Busy bee in springtime.....

Where did March go??? I was really busy and kept wanting to blog but time just slipped away. I will share more about it at the end of this post. March meant two holidays to decorate for this year. I started the month with my cloches showing a tiny of St. Patrick's day cheer but then had to switch them after the 17th of the month to Easter...

All my spring and Easter quilts were pulled out and accessories added to welcome the Easter Bunny when he arrives...

These little shoes were my Easter shoes when I was a baby. I am so glad my mother kept them along with a few other items of clothes...

Jos and I have been really busy working both in the garden in the city and at Cranberry Cottage. Lots of changes have happened at the cottage but that is a post in itself for later. As for the city garden, we have added a conifer hedge right next to the house. 

We need a little privacy. See that beautiful pine on the neighbor's side? We found out they are going to cut it down when Jos saw a notice in the local newspaper. We ordered some 15+ year old Thuja Emerald conifers and the man from the nursery called to say they would be delivered. 

Once we removed the plants that were in this section, Jos had to dig a big trench. They are planted and watered in so we have our fingers crossed they root well. Jos also added a row of paving and it all looks so nice now. 

We have also been to visit a carpenter up north who is making us a robust pine monk's table with cross legs. The table is done so we have to go pick it up. I can't wait to see it and have our first meal of the season outdoors!

Heidi

February cloche and quilt love!

It is already so close to the end of the month and I had intended to post more this month. February is the month of love and Valentines so my cloches are decorated for the season. On the coffee table are two with various hearts in them. Three of the hearts were gifts from friends...Sonja, Silvia and Annet (Silvia's daughter)...so they have a special place. The heart doily was a gift from my sister.

The sideboard has a cloche with three white glass heart ornaments.....

My desk also has a cloche with a vintage feel...shoe pincushion, spool of lace and a black glass heart ornament.....

Pink roses by my quilt wall.....

Blue and taupe vases by my 50 Hearts quilt. This quilt was made over the last year to celebrate my having turned 50. The evening before I turned 51 this month, I sewed on a special label to finish off a quilt that holds memories for me. You can read about it here.

Heidi

A little winter.....

This piece of stitching adorns our living room each year in January. This year, it turned out to be prophetic. We spent last weekend at Cranberry Cottage and on Saturday morning awoke to this.....

I was thrilled to see some snow. It was thick wet snow that stuck too. What a pretty sight!

Then on Sunday morning, we had a visit by this little creature. This red squirrel was trying to get the peanut holder from the arbour but Jos has made sure he no long can make it fall off. But we felt for him as he was hungry and put out some peanuts for him. He was adorable with his bushy tail and pointy ears.

Back in the city, the little snow that fell here was all melted by the time we drove home on Sunday afternoon which made it harder to leave the snow still at the cottage. But I can think back to our perfect weekend while I look at my winter tree. All the ornaments are handmade by me.

Heidi

New year.....new vignettes.....new goals.....

The holiday season is long behind us and a new year is settling in. Did you have a nice Christmas and New Year? 

Jos and I have set a goal for the new year. We are going to declutter in a big way. We set a goal for 2015 to declutter 15 items each month from our home. When I say declutter, I do not mean reorganizing but de-owning. We started with the holiday season since we had time on our hands to list many things for sale on a Dutch version of eBay. Last weekend, we totted up what we sold and 12 items have gone so far bringing a total of 135 euros back into our wallets. Funny, we had a hard time remembering everything for the list I just made so that means we really did not need the things if we already are forgetting them. Jos also did a clear out and took 16 things to recycle and donate to the thrift shop. It is not stopping there since we have people coming to pick up more items this and next week. So far our count is up to 28 items de-owned and 4 more should be gone by the end of the month. 

I am also trying to rethink how I can keep my seasonal decorating which I love doing but keeping it more simple and organizing items this year as I use them. I decorated the large bread board Jos made me (see first two photos of this post) with a winter feel using lace, ice skates, taupe pot and pinecones. I could not help but add a pot of pink hyacinths though! It is a dreary winter here with spring temperatures and autumn gale force winds so a little bright feeling with bulbs cheer us up was just the thing. We still do hope for a snowflake or two to show up in the coming month...who knows...

A love of cloches has evolved into a good number of them in our home. So this year, I want to change them each month to reflect the season. For winter, three are standing on my sideboard with snow, pine trees, snowmen, an ornament and even some mice playing in the snow. Take a closer look by enlarging all the photos. 

Have you set any goals for the new year or decided to make some changes?

Heidi

Christmas tour.....

Our home has been touched by Christmas cheer...

A large cutting board made up with a winter scene for the holidays stands on our coffee table.

There are sparkling lights and touches of red and silver throughout the room.

A handmade patchwork Christmas wreath is held by a large wooden Santa my older brother and I made together years ago.

Even my desk in the living room has been given some touches for the season as all the tables in our home. This is where I blog...

Heidi

I believe.......

.......in Santa! Do you??? He is trudging his way through the snow covered woods to be here in time for December 25th. 

Heidi

Thanksgiving...dinner for two and autumn displays...

How nice to have Thanksgiving dinner for two at Cranberry Cottage. Unfortunately, for the second time in a month, we had to leave earlier than planned as I have been having major problems with my allergies (at least we think that is the problem) while in the woods. My doctor arranged for me to see my specialist at the hospital again in two weeks though so he can check some things. 

Our dinner was a turkey filet steak with onion gravy, sautéed Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon and roasted butternut squash. This turkey steak was so moist and tender so I think I will do it this way from now on. It means no leftovers but that is not such a bad thing when the meat is so succulent. Dessert is not pumpkin pie but pumpkin mousse. I started making this each year for the holiday a couple of years ago from fresh pumpkin. It is delicious and simple to make. You can find my recipe here on a previous blog post.

Back at home in the city and we are busy getting some big projects done in the garden while preparing to allow the garden to have its winter sleep. I also started taking down my autumn decorations to make way for Christmas. 

I have been trying to use my quilts in different ways that I traditionally do. I feel a need to pare down what I have and start making this more simple to do around the house. Just a few pieces like my bobbinlace toadstool picture, gourds places on wooden candlesticks and a leaf shaped dish with acorn pincushions adorned my sideboard along with a quilt and pots. 

The vintage olive pot is a favorite item and I combined it with an old mustard pot and handmade pottery vase to sit on my quilt. 

We moved my sea chest to the quilt wall now and I can keep changing the flowers in my large crackle effect pot. Did you notice the wreath with Sinterklaas? Hard to believe that it is almost December 5th already! Time flies and it will be Christmas far too soon.....

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving if you are from the US and otherwise are enjoying the last days of autumn wherever you are in the world!

Heidi

Autumn starts to show her colors.....

There is a buzz in the garden that autumn has come...

Our New York Asters (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii) are in glorious bloom. They have taken over a large area and put on a great show to say goodbye to summer and herald in autumn. The bees are enjoying a final summer feast of nectar.

There is such an overflow of flowers that I even put them in a vase to create an instant autumn table on the terrace just outside the living room. 

And our hydrangeas put on a great show over the summer but are not quite done showing off now with pretty rose tints to welcome the fall. 

There are touches of autumn in our front garden too. I love opening the bedroom curtains in the morning as this table display greets me as I start a new day...

Heidi

Spring, spring, spring.....

It is spring! Just take a peek out through my window and into my garden to see...

Het is lente! Neem een kijkje uit onze raam...

We planted up more bulbs last autumn and are now being rewarded with beautiful colors. With our warm winter this past season, we seem to have more things blooming at once than normal.

Bollen planten in de herfst geeft kleur in de lente. Met het warme wintermaanden lijkt het alsof er meer dingen gelijktijdig bloeien.

My March violets have decided to do extra this year. They are seeding themselves in more places in the garden and seem to have twice as many blossoms as usual. The malus apple tree is blooming but there is a storm expected this evening so I have my fingers crossed that it and my other flowers will not suffer too much damage.

Mijn maartse viooltjes doen het beter dan ooit. De malus appel bloeit. Hopelijk de verwachte storm vanavond zou niet al te heftig zijn. 

I have started to decorate for Easter today. What better way to spend a Monday??? I am changing all the quilts in the room and adding some seasonal stitching.

Wat is leuker op een maandagochtend dan een beetje Paasversiering aan te brengen? Quilts en borduurwerkjes veranderen...

A bouquet of tulips indoors always creates instant spring. My Easter tree is ready to welcome the holiday. We did a little adjusting of furniture in our living room last week. I moved my antique sea chest over to by our couch. I also changed my curtains to my summer linen storing my brown heavy ones away until autumn comes around again. 

Een bouquet tulpen brengt de lente in huis. Mijn Paasboom is klaar. Wij hebben ook van meubels verplaatst en de lichte gordijnen hangen in plaats van de donkere gordijnen.

Then I moved my pine desk into the living room. Yes Silvia, we decided to do it after all. *grins* I was debating as it is pine and the other items in my living room are dark oak. But it works well. We are blessed with a very large living room which seemed to grow larger due to the new floor.  I have more than enough room for the desk. Jos was really pleased with how it looks now and likes the idea of being able to work here. This is now where I blog. 

Wij hebben een grote woonkamer die nog groter lijkt met onze nieuwe vloer. Dus ik heb mijn grenen bureau in de kamer geplaatst. (Ja hoor Silvia...toch gedaan.) Omdat ik donker eiken in de kamer heb twijfelde ik maar het werkt goed samen. Jos vindt het nu helemaal leuk want hij kan hier werken. Het is ook mijn plekje om te bloggen. 

Heidi

An unexpected blogger's break.....

I had an unexpected blogger's break. It was not my intention to take so long to post but many things have happened and I ended up neglecting this blog for two months. I wonder if anyone is out there anymore bothering to even read my posts? *sigh*

First, we had to prepare the house by moving everything from the ground floor as our wooden floors had to be replaced. I will be posting about it all very soon after I get some photos taken. That all seemed to finally fall into place after a drawn out legal battle fought for the mistakes a man made who laid our floors when we moved here 3 years ago. We had to get everything prepared in a short time as the matter was able to come to a close. Lots of photos and the story to follow soon.

At the beginning of November, I took two of my quilt friends for a long weekend away at Cranberry Cottage. These two ladies are both 85 years old and full of life. They are so fun and caring. We had planned this trip back in the spring but waited for autumn to go as it is all three of our favorite season. It was fun to be able to share Jos and my special little hideaway with them. The photos of this post are some of my autumn decorations there.

The toadstools were in the drive and back garden that weekend. Don't you just love the Orange Peel fungus? The first time we had it was last autumn and I thought it was candle wax. It is unreal to see.....

I also had to deal with a major crisis in my quilt group leaving many of us feeling rather hurt by two members. We have had a meeting to discuss where and if we should go from here. We are preparing to move on into a new year for the group with confidence that there will be a closer bond after dealing with some problems. It has really taken a good deal of time to get things back on track.

I am back and will be posting more regularly now. I also have to start taking time to catch up with many of my blogging friends. How are you doing?

Heidi

*Sigh* ... Autumn is here

Autumn is my favorite season. I think the earth sighs as the season begins. It is a time of such beauty and I try to reflect some of that in my decorations. My new quilt wall is donning a quilt I made back in July 2001 which I called "The Colors of an Ohio Fall".

The fabric pumpkins are also handmade. In fact, I made a second set for Cranberry Cottage as I cannot think of autumn with without "Plumpkins".

My quilt ladder is dressed with the quilts of the season. I added some vines and acorns.

Heidi

Evolutions.....

Things happen in life that lead you in a different course. We have to have our wooden floor removed and replaced soon. I decided that we needed to get out bookshelves out of the living room beforehand as that is a great deal of work. I love having books in a living room but have always dreamed of having a library. We are getting close to being done with creating the separate library but now also have a long wall where the shelves used to be that needed decorating. So time to move things around again...

My antique English sidetable is now on a portion of this wall. Right away, Jos said we could now use this as a quilt wall. Guess he missed that from our old house.

Here is my summer decorations for the sidetable...

My Bull's Eye quilt which I made back in 2004

Sweet primitive Windsor doll's chair with my teddy holding a stitched pillow which was a gift from a friend

Cutting board decorated with a summer vingette

Amazing to think it is time to change it to autumn in the next couple of weeks.....

Heidi