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These are my first 2 Dutch Treat blocks for the month of June.

I apologize for my little "break" from blogging the past few weeks.
I've had some significant events and deadlines that have kept me constantly busy.
The work is all done and I've taken with me some fun and fond memories.
Now I'm ready to play in my sewing room again.

This is my Red Touch Me Not Botanical Block for the month of June. See the blocks that other quilters are sharing on the SVBAQ blog HERE.

Last week I took a road trip with friends to La Bee da Loca in Culpeper,VA.

A reminder of how important Bees are for our environment:

I came home with some of Felicia's locally farmed Honey and a few other treats.
And earlier that morning my friend Peggy Baer presented me with this Queen Bee keepsake locket. I LOVE it and think it's BEE-utiful!

This sculpture in front of the Culpeper Visitor's Center describes what I thought of our fabulous day:

A special visit with Quilters from The Netherlands

On King's Day we visited the home of my Dutch blogging friend Yvonne van Rijn.
She lives in a beautiful historic home in Katwiijk and several months earlier she emailed to invite us to meet. I was so honored and excited for this opportunity!
We received a heartfelt Welcome!

Yvonne was a fabulous hostess, she served us a delicious Dutch meal and a special dessert to celebrate King's Day.

Yvonne also arranged for us to meet with her quilting Bee group.
We had a wonderful time getting to know each other!

Show & Tell was amazing - these talented women have been working on some very intricate quilts such as Dear Jane and a few other stunning quilt projects.

I can't thank Yvonne enough for opening her home and her heart to us! It was a magical evening of American and Dutch quilters sharing time together and quickly becoming friends! Truly the best evening of our trip!

Next week I will share about our final day in The Netherlands.
Another Fairytale of an adventure with the happiest of endings.

every quilt tells a story....

Dutch Treat blocks travel to The Netherlands

I still have plenty of details to share soon about my special trip to The Netherlands.
Because I truly believe every quilt tells a story, this post is about my "Dutch Treat" journey and the impact this quilt had on my trip.

More than 4 years ago I started my Dutch Treat quilt journey.
I had Mary Kucera Roberts LeClerc to thank for that. I purchased the book 12 years ago, but after sitting on a shelf for nearly 8 years, it was Mary that convinced me to dust it off and "crack the binding open". A prolific quilter with a generous spirit - she encouraged me to take on this monumental quilt project.

And so my journey began. As I worked on my blocks over the years, I reflected on the "someday" dreams of visiting Holland in the Spring.

Well this dream came true and off I flew to The Netherlands with 8 quilting friends and 7 blocks from my large pile of completed Dutch Treats.
And here is where the journey took us...

To one of the worlds largest Gardens - The Keukenhof

To the Zaanse Schans Windmills where we braved the wind and rain to see such Beauty.

To Marken to visit a Wooden Shoe factory:

The Shoe Maker was such a good sport (notice his tie holder)

Delft Blue Porcelain & my Salt & Pepper block

A trip to the Van Gogh Museum. Drats, no pictures allowed of the paintings so my block is posing just below one of Van Gogh's vase of flowers paintings.

A visit to the home of Dutch Quilter & blogging Friend Yvonne van Rijn.
(read more about our wonderful visit in my next post)

I was excited when my friend Laurie and I came across these large Dutch Rabbits!

Although this isn't a block from the book, I wanted to have a rabbit block in my quilt. As soon as we arrived, I drew up this block an began stitching it. And here is a fun coincidence - One of the quilting friends we met thru Yvonne is Bernadet. Her husband's family last name translates in English to "Hare" or rabbit. I just had to take a picture of Bernadet with my rabbit block, it was meant to be.

We discovered a Chocolate shop in Amersfoort called Sweet Sisters. The perfect place for our final Block picture. We are all members of a very charitable group of quilting friends called the Hearts & Hands Club.

I hope you enjoyed this little Block Show.
This experience has added a special path to my quilt journey and will allow me to enjoy many fond memories of the places and people I fell into step with along the way.

every quilt tells a story...

Quilting Friends discovering The Netherlands together....

After a long flight, our group of 10 arrived in Amsterdam.
Above is the first picture I took out in the streets by our hotel.
Although very tired, just look at those happy faces!
Some of you may recognize another blogging friend.
The person on the left is Kyle Redente from Timeless Reflections!
Next to her are my dear friends: Laurie Sanders, Patti Snyder and Harolyn Small.

Here we are having dinner together. A good meal and then a good night's rest so we can be ready for our first full day of adventure!

Day 1: We walked to the city center to meet up with our Tour Bus. I was impressed with how beautiful the building was that housed Amsterdam's Central Station. (train station) And notice all the bicycles ... Amsterdam has lots & lots of bicycles!!!

Today we would head off to Holland to visit the Keukenhof.
But first we must find our tour guides. (that proved easy enough)

The Keukenhof is located in Lisse - a Provence of South Holland. It is one of the world's largest flower Gardens with peak blooming season typically in mid to late April.

Here we are upon arrival - the sun was shining very bright. (a brief little visit)
The smell of tulips in the air was wonderfully intoxicating!

I brought a few of my Dutch Treat blocks along to commemorate this journey....

Peggy and I posing just for fun!

Our 8 day whirlwind adventure is impossible (for me) to share in just one post.
A condensed version of all the highlights and quilting adventures is coming soon.
Thanks for visiting!

every quilt tells a story....