Update Permin Sampler 5

My last update was two months ago, where did the time go?


Since the last update I have worked hard on restoring my work-life balance and my stress levels. The therapy has helped tremendously and I am stronger than ever. I only have a couple of appointments to go. I am grateful for the opportunities my employer gave me to work on myself.

Life is slowly returning to a new normal. I took a few weeks off and we are enjoying the time together. We love to hang out on our new sofa!

In September, Girl2 will move in with us. It will end an emotional journey but will start a new one! Pre-puberty anyone?

In the mean time I have been stitching a bit on the Permin Sampler. Butterfly Wood has been neglected the last months.

I've also joined a Dutch Facebook group dedicated to stitching the Dear Jane! Dear Jane originally is a quilt designed by Jane Stickles and is very famous around the world. Someone translated the quilt to a free cross stitch pattern and it is now a huge hit in the Netherlands!
I haven't started it yet, I'm still thinking about colors and stuff. I really like a rainbow Dear Jane. (picture taken from fiddletails.com)

After I finish the Permin Sampler, this will be my new Stitch 'n Bitch project!

Update Butterfly Wood 9 and Permin Sampler 4

Goodmorning!

Lots has happened these past weeks!
1. Girl2 celebrated her 11th birthday. Together we baked a chocolate cake from scratch (first time for me!) and it was a success. Dad (the Mr) and stepdad organized her party and everybody loved it. I was so proud of the Mr!
2. I started therapy and I am working hard in restoring the balance in my life. It is not easy, but I feel that this is the right time for me.
3. We ordered a new sofa, one that can fit two adults and two teens. Am so excited about that!! Only thing I need to order now is a wider arm for my workstand (the armrests of the sofa are much wider).

I did cross stitch too but not very much. Look at all of my butterflies!!!

And don't you just love this sampler? I must confess this one got lots more attention than Butterfly Woods. It is a quite Catholic sampler I think, with the Lamb of God:

It's time for my lunch now. This weekend's weather forecast looks promising (very warm!) so I can't wait for it!

Untill next time!

Update Permin Sampler 1724 2

This week I got a bit stressed out at work. Basically I fell apart. Sigh. So I went home and told my temp boss (my real one was on a business trip) that I wouldn't be at work for the rest of the week. I am so thankful he understood why and agreed with me! In the almost 10 years I have been working I have never had a bad review or taking sick days, so I do have a lot of credit.
So this week I have done some soul searching and have been taking care of me. It's hard but I'm ok. This is a wake up call for me. I'm going to change some things in my life. Step by step. I will get there.

Yesterday was my weekly Stitch 'n Bitch. It was nice to be there. I worked on the Permin Sampler. I confess, since I took the last picture I worked on it some more. I finished all the pink, the light green of the basket and all of the dark green. Yesterday I worked on the grey green (the grapes). This morning I took a picture:

I really like working on two very different pieces!

No update for Butterfly Wood. Nina asked me if I'm getting to the big butterflies yet. Unfortunately not! I am working from left to right, so the next 4 pages (my frame shows 4 pages) will be trees. I don't think it's a lot of confetti (here's to hoping!) so I hope to be flying through these pages.

Untill next time my friends!!

I'm still here!!

Hello my dear friends!

I realize it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy busy busy. First I was on holiday and after that I got the keys of my new house! I had to do tons of work: with the help of some friends we've painted all of the upstairs and downstairs, our bathrooms got mildew treatments and I got a couple of new heaters (the old ones were leaking). We are also in the process of putting in new floors. The upstairs (laminate floors with a whitewash/greyish look) is already done and we have just started downstairs. The downstairs floors are a bit of a pain (whitewashed oak floors), but we still have a week untill moving day! In between we celebrated the birthdays of the Girl and myself.

I already moved lots of stuff to the upstairs and attic. I promised the Mr. I will downsize on my craft supplies. I moved an insane amount of stuff I know I will no longer use. Also: I still had text books from high school! I have no energy to purge right now, so I just dumped it all in the attic. The Mr. has to purge as well, he has too many shirts he doesn't wear and I swear he collects old computer parts! I moved it all

For me it is really empowering to see I can DIY and move lots of things myself. The Mr. has huge deadlines at work so he can't help all the time. I feel like a strong woman!

Don't let me fool you, it is the most stressful experience I've ever had and at times I really loose it. I try to look at it as a race: the end is almost there!

Next month: a "normal" update of my stitching!!

Update and some big news!!

Goodmorning!!

Today probably is the hottest day of the year in the Netherlands and I am home, packing my bags. Tomorrow we will leave for France, I cannot wait!!! We are all very excited! Too bad tomorrow is one of France's Black Saturdays, when the roads are so busy it sometimes takes hours just to travel a few kilometers. Thank God we have no deadline for getting at our destination!

Ofcourse Butterfly Wood will travel with me! Just like the previous vacations, my cross stitching is packed in a laptop bag, it fits perfectly!

On the left: my floss box and pattern, on the right: my HAED, some extra floss and I have a pencil tucked in.

In other good news: yesterday I signed the lease for a new apartment! I cannot believe how much luck I have in my life right now! The Mr. has been high fiving me a lot lately LOL.

The day after we come back from vacation, I get the key and I will start cleaning and painting. The Mr. will put in new floors. In the Netherlands we can paint the walls of a rented property and install our own floors. We also bring our own appliances. So basically when you rent, you get a bare space (unless you agreed with the previous renters to take over floors, curtains and other things). Allthough I do not have a lot of budget for a move, I've decided to do it because the rent is acceptable and the apartment has a lot more space than I have now! As soon as the Mr. gets a permanent contract from work (probably in April), we will get married.

Ofcourse I have been stitching this past month! I also ordered a qsnap huggie (actually, I ordered two) from Christine and I like it a lot! It's still a bit of a pain to roll up the fabric nicely but now it doesn't rub my skin anymore. Plus I LOVE the fabric (Hawaiian flowers).

I have almost finished my first page of Butterfly Wood! I am loving the shades of beige and green I am using. It is not too much confetti so it's a pretty easy stitch so far!

Maybe after the vacation I have a page finish to show, but I'm not going to give myself a deadline this vacation!! I only know I will drink a glass of French red wine in two days, woohoo!!

Hope to check in soon, but it will probably take a few weeks! Enjoy the summer, enjoy stitching and talk to you later!!

Not an update

Today is an historic day for my little country! We now have a King, for the first time in 100 years. I'll admit, I had tears in my eyes when the new King and Queen and the former Queen, now Princess appeared on the balcony and the anthem was heard. It's the end of an era.
A couple of years ago I met the Princess (well we were eye to eye, and she said hello to me and I said hello back). I hope the new King will be a good King, good for the country. He is a smart man and has a smart wife, so I think the country will be well represented.

The ceremony is almost over now and I can go party! I work for the government so I always follow these kind of events with a lot of interest. Tonight I finally can have a good glass of wine or maybe even some Oranjebitter, a kind of liquor. 

Yesterday the first paycheck of the Mr. came in. As promised, he took me out for dinner. For the first time in a couple of years! I was so happy.
The last couple of weeks my body has been acting very weird. Almost two weeks ago I found two lumps in my neck. I had blood tests done but they showed nothing. The lumps are still there (but smaller) so now I have to wait another week before I can go back to the M.D.
I believe a lot of it has to do with stress. For three years I had to stay strong and now my body is letting go.
My hand has been acting up as well. I have had a lot of nightmares about free falling into the endless deep, which scares me a lot. Even though I hear a voice telling me "do not be scared, you are safe" I wake up afraid and from excruciating pain in my hand.
The Mr. is in great spirits and I am so happy to see him happy again! He's also taking care of me and that is a relief. I am not on my own anymore!

Needless to say I haven't done any stitching. I really don't know when I can pick it up again. I am sure I will not get bored, it gives me more time to explore other stitching blogs!

Untill next time!

Stitching on!

This picture was taken a few days ago. I love to see the books again and am a bit sad because these are the last books of Train I will stitch! On the other hand, I cannot wait to kit up another chart..

As you can see I've reached the magical mirror. It looks a bit like confetti horror so I've decided to stitch the books first. It is much faster (and I want to see results)!

I am also happy to report the Mr. has been offered a job! After such a long time we were a bit shocked by this news and still feel like we need to be pinched! If everything goes well he will start in April. Maybe, just maybe we can go on a summer vacation this year! I think this is what thrills us the most. But, like I said, we're still shocked. The Mr. has promised to take me out for dinner when the first pay check is in, I cannot wait!!

Seven hours of stitching will give...

this!

Every day I have been stitching for one hour. It's not going as fast as I would like but I am happy to work on this piece again!

I've also changed my stitching "work place". I used to sit on the couch, but I have now moved to the dining table and sit on a desk chair. I also only stitch with my right hand and hold my frame in my left. This seems to work, my right arm is now constantly moving instead of cramping up. I cannot wait to order my floor stand (I hope in a couple of months).

Some other great news: I weighed myself for the first time in 6 months and I was so happy to see that I've shed 10 pounds!! I now weigh as much as I did 10 years ago. I knew I had lost some because all my clothes were too big and lots of people were asking me if I lost some weight, but I didn't expect it to be this much. I think I've lost a total of 15 pounds in 2012. I haven't been dieting but have changed my attitude towards food. According to the Boyfriend I am more balanced now mentally so it might have something to do with it as well.

That's it for now. Have a great week and let's stitch some!

What an exciting day!!

At this very moment, my country is anxiously waiting for the speech of our Queen. Common belief is that she will anounce her abdication. In less than 30 minutes we will know. This would be the first abdication for me to witness and I am so excited! Whether I am happy with the new King, I don't know yet.


Last week was a dark week for me and the Boyfriend. We decided to let our beloved cat Ms Mikey go and went to the vet on Thursday where she died. Ofcourse being the feisty girl she was, she had to hiss at and hit the vet after the injection was given. It made me laugh through my tears. This ruined my chance of holding her while she was dying but we comforted her as best as we could. She was my baby and full of adventure and loved her humans. The last few days the only thing she wanted to do was to lie on my or Boyfriend's lap. She would hiss and growl if we only moved a muscle and in general she was feeling horrible, constantly asking with her eyes for our help. It was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life, but in my heart I know it was the right decision. My house is so empty when I come home every day. It's quiet and I hate it. We have decided however, not to bring a new cat into our family untill we live in another (bigger) house.

Bummed, but still an update

So, after the last update my sweet kitty got sick. We went to the vet who told us that kitty has a polyp in her nose, which is connected to a tumor. The tumor has been there for a while, since kitty has been sneezing and has fluids coming out of one eye for about six months now. The vet is able to operate her, but it will not help. Basically what we were told was: she's not getting better, it could go fast. We decided not to operate.

We were, but especially I was, devastated by this news. She's has been my baby and little friend for 7 years and I had such big dreams for her. All we can do now is to watch her health. The vet told us what to look for in order to see if it's time for her to go. Unfortunately my hand reacted to all this stress so my injury is back. Soooo this is where I ended last week:

I need this!!!

I know right, two posts in a day? I must be crazy. I just discovered something and I want to remember this so I'm blogging about it!

So after stitching for an hour it started again, the pain in my shoulder. I now know why. It's because my Q-snaps are resting on my right arm and since I am stitching with both hands my right arm is in a weird position: it tries to keep the frame in place and in the same movement it tries to stitch. And since Train is nearing the end there is a lot of weight. All in all: my shoulder gets cramped!

I am happy to know what's been causing my pain, because now I can look for a solution. I think I need a floor stand so my right arm can move freely. I have looked at floor stands before but never seriously considered buying one. Most of them are so big and expensive! I have no money to buy one now and I have no room for one.
This time I searched again and found a Dutch plan to build a floor stand myself. Looks nice and I have a friend who could build it for me, but again, it's too big.
So then I found a floor stand by Stitchmaster. I got really excited, this looks exactly like I needed! Plus it is cheap!!! I searched for some reviews, lots of positive ones but some people also wrote the stand couldn't bring the work close enough and then read about the Lowery floor stand. I looked it up and I am convinced: I need this. It's made of metal (so it's easy to clean), it's easy to adjust the height, it takes almost no space and the price is agreeable. So now I am going to save for it! I have no idea when I am able to buy it, but I am so excited!!

So my goals for 2013 are now:
1. To finish Train of Dreams
2. To get a Lowery floor stand!
3. Start a new project

Happy 2013!

Happy 2013 to my dear readers! I hope this new year will bring much happiness to all of you!

We've just got back from a small holiday with the in-laws. We had a wonderful time but are happy to be back home! I've just finished all the laundry and I also put all the Christmas decorations away. The only thing left are the Christmas cards, I just love to look at them!

This is my latest update from 2012:

I'll work on it tonight and I can't wait!! I am so going to finish this in 2013!!!

I've been home from work now since Christmas. I needed this so much!! I am finally feeling relaxed again. I will go back this Monday and I am happy to do so. I have so much more energy (and positive feelings!) than before. 

Merry Christmas!

From my house to yours:

Merry Christmas!!!

Today I have been busy cooking broccoli-stiltonsoup. It's a recipe by Gordon Ramsey and it's pretty easy. What I love most about it is I can cook it the day before and finish it just before serving. My kind of Christmas food!

We (meaning I) will plenty of stress already since we are expected in church in my hometown tomorrow at 9.45 in the morning!! It means we will have to leave at 8. It will be the first time Boyfriend will experience a church service in my hometown. I come from a pretty conservative town and I am not looking forward to all the looks I know we will get tomorrow. They will probably talk slow to my boyfriend and will think he is an immigrant. While he is in fact 10x brighter than they are and speaks impeccable Dutch (he was adopted when he was a baby).
My family will be delighted to see us. After church we will go to Grandma and auntie for coffee and meet up with the rest of my family (my other aunt with her family)! After coffee we will go to my parents' house and have dinner!

I am also so happy to tell you I have been stitching again! Every day I stitch a little bit, making sure I sit up straight and stretch my shoulders and arm. I have been in physical therapy for two months now. It is slowly getting better. My hand is working again but my neck and shoulders are stubborn. For almost 20 years they have been in a position they should not have been. So the muscles are fighting the new (and right!) position they are forced to take.
Anyway, I have a new picture later this week!!

New government!

Since yesterday my country has a new government:

The lady in the middle is our fabulous Queen Beatrix and the tall guy to her left (with the blue tie) our Prime Minister. This Cabinet is made of people of the VVD (liberal party) and PvdA (Labour, centre-left party), a true coalition and an interesting combination.

The plan they made for the next four years is daring and it made for a lot of uproar. It is going to hurt our wallets. I think it's necessary though. We need to live within our means. Something needs to be done about the mortgages. But still, all the measures are tough. I am trying to discover what it will mean for me but I still haven't figured it out. The first thing I will notice will be the cost of my health insurance I think. I am lucky to be very healthy and I do not need a lot of health care every year. I hope my physical therapy will be covered though.. I do not own a mortgage and I do not have children of my own yet.

I hope this Cabinet will last the next four years. My country needs it.

Today America will vote as well. Ofcourse we are following the elections (I like to watch foreign politics! Plus I am still trying to understand the voting system with electors - we just vote for a party (we can pick from I think 15 parties) and whoever has the most votes wins, also everyone who has the Dutch nationality aged 18 and up will get a voting billet in the mail). I am looking forward to wake up tomorrow morning and watch the news and hear the analysis.

On doctor's orders..

Hello everybody,

are you enjoying Autumn as much as I do? I love to see the changing leaves and to feel the change in temperature. Autumn so far has been mild here, without too much rain.

Unfortunately Autumn also brought me the flu. I haven't been so sick in years!! I spent a week in bed, watching tv and sleeping. After that week I went back to work, I was starting to get crazy of boredom! Too bad my cold still isn't over, so I visited my doctor to get some antibiotics. I hope they help.

I haven't touched a needle in 2.5 weeks. I miss it. But my right hand started to give the same problems like I had a few months ago (the pain was a 10, I could not even lift my hand). This time I visited a physical therapist and she discovered at the moment there is a serious difference in the movement of my right hand compared to my left hand! It's not permanent, I am told, but untill this is treated I am not going to do any needlework. Bummer!!! Hopefully next month..

Another page done!

Yay another page is done! This is page 9:

The past few days (well nights) I have been in a stitching frenzy according to the Boyfriend. But look at the cute planets!!! Next are pages 20 and 31!

Outside my building my hometown is celebrating an historical event, called Leidens Ontzet. Leiden remembers being freed of the Spanish in 1574 (this was during the 80 year of war against the (catholic) Spanish). The people of Leiden were starving at that time, they were under siege for several weeks. When the Spanish soldiers fled the gates opened and the people went outside and found Hutspot (a stew made of carrots, potatoes, unions and pork meat). Also, the Geuzen (in English: the Beggars) brought them haring and white bread. I am sure I have left some really important and interesting pieces out of the story
Until this day this is celebrated at October 3rd. With Hutspot, haring and white bread. My grandma, who was born in this city, has fond memories of the celebration.
But in these modern times also with lots of beer, carnival and music. On every corner of the street in the center of Leiden there is a small stage. I happen to live in the center. So when I sit in my living room I have a stage in front of my door, a carnival to the right, a carnival to the left and parking next to my building. The party tonight is till 2 in the morning and tomorrow till 3 in the morning.. I was not born in Leiden and did not grew up with this celebration. This party, the noise, it just doesn't do anything for me. I think it's because in the past I had to jump over puke and other human junk the day after to get to public transportation (or to my front door!), that completely ruined the fun for me!

But you know what? It IS very cool to celebrate something that happened more than 400 years ago! I love that!

Hello Autumn!

Oh glory, autumn has come! Leaves are slowly changing colour and the temperatures are dropping. It is also raining quite a bit.

Last week we had a teambuilding day from my work, we spent some time at Neeltje Jans I was afraid the weather would be awful but it actually was a really sunny day! It is always good to spend time with colleagues and to get to know them on another level.
It is going awesome at work. I have a new boss and some people have moved on to other positions in the company, giving more room for me! I have taken advantage of it and I am loving it, I feel so much more confident and capable!

In my personal life I have celebrated several birthdays. First the Girl's, then mine (the big 3-0) and my cousin's. I am not the person for big parties so it was lovely to have my family around for a small celebration. My dad brought fresh rhubarb, tomatoes and a huge red pepper from his garden. Loved it! I hope one day to have a house with a garden..

We also visited lots of Monument's on National Open Monument Day. We visited the Botanical Garden's, the Observatory, the Academic Building, a church and on Sunday we visited a Synagogue and a Medieval house and cellar. I had never been in a Synagogue before so I was very excited about it! There were lots of Monuments open for the public but several had waiting lines and that's not something we like to do when we have the Girl with us.

My country also voted last week. I think I am happy with the results, now the new government needs to be formed. It's an exciting time!!

Because autumn is officially here today, I have been changing the furniture arrangement in my living room and most of my summer wardrobe has been put away and autumn/winter clothes are brought in. My heating system has been checked out this morning, everything works so I will stay warm this winter!
I have also been doing some deep cleaning. I think I have told before I am not much of a housekeeper. It's never dirty though in my house, but every once in a while it gets to me and I need to CLEAN the kitchen and every closet in my house.

Train of Dreams is riding along nicely, I have finished two books so far:

Finally, page 19 and 30 are finished!

Oh my goodness this was a difficult birth but I've done it! There is too much going on in my life right now. It was my goal to finish one page a month so I could finish the entire Train in 2012. I don't think that's going to happen but that's ok. The most important part is to survive the rest of this year. Stitch when I feel like it. It is all ok! No pressure, there is plenty of it already in my life.

Here it is in all it's glory:

It is huge! I had to stand on my bed to take this picture. I can't believe there are only 4 pages and a bit left to do!

This weekend it's the Open Monument Days. I am planning to visit a few of them in the city. There are very interesting buildings and I always wonder what's behind the doors. I hope the Boyfriend and the Girl like it as much as I do, it will be a welcome change in our usual walk! The weather is lovely, maybe the last days of summer? I hope not. But it is wonderful. Soon I will have to find my warmer clothes. I love autumn, just not the rain and the wind!!

Next week it's time to vote for our new government. I am torn. It has never been so hard to choose. I seriously believe my generation won't live as well off as our parents did. But still, I want my child to receive the care and special education she needs and I want a job for my Boyfriend. I want his house to be sold and I want to be able to afford another one on one salary. The last thing won't happen, it's just not realistic enough. Unless I win the lottery ofcourse.
The new government is faced with some tough choices. I am afraid of them already. But still. It is my right to vote. I hate people who complain about the government but who don't vote. They have no right to speak, in my opinion. I want reason back in politics, not populism. I hope more people want that.

I have some serious research to do the next 4 days..

Anyways.. I am off to visit some blogs and website!!

Enjoy your weekend and I will talk to you later!

A treat for me!!

Hello from sunny Holland! The weather has been great this week, it's very warm outside! Too bad I have to work, my office gets really hot even with working airconditioning! I have been working again for two weeks. My vacation was over so quickly!! We bought the Girl a new mattress and visited some friends. We also took a fun ride with a real steam train! The last day the Girl and I drove our bike to her home from the train station. It was a 40 minute drive and while we were pedaling away there were black clouds hanging over us. I swear, the minute we arrived at the house the rain and thunder started!!!

I have been enjoying the Olympics and I am so sad it is over! I am so in awe of all these amazing athletes. The Netherlands did good this time, three medals more than the goal that was set. For me the best medal is the gold for Men's Gymnastic Horizontal Bar. The first medal in Gymnastic since 1928. I swear the entire office building was watching and I could here the cheers when our athlete won LOL. It was very impressive, he did three flying elements in a row and I was told no-one in the world is capable of doing that. It was very exciting especially since the sports presentator was also very excited about it ("one, two, three, he did it!" and a little later when he jumped to the ground: "He's standing! Everybody's standing! I am standing! I am going nuts here!"). I think he made half the medal LOL. Here is a link to a youtube movie with lego of the exercise and the comment (in Dutch, sorry) Epke Zonderland in Lego
The most emotional moment for me was the Gold on the 100m breaststroke for the 15 year old girl from Lithuania. She was so cute.

I have been sleeping like I was fighting LOL so I started my week with a cramped hand. Grrrr. I am thankful to know why and acknowledging my stress helps. Last week I saw the August issue of Cross Stitcher magazine (a UK magazine) in the bookstore. I have bought their issues in the past, they have lovely free gifts and the charts are fun! This August magazine had a giant chart by Emily Peacock (she is also on etsy) and also some lovely ribbon. I loved it, but I am on a serious budget so I decided not to buy it. After this crappy weekend I WANTED it so badly! So to the bookstore I went, but boohoo there was already a new issue!! I have never been a demanding customer but this time I took the risk and asked them for the August issue. I was lucky, the old issues were still in the store and the day after they would be sent back!!! I bought one and now I am the owner of this huge chart! I have no idea when I am every going to stitch this but I want this to hang in my next house.

No update on Train. I have been working on it but it's not enough for a new picture. Better next time! I have also found a Stitch 'n Bitch group in my town. I haven't joined them, since they gather in a pub (again, the stupid budget) but as soon as that is better I will check it out. They are mainly knitters but they are open to any thread-related crafters. I also would like to see if the lighting in the pub is good enough for stitching.
I miss crafting with a group. I was a pretty regular visitor of the scrapbooking crops of scrapbooknederland but I haven't been there in awhile. Scrapbooking is way more expensive than cross stitching you know! The store is closed now, they only have a webshop left. Another result of this crappy economy.

Half a page done!

It is wonderful to have a summer holiday, I get a lot of stitching done! In the mornings the Girl and I hang out at the house, she plays or watches tv and I stitch. So far I have stitched half a page:

In the afternoon we do fun stuff. We went to the swimming pool, playground and the beach (three times already!). This picture was taken last Friday, when we went to my parents. My mom, the Girl and I went to the beach for a swim. There were lots of seagullls. Just before it started to rain we walked back to the house!

I am also feeling confident enough to ride the special duobike with the Girl. We drove to the lake once and basically use it for a lot of our grocery shopping.

Picture from a website that sells bikes for handicapped or invalid people. The Girl sits in front of me but I am the only one to use the handlebar. The one she has is fake.

On Sunday the three of us went to Museum Naturalis

Unfortunately the Girl was a bit scared of the big dinosaur skeletons. We've been here before, but this time she had sweaty hands and just didn't enjoy herself. We managed to distract her enough to see the entire museum but the Boyfriend had to take a long walk with the Girl afterwards to calm her down. She told him she thought it was scary and she didn't like it.


Today it was rainy so we baked pancakes and went to the airport to watch the planes. It was very busy at the Panorama deck! The Girl likes to be able to see from above what's happening with the planes. The loading of the luggages and all the little cars driving around.. it's a lot of fun.

We also watch a lot of the Olympic Games. Our favorites are the swimming and gymnastics but it is all very inspiring. I love that it is in our time zone so we don't have to watch in the middle of the night!