Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My Dutch Day!

If you have read my profile you will know that I have lived in The Netherlands. Actually I have lived there twice in my life. Once as an Rotary Exchange Student during Grade 12 for a whole year. The second time with my family of 5 for 3 years. (2000-2003). Each experience was unique and different with fond memories of a great country.

So today became my mini Dutch day.

Starting with my favourite pink tulips in my Delft Blauw vase on my kitchen table. They are standing so tall and pretty.

Since daughter #1 is off on her spring break this week (the others next week) she wanted to go eat Dutch Pancakes! If you have never tried them they are quite something, plate size and in combinations to suite everyone. We are fortunate to have this great restaurant that serves up the authentic pannekoeken (although the names is not really proper Dutch). The lady that owns the restaurant actually went over to The Netherlands to learn how to make them, that was over 25 years ago.














The menu is enormous with many choices in both savoury and sweet versions. I chose savoury, ham, cheese and tomato.




My daughter chose sweet, banana, coconut and chocolate sauce, yummy. We also had a good friend along with us, Tante (Aunt) Ria. She is of Dutch heritage and enjoys coming along for the great food.

Of course no outing would be complete with out stopping at a LQS, just for a little bit. I picked up some embroidery patterns.

Stop by Friday for a post about a finish!!!

Tot Ziens




Monday, March 29, 2010

Winter Swap received

I received this lovely bag from my winter swap partner Andrea at comfortcovedesigns. Isn't it stunning? check out her blog as she does some fantastic quilting. She is due any time now so send her some good wishes!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A sign of spring....


Pheasant
Originally uploaded by Lala216
here is a sure sign of spring that not a lot of folks have. These majestic, although noisy birds grace our backyard every spring. Lily our Westie is enjoying the chase!

Monday, March 22, 2010

A little tired..

Well we are home from Edmonton (3 boring straight hours drive north) from my son's soccer tournament. Although they didn't come home with a medal for provincial champion, they came home with smiles on their faces. It was a great weekend spending time with the parents and getting to know the guys a bit more. Some great laughs were had!

I did manage to go to one quilt shop in Sherwood Park...Lori's Country Cottage. A cute shop with a nice selection of fabrics and patterns. I couldn't leave empty handed. I picked out a few FQ's, needles and a pattern. Do you ever feel like you need to buy something in a shop just because you have circled around and around enjoying everything you see? .....I do.

I did start on a applique table runner for Easter. I am actually trying my hand at hand applique. I needed something portable. I thought I would stitch in the van while my son was driving but I fell asleep instead or I had to drive!

Question: I am using a blanket stitch to raw edge applique Easter eggs on the runner. Some of the eggs have a stripe of fabric or zig zag on them to further decorate them. I have used a lite heat n bond to fuse them on the background. Should I have appliqued the decorations on the egg first before putting it on the background? Or do you go through all three layers? hope this make sense. I am finding it really hard going through all the layers. Any suggestions?

I did manage to meet up with Andrea of Million Thoughts Trapped in my Head. She lives a few km's away from where I was staying. So nice to meet her and her boys. Hopefully she will come to Calgary for Quilt Canada (April 26th- May 1st) so we can continue chatting.

I am now trying to play catch up around the house gearing up for another busy week. I was so glad I didn't have to work today.
Have a great week everyone!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Still around....

All I can say is "please stop the world spinning I am having a hard time keeping up." Spring is usually a busy time of the year around our house and this year is no different. We have been busy with indoor soccer games and practices for daughter son and D#2, researching & buying a used car for the teens use, university applications for my son, dance competition practices for both girls, bottle drive fund raiser, speed stacking practices for daughter #2, driver's ed classes for daughter #1, working a few days here and there not to mention the regular activities of running a house. I am pooped and the 'fun' just starting.
In between all this I have been trying to do a little bit of sewing too: check it out
This mini wall hanging went to my swap buddy in the Yukon, Vivian. Winter hasn't left them yet so she will be able use it for a while still.

One of these rag quilts will be going to my daughter's jazz teacher some time in April. I had to make both, since she doesn't know what she is having. I just wanted to be prepared.

I have also been working on the my Spring Swap hosted by Cory and Helen in The Netherlands. Can't post about it just yet as my swap parnter might be reading!!! I only have the binding left to sew on.
I also made another rag quilt on behalf of my sister for her niece. She bought some of the flannel when she was here in November. However, she decided she would never get around to it and sent it back for me to do. I made a little doll quilt to match. Of course Lily always has to get in on the actionNow I am trying to finish up my niece's string quilt. I have been putting off quilting it as I just didn't know what to do. Finally I decided to use a wavy line horizontally across the string blocks. Now I have to decide what to do on the borders.

In the up coming weeks I have 12 scarves to make for D#2 ballet competition. On Friday I will be going to Edmonton (3 hrs north) for the U18 boys provincial soccer championships! This is the first time my son has made it on a team that went this far. I am sure it will be an exciting weekend. I am just glad he can do some of the driving too!

Checkout Lisa Marie made with the fat quarters she won on my giveaway.
I hope everyone has an exciting week. I will be work all week, which is unusual for me.
happy sewing!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

American craft stores

Hello to all my friends south of the border!
I have a Cdn friend that is living/vacationing in Phoenix all winter. She came across Hobby Lobby yesterday and told me about it. I was wondering if any of you have bought quilting fabric there or at Jo Ann's? Is the quality good? Do they carry name brand fabric or their own stock. Let me know what your experience is please.