The SC & more n°326: Dessert

 I am back for the SC&more! 24 weeks without is a long time, but somehow after the  Christmas break I didn't manage to find enough motivation to come back. But today I have decided to try again :)

Isabelle requested a dessert this week and I happened to make a lovely one  yesterday. Here it is: 

Flan pâtissier parisien à la fraise.

 I made it with a powder I bought in France "poudre impérial", it's every time a tri to memory lane, my mother often made flan, my favourite was with raisins. Anyhow, this time I made it with strawberries we had in our freezer from last year and a shortcrust pastry (my husband said more sugar is needed in the pastry next time). Three adults and two children... we ate 3/4 of it! It was so nice and refreshing. The rest we will eat today for "goûter" (16h snack). 

Check out the museum for the other participations! And see you hopefully next week for the next challenge :)

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.

 

Full-circle skirt

 Hi everybody! I am slowly trying to get back to blogging. Somehow I fell out of my rythm, I just need a little bit of time to get back on track.

I also decided to try making more clothes for myself. I cannot really find what I like in the shapes and colours that I like. I also haven't got my pre-children shape yet (don't know if I'll ever get back to it though), which makes clothing myself pretty difficult.

Recently got a pile of old fabrics from my mother-in-law, I already used one of them and made a full-circle skirt. The fabric used to be an old curtain, but I like it better as a skirt. The fabric feels both light and heavy, it has a nice drape.

It does twirl so very nicely!

This skirt is one of my little girl's dream come true! The twirling, the colours, everything! The only thing missing is a petticoat underneath the skirt. I need volume, when I stand the fabric falls along my legs at the back. That part does not look too good. But hopefully I'll soon be able to correct this.

How do you like this skirt?

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

Dragon Blanket

 Several months ago I discovered a great pattern thanks to Pinterest, from MJ's off the Hook the Dragon Blanket! It looked amazing and a friend of mine asked me to make one - child size. It did take me a little while because I was juggling many things at the same time, but the result was well worth it, despite a few small mistakes (things I'd do differently another time).

I used  yarn from Schachenmayr, the Big Bravo Color (Feuer). I just think it is gorgeous, those warm red colours with glimpses of yellow and purple.

I love it!

I will probably be making some mermaid blankets some time soon as well. I love how quickly they build up and how they look. My children are very keen on getting their own blankets ;)

All-Sorts

My father is rather fond of All-sorts, those british sweets made mostly with liquorice. For his birthday I gave him some of a special sort: I crocheted them!

Through Pinterest I found this lovely dutch website and used the instructions on there. I do not speak dutch, but once a few words of vocabulary are sorted, the rest comes fairly easily. 

I went to get a pretty glass container to store and present them nicely:

I just love the result!

Crochet food

 I am starting to have a lovely stash of colourful yarn, I mostly have cotton yarn. I love working with cotton and making toys for the children. I also had a lot of fun making those pictures with my new camera (Samsung NX3300). The colours are so rich:

I made this play-food set for my Godchild. I think she likes them very much. After Christmas her Mum told me that she was spending every day "eating" macaroons and chicken! 

 And for my children I made a cauliflower. I couldn't resist the temptation when I saw the pattern in a friend's book!

 

It was a rather long effort but well worth it. I think soon I'll post an article on crochet books. There are really nice ones!

I now own about 4 or 5 crochet books and with checking out Pinterest, I certainly don't lack inspiration! Just lacking time ;)

Pony House

Hi everybody!

It has been a month since I last posted, I am truly sorry about that! Things have been pretty hectic since Christmas. My youngest has started going to the Kindergarten, I have been getting ready for my new job starting in February and trying to get some stuff done around the flat in the meantime... Plenty of things for me to do! 

I kept crafting in the meantime but I didn't find enough time to write about it.

I do not want to abandon my blog though, so I will try to make an effort in the next days or weeks to get back to writing more regularly.

I will start today by showing you what I made for N. She has a thing for ponies at the moment (Filly and My Little Pony), and she needed a place to store them. I thought I'd make some fun storage that she could also played with. I got an old nightstand from a neighbour and started remodeling it.

The children also took some part in preparing the house. I found some kits for assembling doll furniture. They both had a great time making them!

 The colours of both carpets and walls were actually chosen by N. She wanted the house super-colourful and bright.

 And after two weeks or so, the ponies did move in and enjoyed their new abode.

 

How do you like the house? I rather like it but I think I will need to work on some lights for next winter. Play time in dark winter wasn't too great with just the ceiling light from the bedroom.

Have a pleasant evening and drop by again soon, I promise I'll be writing again :)

Merry Christmas!

I haven't been very present on my blog these last weeks, sorry about that! I was pretty busy with all sorts of things: presents, viruses and bacterias, sorting out details for my youngest going to the Kindergarten in the new year etc.

But now it's Christmas and I am sending you all my best wishes. 

Whereever you are I hope you will celebrate this wonderful time of year in peace and with the love of your families and friends.

The SC & more n°302: La Vie en Rose

Isabelle wants us to see Life in Pink with week. It is my favourite colour! I am quite busy these days, getting everything sorted for Christmas (23 days to go before Christmas Eve!!) so I only made something really small:

 This macaroon is about 3 to 4 cm wide :) It will soon go and colour up a little girl's play kitchen.

And because I really cannot say "La Vie en Rose" without humming this song, I am sharing it with you:

Check out the other participations in the museum.