dinsdag 31 mei 2011

My trip to Italy 2, Orvieto

I came back from Italy saturday night with my heart full of wonderful memories....
It was such a great experience to be in Orvieto with all those lovely people. Bill and Kristi, who organized this trip, were so enthusiastic and such warm persons, they let you feel at home immediately!

And for me, Sue was the best of all, she was so dedicated, so inspiring with such an eye for the beautiful. I learnt a lot new embellishment stitches. And I am so proud of my work, thanks to Sue, for me it became a real piece of art.

And the whole group were such lovely women. We shared a lot, laughed a lot and worked hard together.
In one word this trip was STUNNING.
If you'll have the chance to go there next year, do sign up immediately. It's worth it.
(I already did !)  

Next coming days I'll show some pictures.
To day the wonderful city of ORVIETO.
But I start with a picture that I found on Sue's blog, the delicious cappuccino, I never drunk one like these before....

The first day we went to the Duome, a beautiful cathedral. In our work everyone was inspired by things they saw that day....




The small alleys are very romantic.

To be continued!

vrijdag 20 mei 2011

My trip to Italy 1

Tomorrow I 'll go to Italy for a craft holiday.   Sue Spargo will teach a 5 day class in Orvieto. We'll have class in the morning and in the afternoon we visit the city, do wine & olive tasting,  learn how to cook Italien food, go to the market to buy food for a picnic........
You can imagine that i am looking forward to arrive in Orvieto tomorrow night!
I made a simple backpack to keep my things when I am discovering Orvieto city.... I also finished a little pouch to keep my scissors and my threads , and I made 3 little treasures to 'identify' my scissors.







woensdag 18 mei 2011

Pumpkins

Do you remember that i sowed a lot of pumpkinseeds?

This week we planted about 60 pumpkinplants. First we met newspapers on the ground , covered with soil and then  surrounded them by straw to prevent them of becoming too dry. Hope this will help!!!



I hope that i can show you tons of pumpkins in october!!!!





maandag 16 mei 2011

My grandmother's flowergarden

I found the perfect fabric for the border. I had to puzzle a bit because there was only 1 yard.....

zaterdag 14 mei 2011

Bloggers' quiltfestival, spring 2011

For the second time I'll participate in this festival.

Last year in october I visited all the blogs and admired all those different, beautiful quilts.  At that moment the quiltvirus HIT me..........  I started to make some doll quilts and I am working now on a Grandmothers' flowergarden quilt.

I bought some books about antique quilts. I bought this book:

It's beautiful , I can recommand it to you!  Of course I also bought a book about Dutch antique quilts, it's translated in English , a beauty!!! It's called A history of Dutch quilts, by An Moonen. I am sure you want to make a lot of quilts that are represented in this book.

And now where you are waiting for, the quilt ........
After making some doll quilts I wanted to try a bigger one, I already had the Fandago fabric, designed by Kate Spain, that i bought because of the beautiful colorcombination. 
The pattern is based on the 'bluestone walkway pattern', that you could find here. The quilt measures 63 x 84 cm. 
I made it all by hand, not a single machinestitch!!! And I can tell you, I am very happy with the result. 
Here you can find all the other quilts.

donderdag 12 mei 2011

Macaroon party

Macaroons are very popular in France. These small round cakes, crisp on the outside and smooth and soft in the middle are delicious.
This is the collection of Ladurée macaroons,  Ladurée is the famous macaroon shop in Paris.

With two friends we had a macaroon workshop given by Christine, she has a  lovely cooking blog and lives only 15 km from here.
Here are some pictures:




We made two varieties: chocolate and pistache and they were delicious!

  

woensdag 11 mei 2011

Penelope, NF Flowers #1

NF Macro has started a weekly theme of flower photos. I've read about this on Ann's blog. You know that i love my garden so I'm going to join in.
Today is my first NF Flowers photo.

Penelope is a Hybrid Musk rose and was introduced in 1924. The rose forms a strong branching shrub, about 1.8m high and wide. It's fragrant creamy-pink flowers are born in large trusses. They are following by coral-pink hips. (from the book ROSES by David Squire)


It will be interesting to see what is blooming around the world each week. Do you like to join in?

dinsdag 10 mei 2011

Chouchou

I again made a  Facile Cecile pattern., it's called chouchou.....What do you think of the result?



maandag 9 mei 2011

My garden is so beautiful

So early this year the roses are in bloom and there are already so many flowers. I wish you were here so I could show you all my favorite plants. Here are some pictures....






vrijdag 6 mei 2011

White in the garden

The  white wisteria is so beautiful this year and the perfume is overwhelming!!!



woensdag 4 mei 2011

My garden

The garden is so beautiful, there are already 2 roses in full bloom.




The scent is sooooooooo sweet!!