself, LOL.
Life here in Spain is so different from where I live… People take time to have lunch and coffee breaks. Tonight we will go to the beach to have a typical Spanish diner, so I am looking forward to that. One more big difference is the time they have diner here, the hotel starts serving diner at 9.00 pm… I normally go to bed at 10.00 pm, so that asks for a bit of adaptation, but I´ll live, LOL.

Coffee swap

This morning my neighbour brought me this package... It is for the coffee swap I did with Marieke.
She gave some lovely gifts and I especially like the handmade buttons and magnets and the little fabric bag, I will put to good use. Thank you very much Marieke.
Hubbie and the kids were already looking at the chocolates, so I think I will have to defend them or take them with me to Spain. Oh well, I will share them with my family. I think it is too hot in Spain anyway.
The weather here is terrible at the moment, it is pouring, so not much fun for the kids. But great weather to quilt...

Found !

We are back from our trip to Centerparcs and I found out that my toy for the toysociety is found. He now lives in Germany. Great news, thanks for letting me know.

We had a relaxed week with a lot of swimming and even more rain, so that was not so enjoyable, but OK. And guess what, the sun started shining the day we left.... Talking about Karma.

My boss let me know that I have to work in Valencia, Spain this coming week, so I will probably place a post from sunny Spain next week.

I also saw that my coffee swap package arrived at Marieke, so that is also great news.

We're off...

Yesterday, the boys had a big school party. This is done to show what the kids have learned the past year and to get some cash into the till of the school. Unfortunatly the weather was terrible and it poored, but the kids did their song and dance in the rain. I was surprised that my camera could get so wet and still function. So this is the result: son #1 in his frog costume and son # 2 as a clown with his little green hat.

At the moment hubbie is loading the kids into the car and we are off for some days well earned free time.

Coffee swap

This package is on its way to Marieke. I hope she likes the things I made for her and I now realise that I didn´t make a picture of the stuff inside and that I forgot my letter. So Marieke, if you read this, I will mail you and can you please make a picture?

Cupcakes

Today we had a public holiday, so we spent the time useful, this morning hubbie, my father and the kids stacked all the wood my dad collected in the wood shed for the winter.

I on teh other hand spent my time experimenting with Fimo clay. This is the result: some cakes and pies and a red and white cup of coffee for my coffee swap. I also backed some real cupcakes for a friend we visited this afteroon.

You may kiss the bride...

Tomorrow I have a bachelor party and they asked met to make something so that anyone can see who the lucky girl is. And since I had a very busy week at work, I kept it simply, but I think you can´t overlook who the bachelorette is... Do you?

That reminded me that I forgot our 7th wedding anniversary this week... I rest my case, I had a very busy week and so did hubbie, hence, we did nothing, not even go out to diner. Oh well, next time better.
Today son #1 passed another swimclass (Congrats!), so next week we can sleep in because he is in a higher class that starts at 10.00. That is a relief until son #2 starts his lessons in September at 8.30... then we spent all our Saturday morning in the pool...
Afterwards we drove to Katwijk in Holland to visit friends that celebrated their little girls First birthday, then we had something for lunch with other friends and their two girls and then we all went to the next birthday of a big boy that turned three. He celebrated his birthday on teh beach, so that was great fun for all the kids and their parents.
We cut the birthday festivities short since son #3 is teething and he was enoyable, do I need to say more?

It´s a girl!

The Zoo of Antwerp is very proud of the birth of a little elephant. It is a girl and she is called Kai-Mook, what means ´pearl´ the same as my name, Margy.
She is the forth baby of her mother but they were all still-born, so this is very special. And this morning we went to visit the little baby. Since we have a year-pass we are allowed in an hour before opening, so it was still very quiet when we walked through teh park and you can see the animals getting fed.
We had to wait about 30 minutes before the doors were opened of the elephant enclosure, but this little baby was worth it, she is gorgeous and tiny.
Afterwards, we got ´suikerbonen´ which are traditional chocolate birth candies that are given here in Belgium when you visit a baby. It is nice to see that she is doing well and luckily it is a girl or otherwise she would have to move to another zoo with more space. Because they don´t have males in Antwerp since the zoo is rather small since it is a very old zoo.

First drop for the Toy Society

Yes, I joined the Toy Society and made my first drop. I made a happy monster, gave it a tag and letter and off he went. I know, I am belgian and he was made in Belgium, but theis weekend we were in Rijnsburg, Holland, so I chose to drop him near the sea, since my husband comes from this part of Holland.
I dropped him in Katwijk, as you can see from the church in the background and he was left at a pole near the beach.
When I came back to check on him, he was gone, so I hope he found a good home.

Cars Quilt

Long overdue, I finished son #2 's Cars quilt. I started it during my maternity leaver and somehow it ended up my WIP pile. But it did finish it and he loves it. The front is made from cotton handkerchiefs that they sold in a local discount store and the back is a panel and some chequered fabric I bought on internet. This way he can use the back side to play with his cars.

So now son #1 wants a Spiderman quilt. And since I have never seen spiderman fabric overhere, I will have to take a look on the internet. Does anyone have ideas?

Frog quilt finished

The frog quilt I was making for son #1´s teacher is finished. I finished the binding and I only have to attach the label at the back. But I will make a nice label since I have time enough. It will be his farewell gift at the end of the year for his teacher. I hope she likes it.
But I am sure she does, since she collects all sorts of frog items. The fabrics have been bought from etsy or given to me and even one was won in the great stash giveaway. Thanks again for that one. Here is a picture of teh fabrics more in detail.

The weather over here is very poor. Rain and wind, so indoor time. The kids are playing with the Wii together with DH and I will start on the binding of son #2´s Cars quilt. I have already attached it on the front so I will hand sew it to the back. When it is dry and son #3 wakes up, we will have a stroll through the park to get some fresh air.

And we are all looking foward to the short week next week, since thursday is a official holiday and DH and I are also off on Friday, so we will have a really long weekend.

Mother´s day

Yesterday we celebrated Mother´s day, although the official version here in Antwerp is in August, the kids brought home these wonderful gifts they made in school. Son #1 made a car with a lavender bag inside, for in my car and son #2 made a small cresson plant in a flower shape. I aslo got three wonderful pink rozes, for each of my pirates. EDIT: many people ask me where the pirated coats come from, they are Playama´s.

The sign says it all, 'my' motto. My mum got me this sign and I have to hang it in my kitchen, this is so true for our household, LOL.

Doll quilt

I saw this wonderful doll quilt/duvet on etsy How to. The example is a duvet, but I made it a little quilt. The sleeping animals are just so cute and peaceful.
Now I only have to find a little girl that needs a doll quilt, since my boys think this is to pink, I will make them one with a crocodile...

Tutu

My boss and his wife got a baby girl and I wanted to make something really girly, so what says more ´girl´ than pink, tulle and bling bling. So I decided to make their little girl a tutu onsie.
On thursdaynight Hubbie and I went out, since all kids stayed at my parents and when I pasted a fabric/notions store, I jumped in quickly and found what I was looking for. So this is the result. I think it looks very cutsie and I hope they like it to. This is the girliest I know, since I live in a male household, LOL.

Japanese magazines

A friend of my mum visited Japan and she bought me these gorgeous magazines. They are just wonderful. I can´t understand why they have such lovely magazines in japan and not overhere? These Japanese ladies must be very crafty to see the beautiful work, quilt, espcially the bags they make. I will make myself a cup of coffee and sit down in the sun and dream that I have the time to make all these wonderful projects. Thank you very much Marie-Louise.

Visit to the farm

Son #1 went on his first schooltrip. They went to a working farm by bus, their first trip in a real coach... He is the one at the back on teh right. They were allowed to pet some animals and they also made a real bread.

This is the result, it looked and tasted great, they really did a good job. They also were proud of their achievements at the farm.

It was a very memorable day and the kids loved it, so I think these schooltrips are a good thing.

Today he also brought this piece of art home, a farm inspired mobile.