Sporty dress

Hi there,

How are you today? Sun is up and it looks like it will be another gorgeous day here, yay! Life is so much nicer with a little bit of sun, isn't it?

When our eldest decided she wanted to try playing tennis last week, we were not whooping straight away. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem very exciting to me. Hitting a ball, hmmm, backwards and forwards. What is the fuss all about? But when I saw her and her friends enjoying themselves on the court, it did grow on me a bit. A bit, mind you.

The fun part of it is, is that I got to make a new and sporty outfit!

The pattern for the vest I made for her earlier this summer was adapted into a little dress by adding a bit of extra width on the side seams (about a centimetre or so on each side),  lowering the hem to make the total length about 55 cm and tapering out the sides to make an A-line. I hope this is a clear description, in case you want to give it a try. It is all very simple if you have the pattern in front of you, honestly. Super simple and effective.

And then a print was all that was needed to add a little fun to the otherwise quite sober design. Presto!

When she tried it on she was very chuffed, which is of course, the best reward ever.

TTYL,
XO

New colours

Hello There!

I was like a child in a candy shop when the new colours came in, wow, exiting stuff! Those lovely fluo colours that I have been coveting, and what about the girlie pink that was painfully missing in the shop?

The hardest part is to get the colours to appear sort of ok-ish on the screen. Well, I can tell you, I have failed miserably in that respect. So please treat the colours on your screen as just a general idea of what the colours may be in real life. I.e. 'Red' will not be a green tint (clue: it is red), baby pink won't be yellow. I'm afraid we are in that kind of league. I wish I could make them more realistic and more appealing, but somehow they will not co-operate. Well, what can you do??

I also really wanted to share with you the latest designs that were added to the shop. Aren't they ultra cute? I hope you have a good day today and TTYS!

Joining

Hah! I got you there, didn't I? You must have thought I'd fallen off the side of the Earth or had undergone a similar fate by now, didn't you?

But nothing so dramatic I'm afraid. Just getting carried away with the whole holiday-laze-around-virus. Veeeery dangerously contagious too!

In my defence, I was doing stuff but nothing very worthwhile of a mention here. Better mention the 'lots of eating ice creams' and similar low intensity activity with the family. To make myself feel a bit purposeful and as if I had a plan, we did a dab of shopping once or twice ('twas the sales after all) but that was mostly it. I really, really enjoyed these summery weeks.

But now we are almost back to normal life. The girls have started school again, enjoy seeing their friends and getting back into a routine. So, if all goes well, I should be getting back into my routine as well!

Just a glimpse of what I did do over the holidays

I have started joining my grannies! Riveting stuff like you wouldn't believe! Sorting the various colours is such a lovely thing to do. Little piles of colourful grannies were everywhere on the dining room table for 3 days.

The lovely Lucy provided me with a way of joining them I didn't know before. If you are interested, she has a very clear tutorial with lots of photographs and extremely clear instructions (so people like me can understand them). There are many other tutorials in her list for you to enjoy too.

HTTYS (Hopefully Talk To You Soon)
XO

Little house on the prairie - kinda

Hi there,

If you have ever wanted to experience a what I would call a 'Pippi Longstocking-moment', we have found the perfect place for it!

This wooden caravan is actually a little B&B. Isn't it adorable?! I have tried to capture the inside and hopefully you'll get a feeling of how cute it really is. It has a little kitchenette, with a cooker, kettle, coffee maker, a shower, a toilet and 2 bunk beds. The couch in the living area folds down as a double bed.

Because everything is quite petite, I think you'd better not be too tall or have claustrophobic tendencies. That said, if the weather is ok, there is plenty of space outside for you to enjoy.

Situated in a very pretty coastal village where lots of artists have found their home, this was our home away from home for one night only. But it got us thinking that we should go back one day and experience this deluxe-camping for a bit longer.

Enjoy today & TTYS

Craft marktet Hoorn, The Netherlands

Hello and good morning,

Another beautiful day is upon us and before we set out to enjoy my day outside (this corresponds loosely to waiting for the first load of washing to be ready ;-))  I thought I would give you the lowdown on the craft market we visited recently.

My oh my, what an experience! I have never before visited such an extensive craft market. There were things of interest for everyone and if the weather had been better I could have easily spent all day there, just watching people being enthusiastic about their wares.

A few rays of sunshine on this stunning display!

In all there were more than 120 stalls, many with craft materials. I saw lots of hats, necklaces, clothing, felt, books, crochet and knitting materials. So many inspiring people, happily braving the pelting rain in order to show everyone their beautifully crafted projects. 

This is a skein of duo-tone angora wool I bought for an autumn project. The photo isn't at all clear, but the wool is a kind of purpely brown mix. After a little on line research, I think it was spray dyed. This blog gives a clear description of the way it is done. The vendor explained how the wool from her own angora goats is collected, then sent away to be spun and then hand-dyed by her. How cool is that? 

The yarn is super fine and by knitting it on size 5 needles the effect becomes nice and lacy. One skein will make a good wrap or scarf. Oh, and, did you know that angora wool apparently does not shrink if you wash it? Good news for someone that succeeds in shrinking favourite woolens every time!

This was another one of the many lures of the market. Look at it: boxes and boxes of yummy colour! All there screaming "pick me, pick ME". It is 100% merino wool. 

Refusing would have been very impolite, don't you think? This is what ended up in my shopping basket:

Just little bits of it, see, I kept it very reasonable! The general idea would be to do some felting with it at some point. I have tried felting with normal wool before, but it just doesn't work well so that is why I thought I could indulge in this colour fiesta.

And speaking of felting, I have to show you this amazing site. I just love the work by Gillian Harris! Did you notice there are still a couple of spots on her September felting courses? Wouldn't that be a dream? Aaahhhh....

Have a lovely day today!
XOXO

Racer back dress

Hello you!

Have you been enjoying yourself today? We had a good day here at the studio and I even managed to get a few shots of the dress I have been working on lately.

The idea for the dress germinated when I was reading a crafty book written by the very clever Norwegian Tone Finnanger, called Tilda's Atelier. If you have never heard of this lady or laid your eyes on one of her books or craft materials, I would recommend you do so asap because there will be lots of loveliness to be discovered!

Anyway, in the book she uses a circus theme that sat in my head for a couple of days, wanting to become something. Then, when I saw a pattern by the wonderful Crafterhours ladies, I knew what it was going to be: a little racer back dress with a circus elephant on it.

The pattern is free (A big Thank You, Ladies!) and can be printed straight from the link above. I hope you can see the print in the first photo. I apologise for the quality of the photo because my model got stroppy and this was the best I could get at the time.

I traced the elephant head straight from the book and ironed on 2 layers of non-woven interfacing to give it some stability and make sure the flowers from the circle behind it didn't shine through the light pink fabric. To be on the safe side I also put some fray-check around the edges before sewing it onto the background. I let a little pompom sit on the tip of the elephants trunk.

The collar is made by sewing two layers of dotted fringing together and attaching them at the base of the neck. I made the little flower necklace by attaching some small lace flowers on top. The Circus Elephantini lettering around the circle is in neon pink to make it a bit more visible. Oh, and I added two tiny green bells under the collar too. Just a little surprise and great when jumping!

TTYS,
XO

Possibly ideal home

Hello there,

We have just arrived back from a few days of inspiration, and boy, did I enjoy it!

Let me start by showing you the most gorgeous little house.

Isn't it incredible?! I wonder who lives here. The garden is wonderful, even in the boring old rain my heart just skipped a beat seeing it. It was about 8 o'clock in the evening and as I mentioned above, it was raining.

Can you imagine what it would look like on a sunny day?

Well, better get stuck into sorting my photo's and hopefully I can show you some more gorgeousness soon.

Have a nice evening,
XO