ATELIER SOED IDEE

... on a bookmark. As promised here's the bookmark. I like it a lot! The whole book is great, so I definitly going to make some more out of it. Bep is going to finish the bookmark in her own way, so I'm curious to see what she makes of it. Have a nice weekend! Hugs, Simone

Whoohoo! Yesterday evening I finished page 7 of Merlin & Arthur! I'm happy :))) Tralalala... Here's the total of what I stitched so far: Now I first have to draw some more grid lines, before I can continue. But there are a lot of other things shouting at me, so it's propably going to take a while before I stitch on M&A again... In the mean time I'm started a small "model stitch job" voor Bep . She asked me to stitch something from the new Hatched and Patched book "The world as it should be". It's only a bookmark, so I'll probably can show you a pic of it tomorrow. Hugs, Simone

I was trying to do some "work" behind my pc. But when I looked out of my window, I saw two squirrels having sex :) Right before my window! I was too late to make a picture... But when I got my camera there were even 3 squirrels playing around: I hope you can see them... They walked around the house, and came to our backyard. Sorry, the birds bath was empty. Back to work again! But I thought I should share this with you. Hugs, Simone

Here's another update of Merlin & Arthur: Last week I've stitched two exchanges for February in between, but I'm finally reaching the end of this page. And than I can start some new things! Yippee! :) I found on the internet an old sewing machine for FREE! The wood on top isn't pretty anymore, and I have no place for it in my house... So it's in my garden now! In our local second hand store I also found an old iron. I'm really pleased with this little space in my garden! This spring I'll add some flowers too it. When I was surfing through some blogs, I came on the Martha Stewart website. Look at her craft room !!! She has a separate desk for everything! OK... I know she's a professional, but isn't it heaven to have a space like this??? I'm very happy with my own little stash/stitching room, so I'm not complaining, but Martha's room is an absolute dream, IMO. Hugs, Simone

Today I received this great exchange from Taija from Finland. She sent me a crazy exchange already before Christmas, but it came back to her house. So she sent another one, and this time it arrived safely on my doorstep. Taija sent me a little purse made from lovely heart fabrics, 2 quilt fabrics and a pair of scissors with the cutest Matrushka as a fob. This exchange is so perfect! I'm having a weakness for hearts at the moment, my large scissors weren't cutting probably anymore and I've stitched a floss tag for an exchange that matches perfectly with the brown/pink fabric. (I'll show you when it's received by it's new owner). Thank you, Taija! I'm very happy with your exchange!!! Hugs, Simone

Wendy Jo finally received her birthday exchange I've sent her! Her birthday was January 12th, but the mailcompany took its time to deliver my package. This is what I've made Wendy Jo: Design: The Seasons - Bent Creek Fabric: 28 ct. Graziano linen Floss: DMC Finish: wall hanging I've made a wall hanging of the stitched piece, but Wendy Jo can easily make it into a cushion either! Here's the complete exchange I've sent: I wanted a new handbag, because I thought my current one was boring... But it was perfectly fine and I liked the size of it. So I decided to "pimp" it! First I dyed it black (it was grey/brown). After that I dived into my buttons, ribbons and other stuff, and sewed, glewed and ironed it on my bag. I'm really happy with the result! Hugs, Simone

I've been tagged by Willeke ! And this is a fun one! The meaning of this is to show you my fourth photo in my fourth map on my computer. In my fourth map (Holidays) are only maps, so I took the fourth pic of the fourth map (2006) in that map. This is a picture from DS and me during a hike in Oberammergau, Germany. Such a coincidence, because we're going there again this summer! Tijmen is such a little boy in this pic! He's becoming 8 in two weeks... I have to tag 4 others to do the same thing. So Claudia , Nic , Carin and Cindy you're tagged! Hugs, Simone

I'm joining two Christmas Ornament SAL's, so here's my ornament for January: Design: Another Snowman ornament- freebee from Val's Stuff Fabric: 32 ct. Lugana Winter Blues by Sassiesfabbies Floss: DMC Finish: pinkeep ornament. It's also my first finish for 2009! Don't worry, Merlin is still on my floor stand, but I needed to stitch on something else for a while. Hugs, Simone

Last Saturday I went to Bep , together with Wil and Silvia , to the Stichery day. We had a great day in Bep's cozy country kitchen. I stitched all day on this snowmen in love. Yesterday I finished it and today I "framed" it. Bep did a drawing for some items, and I won the first price!!! It was this supercute little jellyroll! I understand it's a collectors item, so I'm not going to use it. We had a wonderful day! Hugs, Simone

When I was a little girl I got this green toy sewing machine. I completely ruined it, because I was stitching backwards all the time! Don't know why, but my mother couldn't convince me, to do it otherwise. ;) And now I saw this little blue machine on a second hand site. It was not expensive and in the neighborhood, so I bought it. I was very surprised when I picked it up this afternoon... Because it was an electrical machine! There used to be batteries on the bottom. I've tested it, but it isn't working anymore. Who cares? They look great together, displayed in my stitching room!

I'm finally making some progress on Merlin. There's a lot of the same color in this part. I'm nearly half way this page now. I want to finish this page, but all the things I've kitted up last week are shouting at me ("start me, start me"). So I don't know for sure, if I will make it 'till the end of the page ;) Hugs, Simone

Today we did some skating with my parents on "Brennels Buiten". We had a great day! I've upload the pics in a album, because there were so many... Schaatsen bij Brennels Buiten

This was my source of inspiration: And this is how it turned out: I'm so happy with it! DH thinks I should sell these pillowcovers... ;) But than it's not fun anymore, it's work! Besides that, I don't think I could part easily from something I've made for myself. Have a nice weekend! Hugs, Simone

I've kitted up some new projects: 6 Christmas ornaments for the 2009 Christmas Challenge and the Ornament SAL on our Dutch group, a Birthday exchange, a floss tag exchange and LHN's Hen Party for ME. So I better rush with this page of M&A, so I can start with something else ;) Hugs, Simone

I've managed to buy a coupon for the Isa V. SAL . It's a large piece of 32 ct. Sand Linen. I'm going to stitch with DMC 902 and instead of gold, I use DMC 815 for the accents. When the stitching is finished sometime in the far away future, I want to make a quilt of all the blocks. I had some fabrics in my stash that will match perfectly (but of course I need a lot more than this!). Hugs, Simone

Here's another progress pic of Merlin and Arthur. I'm glad that the roses are almost done. They were terrible to stitch! A lot of confetti and it was spread over four pages... Hugs, Simone

I think it's time to change the Christmas pillows on the couch into another theme. And since it's too early for spring, I made a snowman pillow cover: Even the backside is filled with snowmen (and a little Christmas theme). Hugs, Simone.

I finally took out my HAED again! I had to check on my WIP's page , to see that it was over half a year ago that I stitched on this... And I was really surprised to see, that I started this in March 2006. So I'm already working on this for almost 3 years! Thursday evening I started on page 7 (which is the 8th page I'm working on). And after 2 evenings this white bulb (a piece of sky) is my progress! But I'm starting to feel addicted again, so that's the good news! This is what it should look like in a few years: Hugs, Simone