In and around the house

We've been enjoying the lovely weather here. Did you know we had a heatwave last week?! Pfff, it was hot!! Now it's a little less warm... a lovely summer day.



Friday was Amber's last day at school. She made drawings for both her teachers and she picked sweet peas from our own garden :) Her teachers certainly deserved it since they gave her a very warm welcome and contributed to a wonderful first year at school.

Michel has also been busy in the garden. We now have a fence!!

The garden is slowly starting to look the way we want it to look (still a looooong way to go, but one thing at a time...).
And our two ugly pigeon babies flew the nest...

Then there were some definite milestones concerning the children.
Amber learned how to cycle all by herself! Here she is on her small bike, but her new bigger bike is all ready for her at grandma's.


And Simon first went to the toilet and did something! (a nr. 2, only a mother can say this with pride, I suppose :)))



Yes, big things are happening here!

Me, I've picked up crafting again, although there still isn't a lot of time to do it.
Yesterday I finished a log cabin cushion that I was asked to make to match this kissbee:



I'm happy with the result; I think it looks calm and bright at the same time :)

One week later...

... and they are finally completely finished!!
Krimpy dinky pins included as well, yay!

I've found out that the krimpy dinky pins need to be baked for just one minute or so; that way they stay nice and white and don't get brownish around the edges.

All three pincushions are the same; I only changed the colours around as you can see here:

Well, I'm glad they're finished and I hope they'll make the three women they're destined for very happy.

Next project, please!!

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!

Presenting... Jack the BT-bunny

Meet Jack, a Dutch bunny that wants to go on an adventure. In fact, he is about to try his luck in America.


He's looking a little serious, because although he's acting really brave, he's quite anxious of the long flight that's ahead of him.


After the necessary photoshoot this afternoon he went outside and said goodbye to his homeland. This is him overseeing his land (the garden):


Well, I stuck to all the BT-rules: Jack is black & white with yellow as the additional colour, he has 5 buttons and bears the initial of the recipient (Michelle).


I really enjoyed thinking out how to incorporate all the rules into my softie. I liked making it very much. Tomorrow Jack will be on its way to his new home in America, where I'm sure he will receive a warm welcome!

And yes fellow Lost-lovers, when naming him I did have someone in mind... just look at his eyes, the resemblance is uncanny :)))

(Even more photos here)

Long time no talk

Lots of pictures to show, although unfortunately of poor quality. After the beautiful wheather we had a while back this week it has been like autumn outside. Lots of rain, wind and cold. The heating is on again!
It's been a busy week, but full of nice things.


I started working on my BackTack softie since the package is supposed to be in America before the 10th of June. I hope to be sending it on Monday.
The colour I chose to go with the black and white is yellow and I'm happy with the result so far.


I'm working on a cushion and doll for Amber's birthday, too. Also planning her party, thinking about the dress I want to make and all the other things that need organising for a birthday.

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I had some lovely mail this week.
My sister- & brother-in-law gave me a year's subscription to a knitting magazine for my birthday and this week the first issue arrived.


It has some wonderful things in it, like this cute doll.


And I love this teacosy:


And would really like to crochet a cushion like this:


First I have to learn how to knit though! But with my Stitch 'n Bitch by my side that shouldn't be a problem...

This morning I had another fantastic package but I think I'll save that for the next post... I don't want to bore you with too many photos!

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I signed my contract on Tuesday, so it's official now :))
I have an introduction-day on Friday and my first proper day of work is on Saturday. I'm going to be trained in Breda which is in the south of The Netherlands. It's going to be a busy time, but I'm still really happy about everything that's happening.

Amber is staying with oma at the moment, since she is off school (again!). I really think that Simon is missing her, so yesterday they had an essential brother-sister chat. Aaaaawww....

Well, back to the sewing machine before Simon wakes up!

Magazine holder

Colour is this week's theme for Whiplash.
It is the last week of the competition and it feels a bit funny to post my first entry only now.
This, however, is not because I haven't been interested before, but somehow I haven't managed to finish anything in time (for the chic to classic theme I came close -made embroidered letters and all-, but still was unable to finish it).
Anyway, I made a magazine-holder today where you can tuck away all those magazines that are littering your house (well, my house in any case). Doesn't this look a lot nicer on the coffee-table?!


It is colourful, which is just the way I like it. My house is full of orange, yellow and green. In the upstairs hallway we have six doors which we painted yellow, orange, pink, green and aqua-blue. I'll try to take a photo soon! Colours simply make me happy and personally I think you can never have enough of them :)


The holder is made of a pretty Italian placemat that was given to me a couple of months ago, some ribbon and a piece of Designer's Guild fabric with a cut-out mermaid on it.
This holder will be on its way to a mermaid-lover soon!




PS Thank you all for your kind comments about my new job! Some of you wondered what sort of job it is, which I will gladly tell you per e-mail. I don't know if you think I'm a bit paranoid, but I'd rather not have that kind of information on here :))

HAPPY!

I got the job!! I'm so happy :))))

I already called my current job to say that I'm leaving; in June I'll be working two jobs, but I don't mind that at all.
I'm going to sign my contract on Tuesday and then the week after that I have two days of courses and the week after as well. I'm so looking forward to it!!!

HAPPY!

What's wrong with you?!

Look at this creature...


Something is not right!

Eeeeh, it's a bunny without ears!!


And a very strange pointy head too!!


As you can see I made a Wee Bunny. I think this is the pattern I want to use for my BackTack softie (I have to get a move on with that!). It's nice and simple, which I think will go well with the patchwork I want to make.
I didn't forget the ears and they weren't bitten off by a fox or something, but I didn't really like them, so I thought I'd just see how it would look without the ears. A bit bald...
What do you call a bunny that has no ears and therefore isn't really a bunny?!
Another thing I wondered was whether it's head is supposed to look so pointy at the back?!
Here you can see a lot more Wee Bunnies.

About the job interview... it went very well!!
It was a nice and friendly talk in a relaxed atmosphere. We talked much longer than we were supposed to, but we just had so much to talk about.
The only thing that I found difficult was summing up some of my strong and weak points; that's so hard to say about yourself! But all in all a very positive experience and if I don't get the job then it will be because of the flexible hours they want me to work (which is hard for me because of the children) and not because I made a bad impression.
So fingers crossed... I think I'm going to hear something soon. If I get the job then they would like me to start the 1st of June!!