Tropical Hexies

You should have seen me and my hexies in Aruba, a bit ridiculous, they went everywhere with me! I actually think they had a really great holiday! LOL
Seriously, it was really humid and in the evenings it felt like I had to fight to survive the mosquitos. Anyhoo, you get the gist: not a lot got done. But One Flower did,

and actually, when I count all the hexies that got prepped, and the diamonds that got finished from last year, it is not a shabby turnout!

Now, the funniest thing happened: we were driving along and what do I see?

Honestly, I had to drag my hubby the very next day to take a picture: this happened last wednesday and I thought: PERFECT! ONE FLOWER WEDNESDAY! No one will believe THIS! (unfortunately the internet connection was so slow and my laptop battery leaving so much to be desired... Good thing Wednesdays have a tendency of coming along once a week!)

now, really, sometimes too much is just toooo much, even for me!
:)

I can't wait to see everyone's new blooms and gardens, I certainly have missed you all!
Valentina

little treats

Today, I had some unexpected treats: a letter, just for me, all the way from Australia. Terry surprised me with some lovely charm squares of 'Down Under Flora and Fauna' fabrics. I was so happy, I had to make them into hexi-flowers right away just so I could show her, and since it is One flower Wednesday...

Now I have my very own Kangaroo crossing hexi and can you spot the Sydney Opera House? And can you see the outback pioneer-wagon?
:)

My other treat was an unexpected Coffee break. I don't usually drink coffee, so it was decaf, but just as yummy... just by myself, and my hexies, since I suddenly found myself with unplanned 'in between' time before picking up the kids from school...
Blisss!!!

It really does pay off to have my hexies pouch with me. And today I also had my camera and my big  hexies bin, yippee!

So in total four more charm hexi-flowers with plain centres were added today. Thank you so much Terry! This is a real treat, and like I already told you, my charm quilt now has a piece of you and Oz in it!
:)

and this is a happy song just for you!

a few flowers for wednesday

I have been looking forward to this One Flower Wednesday as I have missed quite a few. I keep my hexi-pouch in my handbag and hexies continue to get made in the car before picking up the kids from school, waiting for students to arrive to classes and every time I get together with friends. Slowly more hexies get prepared and added to the pile.

I made these flowers using plain centres and I really like their 'charm' effect. I hope that once stitched together with the other charm hexies the flowers will not disappear into the background...one can only hope!

I am really looking forward to a warm cup of tea, and a visit with my fellow gardeners!
:)

Hoping you are all having some 'charming' moments this week!
xox
Valentina

Hexies on the go!

View from the bridge of Fontvieille.
Can you spot the hexies?

Nadine and I had some stitching fun while in Provence. Mostly in the late afternoons and evenings or while our husbands took their naps. 

"Shall we have a snack while we stitch?"
Never in my life did I know there was such a thing as a Raspberry Grape,
or a Pineapple heirloom tomato!
and the taste? HEAVENLY!

But Oh-- how I loved the melons!

Delicious, fragrant, sweet Melon de Cavaillon

So...

It might not be surprising that these fresh slices inspired a Charm Hexi-diamond.

 Nadine had found this lady who was willing to sell us her provence fabric scraps, 

and I was so happy to be able to include some here:

Can you spot the olives on the far left and the little crickets
 "Les Cigales de Provence" third down from the Right?

By the way, I will be sharing these scraps with you in our little souvenir giveaway! I thought you might enjoy that... :)

And, in case you are wondering what inspired this diamond...

I don't think you'd be surprised it was these: agh, I am so predictable!

don't they make a lovely pair?

I have to admit that I am counting the days for the boys to be back in school. I can tell that the level of crankiness is reaching critical levels. But we had a wonderful summer. And at the end of it all,  as I look back and see that despite of it all, it was indeed pretty Fantastic!

a moment of bliss over the eastern Mediterranean
July 2010

and  somehow, I did manage to squeeze in a hexi-flower this afternoon...

so please excuse me as I go and collapse for a bit...
:)

Looking forward to replying to your lovely comments and catching up with you and your blogs!

Thinking of you, as always,
Valentina

Wednesday's Hexi-report

Three more Hexi-flowers for the sea-side garden.

I really love how they are turning out...

and looking forward to seeing visiting more garden-parties later today!

Can't wait to see what my Fellow Gardeners have been up to!

:)

It seems that these Rainbows of Charm Hexies are the only project truly thriving and slowly multiplying in the Summer Heat...

I love how these Yummy Candy Colours...

... are becoming deliciously cool Charm Diamonds!

I still have not stopped long enough to count how many 1" hexies I have prepped so far. But when I ran out of papers a few days ago, I decided it was time to take plunge. And guess what... Fresh never looked so Cool!

I am so happy with this project, and so far no repeats!

Ahhhh, life is Good!

:)

Thanks for helping me get through the heat. Your perspective, lovely wishes and wise advice is really making a difference and helping me cope. Thank you, guys...

xox

Valentina

ps my boys thank you, too!

One Flower Wednesday-reporting: last week of July

...wasn't yesterday's experiment fun? I hear the Aussie girls made sure our spontaneous Sew-in continued into the wee hours! I will definitely do it again! I am still amazed at how much I got done. THANK YOU!I stayed up late stitching on the binding and I really like the results so far.

I told you about my set-up, right?

So this is where I will be tonight, watching tv and stitching away! This little trolley works so well to hold my sewing supplies in the living-room.

This morning I owed the boys a morning out, and as they are napping I made a hexi-flower.
I am sorry I was late posting my wednesday's flowers last week, so for those of you who missed it (and are interested!) you can click here.

So there is mine on the left and on the right, with a sunny centre...

I got a lovely surprise package from Shirley. Thank you, Sweet Friend! I know exactly where this lovely flower is going. You'll see... :)

xox 4u!

Have a lovely rest of your week! Binding beckons!

:)

ps. I thank all of you for the congratulations on being a Featured Quilter at Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival.It means so much to me because I can share it with you.

June's Strawberry Field, Hexi-flower, Charms and Mundial!

I am still home, but not for long as I am leaving for Holland tomorrow morning.

Baby girl still has not made her grand entrance, and even though my sister is anxious for her arrival she had to deal with other challenges. On friday she got a call that her 2 year old broke her leg at school. My stomach was turning all weekend thinking about it, and trying to come up with new adventures to share with her. To top it all off, Baby girl decided to flip and is now breech.

so what do I do? I pray, I keep busy, play with my boys( hugging them every chance I get), and stitch up rainbows of colour as we all enjoy the Mundial..

I know I don't need to ask you for your prayers, or that you keep us all in your heart.

I am sad to leave the boys behind as I will miss them, and that includes Mr Beloved. But I am also so grateful to be in a position to go and help.

I will attempt to keep you all 'in the know' as far as it is possible, and promise to take LOADS of pictures.

Thanks for caring,

Valentina

Update: I spoke to my sis this afternoon and the doctor managed to manually flip Baby Girl! Glory be to God!

And they are hoping to induce her on Friday morning, if Baby doesn't decide to beat them to it. In any case, this gives me time to arrive.

Thank you all so very very much!

V.

This is my Strawberry Fields quilt which I started hand-quilting. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I will be finish it before leaving, but I am so very pleased with how it turned out. Thank you Lori, I really enjoyed the whole process of quilting along with you!

If you want to see some beauties go here...

...and in case you are wondering, I am determined to stitch through this!!!

I have my Klosjes prepared, packed and ready... Can't wait to have a 'Klosjes Zaterdag' in The Netherlands!!!

:)

...and this is just one more hexi-flower I had to sneak in for One Flower Wednesday while doing last minute packing...

5 Flowers for Wednesday 's Garden Party

Hello my friends, and fellow gardeners, I am so happy to have taken a little time today to go and visit with you and see how your gardens grow...

How inspiring!

These are my little ones for this week...

I really like how they will look like when I stitch them together. I really get a happy nautical feel seeing them: my sea-side garden! I think they'll make a perfect addition for my boys' quilts.

I have been a bit overwhelmed this week: waiting for my sister's baby is a bit more stressful than I expected: I jump every time the phone rings, I keep preparing things and making lists for hubby for when I am gone, and I keep telling my boys how much I will miss them ( to the point I think I have started to scare them! OOOOPS!)

:)

Thank you for all the lovely Comments on last week's post. I know it was sappy, but I felt that I needed to express what is in my heart. And many of your comments reflected back to me that I am not the only one that feels this way. Thanks, it is nice to be able to say what needs to be said at least once in a while, :)

But now enough of 'touchy feelies' and let's get on with choosing a winner, shall we?

Drumroll please...

And with the help with our handy random number generator:

( who is now refusing to show the numbers... 1-73, random number 9!)

Enter a lower limit:
Enter an upper limit:
Random Number:

And that makes... Karen, our lovely winner!

Jippie!

And for those wondering how the rose-water was distilled... First you collect bucket-fulls of roses... preferably in the early morning...

You empty the buckets into the lower part of the distiller, and add spring-water...

You heat the bottom, and keep the top cool by replacing the top with fresh water, until you collect precious rose-water on the left...

and the perfume lingers and lingers...

:)

Congratulations to Karen!

and for everyone else, please rush over to Michele who is having a lovely give-away of her own,

Thanks Michele!

:)

Happy stitching!

Valentina

'Hexies al Fresco' one year on...

I am having a chuckle and I really want to confess something...

Please, indulge me as I take this off my chest.

:)

Never say Never. I have said this a million times, and yet, I have said "Never" way more times that I care to admit!

"Oh, no... Blogging is not for me... I would never blog... I have no time, besides I would have nothing to say!"

LOL...

"and who would want to hear me babble..."

:)

pss... I do the 'Happy Dance' every time you leave me a comment!!!

Last year I posted for the first time: I called it 'Hexies al Fresco' and I was surprised how wonderful it felt- after having watched and swooned from the side-lines, to actually contribute my 2 cents worth. Robyn made me feel that I could do anything, and that I had something worth contributing to her Groups "Great Hexagon Quilt Along" 1 & "too".

One of the comments received that very first day, changed everything: as Nadine came bursting into my life.

She has been my friend, my Hexi-big sis and my Fairy Blog mother ever since. And she taught me that blogging could be anything we choose it to be. And meeting her in person last February, was even more wonderful that I dreamt it could be.

Then came Ingrid, and her fabulous confidence, making up her own rules as she dazzles with her down-to-earth charm: "Valentina, we could all gain if you blogged." This statement blew my mind...

And you have all witnessed what has happened thanks to Klosjes!

:)

I still pinch myself, whenever I get a chance to visit my Dutch quilting sisters and feel a reconnection to my Dutch roots. I was after all born on a Dutch island and have such debt and gratefulness to the Dutch school system in shaping me into whom I am today. And to be able now to honour that history, by sharing this beautiful dance of mutual inspiration is a 'coming home' --- full-circle.

Hartstikke Bedankt, Lieve Meiden!

Then all of you, my Aussie and NZ sisters, my Canadian sisters, my American sisters, my fellow European sisters, and all those wonderful new sisters scattered in places like Mauritius, India, Latin America and slowly even my Cypriot sisters. ...am I forgetting anyone?

:)

I feel that we are all connected and I am just waiting for us to meet someday, in person, right?

Like my dad would say: To dream costs us nothing.

I have spent the last few days getting to know Tineke in person, here in my very own home and stomping grounds and it has been wonderful. We have shared about what blogging means to us, what quilting means to us and what dreams we have for the future. She shared her baby with me, her quilting magazine "Quilt & Zo" and I was inspired, dazzled yes, even swept away by her plans. How she has plans for us to grow as quilters: So girls, start designing your very own quilts and pass them on to Tineke... 'To dream costs us nothing' and now we even have a way to make it happen...

All of You have proven to me, over and over, that blogging can be what we chose it to be. That the Quilting Sisterhood is alive and here, closer than we think, to help us grow as women and in our chosen craft.

That we can be supportive, understanding and forgiving of one another.

That we can be connected by virtual threads of friendship.

That we are not alone.

That experience is valued and can be shared, and that we, girls, can have a whole lot of fun with needle, thread, gorgeous fabric, and a computer!

Thank you. I can no longer imagine my life without you. You have enriched me, personally and have infused my work with new creative life. Thank you.

ok.

I said it.

And this is what I have for you, to say thanks.

...leave me a comment or 2 or 10 and I will be so pleased to send one of you a little BIG gift, just because you are YOU!

A Fabulous Sewing Tin, Ribbons, Home-made Rosewater made by me, :)

in a vintage bottle, the cutest plasters you have ever seen in the cutest tin that could later house lots of needles , thimbles and anything else your little heart desires, and a fat quarter of the exact rose from which the rosewater was made from... swoooon!

So one year on, and Hexies are still working their magic in my life:

Countless gardens and new friendship blooming over a cup of tea, all over the world on One Flower Wednesdays,

And Charm Hexies providing magical rainbows of colour and the promise of new friendships...

and for me

because of You-

The best is yet to come!

:)

One Flower Wednesday-reporting: 2nd week of May

Hello my Lovelies!

Hoping you are having a wonderful week. These are the first of the roses from my MIL cottage garden... How I wish I could share their perfume with you...

I am in the midst of a swirl of classes, workshops, tummy-aches and planning a birthday party this coming saturday for 40 3-4 year olds! It's our Big Boy #1's 4th birthday and we decided to include Big-Boy #2 in the festivities, even though his b-day is 4 months away... But they are excited and chose their own cakes and have been helping Mama out with the party favours... :)

So here is a quick Hexi-flower report since I have noticed that the crazier my life the more I need to stitch something in the evenings in order to unwind...

So here we have 2 "Al Fresco" and my first ever Fussy Cut hexies, after being severely smitten by some of your gorgeous specimens... I had some non-quilting Provencal material and I hope to make a nice summer cushion with them.

Have a lovely rest of the week and I will be visiting your gardens after the craziness is under control,

:)

Thinking of you!

Valentina

Clara and Penny arrived just in time for Tea on One Flower Wednesday

Imagine my delight in getting to know the Girls over tea this afternoon. Let me introduce you to Clara and Penny of the Muffinpies of Quebec. They are the creations of my friend Monique over at Blueberries in the Fields. Isn't she incredibly talented?

Monique, they told me all about their trip and the hideous volcano delays. But they seem to be settling in nicely and were all excited when we started discussing a new summer wardrobe and started tossing ideas around for their quilts.

Between this and that we made 2 new Flowers. These are for my "Hexies al Fresco" quilts that I hope will go for my boys. I have been collecting and sharing fabric with Nadine for this for a while.

I was also inspired by Danielle's hexi-pincushion and started making one... Oh how fun, Daantje! A girl needs a hexi-pincushion as she is working on her hexies, niet waar? I am hoping to have it done soon. Thank you for sharing the pattern with us! You are a Doll! :)

And look at this lovely crocheted piece. Cyprus is very well known for its lace and I hope to share some of it with you, in due time. This piece was made by my Mother in Law's grandmother and it makes tea-time so much sweeter...

Hoping your week is going well. Mine is too, despite having had a nasty stomach flu visit our household. The News has called it an epidemic, we call it a break from the routine!

:)

With much Love,

Valentina