2 days left...

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Thursday will be my last day at work for a bit more than a year... Really, really strange for me - I have never really stayed home without any work. Well, I'm sure there will be work, but definitely a totally different kind than what I am used to.

For the next two months though I'll be staying home and I'll have lots of time to do whatever I want (J. has already carefully suggested to open my DaWanda shop again - I think he's afraid we'll drown in handmade stuff otherwise...). Well, the local fabric store and my favourite online fabric stores will be thankful.

Have a good week!

giving is gaining

One of my dearest and closest friends is not doing too well these days. She lives far away so I can't talk to her but on the phone. She's a sewing queen, too, so I figured this little package might cheer her up.

I think being creative, and - for me - especially sewing is great when you're not feeling well. It always helps to make your thoughts brighter.

Have a fab Sunday!

Ps. The bride's mother, a lovely, well-versed British lady, family mother and domestic pro said the cupcakes were "divine". That's by far the greatest flattery I could get.

olives & cupcakes

Who said it was gonna be healthy? We're just talking about pretty here, right? So I just needed a little butter and sugar for my wedding cupcakes...

I'm quite happy though about how they turned out!





My personal #1: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes:

Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes:

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (with mint flavoured candy in the dough and mint flavoured icing):

Of course, I had to taste each batch. As each of this cupcakes contains approximately 3568 calories and 92% sugar, I felt a bit sick afterwards and was very grateful for some black olives and pecorino cheese we had in the fridge...

Have a sweet friday night!

goal #3: check

Yes. We have a new closet. Finally, all my pretty dresses and skirts are no longer at dust's and cat's mercy, but have what they deserve: A nice house to keep them warm, dust free and cat safe.

Putting all of the clothes gently on hangers and into the closet, I once again realized how many of them I actually have (though of course I keep denying it in front of J). For now they don't fit me, so I will be patiently waiting until they do again - and then it will be as if I had soo many new clothes! :)

So, here are some before-after pictures for you:


P.s. Tomorrow is the big cupcake day! I still don't have anything like a cake stand or similar to present them... hm-hm-hmmm...

P.p.s. Goal reaching is going pretty well these days - I might have to come up with some more goals? Or maybe it's just by body that knows I won't and shouldn't be reaching any goals when the baby is here...

let's stay home

I've just ordered this print last week from ashelyg and I can't wait for it to get here.


It so expresses what I feel most of the days in this time, especially with the days getting more autumny.

I'm quite happy with my home at the moment.

goal #4, pt. I: check

Well, not a trillion, but - six. It's a start.

I always find it pretty amazing what can be done in just a couple of hours, when you're fully concentrated and dedicated to one thing. Today, I screenprinted two little romper suits my mum gave us - I never can just take white things, I always need to add something to them.
This literally just took a couple of minutes. Only a bit longer did it take to sew this snuggler, pattern taken from Lotta Jansdotters fabulous book:

This used up some of the fabric I got yesterday, so, as always, I have much fabric left over. Which I don't particularly mind, of course. I like the fact that the fabric gives the snuggler some kind of a Japanese kimono touch - and also, that we'll kind of have the same outfit since I'll use the same fabric for a dress for me. The fabric I used for the lining is some kind of super soft, strechy terry cloth which just seemed perfect for some little winter hats in different sizes:

Patterns taken also from Lotta's book.

A part of the white teddy fabric I used for a musical toy, which plays Pachelbel's canon in D major (I was lucky enough to find an online shop selling little music machines playing songs different from the usual that I can't stand listening to...).

I hope your Sunday was/is as good as mine!

Next week I'll finally have some nursery pics ready, so stay tuned...

goal #2: check

Today I went to that fantastic fabric store nearby. I always plan in about an hour of time when I go there - not only does it take me quite a while to decide for fabric (about 50% of the time), but also does the lady who runs the shop talk a lot. Which I really like. Today she told us about their new little rabbits who live in her garden right next to the shop, so we took a break from fabric shopping to pet these tiniest, softest little beings.

I'm in love with the fabrics above that will be turning into a dress for me and lots of things for the baby soon. Something else I couldn't resist buying, though it's not quite the season yet:

It's a woven tape, about 5 centimetres wide, and it just makes me happy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

4 simple goals

Elsie from A Beautiful Mess had a brilliant idea. Here are the rules:

1. choose simple goals that will make your life richer and happier on a daily basis. choose things you may not otherwise get done, but that are not difficult to accomplish.

2. do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals. for example.... instead of "lose 10 pounds", choose something like "eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day". get what i'm saying? positive actions instead of just the end result!

3. choose goals that are personal that you believe will truly make your life richer just by doing them! they can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.

4. choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished! it can be a small or large reward.

5. blog your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year! i'll be doing this too!

So here are my personal goals for the nearer future. I want to:
1. Eat enough healthy & homemade things for the baby (and me), including homemade cake because I think it's good for us.
2. Go more often to the new fabric store to support it so it will stay there since it's the only good one we have.
3. Get all the pretty clothes (that I own many of but can't wear at the moment) well organized in our new closet.
4. Use the 2 stay-at-home months before the baby is here for a trillion sewing projects.

Here's a fifth one, but I consider that out of competition since it's more of a long-term goal:

5. Be more patient with me and the people surrounding me.

Anyone else want to join?

wedding presents!

Remember my story about the wedding next week? Today I finally managed to get the presents ready. I first wanted to make a quilt, but I figured I wouldn't get it done in time. So I decided for these pillow cases for their new Eames chairs - to make sure each of them has their seat and to prevent them from fighting ;)


I used vintage, heavy quality linen to make them ever-lasting (like their love ;)) and printed their names with fabric colour in bright red (=even more love). I tried to keep it simple as I wasn't quite sure about their kitsch tolerance level. The wedding cupcakes I'm planning to bake will definitely make up for the lack of kitsch though!

Hope you're having a good Wednesday!

new

This week's been quite hard work - also good fun, but I'm still happy we finally got it all done.
It involved a lot of painting, driving to IKEA twice, redecorating, cleaning up the mess, drilling holes, cleaning up again... And all of that with my huge belly and J's bruised toe (accident that happened putting up the baby bed).

I'm ultimately proud of ourselves and happy our place is so much nicer now than before - it now is just about perfect.

washi tape

My latest Dawanda order just arrived today.

What do you do with Washi Tape?

Rachel from Smile and Wave used it for a picture to decorate her home:

So far, I've decided to use it as a border in the kids room that we are about to decorate. Here's a sneak preview to what it's going to look like, proper before-after pictures will follow after the weekend when we plan to finish it:

another wedding!

I'm excited. Finally, there is another wedding coming up. The last wedding we've been to is about two years ago - too long, I think! Since I don't want to get married myself, I love people around me getting married. This time, my friends Amy and Geróid are getting hitched. They are a lovely couple, she's British and he's Irish - that's why it's been a real hazzle for them so far to get everything organized. He is for sure the most talkative person I've met in my entire life (I remember Amy saying to me at a fabric fair we went together to: 'I've been thinking for a long time about activities I could do when Gearóid's home - he talks so much it's impossible to concentrate on a book, so I need something I can do while listening to him. I think quilting is a good idea.')

I think the wedding invitations are fabulous, and so will be the party. So all we need is a fabulous present. Both of them are super creative, so we definitely need to come up with something super creative (well, at least without the 'super'). They've primarily asked for help with the party, but since I'm not really the perfect bar tender at the moment because I can't be on my feet for very much longer than 10 mins, I need to come up with something else.

Both of them enjoy making and eating food, crafting and design furniture. So I thought I could bake them a huge wedding cake out of pretty cupcakes, as seen here:

Also, I want to sew a couple of pillow cases for the Eames chairs they're wishing for.

Can't wait.

amsti

Last week we've been on a short holiday in Amsterdam, one of my favourite places. Since it was our last just-the-two-of-us holiday, we've booked a really nice hotel room here at Hotel Arena. Including breakfast in bed, of course.

This time, we took lots of trips to places outside the big city. One day, we went to Haarlem which is a fabulous little town. We had lunch at a combined shop/eatery/church/exhibition center which is partly run by disabled people. Food was delicious, by the way:

After the city we went to the sea. It was cloudy, sunny, a bit windy but just warm enough.

Oh, and I got a fabulous bike at a huge bike store some 50 km from Amsterdam which was a recommendation from a Dutch colleague of mine:
You see me in pleasant anticipation of my light turquoise Oma Fiets (granny bike) with brown leather handles. Pictures to follow!