Drawing and Painting

April 30th 2013, a day of Dutch pride as Willem Alexander became our new king today. we celebrated with the Dutch kids in class last Saturday; traditional games such as koekhappen, spijker poepen, zaklopen, sjoelen en eierlopen were all a big hit with the kids. 

my mom send us some orange and red-white-blue goodies, we watch Dutch television today, and tonight there's a big orange celebration in Toronto with dinner and party to honor the new king and his queen. it's so special to see hundreds of Dutch people celebrate on the other side of the world, we are looking forward to it.

every now and then I get my pencils and brushes out and draw and paint like nothing else. last week I entered such a period again, it feels so good to be back at it. 

I am working on the pattern for the flower squares and the blanket of the Catania Grande project....

happy new week of Spring

Off-Week

an unintentional week off blogging ~ life gets in the way sometimes

quite a bit of crochet happened, I am working on a design in yellow, white and grey tones. a new cute flower square pattern is in the making too. and there is big news on the Catania Grande subject...

on an inspirational note, have a closer look at the picture above: embroidered cheerios by Kate Jackson. yes, embroidered cheerios. to read more about this and stunning paper towels too, have a look at her beautiful blog. If you are in the area you should consider a visit to Studio Huddle to see her work, on till April 28.

even though it was cold, we saw a lot of sunshine last week and weekend which we enjoyed a lot. oh and I made a new cover for Floyd's dog bed. it now matches the pillows I made for our couch, stylish dog, right?

see you soon for a big and exciting Catania Grande update

Colours

hello new week, hello you. how was your week?

we enjoyed a lovely weekend full of sunshine, fresh and not so fresh tulips, good lunches, cupcakes, some crochet, and yarn shipping. Floyd is getting bigger and we enjoy longer walks with him, for example by the ravine close by our home. isn't it amazing that I took those two pictures of the ravine ~ last June and this Sunday? it is hard to believe it will be so green and warm in two months from now, but then again I can't wait for it to happen haha.

wishing you a lovely new week

Happy Weekend

happy colours to wish you a very happy weekend

from top to bottom:

beautiful cards designed by Tracy, a lovely lady who I know through Gatherings Magazine

this is her pretty Fair Morning Blue shop and this is her inspiring blog

~

yellow flowery sunshine indoors on a gloomy rainy day

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special and very original cards by Lisa who I met at the Christmas fair last December

this is her lovely Recraft website where you can find these cards, envelopes and more

~

and on top of that, husband came home early this Friday and brought cupcakes. bring on a happy weekend!

Grande Project ~ 5

picture by Marie-Thérèse

it's hard to believe we are already at the fifth update of this Grande Project, and Marie-Thérèse is almost done with the crochet baby poncho for her baby girl. she wrote me she enjoys crocheting this poncho so much, she's a bit sad it's almost done.

pictures by Alessandra

Alessandra's table runner is growing rapidly, row by row and she also wrote me how happy she, is working on this project. two ladies happy crocheting, I'd say mission accomplished.

as for me, I am only just a little jealous of the sunny and warm pictures from Indonsia. a little. 

ahum ok, not just a little haha

not so much sunshine and warmth today here in Canada, however quite a growing and shining blanket in my home. while it's raining cats and dogs I am weaving in ends, and making progress with the new color blocks in light blue and pink/red. I couldn't decide on choosing pink or red and ended up using both.

three projects, the same yarn, all coming close to being finished...

if you've missed the previous posts, look here for the beginning

update ~ 1

update ~ 2

update ~ 3

update ~ 4

Last Week

last week was a good mail week; I received a most darling parcel from Haafner, and a few books arrived from Amazon which I will show you soon. among them are the pictured Happy Home and Pastel Style. I crafted a bunch of flowers for the Anthropologie Earth Day window display, started organizing my stash of fabrics and enjoyed another bunch of pretty tulips.

how was your week?

Anthro Craft Session

after seeing lots of in-store craft sessions at Anthropologie stores in my Instagram feed, I was so happy to finally be able to attend one myself yesterday, at the local Anthro store.

the table was nicely set, refreshments were there, and we were introduced to the store's visual merchandise team. they change the big window displays about every season, and the new theme for the window is Earth day, which is on Monday April 22nd. major guideline for this display is they have to work with reclaimed materials that are already in store. think shipping boxes, plastic wraps etc.

myself and about 7 other ladies showed up to help get this display ready. we crafted up a basket full of marigold flowers from crêpe paper and cut out some leaves for them as well. 

I really enjoyed sitting in a corner of the store, meeting lovely new people, chatting about the store and the visual part of it, and producing some sunny looking flowers together.

the display will be up in about a week or two, I will make sure to get some pictures and show them to you.

have you ever attended a similar event? I would love to hear about your experiences!

wishing you a sunny Spring weekend

Happy Mail

utterly total case of joy in my mailbox yesterday. this lovely parcel from Haafner. I featured her pretty pretty blog recently. what a generous parcel Haafner! such lovely items and pieces to start crafting with. I love the Asian touch and patterns, and of course the wrapping too. I saved all the paper and will definitely use that in collages. there was absolutely no need to send this, but thank you very much Haafner, you spoiled me and I love it!

by the way, she wrote a blog post about her piles of crochet work. hop over to find some yummy Spring colors and inspiring patterns ~ there is something about the look of them that makes me want to take a bite and indulge in the sweetness, like icing on a delicious cupcake

ok major distraction there, from cupcakes back to mail. what was the last time you sent a parcel to someone you met online? I am putting a little something together for a friend I met through Instagram. it's not about the size, it's about the thoughtful idea and spreading joy around the world in an envelope. if only we could see each others' smiles when we open the mailbox and find the parcel...

Grande Project ~ 4

pictures by Marie-Thérèse

it's Wednesday... time for a Catania Grande Project update

Marie-Thérèse started with her baby poncho last week, and has added quite a few rows this week. it is coming together nicely as you can see. the shape is showing very well on the vase, so cute and pretty. she says: I love to crochet with this yarn. it doesn't fringe and feels very soft. the colors are very pretty. I am very happy with the yarn and plan to use it for future projects for sure!

pictures by Alessandra

last week the yarn arrived with Alessandra in Indonesia, and she started crocheting the first rows of her table runner. the colors she picked are red, green and pink. I rarely work on a project without a shade of white in it, so I was eager to see how these colors would work together. and I love it, it gives a real dense color splash. she says: I remember entering for the yarn challenge, and never thought of the possibility of winning, there are so many great crocheters out there! but now I am in and I am playing the game with joy. I am usually an acrylic yarn girl; it is a little elastic when you work with it and I like that. so at first I was a little scared to work with cotton. but after the first rows, I can say Catania Grande is just fabulous in your hands. it is soft enough and a pleasure to work with. what I like most is the quality of this cotton; when you crochet with it, it doesn't split in fact it keeps it's shape. I love it!

and my own project, the baby blanket, is taking shape as well. I am almost half way! it is becoming a decent size blanket, quite thick and sturdy, yet very soft and even warm. I can't wait to start with the second half of the blanket and pick my colors for it. light blue for sure, I am doubting on red or pink... oh and then there are quite a few yarn ends to weave in. not looking forward to that at all haha.

three very different projects, in different color combinations, coming along nicely if you ask me! stay tuned, there'll be a new update next Wednesday

a big hug to Marie-Thérèse and Alessandra for playing along with me, I am so lucky to have these dedicated girls on board with this project!

if you're new here and would like to know the background of this project:

this is how it started

update 1

update 2

update 3