mother's day well spent

Mother's day is the day that I like to visit

the spring garden fair in

Arboretum Trompenburg

 in Rotterdam

Our garden is overflowing

but ...

there is always that tiny spot where there is room

for that special plant you always wanted !

So, with my dearest garden friend, I went te Rotterdam

this beautiful sunny morning.

There are some special nurseries with the most beautiful plants.

But this time of the year is the best moment to admire

the huge collection Rhododendrons they have

in the Arboretum.

They have them in e v e r y colour !

From white, all pinks, red, orange, yellow, to the deepest purple.

(real blue is the only exeption)

really amazing colours

WOW !

(I don't tink I said too much)

But there are also many, many other beautiful trees

After coffee and cake in the dappled shade under the trees

we went home very satisfied in the afternoon

with some bags with plants.

A mother's day well spent!

(Hey .... I hear it's finally raining now! At last! It has been very dry lately :

the gardens (and the farmers) will love that)

a new star is rising ...

I signed in on Jude's Whispering,

she "whispers" in May about

the sun, the moon and the stars.

It's fun to be part of an inspiring process again.

The star I started beforehand is being slowly stitched now

I love the light playing on the quilted surface

Today we brought the socks that I finished this week

to daughter's best friend :

these socks will be walking in Peru in a short while !

I didn't plan to

 but the funny thing is

that they are almost identical

(which mostly never happens with this kind of yarn)

april finished .... quilt finished !

Today is Koninginnedag (Queen's day) in Holland.

It's a day that a considerable part of our country is coloured

orange !

I like that colour but I didn't join the party.

Our queen (with a lot of her family)

celebrates her "birthday"

somewhere in Holland.

Though her real birthday is in Januari ...

but then it's a bit too cold to celebrate outside,

so she decided to stick with the date of her mother's birthday

for all the festivities.

I didn't go out or watch t.v.

because I wanted to finish my

Caterpillar quilt

... and I did !

After adding a lot of hand stitching

I put the machine on the table again :

I finally had to tackle the problem of the sides,

but a "normal" quilt binding didn't fitt to the design, so

......

I know from experience

that making a "zig zag" stitched border

can go terribly wrong !

brrrrrrrrrrr

After a few try outs I solved the problem

with this special press foot

(although it still wasn't easy)

Then I fixed the sleeve at the back

and added the parts that "stand out", after making them a bit stiffer

with some dissolved "water soluble fabric"

This is all you get right now ....

When the new owner has the quilt

then  I will show the whole picture.

belated and beforehand

Today I recieved a belated birthday present

......

from our daughter

(...another one )

Because of the "special number" birthday !

You can count the little squares

but I can tell you : there are a hundred,

65 are the normal bright fabric and 35 are still "veiled"

(that's our way of telling : hope you live to be a hundred)
There are some luck charms and bells at the bottom

The squares are 2 x 2 cm,

with white beads sewn to the background

(and most of the tiny pieces of fabric are "known" to me)

This is the second special quilt she made for me,

lucky me !

Jude will start another "Whispering" in May.

Beforehand I started with a star ...

... to get in the right mood probably

(there's a friend who will recognize some of the pieces :

I just asked her for old scraps

and she brought a bag full with her)

about cooking ... why not

After falling seriously ill and nasty treatment

now thirteen years ago

I switched to being (almost) a vegatarian

and subcribed to a weekly bag of organically grown fruit and vegetables.

(I love "Odin" on his eight legged horse !!!)

You never know what will be in it

(unless you look on the internet, which I hardly ever do)

but I learned to live with that

and even appreciate it!

... get inspired by what you have ...

(not a bad idea I think)

Today I made pie, as I often do

... dough from a tin (sorry)

preparing the filling ...

miwing it all together ...

adding some tomatoes on top for colour ...

and after 33 minutes in the oven ...

(I love funny numbers ... 30 or 35 is okay too)

DINNER IS SERVED !

*

(Hmmm , I  haven't finished the "caterpillar quilt" yet:

still some problems to be solved!)

..........

promises

When I walk in the garden in spring

I love it when I discover new growth or buds.

It's the time of the most rapid changes

Allium Christofii

only a bud now, but a big spiky sphere in no time !

Another Allium

Purple Sensation

( ... what's in the name .... )

   ... promises for next year ... 

... and for some friends !

Happy Easter weekend to you all !

eagles

Last week on Wednesday we had our

monthly Mandala drawing group

The subject for our inspiration this year is

animal spirits

( I already showed one )

This time the Eagle was chosen :

we have a meditation and there is some special music to go with it

this is "my" Eagle

I saw recently some great photo's from an

"Eagle - Cam" on Deanna's blog

The camera follows a Eagle couple

and they now have three chicks.

It's great to see these magnificent birds.