BöskeZ and Colors

Phasing out of a Faery

2012-02-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

Thinkerbell is one of my favorite caracter !

Here is the phasing out of Loisel's special Thinkerbell ;)

Enjoy !!!

Coming back with some new and old projects.

2010-09-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

After a few months silence I come back to the creative world J

Embroidering, painting, creating … Hourra !

A friend of mine (and colleague) gave me the impulse to come back to embroidery ^-^ thank you Agnès !
She came with a beautiful embroidered “biscornu” and it was enough ;o)

Embroidering first a small project I decided to draw myself my pattern for ….
a biscornu, of course J

Having no soft (or free)ware for cross stitch I “hijacked” Excel from his usual application.

Some screenshots here :

And now, I just have to start embroidering!!!

I also came back to my “young monks praying” but am not really satisfied; so you will have to wait to see some pictures ;o)

My needle and thread are ready to go, so see you soon!

Gulyás

2009-09-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Bogrács gulyás (kettle goulash; goulash au chaudron)

Nous essayons de faire au moins un fois l'an un Bogrács gulyás en mémoire de notre ascendance hongroise.
Mon mari dirait que ma "hongritude" refait surface
;o)

Cette année notre fils Nicolas m'a servi d'assistant, il veut savoir le faire aussi !

Je vais vous retranscrire ci-dessous la recette de ma grand-mère. Ne vous effrayez pas de la quantité, une simple règle de trois vous permettra de ramener les normes à vos besoins. Mais quand nous faisons un gulyás nous en faisons suffisament pour nourrir une tribu et si il en reste ce plat supporte d'être surgeler.

We try to do a Bogrács gulyás at least once a year in memory of our hungarian lineage.

This year our son Nicolas was the cook; he wants to know how to do it !
I'll give you my grandmother's recipe here under.
Don't be afraid about the quantities! Just adapt them to your personal needs.
And leftovers can be deepfreezed without problem.

250 gr de saindoux
2 kg de boeuf (carbonnades)
1 kg de porc (roti au jambon ou d'épaule)
2 kg d'oignons
1 kg de tomates (optionnel en été quand elles sont bien mures)
1 kg de poivrons (idem)
3 kg de carottes (si tomates et poivrons on réduit à 2 kg)
3 kg de pommes de terre
10 éclats d'ail (plus si on aime :o)
100 gr de paprika doux ou piquant au choix, ou un mélange des deux
2 cuillèrées à soupe de carvi (cumin doux)
1 sachet de bolets ou champignons des bois déshydraté
on peut aussi ajouter du céleri-rave ou des racines de persil

pour les pâtes (vajgaluska)

250 gr de beurre
250 gr de farine
5 jaunes d'oeufs
sel et poivre
travailler le tout ensemble et laisser reposer 1/4 d'heure avant d'incorporer en fin de cuisson

1 cup lard
4.4 lb beef stew
2.2 lb porc stew
4.4 lb onions
2.2 lb tomatoes (during summer when they are ripe)
2.2 lb bell peppers (during summer ...)
6.6 lb carottes
6.6 lb potatoes
10 cloves garlic (more if wanted)
3.5 oz paprika (sweet or hot; or mixed as desired)
2 tb spoon caraway
1 pack dried mushrooms
we can also add some celeriac or parsley roots

for the pasta (vajgaluska)

1 cup butter
2 cups flour
5 egg yolks
salt and pepper
mix well and leave aside for 1/4 hour before adding by small teaspoons in the gulyás at the end

On peut réaliser le gulyás à partir de beaucoup de viandes différentes, du boeuf en passant par le porc ou l'agneau et terminer même par le gibier.
D'après ma grand-mère, le meilleur gulyás est fait de plusieurs viandes et d'y ajouter une queue de boeuf !
Emincer la viande et les légumes en petits morceaux ou rondelles.
Faire fondre le saindoux et y ajouter les oignons émincés. Quand les oignons commencent à colorer y ajouter le carvi, la viande et l'ail hâché ainsi que le paprika. Laisser revenir le plus longtemps possible sans brûler - attention le paprika brûlé devient amer - et après coloration de la viande couvrir d'eau. A ce moment j'ajoute du bouillon en cube pour remplacer le sel.
Quand la viande est à point ajouter les légumes coupés en morceaux et laisser mijoter à petit feu. Quand les carottes sont presque tendres ajouter les pommes de terre.
En fin de cuisson ajouter la pâte par petites cuillèrées à café; donner un dernier bouillon mais surtout sans mélanger!

We can make gulyás with a lot of different meats; beef, porc, lamb or even game.
My grandmother used to make her gulyás from different meat and added also as oxtail.
Slice thinely the meat and vegetables.
Let melt the lard and add the onions. When the onions begins to "turn gold" add the meat, caraway, garlic and the paprika. Mix regularly and leave as long as it doesn't burn^^ burned paprika becomes bitter!! At that time cover with watter. I usually add some stock-cube to replace salt.
When the meat is nearly cooked add the vegetables (chopped or sliced) and allow to simmer gently. When the carottes are nearly tender add the potatoes.
At the very end add the vajgaluska with a teaspoon in the gulyás, let boil a littelbit, but be carefull, don't mix!!

Bon appétit !!!

2008 Diary

2007-07-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

Here is my contribution for the "Diary 2008 Project":

www.fantazya.ca/diary2008.html
www.flickr.com/groups/diary2008/

Here is the drawing that I used... I made it as Birthday present for a friend of mine...

New baby to nurse…

2007-07-15T05:52:00.001-07:00

My sister in law gave me a new baby!

She came with this small little one yesterday afternoon; I couldn’t resist!
Just look at this little girl; isn’t she lovely?

She is so adorable and sweet and tiny!

Now I’m looking for a name… If you have some nice ideas; please share.

Muchu is somewhat jealous!

Elvire flew out of the nest ;o(

2007-07-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Elvire flew out.
She was flying here and there in the garden when her real parents pushed her out of their territory.

Happily, she already could eat alone and was flying quiet well!

Some of our neighbours saw her last week; she came nearby and wanted some friendship. She seems doing well.

I walked around with one of my nephew and screamed all the way long after her; but she never came.

I want to share the last pictures I took; she was so funny and friendly.

Good luck, Elvire!

Sunday with Mireille and a lot of fun …

2007-07-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

Mireille came on last Sunday and we had a great day!
Chatting, laughing and of course embroidering….

We still work on our Passiflora Edulis, my student is more advanced in her work than me ;o) just have a look on her blog!

This time we had begun stumpworking using wire to make a leaf for our passiflora.
You’ll find some pictures of the process.

First give a shape to your wire; using the pattern is a good think. Just be sure you give the shape a good size; here we’ll have to do it a litle bit biger to have enough material to give it a good shape when finished.

After that, the first “row” on the wire is made by buttonhole stitch all around the leaf.

The filling with buttonhole is taking a lot of time, but what a good result ;o)

Mireille came with a beautiful quilt made by here mother; just look at this!!!

The quilting is gorgeous… and the back is as nice as the front!

Baby quilt and Faeries, continued…

2007-07-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

While I wasn’t on my blog or on Flickr ; I was still working (not much; I must admit ;o) on the babyquilt.

The last faery came out very nicely and the top was done; I also begun the assembling and quilting.

I just forgot to embroider here mouth, oups!

Is this good enough for Sir Muchu?

Muchu our cat gave his approval after a good quality test!

And here begins the real work!

More pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/boskez/

Around the terrace.

2007-07-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

Our terrace is south orientated and we are spending a lot of time on it!

And our pets too!

We have a nice big climbing rose ‘Albéric Barbier’ on the pergola together with a purple clematis and grapevines; perfume and color: all in one!

It is surrounded with other roses, ferns, Buxus and a lot of pots with all kind of flowers…

Among the roses we have:
R. Little White Pet spore from ‘Félicité et Perpétue’

R. Madame Legras de Saint Germain (no good picture from this year;o(

R. Yellow Charles Austin

R. Blush Noisette; probably my favorite (with a lot of others, hi hi… )

R. Tapis Volant

R. Seagull is climbing on a pinetree and is now that high that we can almost see part of his flowers.

Just an enchanted garden; unfortunatly we had a lot of rain this year and roses doesn’t like it at all ;o(

We will have a lot of grapes this autumn; we never saw this! The Vine is contiuously making new flowers that are polinisated into grapes and again, and again…

More pictures on my Flickr pages.

A corner in my garden!

2007-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

I’m trying to organize my garden ;o)
Growing perennials and plants that doesn’t ask too much attention as my garden is quiet big!

Here I putted some Pleioblastus Shibuyanus ' Tsuboi ' in the background.
(or Bamboo Pleioblastus variegatus 'Tsuboi')
A beautiful variegated specie, with small white-striped leaves.
It is very vigorous and has a running root system and likes to be in a lower light and doesn’t tolerate hot sun.

A Cornus Kousa "Mon Amie Francine" was blooming as ever!

I also planted Alchemilla Mollis and Asperula Odorata with Geraniums and Hemerocallis.

You'll find more pictures on my flickr account ;o)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boskez/

After one month...

2007-07-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t available for anything but my family and my job during one month!
We have had some “problems” with Nicolas’ health and mine isn’t very good aswell for the moment.
Nicolas suffers of 15% heart failure. He had ventricular fibrillation, high blood pressure and tachyarrhythmia up to 180 per minute and they had a lot of difficulties to have it coming down again; they also diagnosed a thyroid disease that could have helped this becoming. The doctors told him he has a heart that’s aged 50 and he’s only 21!!!

I’ll be glad to have 2 weeks at home from 20st of July.
I’ll use those days to go ahead with my hobbies and some WIP(ssss) ;o)

Nevertheless, I took some pictures during the period I was “absent” and now I’ll give you some news…

Thursday afternoon with Elvire…

2007-06-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

She loves to play and make jokes… just like a kid! Water is also a great play...

She also tries to speak and pronounce sounds that are very similar to those made by a parrot; very strange!

She always wants to have your attention and if you don’t pay her enough she comes and prick you with her beak or try to eat your fingers. That’s what she is doing with my husband’s fingers…

News from baby crow!

2007-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Beware of the cat!!!

She (Elvire; we decided she is female ;o) grows fast and nicely; eating a lot and very curious! She explores here new “human world”.

I'm growing fast!

Tinkerbelle came and gave her some fairy dust…
And Sunday we were very anguished because she flew in the garden on the branches of a huge tree and never wanted to come down. Finally when she was too hungry she came back; ouf!

These pictures are already “old” but I had problems with my computer and didn’t find the time to upload new ones.

Yesterday she learned to drink alone; yes!!! One more step and she will eat alone too.

I forgot to upload the third fairy!

2007-06-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here it is!
I had time to finish it while others were working in our friends’ garden.

I’m very frustrated to sit and just look others working. I love gardening but my fibromyalgia doesn’t like it at all!
If I try and work too much I’m bad for a few days; so I just play a little here and there with my flowers.
Before I was working in my garden more than Thierry; I was pruning the grape vine, the roses, everything that needed to; I cut the hedges and was the one who worked in the kitchen garden and the flowers’ beds; …

Never mind this way I have more time to embroider, draw or make some gifts for friends...

Little "Alana" is born; I have to hurry to finish the last fairy and make her quilt!

I couldn’t resist capturing these flowers while others were working hard….

2007-06-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

A strange Petunia, all crumbled like a small cabbage; especially the buds!

A wonderful clematis that is bigger than my two hands together.

In the "first" pond you can look at these beautiful waterlily blooming in the sun.

Here a small "bouquet" of those waterlily.

Giant alliums in company of Alchemilla Mollis and lavender; creating a small landscape.

Vibrant colors for this columbine or Aquilegia.

And probably my favorite...

This lovely magnolia on a bed of geraniums.

...

A very busy Sunday... making a pond.

2007-06-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

We went to help our friends (Fred and Valérie) to finish a new pond.
I must say that Thierry help them and I was just looking and taking pictures when I wasn't busy to stitch ;o)

Here are some pictures of their realizations.

Valérie explaining to her son (Tristan) how to put the earth and grass back around the pond.

My Nephew István was also there to give a hand.

The two boys were laughing and joking while they worked.

Coline (Valérie’s and Fred’s daughter) wasn’t very happy to have no-one playing with her or giving here some attention!

Here a picture of my “working station” with a good cup of coffee ;o)

And here is the pond nearly finished!

Some more botanic…

2007-05-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Actinidia deliciosa or Kiwi
Flowers are still in buds but there are thousand of them on our kiwi. Last year was the first year we had really a kiwi harvest; I didn’t take the time to count them out but probably around 400 pieces.

More info on kiwi here: http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/kiwi.htm

Ginkgo Biloba in our garden, we bought it a few years ago and it was small and tiny! After a few years here it is…
If you want more info about this fossil tree just go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo

A few more pictures from the garden!

2007-05-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist taking more pictures.....

Our rhododendron “Aglae” is fully blooming this year! A real enchantment for the eyes… “Aglae” isn’t its real name; Thierry decided it shall be its name and that’s all!
As the soil in our garden isn’t good for azaleas and rhododendrons; Thierry made a huge flower container on the side of the terrace for those heater’s type plants.
We have three big azaleas (two red and a purple one), “Aglae” and some ferns in it.

The only apple tree that still blooms is “Reinette de France”; it blooms always later than other species. Those reinette apples are just perfect for everything and they can last nearly all winter in the cellar.

“Belle de Boskop” has already little small apples on it; if we have some chance we’ll have a lot of apples this autumn! Yummy apple pies and juices in the future ;o)

We have several clematis in the garden; the one I’m showing here has my preference. The purple of the stamens on the pure white petals is a must, I think!

Second faery for the babyquilt

2007-05-19T05:19:00.001-07:00

Second faery for the babyquilt
Originally uploaded by boskez.

I forgot to take a picture of the second faery; here it is.
The third one is already half done. I hope to finish it this week-end and begin the last one.
Baby girl is expected in two weeks; if I want to finish the quilt in time ...
I'll have to hury!

Before the rain

2007-05-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

After having nearly summer in April we have “April showers” now in May!
I tried to get some pictures taken before the rain; especially for the roses.
Roses don’t like rain at all…
You can see our pergola completely invaded by “R. Alberic Barbier” and with part of our grape vine. Alberic Barbier, bred by Barbier Frères & Compagnie, 1900, is a wonderful climbing rose; breaded fromR. wichuraiana X 'Shirley Hibbard' (A yellow Tea);

The grapes are already there; tiny grapes but already showing their fruits to be.
It is the first time that “Albéric” and the grapes are cohabiting like this.

Another beautiful rose we have is “R. Fantin Latour” its roses smell heavenly good!!!
His flowers are wonderful as well!
“R. Fantin Latour” is an old Centifolia rose.

R. Rosalita is coming from Moschata Roses (Louis Lens 1997) and is wonderful; from light orange or peach buds fading into white blossoms.

Sorry for the light; I had to use the flash sometimes; but clouds were already there and they were very dark…
I hope that my flowers won’t be too much damaged.

Mum... I'm hungry!!!

2007-05-18T02:50:00.000-07:00

First, I want say a big thanks to people who gave me help and information on how to feed and grow a small crow.
I phoned to a wildlife rehabilitator that wasn’t too far from here and they told me they are already with too many birds and no place enough to take care for more…
So I became the new mum of this “little bird”. Baby crow is growing quickly and asks for more and more food; he is also trying to spread his wings and to play with them…

I'm hungry!!!

Sunday walk in a nursery specialized in water plants and pond making.

2007-05-14T00:37:00.000-07:00

Unfortunatly weather wasn’t that good. After one month sunny and warm days we have now come back to “normal” ;o( With rain, wind and not that much warm temperatures.

I took some pictures before the rain became to strong for my camera.

Lovely yellow iris (Iris Pseudocarus)growing with its roots in the water. It enlightens beautifully a darker corner of a pond.

These roses were the first ones on the bush; I think they are from “R. Iceberg”.

With their soft blushing colors they are so nice. With some beads made from water drops.

Unfurling feathers in Spring - You'll find another picture on my flickr pages ;o)

Cardamine des prés - Cardamine Pratensis

These tiny little flowers are just adorable. What you can't see on this picture is that some of them have pink or pale purple lines on their petals.

For those who like botanicals print; please just follow the link you’ll find here below!
It is fantastic!
http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/Alphabetical_list.html

Mother's Day flowers - Piros, fehér, zöld ;o)

2007-05-14T00:18:00.001-07:00

Mothers day flowers - Piros, fehér, zöld ;o)
Originally uploaded by boskez.

My husband gave me a beautiful flower bouquet made by a friend of mine.

Valerie is taking flower arrangement lessons and she is setting up with Isabelle a “part-time flower shop”; that means that they are doing floral arrangements and garage sale with their flowers for big occasions such Mother’s Day, marriage, anniversary…

Their Website is well done with a lot of pictures of what they make.

Here is Valerie adding the final touch to my bouquet; she added a white calla to it.

Red, White and green are the colors of the Hungarian flag ;o)
Okay, I know that there is also some pink; but pink is just pale red, no?

Baggie from my SWAP sister Allie

2007-05-12T05:35:00.001-07:00

Baggie from my SWAP sister Allie
Originally uploaded by boskez.

I received this baggie from Allie a few days ago!
She asked me what I would like and I answered : Autumn colors.
And ... here it is!
Marvelous fabrics, a huge amount of threads and ribbons, lace, buttons and a beautiful card Allie made especially for me ;o)

Unfortunately the picture don't do justice to the colors.

thank you sooo much Allie.

HELP! We have a new baby at home!

2007-05-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were invaded by crows that were screaming loud.
Thierry looked a bit around to see what excited them like that and discovered a small crow with only a few feathers that are just growing.
He couldn’t fly at all and was very sway on his legs.

I was afraid the cat(s) would eat him with a great pleasure! The nest is way too high to put him back up there.

I phoned to the veterinary who told me the same. He was a bit in a hurry and just told me to give him cat’s food.

If somebody has an idea to help us rescue this "little" one I’ll be happy!

7 Things Meme

2007-05-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Allie just tagged me for the “7 Things About Me meme”

What do you want to know about me?

That:

I met my husband 29 years ago and he his the perfect partner for me.
I love boxes and collect painted eggs.

You already knew that I was crazy about fabrics and threads; but I can hardly resist when I see a nice notebook or paper; fountain pen or other writing and drawing material.

I lived in Indonesia during 6 years in my childhood and love Asia.

I’m very proud of my “Hungarian blood” and love Hungary. I miss my family who still lives there; only my sister is living in Belgium. I lost my mother in 1993 and my father in 2000.

I can talk relatively fluently in four languages: French, Dutch, English and Hungarian and still understand some Indonesian.

I hate doing the household but love to cook; unfortunately I love to eat too ;o)

As I played with I’ll have to tag 7 more bloggers; and the winners are…:
Hideko; Emiko; Lin Moon ; Ati; Debbie; Leslie and Ingeborg

Just continue tagging if you find some fun in this game...

Spring in the garden

2007-05-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Japanese Aralia or Fatsia Japonica

This medium-sized shrub stays green all the year and it’s from the same family as the hedera (ivy).
Interesting flower clusters begin to appear in late autumn and stay throughout much of the winter.
As this winter was warm (we had nearly no frost); the flowers became fruits or berries.

View from the terrace

Forward you can see our weeping Mulberry (Morus)

Behind you can see different types of Bamboo and a Viburnum

Calligraphy ... how to draw some writing.

2007-05-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

First steps

I allways loved to look at calligraphy; it's so elegant and beautiful.

My handwriting isn't nice at all ;o)

We leaved in Indonesia till I was 8 and I went to school in Dutch.
I learned to write with a Dutch nun: Zuster Nathalia. She was fantastic.
There I had to write straight; when we came back to Belgium the school teacher wanted me to write sloping. Since that time my writing is dancing in all directions. ;o)

I love to draw and to look at nice things so my ugly writing hurts me.

Catherine and I decided to learn calligraphy together.
We gave it our first try last week-end. We worked hard, with much laughing and chatter, just like schoolgirls ;o)

It was a lot of fun.

Late in everything...

2007-05-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I can be late in everything for the moment???

In my posting on this blog
In reading my mail
In TAST
...

I'll try very hard to be up-to-date in something ;o)

Some more green! and white ;o)

2007-05-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

In one week all trees were covered with leaves and flowers!
The most beautiful this week-end was my Viburnum Plicatum Shasta.

I especially love this picture, with the sun playing in the flowers

You’ll find some more information at: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Newintro/shasta.html

New project on its way!

2007-04-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

One of the secretaries at the office will have a baby end May.
I decided to do a special personal gift to the baby.
We know it’s a girl; and the mother loves so much faeries and butterflies that I decided to embroider some of the pieces with faeries.
All the patterns I’ll use are free on DMC Creative World in the folder named “Color Variations Free Charts".

I never made X stitch before TAST. I don’t really like it but for this project I thought it was the best

Sharing some Spring beauties from my garden.

2007-04-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

Weather is fantastic in Belgium for the moment!

We never had such a beautiful sun with no rain at all at this moment of the year.

Everything is blooming all over! Spring is quickly turning into Summer... Here are some pictures taken in my garden.

This is a white bleading heart, also called Dicentera Spectabilis Alba.

These are the buds of a Viburnum Plicatum Chasta.

I love green; I love leafs and flowers!!!

This a Camassia, some of you already saw one of my drawings that was inspired by that beautiful flower.

For the others, you'll find the link here below!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boskez/184576027/in/set-72157594183565921/

I was tagged for the Thinking Blogger Award

2007-04-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Hideko!

Thinking Blogger Awards

Now I have to choose

'5 Blogs That Make Me Think'.

All of my links are “favorites”; I don’t link to pages I don’t like ;o)
So it will be very difficult to make a choice.
Hideko’s blog has to be in the list but as she was already tagged I removed her blog from my winners. Sorry Hideko ;o)

And the winners are:

http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/
Allie’s blog is one of my BIG favorites. Her work is fantastic and she shares all her experiments with us; giving a lot of tips and tricks. I really love the way she is CQing. If you don’t know this blog you miss something!!!

http://gunnelsvensson.blogspot.com/
I discovered Gunnel’s work with TAST and I’m waiting her posts to have more inspiration. Her work is full with colors and creativity.

http://mycreativitygarden.blogspot.com/
Ingeborg’s creativity garden is a real delight; drop an eye!

http://judy-scott.blogspot.com/
I’m copying her own word; they talk better about her than I could!
“I'm a vintage girl with a life all jumbled and mixed together just like a cosy patchwork quilt… I love to create with fabric, paper, thread, paint and all sorts of things!”

http://quietermoments.wordpress.com/
Elizabeth created this new blog for SharonB’s Take a Stitch Tuesdays Challenge 2007. Her other blog is very interesting too! http://quietermoments.blogspot.com/

Here is more info about Thinking Blogger Awards? Just follow the link.

Gifts and SWAP – Great baggies …

2007-04-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

During the week, don’t ask me what day it was - I forgot it ;o) the postman came to my door with two packs. One was coming from Japan and the other from the States.

It made my day!!!

Hideko is one of my SWAP sisters for this year. She is sending me Japanese fabrics and threads as other special goodies we can’t find here.

I love the delicate sense of color and harmony we find in all Japanese designs.
One of my dreams is to learn one day Japanese embroidery but we can’t find teacher and lesson her in Belgium. There are so many techniques to master in this art that it is very difficult to learn alone with books.

This time I received a huge amount of fabrics – Japanese, of course ;o) that are soft and smart silks. They seem to me that they are mostly traditional designs for kimono; am I right, Hideko?
A lot of laces and trims are accompanied by beads and silk threads and ribbons; a pack of mother-of-pearl buttons and two lovely silk flowers with a bead center.
A lovely card was also in the pack; that card was designed by Ingeborg and is a real eye candy!
Thank you Hideko, this baggie is just wonderful; as usual! You sent me so much beautiful things. I enjoy all pieces you sent me!
If you ever come to Belgium just call before and we’ll organize a special “embroidery day” with Mireille…

The other pack is a lovely gift coming from Susan.
It is so sweet from you to send me this unexpected baggie!

I immediately though at the Red Heat Society with there red and purple colors!
Did you know I’ll be 50 next year?! ;o))
Now I have to do a project in those colors to celebrate it!
Red and purple fabrics; the same colors for the threads and a lot of beautiful embellishments … Beads and more beads, buttons, laces and motifs.
I can’t tell which one I prefer; everything is so beautiful. Probably the threads … or …
;o)

Nevertheless, CQ friends are generous! Thank you to both of you for that special day I had drooling in the packages with a lot of Oooh and Aaaahs!

Mireille's Xmas gift

2007-04-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

With CQI we participated in a Xmas baggie SWAP. As we weren’t “official” partners we decided to do our own personal Xmas present tradition.
We haven’t had the opportunity to meet a lot since a few months…
That’s why when she came on Sunday she brought me my Xmas baggie.

Wonderful! Really fantastic.
You can see that I received 2 “Clover” tools for appliqué.
A wallhanging pattern; one silver Kreinik metalic thread; some ILY silk threads, a lot of Caron’s beautiful threads…
Thank you Mireille!!!
Now, I just have to stitch ;o)

I didn’t make her a present yet; because she asked me to do a tutorial to learn PhotoDraw (Microsoft Office software). I already made the two first lessons ;o) and still have a lot to do…

Busy Sunday!

2007-04-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

Mireille came on Sunday to embroider with me.
I met her on CQI and we became friends; it is easy to meet each other as she is living also in Belgium ;o)

We are doing the same project: a beautiful “passiflora” designed by Lesley Turpin-Delport.
We explore the different stitches we can use to add texture to the embroidery. Each of us made her personal selection in threads and colors so even if the design is the same the result will be different.

It was a real sunny Sunday and we had the opportunity to embroider on the terrace; accompanied by the birds’ songs we embroidered and talked as much as we could!!!
A perfect Sunday…

I worked on the “big bud” doing some more picots for the petals and the calyx in detached buttonhole.

For the picots I used DMC “normal” thread and “flower thread”, unfortunately I can’t find that flower thread in DMC, they are no more distributed in Belgium. If somebody can tell me if we can still find them somewhere else?! That would be good news!

Drawing; I worked on my "Old School" this week

2007-03-31T03:52:00.000-07:00

I worked on my drawing this week and added details to the fabric.It is difficult to "copy" a brocade design; I finally modified the details and drew my own design ;o)
There is still so much to do on this drawing to have it finalized. I want to give more movement and life to it, adding shades and lights is important too.

TAST couching

2007-03-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

This piece is a real joy to embroider!
I use the design of Lesley Turpin Delporte but let my imagination go for the stitches I use. I started this one a few months ago, at that stage there was only the stem that was made. I took it with me while I went to my husband’s office during the week end. He had to work on some computers and the network. So took this with me to go ahead.

Leafs are made with a wide range of stitches: bullions, French and colonial knots, chain stitches, buttonhole and of course couching.
All the beige and green bouclé that are on leafs are couched down.
I will have to do my home work on “the traditional block sampler” I use for TAST also. The only way to have my plaid with all stitches we’ll learn to use during this year’s challenge! ;o)

I’m still a bit behind with my stitching; my family problems are going their way.
I can only say "thanks" to aleverybody who sent me encouragements and tell them that my mind and mood is changing as I feel a little bit stronger by now.

TAST - Cross stitch

2007-03-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

Sharon made a good choice with this week's stitch!
As I never had a try to cross-stitch, I decided to go first the traditional way.

That means for me to do some redwork using cross-stitch. As I already made a B for Böske, I wanted to add a Z for my last name.

I found this nice "Z" in digital archive on the Net (dm chart 1) just have a look!!! It's a real treasury chest and you will find it here with a lot of other resources!
http://www.handweaving.net/DAItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=2367

My letter isn’t well made, so sorry ;o(
I used DMC flower thread n°; and is easy to use.

I also added some flower branche and made the seam using the same thread.

The seam was made in an unformal way; I wanted to test the stitch.

As this was my first attempt to cross stitch, please be indulgent!

;o))

TAST - Fly stitch

2007-02-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

I was ready with my sampler on Thuersday, but had a lot of family problems those last days...

Star

snowflake,

I never saw orange and yellow snow before !

A few words about the threads I used:
Coton perlé DMC 90 (variegated) for the seam.
For the "ferns" I used randomly DMC 90, Anchor 1305, OT 021 and Caron's Watercolours n° 176.

The stars are done with the same perlé as the seam.
For the small star I also used some rayon thread (pale yellow).The more flashy colors (bright yellow and orange) are Chinese silk I received from Mireille. They are fantastic to use!

TAST - feather

2007-02-15T01:17:00.000-08:00

This time I triedto use different colors that are unusual for me.
One of my challenges of this year was to use more colors and to have a try to those that I don’t like: brown and yellow or orange; probably because they don’t suite me.
;o)
This week’s colors are very strange to me; who could tell me that I’ll use some shades of copper and that I’ll like that?
I’m satisfied with this try and I’m more confident in using more colors.

For the seam I used OT 021’s small ribbon, the detached chain and knots are made with Caron’s Wildclowers n° 137.
The “fern” on the right side of the block was made using both Caron’s Wildclowers n° 137 and the machine thread from OT 021 in 2 strands.
The weeds on the left are made with the same threads, but with 1 strand.

TAST - Cretan

2007-02-13T03:48:00.000-08:00

For this last block I had to chose first my color, after that it went very quickly to find the theme and to finish te stitching.
I played taxi for my son yesterday and had time to stitch while waiting. The seam is stitched with DMC perlé n° 500 and the colonial knots with 2 strands OT 021.
the branches on the left are also made with the same OT.
All other shades of green are from DMC flower thread n° 2924,2768 and 2927.

TAST, Chevron and Algerian eye

2007-02-13T03:45:00.000-08:00

I started to stitch the seam first. After I wanted to do a big square, but DMC thread in 2 strands was a bad idea so I cutted it off. sniff
I started again with Oliver Twists small ribbon 030 and it went well (I think! ;o)
For the seam I used from left to right, OT perlé 030, OT small ribbon 030, DMC flower thread n° 2316, and Caron's Wildflowers 165.

First row on top with the same Caron Wildflowers 165 couching a larger ribbon from OT 030.

Second row DMC flower thread n° 2316, and for the eyelets fine cotton OT 030.
The last row of Algerian eye is made with the finest machine cotton from OT 030.
The big Algerian eye is made with Caron's Wildflowers 165.
The result is very soft and the pictures can't give a right idea of the block. Sorry.

TAST - herringbone

2007-02-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

I love red and especially dark red, so inspiration came very quickly!B is for Böske, Elisabeth nicname in Hungarian.

The seam is stitched with a double herringbone stitch; using Anchor 42 perlé and Oliver Twist (OT) 02. Colonial knots are in DMC 346 perlé.
First row left is also a double herringbone; using a OT ribbon and Thread and woven with DMC 346 perlé.
On the left a single row in DMC 346 perlé.
The letter B is all done with OT 02 perlé.

Drawing inspiration

2007-02-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

P1040294
Originally uploaded by Suhani.

I asked Suhani permition to use some of her pictures as inspiration for my drawings. I just begun with this hand.

Hand drawing - "Old school"

2007-02-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

My first steps in drawing a hand!

Wow, difficult!!! But I'm quiet satisfied with the result. A lot more is still to do...

Drawing, ... all the shadows and lights... and I still have no idea for the background.

I don't make a copy of the photo, but use it for my inspiration.

Thank you Suhani for this picture.

TAST second block - detaiched chain stitch

2007-02-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

For this second block I haven't had to think a lot my color choice was directly made. I had to use those beautiful reds I received from Mireille.

the design came very quickly aswell.

TAST first block - Buttonhole stitch

2007-02-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

This block is not yet finished as I have some more buttonhole to do around the Ginko leafs.

I'm quiet happy with the result.

I used DMC thread for the leafs and stems, just added some DMC perlé to give some more shape to the stems and covered them with one strand cotton.

The variegated thread used for the seam and the first rows of buttonhole is coming from Romania, and I completely forgot to keep the name ;o(

My nephew Quentin told me that the circles down right make he thinks to a lemon slice, so I added one more row in yellow perlé to finish the design.

TAST first steps

2007-02-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

I'm way behind with TAST, I'm only in my second stitch!
Already realized the "detaiched chain" and am now busy with the "buttonhole" stitch.
I had a problem deciding on what fabric and how I'll present this.
I decided to do something with my samplers and not only keep them in a box or a book.
So I'm doing a "TAST Book" and a "Quilt": in my book I'll keep all notes about the stitches, some pictures and drawings; the quilt will be made with all the blocks I'll this year. I'm using only two linen fabrics for this project. the binding will be made with the darker fabric.
I also decided to try unusual colors for me. This would be my third challenge this year.
First: TAST; second: writting a Blog and third...

Making the Book's first page was easy when I received a beautiful fabric from Allie! Here is the result...

New Blog

2007-02-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm in for a new adventure!
Creating a blog is for me a huge step, I have to say that I don't like to write and I'll be obliged to.
Never mind, it's one more challenge for this year.
I hope I'll be able to share interesting things with others.
Cheers,

Elisabeth