Pieces of Fab

Lazy days - oh where are you...

2012-02-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

It has been beautiful winter weather here in the Netherlands for a week now but we have missed all the ice-skating fun because of a flu. I'm still not completely over it and I really would like to have one of those good old lazy days doing nothing, but I can't. I don't know if it is the motherhood, the crafting or the age, but I just can not sit still any more. Probably it is all three of them combined that is to blame. Obviously if I'm home alone with all my three children with ages 0, 3 and 4, I really can't. But even if I would be home alone or just with the baby, I still can not do it. It would feel like such a waist! There is always so much to do! Household chores obviously, but for two years now also loooong list of crafty projects waiting to be finished or started. Don't get me wrong, I do feel lazy all the time. It often feels that everyone else with zillion kids get so much more done (and someone always will, so why do I keep on comparing :). I just can not be lazy for one day and be OK with it.

I love crafting. I love it that I'm creating and doing when ever I can and bubbling with new ideas all the time. But I also would like to be little bit more balanced with it. Have little bit more zen into it.

Frozen

2012-01-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

It has been a really mild winter here in the Netherlands. As you can see we still have roses! They even survived the frost shown on the picture. It will however get colder next week. Good reason to keep on knitting! (lets focus on the positive side of things. I have to admit that I have enjoyed the mild weather - makes dressing three little ones so much easier!)

Despite the colder weather coming our way I hope that I can plant spinach in February. In coming weeks I also want to do a inventory on last years seeds and order some new organic seeds from here. They also sell in UK, Ireland, France and Germany. I have been very pleased with their products and service in the past and look forward to browsing their catalogue again. If only I had a bigger kitchen garden to fit everything I would like to try! That would be fun especially when making plans for the coming season. Maybe not so when trying to get rid of the weed :)

Knitting

2012-01-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

January 15th and I have my first finish of the year! Wool socks for my 3-year-old. The first sock for my daughter is also done.

Three weeks ago I was certain that I will not pick up knitting again. I learned to knit at school and it is the only type of craft that I did somewhat regularly outside of school when growing up. But I never managed to make something I really liked. I was always trying out something without a pattern and then getting frustrated because it did not work out. Crocheting on the other hand was something I wanted to try again and I asked for crochet hooks for Christmas. My mum included a whole set of knitting needles to the package and before I knew it I was knitting socks. I had not knit for ten years but apparently it is like riding a bike. And if you do have a pattern and the right sort of yarn for the project, you can actually make something useful.

I did some research on knitting and learned that there are different methods how to knit. I seem to be doing it the continental style with a special kind of technique for the purl stitch. I learned all that from here. I'm knitting with bamboo knitting needles and love them! They feel nice and warm, make less noise and prevent sliding. I will never go back to the metal ones again! When I have finished the socks for my daughter I want to try something new and make these type of socks for myself.

Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012

2012-01-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dear 2011, you were really good to me! Even if I did slow down this year I was still sewing, gardening, baking, hand printing and embroidering. I even added knitting to the list at the very end of the year!

And Hello 2012! What a beautiful beginning with sun and snow.

I wish you all happy and joyful new year!

Quilt for My Little Girl

2011-12-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

Every quilt has a story, right? The moment I discovered quilting I knew I wanted to sew my daughter a quilt - a very girly one with lots of her favourite colour pink in it. For inspiration I got some quilt books by Kaffe Fassett from the library and we looked at them together. I made my own design using some ideas I got from Fassett's books. I was already a fan of Heather Bailey, so Nicey Jane by her was an easy choice. I also add some other fabrics from her.

I tried to work in a manner I thought was the wise thing to do - cut the pieces first and then make the blocks. Turns out that is not the way I like to work. I noticed half way cutting that I had made a mistake with the measurements. Frustrated I stopped and did not pick up the project until after months. This time I decided that I just want to have some blocks and started sewing, but after repeating the same block for the third time I could not take it any more, so boring. I was also not happy with the quality of the sewing. Funny how it shows when your not enjoying what you do.

Now what? I decided that I will not care about the mistakes, bad sewing or any of that. I'm just going to carry on no matter what. I changed the design as I went on, add a star and a small house and had fun!

When it was time to quilt I named the quilt "just do it" quilt. No ripping for the smallest mistakes, I was just going to have fun. It was my first time machine quilting after finally purchasing a walking foot (highly recommended!). The stitches are not perfect all around and I did need to do some ripping here and there but all in all the quilting was fast and fun. The binding is wider on the back. The sew line of the binding completes the quilted squares on the edges, so therefore I decided to machine sew the binding.

It took me a whole year but the quilt is now finally finished and I love it! My daughter still loves pink and is very happy with the quilt (I was a bit worried she might change her favourite colour before I finish the quilt:). It is not a technical master piece, but it is made with love to honour everything that is girly and pink!

Wildlife Paparazzi

2011-09-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

We have some amazing wildlife in our small garden. We enjoy regular visit from frogs, a Robin, and a Blackbird couple to name few. We also have lots of butterflies. I'm especially happy about the butterflies. The butterfly population is struggling partly because people have less flowers in their gardens. I happily make our garden butterfly-friendly by planting flowers, but we also have other treats available for hungry butterflies:

I was not in time to harvest these too figs but after seeing at one point five Red Admirals enjoying the rotten fig I stopped worrying about it. Lazy gardening makes a wildlife friendly garden!

The sunflowers have also been a joy to watch. The bigger ones were popular amongst the green Rose-ringed Parakeets. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first time saw green parakeets flying around here in the Hague. Apparently once upon a time some of them escaped from their keepers, and really liked it here. Now there are thousands of them.

We also had smaller sunflowers that were very popular among small birds like Great Tits and House Sparrows. I didn't get even a blurry picture of them, they were just too quick to me.

The only thing I have done intentionally to attract wildlife are some butterfly friendly flowers. The rest has come naturally by growing lot of eatable things and not having the time and energy to keep the place too tidy.

The Making of Baby Blanket II

2011-08-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by the beauty of the spring season and wanted to catch some of that on fabric.

I used contact paper to make some stencils.

Getting ready for printing at my little "home studio" at our dining table.

Test prints on a piece of muslin

Work in progress on a white organic jersey

I hand quilted the blanket along the lines that you can already see on the previous picture if you look closely. The lines where drawn with a HB graphite pencil. I assembled the quilt in such a way that no binding was needed.

I finished the quilt the night before my baby was born.

Here it is wrapped around my little boy this afternoon

Harvest Time

2011-08-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have been a very lazy gardener this year but I still have some harvest news to share.

The fig tree has been very active and is producing more fruit that I can handle. The fruits are gorgeous but since it has been raining here a lot this summer (and still is) they are very watery. So far I have cooked them a little and mixed with yoghurt. I will try that again soon using my own yoghurt and by adding some spices to the fig confiture. ( I bought a yoghurt-maker and we are now having fun trying out different yoghurt cultures.)

The below picture makes me a bit sad. I had these wonderful green tomatoes and I was looking forward to making this excellent jam of them. After picking the tomatoes I didn't get to the jam making on that same day. Two days later when I finally wanted to start the they were all covered with some nasty brown stains and I had to throw them away. What a shame.

Luckily we are not even planning to make wine of the grapes. We eat them as they ripen and nothing gets waisted. They are very sweet and tasty this year, which surprises me since we have had so little sun.

We also planted some borage to improve the soil (no idea if it works). I really love the small blue flowers.

They are especially beautiful in the evening light. Below an attempt to capture some of that magic.

Diving in

2011-08-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hurray, I'm a mother of three! For a month now - time goes so fast! My little boy is doing very well, sleeping eating and growing.

I'm so so relieved that I'm not pregnant anymore. When I'm pregnant it feels like half of my brain just shuts down or gets completely occupied with the little one living inside me. There seems to be so little space left for all the stuff that I normally like and enjoy doing. Almost instantly after the birth I feel like myself again. I'm back! And loving it.

Just few days before my little one was born I was sewing the below block for the do.Good charity bee (not the best picture and I did not take the time to iron either...). Rachel asked for ocean inspired block. I truly enjoyed making this block, it was something new and not too complicated (having my brain taken over by the pregnancy...)

The last weeks and days of pregnancy are so hard, you are just waiting and waiting for it to happen. The block was such a nice distraction. The ocean theme was also a perfect match. I had been reading about a birth technique called diving and as I was selecting the fabrics and arranging the bubbles I was thinking about water and ocean and waves - and about giving birth. I know, it is all a bit woo woo, but the diving technique really worked for me. At every contraction I imagined that I was diving in to a deep ocean and that got me through the pain. I couldn't find any information about the technique in English and I'm thinking I should try to change that.

I just love the idea that this block that became part of my birth story is sent out to the world having a life on its own!

Back to Sewing!

2011-05-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Being pregnant has effected my sewing and all other kind of doing much more I ever would like to admit. But the last month or so it feels like I'm back again! Really nice feeling, I must say.

A fabric store near us is closing down and they are having huge sales. It is of course very sad that they have to close but I rarely find anything there that I like. Also lot of the fabric is synthetic, which I don't prefer. But I did managed to find this brownish fabric that I really like and I bought 6 meters of it! It was only € 2.50 per meter...

I made trousers to my little boy using the Quick Change Trousers -pattern from Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner

And a maternity version of the Smashing Smock from her first book Seams to Me.

I really do like the fabric and I like to sew with it. The only problem is that we will soon look like the von Trapp family, so I guess I will take a break from this one for awhile.

First Rhubarb Pie of 2011

2011-05-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

We had a amazing April and begin May in the Netherlands, like a mini-summer. We spent the time well enjoying our backyard and our home-grown rhubarb among other things. The first rose came up on mothers day, how sweet is that!

I'm not sure if this really qualifies as a pie. I made Finnish pulla with the children (sort of sweet bread) and used part of the dough for the pie. Making pulla is a state of art that I by no means master, so I don't feel confident to share any how to's. Here is one recipe that is quite similar to the one I use. When you have the dough you can make all kind of things of it, rhubarb pie being one of them. I just buttered the pie dish and filled it with rolled out dough. I cooked the rhubarb with little orange juice and some sugar and cinnamon. When it had softened (that happens in minutes) I removed it from the heat and added some potato flour. You can also use corn starch, although I'm not quite sure at which point you should add it. Then you just put the Rhubarb-compote on the top of the dough, brush the edge of the dough with beaten egg or milk for shines and bake it in 200 C for about 30 minutes. You can use a much thicker layer of rhubarb, this was just all that I had. Enjoy!

Project Selvage - Vote for your Favourite

2011-04-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

I would have loved to write "please vote for me!", but I didn't make it to the semi-finals with my entry that you see above (not in repeat here). There are however 75 other talented designers hoping to be Michael Miller Fabrics next fabric designer. So head over to Spoonflower and vote for your favourite. I like this one. Katarina, the Serbian designer, also has a beautiful blog

None of the more abstract designs where selected to the final 75 which I think is a shame. But I guess they picked up designs they think will sell. The voting ends April 6th.

Colour Red

2011-03-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Yellow is my all time favourite colour but I do love this shade of red as well. Just perfect, don't you think? Recently I also bought some red fabrics. When my daughter saw the fabrics she demanded that I would make a skirt for her. That was not what I had in mind, but I thought I will give it a try. We chose the Bo Peep Skirt pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me. I wanted to make it big so that she wouldn't out grow it too fast. We decided together on the fabrics and how we would arrange them.

I like it and don't like it. All the fabrics used where quilt weight cotton which I think is too thick for this pattern. I also don't like the elastic waist, I actually wanted to figure out a more complicated solutions which I guess is progress! I mean, me sewing clothes and hoping for a bigger challenge - yay! Not so long time ago a straight seam was a challenge :)

What I really love is the ribbon. It was my daughter's idea. I have never been too keen on ribbons. I could not really find any use for them. Now I really want to figure out something to use them for. Any ideas?

All in all it was a fun project. The children are using the skirt as a dress up costume when playing and I think it is just perfect for that!

Baby Boy!

2011-02-23T02:38:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of months the blog has been a bit quiet and after 20+ weeks to the pregnancy I finally feel confident to share the reason. If everything goes well I will give a birth to a baby boy in July! He will be our third child and most probably the last one (sniff!). This is the first time we asked about the sex of the baby during the ultra sound and I'm glad we did. I grew up with two sisters so having a family with more boys than girls feels quite funny - 2 girls and 3 boys adults included.

For the third time I was taken by surprise how much energy pregnancy costs, at least for me. It feels so ungrateful to say but I'm not good at being pregnant. I'm having hard time accepting that I can't do everything I want, that I need more sleep and have to take things more slowly. Also the hormonal roller-coaster during the first three months seems to send me right back to the puberty and makes me very moody. I really try to be mindful about it, but it is still hard.

I'm sharing this because the first time I got pregnant I had no idea that pregnancy could be like that. I thought I would just be happy all the time and dress up in a beautiful pregnancy clothes and have all the energy in the world. Instead I was nauseous and so worried that something would happened to the baby. I was not enjoying it and on top of that feeling very guilty about it. It would have been so great at the time to read somewhere that it happens and it is fine.

I'm very much looking forward to the summer and the little baby. My almost four-year-old daughter is so exited about it and I just love that. We already bought some baby clothes together with her, she so sweet! I'm not sure how much my two-year-old son understands about the whole thing, but he likes to talk to the belly making funny questions like "baby, are you peeing?". My silly guy!

Mistakes and Being Good at Something

2011-02-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

There was a time when I would say I'm not good at sewing. I had tried it, actually I had to do it at school, so I knew. Not any good at it at all. And why did I thought that? Because I made mistakes. And apparently I have this firm belief that if you make mistakes - well then you are just not very good at doing that specific task.

About two years ago something happened - I can't recall what it was exactly - and I got this urge to buy some fabric and start sewing. I bought this small pack of scraps and sewed a patchwork blanket to my daughter's doll. It was so much fun and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to learn more. I started to google around and discovered blogs for the first time. All this people making beautiful quilts with amazing fabrics. Fascinating!

One day I was watching a video on youtube where a woman who had made quilts for 50 years (!) was explaining the basics of piecing. I was astonished when I heard her saying, that she keeps a seam ripper in her pocket, since you always will have moments when you just have to rip the seam and start over. After been sewing for 50 years she still needed the seam ripper. She was still making mistakes. I started to pay attention and between post showing beautiful quilts there where stories of mistakes and frustration. All these talented people were making mistakes! And they were not embarrassed to share that.

Sometimes I hear the advice that you should do what you are good at. Since I have that crazy idea in my head that being good at means that you make no mistakes I have decided to not to follow that advice. Here is my advice for me: do what you feel so passionate about that you are willing to learn from your mistakes and carry on. Even if you are not any good at it ;)

Instant Embroidery Bags

2011-01-14T04:53:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011! Or is it a bit late for that? Yes, I'm one of those bloggers that have been putting of the first blog post of the year thinking it should be something super deep and meaningful. I'm not so sure this will be one of those posts :)

I have had some much fun embroidering canvas tote bags. I'll be sharing some more designs soon. A really great project to do if you are looking for some instant gratification. Well you have to stitch it first, which is OK since that is the fun part, right? And then you are done! I have also some white cushion covers waiting to be decorated. Can't wait to get my hands on those!

p.s. just in case you are curios, the fabric peeking behind the bag is from Marimekko but I can't remember the name of the fabric or the designer. Can anyone help me with that?

Christmas Cards for Inspiration

2010-12-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

These cards are from last year. They where so much fun to make! I just love it how the fabrics pop-up in these. I glued the fabric on the cards and add some beads with thread and needle. For more scrap card inspiration here are some nice ones from Rachel from Stitched in Color.

Blog of the Month - Plain and Joyful living

2010-11-30T12:34:00.000-08:00

Plain and Joyful living follows the life of a family who has chosen to live more simple life. In the mist of the holiday season I love to follow Tonya's simple ways to celebrate. You don't need to have a lot of resources to celebrate the holidays. If you do, enjoy using them, if you don't, get creative.

Happy holiday season to you all!

Yellow Blue and Black Christmas Embroidery

2010-11-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

Some less wonky embroidery I have been working on. If you want to learn some new tricks I warmly recommend Mary Corbet's Needle'n thread -website. It has really great video tutorials, short and clear!

For the Wonky Season

2010-11-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Only 44 days to Christmas. I love Christmas and I love to prepare for it. But like so many of us I sometimes get all stress about it as well. Mostly because I start to reach for perfection. Everything should be handmade, organic, beautiful and delicious. Perfect perfect perfect! And I kind of forget about why I love it.

I love all the love ones being together, I love the giving and I love the peace and quiet after the laughter and talk. And I even love the darkness that gives the candles a magical glow. I'm from the very north and it gets very dark during Christmas time (except if you from Finland I'm from the shout. Everything is relative;). It is a mystical time for me.

Yesterday I was doing some embroidery the holidays in mind and it got all wonky and wrong. First came the frustration and little after the realisation: let it be wonky. There is no harm in wonky. Even better, let this be a wonky Christmas! No strive for perfection this year but only love, peace and wonkyness!

Here you can read more about the power of wonky by the talented Tara Swiger.

Transformation

2010-11-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

From this

To this

And this

I like the fabrics more mixed together. What do you think? They are both Kaffe Fasset.

Blog of the Month - A Way to Garden

2010-10-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

The writer of the blog A Way to Garden, Margaret Roach, describes her blog as: horticultural how-to and “woo-woo.” The blog includes lots and lots of great information about gardening written in a friendly authentic way. It is packed with information and laughter. A wonderful combination, don't you think? I'm only starting to explore all the knowledge it contains and just signed up for her newsletter. I'm very exited to see how following this blog will influence my gardening.

P.S. Margaret left her job as editorial director of "Martha Stewart Living" at age of 54 to live more creative life. She is publishing a book about her journey in February 2011. Too late for Christmas but my birthday coming up on February the timing might be just perfect for me;)

Work in Progress

2010-10-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

I started my second quilting course three weeks ago. The first quilt we are making is the Square Dance. I had a hard time choosing the fabrics and ended up buying a ready cut package from the quilt shop. The colours are different than what I usually would buy but I like them. And I think they are perfect for the person I'm planning to give the quilt. Perfect Christmas present don't you think?

Did not bother to iron it for the pictures. Either I'm lazy or try to keep it real.

Radical (the book) Homemaker (me)

2010-10-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

RADICAL HOMEMAKERS (the book)

After reading about the book Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes in several different blogs I finally just had to have it. I was hesitating a bit because of the word 'Radical' which so often leads to 'alienating' I feel. And the book is a quite black and white, us and them, which I don't like. But there is lot in it that is just empowering.

This is how the publisher describes the book:

Radical Homemakers uncovers a hidden revolution quietly taking hold across the United States. It is the story of pioneering men and women who are redefining feminism and the good life by adhering to simple principles of ecological sustainability, social justice, community engagement and family well-being. (for more see source)

The book is divided in two parts, the why and the how. The twenty-year-old me would be in shock, but I don't care about the why. Not in the way Hays is exploring it, the academic way. I have studied feminism and all that and I just think I'm done with it. It doesn't interest me any more.

But the how! So powerful!

ME, the not-so-radical HOMEMAKER

When I was a serious worried little girl I decided that I needed to save the planet. So that would be what I would do when I grow up. When I got older the task ahead started to look a bit too challenging and alienating (radical activism and all that stuff was not for me). Finally the cynicism of the university world killed the last sparkles and I was left wonder career wise. Otherwise life was getting sweeter by the day.

About a year ago I decided I need to do something about my career and now we get back to the Radical Homemakers and some of my favourite pieces of it.

Because it is not about the career. It is about identifying my true source of contentment (page 46). It is about the discovery that a home-centered life is the way for me to feel connected (page 121).

The book put so many pieces of the puzzle into its place. To name few, I realised that community-building is a skill that can be learned and while establishing limits may be necessary, passing judgement is not (yay!). That there is a method how to be self-learner: "think independently, embrace general knowledge, work with what you have, make mistakes, find your own teachers and muster the courage to start from where you are" (p. 215).

Changing or adjusting your lifestyle can be overwhelming, but this powerful book gives the key to it:
"...a key to keeping pace with the lifestyle is to limit the amount of time spent doing it" (p. 224). Take baby steps and be okay with that (p. 226). Develop a tolerance for imperfection and have adequate rest (p. 228-229).

To come back to my career, according to Hayes "Those homemakers who seemed most satisfied...entered a 'rebuilding face'. In this period they took on genuine creative challenges tended toward engagement with their communities" (p. 47). And that is what my company is all about.

Ahoy You All - the Store is Open!

2010-10-08T02:43:00.000-07:00

My store is open! Please visit www.piecesoffab.com or www.piecesoffab.nl. It is the same thing, I just can not decide which domain to use. And www.piecesoffab.eu should be the same thing as well but is not working yet.

This is just a small start to something bigger. New products will be added regularly. If there is anything you think would be perfect for the store and should be added, please let me know! Figuring out the feel and look of the store and most importantly the items sold is a constant work in progress. It is also a lot of fun. I feel like an explorer on an expedition to find new species and territories (much more fun than figuring out what is my "market" or who are my "target customers").

Wish me luck on this new voyage I'm undertaking!

Blog of the Month - Kalla Design

2010-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Textile design was my first love long before sewing. I have learned to appreciate all the cuteness out there but what I really love are the modern simple designs. Like the ones Hitomi Kimura from Kalla Design makes. For someone like me who dreams of designing my own fabric her blog is a real treasure. She is very generous in sharing her designing process not so much in words but with pictures! I just love to see how designers work.

I also should mention that she has a pattern that carries my name, here in my favourite colour. Can you guess what Mari means in Japanese?

Paper Piecing Ruth B. McDowell Style

2010-09-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

I purchased Ruth B. MacDowells's Piecing workshop some time ago and finally had the chance to try it. So much fun! The book is just great, so easy to follow and covers every question I had along the way. One thing that I did differently was that I used paper glue and tracing paper instead of freezer paper. I have understood that in North America freezer paper is widely available but at least in Holland we do not have it (please correct me if I'm wrong).

First I sketched the design right on the piecing paper. Luckily for me I realised on time that since I wanted to make two blocks I had to find a way to save the design before I cut it. So I scanned the design, which I thought was very clever of me;) Then I just cut it, glued it and pieced it together as described in the book and it worked! I just could not believe it. A year ago I thought sewing a straight seam was a challenge and now I can do this. So exiting!

I will definitely be using this method again. Next time I will however pay more attention to the intersecting seams when making the design. Some of them turned out to be very bulky. Also the back of the block looks like a mess (not because of the technique used I have to point out..). Of course nobody will usually see the back side, but these ones were sent to the quilter of do.Good Stitches charity bee so I'm feeling a bit embarrassed about it :)

Guilt-free Gardening

2010-09-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love to garden and I love to post pictures of my lovely garden. When I take close-ups of the beans, sunflowers, roses and fig trees it really looks like they are just small glimpses of something much bigger. In reality though that is kind of it. The roses are next to the sunflower that is next to the fig tree that is next to the raspberry that is next to the blackberry and then we reached the fence. Apart from the roses there is only one of each. My kitchen garden is only three and a half square meters (37 square feet). In its whole the garden is about 7m x 13m.

When we bought the house I was creating high standards for what it should be like and got completely stuck since perfection was not achievable. I often suffer from this form of perfectionism - what is the point if it won't be perfect? Luckily for me my husband just took the shovel one day and created the kitchen garden in half an hour. I bought some seeds, put them in the grown and waited. After some time the seeds started to grow, I got all exited and then the snails ate half of the seedlings. That is it, I'll give up...

Somehow I managed to keep going and after three years I have really learned to enjoy it and make best of it without guilt. You loose some you get some and there always will be new seasons to try again. Last year I planted the tomatoes way too late, but luckily the autumn was warm and we got enough green tomatoes to make one small portion of green tomato jam that we ate with goat cheese and bread. This year I accidentally pull out the tomatoes thinking it was weed.

At this very moment only two small squashes are growing together with some silver beet. I'm hoping for squash blossoms to stuff and fry, will see if we get to that. I know that if I just had planned a little better ahead I could be harvesting my own green cabbage, Brussels sprout and more, but I didn't. Will try again next year.

In my dreams I am living like this Farmama. The truth is that even if I would have more land, I'm just not there yet, not even close. I hope that one day I am able to be more self sufficient but for now I will celebrate the small victories and share them with you :)

Garden update

2010-09-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

My very first homegrown fig! In the Netherlands! Figs don't grow on trees around here, except now they do:) And some more coming although I'm a bit worried it will get too cold for them to ripen.

My sweet little three-year-old girl asked for a cup on her way out and came back with this:

Yellow raspberries and blackberries

Last but not least, the sunflower has finally opened

So much joy from our little garden!

Blog of the Month - Stitched in Color

2010-09-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!
Ooops! Is it still August somewhere in the world? Well lets just pretend that it is, OK?

Are you new to sewing? I have a blog just for you! Rachel started to sew only about a year ago (!) and it is so amazing to see what she has accomplished. Browsing through her flickr stream is a great way to get yourself motivated. The series Stitch Your Life is full of great sewing tips including how to get started. Next to fabulous finished projects you also get to read about the process which I love. Stitch in Color is a joy to read and a constant source of inspiration and information.

Baby sleep sack and unfinished projects

2010-08-25T02:49:00.000-07:00

I would love to give an update on these projects but nope, nothing to tell. No progress what so ever. But I did make this:

The pattern is from Handmade Beginnings and the fabrics on the patchwork are almost the same as in the book, only a different colourway. The only thing I improvised was the fabric of the body that is jersey and not flannel like in the book. I was little bit nervous about sewing jersey and voile together but it worked out fine. I used small zigzag stitch. The only thing I regret is using dark fabric under the patchwork, it makes the colours of the voile a bit dull. I should have used white fabric for more vibrant result. I also cut the patchwork upside down but decided not to be upset about that:)

I have been thinking why did I finished this project and not the other two?

Some things specific to this project:

it is for a baby and they grow fast! If not finished in time the small baby (who should be born any days now!) would never get a change to wear it
it was a gift

More of a general nature

since I was following a pattern I knew what I would get in the end. When I'm designing something myself I often have a vague idea that I don't think through before I start. I'm now thinking that is a mistake.

By nature I want to create my own things but I have noticed that projects like this are essential to keep me going. I learn a lot and it gives me so much joy to see that I actually managed to do it!

Anna Maria Horner: Innocent Crush Sneak Peak

2010-08-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

Anna Maria Horner: Innocent Crush Sneak Peak

Sorry if I got your readers all confused yesterday testing the "link to this blog" function. Anna Maria offered a sneak preview to her new fabric line and I just love it! I was reading my google reader and saw the picture and some how thought I was reading another blog. I looked at it and thought "really nice but someone is copying Anna Maria's style here.." And of course it was her and I can't wait to see the rest!

It feels kind of nice and weird to be this exited about something. I thought this kind of excitement was only reserved for teenage girl. I don´t even need to own it all, I´m just happy it exist and is out there (soon). Looking forward to seeing all the creations people will make of it! That´s the beauty of this fabric business - the endless circle of turning something beautiful into something new and beautiful.

More blocks for charity - Aqua and Red

2010-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here are my first blocks for charity bee do.Good. organized by Stitched in Color. The assignment was to make two blocks in aqua and red and no wonky lines. After some surfing around I decided this is the perfect opportunity to practice HST-blocks using this method. The cutting and sewing was fun and easy but before I got to do that I needed to figure out the measurements. Oh boy was that a challenge.

Participating in charity is truly a great way to learn. Whit this particular project there where some confusion about the block size and because of that I know now that when reading a block pattern the finished size means the size after the blocks have been pieced together. So the block itself is 1/2" larger than that (because of the seam allowance). Very good thing to know. That meant that I needed to adjust my pattern with 1/2". Being a European I'm not used to working with inches since we use the metric system. We do learn at school about fractions but after that we never need to use them. Never. Except if we get crazy about patchwork that is. So you can imagine I was completely lost. It took a nuclear physicist (my husband) to get the measurements right. We had a fun evening together me trying to explain what I wanted to do and he calculating and explaining it back to me. A little bit like playing boardgames but more fun since there where no losers (I'm a terrible looser).

The experience got me curious about how do you Americans do it? If you have some tricks I would love to hear about them!

Blog of the Month - A Hundred Billion Stars

2010-07-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

I found A Hundred Billion Stars quite recently through Rainbow Around the Block group on flickr. I just started to click through her photostream and was hypnotized by the vivid colours and the amazing designs. The blog offers tutorials to some very unique fabrics projects like this picture holder or this fabric decorated tray. Besides crafting, the topics include book reviews, some fascinating writings on science and beautiful photos of various objects from amazing desserts to nature. A Hundred Billion Stars is a visual feast for the eye that has opened a new world to me what it comes to combining colours and shapes. Melissa P behind the blog is one very talented woman!

Prosperity Tree

2010-07-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

Finally I have something to share that is all made by me (design and all). Please meet the Prosperity Tree. This is how Wikipedia defines the word prosperity: Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, success, or good fortune. ^[1] Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes others factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health. The tree symbolizes all of these things to me.

I embroidered the tree on organic single jersey cotton using different kinds of threads that I had in hand; 6 strand stranded thread split in three, perle no. 8 (that was actually a bit too thick) and thread called multi work. All except the multi work are from House of Embroidery. I also combined one strand of blue multi work with 2 strands of orange thread from House of Embroidery.

I didn't draw any stitch line or pattern, I just started to embroider and followed my instincts. Most of it is done by back stitch. I had borrowed books from the library to have some stitch instructions at hand, but did not use them this time.

I just love crafting. To learn a technique and enjoy the learning and doing you can pick up a pattern and follow the instructions. Then if you wish to create something of your own you have a set of skills to work with. I used to paint and draw and I always had this pressure on me that I should not only paint but also create some fantastic piece of art. Craft has freed me from that pressure. Speaking of drawing, I can't believe there was a time when I thought it is easier than sewing!

Beans part III

2010-07-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was the time! The beans are all full grown. Love the colours, too bad that they both turn green cooked.

Here my biggest garden enemy got to the picture as well, the small white flower. She is trying to take over the whole garden. Isn't she cute though?

Piecing it together and why I love it

2010-07-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

Block for Rainbow around the block

Once upon a time in 2009 I:

- wanted to design my own fabric

- bought some scraps from Noeks for inspiration

- used the scraps to make a blanket to my daughter's doll

- bought magazine called Quilt Mania

- was blown away with all the beauty

I believe this is how I discovered and fell in love with patchwork and quilting. But I could be wrong since it is kind of hard to recall how this all started. Anyhow, I caught the quilting fever from somewhere about a year ago and have been hooked ever since. In 2010 I followed my first quilting course and in September I will start the next one.

Why do I love it?

The fabric, beautiful beautiful fabrics! I just love them and they give me so much energy. Then breaking them apart and combining back together. Sitting and cutting, measuring, thinking, making mistakes, starting over. Finally having all the pieces and being ready for sewing. Seeing the little pieces slowly but steadily becoming a whole new thing.

I also love it that patchwork and quilting are such a great metaphors. In everything in life, being it loosing weight or starting a business, the advice always is to do it one step at a time. Rationally that is of course the only way to get anywhere, but really believing it and actually starting to take the first steps is much harder. Working with a piece of patchwork is just a wonderful non-abstract proof that it really works. Piece by piece and stitch by stitch you will eventually get there and if you learn to enjoy the process you don't even mind that it might be slow.

Beans part II ...and some carrots

2010-07-07T01:18:00.000-07:00

Update from the garden. The beans have flowers! Beautiful beautiful flowers! This year I planted purple and pink beans, so exiting!

And then the carrots. It took forever but they are ready to be pulled out. And after all this waiting what do you get? A carrot. I just can't get very exited about carrots. My kitchen garden is tiny and I can't believe that I used two whole rows of it for carrots. The carrots where suppose to be purple but mine are only a bit purplish. They do however taste better than the regular ones from the shop.

Blog of the Month - kirin notebook

2010-06-30T03:24:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

I love love Lara's designs. She is a fabric designer co-owner of Ink & Spindle, a screen printing studio in Melbourne Australia. The fact that she lives in Australia makes me sometimes feel like she would live in another planet talking about autumn in the spring and having pictures of native flowers that I have never seen before. Her style on the other hand reminds me of Finland, where I'm from. For me it is a funny combination of familiar and strange at the same time. Most of all it is a great inspiration source and reminder where following your dreams can take you.

Oh I wish they would invent the Start Trek Transporter already so that I could just stop by for a coffee on one of those open days they have. If I ever will visit Melbourne I hope I can pay a visit.
ps. did I just mention Stark Trek in my blog???

Process Pledge

2010-06-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I took the pledge! And now it is time to not just talk the talk but also walk the walk...
Let's start with some pictures, although often when I'm busy processing I forget to take them.

Here is a beginning of a picnic-quilt that I'm working on right now. The fabrics are all from IKEA, randomly selected from the discount pieces. I really need to have that kind of inexpensive fabric lying around to have the courage to just start experimenting. It is thick upholstery fabric, and I do realise that quilting it will be a challenge, but I will figure out something. I have this general idea how the quilt will look like, but I have not planned anything on detail. I started by using the instructions from Anna Maria Horners's second book, Handmade Beginnings It was a very smart thing to do and I learned some new tricks, but I'm not planning to follow the pattern all the way through.

This one is me just doodling on a piece of fabric. I have an idea what I will use it for, but that is still a secret ( I have to first see if it works out). First I used embroidery needle but that was a mistake! What a horrible thick thing it is leaving holes to the fabric. There probably are some other ones better suited for the fabric I was using, but for now I will stick to my quilting needle. More posts coming of both of the projects in the coming weeks. (...did I just make a commitment to work on these? Good for me:)

And here is a bonus picture, my home made bread!

I'm so proud! It took several attempts to get to this. First I did not have a bread pan so I used a cake pan. Not quite the same. After I had bought the bred pan the first time baking bread with it I killed the yeast by using too hot water. But this time I really nailed it! The next challenge for me is to incorporate the bread making into my daily schedule without it taking over the whole morning. The children would appreciate that.

Pink and orange

2010-06-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

One would think that I got inspired by my new fabric when picking up the flowers but in fact it is just a coincident. The orange flowers where for the Dutch football (..soccer?)team playing on Saturday and the pink ones where chosen by my daughter. Beautiful nevertheless, the flowers and the fabric!

Fabric shopping

2010-06-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I just went click click click and bought myself some new fabrics! That is not easy for me, I'm so afraid that I make a wrong choice or buy too much - which is of course impossible because I will without a doubt use every piece of it at some point. So of course I end up buying too little. Well, it is a process and I'm working on it. One day I will trust that this sewing craziness is not just a phase.

Other problem I encountered was that I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to order from the United States? It feels so outdated to have all these regulations between countries in this internet era, but I guess we won't be rid of them any time soon.

Unrelated but very important! The roses are blooming! I was so happy and thought well, lets smell the roses - but these ones doesn't smell at all...had forgot about that.

Rainbow blocks

2010-06-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the two first blocks for the Rainbow project

This one turn out to be quite ok

This one looks a bit wrinkly , I don't know what happened.

Rainbow Around the Block

2010-06-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Rainbow around the block

I'm participating in Anna Maria Horner's quilting project for families in Middle Tennessee who lost their homes to flooding in May. So exited to be part of this! I have now finished two blocks and it has been so much fun. I will try to take some pictures tomorrow of the ready blocks. Here a small impression of the work in progress

Blog of the Month - True Up

2010-05-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

Do you like fabric? Then you will love Kim Kight's blog called True Up. It is all about fabric all the time. I see it as my higher education program for fabric and fabric design in particular. At first I got even a bit intimidated and overwhelmed by all the information. How can I ever learn all of this? The overall tone is however very positive and encouraging so don't be afraid.

Kim reviews all the most interesting new fabrics on the market but gives also attention to new upcoming designers. She is just so unbelievably generous! Every now and then she has designer interviews that I love to read. In her Textile Stew she gives the best links to what is going on in the blogging world. On Sundays you can check who is having fabric sales, international shops included. I love her international approach. There is no borders when it comes to love and fabric!

If you are looking for a fun but informative blog about fabrcis you need to look no further.

Beans

2010-05-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have not (yet) found anyone who shares my enthusiasm over growing beans. Which makes me kind of a geek, i guess. I think it is the most amazing thing. You put the beans in the ground. Then for few weeks nothing happens. And then in just few days this comes up:

The magic doesn't end here. If everything goes well, one day you will find a very rewarding surprise under the leaves.

The Baby Blanket

2010-05-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The baby blanket is all done and ship to the little baby. It is made of soft cotton jersey, both the top and the backing and the batting is 100 % cotton. The most important principle for me was to make it as baby-friendly as it can be. It is soft, it can be washed in 60 degrees Celsius and the colors I used are high quality non-toxic textile colors (although I would not use anything else for any of my projects).

The Making of
The cotton jersey was quite challenging to work with because it stretches so much but totally worth it being so soft. I actually don’t believe I managed to make a real rectangle of it but close enough. I did not want to use interfacing since I was afraid that it would then loose some of the softness. I first printed the top fabric using a simple self made stencil. For quilting I used two shades of embroidery thread and big stitches. The quilting part was really fun to do. The most challenging part by far was the binding. I decided to do the double fold French binding and it took me trial and error and three different sources, but I did finally got it and it was so worth it! Here are the sources I used:

* SunShowerquilts

* Heather Bailey

* and Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me

For the next time I would like to remind myself to

* mark very clearly the stitch line

* by some proper stenciling tools

All in all I'm very pleased with the quilt. It has a homemade-feel to it that I think makes it very cozy. If you like more professional clean cut looking quilt I think it would be hard to make it with the techniques I used so this might not be a project for you.

A Bonus Quilt
The little baby I made the quilt for has a 2 year old sister and of course I had to make something for her as well. I made little doll quilt using fabric scraps that I buy from here. I started and finished the project the evening before I sent the package and did not have time to take daylight pictures. The colors look much better in real life. It was lot of fun to work with this very colorful mini-quilt after working with only blue and white.

I did not add any batting to it. Inspired by the binding experience with the first quilt I tried to make bias cut binding for this one and I must say I still don't like cutting them. I thought I would not have time to hand sew the binding so I tried to topstitch it. It turned out that I'm still terrible at it. So it saved me no time and looks much worse than if I just hand blind stitched the backside. I hope the doll won't mind.

The Joy of Doing

2010-04-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this little baby blanket that I hope to finish this weekend. I even think it might be my first product launch, will see. The project started the same way most of mine projects get started. I got an idea, got all exited about it - and then got completely stuck because I thought I did not have the right tools for it. Irritation, frustration, endless surfing on internet looking for places where I could by the stuff I thought I needed. Very irritated by the fact that I would not be able to start right away due to the lack of tools.
Luckily for me this time I was able to take a deep breath and turn the thing around. Instead of thinking what I don't have I decided to focus on what I do have and let that be the starting point for my design. I knew I could not cut complicated shapes since I did not (and still don't) have utility knife, so I made a simple designs. I did not have contact paper but manage to find something similar that is more expensive but worked. I could get started and enjoy the doing. Now I did finally reached the point where I just have to wait for tomorrow to get the stuff I need to be able to go on. But I did enjoy several hours of doing instead of giving the whole thing up or waiting until everything would be perfect and I would have all the right tools.

Blog of the Month - Craft Sanity

2010-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

This time it is actually more the podcast that I'm so crazy about rather than the blog, although the blog is nice as well. The podcast and the blog is called Craft Sanity. The woman behind it, Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, must be one of the nicest people in the world. I mean I don't know her or anything but just listing to one of her podcast and you know what I mean.

In her podcast she interviews all kind of creative people and the way she does it is phenomenal. It's more like a real good conversation between two best friends. Or actually three friends the listener being the third one. This is a true power to the people kind of thing. She is exited about something and interviews the person behind it. The person in question gets free marketing and the listener valuable information. No marketing departments or sales reps or editorial boards involved. Just people liking each others stuff and sharing. All this in a fun informal way that I just adore. In Jennifer's own words: Craft Sanity - works for me.

Sweet Alabama

2010-04-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

My craft library has tripled it's size during the last months. The excitement of browsing on Amazon and waiting for the books to come from United States is getting a bit addictive. Couple weeks ago the post brought me book called Alabama Studio Style by Natalie Chanin. I doubted for a long time if I should buy this one or the first book of the same author instead. I finally decided to buy this one since it has recipes as well and I thought if I don't like the projects at least I have a new cook book. I love it. Before I knew it I was hand sewing a basic tank dress for myself. And it is already done! The sewing part that is. I still need to color the fabric which of course in the book was the first step to do but since i didn't have the tools for coloring in hand I skipped it and started sewing.

Why is this book so great? To be honest, I don't know! I read all the reviews on Amazon and I kept thinking that they are all so enthusiast about it but I don't really see why? What is it that makes it so special? I still don't know what it is but I love it. As I said I have been purchasing quite a few books lately and most of them I have just skimmed through. With Alabama Studio Style I was cutting fabric the next day and week later bought more fabric to start on another projects from the book.

I love it that it is all hand sewing. That is one of the few thing that you can actually do when looking after small children. Or when your watching TV. I hope I can get to the coloring soon so that I can post some picture of the finished dress, but since that is not one of the things you can easily do when caring for a 1-year-old it can take awhile. In the mean time please enjoy other peoples creations.

Fabrics

2010-04-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

The quilt shops seems to have it easy - they have this one type of cotton fabric that they sell and that's pretty much it. It is even called Quilting Weight Cotton. But outside the hardcore quilting world things get more complicated. Anna Maria Horner recently posted about her new fabric type, voile. She is also have a collection printed on flannel. Last week I got my new books from Amazon including Alabama Studio Style and she uses cotton jersey for almost all of the projects. When looking at the options to make nappies to my youngest one my head really starts to spin. Bamboo, hemp, silk wool and all kind of combinations of these with different textures.

What I do know is that I love the combination of hand sewing and cotton jersey as described in Alabama Studio Style. At least if it jersey that I'm working with...and if it is, is it double, interlock or single? I really don't know. I need some help.

Blog of the Month - angry chicken

2010-03-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

It is March 28 so it really is a time for the Blog of the Month!

I hinted again on this one on my earlier post:

angry chicken

This one is hard to describe without making it sound boring - what it of course is not. It is a blog about recipes, sewing, crafting and the life of a mother of three, but I don´t think that description really catches the essence of it. It's what I think you could call "gate opener" blog. It is like Oprah´s book club. There is some much out there that it is overwhelming to even start to look for a book, so you just don´t even bother. And then you see a book in Oprah and think, well they all like it, why not. Angry chicken is a nice place to hang out and when enjoying the stories you get expose to all kind of nice information that is angry chicken approved and want to try it. Like vanilla cake. Or making your own cosmetics.

I have been thinking about making my own natural cosmetics every since I saw how easily it can be done on TV show criticizing the cosmetic-industry. This must be over a decade ago. I have never actually tried it since I did not know how to get started. The internet must be full of (free) recipes, but how can I know are they any good? And then I saw on angry chicken that she was selling a ebook with 16 health and beauty recipes, all tested, used and approved by her! A gate opener for me to finally try to make my own cosmetics.

Cake

2010-03-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Spring! Cake! These cupcakes where delicious. Who would have thought that plain-vanilla can be this good!

I got the recipe from here and she got it from here. The recipe is for a cake, to make cupcakes I just reduced the baking time and increased the temperature a little bit. I used real vanilla and you really do notice the difference. Like eating cake and vanilla ice-cream all in one! To get the real idea of the taste and the texture I recommend you visit the first link and you will know why I just had to made these.

The little flower-girl I made a year ago from a DIY kit from Hompeltje en Pompeltje. I would love to have a real season table with all the figures. When I'm fifty I think I will be finished with the spring and can go on with the summer...I'm working on a second doll, I will introduce him to you when the time is ready. Could be this spring, could be the next one.

Seeds

2010-03-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

First seeds of the year have been planted! Today we woke up here in the Netherlands to another snowy winter day, but yesterday it was sunny and lovely. Perfect day to start the gardening season by planting the first seeds. The seeds in these boxes will stay inside for awhile, but fingers crossed, maybe in few weeks we can start to plant outside as well.

As you can see it is very low budget process here using the old milk packages, but I managed to spend some money as well buying seeds for purple queen beans, pink and white Borlotto Firetongue beans and purple haze carrots...love to have some color in my vegetable garden. I already had way too many seeds for my very little piece of land but I could not resist to get some more!

Crafty afternoons

2010-03-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

Each time my daughter is crafting she insist that I join her. One of the many many joys of having small children. I love cutting and gluing, or this time it was actually just gluing using the small fabric leftovers I had collected from other projects. It is amazing to see how even the smallest pieces of design fabric can look so great!

Its a blouse!

2010-02-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

Yes! I finished my first voluntary made piece of clothing! It was fun, but the neckline and the sleeves where hard to do, need more practice with that kind of work. Some other tips
* as always, think first, and then take action...(instructions: nip the seam allowance. me: nip nip nip...this can be right....wonder what she means by nipping?)
* use a good steady safety-pin when putting the elastic in place (I managed to broke one inside the blouse...)
* sew sloooowly whenever tackling a difficult seam (I have this illusion that if I sew really fast I will look like a professional and as consequence sew like one...unfortunately it does not work like that)

Blog of the month - Anna Maria Horner

2010-02-22T11:41:00.001-08:00

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

Anna Maria Horner
Artist, fabric designer and a mother of six(!)

Yes, the pattern for the blouse I posted earlier about is from her book 'Seams to me'. What can I say, I'm a fan. I love the book and the fabrics, but her blog gives her work a whole new dimension. She writes about all that really matters in life. The small big things. It inspirational and empowering and at the same time the post are just simple everyday things for the most part. Amazing how she does that. I mean she must be a superwoman raising six children, running a business and looking gorgeous, and she still finds away to make you feel better about yourself and appreciative of your own little things in life.

Always a pleasure to read, please go to check yourself.

Soooo much to learn!

2010-02-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

I just finished practising with Adobe Illustrator and even though it was fun, there is also so much to learn! It took me half an hour to figure out why the pen-tool didn't work...my stroke line was 0 pt! No wonder I couldn't see anything:D

But I'm quite pleased with the result. After another half an hour fun:

DIY

2010-02-14T11:22:00.001-08:00

I bought Anna-Maria Horner's book Seams to me maybe 6 month ago, and finaly I have the courage to actually do something from it! It will be, I hope, a blouse to my little girl. I have now cut all the pieces and it is time to sew them togehter...exiting and scary at the same time! I have not made piece of clothing since I was 13 and had to do a horroble unflatering blouse at school. I hated it! Both the blouse and the sewing of it. This time so far I'm loving it! No idea where this desire to sew comes from, but it is addictive. I will post some photos when done, regardless of the result.