Stitchy Fingers

One of the things that I love doing when spring arrives is visiting the greenhouse of the Royal Domain in Brussels. As customary, the domain is opened to the public each year for three weeks end of April and beginning of May. Last year I went but since I try to do this once every two years I'm not going this time. A little about the construction ... The entire story can be read here . During the 19th century, progress in construction techniques, especially the use of metal and glass as construction materials, made a new type of building possible: the greenhouse. In 1873, architect Alphonse Balat designed for King Leopold II a complex of greenhouses which complement the castle of Laeken, built in the classical style. The greenhouses house a sizeable collection of plants and flowers, particularly exotic ones, including a very important collection of camellias. Each year in the spring, the greenhouses are opened to the general public, which demonstrates the des...

One of the temptations of having an LNS smack in the middle of the town where you're staying for your holiday is that you need to "visit them" at least one or two times (and that you don't leave without purchasing something :-). My husband knows this and always makes remarks like "don't you have enough stash to last for three lifetimes?" ... Silly hubby! Doesn't he know that stitching is an addiction of which you need to get a regular fix/shot? LOL!!! I'm starting to have a Mango Pratique books addiction and added two more to my growing pile, namely "Noël magique" (Magical Christmas) and "Mer et littoral" (Sea and Coastside). I'll show you the contents somewhere this week :-). I also purchased crochet hooks size 5 and 6 for the wool that I've shown in one of my previous messages (I now have 7 "pelottes" in total) and 4 different colours of sewing thread for my new hobby = quilting (that is small o...

Time to talk a little bit about my stitching of the last couple of weeks ... which goes up and down like the weather ;-) The one time I feel like stitching all day (unfortunatelly one has to work to earn a living :-) and the other time I don't even pick up my needle for two or three days (shame on me)! However, I can tell you that I did quite some "crosses" during my stay at our Belgian coast (thanks to the not so great weather)! Look what I've done so far. On a small side note ... those medallions are a PITA! All those quarter stitches and all those colour changes. It took me three days (okay not entirely) to stitch those four bas*****! :-) But I must say that the result is super-duper! I can't wait to have part two finished (hopefully in time before part three comes out)!

Hi all, I didn't fall of the face of the earth, but I had a terrific fun time together with my little family at the Belgian coast. Due to all those horror stories on the internet about thieves scanning for absences on Facebook and others, I decided to not post about it. The weather wasn't really great the first part of the week, but we took lots of fun things with us like books, games, DVD's and of course stitching stuff! Starting from Thursday the sun was there and we enjoyed walks and typical tourist visits :-)! First part of the week / Second part of the week And lots of this during the evening I was able to stitch a lot on Serengeti mandala (but it isn't finished yet :-). Piccies and more stories to follow starting tomorrow and ... Have a nice evening!

If you don't love to be enabled ... look away! ;-) Yesterday on browsing the Martha Stewart magazine in the newsstand I saw an ad for Kameleon jewelry . I'm already a big fan of Trollbeads (although I didn't purchase any beads during the last two-three years) ... and I also have a ring with interchangeable round stones, but this is something different. The system is easy. You take a ring, a pendant, earrings, ... and you snap your chosen Kameleon bead onto it. Tired of it ... you resnap another one. The feature isn't completely new, but I admit that I adore this system, because it has lots of different "stones" that you can change according to your mood. Have a look! This is only a small selection of what they have ;-) Some make me think of icecream and other sweets :-) Great to have that around your finger the whole day (or not)! What is your favourite? I think I've found my next Valentine, birthday, Christmas and othe...