And the give away goes to....

To draw the names for my give away I used the Random Generator, but I don't have a clue how to place a picture of it on this blog. There are more clues missing since the give away post. People ask me about 'feeds' and 'GFC' and I have no idea what that is all about, but I enjoyed reading all your nice comments. The yellow notebook goes to Elisanna, who makes beautiful things herself and the brown one is for Virginia from Amo-te mil milhoes, who's work I admire also very much. Let me know your adresses and the rest will follow.

Japanese bag

For a long time I wanted  to make a little grocery bag with leather straps, but they were not very easy to find. Now I can't wait to let time do the work on the color of this sadle leather. I might let the children run around with it, with their dirty greasy hands...

Since this is a bag for me, it's not a very colorful one. Despite all the color I use for others, I like a simple, almost Japanese colorscheme.  I printed my logo with some transferpaper on so called 'fairy tale felt', to make it look even more Japanese.

I'm pretty proud of this one and I'm getting better and better with the inserted pockets! I used the selvedge of the heavy weight denim as an eyecatcher.

Needlebook

Before she was born, I made a mobile for Lauren to hang above her crib. With an clearvoyant vision I made little felt horses and embellished them with felt flowers and embroidery, not knowing she would turn out to be a horseloving girl.

Years later I was planning on turning this mobile into a merry-go-round and I cut the horses loose from the mobile frame, but that merry-go-round stayed in the closet. Unfinished. That's how things go, sometimes. I ran into these little horses again while I was thinking about making (or even sewing) a sewingkit for Lauren's birthday in October. I made this needlebook.  I really love that folk art style. In the back of my mind I knew I was  copying an idea I've seen somewhere in blogland. Larissa from mmmcrafts made these beautiful needlebooks and a while ago they were available in her etsy shop. Please visit her lovely blog and admire her beautiful designs.

This week I saw/DWZI...

... St. Michael. Een jaar geleden schreef  ik over het fenomeen dat ik eind september overal Michael of Joris en de draak tegenkwam. Tenminste op gevelstenen en schilderijen en dergelijke. Een onvermoede antroposofische erfenis noemde ik dat.  Het is weer zover! Bovendien schijnt er een kleine Michielszomer aan te komen. Zo heet dat klaarblijkelijk. Beter bekend onder de naam luiewijvenzomer of nazomer. Geniet ervan. De linkertekening maakte ik, de rechter Casper, de beroerde foto's zijn ook van mijn hand.

 ...St. Michael. A year ago I wrote about the phenomenon of me seeing St. Micheal or his counterpart George fighting the dragon everywhere around me, in late september. An unexpected Waldorf heritage I called it. It's happening again. I've just learned that a Micheal's summer is what  Americans refer to as an Indian summer. And according to the weather forcast we're about to have one. At least for a week or so. I made the drawing on the left and Casper the one on the right, and I have to admit I made the poor pictures as well.

You can still join the give away till September 30th

Cathedral Window, my first quilt

Today I sew my log cabin blocks. I chose the barn raising (the left one) by the way. Thanks for your comments on that! It's nice to do some patchwork again. I don't do it very often, but the result is always nice. I never was much of a crafter, until I got pregnant with our first son. Suddenly I felt the need to keep my hands busy. My mother is pro when it comes to quilting so I guess it's all about the chip and the old block. This was my first quilt. It's called a 'cathedral window', and on the picture right on the top, you can tell why. This is what it looks like when the light comes through. Origanally there were little bells on the bottom, but they didn't survive Casper's toddlerhood.

Cathedral window is a technique which combines origami and sewing. It's done all by hand, that is why I chose it for my first quilt; I didn't have a sewing machine back then. You can find a good tutorial over here (and way more beautiful examples of this technique. I used to be scared of color, apparently.)

You can still join the give away until September 30th.

Give away, first blog anniversary

A little more than a year ago I started this blog with a post in Dutch. I enjoyed reading other blogs and admiring them, so I thought it would be fun to start one of my own. And fun it is. I enjoy making things, learning new techniques from others and I love to make nice pictures of it (at least I intend to).

 A part of me hates this blog too. I think it's nerve wrecking (why not exaggerate?) when I posted something I think is great and nobody leaves a comment. I envy bloggers who get over twenty comments everytime they post something (why not expose my character flaws?)

I started in Dutch, but the 'stats' (which I discovered when I was already blogging for weeks) showed all this foreign audience, so I thought it would be nice to blog in English (forgive me my mistakes). I was surprised there even was an audience! I thought my mom was the only reader I had. Thanks Rahel and Hetty, you were the early adapters.  In the beginning my children kept counting the number of countries where my audience came from. It's a pity there are so little comments from abroad. I like to know you too!

"When one has something to celebrate, one has to be treating the guests", as the Dutch say. "Wie jarig is, trakteert". My notebook cover tutorial is one of the best read posts, so I thought it would be nice to make a pair to give away.

So, if you're interested in one of those, leave me a comment and tell me which one you like. The petrol/mustard -the it-colors from the fall- or the brown/lavender one. The covers come with a notebook inside. I will ship internationally. You don't have to become a follower of whatever, although of course you're very welcome to do so. On September 30th  I will draw two winners.

Log cabin puzzle

Autumn is here to stay apparently, so I might as well catch up on some quilting. Twentyfour logcabin blocks. Not by far enough to make a bedsize quilt out of it,  as I originally intended. Too ambitious. I started this a couple of years ago, but since it will never become a bedsize quilt, I might as well finish it with the blocks I made so far. Quite a puzzle though. Which one to you like best? Oh, and I'm working on the give-away I promised you. Keep in touch!

Bluebird for Lynn

Lara, the little girl next door for whom I made the capricorn messenger bag, happens to have a cousin of the same age. Her mother liked the bag I made very much and asked me to make one for her daughter, who's turning six tomorrow. We decided on a blue birdie bag. I made the bias tape with the daisies myself as well as the gingham piping. I only had a small 30x30 square piece of daisy fabric, but following this tutorial I made a really long strip of bias cut tape. 

La mamma kept a promise

 Valentijn kept a diary the whole vacation, which is quite an accomplishment when there's so much to distract you from this daily 'labour'. I promised him a cover for his notebook if he would succeed and here it is. Since Valentijn loved Pisa and 'il torre pendente' so much, I didn't have to think long about what to make. Oh, the things the children spent their pocketmoney on...I used my own notebook tutorial (scroll down!) and did some sewingmachine embroidery on the tower of felt.

Lara's bag

Today we had a party next door. Lara's sixth birthday. She made it quite clear what present she would appreciate, and off course I didn't let her down. "Mooi, mooi, mooi, mooi", Dutch for beautiful,  was the verdict.

I bought this fabric a long time ago at Ikea. I loved it, but it appeared to be difficult to use. The goats or capricorns are a bit odd, but with a big iron-on velvet L it's OK.  For the inner bag I used a kind of lightweight oilcloth, from Ikea as well.  Viva Ikea. 

This week I saw/ DWZI....

....mijn kinderen hetzelfde doen in mijn geboorteplaats als ik vroeger. Namelijk springen over het hunebed. Ik was een beetje verbaasd dat dat nog steeds mocht. Als laatste vakantie oprisping liet ik mijn kinderen de plekken uit mijn jeugd zien. Tweeënhalf uur in de auto, maar toch zeiden ze enthousiast ja, toen ik vroeg of ze daar zin in hadden. Ik was er twaalf jaar niet geweest, maar zoveel verandert er niet....


Yesterday I showed my children where I grew up, and they did exactly the same thing as I used to do. Jump over the big stones of the 'hunebed'. I was kind of surprised that it was still possible to do so. We had to drive two and half hours to get there, but the were very enthousiastic to go.