Double WIP

Crafting is slow these days.
I don't have a lot of spare time at the moment and when I do I'll sooner find myself on the sofa with a magazine than behind the sewing machine. However, I keep making progress even if it's on a snail's pace, which is why I'm able to show you not one, but two WIPs! Yay!

First up are three (commissioned!) pincushions. They are the same, just different colours. I'm making them for someone who's going to give them as presents to three women in Bosnia. Hooray, my pincushions are going to Bosnia!! (Or was it Serbia?! Well, I don't mind either way, although they might...)

Second are three log cabin cushion I'm working on. They are meant to go on the sofa (there where I like to spend my time these days...), because I'm a little tired of the cushions that I have on there now. Again they are made with fabrics from my stash. I'd like to see what they will look look like when they're finished, because right now I don't think they look as good as the cushion I made for Amber's birthday.

After I've finished these I really have to start working on my three things for Plush You!

Matching cushion

I realised I hadn't posted photos yet of the cushion I made for Amber's birthday.
I used the same fabrics for the doll and cushion, all from my stash and chosen because they were cute and girly.


Some fabrics are quite special, such as the yellow check which is the fabric I chose before Amber's birth to line the crib and make a baby quilt... ok, I mean: have my mother line the crib and have her make a baby quilt (a beautiful one btw, I'll post photos some day)!

Amber's bedroom still needs quite a bit of decorating and I would like to bring some of the colours of this cushion into the room. All the woodwork is already painted PINK, since that's her favourite colour (along with yellow, purple, lightblue, red etc. she just assured me). It needs some other colours beside pink though and personally I'm really fond of the green.

Right now I'm making two similar cushions for the livingroom. They're such fun to make!!

8 days a week

Shame on me... 8 days without blogging!!
I'm so behind with everything... reading blogs, commenting, replying to e-mail. But also: housekeeping, paying bills, cooking proper meals, spending time with the children. I suppose this is what it's like when you work full-time :)
I'm not complaining though, I know this is only temporarily and I'm still very happy about the new job.

Anyway, back to bussiness! Let me introduce to you Pandior, the beautiful BT3-softie that came in the mail last week all the way from Australia.



Isn't she gorgeous?! The detail is stunning, which is especially clever when you know that it really is a very small softie. She arrived carrying her own handbag with a tiny bunny in it... so very cute!

There were also lovely presents for me (I believe I'm now the proud owner of three wonderful pieces of Japanese fabric, yay!).

And even some for the kids. This was particularly sweet, since the package arrived on Amber's birthday. Again, look at the detail... it's absolutely stunning!

Thank you so very much for this wonderful package, Amber!! I'm so happy to have had you as my BT-partner :)) And I know you're bit worried about your little Pandior... but I can assure you that she's already feeling quite at home in her new country. Here she is cheering on the Dutch team in the football World Cup!


My own BT-package is still in the mail, but hopefully Jack will arrive very soon at his new home!

5 years old

Our sweet little daughter is five years old today!!!
Happy happy birthday, Amber!



So far the day's been great. We've been blessed with beautiful wheather, so all the festivities could take place outside.
Some highlights...

The pram for her doll we gave her was a big succes; Simon loved it almost more than she did :)


Of course we had cake.

She's had all her friends round and Michel threw a fantastic Indian party.


There were wigwams...

And they made a totem pole.

Now we're going to eat spinach-lasagne, because that's Amber's favourite!
Happy day, yay :)))

(Almost) party time!

It's Amber's 5th birthday on Wednesday and party preparations are in full swing here.
I just finished this patchwork doll for her:


I'm sure she will like it, since it's nice and girly and even has a heart-shaped face. Besides, she always LOVES everything I make, so I'm not worried. She will also get a matching pillow, but that's still in the making (in other words, it needs to be finished tonight).

Last week Amber made this wonderful drawing of how she envisioned her birthday...


...which Michel made into invitations to her birthday party. They were a big hit among all the children at school, unfortunately we couldn't invite her whole class... (OMG I don't even want to picture it!) I think the 8 children that will come are more than enough!!


Tomorrow she will give treats at school, because they have the day off on Wednesday. We're making cake-ships which we tried out today. They turned out very nice. Simon was was VERY displeased that he had to wait 30 seconds while I was making a photo before he could have a taste.

I've had my first two days at my new job and it's been really great. A lot of information to soak up, but very interesting and fun. Tomorrow I'm going in again.
Better finish that pillow before it gets really late again!