Sweet lavender sheep

 Not a big quilting project : ). Just a little sheep I made, filled with lavender. The pattern is from Atelier Bep, http://www.atelierbep-winkel.nl/.

Happy birthday Mies

.... 14 years old today.

Walking through Nuenen ..... village from Vincent van Gogh

His parents house

..... although he lived here only for two years (1883-1885) with his parents in the vicarage. He painted here one of his most famous paintings "de aardappeleters".




The village is like an open air museum.

He painted the little church, his dad was the vicar here,  for his mum in 1884 when she broke her leg.

As my friend Barbara said: NL is zo leuk. (so fun). It's true!!! So much to see and explore.

 so

House of Margot Begeman, the girl next door he fell in love with.

De aardappeleters, finished in 1886

Park 65

And then there Park 65 in Nuenen, this house that has nothing to do with Vincent van Gogh. But between  1988 - 1995 we stayed here several times. The house was of the parents of a collegae of mine. One a year they had a family day. But her parents didn't like to leave the house unattended. So we took care of the house for a weekend. It's such a lovely house, her parents died long ago, but I think her brother is still living there. We peeked through the windows, and there was still the same furniture. Back to memory lane.

A pilgrimage ...

 ........to Lommel (Belgium).

That's how it felt last friday. About 14 months ago we drove the same route to pick up Mies (our dog) from a shelter for homeless dogs in Lommel.

We didn't know anything about her. And I think we were pretty nervous. Would there be the "click" between us and the dog. Would she likes us. Would she behave herself.... well all that questions. Well it turned out great, see my previous posts. She is a lovely sweet dog.

But on our way to Lommel we discovered a beautiful Abbey close to Mol, the Postel Abdij. This time we had more time, and this time we didn't have to pick up a dog in Lommel, but just some antique dishware.

We enjoyed walking around and looking in the kitchen garden.

Isn't she cute....

..... almost 14 years old, our Mies.

Cycling between The Hague and Leiden

What a lovely weather today. Sunny, wind, 23C, time for another cyclingtour. Of course we had to visit "jammarietje", to buy some homemade jams. Just put your money in the green mailbox.

On the way we saw a Ibis, not a bird you normally see here, probably escaped from the birdpark near by bird parc.

And then we discoverd the farm 't Geertje. And I can tell you even, when you're 46 years old it;s fun to give the little goats a bottle and feed them. It's a lovely old farm along the water, all kinds of things to do and buy. So we bought wine, cheese and cranberry juice. Yammie, no cooking tonight.

Finished and delivered....

the cheer-up quilt for friends of Dieuwke and me. We delivered the quilt this eve at 21.30, after tying the last knots. Just pushed it in their hands, turned around, jumped in the car,

Finishing the last knots

and left them speechless. We had such fun in the car about the look on their face. Everybody needs a quilt now and then.

Birds of prey...

.. at the Aardhuis in Apeldoorn. Very impressive.

Sunday morning

It's still early, around 7.30 a.m. I'm sitting at my dining table. Outside another sunny day.

Later on I can hear the sound of the church bells. 

But for now it's radio 2, my favorite. Two quilts are wating for their binding. My sewing machine is prepared.

What a lovely way to start sunday morning.

Between The Hague and Rotterdam .....

Very small cycling path, you have to stay steady on your bike.

you have an area called "The Westland". It's also called the "glass city", because this area is covered with really large greenhouses. Especially for flowers, fruit and vegetables. A very important area for the dutch economy. But every time I'm surprised how many beautiful cycling paths there are through this area.

't Woudt is my favorite place here.





A small town in surrounded by meadows. Two farms, nine little houses, a church and a little restaurant. It was first mentioned in the history in 1277 by earl Floris V. The specialty here is: "long fingers (cookie) with mocca cream".

First weekend of august, the annual floating flower and fruit corso in the Westland