Ok, I suddenly see a lot more pyjamas, t-shirts, leggings and anything else that's stretchy in my future... yesterday's post is a little outdated now that I'm the owner of a serger!
Now to figure out how it works... It comes with an instruction dvd... in German! Strangly enough, I understood it all. Tomorrow my thread arrives and then the super sewing can begin :)
Oh, and I have new shoes too. A materialistic kind of day, but those days are neccesary sometimes ;)
It doesn't take much ;)
For a sweet little guy.
My sister came home from a six-month stay in Africa today. It's good to have her home.
She brought me back this very cute bag. I didn't stage this photo, but noticed how well the bag went with my Mum's new cushions and blanket. A nice little surprise :)
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!
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 :)
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!
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!
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!
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 ;)
