The cats and the bench and the pic that wasn't

No Blue Lady progress. Because I needed to make a wedding present. Why anyone would want to get married in this day and age – especially to my ex – is a complete mystery to me (she said slightly bitterly), but I’m sure you all agree that a wedding calls for a present. And since we will also be spending part of Christmas with said ex and new wife, it needed to be a quick gift and a good one. So I took out my barge poles and some rope and started knitting a blanket. 

I thought I’d take a Bench Monday pic of the blanket in progress, but that turned out to be quite a bit more cumbersome than expected. Behold the Bench Monday pic-taking experience

Sigh…

The other blanket you see there is for my lovely neighbour who helped me paint my house over the summer. Also a Christmas present. Also not in cross stitch. Still. I’m having a grand old time pottering around with my yarn and thread and needles and camera and cats and kid. Hope you are too!

Yours joyfully,

Annemarie.

Stitching Around the Christmas Tree

Well hello there, honeybuns. I have fully recovered from my allergy attack (doubtlessly because of your kind well-wishes) and so it's back to stitching! Yes, I know, I can hardly believe it myself, but I'm still stitching. Having a project that you are so utterly in love with helps, of course. So this is how I spend my days recovering from my munch-fest:

Stitching around the Christmas tree, how cozy is that! Can you see how much progress I've made? A couple of more days and that little tree will be finished, I'm sure. Also notice the props I use for stitching. Aren't they fab? I bought a pair at my local DIY store for very very little money. I suspect they cost very very little money because once you start using them, you will soon notice that much of the wood ends up in your skin. Honestly. Splinters the size of sock knitting needles.

What to do? I thought. Now every time a thought like that crosses my mind, I find myself going through my house and looking for things that could possibly be of use - it didn't take long, because I happened upon my fabric stash and eureka! Cut a whole bunch of fabric into long, 5 centimeter (2") ribbons and proceeded to wrap the ribbons around the props. Bit of glue in strategic places and voila. Useful and fun, and nice to look at, even when they're not being used.

Very difficult to get a decent picture of them, though, so you will just have to take my word for it that they're glorious :o)

Oooookay, off to the supermarket. On foot. Because I need to lose weight pronto. Not that I'm keen on dieting or anything, but the last couple of months I've been complaining about my mattress being so lumpy, only to discover some nights ago that it wasn't in fact the mattress that was lumpy, but rather... Well. Me.

Maybe I'll take some pictures on the way to the village, to give you some idea of where I live next time I blog.

Yours lumpily,
Annemarie.

v. v. sick

It was my plan to have Pantoef write this blog post. You know, a la Spinster Stitcher: “My Mum can’t come to the blog right now…” but when I suggested this to Pantoef, he just raised his left eyebrow and continued munching the Christmas tree. Pipien always steers clear of any electrical appliance (except for the modem which provides much warmth), so I guess I’m on my own.

You see, I’m ill. And its all my own fault. –ish. I gobbled up an entire ‘speculaaspop’ (a big big big ginger cookie) that I’d forgotten I had. It was gluten free. It was even wheat free and nut free, so, safe as houses I thought, before I took a bite and kept taking bites until I’d polished off the entire thing. Next day (i.e. yesterday) I woke up and found that I couldn’t open my eyes. When I did manage to pry one eye open and look in the mirror, I noticed that my head was twice its normal size and thrice its normal colour (DMC 3803 or thereabouts, which is quite a lovely colour when it’s stitched on linen but quite a bit less fetching when it’s the colour of your skin). Still feeling a bit off, so it’s another pill for me and then back to bed. Anyway, this is by no way an uncommon occurrence, so no need to feel (too) sorry, just a bit of background information as to why there’s no stitchy progress today. But if I remember correctly, I did promise to show you what I made Pelle for Sinterklaas, and here it is:

This lovely owl was inspired by the ones Little Woollie makes. There’s no pattern, but if you follow her wonderful cat pattern, you should be able to make the owl. Should you feel so inclined.

Yours off to bedly,

Annemarie.

The Blue Lady returns

When I asked you to stop me from joining the Scarlet Letter stitch-along blog, I actually meant for you to discourage me. To point out to me that me signing up for a(n?) SAL or any other form of obligatory stitching is bound to end in misery and mayhap mayhem (thank you, Andrea for understanding me so completely). Thankfully for me, the Scarlet Letter blog is so popular, that it is now quite impossible for me to sign up (no, I know it’s still possible to sign up, but please, please, don’t make me do it). I say thankfully because, when I picked up Mary Hart, fully intending to stitch my way quickly down to the good part (i.e. the cat), I found myself frowning and scratching my head in wonderment when I couldn’t see any holes in the linen, while I was quite sure they were there before. Slowly but surely, the dreadful realization dawned that quite a bit of time has passed since the last time I worked on Mary Hart, and seeing that these days I can barely see what’s on my dinner plate without my freaking reading glasses, it’s probably a bit of a stretch to expect me to see the holes in the 40 count linen that I, in my infinite wisdom, chose to stitch Mary Hart on. Over-one on 40 count linen, old woman? What were you thinking?

Well, we’ll see how I manage to work my way around that. Not without the help of a very powerful magnifying glass, I fear.

Not to worry, though, because I have a project to fall back on when all else fails (or becomes invisible)… I know you missed her as much as I did: The Blue Lady. Mrs Slocombe. The Pistols.

Stitched on linen with holes the size of Yorkshire. The tiny white circle on the left hand side of the next picture is the bit I’m (still) working on right now.

This is a picture of the size of her (taken in the days when the décor of my home was still remarkably minimalist and fluff and clutter free)

And this is where I stopped yesterday evening

Ohhhhh, honeybuns, it was utterly glorious to work on her again. After all these years of hooking and knitting and not knowing what to do with all of my inspiration and my unrest and agitation, it turns out that THIS is what I needed. Some quiet time with my lovely lady. *Sigh* and, dare I say, *sniff*.

Oh, I’ve become so teary-eyed with adoration over my stitchy project, that I completely forgot to tell you about our Saint Nicholas celebrations. Next time, perhaps.

Yours deliriously in lovely,

Annemarie.

Eagerly awaiting with wildly beating heart...

...the coming of Saint Nicholas.

Expected time of arrival is around three O'clock this afternoon. The gifts are wrapped

the food is ready, and so are we!!!

In a great number of Dutch families, including ours, Saint Nicholas is bigger than Christmas. I've been busy crafting, cooking, and wrapping, and helping Saint Nicholas and his six to eight black men to pick out those perfect gifts for my nearest and dearest.

Six to eight black men??? I hear you ask puzzlingly... Let me explain. David Sedaris, who is fabulous, in case you didn't know already, wrote a story called "Six to Eight Black Men" and it describes perfectly the Dutch Saint Nicholas tradition. Read it or listen to him reading it to you. Enoy!

Yours awaiting eagerly with wildly beating heart,

Annemarie.

The agony of choice

Have I told you already that it’s a delight to be back? I don’t think I have, so let me just say that it’s a delight to be back. Writing blog posts, but most importantly, visiting your blogs has brought me inspiration that had been sorely lacking for a bit. Inspiration to stitch, that is. Real, honest cross stitching. So in the last couple of days, I put a little work into this wee darling

It’s the first Loose Feathers chart by Blackbird Designs, and it’s still my favourite of the lot. Just… not finished yet. No surprise there :o)

Do you know that there is a new blog out there that encourages us stitchers (I think I may still call myself a stitcher, yes?) to pick up a Scarlet Letter design and finish it before February 2014? Now, the rational part of me (which is quite tiny and insignificant and mostly neglected, but it’s there nonetheless) tells me not to join this challenge. It may seem like a good idea to join up right now, but once I click that ‘join’ button, all the joy and determination and inspiration to work on one of these incredible beauties will have disappeared into thin air. I know this. I know, I know, I know.

But then I opened my poor, long-neglected WIP/UFO drawer, and I saw this…

Susan Dunn

and this…

Mary Hart

And then I went through all my cross stitch charts and found these…

…and my heart, my sentimental, foolish heart started telling my boring brain to shut up and live a little and to go ahead and click that ‘join’ button.

Honeybuns, stop me before it’s too late.

Yours agonizingly,

Annemarie.

Of birthdays and beasts

Well, I did promise I’d be back :o)

You see, I have about 120 pictures left to share with you, and now is as good a time as any to do so. Well, not on one go, obviously, because I think Mr. Blogger wouldn’t appreciate that, but you know, an update every once in a while should do the trick of making up for lost time.

Righty-oh then, let’s start with the most important day of the year in this wee little yellow house, i.e. Pelle’s birthday. That took place -- gulp -- 4 months ago.

As any crafty Mum will affirm, it is simply impossible to let such a day go by without inflicting her craftiness on her young, and so here’s what I did

I made a snake. I found the free pattern here. Well, I did the head and then made the rest up as I went along. The snakes’s name is Sniek Sneek, which, as it so happens, is pronounced in exactly the same way as Sneak Snake. For Pelle’s birthday, I also wrote Sniek Sneek’s life story (as it is quite a story), but I fear it would be lost in translation, so I won’t inflict it on you.

Even after 4 months, Pelle and Sniek are still the best of friends, I’m happy to say. That fabulous crown that Pelle is wearing in these pics was inspired by this one. The pattern is in Dutch, but the pictures are so clear that any non-Dutch-speaking idiot could follow them. And as you know, I’m not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination, so if I can do this, so can you. Try it. Your little ones will love you for it. Well, mine did, but he’s pretty chuffed with just about anything I make for him. I indoctrinated raised him well.

Yours craftily,

Annemarie. 

...

Hello! Thought I’d left you, did you? Honestly, I don’t know what’s keeping me from blogging. It’s not as if I’m not being crafty anymore, because I am. I knit, I crochet, I even STITCH sometimes, for crying out loud, but blogging… not so much. Perhaps because it’s escapism I’m looking for and not real life, which is what usually features in my blog posts. Or something like that. Anyway, here’s a tiny post about some of the things that have been keeping me busy, and since it’s Monday, I’ll start with a Happy Bench Monday pic of sorts, in which Aunt Gertrude is modeling one of my most successful finishes of the past few months: a giant Noro Baktus

I LOVE it. I would LOVE it even more if it were’t so darned scratchy.

A giant hooky patchwork blanket-to-be

229 squares and I’m not even halfway there.

Aaaaand, you can probably guess some of the other things that are keeping me on my toes. One of them mysteriously managed to make his way into both of the pictures above (methinks this is a cry for attention) and the other one…

Awwwww, poor thing. He’s having a hard time of it with his teeth. He’s dreadfully late, of course, but then, he’s dreadfully late with everything. It doesn’t worry me. He always gets there in the end :o))

It is my intention to make a more regular appearance from now on. I know I’ve said this before and I don’t owe you an explanation or anything (since I am still a Blogger Without Obligation, and proudly so) but If I’m not back by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, feel free to hound me with nasty comments, e-mails or even lawyers if need be. Really. I mean it. I need a good kick up the arse every now and then, so go ahead and kick me :o) 

Yours absently no longer,

Annemarie.

v. busy

Oh, so v. busy. But not in a bad way. I have so much to show and tell that I don't know where to begin, so I guess I'll just start with showing you some things I've been doing lately - oh, and none of them involve stitching (sorry, dear readers, the stitching bug has not fled, it's just not nearly as persistent as the knitting and hooking bugs, which keep buzzing around my brain in a most annoying way). Still: busy busy busy me has been a very busy crafty bee. In this post I will show you the blanket I made for the bestest friend in the world, Harmien:

This is the 'Babette Blanket', pretty famous among the hooky crowd on Ravelry. I can't be arsed to look up the link, because I'm lazy like that, but it's SO worth browsing the project section over at Ravelry to see all the gorgeous colour combos and snuggly Babette blankets over there. Pretty pleased with my Babette, which I've decided to name 'Een troostrijk dekentje' (A Comfort Blanky). Here it is in action on my bed:

And here it is on the floor, because... well, why not:

Excusez le crookedness of the pic, but I'm still lost without Piknik.com to put these things to right [tear running down cheek][sniff]. And here's a picture of my fancy-schmancy label:

Can you tell I'm proud of this blanket? I think you probably can :o)

There's plenty more pics of plenty more projects on my computer, so maybe I'll share them with you sometime this lifetime. First though, tomorrow I'm to go to the hospital where they're running some tests involving my bladder, a tube and a tiny camera.

Ew.

Yours squeezing her thighs together quite tightly,
Annemarie

Too darn bloody hot

Heigh-ho,

Just a quick hello to tell you that I'm alive, relatively well - albeit, as the post title suggests, too bloody hot. Summer sucks. Just so you know. Ooh, but I do see the bright sides of summer too. Just today, Pelle and I took my brother's dog for a walk (or rather, the hound took the lead and dragged us through the woods for a mile or three. I managed to look up once or twice and noticed that it was really, really lovely out there, and decided right then that I need to go back tomorrow armed with a camera to collect photographic proof of the beauty of the world when all is lush and green and sunny and bright).

This summer vacation is turning out to be very different from what I expected, in a very positive way. Pelle has had to get used to this new regime of not having to do anything, and the slightest disturbance throws him off balance, but the times we spend at home, just the two of us (and the felines, of course) are very nearly perfect. Pelle will be 8 next week, and I'm making all sorts of crafty preparations. Really looking forward to August 2nd!

Okay, on with the post. A little health warning is in order (I would advise any of you with a dicky ticker to look away now), because I've been contemplating... and doing some... stitching! Thanks to Harmien (who is, as you probably know by now, unfortunately blogless), I'm starting to see the joys of stitching again. Not 30 minutes ago, I found myself looking at the new additions over at 123 Stitch, something I haven't done in months and months and months! Harmien and I make it a habit (sort of, kind of) to work on The Village of Hawk Run Hollow whenever we get together, and we got together twice in the last couple of weeks, and I'm actually making some progress!

Still only the crazed cow and the mystery mammal (still asuming it's a mammal, though haven't found out which one exactly yet), but you can definitely see the start of a house there! As of our stitching session yesterday, a door and some more wall has been added. Good thing about that progress, too, because this BAMF of a BAP is to be finished within 4 years! Harmien and I have been calculating (nothing dramatic, just with the use of our fingers and toes), and have come to the conclusion that we will be celebrating 25 years of best friends-ness in 4 years' time. As a way to mark our anniversary, we've decided to have the Village finished by then. Seems do-able, doesn't it?
Ha!
Little do you know.
About me and Deadlines.

Well, this post is unexpected enough as it is, no need to add more about all the things I've been up to knit and crochet-wise. Possibly next time. I leave you with a summer's greeting from my dear boy. Enjoy your lazy hazy summer days, if you are so inclined ;o)

Yours swelteringly,
Annemarie.

Hi!

Awww, thank you all so much for your warm welcome back! As you see, I intend to keep coming back for a while longer :o) I would have blogged earlier, if I hadn’t spent six days figuring out how to make these nifty picture collages without the help of Picnik.com. Unfortunately, being blonde and all, I couldn’t work out how to use the other available free programs on the internet, so you’ll just have to bear with me and wade through a couple of dozen pictures before you reach the end of this post. You know, if you care to stick around.
As promised, today I’m going to show you what on earth possessed me to decorate my house to resemble Dolores Umbridge’s office at Hogwarts. Well you see, I have this book.

I made it myself. It’s actually the first thing I ever did with a sewing machine, and it wasn’t as dangerous as I thought it would be (although the sewing machine wouldn’t agree, because it didn’t actually survive the exercise). I followed an online class for Mary Ann Moss’ Remains of the Day Journal. It wasn’t free, but I’ve never been so happy to part with my money, because it was worth every cent. Follow the link and feast your eyes on some of the other journals that have been made. If you're anything like me, you probably have bags and bags and boxes filled with pieces of paper, tickets, notes, letters, pictures, envelopes, stamps and other bits and snips that you've saved ever since you were, what, ten years old? and couldn't bear to part with, but you never knew what to do with them. Well, this is the perfect way to use them, save them, keep them, cherish them. A browse through a journal such as this makes you skip down Memory Lane...

I worked on putting together this journal after we’d learned that my father did not have long to live, which is probably what makes the book so special to me. My father could always take huge pleasure in little things, in daydreaming… building castles in the air, and I admired that in him. I wanted a place where I could go if I ever wanted to reminisce, daydream and build my own castles in the air, and that’s how this book came to be. It’s my Happy Days book, with room for positive, happy thoughts and memories, and most probably some horrible clichés about happiness and bliss, but every time I open this book, for a short while it transports me to my very favourite castle in the air. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself thinking with a wistful sigh: I wish I could live in this book.

And then I thought: well, why don’t I make it happen? Why don’t I recreate the feeling I get from this book in my very own living room? Throw together patterns I love and bits and bobs I adore and recreate something that I love deep inside, but am afraid to show because it might be seen as Over The Top! And so that's exactly what I did. Dolores would be jealous.

It’s not to everyone’s taste, I’m sure, but I LOVE it. And fortunately, my son is too young (or too sweet) to comment on all the pink flowery stuff happening. Surely you agree that in a room such as this, you need a LOT of crocheted blankets. And yes, some more samplers and other stitchy things. More of that…
…next time!

Yours tickled pinkly,

Annemarie.

Hello...?

Yes, yes, I know, it’s been AGES! More than six months. I…I don’t know what to say, really. Except that life is busy, but most importantly, I think, this space here, my little home on the web, doesn’t really feel like my home anymore. Over the last couple of months – or I may say years – my interests have changed so much! Honestly, I look at the pictures of all my finished projects in my sidebar, and I can’t even imagine that I put all of that work into my stitching. How pathetic is that? I do still love to stitch, make no mistake, but my horizon has broadened, so to speak. It’s not the individual projects I go for these days, but colours and patterns and themes. Which means, basically, I do a lot of everything and never finish anything. Not that THAT’s news, but there you go.

So, what HAVE I been up to? Well, I’ve been making blankets. Of course. Because one can never have too many blankets.


Even though it is a million degrees outside, which means that it’s probably a million and ten degrees inside, I keep on hooking and knitting blankets, because before we know it Fall will be upon us, and I will actually have a use for all these woolly blankets and all will be right with the world. And until then, I keep making blankets and dream of better, cooler, cozier days, to be spent inside. Curled up under a blanket.

Ooh, and I’ve been crocheting owls, and a snake, too. More of that in a later post (Ha! Don’t go holding your breath now, ladies and gentlemen). Today though, I want to illustrate how I’ve gone completely overboard on the colour, pattern and theme thing. What did I do, I hear you ask? Well. I decorated my dark old bookcases with some pink flowery wallpaper. As you do when you’re up to your eyeballs in deadlines and school vacations (and, for your information, deadlines and school vacations do not a good combination make). Behold my newly decorated library!

before:

during:

after:

I don't think this ... erm... style of decorating even has a name, but I call it My Happy Days style. Next time (again, no holding of breaths please), I will explain where this came from. The monster doily draped over the sofa is probably an old tablecloth, crocheted by my Granny.

The beasties are fine and enjoying some lovely time doing yoga… (they're obviously yoga  newbies, which would explain Pipien's slightly worried look)


What? What're you looking at, you insolent human ? Let's see you try something like this...



My other beastie, the human one, well… let’s draw a veil over that subject. Or perhaps a warm woolly blanket. To keep him calm and rested.

Yours wholly woolly,

Annemarie.