Busy like a little bee

Well the weekend has passed in an excellent way! ;-)

On Saturday 7th we invited my youngest DD's whole class to celebrate her birthday which is on the 19th. The reason for this are three kids' birthdays in her class in June. We decided to be fast this year! The weather was great. They all ate chips, candy, icecream and the birthday cake(s). I hope none of them went home with an indigestion! ;-)

Location : an outdoor play garden located in an old fortress

Both birthday cakes (8 and 4 persons) - something "fresh" for the high temperatures (up to 30°C)

 

On Sunday we went to a second hand books fair in open air. I decided to buy a couple of classics for my DD's which I enjoyed as a child. Both are from the hand of Thea Beckman.

1985 - 1987 - 1989

 

It's the first and third book of the trilogy "Children of Mother Earth" that I've bought (they didn't have the second book :-)

Thea Beckman (23 July 1923 - 5 May 2004) was a Dutch author of children's books.

At a young age (11), Beckman knew she wanted to be a writer. As a teenager, she would write numerous stories and would listen to various types of music, ranging from classic to exciting film scores, depending on the kind of scene she was writing.

 

Beckman studied social psychology while she was in her twenties, attending the University of Utrecht. In wake of the 1929 economic crisis, her father lost his job and Beckman was glad she had finished her studies, especially after World War II occurred.

 

Beckman is best known for Crusade in Jeans, a 1973 children's novel for which she was awarded the Gouden Griffel. The book describes a children's crusade in 1212 and was adapted into a movie in 2006. She also received notable attention for her trilogy Children of Mother Earth, which depicted a post-apocalyptic earth where soldiers from societies led by men invade and disrupt a newfound Greenlandic society, which is led by women. Though the book contained feminist themes, Beckman didn't consider the book's ideology as her own, stating: "People are greedy, aggressive and intolerant." In this statement, she specifically referred to the idea that a female society would work out better - an idea she did not believe in (source: Wikipedia).

In the afternoon I patched some more on my Dear Jane quilt :-)

It will soon be to large to just take one picture of it ...

For the statistics:

Block E6 : start and finish - Sunday 18th of May 2014

Block F5 : start Monday 19th of May - finish Tuesday 20th of May 2014

Block G4 : start Thursday 22nd of May - finish Saturday 7th of June 2014

(I was putting all the sashings and connecting the already existing blocks)

Block H5 : start Saturday 7th of June - finish Sunday 8th of June 2014

Block I6 : start and finish - Monday 9th of June 2014

And guess what ... I've started stitching on "Asian Beauty" for mom (she's scared of stiting such a large piece on black and thought that having a base - the face - would make it easier)! I'll share a first progress picture with you soon!