Hanging out with the bunnies

Look at the latest batch of freshly graduated students from Easter Bunny College.
Don't they look eager?! They just can't wait to collect their basket of eggs and start hiding!




















Actually, this is only half the group that I'm working on, but I'm taking so long to finish them that I just didn't want to wait any more. Sometimes you just have to be realistic, Easter may be over before I've finished the rest of them (hope not).















Hmmm, I wonder whether I'll be able to change my banner... it will give my blog a nice seasonal touch ;)













I also want to give a big thank you to Kirsten. A couple of days ago a cute little package arrived, in it were this beautiful brooch (currently proudly displayed on my bag):















And this wonderful rocket patch:




















It was immediately confiscated by Simon and I think I'm going to use it on a bag for him.
Thanks again, Kirsten!

Small projects

I've been working on lots of small projects lately. Although I have a continuing lack of time for myself, my inspiration and creative urge are still very much present. Hence the small projects!

First my My Little Window project. This was my prototype, I want to work on this more.




















Then a birthday present for my youngest sister. A little bag for the bikini we got her.















Look at that bikini!















I wanted to keep it for myself, but I knew it would look (much) better on her!

Then my first attempt at textile stencilling...not perfect yet ;)




















And some aprons for the washingup liquid...




















Finally, my current -a bit more elaborate- WIP.

A bright day

This was today:















And this was last week:

Nothing changes like the weather, right?!















When I came home from work, I received this wonderfully sweet present from Amy. Amber complained: 'Oh no, not ANOTHER package for mum!' Such a lovely Valentines gift, thank you so much Amy!! You and your stash are just the best! And I can assure you that the fabric will be put to good use. Like the other fabrics you sent me:


I made this little princess tote for Amber last week.

It really was a bright day today, filled with sunshine and signs of spring approaching. I just had to take some garden photos...what will the garden look like in a couple of months time?!















This tree was filled with ladybirds. A little get-together to discuss their plans for the summer (we did just that today and will hopefully be going to France in August)?!

Moo's the best!

Today my mini-cards arrived!!!
They are so cute, I love them :)))















I picked out 12 different photos. Some turned out a little better than others, but I still think they're all wonderful.















I'm already brainstorming of what I can do with them other than using them as a tag on a gift or something.. oh the possibilities!

Other great mail: 50 bundles of bias tape scored on Ebay. I can't help it, but this makes me happy! I'd better think of a good way to use up all that bias tape though ;)















And and and, I made a new bib today. I finally managed to sort out enough space in my craftroom to put the sewing machine back in its place... I'm definitely on right path here!




















Oh AND! I've now lost 7 kilos!!

This 'n that

The past three days have been filled with cleaning, sorting, biking, sewing and not thinking about chocolate. To begin with the last, the diet is going very well... -4,5 kilos already! I'm proud to say that I've been very strict, not even licking my fingers when I made sandwiches for the children.

Ofcourse I've been trying out my bike lots. On Sunday we went for a proper tour. I started out with Simon in front and Amber behind, later Amber switched to Michel's bike. Man, it feels good to be cycling again... I even used it to do the weekend shopping!




















And I can't tell you how much fun it is to have Simon so close to me. I never had that with Amber, she was always sitting in the backseat.
The only thing was that when we got home the children were very cold... luckily they defrosted over a cup of hot chocolate. Sorry babes, we'll put on more clothes next time!















The bit of sewing that I did was a new blanket. We needed another one, because Michel and I kept fighting over the one we had.




















I haven't been able to take decent photos of it, because there was hardly any light and the blanket was already wrinkled from use. I love the colours though, nice and bright and hardly any orange or yellow in it ;)) I will add it to my collection.
I wished it were this easy to transform my sofa!



And last but not least, have you heard of MOO yet? They make mini-cards that I think are supercute! I just ordered 100 using my Flickr-photos and I can't wait to get them!

Christmascards with a twist

I've been getting lots of Christmascards at work lately. I appreciate them all and I love getting them, but I felt a bit reluctant at handing out ordinary shop-bought cards myself. They're just a bit... boring!
So eventhough it might have been wiser if I had spent my time differently, I made some alternative cards today. Well, they're not cards but stars obviously...




















They were very easy to make; cutting the fabric shapes took most time probably.
For the photo I attached them to my fridge with poetry magnets... nifty no?!




















I then made small tags to write my greetings on. It was the first time I ever sewed on paper and it was so much fun!! I'll be doing that again, I'm sure!




















The fabric I used is from Ikea. I love a bit of Ikea-fabric once in a while.
And I love something else I got from Ikea too!



And I didn't even have to pay for it!
Thank you, nice people! I suppose I'll be making an I-pod cover really soon :)

*Ok, I think I need to explain here that this was my Christmaspresent from Ikea, because I work there! Hope you didn't all raid your Ikea looking for a free Ipod :))*

Poppe's double smile

Last week or so I started a new Poppe using the fabrics I bought in Oxford (yes, those again and I still have plenty more :)).

I loved the colour-combo and it turned out really nice... except for the doll's face. The thing was that I didn't notice the weird face until I put the whole doll together... bummer!

So I left it for a while, like you do, and hoped the face would magically normalise, like you do. However, the face remained unchanged.

So this morning I thought I'd give it another try. I embroidered a new face on a piece of felt (new stock from my parents, thank you Mum and Dad) and sewed the new face on top of the old one. And it worked! I'm finally happy with the way it turned out.

Added bonus: this poppe will always have an extra smile :)

Hope it will make Ava smile too, because this was made for her.

Bloggaversary & bibs

Today it's exactly one year ago that I wrote my first post on this blog.
I created this blog as an experiment. I wanted to see how it worked, because I wanted to 'give' my sister-in-law a blog before she went back to Australia. She now posts about once month and it's a good way to get an idea of her life down south.
Well anyway, once I had created this blog it turned out that I really enjoyed it myself and I've been writing ever since. Even though I had a bit of a blogbreak this summer, this is my 126th post, which comes to an average of posting every three days... not bad, I think :))
Blogging for me is: fun, creativity, discipline, connection, inspiration... it's been a great enrichment to my life.
To commemorate this milestone I'm going to send some LONG (very long!!!) overdue packages to these three girls. I'm so ashamed, but hopefully they'll arrive in time for Christmas!

So onto the bibs you see above. I bought a package of plain Ikea bibs the other day and spiced them up a bit yesterday... what a lovely way to spend a sunday afternoon!
Eventhough Simon is two he still needs to wear bibs when he eats his porridge and dinner; he even asks for them himself.


Fabric also used here.


Fabric bought in Oxford.


Star made out of a small logcabin.


Amy gave me this fabric. Simon particularly loves this one.


Ikea fabric.


Simon is two! (thrifted fabric)



Have a good day all!

Fabric that inspires

About six months ago a did a swap with Hippyxic.
She was very generous giving me all kinds of lovely goodies and fabric. There was one fabric in particular that I liked and that has since inspired me to make three things with it.

First a holder for Simon's babywipes... it really does make cleaning yukky babybottoms a little less yukky :)



Then I made this bookcover for Michel.





















And a couple of days ago I made this cushion. I really like it and it looks very good with the others.



The good thing is that I still have some fabric left!

Getting ready for winter

Another very wet & windy day and I start to get a strong urge to get the house winter-proof.
Yesterday I was able to cross something off my list, namely a cosy blanket that keeps out the evening chill on the sofa. Here it is:



I used a cheap Ikea-fleece and made a random brick-like patchwork. The back is a lovely flannel that I bought at the market a couple of weeks ago.



Michel and I have tested the blanket last night and yes it is warm and snuggly and, most importantly, big enough for both of us!
Here you see it in action:



If you'd like to see other Blenkies I've made, look here.
I'd better go and get snuggly on the sofa :))