I should have known when my colleague went off for vacation on June 1st that it was going to be a busy month. Apparently, I didn't realize how busy it would be. And so my updates on this blog are far and between. Not much stitching is going on either, though watching the EC soccer games does help.

Here's some progress on Himmel und Hoelle, I am really pleased with how it is coming along. Now all I have to do is fill in the small border and add the backstitch motifs. Then I can cross off one of my UFO's. Whow, that'd be a great accomplishment for the month.

I started Little House Needlework's Schoolgirl Lessons way back in May when I thought I had more than enough time to stitch on a gazillion projects. This is how far I got, I want the words to be in Dutch so I graphed them in my computer programme, but haven't found the time to stitch them.

Linen: Belfast antique white

Thread: Gloriana Arnhem Heath

This is all stitching from quite a while ago, these days I am busy finishing the needlepoint project we're doing for the workshop. I am getting close to finishing it, just hope it'll be done by tomorrow. 

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 5:21 PM MEST

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It's been a busy couple of weeks, busy at work, busy in the shop, busy stitching the last workshops, busy being busy . Fortunately, there seems to be an end to this busy tunnel. And the EC soccer started, which means I will be glued to the couch while watching the games and stitch.

I can't share much of my stitching as one project is a surprise for our Strawberry day, two are for an exchange and 3 are not photographed yet. Pathetic I know. There is however, some stitching I can share. This is a free graph from Barbara Ann Designs.

If you look at it, you'll see that one of the bees is "wingless". Why do you always discover this when you have put the whole thing together? Murphy's law for sure. Anyway, I have fixed it and the fourth bee can take off now as well, just don't have a picture yet. This was a lot of fun to stitch, quick and I love the colors.

I will make sure I take pics of my other projects so I can share them too. In the meantime I am thrilled to say that we beat Italy 3-0. That is a much better result than I would have thought we'd be able to do. And the team did a great job together. Next game is Friday against France.

Oh, and the color of the text is all in honor of our soccer team!

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 10:59 PM MEST

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I am enjoying some days off from work and am having a wonderful time. The weather is gorgeous, sunny and warm, but not too warm. We haven't had such beautiful days in a long, long time. Come to think of it, I think last year April was about the last time we had such nice weather.

I have used my free time to work on some workshop projects as well as my big UBU project. For those of you who want to see the UBU, I have updated my weblog with a new picture.

But I have also been stitching on some of my ongoing projects. First of all, here's an update on Himmel & Hoelle. I have stitched the outer two borders on two sides. Just need to fill up part of the inside border of the two.

Also, I got everything ready for the needlepoint workshop next Thursday. Rest assured, I have already stitched quite a lot of the design, but I thought it would be fun to post a picture of what you start out with.

I need to do a couple more blocks and hope to be able to show you soon how it turned out. It is such a joy to do some canvas work again, As this one isn't painted, you have to count like with regular cross stitching. Also, since I am using 6 stranded floss, you need to make sure that the threads lay evenly. But I think it's coming along nicely.

Well, the weather is tempting me to take my small project of the moment outside and do some stitching. Will post about that project later in the week.

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 12:05 PM MEST

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I finished up Spring Seasonal House by The Workbasket and really like how it turned out. The Silk 'n Colors are great to work with, and it's been fun to select the threads I wanted to use.

I am still not 100% sure on how to finish it, I may end up finishing it as a little stand up.

Then I started a UBU. You might wonder what the heck that is. It's in Dutch and means Ultimate Cross Stitch Challenge (Ultieme Borduur Uitdaging). I have been wanting to stitch different designs on a large piece of linen so that it can be used in stands, but also in the shop.

As most of you know, I am not very good at finishing large projects but this I think (I hope ) is different. It is basically a lot of medium to small projects that are stitched on one huge piece of linen. My theme for the UBU will be The Prairie Schooler, as I just love this designer and have many designs that I'd love to stitch but didn't want to get framed or otherwise finished. Below you see a picture of my piece of linen covered bythe PS charts.

To give you an idea, I cut a piece of linen of 220cm x 180cm. The final piece will be smaller, more like 180 x 130cm. But it is huge.

I have set up a seperate weblog for this UBU. It is in Dutch and if you want to join the UBU challenge, let me know so that I can add you to my links. If there is enough interest, we can set up a shared weblog either in Dutch or in English or both.

This UBU project is really on the top of my mind, I hope to have a new start (read the weblog for the story) this Friday and make some progress on Saturday evening. Next week we have a couple of days off and I really hope to get quite a bit done.  

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 10:13 AM MEST

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Life is on a fast track this week, there seem to be a 1001 things to do and my to do list doesn't get shorter, only gets longer. But it keeps me from getting bored (honestly, I can't remember the last time I was bored) .

A promised update on Himmel und Hölle is finally here, my newsletter readers will be glad no doubt. I am still amazed at how much fun this project is and can't understand why it has been neglected for so long. Maybe it's because there are fractional stitches in the design, which I absolutely do NOT like. But it adds to the charm, so there are just four more bands with fractional stitches, so I shouldn't be a whiner and just get it done.

Though I haven't been stitching a lot these past weeks, I did work on Spring Seasonal House by The Workbasket. I changed all the colors to Silk 'n Colors that were in my stash. The picture shows the design with most of the colors I use. It is always a little tricky to change the colors as you can't be 100% sure how they will turn out. After all, if you use the colors indicated on the leaflet, you know from the picture what it's going to look like. But I am rather pleased with how this turned out.

Fabric is 36 ct. Lakeside Linen Maple Syrup. I want to use Edinburg cream for the summer house. Haven't thought about the Fall and Winter house yet.

I also finished a small design that has been in the works since January. It's a gift for a friend. As you can see, I love stitching vertically when using an overdyed thread.

Fabric: Newcastle linnen cream                                                          

Thread: Tentakulum handdyed silk (it's a trial version, so there's no color name or number)

Design: Twisted Threads - Bunny Scissor Weight

I am working (on paper at the moment) on a new and very exciting project. The fabric has arrived, the threads been selected and I can't wait to start. It involves a new weblog, a favorite designer, approximately 14000 square centimeters of fabric, 65+ designs, over 50 skeins of floss and more stitches than I want to count now. I hope to be able to announce this project at the beginning of next week.

That's all now. Keep stitching!

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 10:13 AM MEST

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We are just back from the Patchwork and Quiltdays in Rijswijk and had a great time. It is so wonderful to meet our customers in person. We've seen some breathtaking quilts and there were more tempting quilting fabrics out there than we could justify to bring home. Both my mom and I bought some fabrics, but we tried to be good. A pictures of our treasures will have to wait, as they are all in the shop.

But as I still have some catching up to do on prior finishes and starts, I thought I'd update my weblog with a few pictures.

First one is the heart by Renato Parolin. You have seen it in progress and I finished it 2 weeks ago. These hearts (Cinco Coeurs) are really adorable.

Next is a project I started in Zwolle, I think. It's a Trio of Snowmen from Stitchy Kitty. Ever since I saw the chart, I knew I had to start it. It is stitched with Weeks Dye Works, Sampler Threads and Venus threads on Ice Blue Belfast linen.

I still have to fill in the spots in his scarf and hat, and he's missing his arms as my WDW Rust has gone MIA but I really like him. I want to stitch all 3 snowmen on one piece of linen and then figure out what kind of border I will stitch around them. Almost one down and two to go.

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 11:32 AM MEST

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Another picture I can share now are the squares I stitched for my Australian partner in the Fair and Square exchange. Sharon received a free chart by A Mon Pierre Ami stitched in Waterlilies Periwinkle. Great color IMHO, thanks Candy for introducting me to it. I stitched this during the flight to Nashville as well.

Last week I stitched up one of the latest JBW Designs, Flower Basket from the French Country series. I used Valdani thread for this, we brought several colors from Nashville and the good thing is that the overdyed threads are colorfast. I want to give that a trial run on a small towel to make sure it actually is colorfast, but the colors are great and the thread was really nice to work with. I changed the words to Belle Fleur (without the s) as I think that is correct French (if I remember well from high school it should be Belles Fleurs).

I have quite a few more projects that I would like to start, but stitching for the workshops takes precedence at the moment. I am working on this months installment for Rosina Luger and also My Stitching Treasures by Jeannette Douglas Designs.

One design I definitely want to stitch is Briar Rabbit by La D Da, I really like this tall rabbit and the design has an alphabet to stitch as well, what more can a girl as for.

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 11:43 AM MEST

Updated: 26 March 2008 2:23 PM MEST

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It’s been a really long time since I have updated my weblog, but a rather nasty virus had me on the couch and in bed for most of 2 weeks. Luckily, I am completely recovered and so it is time to post some more stitching pictures.

First of all, here are parts 1-4 of Rosina Luger. I so love this project. The silk is wonderful to work with and covers the fabric so neatly. There is a shine on the silk that I cannot capture with the camera, but it is there.

Do you have a design that you have been wanting to stitch for years, never found the time to do it but it keeps lingering in the back of your mind? That is Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs for me. Ever since the chart was published in 2005 I have been in love with it. I don’t stitch for Easter, but this bunny was just screaming at me to get stitched. Of course life got in the way and my bunny had to keep quiet.

During my second week at home I finally thought, what the heck, I am just going to start Easter Parade and we’ll see when it gets finished. I had the perfect piece of Lakeside Linen (it’s a scrap so I don’t know what color it is), it was 40ct which suited me just fine and I had all the threads at home. I started with the border and worked my way up to the first flower on the left side. A week later the bunny was stitched and I so love how he looks. There are just the outlines of the bunny and the eyelets but boy it really is a bunny!

While browsing the internet I found a weblog where the owner had stitched Easter Parade too and her Berry Cobbler (used o.a. in the border) was more lilac than mine. I liked her piece much better, so I’ll probably “unstitch” what I had done in Berry Cobbler and change it to Hyacinth (Sampler Threads). After all, this is EASTER Parade so it can look eastery (which is in my opinion pastel colors).

I took a closer look at the fabric and think it is either Lemon Ice or Cornsilk. I really wish I knew it for sure as I really, really like this color. It's a pity you can't see that the fabric is actually more yellow than the pictures shows you.

I got a bag of small pieces in Nashville and it’s been fun to select projects for my small pieces. There are several other projects that I can envision being stitched on one of these scraps. 

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 7:35 PM MEST

Updated: 26 March 2008 4:50 PM MEST

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Well, officially I have been back in town for a while, but not here. Nashville was great, we had a wonderful time and picked up quite a lot of goodies. It always amazes me to see how many new designs come out at market. The creativity of the designers really has been flowing.

In between market, Nashville days, an alumni event for my other job, I have managed to stitch a bit. Well, quite a bit I think. First of all, My Stitching Treasures, the workshop of tomorrow evening. It's a joy to stitch, Jeannette Douglas always manages to put together a wonderful mix of cross stitch and specialty stitches.

I have stitched a bit more on the right side of the design and all the outlines are done, but this was the part that was on my Qsnaps.

I also managed to have a finish, it's one of the newest designs by JBW Designs. I really really LOVE this French Country series from Judy. This is amour and I stitched it over one on 32 count cream Belfast with one strand of Waterlilies Periwinkle.

I've included the 26 needle I used to show how small it is. The picture actually makes it look a little bigger.

And the last picture for today is my progress on one of th hearts by Renato Parolin. This is a new designer that we carry in the shop and he has amazing designs. There are 4 more hearts in this leaflet and I might do another one with owls.

This one is stitched on 32 count antique ivory Belfast with one strand of Waterlilies Burnt Toast. Great color if you ask me. I started this on the plane to Nashville and haven't been able to stitch much on it lately. Most of my focus these days is on the workshops that are planned for March.

I still have a few more pics to share so stay tuned.

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 10:38 PM CET

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This past week seems to have flown by and is a little bit blurry. We packed everything in the car for Zwolle Wednesday evening and I was home around midnight. Left Thursday around 10 for Zwolle and spent most of the day and early evening getting the booth ready. It always seems to take longer than we think it does. But we were very happy with how the booth turned out.

The show itself was very crowded (6300 visitors) and especially on Friday and Saturday customers had to wait a while before we could help them. It was really nice to see a lot of our customers, sometimes meeting customers for the first time in real life. I think that's one of the things I enjoy most about shows, the interaction with our customers.

Yesterday and today I spent getting ready for Nashville. As we are giving a workshop on Friday, I had to finish the design, write the finsihing instructions, pick up more pictures for the cover, finish the scissor fob, do the lay out for the scissor fob chart as well as the boxes, go to the shop to rearrange the threads and the leaflets, go to my aunt's birthday, go to my exercise class, answer emails, shop for those last minute items you always need, make sure we have enough Dutch candy and cookies for some special people we will see in Nashville, do the laundry so I won't have to walk around in my pj's (Ria insists that that is not an option and I think she's right ) and I am sure there are other things I did these two days that I can't remember. 

But most of what I need to do is done, so I plan to sit down, have a cup of coffee and maybe even stitch a little. Here's my latest finish, it's a kit by Marjorie Massey:

I am stitching very hard on the Snowman Trio by Stitchy Kitty, but forgot to take a picture. That'll have to wait till I am back.

Will see y'all in a week.

Posted by dehandwerkboetiek at 8:33 PM CET

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