Coming Up For Air......

And breathe........ Geez what a mad mad busy few months! I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Ok well maybes a heap of commissions to finish, holidays, work and other stuff has filled my days. All good stuff though :-) I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Holland for our Bloggers Days Oh how I just adore these get togethers.

Here we all are enjoying a relaxing day of creativity and just generally catching up and chatting!

  From left to right: Kirsten, Jellina, Esther, Dedri, Carmen, Esther, Christa, some strange photobombing chappy, Atty, Tatsiana, Bernadette, Sarah, Nerissa, Tammy and finally me! Sadly Annelies and Susan couldn't make it this time (they were really missed!) but hopefully next time :-) Day one saw us meeting up at Scheepjes HQ for the obligatory mooch about the warehouse hyperventilating at all the gorgeousness. I mean, seriously? What's not to love about miles of scrummy yarns stacked from floor to ceiling??? Oh and then there's the ribbons, buttons and fabrics. As per usual I didn't take photos (I know! I'm crap!!!) but Sarah has some lovely photos on her blog and Nerissa wrote a blog post that made me bulb!!! So after the yarn fondling and a spot of lunch we got down to some serious business. A session on pattern writing and basic garment design given by Cara Medus.  It was really very useful and I hope to put everything I learned into practice very soon.  Then came something VERY exciting!!!!

All will be revealed very soon ;-) Trust me, it'll be worth the wait! Don't you just love/hate a secret????!!!!! Before we knew it the day had flown and we headed off to the hotel for a group dinner. Driving in Groningen is interesting to say the least! I think we nearly killed 4 students cycling erratically and got honked at by a bus. I won't tell you my response as it was rather rude!!! ;-) Dinner was delicious and copious amounts of great food and wine were consumed along with lots of chatter and laughter. Good times! The next day we all met up at the Prisenhof Grand Cafe where a private room had been booked for us to fill with creative projects, chatter and more laughter. It's hard to out into words how amazing these bloggers days are but I came away inspired and a mind bursting with new ideas :-) The day passed way too quickly and before I knew it we were saying goodbyes :-( Roll on the next ones! Next on the exciting agenda is the new Scheepjes CaL (crochet a long) Due to launch on 20th April it is in memory of the lovely Marinke (aka Wink). She was working on this project just before she tragically lost her battle with depression.  It's called Last Dance on the Beach and there are three themed kits (each available in basic and luxury format to suit all budgets). As the designs weren't finished, 12 of her blogger friends have completed the designs in her honour. I can tell it was one of the most emotional projects I have ever worked on!!!

Dance in the Rain

Dance in the Sea

Dance Under the Stars

And a full photo of Dance Under the Stars so you can see all of the beautiful colours!

You can find out where the kits are available to buy here!

But be quick! Rumour has it they're selling like hot cakes!!!

I'll making my blanket along side the CaL and will post weekly updates here.

Hope you will join us!

Til next time x

Scheepjeswol Bloggers Weekend 2015

What do you get when you cram 11 yarn addicted bloggers into Scheepjeswol HQ? You get, quite simply, 2 days of fun filled, laughter infused good times!

Last Friday we were invited to visit HQ and meet up. I'd better add now that the reason I haven't blogged about my weekend before now is that I've just returned home. I had a little break from the hustle and bustle ;-) So back to the weekend! Friday morning we all (well most of us) tip toed nervously into the meeting room. I guess it was a little like that first day at school feeling. Nervous but excited about meeting folks whose blogs you've followed for ages (I'm an avid blog stalker by the way!) Within 2 minutes the room was buzzing with laughter and chatter....phew! 
After introductions we did a tour of the warehouse. Now I'm lucky enough to have visited a couple of times before but you could really tell from the oohs, aahs and squeals those that had not!!! The button aisles are always a huge hit ;-) What is it about crafters that we get so excited over buttons, yarn and stationary????? If you want a little peek of the warehouse go visit the blogs linked below ;-)

After the tour we had lunch in the glorious sunshine! Man! It was hot!!! Although I made the most of the glorious weather as usual.

Our afternoon was spent talking blog stuff and stroking new yarns. I know! Tough huh????

We spent the evening at a lovely restaurant in Assen which had a slightly unusual take on flavour combinations ;-) Very delicious...I never thought I'd ever say that about Pheasant, pea puree and popcorn!!!! Much laughter and chatter later (oh and a little wine ;-)) we finally got home at midnight. And Sleep!!!

On saturday morning we all met up at this gorgeous lakeside venue for a relaxing morning. I had my current WIP but in all honesty little was done! I was way more interested in chatting and seeing what everyone else was making haha!

We were served delicious food....how gorgeous are these?

And even Mr Scheepjes himself got in on the action....he made his very first granny square with a little help from the lovely Dedri!

Before we knew it was time to say our goodbyes and head off home....the time just flew!

We had a ball and thank you so much to Mr Scheepjes, Job, and the Scheepjes team for making our visit so good!

If you want to read more about our Bloggers days (or just a little blog mooch) just follow the links below:

Annelies

Nerissa 

Esther

Kirsten

Jellina

Carmen

Atty

Sarah

Dedri

Heike

Sadly, Marinke and Tammy couldn't make this get together....(you were missed!) but hopefully next time!
So once the Bloggers days were over it was time to kick back and relax a little....no relax a lot! Typically, the weather took a down turn but that didn't stop us chilling out one little bit. We drank gin....

Cycled....

Plenty of hooky time!

And even a little spinning :-)

As usual the time just flew and before I knew it I was heading to the airport and back to reality. 

*sighs*

On the plus side I have some lovely memories and also a few goodies that I'll tell you about soon. 

Til next time x