The SC&more n°337: traffic jams

Ange has given us a rather interesting and puzzling theme for this week's challenge: traffic jams.
Now, we were on holiday in France two weeks ago, a great time with the family and a looooong drive! BUT we never get into the traffic jams. Two perfectly good reasons: first we usually are driving towards the other directions, second we drive at night. Over 1000km by car with two children under 6yo and who have the tendency to be sick quickly, it is the safest option. It is tiring but Oh! so quiet! No "are we there yet" for 12 hours :)

Then I thought again, what would I do IF I were in traffic jams (as a passenger of course) and IF I could do something without getting sick (I am like my children, or rather they are like me?).

Here is my answer: Treasure Bags!

 

I still need to perfect my pattern (yarn was 50%cotton, 50% acrylic and I used a 4.5mm hook), but each bag took me about one hour of work and my children were over the moon. Even my little brother asked for one! The children always gather small things when we go around. So having a light small bag comes in handy. 

Now, that is also a bag which is great for the parents, it is an Intelligent Bag! 

If it goes through the holes: it is too small to go home!
It doesn't fit in the bag: it is too big to go home!

:)

  

On the next day the bags were tested the hard way. The children filled them with loads of stones. The bags did pass with high colours, but the shoulderstrap became a little elongated. I will see if it goes back to its previous shape after washing the bags.

So that's it, that's what I could be making if I were stuck in traffic jams. Take a look at the museum to see what the others came up with :)

And see you next week for the next challenge on Isabelle's blog. Have a lovely day.

Sewing for the Kindergarten

N. and T.'s Kindergarten has been renovating a small room and the children named it the "Jungle room". All parents were asked to contribute with some help for painting the walls with fun animals, or making cushions etc.

Here is my contribution:

Made of fleece and quite small, they will be perfectly fine in the washing-machine and I hope the little ones will like playing with them.

The SC & more n°329: Fox

This week we are invited at Jessica's, her chosen them: Fox. Inspiration was hard to find, until I opened my small cupboard with my fleece fabrics. I had this bright orange coupon which was shouting "use me!" pretty loudly. So even though it is not really the season for scarf, I made one. I will probably use it as a Christmas present next december ;)

I didn't want to make it too long, I just wanted the scarf to be wrapped around the neck. It is quite cosy and warm.
The tail was planned differently, longer, pointier BUT I had a small mishap while sewing: I forgot to mirror the two pieces. Undoing a seam on fleece is a nightmare, so I just shortened it. Next time I'll pay better attention.

Check out the Museum

How do you like it? I can hardly wait for the next challenge on Friday :)

The SC & more n°328 : Black & White

This week Isabelle dreams in B&W, or all white, or all black ;)

My daughter is going to her Grand-parents for a sleep-over for the very first time tomorrow. I am probably more worried than she is! She is actually extremely excited about it. But nevertheless, I expect her to be a trifle sad when comes bedtime. So I prepared her two things:

1- a kiss-tissue. The idea was given to me by my sister. She prepared a whole box of tissues when she went away for several days without her daughters. I liked the idea very much and decided to give N. one for the night.

I don't usually use make-up but for once my lipstick got used! ;)

2- I made her a mini comforter-cushion in white satin fabric with black thread. The heart in the middle isn't too good because I didn't draw first. The cushion is a little crooked because I made it quickly without taking measurements first. Inside I have put a little bit of batting to give some fluffiness to the comforter.

For the Museum

I am ready to bet my son is going to ask for those things as well. He was a little jealous of his sister's trip, but I promised him a mother-son day and I planned fun activities such as taking a round-trip in the "Parkeisenbahn" - a mini-train going all around the huge park in our town. This should be a lot of fun!

I am taking things slow, but I quite enjoy being back on my blog and writing again. I hope you are enjoyin reading my posts ;)

Bow-ties

 Two years ago I made my son his first bow-tie, then a couple of months ago I made him six more. He went through a phase when he wanted to wear a bow-tie every single day.

 Then of my sisters wanted a couple, then I also made some for my youngest brother's birthday, a set of six to be exact.

But I could not stop there, I made three for the Kindergarten and again one more for my son. He now has a collection of 8 bow-ties and is pretty proud of it.

My daughter was feeling a little left out, so I made another bow but not "tie", a hair clip. No sewing involved this time. It was a quick DIY and she loved it.

 

15 and a half years...

 Fifteen and a half years, this is how long it took me to finally finish a knitted scarf. I never really took to knitting, but somehow this project was always there and I never even thought of unraveling it to use the yarn for something else. I still like the colours and they kind of fit with my current clothes. Yeah!

Basically I met a french lady a couple of months ago, we hit it off and she told me how much she likes knitting. 

 She gave me enough encouragement and motivation to actually finish it. I didn't have much left to do, neither did I have much yarn. So I completed the last pink part, cast off and crocheted the two ends together. 

 Instead of making a scarf, I made a loop. How about that?

 I am pleased with myself: my project is finished! I have the needles free again. And to be honest, I was so proud and happy that I started a new knitting project right away! It is currently on hold because I need more yarn, but when I am on it, it goes quite fast and the knitting is fairly even. I am using bamboo needles and find them very comfortable.

Let's see if I can finish this second loop before the end of the year, that'd be a tremendous improvement on the first one :)

Wishing you all a lovely day

The SC & more n°300: Notebook

This week is the 300's edition of the SC & more, isn't that a great number? Isabelle is taking part in a Creativity Fair and asked us to prepare blank notebooks to make notes and drawings on our visit. Unfortunately I am nowhere near Paris and cannot visit this amazing looking fair. I also don't need a notebook as I have several already.

Christmas time is coming soon though, so I thought of making my children a notebook each for Mass on Sundays.

The drawing on the right is from Tante Menoue

A blank notebook would not make sense for my almost 3yo and my 4yo, they have one each already, a second one would be useless. Instead I alternated coloring pages with blanks pages. I found the drawings online, the very last one is from Tante Menoue who does amazing religious drawings and objects.

In our family Christmas isn't just about the presents, and there is no Santa coming. We celebrate the birth of Jesus and I am rather keen on presenting the children with religious images and stories. That does not mean we avoid non-religious stories, far from it! We have books about Santa, but for the children they remain stories.

I hope you like my little booklets. Go and have a look at the others' creations, there are some really nice ones!

Ribbons

I got three presents today for my birthday (last week), great DIY books and a creative year planner for 2016. I loved them! They were prettily wrapped in colourful papers and beautiful white ribbons. 

I have a thing for ribbons, my sisters, mother and mother-in-law could vouch for that. My son seems to have the same thing ;) he tried to steal them from me. So I decided to let him have one. That's generous of me, isn't it?

Here is what I used before giving the ribbon to him: 

- a glue pistol

- three ribbons

- three small sticks

 and tadaaaaaa! Three pretty ribbons to play with, one for N., one for T. and one for A. - N.'s best friend.

 I will give them away this afternoon and I am looking forward to making pictures of the three children dancing with the ribbons flying around them.

My Grandmother had made something like this for my sister M. and I. In blue. How we played and loved them! I just hope my children will love them as much as we did ours.

The SC & more n°295: First frosts

Ange asked us to make something to fend off the first frosts. When she published her post last week, I could not find any idea as it wasn't that cold yet, we still had about 16°C outside! Then suddenly over the weekend, winter came around and temperatures dropped to 0°C at night. My children did not need anything so I made something for their dolls.

Both T. and N. are happy about those new pieces of clothing, but N. wasn't too happy about the colours: there is NO PINK!

N.'s doll needs some warmer clothing, this summer dress is a little thin and short ;) but I don't know yet when I will have the time.

A picture for the Museum

Thanks Ange for this theme! And we will all meet again tomorrow for the next challenge on Isabelle's blog.

Cherry stones cushions

My parents-in-law have several cherry-trees and they were quite prolific this year. We got a LOT of cherries, but only after a while I did think of keeping the stones ;) I'll do better next year. I had about 800gr of stones, so I made three small cushions and I have about 160gr of stones left.

Material:

 

- 200 gr cherry stones

- 14 x 14 cm fabric (100% cotton) + sewing allowance

- thread

 Fold right side against right side, sew the three sides but not forgetting to leave an opening to turn inside-out the cushion cover, then fill it.

Reduce the power to minimum (less than 400W) and micro-wave the cushion for about a minute (a little more if you like it hotter).

And enjoy its soft warmth and the massage that the stones provide. It is perfect in winter if you are cold, or whenever you have a belly or back ache. We use those cushions all the time in our home! We now have two large ones (bought) and two small ones (handmade). My children prefer the smaller ones as they are less bulky and much lighter.

The cushions can also be used as "comforter" for the little ones. My children often like having a warm cushion at bedtime. I guess it gives the impression I am still giving them a warm cuddle ;)