Award

Not only was I tagged, I was given an award as well! Wow, what a week. Thanks Corryna!

Here are the rules:
- Five people are allowed to receive this award: four dedicated followers of your blog and one who is new to your blog and lives in another part of the world.
- Please link back to the person who gave you this award.

Well... among my 'dedicated followers' (ahem) I award Sandra, Jantine, Sue and Lisette (who got another award last week - popular gal).
Someone who is new to my blog and lives in another part of the world is Chris in Wisconsin, USA.
Thanks ladies, I love reading your blogs!

I'll be back shortly with some finished projects! And here's today's pic; my youngest, Robbie (2), playing with the buttons while I am sewing - as I used to do with my grandmother's buttons, sigh...

Tagged!

Lindi tagged me! So I am going to be a sport and play along (although I think I have done this one once before).

The rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. List 7 things about yourself. Some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 more players and let them know.

Here goes....

1. I was a premature baby, born after 33 weeks, and dysmature as well with only 1400 g. In 1969 this meant they weren't sure if I would survive. But as you see, I did ;-).

2. I grew up in a women-only household (my mother, grandmother and me) and now I live with 4 men (DH and our 3 sons). I guess it was meant to be.

3. I am extremely myopic (almost -10 D, which means I can see 'sharp' only about 10 cm without glasses or contact lenses). This is probably a result of being born so prematurely.

4. I hate pink, but love purple.

5. There is only 1 thing that I will NOT eat and that is peanut butter. Yak.

6. I hope to do a PhD in public health one day (when DH is professor and we can afford me being a PhD student ;-)).

7. My second name is Margreet.

Well, you really wanted to know all that, didn't you? ;-)

I'm tagging Dianne, Rens and Marloes. Hope you play along!

And to finish with a photo, here is a pic of the scarf I am knitting at the moment. Haven't knitted in years (did quite a lot of it as a teenager, after that only during my pregnancies) but suddenly felt an urge to knit! (very strange - no, I'm not pregnant!) I bought this yarn last winter and finally have started on the scarf - which I won't need for ages here, it's only November and already very hot and humid :-(.



In the photo it looks very pink but it actually is purple!

Award

I have received an 'I Love Your Blog' award from Bethel of Bethania!
Thanks Bethel, I really appreciate it! I'm thrilled that you enjoy looking at my blog.

Here are the guidelines...
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Link to the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate seven blogs you love to read
4. Link to those blogs
5. Let those bloggers know with a comment that they've been nominated.

Well... there are more than 70 blogs that I try to read and it's hard to choose only 7. I will not nominate the blogs of some famous quilters like Jenny Bowker and Lisa Walton, although I love to read them, as I know they are far too busy for this sort of thing.

I hope these 7 bloggers (in no particular order) are not:

1. Margeeth at Margeeth's quilt-blog - her blog was one of the first I followed.
2. Corryna at Corryna's blog - We 'met' in cyberspace years ago at a babyforum and a few months ago I discovered her quilting blog. Now she's a fellow member of ATWI20Q.
3. Kieny at The Dutchlady. I found her blog a while ago by accident. She actually is my aunt, although we have never met IRL... (long story, don't ask!)
4. Helen at From down the well, and her alter-ego Queen Helen at Quiltland Chronicle, for her well-written and thoroughly enjoyable postings.
5. Marjon at Marjon's Quilts (in Dutch, but with photos of beautiful quilts) - I only recently discovered this blog, but so far I like it very much!
6. Jill at Remote Ramblings -although she does not post very often, I love to read the stories about her life and work in a very remote part of Queensland.
7. Nicole at Nicole's Needles - she is an Aussie in Berlin, I am a Dutchie in Oz, and although we have never met I feel quite connected to her!

I hope you will enjoy taking a look at the blogs I have nominated, and for the nominees; I hope you will select some blogs you love - a good way to discover some new ones!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Shirley!

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

So here are 7 things about me...

1. Unlike a lot of (most?) quilters, I didn't start sewing as a child. My grandmother was a trained seamstress and she and my mother were often sewing (clothes, not quilts) when I was a child, but I was never interested. I didn't start sewing until my first child was born (in 2003) and started quilting 3 years later.
My mother and grandmother both died when I was a teenager. Everytime I finish something now, I think of how happy and proud they would have been...!

2. The best thing that ever happened to me was having children (well, not actually having/delivering them; that was rather painful - although I was very happy to be able to have 3 natural deliveries, 2 of which were at home, which is still possible and safe in The Netherlands. Nothing beats lying in your own bed - freshly made by the midwife's helper - with your newborn baby). I am an only child with very little family and I love having my own family now!

3. I love living in a subtropical climate! I have never liked sunbathing, my favourite holiday destinations are the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia and I was sure I would miss the seasons in The Netherlands very much, but as it turned out I adore living in a place where the sun shines (almost) every day! Admitted, at the moment it is very humid and that isn't very nice, but spring here was wonderful and I am looking forward very much to autumn here!

4. As a consequence of nr. 3, I do not miss The Netherlands very much. I do miss my friends and family, talking in Dutch with my girlfriends (and with 'official people' on the telephone...) and riding a bike everywhere (without wearing a helmet and looking out for car drivers who are not used to bikes or do not want to get used to bikes). But I don't miss the gloves, scarves, wintercoats and raincoats (especially the childrens'!).

5. I am a medical doctor and in The Netherlands I used to work as a public health physician in tuberculosis control. Here in Brisbane I have worked for a while as a research assistant at QUT and in March I will start working as a senior researcher at the Queensland TB Control Centre. I am really looking forward to that. I haven't registered as an MD here yet, but will do that this year, so maybe someday I'll be able to do my old job again.

6. My favourite pastime besides quilting is reading. My all-time favourite book is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Other favourite authors are Iris Murdoch, John Fowles, Minette Walters, Robert Goddard, Milan Kundera...

7. I always thought my favourite colour was blue, but since I started quilting I know it is green and purple! I still love blue, though...

And now I tag Corry in The Netherlands, Nicole in Germany, Julie, Delia, Pamela and Remote Ramblings in Queensland and Cat in Tassie, Australia!