Visiting friends and acting like a tourist

Yesterday was a wonderful day meeting up with friends and acting a bit of a tourist, which is okay, because I am! Our first stop was to visit Agnes who was excited to share her newly expanded sewing room! But first....you NEVER visit anyone without first sharing a cup of coffee with them. And don't turn them down, that's almost rude! I'm a tea drinker, so she served me tea. And of course, the little sweet that is always necessary. But she served us little apple tarts--yummy! After catching up on news (she shared the books her husband made for her from her visits to Houston, Paducah and of her OWN Quilt Exhibit), she proudly showed us her new room. It's so nice, full of nice outdoor light and wonderful views and a lot more space to spread out. She also shared her newest quilt project, one that she has spent the last year designing and has just begun the stitching. It's going to be a beauty!

Then we left for the little village next to hers, Oudewater. They have a famous museum that showcased the scales that were used in the 1500's and 1600's to determine if you were a witch or not. I was determined to be a witch! My kids would have told you that already! LOL At least in their teen years. :) And...it was a tricky way to find out how much your friends weigh! A fun place and the gal in charge took great delight in her role as judge. We then had lunch at a quaint little place, sitting outside and watching all the villagers ride their bikes and people strolling along the brick sidewalks. I saw a tile on one building that was from 1617! I'd tell you what I had for lunch, but I can't spell it OR tell you what was in it! LOL It was good and of course, the bread is always so yummy in Europe. After lunch, we bid farewell to Agnes and followed her suggested course to get to the quilt shop. We followed the dijk (dike) along the river and eventually came to Kinderdijk, where you can see 17 windmills (molen) in a row. They were built along a canal to keep the water from the river out of that area. Beautiful area and we saw a family from Staphorst in their traditional costume. Ted said it was unusual for a young family to be wearing their costume out of their area, that they must be really strict. We went on to visit Willy's quilt shop in Brielle. Quick visit to say hi and headed for home. Awesome day!

I'm out of room for pictures...will share more tomorrow.

happy quilting!!

Quilt Shop in Brielle

't Quiltgebeuren

Friday was an Open House for the Quilt Shop in Brielle for quilter's to sign up for new classes. Ted was offering classes and 3 day "Quilt Study" courses (an intense 3 day course normally done in 6 sessions. So I went with her to the Quilt Shop, 't Quiltgebeuren, since I was able to meet the owner, Willy, in Houston this past November. I was curious to see her shop of almost 3 years. She's a lot of fun and found her shop one of those that say, 'come in and stay awhile!'. She had a fancy coffee/cappacino machine in the corner with a table with goodies on it, encouraging quilter's to sit and chat. We first had to take the ferry across the river (or drive all the way around to a tunnel)--so that was a first for me!After spending the morning in the shop, I was so glad that I went. I looked up at one point and thought, 'I know that lady!" And sure enough--it was someone from Belgium (she was about 2 hours away from the quilt shop) that I had taken a week long class with in France! what a surprise! And then 3 other ladies that I have met through Ted also came in. So, I felt so at home! I later took a walk around the little village of Brielle and I just reconfirmed how much I LOVE Holland and all it's quaint villages. Here's what I came to on my first corner..

A flower vendor (so typical!) and a building from the mid 1600's across the street. I walked on the bridge over the canal and took a picture of 't Quiltgebeuren from a distance. She is right on the canal street. Her building is the one with the awning. Willy and her husband (our caterer for the day) own the building and they live in the loft upstairs. I loved it. She runs the shop with her daughter and daughter in law. And it is a VERY nice shop! If you get anywhere close to this area, it's definitely worth the visit. I've been to a few quilt shops in Europe and hers was the best by far!

Hello from the Netherlands!

It's been a whirlwind since the end of the year. I got sick the day after my birthday, and spent some days on the couch. But I still had to do food last weekend for the big softball tournament my husband puts on each year at this time. Then last Tuesday I left for the Netherlands to stay with my friend in s.'Gravenzande (a small seaside village south of the Hague).

Being of Dutch ancestry, it's always fun to come and discover more of my family's culture. One thing that really fascinated me was when I discovered that there is more than one type of Dutch 'hat'. The one that everyone is familiar with is the one from the province of Vollendam. But there are 12 provinces in the Netherlands with several of them having hats that are unique to them. So I decided that it was something that I would like to collect. My friend Ted (her nickname) and I have been touring the different provinces on each of my visits to secure an authentic hat from the area. We have visited several museums and I have, at home, hats from Vollendam, Marken, Staphorst, and Spakenburg. I'll show pictures of those later. In the meantime, we decided on this trip to visit the Zeeland area. Zeeland used to be a series of small islands and was flooded in 1952 in which thousands were killed. That started the 'Delta Works'project, in which dams were created to lower when storms were coming in from sea so it would seal off the area. They are very well known and the engineering so magnificent, that the Dutch engineers were called into the US after Hurricane Katrina to maybe help New Orleans solve their problems. Anyway, Zeeland is now connected more and is known for tourism (they have wonderful beaches and natural parks), fishing (especially the mussels) and farming (apples, onions and potatoes).

Off we go to Middleburg, the capital of Zeeland, to the newly opened 'Zeeuws Museum'. It was closed for 7 years to be totally re-done, structure wise and content. It's a contemporary look at what was in the past. It was very nicely done and nice exhibits, but we only saw a few costumes and just the hats in nice showcases. And no such luck with finding a hat from that area. We happened to ask a clerk if she knew of any place that sold hats and she couldn't think of any. Someone overheard us and told us of a small shop just 5 km away, in Arnemuiden.

Arnemuiden is a very small village and we had no trouble finding the shop, de Troye. What a little gem! The owner was 75 years old and a wealth of information! He said when he no longer runs the shop, there is no one to take over and more than likely the area hats will no longer be made. In fact, most of what I was able to purchase was second hand, purchased from families that had older parents or whatever pass away and the family no longer wanted these old things. I'll show them separately.

The first set that I purchased was from the actual village of Armemuiden. Because Zeeland was once comprised of several small islands, several of the areas had their own costume. They typically had an underhat (ondermuts) (so graciously modeled by my friend!)that was worn on a daily basis and then an overhat (bovenmuts) that was worn on Sundays and special occasions. The set even had a 3rd bonnet, a satin blue bonnet, (blauwe tussenmuts) that was worn in between the layers to show a bit of color. And then what I found to be a real hoot was the little extra 'jewelry' they had. They were gold (or gold plated) spirals (oorijzers-ear irons) that were pinned on the inside of the hats and had charms on the ends. To get an idea of what it all looked like together, I took a picture of a doll with full costume.

Such a fun time we had in this little shop. My next post will be on the hats from the Walcheren area. Armemuiden is actually a village in this province, but remember they used to be separate.

So, I'm off for the day...more coming!