22 juli 2011

This week I saw/DWZI...

.........de laatste loodjes. Wij gaan lekker vakantie vieren. Vervlogen Dagen gaat ook met vakantie. In september kom ik terug met een give away, om mijn eerste blogverjaardag te vieren. Tot dan! Ik wens jullie allemaal een fijne zomer.

.......the last week before the summerbreak is always a tiresome one. Now we're going on holiday and so is Vervlogen Dagen. I hope to see you back in September, when I return with a give away to celebrate my first blog anniversary. I wish you all a great summer!

Picture: Me in front of Oof by Andy Warhol in MoMa, New York 

21 juli 2011

Welcome in the world

Yesterday my friend gave birth to another little baby boy. So last night I spend embroidering names and making stamps. I did the unavoidable stork theme for her long awaited firstborn and decided late in the evening to do a rocking horse onesie for this child. Now we're ready to pay the little man and his parents a visit. I'm so happy for my friend that she's getting this family she has always wanted. Although it's a bit weird, she'll be talking about 'the boys' in the near future, that used to be my line.

19 juli 2011

One more for the road

Just one more goodbye present, posted for journal's sake. It's for Lauren's teacher who's leaving school after so many years. She loved to take the children outdoors, showing them the beauty of nature. The children chose the fabric, not one I would have picked myself, but it might be perfect for this teacher.

And slowly our holiday is getting closer! Holiday to me means reading loads of books. Read any good ones lately? Please let me know.

18 juli 2011

Waiting patiently


A year and a half a started this playpen mat for the firstborn of my best friend. It was one of those projects... I just wasn't satisfied, no matter what I changed about it. Who in the world wants a round playpen? I love curves, believe me, but I just couldn't come up with a nice design for this plaid. She bought a round playpen mat and I made a lot of presents to compensate the guilt. Now her second baby is due any minute. I  finished the mat after all and it turned out quite well, actually. Since I originally started it for her first baby, I embroidered his name on it too. Now I'm waiting patiently for the little newborn. I also made a little sheet in the same theme. I'm pretty sure my friend has other things to care about, so I give you a little peek.

15 juli 2011

This week I saw/ DWZI...

...........onze oudste zoon afscheid nemen van de basisschool. Nog een laatste keer op z'n kinderfiets naar school, zwaait nog even, en het volgende moment zit het erop. Door een haag van kinderen worden ze -letterlijk- van het plein geveegd. Na een week van festiviteiten met een musical en een afscheidsbuffet, zit het er dan, na veel lieve woorden bij het afscheid en nog een laatste picnick, toch echt op. Dire adieu c'est mourir un peu. Maar het nieuwe begin lonkt ook. Straks op de onvermijdelijke omafiets naar 'de middelbare' in de stad.

We namen nog even behoorlijk afscheid van de juffen, waarvan hij de een twee jaar heeft gehad en de ander drie jaar. Mijn mama naait kussens, schreef hij eens in een gedichtje voor moederdag. Nou, tegenwoordig naait mama ook bijna aan de lopende band tassen.



....our eldest son saying goodbye to his primary school. He waves as he leaves for the last times on his boy's bike to school. They had a terrific last week at school, with a musical, a buffet and lots of dear words as goodbye, and now all the children of the school escort the eldest group out of the schoolyard, and then, after a picnick, it's really over. Dire adieu c'est mourir un peu. Altough new horizons are are to be seen soon. In September he will be off on his granny bike, to 'secondary' in the city. I made a bag for both his teachers. The best way of saying thank you.

13 juli 2011

Sailor's knot

It's all over Pinterest, this sailor's knot tutorial, or to be more precise, the Turkish Head bracelet. I bought some rope to braid bag straps and gave it a try.  If I knew making this bracelets was so easy I would have given it a try way before! And I'm not the only one liking them, I've made one for the children too.

10 juli 2011

Signature dish

Do you have a signature dish? Something everyone wants you to bring to a barbeque, or  wants to eat when they come over for dinner? I have, it's the watermelon-feta salad, or as Nigella Lawson puts it, Tel Aviv on a plate. Be a little mysterious about the recipe and your fame as a domestic godess (which is off course the only thing you'll be aiming for in life) is set.


  1. Slice a red onion in very thin rings or half rings and put them in a large bowl
  2. Pour the juice of three limes over the onion rings toghether with some sea salt (It even more tasty if you let it rest for half an hour before you finish the next steps. It makes the onion less sharp).
  3. Slice a quarter of big watermelon, or 1500 gr if you want to be precise,  in pieces. Small enough to put in your mouth, big enough to still look pretty
  4. Cut the mint and parsley, use quite a lot, and sprinkle over it
  5. Add some olive oil, don't be sparse
  6. Cut your Dodoni feta in pieces and carefully mix them trough the salad. Don't even think of using some inferior feta. 
  7. If you like you can add some black olives. It looks very good in this salad.

Bon appetit! 


8 juli 2011

DWZI/ This week I saw....

....blueberry muffins. De bosbessen keken me zo vriendelijk aan op de markt, maar ik vond er eigenlijk niet veel aan. Daarbij kwam dat de kinderen vrij waren (studiedag, vakantie duurt nog twee volle weken....). Bakken dus. In New York aten we van de grote, uit hun voegen geknalde blueberry muffins met cinnamon sprinkle. Dit is mijn poging, bijna net zo lekker.

.......blueberry muffins. They gazed at me at our local market, but to be true, I didn't like them very much. Besides that the children were free from school today. Not for the holiday, we've to wait another fortnight, but just today. So we baked. I liked those New York big blueberry muffins with cinnamon sprinkle. This is my attempt, almost just as good.

7 juli 2011

Beach bag for a birthday



























"Big z'n rug is harig, zeven juli ben ik jarig..." Dat stond ooit in mijn poeziealbum. Toen ik een paar jaar later mijn 'beste vriendin' leerde kennen, die op zeven juli jarig is, vertelde ik haar dit flauwe rijmpje. Al bijna dertig jaar vieren we nu dat big zijn rug harig is. Dit jaar maakte ik voor het verjaardagsvarkentje een strandtas van Echinostof, met een lekkere grote hamman-handdoek erin. De stof kocht ik bij MondaysMilk en de handvaten maakte ik van touw van de bouwmarkt. 

"Piglet's back is hairy, July 7th is my birthday..." A lame little poem, which in Dutch actually rhymes, was in my poetry album years ago. When I met my  best friend, who happens to have her birthday on July 7th, I told her about it. For thirty years since we celebrate piglet's hairy back. I made her a beach bag from Echino fabric and bought a nice big hamman-towel in it. The straps are made of braided rope.