Peacock Garden #1

Finished part 1! Now up to part 2 and part 3, and perhaps part 4 too.

Tammy gave me an award for my blog. Thank you very much for it!

Now I am supposed to pass it to 10 other blogs. But there are so many blogs I enjoy reading I can't make a fair selection. I'd like to pass the award to all of you!
And I should write ten things about myself that others might not know. I'll have to think about that and write them in another post when I have more time.

Thank you for all the compliments on DD's photo's.

New start

And I did decide to start Peacock Garden at last. Part 4 will be released on Thursday, so I hope to catch up somewhere in April. This really is a lovely piece to stitch!

Another photo DD made in the backyard with her new camera. This Helleborus plant is standing on a rather dark location, so the camera used the automatic flashlight. This caused beautiful shades on the flower and did let disappear all the background.

CaHRH block 9

Another block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow done. This is block 9 on the chart.
I am thinking about finally starting Chatelaine's Peacock Garden today. This lovely piece has been waiting for so long. But Frosty Knotgarden and True Mystery 2 are also calling loudly.
And my Tail Feathers quilt birdies are longing to get out of their box and enjoy the spring weather.

Everywhere in the backyard those little blue flowers pop up.

Casper is playing hide and seek behind the hedgerow, planning to sneak away to the neighbour's garden when I turn around to pull out some more weeds.

New stash

On Thursday I have been to my friend Anne Marieke to devide the skeins of silks and and beads we bought for Frosty Knotgarden. Seeing all those beautiful colours make me eager to start this new project! We had a very nice day filled with admiring each others stitching and quilting projects and talking about them and many other subjects.
I also could see the beautiful cats Anne Marieke has, although Luna was very shy after her operation.
No pictures of the Frosty Knotgarden materials. By having finished Autumn Watergarden I do have a set of empty scrollbars, so I could start stitching Frosty soon and post a photo of the first part.

When I came home I found two packages waiting to be opened and an anxious DD. They contained the third LHN ornament and the Life is Beautiful patterns.

Last week I finished the first of the LHN ornaments.

And yesterday there was another package in the mail! This contained the chart, fabrics and threads for Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow.

Thank you very much for the many lovely comments on Autumn Watergarden.

At the moment I am stitching another block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. When this is finished it will be very hard to make a choice what to do next.

Autumn Watergarden

And here it is! The completed Autumn Watergarden.

Acorn branches

The last corner is done, so the Autumn Watergarden Mandala is finished.
I did make photo's of the whole piece, but I couldn't get a sharp one with the small camera. I'll ask DH to make a photo with his advanced camera later today and make a another post.

Our new low energy dishwasher.

Beechnut branches

Still one corner to go. I will try to finish that one during the weekend. I've stitched one of the black branches already.

Horse chestnut branches

Another corner of Autumn Watergarden done.
It is a complete mystery to me why some of the photo's can be enlarged and some can't. Even in the same post there can be a difference I discovered. And I really have no idea how to solve this riddle. Any suggestions are welcome!

Because I'd like to see the look of the scrappy Irish Chain blocks between the snowmen I assembled all the blocks I made untill now. I am thinking about adding a nine-patch block border to complete the light fabric squares of the snowmen to the outer side.

Snowbound #3

Yesterday morning the pattern for block #3 was published and I have started gathering fabrics almost inmediately. Because we had an information meeting for building contractors in the afternoon I had to take a Snowbound break. The building men may offer a quotation next friday and the cheapest will get the job. It is going to be really serious now!

Today I had time to finish this cute snowman.

And at last we got a photo of the other exceptionel visitor in our backyard: the woodpecker!

Chestnut branches

The first corner done; still three to go.

After having admired this and this lovely 'Life is Beautiful' stitcheries for some days I could't resist them any longer and ordered the pattern book. I don't know if I'll make the whole big quilt or choose some of the stitcheries I like the best to use them on cushions.

As always I was surprised by the amount of lovely comments on the posts and photo's. Thank you very much! To all Dutch readers (I know there are quite a few); feel free to post in Dutch if that is more easy.

Feeding birds

In our backyard we feed a lot of different birds during the winter. Regular visitors are sparrows, robins, great and little tits, blackbirds and pigeons. Sometimes even a woodpecker comes to diner.

This afternoon we had a very exceptional visitor!

DD was just in time to take this beautiful photo of the sparrow hawk.

Autumn Watergarden

Yesterday I finished beading the dragonflies of part 6 and started stitching one of the big branches in the corners. Those eight branches are the final part of the design. One of my goals is to stitch all of them this month.


A close up of the top side gate.


Saturday afternoon DD and I have been to the craft market in Zwolle. We have seen a lot of lovely things, but bought only a few things as you can see. The buttons are for the Snowbound quilt. I hope I can use some of them on the new block, which will be released on Friday.