ATELIER SOED IDEE

I don't want to set goals for 2009, but of course I do have some plans! I decided to do a lot less exchanges this year. I had over 60 finishes in 2008 ! And most of them were exchanges. I still like to send and receive presents from all over the world, so I'll do an exchange occasionally. I see a lot of people cutting down in exchanges... Becky is closing down her exchange groups and there are appearing all kind of SAL's and ME stitching groups. Maybe because of the financial crisis? Because of all the exchanges, I hardly stitched on any of my WIP's . So I'm definitely going to stitch more on them. Merlin is calling me already ;) I'm joining a Christmas Ornament SAL, so I'll try to stitch an ornament each month. And I'm planning to join Isa Vautiers SAL . I want to make separate blocks of it, and turn them into a quilt. The Dutch RR I'm in, is also still going on in 2009. I also have plans concerning patchwork and quilting. I've collected Autumn ...

I loved this little angel, the minute I saw her on this blog ! So I had to stitch her... I still think she's cute! Here is what I made my Mom for Christmas: She liked the pillowcover! Hugs, Simone

This afternoon the mailwoman brought me a package from Italy. It was the Seasonal exchange from Claudia , right in time for Christmas! I forget to take a pic before opening everything up (I was to greedy), but it was all beautiful wrapped! Here's everything that was in there: The ornament Claudia made is very ingenious... It's also a Stitchers pocket! The strawberry is even removable, to use as a pincushion. I think it's very clever what Claudia put together and so perfectly finished! It's going to be hard, to come even close to this in our next (Spring) exchange. Thanks again, sweet Claudia!!!

I've got this By the Bay chart in the HOE Christmas Ornament exchange from Gaby , and started it right away. But in the mean time I did a lot of other projects, so I'm not going to finish it before Christmas... I'm in a personal Birthday exchange with Wendy Jo and her birthday is January 12th, so I better start stitching for her! This is how far I am with "Santa in the Country": Well... there will be Christmas next year for sure, so plenty of time to finish it before that ;) Hugs, Simone

I bought a birdhouse cartonage package over a year ago. But it was still lying in my closet, collecting dust... Untill someone showed me a picture of the finished houses! So I digged them out, together with some scraps, buttons and ribbon. And here's the result: Aren't they cute??? Hugs, Simone

I'm having a Clear out! Please check out my clear out blog for charts, fabrics, kits and other stuff. Hugs, Simone

Look what I just found in our secondhand (bargain) store! A gingerbread boy and girl! They were only 50 cents together. I'm really happy with them! Hugs, Simone

... and he's bringing... Plum Pudding! Design: English Plum Pudding - JBW Designs Fabric: 32 ct. linen Antique White Floss: Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe and DMC #8 Perlé Finish: ornament

Browsing through all the lovely blogs, I see the most wonderful things. And most of the time I get a lot of ideas! Too much, to make them all... But when I saw on Ingrid's blog , this cute little Christmas trees made of branches, I just had to make them right away! I have "stolen" some Red Cornus branches, from a perk near our home... And had a lot of leftovers. So this morning I saw this star , and within half an hour, I had three stars myself! I hope this post inspires you also. So start cutting branches in your garden! Hugs, Simone

Yesterday I received a big box from Donna ! We were each others partners in this exchange. Let's see what was inside the box. The red box with the reindeer is already a present. But what a treat there was inside! Such a big coincidence! Donna stitched the same JBW design for me, as I did for her. Only she did it over 1 and made it into a floss tag (did you know you can easily hang a floss tag in your Christmas tree :) ) And here are all the other goodies that were inside the box. Some candy for DS, hot chocolate, a L*K chart, GAST floss, ribbons.... Thank you so much Donna! I really enjoyed this reindeer exchange! Hugs, Simone

Isn't it strange that you get inspired by ironing DH's shirts??? But somehow I can see a quilt in this.... Luckily for me DH has a rather large size, so there's a lot of fabric in it! Now I just have to wait patiently till the shirts get worn out... Hugs, Simone

I read on the SBEBB board that Donna received my exchange for the Reindeer Games. I don't have a pic of the whole exchange, so I hope Donna will put some on her blog. Here's the flatfold I made for her: Design: French Country Reindeer - JBW Designs Fabric: 25 ct. linen Sand Floss: Overdyed red - Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Finish: Flatfold Hugs, Simone

I forgot to take pictures during our quiltbee (too busy chatting!), but look at all the sweet gifts I got from my dear friends! Lieve Wil, Joke, Jolanda, Els en Silvia , bedankt dat jullie er waren vanochtend, ik vond het supergezellig!!! Hugs, Simone

I invited the girls of my quiltbee, to my house, for a Christmas bee tomorrow morning. So this weekend I did all the Christmas decorating, to get the right atmosphere. I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

For the Christmas exchange on our Dutch Borduurhoekje group, I received some wonderful gifts today! Lintine stitched a JBW design for me and finished it into a sort of pinkeep (without the pins): I like it very much! She also spoiled me with goodies: Some metallic threads, beads, ribbon, 2 snowflake ornaments, a beautiful star ornament and she even managed to find a gingerbread man card! Did I already told you that I love Gingerbread man? Lintine, thank you for this great exchange! Hugs, Simone

Here's the angel I started Sunday, while I was at Bep's. Isn't she cute??? DH thinks she looks like a "Viking-type Angel". I consider that as a compliment :D Hugs, Simone

I've made some more sheep for my flock. Some of them have been travelling around the globe! The first one, "Isaac" has travelled to Belgium, to go living at Iris' place. I've kept the one in Scottish cloth for myself and the last one travelled all the way to the USA! Max has found a new home at Marne's . It was my return exchange for her for the crazy exchange . A few days ago, I was browsing some weblogs and came on this French blog; Le Chalet des Perelles , and saw this cute woolfelt little birdies. I just had to try to make them! They are not as pretty as on the french blog, but I like them anyway ;) Yesterday I spent a wonderful day at Bep's with my friend Jacq . Bep had a Christmas day and workshop in her house. And I finally met Cindy IRL overthere! Cindy and I knew each other from our blogs, so it was very nice to finally "Meet and Greet". And Cindy also made me this cute Tilda heart: Thanks again Cindy! It was so sweet of you!!! I'...