Sunday in the shade

Happy Easter to all of you!
I spent my day embroidering in the shade, because it was too hot in the sun. We're having the most summery April month in decades, I guess. Yesterday, Belgium was the warmest place in Europe!


And my daughter has her own blog now: "Mrs. Spikky Sparrow".
Crafting and drawing, the next generation.

Mother and daughter

Don't know why, but they don't get along.

Blossom

I made an important decision (together with our doctor): I will have one day in the week all for myself! No work at the computer, no telephones. Because I kept feeling tired and stressed at the same time... So there will be more blog posts from now on (I hope).
Little by little, I started working in the house and the garden. And my energy is slowly coming back.
Last year, we planted this Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis', and now we can adore its blossoms.

This is a great woodblock print by the Japanese artist Itō Shinsui, two girls walking under a blossom tree.

And of course, Van Gogh's blossoms.

And this brings me back to the disaster in Japan. I got a comment from a fellow blogger, about an "Embroidered Veggie Market Quilt for Japan". This is such a sweet idea to raise funds, so I decided to give it a try!
Here is already a little detail of what I'm embroidering.

You can find all the details about the quilt on Mom Wald's Place blog.

And while I'm busy embroidering, someone is getting very sleepy...

A far away spring

It's getting cold again, after a few sunnier days.
My garden is showing signs of spring already, and the cats are eagerly waiting to get out more often (and so do I!).
And, of course, Japan has been on my mind all the time the past week.

Quilt in progress

Every free minute I have, I try to work on my daughter's quilt.
With all the computer work still piling up, I get so frustrated...
Enough complaining, here are a few blocks I managed to finish in the last weeks.
Trees:

Spring:

Kitchen:

Autumn:


I will use these nine patches for a Red Riding Hood themed block.

First post in 2011

Yes, I'm back... Thanks to the flu and lots of work, I've been away from Blogland way too long.
I'm still recovering from that horrible flu, but I'm coughing a little less every day.
There's a lot I have to blog about, and I'm starting with a knitted cardigan, finished in December last year.


And I got this cutie pie as a Christmas present from my dear friend Danielle, from Pussman Stuffies.

I knitted him a little scarf already.

And I decided to name him Gatsby, because I received this book on the same day.

A White Christmas!

A very quick post, just to wish you all a merry Christmas! This is the first time that I have a real white Christmas, and I have to admit, it really helps to give me the real postcard feeling.

Winter Wonderland

A few impressions of this afternoon.

And the creepy snowman, made by my children. I hope he doesn't come to life overnight...

Winter in Paris

Back from Paris, since almost a week now.
It was very, very cold and we even had a little snow on the first day of our stay. We escaped the snow blizzard Paris was having this week.
Our main goal was the Monet exhibition in the Grand Palais. It was crowded, but every painting was worth the waiting!


There was also the exhibition in Musée d'Orsay of the painter Gérôme. The detail in his paintings is really stunning, you have to see it to believe it.

Our hotel was situated in the neighbourhood of the grands boulevards and the grands magasins, like "Printemps" and "Galeries Lafayette", and near to the Opera, and a 15 minutes walk from the musea.

This close to Christmas, all the shops were lavishly decorated, I took some pictures at the Printemps.

Early Snow

Snow in November, I really wasn't prepared... Tomorrow, we are leaving for three days in Paris, I hope I will see the Eiffel tower with a white bonnet on...
1. Cold Skates, 2. What all the well-dressed squirrels will be wearing this season., 3. Untitled, 4. A Chickadee in hand, 5. Warmly Dressed!, 6. Snowy trees, 7. red fox in snow, 8. Public Domain - Vintage Postcard Images, 9. Norwegian Forest Cat in Snow, 10. winter, 11. Snow Queen Anker 1948, 12. Leaving Footprints in the Snow--vintage Vogue Illustration, 13. Pink, 14. Etude 1932 Jan, 15. Weihnachten mit Ida Bohatta / Bild 12, 16. Gearing Up for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics!

The Children's Book

I've just finished "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt and it was a wonderful read about a very interesting period. Just a few topics mentioned in the book: the Suffragette movement, the bohemian way of life of artists and their families, the Great War,...
The end of the Victorian age and the turn of the century are a very tumultuous period, a part of history that is far away and yet very close to us.
And now I want to learn more about William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement, I want to read Peter Pan and find a good biography of mister Barrie, etc, etc...
I even made a pinboard, inspired by this book.
Patterns by Morris:


The Morris and Burne-Jones families:

Peter Pan, illustrated by the genius Arthur Rackham:


A few interesting links:
Preraphaelite Paintings
Red House
Victoria and Albert Museum
Turn of the Century, pictures and more pictures, to get in the mood of that period.

At last...

...I've restarted to work on Lucy's quilt. I finished the last of a series of spring girls, here with an umbrella in the rain.
And I made a new block, with little embroidered trees, here still in progress.
I'll post the two blocks when finished and ironed. For now only a few details.


My work has been absorbing me the past three months, and I really want to try to work more concentrated, and only 5 to 6 hours a day. That will give me more time to do things I really like to do, like crafting and reading. Life's too short!
In the meanwhile, I bought myself a new pair of shoes and red stockings.

And there's nothing quite like sitting by the fireplace with this boy at my side.