KissKus

A patchwork present

Over the weekend we were invited to a party, which was held in the most beautiful surroundings and with very fun company. And we were able to leave the children at home with the grandparents, so it was a very succesful adult outing for us :)

Obviously, we didn't want to come empty-handed, so I decided to make a cushion. A cushion is always good, isn't it? And I reckoned even if they didn't like it then they could still let the dog sleep on it. I tried to keep the colours as neutral as I could, but being the bright colour fan that I am, I'm afraid it still turned out a little bright.

The cushion is nice and big (60x60 cms). The inner cushion was thick already, but since I used batting as well it became even sturdier. The back closes with velcro.

The receiver managed our local bookshop for many years and so I came up with a design that -with a lot of imagination- looks like books on shelves.

The present was well received, which for me was a reminder that handmade not only is 'good enough', but even better than a shop-bought present (I hate to admit that I need that reminder, but I do...).

A lesson learned and a wonderful party... that was quite a successful Sunday, I'd say!

The Elvistaurus

I thought I'd post one of my golden olden crafty projects today. This was from before I had a blog... I'm talking September 2005!

Good friends of ours were getting married and I wanted to give them something special and unique. So I decided to make something myself. At that time I was quite into making mosaics (which I still love, but it makes an even greater mess than sewing), so wanted to make a mosaic. Something that would appeal to the both of them. So I contemplated about what they loved: for him that was Elvis Presley and for her that was horses.

And so the Elvistaurus was born!

I had no idea whether I'd be able to pull it of, but with Michel's help I made a sketch, which I then transferred onto an old notice board. After that it was just a matter of gluing the pieces of tiles on and later grouting it. Ofcourse it was quite a lot of work, but the result was certainly worth it.

I really enjoyed working on this project and it was very well received as well. I remember it was quite a hectic, but special time then. We had just gotten the key of our new house and we only had one month to make it livable, which was definitely a challenge. Our little Simon, who was about to turn one, was forced to spend hours and hours in that traveling cot. Luckily, the weather was brilliant for the whole month of September. Thinking back, that time in my life seems definitely more relaxed than my life now... sigh.

Anyway, I quite like digging in the past, so you might see another retro piece here soon :)

Ballet bag

I finally got round to finishing the bag that was supposed to be a birthday present for Amber (her birthday was in June). It will be her ballet bag; I'm so pleased that I will finally be able to throw away her ratty old Barbie bag!

I used Beki's Short & Sassy pattern that she so kindly send me ages ago... thanks again, Beki!

I think that it turned out really nice. Sweet and girly... Amber gave it her stamp of approval ;) Doesn't it match up so well with the patchwork cushion that was a recent present from oma to Amber? The lucky girl is showered in handmade love!

My favourite bit is this pocket on the inside, which I can take no credit for since it already existed. The reason is that the purple fabric used to be a summer dress in a former life.

 

From dress to bag... not a bad life for this piece of fabric!

Matryoshka love

It may be getting old for some, but I still love anything matryoshka related. So it was a happy day for me when I found this cute bunting, stickers and a drawing cover and all for very little money :)

 

I must confess that I never quite know what to do with stickers. As a child I collected them, but I always thought it was a shame to stick them on something, so I just kept them until they were all dried up. I think I'll just put them in a drawer again and look at them once in a while, just like then :)

I do love the design of these. I wish they were applications... I would stick them on all of our clothes!

Bib talk

Last week when it was still summery Linus took an exceptionally long nap (I love it when that happens)! With plans to go out for ice-cream that night and the urge to create something, anything, I decided to make a quick bib. However, I didn't dare go upstairs to fetch fabric from my freshly semi-organised craftroom, since I was certain I would wake up Linus. So I had to make do with what I had downstairs, which wasn't a lot. Luckily, I remembered my small scrapbox and I found some velcro. But I had no backing. While I was contemplating cutting up a kitchen towel I found one of the dozens of cloth diapers that I use for anything you can imagine. I decided that one might certainly be sacrificed for this project.

Since this was a themed bib I came up with the ice-cone application. I didn't have a piece of fabric big enough to cut out the complete bib, so I had to sew three pieces together. Any way, when the nap-meister opened his eyes he was the owner of a new bib, albeit unironed!

This is the best photo I got of him in the ice-cream saloon. A very typical photo of him actually. It shows that the boy has attitude, doesn't it?!

When we took a stroll afterwards he was a little more quiet/tired.

And speaking of bibs... recently Linus was sent a truly beautiful one by Astrid!

Again, not the best of photos, but the bib is gorgeous. Thank you so much, Astrid!

A pencil roll

Simon's little friend turned four today and he was invited to her birthday party.
Of course, I waited until the last minute to figure out a present.
Yesterday I asked Michel to buy some pencils and a notebook.

He brought home these beautiful pencils (they are from here). They're nice and chunky for little hands. And they must be the coolest pencils ever!

So I wanted to make a pencil roll. I didn't know how, but then I thought: how difficult can it be? Well, it wasn't, difficult.

I used a sturdy fabric that I bought years ago at Ikea. I still love it and I wished I had more. I only have a small piece left now. It closes with a hairband and a nice big red button.

Anyway, I was happy with how it turned out and I was told that it was received well, so I couldn't ask for more ;)

Wave, girls!

Hello, just look what my mother-in-law gave me last week...

her matryoshka-collection!

I suppose that day was lucky-me-day, because I found this beautiful Oilily fabric in a very cute little shop.

Two wonderful metres of it! Plus that lovely gingham, yay!
I'm thinking of making something for Amber of it... a dress perhaps? (Lately I've been trying to use more of my "good" fabrics. At first it hurts a little, but it's a true pleasure as well to actually make something out of them.)

 

It makes me happy just to look at it :)

Play

Last week my Sheet Square Swap package arrived. And what a fun package it was!
I swear that I looked at each and every piece of fabric that was in there... all 200 of them!
After that Amber and I spent a lovely afternoon sorting the fabric by colour and making patchwork patterns with them on the garden table.

It was very comforting to be playing with fabric in these harsh times of sewing drought. It almost felt as if I was really working on something... bliss!

Anyway, I do definitely think that our sofa needs a new patchwork snuggle blanket this winter. It must be possible to sew one before March 21st 2009, right?!

Also last week I received this lovely package with pretty goodies. I'd won a give-away on Lisette's blog. All items are already being used and loved.

Thank you Katie and Lisette for brightening up my day with your great packages!

Cozy coasters

I made my first coasters this weekend. Don't you think it's a little crazy that I've never made them before? It's such a lovely little project! And one for which you can use your prettiest scraps :)

I used this fantastic tutorial by Allsorts... so easy to follow! I really like how they look and turning all the folded fabrics was so much fun.

I chose merely happy fabrics for this. A Holland-print, some polkadots and quite a few fabrics that I found at the thriftstore. I liked the combination of them all.

For the bottom I used a sturdy (curtain) fabric, so that I didn't have to use fusible web, since that seems to have gone missing in one of the many piles of stuff in what is supposed to be my craftroom.

These were a present for my MIL's birthday. I put them in a basket along with cookies, lemonade, glasses, straws, napkins and a pitcher.... I thought it was a lovely summery gift.

I'm going to try and whip up a few more right now. I just realised that I need a teacher gift before tomorrow!

Show-off

This post is so long overdue!
I promised to write a second post about the gifts we received at Linus' birth after showing some already. These handmade presents still need to be shown even if Linus is three months old already.
So here goes:

These two presents really turned the nursery into a beautiful room.

The quilt was made by my mother. Initially the idea was to use it as a cot blanket, but we both agreed that it was too busy (and pretty) for that and so we decided to hang it on the wall (and Mum made a simpler blanket for the cot). It looks wonderful against the blue wall (in this photo I temporarily hung it on the door)... this "Tree of Life"!

The cushion was made by my sister. She lives in England and had to guess the colours that I had chosen for the nursery from a photo. She tried to find the right blue and green fabrics and she did a fabulous job! It all matches so well, without it being too matchy-matchy... My sister has only recently started to sew and she has no sewing machine, so she did all of it by hand. My mother made the quilt into a cushion. This cushion has now made the chair in Linus' room the perfect place to breastfeed.

My MIL made this wonderful tree mosaic. Again completely in the style of the nursery, inspired by the curtains. I love its colours and the simplicity of the design. My MIL is a very crafty lady, who among things makes a lot of quilted cushions made out of men's ties.

Another very special present were these portraits that my neighbour drew of amber and Simon. He gave them to me the day after Linus was born. He had secretly collaborated with Michel and the children in order to make them. I think they turned out really well.

Not handmade, but very cute is this baby ice bear that my parents gave Linus. It is a tradition in our family that every child gets a Steiff toy. 

Here it is watching over Linus while he takes a nap in his moses basket.

I was really touched by all the lovely and creative presents we received at Linus' birth. The thought and effort that everyone put in it was quite amazing... I feel very lucky on Linus' behalf!