Vacation

                               Relaxing with my DH........priceless!

Double delight

                                My double delight now belongs to my brother and sister-in-law in celebration
                               of their 40th wedding anniversary.  Debby Brown did such a great job of  machine
                               quilting my scrappy quilt.  Happy anniversary!

Taking a break

                               I'll be back in a few weeks........  Happy sewing

Kaffe

                             This quilt is ready to be bound........I'm thinking solid red.......I hope to get
                               the binding done and sewn on today.......thats my goal :0).   See
                               how beautiful the quilting is Debby Brown does it again !
                               Happy sewing

Lime it is!

I'm really pleased with the lime binding......and another finish :0)
Happy Sewing

Amanda Jean does it again

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/search/label/give%20away
Crazy Mom designs another winner and she is giving away the fabric and pattern to make one for yourself!
go enter before this goes away!

Happy Sewing

"Amish Abstraction"

Hand quilting is not my thing and I'm not very good at it....... but look I finished quilting this quilt that is a 36 inch square!  I can't tell you how many hours I put into this quilt........geese and its so small!  In any event I now have to bind it and can't decide what color to use.  Black?  Lime? or turquoise?  What do You think?
This was made for an online challenge using the book "Amish Abstractions : Quilts from the collection of Faith and Stephen Brown".

baby quilt finish :0)

                              Left over blocks made a fine baby quilt for a friends great nephew :0)........I finished it yesterday, Debby Brown quilted it for me with her longarm.  It's made from striped shirting fabrics.

selvedge doll quilt

                            Ive been doing mostly hand quilting and hand sewing bindings down since I've come home from vacation so not much to share , but I did make this last week and backed it with flannel. I think it will make a sweet little birthday gift for Lily as she turns two on her big day in August.

Don't you love a chance to win?

http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-birthday-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InsightsFromSewcalgal+%28Insights+From+SewCalGal%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

that clever quilter SewCalGal is having a sweet fabric giveaway........... go join in :0)
Happy sewing,
Kim

Goodbye Netherlands

Goodbye fluffy  robe.



Goodbye king size bed                                                                                                                                                                                                                                goodbye Netherlands                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       goodbye wind mills 5 miles out from your beautiful coast............Goodbye Netherlands.                                                                              

Shopping on Sunday in Amsterdam

We were surprised by the number of people that came into town for the weekend.......
everyone was excited about the Netherlands doing so well in the world cup.......and they nearly won!
Lots of orange everywhere and soccer balls hanging over the streets.

Sew Many Quilts: Just a Little giveaway!

Sew Many Quilts: Just a Little giveaway!

Sunday in Amsterdam

Yes all three kids got into the cart on the front of the bike and off Mom rode with a smile on her  face :0).           


This is the  Rijksmuseum....home to Vermeers, Rembrandts,
and many other master dutch painters........simply amazing.
Even with a major restoration underway there was a display of the best of its permanent collection. This museum was founded by Louis Napoleon, the bother of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1801.   The present building was constructed between 1876 and 1885  in a style combining both neo-Gothic and neo-Renassance features.....its just beautiful.
 

Back to Amsterdam

Going into  old buildings for quilting designs and inspiration...........these tiles are in an old church from the17th century.............lovely colors and designs.

Lelystad

Lelystad was created starting in 1960 after it was dyked and drained between 1950 and 1957.
So there is not much history in this part of the country but plenty of housing.
We went to visit friends and spent the day with them and their adorable son Quin.

I made this quilt for Quin and he had it before he was a week old :0)...........we loved playing Grandma and Grandpa with Quin!

Hortus Haren

"Hortus" means garden and Haren is the name of the town where we  visited this garden.  This part of the garden is called the the hidden Empire of Ming, it recalls the period of the Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644) and includes rocks, bridges, pagodas, hundreds of red carp and flowering plants, all brought to the Netherlands from China.  We were simply amazed at the beauty of this place!

bikes in the Netherlands

So how do all those bikes work in traffic?  They have their own lanes...see the red roads...for bikes only...see they even have their own traffic signals...and the bike riders follow them!  Another train station....yep they rode their bikes to work!

Groningen

Our next stop was a town called Groningen.  Over half the population travels to school and work by bike according to the travel book......and I believe it!  Bikes everywhere......so I took one out from our hotel and rode with the locals.  It is  home to a university founded in 1614, which is on the right above.
On the left is the train station.

We stayed  for 5 nights so I got pretty comfortable riding around the town.
This garden is called Prinsenhof  it has a sundial from 1730 and is still laid out the same as it was in the 18th century.

Sadly, the huge museum in town was closed for renovations :0(
It stands on a island in the 19th century Verbindingskanaal ( canal)...the museum opened in 1994 and I wonder why it already needs renovations?

The flower market

Saturday at the flower market drew a great crowd......it was a wonder to behold and backs up to a canal

with a floating bike parking area.