Pink Invasion

My little girl turned five yesterday and our home is covered with colour pink. She loves loves loves pink so that is what she gets. When I was little I was passionate about yellow and I can see that she feels the same way about pink.

As a child I was really sensitive to pick up the message that girly is stupid. Sewing girly fabrics in general and decorating for my daughters birthday in particular is clearly filling some girlishness deficit in me. I might have even gone little bit over the top with the birthday cake but I really enjoyed making it. Making the marzipan roses was like playing with play dough. They are all a bit different as are the leaves and yellow flowers as well, but isn't that how nature works. I just seem to have a great dislike for anything too repetitive.

I believe there are quite a few women out there who love it that after a day in office they can change the gray power suite to something more comfortable and start stitching Jennifer Paganelli. Isn't it great that we can have it all!

XO Kaffet Fassett Table Runner

I finished the table runner last Wednesday. For a moment I considered making it double sided, but that seemed like too much trouble.

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to practice free motion quilting. I decided to make curvy lines and I was very suprised how smoothly everything went. Not perfect, but pretty good for the first timer and I'm so glad that my machine can handle it so well! Sewing the binding was as frustrating as always. I was thinking the next time instead trying to rush through it I should make it a mindfulness practice.

My three -year-old found this rock outside our house and wanted to paint it blue. I love it and see how it matches the table runner!

Since I decided to get serious about my drawing practice I have tried to figure out clever practices to make it part of my day. Having my sketchbook and pen on the bar that separates the kitchen from the living room has worked quite well. In general I want the bar to be neat and tidy to have at least one place at home that is not cluttered, but I make an exception for the sketchbook. 

In February 2012

I got smitten with the colour combination blue and orange.

Maybe this birthday card I got from my mum (thanks mum!) won me over? I do like it a lot. Here is a link to the artist Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen.

I made the strip first for my son´s quilt that I´m working on, but it did not work with the rest of the quilt. I had to come up with a new use for it, and I finally got the table runner fever. I thought for the longest time that table runners are not my thing, but now the bar looks so dull without it! Have to finish that one soon.

I just love it how my daughters paintings on the chair sneaked into to picture :)

I have also been practicing drawing again (hard!) No matter how frustrating it sometimes is, I want to practice some more. Working with pen and watercolor is new for me and I really like it.

I went through all my seeds. I have enough for a little farm. Luckily for me I did not have any flower-seeds left, so I get to shop for those!

During the month February I have enjoyed having  flowers at home the whole month. I will continue with that. 

Lazy days - oh where are you...

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

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

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

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!