the grand ginkgo finale

The golden week in November.

An impressive end of the yellow Ginkgo leaves in the frontyard.

After an endless summer, we are now treated to beautiful crisp autumn weather. The sun turns the yellow autumn leaves into gold.

The ginkgo tree in the frontyard is always at it's best this season and this year it seems even better.

and the Helleborus is almost ready to bloom...

faded flowers

The last garden flowers of the year, which are already faded but still pretty.

This field bouquet with nigella damascene, corn flowers and coriander flowers, I picked last week from the Villa Augustus garden. And hey, 2018 has been a lush floral year! I can not remember a year, the flowers in the garden bloomed so abundantly and flowering lasted until mid-November.

From now on we get the flowers from the auction.

I'm not only fond of flowers, I also love vases, as you may have noticed.

The painted vintage flower vase is also from Villa Augustus. I bought it in the market shop where I work 3 days a week. It's always hard to resist special items like these. I've set myself a rule, that I can never buy something impulsively. I have to wait at least one week, until I proceed to a purchase. Simply because you don't have to buy everything you like right?... And often the need is much less after a week, I know from experience. It is a great rule if you work in a nice shop like the Villa Augustus market shop, where almost daily beautiful new stuff comes in.

This unique vintage vase stared at me, and even now I kept to the 'wait a week' rule...

Well I cheated a little bit, because I put a 'reserved' sticker on it.

So the painted vase has found it's place in my new studio (under construction) and I love it, even without flowers in it, still beautiful.

bring on the wool wardrobe!

The woolen winter collection has been brought out from the attic again.

I could easily 'live' in these homemade sweaters and cardigans from now on.

The loopy cardigan and tweed yarn sweaters I made in previous years.

Right now I'm knitting a harlequin spencer, a project that I started shortly before I went to Marrakech and continued last week. It's almost finished, I only have to 'design' the neck and put it together.

You can find the patterns of this whole pile in my ETSY SHOP. So if you fancy a homemade sweater or cardigan? Have a look at the patterns, download your favorite one and...

Bring on the wool!

room seven

It has been an annual tradition since 2007 to stay overnight at Villa Augustus. How strange it may seem, it really feels like a 'mini break' after all those years, although I'm A in my hometown and B 'at work'.

This time we stayed in room 7 on the second floor of the water tower, with view on the vegetable garden and my favorite French terrace, entirely in autumn atmosphere with the luminous yellow mulberry trees.

No matter how many times I've been there already, I still think Villa Augustus is the coolest hotel in the Netherlands.

To make the 'tourist-in-my-own-town' feeling complete, we made a city walk through the historical city centre, visited the Dordrechts Museum and had coffee and chocolate cake at Het Magazijn. And on the way back to the water tower, I found my new party shoes at Rockin' Items just before closing time, to wear them straightaway during dinner at Augustus.

color story

Color story

... from my new studio under construction.

A sneak peek in the vintage sorter cabinet with sixty-four compartments.

The former wool cupboard was stored in the attic for years, to finally be reused in my new workspace.


photo: June 2012

it's beanie season!

Beanie season has started!

I brought a new beanie collection for you from Marrakech. Striped, uni or with a harlequin pattern, all unique and one size. The soft and warm beanies are very comfortable to wear and won't ruin your hairstyle.

Would you like to wear a beanie this season? Just have a look in my E T S Y shop, choose your favorite one and support Aisha. The colorful moroccan beanies are all handmade in moroccan crochet style by Aisha.

mountain stage

Traditionally we are heading for the moutains on the last Green Gardens workshop day.

On our way we visit the most colorful and inspirational botanical location. In terms of color and originality, it's my favorite of all gardens.

To stay in the color theme, the next garden in the row, Anima Garden, fully gratifies a bright color explosion. Anima Art garden is a imaginative botanical staging with sumptuous trees and sculptures. Here too, inspiration is everywhere. We pick some blossoms and leaves for the herbarium, have a drink in the cafe and get in our minibus for the last part of the trip.

When we cross the Ourika river, we pay a short visit to the local weekly market. A really great market, where I could walk around for hours.

On arrival at our final destination for the rest of the day, we have a delicious lunch, overlooking the red valley of Kasbah Bab Ourika. Plenty to enjoy at this magical place! The most beautiful vegetable garden with breathtaking views of the Atlas Mountains. And I realized this was my 15th visit to this Kasbah Bab Ourika, the magical views remain as special and enchanting as the first time.