Xmassy London!

I was lucky enough to spend the last few days before Christmas with my daughter Eline in one of our favourite cities: London!

We had such a wonderful stay, the weather was perfect for a city trip and to my surprise it was not busy at all (think everyone had finished their Christmas shopping and was waiting for the sales to start on Boxing Day and a lot of the Londoners had already left town for a family stay or a holiday) and therefore also everyone we met was really relaxed and ready to crack jokes!

An impression:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As someone who is interested in (English) history the highlight of the trip for me was a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

Security was tight, the same as at any airport

and understandably we were only allowed to take pictures in the first two spaces,

Westminster Hall:

and St. Stephens Hall:

After that no more picture taking because people were still at work in Parliament (even though Parliament itself was not in session).
We were shown the debating rooms of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which I had only ever seen on tv and even though we were not allowed to sit on them, we were allowed to walk through the benches and get up close and even touch the despatch boxes in the House of Commons which you will always see at big debates and Prime Minister’s Question Time.

I learnt a lot about the history of the British Parliament, I really enjoyed it!

After this it was time for some more Christmas cheer!

Covent Garden:

 

 

 

A visit to Liberty is always a must!

Because I had booked this trip months ago I was able to get a good deal on a room at our favourite hotel. They did not disappoint, the hotel lobby beautifully decorated

and we loved the view from our room

After a visit to Portobello Road

 

and a last bit of lunch

it was time to return to the airport

and fly back home for Christmas!

We certainly were in the mood for Christmas after all this and the days themselves were lovely. Hope you had a really nice Christmas too!

 

Phyllis



First crochet finish and a give-away!

Just before I really get into the spirit of Xmas here is something completely different: I finished my granny square crochet blanket!

I started this in the summer of 2013, because I wanted to do something different than sewing and to make it really different I decided to use colors I don’t normally use (except maybe when making a quilt for my daughter, Eline). The way this turned out is bright and cheerful, which is especially nice during this grey and dark time of the year, I had to wait a few days before I was able to take some nice pictures outside, it was just too dark!

 

 

I was going to do a scallop border, but decided enough was enough, I really wanted it to be finished and also, something I did not realise (this being my first crochet project), the thread I chose to do this (Drops Paris) makes this really (and I mean really!) heavy.

It was fun to make and I will definitely do another crochet project, but with another thread!

So much for that, now it is time to look forward to Christmas! A few posts ago I posted my 100^th blogpost on this blog so reason for a little celebration which means a give-away! How about this Christmas pattern? Not too big and not too difficult, you may be able to finish it before Christmas - if you are quicker than I am with these things ;-)  -

Leave a comment and send me an email (address in my profile, that way I also have your email address to contact you) if you are interested. I will draw a winner Wednesday evening(December 10).

Enjoy your Christmas preparations!

Phyllis

 

 

 

Houston Quilt Festival 2014 - 3 -

So here it is my third and final blogpost of the Houston Quilt Festival this year.

This time let’s start with some inspiration from the antique booths:

 

Just these booths are worth the trip!

 

Apart from the fabulous red and white quilts, the Mary Koval antique quilts and the French Quilts de Legende exhibitions (previous blogposts) two other exhibitions were favorites of mine:

First up (not really my style, but I am a doglover, so loved to see some of these):

  

As owner of a rescuedog I fully agree with the above!

Below my favourite quilt of this exhibition:

 

Every dog owner knows this look I am sure and this quilter captured it perfectly!

The other exhibition I loved was this one,  the exhibition with quilts by Di Ford and Michelle Yeo. Some of Di’s quilts are favourites of mine, I have seen them before, but it is always good to see them again.

 

 

All this walking indoors, all the quilts, all the inspiration, all the people, sometimes you just want to take a step back and have a few minutes to yourself. Easy to do at the George Brown Convention Centre, it has a beautiful and large park (Discovery Green) in front of it and it is lovely to walk outside (with a large latte J ) and just sit there for a bit, especially in this beautiful weather!

 

 

I spent some time here every afternoon, it was lovely, I don’t understand there are not more quilters doing this, look at all the empty benches!

 

And with regards to the large latte… you know at Starbuck’s they always ask you for your name, so they can make sure you get the correct order in the end….. I am used to people mis-spelling my name in The Netherlands, but here.. and this?!

 

 

Lucky for me when I go to the Quilt Festival I get to stay at a friend’s house in the lovely neighbourhood of The Heights, when the weather is nice it is a great place for a walk, lovely houses and of course when I was there it was Halloween!

 

 

 

 

Halloween was also the theme at other places in Houston, look at the movie playing in the cinema in River Oaks!

 

And when in Houston, some (non quilt related) shopping needs to be done as well, a morning at The Galleria, with the ice rink at the ground floor

 

to make sure I could walk ‘on Air’ during my days at the Quilt Festival, I can soooo recommend these shoes!

Always fun to see they sell Dutch things here too

 

 

Love the sense of humour of the Houstonians!

 

And I spotted Hubertine’s ride of two years ago (was lucky enough to catch a ride in this car with her at that time as well)

Which I think is a fitting picture to end this series of blogposts of my visit to the Quilt Festival and Houston.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures, looking at them I miss Houston so much!

 Phyllis