Back again

I have been home now for a few days now, but they have been very hectic. Just before Laurence left for the airport to pick me up, he got a message that his uncle, his mother's only surviving brother had passed away at the age of 98. Then later we got the call that his aunt, grandma's only surviving sister had passed away 14 hours later at the age of 92. We have been spending time with grandma and made sure she went to the visitation and funeral. It seems, that this is my first day at home and I have been busy catching up with the chores around here. Now about my trip to Holland. After 2 plane rides, 5 train rides, visiting 4 museums, 6 fabric stores, 2 bookstores and visiting with my siblings and a cousin I made it home in one piece. And a 2 day visit to Amsterdam, where we did a lot of walking. The start was a little shaky. I know now, that yes, you can fall on your head out of a still standing train! I still have the bump to prove it. That was the beginning and low point of my trip. After that I had a great time. On the first afternoon my sister took me to this cheese store, right on the farm. Too bad I could not take any of those cheeses with me. Then it was on to the first fabric stores in the old town of Staphorst. I was searching for old looking white and blue fabrics and I got some nice ones. This is the church in Bozum. I used to teach there for 2 years before I came to Canada. Where I'm standing used to be the play area, where the kids spend recess. I lived in this small house , kind of tacked on to the bigger one with just one room and a small kitchen. You can see it on the right side of the bigger house. And yes, it was very small. I would sleep in the old fashion way, in what looked like a closet. During the day you would close the doors and at night open them again. It still looked lived in. In our early years of farming we would have students from the Agricultural School in Leeuwarden staying with us for the summer. Later on we needed help for a longer period and we would get help through another exchange program. One of the fellows, who was with us 2 summers was Johannes. From him I learend a few years ago about a big quilt show at the Frisian Museum, where he is working in security. Last week one of my stops was this museum and as you can see, we had a good time catching up on all the news.

Bad news there was, that this museum will be moving to a new location and all their textiles had been put away, so no quilts.

Before I can think of starting on a new quilt I will have to finish a few. That will be my goal for the coming week.

A little of this.......

This past week was a time to get a few things finished.Last year this time I was in Japan and this year I will be going to Holland. I'm leaving in a few days. It has been a few years since I was there and I think it is time to visit my relatives. I have a long list of things I'm planning to do. Yes, I'm going by myself. Laurence does not like the idea of going over in the winter and visiting museums is not on the top of his list of priorities. We have had a lot of snow lately and any day now the trails will be open and he will be off for a run on the snowmobile. And then there are the chores, that have to be done. I still have few pairs of socks here and finished this pair this morning.Another Cookie A pattern, but the wool I got on sale somewhere and I have no idea where it came from. It did knit very well though. I'm still waiting for the pearls I bought to be used in the tying of the crazy quilt, so I had to find something else to do. Cards don't take long. This time I made 5 back grounds, using some of my selvages. Then I finished a few with some ribbon flowers I found.The rest all went into a bag and will be used when I need a quick project. I always find that once you put a frame around a landscape it looks completely different as is the case here. I found the frame in a drawer and it was the perfect size. I also realize that it will need a few more small trees in the front before I will do the threadwork. And...I cleaned up my sewing room. I find nothing is worse, than coming home after a trip and the room is a mess. This way I can start fresh with whatever I have decided.

New Year, new project

Here it is the new year. I made my oliebollen and as usual, there were way to many. I did it the easy way by buying a box with a mix in town. I did take some to the neighbours. You have to eat these oliebollen right away. The next day they are just not as good, even with maple syrup!. We started the year without snow, but that has changed. Yesterday we got a lot and today it is beautiful outside. Cold, but sunny. Laurence can hardly wait till the snowmobile trails will be ready. I have been working on my vase. The first picture shows the vase with only the basic applique. I did not have a Dutch fabric with a scene, so I used this oriental picture. The color was just right. The back ground is different. A few years ago a friend gave me a few old doilies she had bought at an auction. For this I used the large one. It is made out of natural colored linen. My plan is to put this doilie, after all the applique is finished, on a dark blue background. The second picture shows how far I got as of this morning. Some of the dark blue pieces are appliqued, but I did use embroidery. Some of the points are just too tiny. There is still a lot more to do. These vases were very elaborate and that's what made them stand out. After this is done I will have to think about the tulips, that will go in the vase. I think that they will be yellow or red. This is turning out o.k and up to now it has been fun. I will have to put it away for a few days. I'm also basting the crazy quilt and will have to start the quilting.There will only be a few lines, just to keep it all together. The rest will be tied. For that I have ordered small pearls for on the back. And now that I'm so busy with all this Delfts blue stuff, I really need to do some more research, so I have booked a flight to Holland for the end of next week. Laurence prefers to stay here. He is not into visiting museums and quilt stores first of all, and than to do this in the winter makes it worse. Now I hope, that he can get some snow mobiling in. That way we are both happy!