Just want to let you know that my pillow design for the Pretty Little Pillows book is now available for free over at Lark. You can also win a free copy of Pretty Little Pillows if you leave a comment on their website. Have fun xox Y

I'm now taking commissions. I've made these two for Sarah, a 40 x 40 granny square and a 50 x 50 starburst as seen in this post.

While I was in hospital last March I instructed my mother to plant the hollyhocks seeds I bought in February and she did. Now the odd thing about these hollyhocks is that they shouldn't grow flowers this year. In the first year they should grow leaves, the second year they have flowers and than they die. But I have these fantastic flowers already. It must have something to do with welcoming me home or, I like to tell myself, that they bloom just for me :o)

And for the bees of course.

Today is exactly 4 months ago that I was diagnosed with TTP and that the catheter went in my chest. I can officially announce that I'm catheter free for 2 weeks and that my blood is back to normal standards, there's no attacking of the red blood cells going on anymore.

I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate your kindness, thoughtfulness, moral and even spiritual support. I'm thankful for all your e-mail, cards, notes and prayers. Although I'm not religious it still means a lot to know that someone who doesn't know me prays for me. Thank you.

I'm not a person who likes to wallow or one of those types that uses a misfortune as an excuse to everything. That's something I've learned from my parents; "bad luck and now chin up and get on with it". So that's what I'm doing ... the anxiety is (almost) gone, I've found my home and husband again, I now know who my real friends are and who are not and I'm stronger.

I still love my food too much though ...

I've made 6 scones today and ate 4 of them. Boy I wish they could've put something in all of that plasma I've got that would stop me eating large amounts of food. Apparently I have the inside of a sportswoman, definitely not the outside.

I used this recipe.

The Dutch soccer team plays the world cup soccer final today. I have a very twitchy husband so living with a twitchy husband during the week to the soccer world cup final is like having a 6 year old during the month of December. All he talks about is soccer, soccer here, soccer there and I think I've covered the word 'soccer' almost enough in this post to fill in the gap now that he's working. Last week, after a lot of hesitation, he started to decorate the house ... HE STARTED TO DECORATE THE HOUSE!! Now this really shows some love from my side in this marriage. He hung a massive orange 'Holland' flag on the outside of our home for the world to see.

Sigh.

And ... I even helped him. Hup Holland Hup!!

"The very pink of perfection" - Oliver Goldsmith

A while ago I promised a study tour and today is that day. Be prepared for a lot of pink and if pink makes you nauseous I'd definitely click away.

Let me start to tell you about the pink as finding the perfect pink isn't easy. My first pink was purple so I went to browse the internet and found the perfect pink in this and this image. The color number is S1010-Y90R. The rest of the room is white and you can find color numbers in this post.

The bookcase is build out of 7 IKEA Billy bookcases with a MDF work top painted in white. To make the work top a bit wider we pulled the bookcases a little to the front and fixed a beam to the wall so the MDF can rest on it. It's a super solid construction and it saved us so much time. The ceiling in the room is original to the house and restored by our plaster chap. The ceiling lamp is the Norm 69 by Normann Copenhagen. The pink chair is an Air-Chair by Jasper Morisson for Magis. I also decided later that I didn't wanted a desk as this room would be a room for the computer only. So Bo build me that amazing table out of used scaffold wood and I use that small French table for my Mac instead of a desk. It works great as Bo can come and join me and have his laptop on the table. We also often have lunch in this room while I'm working. And it's perfect for interior book browsing.

I've made the mood board of of soft board and linen fabric. I'm working with green and pink for this house and there's still room left to add a lot of things.

To imagine that this room looked like this when we bought the house and this when we were working on it. Pink just made it all better.