Along came a spider...

 

This design is from the Just Cross Stitch Halloween Issue 2020, it's a design by Evdokia Nikolaeva and called Floral Spiderweb. I got in 351 stitches, but alas i'm out of DMC 300 so this one will have to wait to be finished.

Knowing I've been out or very low on a couple of threads lately, I dug out my crate of extras and did a thread inventory. Turns out there were 33 colours that I didn't have any of, so order placed for 2 of each with Love Crafts and hopefully they should be with me in 3-6 days.

Amster-dayum Day 3 - The 9 Streets District

The 9 Streets district is a famous part of Amsterdam and home to Anne Frank Huis. Unfortunately the queues for Anne Frank Huis were huge and I can't stand for that long so we had to give it a miss. 

Some of the basement flats have really short doors, and I always thought the Dutch were tall. I have no idea how people managed to get in a door that was 4 and a half foot tall.

Another precarious looking canal house.

And this is how to remove builder's waste in Amsterdam, by crane on to a barge.

  

Vintage store with a difference, perfect if you have a very deep purse, the LV suitcase in the window was 1800 Euros.

You can also take horse drawn carriage rides around the city. 

The museum of spectacles! Another one to visit properly when I return.

Bought a vintage fur scarf in this shop. 

Although it was cold, it was a beautiful sunny day.

A shop selling a myriad of bow ties.

I took an Uber down to Albert Cuyp market. There was only one shop that was interesting to me, another vintage shop but I didn't find anything to buy in this one either.

Did love these chairs too.

And a fabric store/stall that had some interesting fabrics.

Waiting to board our plane home :(

There was a glorious full moon, unfortunately I couldn't really capture it from the plane window, this was the best shot I got.

And finally back at Gatwick where a love story was unfolding. This guy was waiting (and pacing) outside International Arrivals with a big bouquet of flowers.

Amster-dayum - day 1

As my daughter calls it...
We were staying at the Hotel Room Mate Aitana on the Ij-Dock. It was on the edge of the Ij Lake and windy - to say the least...

Curious architecture, complete with tree on the roof.

Our hotel, more strange architecture, but all the new buildings on the Ij-Dock were a bit funky.

This contraption is for taking boozy tours around the city, imagine it would be a bit nippy in February!

In the shopping mall under the Central station there was this curiously named shop. The stock didn't seem to have much to do with the name either.

Thousands of bikes parked outside the central station.

Beautiful gold and blue angel on top of a building near the station.

Wini - a vintage shop on Haarlemmerstraat. I didn't buy anything there.

Bike with really fat tyres, seems ideal for the cobbled streets of Amsterdam.

Gorgeous architecture on Haarlemmerstraat.

Another vintage store. Again I didn't find anything I liked in this one either. I am hard to please.

Interesting looking church.

Cheese shop! Didn't buy any cheese either.

Outside of an old school, Sint Antonia Meisjesschool on Haarlemmerstraat.

Tony Choco-lonely Chocolate in many varieties.

Thrift store raising funds for a homeless charity. I did buy a skirt in here which could be 1970s or 1980s - a bargain at 5 Euros.

More amazing gabled houses including this one which was leaning forwards somewhat ominously compared to the buildings either side of it.

The smallest cinema I've ever seen.

We stopped for coffee and cake in a small coffee shop. Gorgeous pastries available.

And the coffee shop had a resident cat. This has to be the fattest cat I've ever seen. 

Cakes with raspberry (furthest away) and gooseberry (closest to camera) - delicious but a tad too much.

Curious chocolate flavours in the coffee shop. Banana wasabi? Really? I wonder how much of that they sell?