Winter will soon be upon us...

I know that currently we are enjoying a late (very late) summer-like weather but I know that at some point winter will come. Therefore I have taken on my spool-knitting tools and my crochet and I made two hats and two scarves for my two little brothers (ok the older one isn't so little anymore but nevermind).

The scarves are my very first crochet experience. I had never done it before, thinking it was too complicated. In the end it was not at all and I quite enjoyed it. The only thing is that I must have missed some stiches along the way and my scarves ended up being curved. That's not really a problem. I fixed a press stud to keep them closed nicely as they are not long enough to make a knot.

The hats are made of spool-knitted cord.

Surprised by the size? No my brothers are not that small, here is the explanation:

My father-in-law often builds small wooden characters (about 30/40cm high) and when my family came to visit this summer, he made two with and for my brothers. Those two characters represent them and since they are meant to be standing outside in the garden I decided to have a little bit of fun and make them some garments.

Here is a last picture to give you a better idea of the size:

 Wishing you all a good day!

A reversible bag

One of my sisters had her birthday last month and my daughter being such an adorable baby I do occasionally get some time to sew stuff. I decided to make my sister a bag and not being able to chose between two fabrics I decided to make it reversible. The original plan was to include a top part with zipper but I do not get that much time and that would have required more thinking and work.

 

 I am generally satisfied with the final result except for the bottom part which I messed up. I will need to re-think the process of making it. Let's see what my sister thinks about it!

What am I going to make with all this?

Special offer in town, fleece blankets 130x170cm for 2,99€ - how could I resist? Well I could not and the day after taking this picture I bought a seventh blanket! This is so much cheaper than buying a meter of fleece.

Two ideas/projects in mind after finding two different patterns:

http://labobine.canalblog.com/archives/2005/08/26/752371.html
http://cyatutoriaux.blogspot.com/2009/12/scoodie-ou-echarpe-capuchon.html

I will be ready for the cold German winter this time!

Who is reading me?

I  have now been posting for a few months now and got comments from three different persons, two of whom I know well. The statistics shown by Blogger tell me that quite a few people from all over the world have had a look on my blog and I cannot help wondering who visited "me".

Please dear visitor, leave a comment giving me your opinion about my articles. I need feedback as well as new ideas and advice!

What happens when you leave your husband and your sister alone in the kitchen?

That was now almost three months ago. I was in the last weeks of my pregnancy and my youngest sister came to visit and help me at home. One day my husband was there (so it must have been on a weekend) and we decided to make crêpes. Nothing extraordinary one would say and I would normally agree. BUT my husband and my sister were alone in the kitchen, preparing the dough and she made a comment about the "yellowness" of the eggs. According to her when our mother makes crêpes the dough looks more yellow. She thought the dough they were making wasn't yellow enough. So to please her my husband added some yellow food-colouring to the dough... Weird idea.

I was in the living-room doing some spool-knitting and patiently waiting for the meal. Here is what came in my plate:

What colour is that? I am not quite sure a sort of greenish turquoise I suppose. After adding the yellow colouring, my darling husband wanted to have more fun and added some more colour, this time blue... Why not?

Incidentally here is what they were filled with:

 Mushrooms, grated emmental, ham pieces and mozarella. Once closed they were topped by delicious Béchamel sauce and a bit more grated cheese. 

The meal was both YUMMY (very!) and fun :) and that's what happens when one leaves a husband and a sister who gets on well alone in the kitchen.

Patchwork

Baby is out for a walk with her father so I take advantage of this little break to post. Last year my mother-in-law had told me she had always wanted to do some patchwork but never got round to do it. And then when I was in France my mother gave me some very nice fabrics which looked ideal for such a project. Finally only two months ago we started the project: three cushion covers, one for each of us three. It took my mother-in-law and I quite some time to choose the patterns - we wanted them simple enough for easy sewing but not too simple either so that they would look a bit elaborate...

Here are a few pictures - give me your opinion! (unfortunately I did not take a picture of the three cushions completely finished before giving them away)

Spool knitting : the result

Baby was born a week ago and is taking a lot of my time so posting will be rare for the next few weeks, time to adjust to our new life.

Sleeping time at the moment so I post pictures of the final result of my spool-knitting project. I am not really satisfied and will not be able to use it as a money-purse as it was originally intended, but I guess it will be good enough for my make-up. 8,20 meters of knitted cord takes a long time on the traditional tool so I will probably get a semi-mechanical one later on.

I made no pattern for this, just measuring and cutting on the spot. The way I made the inside separation bit isn't quite right but only after finishing it I had an idea of how to make it better! Ah well, next one!

 

 

Another Baby mobile

A very short article today which will be followed by a possibly long silence: Baby isn't there yet but it should not be long now before we hold him or her in our arms. 

The pram and cot are finally ready. My mother-in-law found this lovely cot and decided to change the cloth (originally plain light blue) and with the remains of the fabric I decided to make a few birds to hang on top. 

Hedgehog "New Generation"

 Not writing much in two weeks and suddenly two posts in one day... Well that's because I finished my first music-box cudly toy!

There is a bit of a story behind it. When she was a child my mother had a small hedgehog with a very lovely music (which I now know to be "Schlaf, Kinderlein schlaf"). And when she had children of her own (my sibblings and myself), she played the music for us and let us play with the cute hedgehog. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo to show, but it was small and sweet although a bit hard. We loved it and one day my youngest brother pulled the string too far and broke it! I could not imagine my children growing without this music-box but had no choice... Until I started reading Yencamade's blog and found out about this great website with "washable" music-boxes. To my great delight I found the beloved music again.

At first I considered doing some surgery on the original hedgehog but the fabrics are getting quite worn out, it probably would not have survived the operation! So I set out to look for new fabrics with the help of one of my sisters. I could not find anything that was really close to what I wanted so my sister chose the two fabrics. I must say that I love the result and feel like cuddling the little thing all the time now.

 I tried to make my own pattern but it didn't really work and I was too tired yesterday to even think about it further. A quick google search led me to this website: http://www.ladybugy.com/le_coffre_a_jouets/index.htm and this is the pattern I used 

http://www.ladybugy.com/le_coffre_a_jouets/jouets/herissonl.htm. 

Here are some pictures of the process started last night and finished today.

 

Yoga cushion

My posting isn't as regular as at the beginning already... Being quite busy and tired does not help and I am also trying to finish as many sewing jobs as possible. Repaired a dress and a skirt yesterday, still a shirt to do, some patchwork activity with my mother-in-law (almost done which means: pictures soon!). I started a toy hedgehog in which I will put a music-box for the baby. And finally, the topic of my post today: I saw the end of my "yoga cushion".

I started thinking of making one after my first yoga lesson six months ago but I didn't get round to doing it until much later. Finally now that I will not really need it anymore it is completed. On Yencamade's blog there is a very similar one (although I think better looking than mine) and I realised when cutting the last thread of my cushion that I had forgotten to make a handle! Ah well... maybe next time. 

First I must say that I am quite obsessed with being able to wash everything. Therefore I chose to make an inside cushion first and then the cover.

 

 

I drew two circles and then calculated the circonference (3,1415 x diameter) in order to know the length needed for the middle band. Only afterwards did I remember that I should have cut the band with a couple extra centimeters. The cushion isn't really well done but it isn't meant to be seen, 

so I figured it did not matter!

I left a small opening to be able to pour the mini polystyrene beads. The funnel did not prove useful as the beads got stuck. So I just poured from the jug. And afterwards just closed the cushion.

I paid a lot more attention for the outside cover. The circles were almost perfect, the band got its few extra centimeters, and I even managed to put the zipper in a way which doesn't look too ugly (zippers are not easy to sew properly and I still need to progress on that specific skill!). I chose the black fabric for the bottom as it is due to be on the ground and therefore it will get dirty faster.

Now some self-critics: 

1) I underestimated the size of my behind (*blushing*) and made the cushion a bit too small...

2) The 25cm zipper is almost too small to let the inner cushion in.

3) Polystyrene beads are quite nice and comfy but to make a "proper" yoga cushion I should have used something heavier. It might make a nice head-cushion though.

Ah well... "C'est en faisant qu'on apprend" (we learn by doing), next time it will be better!