Quilt Update...

Click to enlarge!

Wow, did I do a lot of sewing today or what?  {smile}

The quilt is basically done, at least it is for now. I experimented with some different topstitching which was a lot of fun. I'm not sure though if I should do more topstitching or not?

Very fun detail but so difficult to sew...

Draped on a chair...

 I still have to wash the quilt and then after that I will decide weather it needs more or not...

Onwards we go to the matching pillow cases or maybe that should wait until tomorrow; I'm pooped!  [wink]

Oh Olive!

Well, I guess the new quilt has been judged adequate...

The brighter blue (solid) color will be the quilt's backing.

It is made out of flannel and sooooooo soft!

PS Everything was fine at the vet but of course my wallet is now $60 lighter...

Complicated...

Why do I sometimes make things so complicated? (yes, the tune is stuck in my head now...)

Case in point, the new quilt I'm trying to make. Look what a complicated design I've come up with:

Way to much work to figure it all out and also I only have two fat quarters of the spotted (white with lightblue) and the small flowered one and two very large sheets of the large yellow and blue flowers.

And remember, I am not a  real Quilter, I just pottle around... So, when I come back from first the vet (a suspected tick on our dog Olive) and then picking up Miss M. from school, I will just cut out some random large squares and rectangles and put them together. I will try to do some fancy topstitching this time since that is something I've never tried before...

So, that is the update on the quilt front. On another note, I promised my friend Tif to help her out with a somewhat new blog look this week.

If you've followed me for the past few months you must have noticed (how could you not?) that I love to play around with the header and the background and the fonts etcetera etcetera. Now that is great fun for my own blog but to help someone else (and who is rather well-known to say the least)??! No pressure!  [wink]
I am not a computer techie whatsoever so we'll see what this British/ Dutch collaboration will bring forth. ..

At least a lot of creative juices are flowing so I can't complain about that. Wish me luck!  {smile}

Early Morning Excitement...

Pictures taken in front of our house facing east.

The helicopter kept hovering right above our house...

At 6 am this morning (the alarm clock had just done its 'magic'...) we heard lots and lots of sirens coming closer to our area. When after a few minutes I also heard a helicopter approach I thought I'd better have a look out of the window: lots of billowing smoke not that far away!

It turned out to be a house fire and within minutes the whole house (a double wide trailer) was just gone! Thank goodness the family apparently escaped mostly unharmed but they lost everything...

Just look at these flames...

Pictured borrowed from MSN...

Our thoughts are with them...

These Boots Are Made For...

... lots of walking hopefully! I found them at Value Village this morning and after lots of 'humming and aaahing' I decided to buy them. You see, I am not a boot person. I love them on other people but I have a hard time picturing myself in them. Don't know why, just do...

They are very comfy though and the heel is not very high so that should make for a high wearing factor. (I hope)

I also bought a lovely vintage sheet (the yellowy/ gold one) to go with the woolen blanket that I found in the back of a closet and also with the blue sheet that I found last week or so. I thought these colors would go nicely with the new tv room in the form of a quilt and some new cushion covers.
The blanket is a bit small in size and also very scratchy to the touch, so I thought it would be a good idea to add some of the fabric around. This way I can still enjoy it's beauty (the blanket) but not the feel!  [wink]

And then I also found this last picture in my camera. I think Miss M. might have made it earlier this morning. Lovely light coming in don't you think?

My husband left the house at 5:30 am for some fly- fishing at the same beach where we were last week and Miss M. is at the beach of a local lake with our neighbors. Master C. is working hard to finish of all the summer reading: 3 books for French with lots of questions attached plus two books for English (one of them 'The Great Gatsby" and the other one by Jack Karouac) and a large Math packet...

Well, I'm going back outside. The sun is shining super bright and I'm sitting in the shade with my upper half, that's how hot it is!

Snapshots From The Patio...

8:30 am...

Summer Time...

I don't think I mentioned much about this earlier, but for the last week-and-a-half or so we've been experiencing  most excellent summer weather! Temps in the 80's during the day (that is around 27C!) and in the upper 50's during the night: "Perfic!"

This weather will only last through Sunday and Monday will be our first day back at school so we will enjoy it as much as we can.

Happy Friday Everyone!  {smile}

This is what a  summer sky looks like for those of you stuck in the rain...

Sparkling Rose...

Proost!

New Fabric Order...

In the heat of the day I have just ordered the following fabrics from an online fabric store:

3 yards

2 yards

1 yard

1 yard

Fun and vintage looking I think!

I always find it extremely difficult to buy fabrics on-line since I really would like to touch them first (a lot!),  but the local fabric store (i.e. "Joann's") just doesn't have a great selection to choose from.

I haven't quite decided yet what I am going to make out of them but at least some creative juices are flowing again. I'm thinking possibly a wrap- dress (or two) out of the first two...

More Goodies...

When in Holland, I did do so shopping of course. But, in hindsight, I did way too little shopping!  [wink]

Anyway, here are some of the small goodies I found, mainly at the Hema I think...

Colorful flags and parasols and what not for a fun filled evening or two...

(did anyone mention cocktails?!)

Cute hooks...

Lots of little tape dispensers! I love them so much, I'm afraid to start using them...

And then on my birthday I received the first three Mollie Makes magazines from Tif: Yahoo! Can't wait to start all the little projects that are featured. Next week, when school has started again...

And oh yes, I bought this little battery powered light the other day for my 'photography sessions' (that sounds so posh) at Home Depot and I think I'll by a few more! Easy to maneuvre around my objects, a tip for you maybe?  {smile}

Pearls...

Look at all the 'pearls' I found this morning!

We had a fair amount of rain yesterday which was quite a shocker after the tropical temperatures we had over the week-end. (87F on Sunday plus humidity, I even had to sit in the shade for a while: oh no!  [wink] )

All the High School Sports started yesterday which of course was not so much fun in all that rain. Master C. came home with mud on his back! (he does Cross-Country Running)
Miss M. has decided that she will not play soccer in High School but that she will play Basketball during the winter and Ultimate frisbee again in the spring.

She will have her High School introduction day this Friday: two kids in High School!!!

So, eventhough yesterday really felt like fall, summer is still here, right?

Right!  {smile}

PS How do you guys like my new header??? I started thinking about it in my sleep (when all the good ideas start sprouting) and fiddled around with it all yesterday morning. I am well pleased!

Just Some Pretty Things...

Yellow Tomato from our veggie patch...

Lillies from our own back yard!
(and they smell sooooo good...)

Pretty shadows...

As you can see I've left the mirror white for now.

We'll give it another chance...  [wink]

Cute flags from the Hema...
(a Dutch shop, a bit like Target and Ahlens)

So so hot today! And humid too, it looks like a tiny bit of rain might be in the forecast for tomorrow. I'm not complaining either way!   {smile}

Gorgeous Day On The Beach...

What a day! Only 1 hour and 15 minutes away from our house we found this beach. G. wanted to do some fly- fishing, the kids wanted to float and I just wanted to soak up as much sun as possible and read my book: it was amazing!  {smile}

Click to enlarge!

And here some views from the car on our way home...

Roller Coaster Roads!

(Looking East towards the Cascade Mountains.)

North towards Mount Baker...

And Mount Rainier, right as we're coming into our home town...

On a local website I saw this: "SEATTLE – The temperature at Sea-Tac reached 85 degrees Saturday - the warmest day of the year so far."

Summer at last!

Now Miss M. and I are going into the hot-tub and enjoy the stars above...

ABBA!

Having been busy painting the mirror (here it is, it is too white, too shabby chic, I don't like it, it is going to change into a teal-y blue)

I completely forgot to write a little post about our ABBA concert the other day. It was at an outdoor venue and we managed to find a spot on the lawn fairly close to the stage.  Miss M. came with me and so did our neighbor and her daughter. We brought lawn chairs (those tiny ones) and food from Whole Foods and some warm clothes since it is cooling down quickly at night.

The band is actually Swedish and the first song (Fernando) was also sung in Swedish which made everybody very confused but not I, Aha!  [wink, I speak Swedish almost fluently, for those of you not in the know]

So anyway that was a fun start. I must say that at the beginning of the show their energy was lacking quite a bit but they definitely made up for it later on. In total they sang (and so did we!) for almost 2 1/2 hours! (including two short breaks) All the big hits of course (they finished with Dancing Queen) and their singing was very impressive! Totally a fun night out!

They even looked the part!

Now I'm off to see the periodontist, or the gum doctor as we call him here. (and I mean gums in the mouth not the chewing gum...) They want to do some deep cleaning and check out the situation after the gum surgery I had back in March. Now I've been a good girl and have done lots of flossing etc. but it is still not something to look forward too, is it?

PS The ABBA/ Arrival pictures I found at their website ...