Easy heart garland

I found this tutorial yesterday (the colours on Rae's garland are just so beautiful) and had to try it out straight away. I was so pleased with the result, that I had to make an other one straight away. This method is so easy, I can already see variations: flowers, christmas trees, stars, butterflies...oh autumn leaves would be lovely, too. There could be a garland for every season.






It hangs up in our play room/ conservatory. It is quite hard to decorate this room, because I don't want to drill into the frames and sellotape is not strong enough for most decorations...but this felt garland is just perfect. Mmmh, I might make more and hang them along the ceiling...

K. really wanted a chef's outfit, too. After I made two for my friends children, I thought it was time to make her one. I thought it would be lovely if she could choose her fabric...big mistake. You might not see it on the picture but the pink is neon pink. This outfit could glow in the dark. But I have to admit, she toned it down a bit with the choice of dark purple. C. loves it and even though I am biased... she looks awfully cute in it...especially the two bottom teeth, she is so proud of them.

Latest additions

Over the weekend we extended our collection of felt food. I took K. shopping to the art and craft shop, which is always very exciting, because we find lots of interesting things that we have to try out. Unfortunately the snow had delayed any deliveries, so they were out of white and baby pink felt, but we found lots of other useful colours. After a quick stop at the fabric shop next door we took our treasures home.
I can never figure out if the two shops belong together or if it is coincidence that they are next door to each other - it is very handy, so I won't complain. Needless to say that I found lovely fabric, which was on sale for £4 a metre, I could not resist.
K. went next door to play and C. went upstairs to have her nap and I went straight to work. I made chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, a slice of cake, doughnuts and a bag of chips.
I altered the slice of cake a bit. Instead of adding the same top as the bottom, I drew some wobbly lines around the shape (as if icing runs down the cake) and sew that onto the side with my machine, the rest I did by hand following the tutorial. As you can see, it needs some cream on top but that will have to wait until the shop has white felt again.
I must have done something wrong with my doughnuts, they look a bit slim.
The bag of chips contains only two chips at the moment but is already a great hit.
C. loves the cookies, she loves to pretend to eat them and makes munching sounds.
It is such fun and so rewarding, especially when the girls can't wait to get their hands on the food to play with it.
My husband is very close to stopping all this fun because the pieces that we have to pick up at the end of the day are getting a bit much, but a few more won't hurt. Anyway he is travelling for a few days soon, I am sure I can sneak some more food in during that time.

My latest craze

I have started to make felt food for the girls. I love it! K helped me to stuff the strawberries and took them to pre-school to show her teachers. They are now in her shop and are waiting for more felt items to follow. I will have to buy some more felt, because I only have primary colours at home. Oh I can't wait to stock up the shop.
I added some cut up melon to the collection, so easy two red semi sircles and a greenleaf shaped shape. i only need to get some black thread, because the black felt tip pen doesn't look very nice.
More red and green profects I can think of: apple, tomato...what else? Just thought of one more...peppers.

2009 has been wonderful

I can't believe this is the end of 2009 already... our first year with C. She is a little ray of sunshine and makes everyone around her smile. K. has turned into such a wonderful character, she is brimming with life, dancing around and brings a touch of magic to our days. The girls can be be hard work, don't get me wrong but every night I go to bed and my heart is full of love for them and I can't wait to see what they will come up with the next day. I thought having one child was brilliant, but seeing the two together and how they start to interact and play together is just the best, there isn't a dull moment in our house.

This has been my first year sewing. I can't believe it took me three months to finally get the sewing machine out of the box, just to discover that it wasn't working, after that was sorted and after I discovered the first crafting blogs I couldn't be stopped. When I look back, I can't believe what I have achieved this year:
- 2 quilts
- loads of clothes for the girls

- loads and loads of bags

- aprons, chef's hats and oven gloves






- hats
- stockings
- a frog
and my pride and joy a Waldorf style doll for C.
pretty good going for the first year.

I even managed to inspire some more friends to start sewing, which is really nice because you can chat about new ideas and order fabric together.

My lovely husband has been very patient and helpful ( especially when I had to finish some projects and he had to look after the children, or last week, when C. looked like she had swallowed a pin and he rushed her to A and E to have her checked (thankfully they couldn't find anything)). He is the love of my life and I can't believe we have only been married for 5 years. it was nice to spend some time in Rome just the two of us. Even though we only had a couple of days, it felt like a mini second honeymoon. Thank you for being you and for putting up with my crazes, with me falling asleep as soon as I hit the sofa and with my mad moments. I love you forever and ever.

2009 has been very good to us and I hope that 2010 will continue in that way. I am sure the girls will bring a lot of joy to our days and we will make lots of new discoveries together (the biggest will be K starting school, but I don't want to think about that yet).

Apron Dress

This is K's favourite dress and one of my first attempts at sewing. I followed Bridget's tutorial, which was super easy and straight forward. K loves it and if it was up to her, she would wear it every day. Unfortunately I used some very thin/see through cotton. I know better for next time. I will definately make more next year, when summer comes back.
I think we are getting closer to knitting time again, I have to remember to start earlier than last year...by the time I finished my projects it was too warm to wear them.

The perfect week

M took the week off to spend some time with us and wow did we have fun:

• we saw M's parents and his grandma
• we went to IKEA (yes I bought some fabric and the wrong part for our shelf - I don't know how I always manage to get something wrong when I go there, I must get so caught up in the whole experience that my brain stops working )
• I managed to get some sewing done (yippee)
• we went swimming

and we went to the seaside

The day at the seaside couldn't have been better, lovely sunshine, a light breeze and a picnic. K loves the sea and the beach, she danced on the sand and had a swim in the sea. C had fun trying to eat stones and sand, enjoyed crawling on the beach and bathing her feet in the water.