While Mom and Dad go to the Hospital...

We go downtown!

Early this morning,

while Mom and Dad went to get Baby sister,

we went to see the flowers,

Listen to some dutch street pipe organ music...

Go to the Dutch candy Shop

to get some authentic 'Drop',

Dutch Licorice.

and have some fun with Tia Valita,

(that's how my niece calls me!)

and these are my 20 dutch Klosjes to report from this week

~~~~~~~~

and just as I am writing these last words, a little text message:

Baby is here!

:)

Thanks be to God,

Thank you for being here with me...

:)

The Bump, books and views from Groningen

Enjoying a sunny friday morning in Northern Holland

This Bump gets around! And how she loves being the centre of all this attention...

Thanks you, all your wishes and prayers mean so much.

Today we were about town again, enjoying the sunny weather, and trying to forget the heaviness and anxiety for a little while. Not easy being 10 days overdue...

I love good Bookstores and yesterday I had a chance to get lost in one, even if it was only half an hour... And I found a wonderful read.

"Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad"-- can't put it down...

The Martini-tower of Groningen

The flower market~ bicycles~

the canals~ finding nice little presents for the boys~ Tasty breaks ~ waiting for you, little one... We can't wait to meet you!

walking and waiting

Going for walks with my niece seems to be the most wonderful highlight of this trip so far. As we are still waiting for her baby sister, it feels like such a wonderful way of spending our time.

I cannot get over the vibrant greens, the water... and birdsong.

What nourishment for the soul...

Klosjes Saturday: From Holland with Love!

A quick update and a HUGE thank YOU!

Holland dressed in Orange for my arrival... Oh, not for me?

Oh yes, World Cup has Holland gripped in Orange Fever!

Hup, Holland, Hup!

:)

For all of those of you wondering and keeping my sis in your prayers:

No Baby, yet! She is back under the care of her midwife and we are patiently waiting for nature to take its course--

In the meantime we are making the best of our time together: resting, preparing and having fun.

My niece is so happy to have me around which puts my sis at ease.

Not much stitching going on. But I did manage to make a few Klosjes in the plane, using my handy dandy dental floss to cut threads!

:)

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!

:)