August 2011 | Himiko No Sekkai

In the mean time autumn is quietly creeping in. Twilight is filling the evenings, the apple tree sighs under the amount of apples hanging on its branches, leaves are slowly taking on rusty colors.

Time to start some winterly knitting.

knitting

This one is for me.

A shawl.

To keep.

As in forever.

As in close to me at all times.

Because this picture may not show it but the yarn I'm using, Madeline Tosh Pashmina, is heaven on earth for all those who treasure soft knits. Not a prickly fiber in sight. Not even when one is knitting this in sweaty summery temperatures.

Oh boy, I can't wait till it's finished.

Oh boy, I can't wait till it's cool enough to start living in it!

Do you wanna be my friend?

I can offer you some cake...

cupcake

Or a friendship bracelet...

friendship bracelet

This summer I've made us girls here a friendship bracelet. Because according to the little girls we are all friends and people should know this. They really know how to make a mum's heart melt...

So when I came across this tutorial I set up a sweatshop and started knotting embroidery floss for hours and hours until I started wondering if it wasn't a better idea to keep our friendship a secret to all. Fortunately for my little friends I was close to the finish line at this point in time and I managed to pull out three bracelets in a bid to keep the friendship alive.

For my bracelet, I went for 8 different colors in the pink and gray scheme which resulted in a broad chevron pattern.

For the smaller ones I used the same pattern but only used 4 different colors. One is all shades of pink, the other more of a soft rainbow palette.

But alas, submerged in so much friendship my wobbly mind forgot to take a picture of the other two bracelets. We'll mend that situation in the near futur.

Or at least that's the plan.

flags

During the summer we have quite a few festivities that come our way in the form of birthdays. Birthdays for grown ups and for little ones.

Just about every summer the little one who won't be little for much longer if she keeps up this rate up, is graced with sunshine and warm weather... allowing for an outdoor party.

I wish I was that lucky. But in my case spring showers more or less rule that event...

Anyway.

I made some presents. Have a look.

birthday bag

A tote bag for storing library books.

bag detail

Some patchwork -rather imperfect but let's not split hairs-, a cute button, some lace ,

embroidery detail

and some pink kittens embroidered on top.

Also wrapped up for the birthday girl, a cover for a small map in which she can keep all of her little notes, scribbles, drawings and art work. As requested by the girl herself, I incorporated bright colors and a little lamb. It's in full, daily use right now so I guess the client is a happy one in this case!

map

embroidered lamb

back map

And last but not least, a notebook with a soft fabric cover. In fact, the little sister also got one. That's in fact the reason why I embroidered the initials on the cover. Makes it easy to distinguish them as they are exactly the same in every other aspect.

book cover

book cover detail

Using 1 inch hexagons I made a flower that is the central focus of the cover. A grayish cotton as a neutral backdrop brightened up with a board of blue flower fabric works nicely with the bold colors of the hexagons. Each hexagon is machine quilted for sturdiness. I added a quilted border along the outline of the flower using the same embroidery floss as I did for the initial. This is a pure decorative border however.

And to finish the cover of I added a trim of delicate antique lace. It's an ivory color and adds interest without being too overbearing.

So that was one birthday in the bag. :)

Better start to contemplate what to do for the next one...

A good way to wrap up little presents is by putting them in a small bag and then wrapping some see-trough cellophane around the lot. So back in June when I needed to pack up some small bits and bobs for the teachers of my offspring, I made these little all purpose bags.

bag

The patchwork band goes all the way around,so does the ribbon. They measure in at about 15 cm wide, 10 cm high and another 10 cm deep. Without the handles that is. Our house is pretty much littered with bags like these in all kinds of colors and designs. Ideal for storing those little cluttery toys in.

For these ones I went for a soft lilac palette. Some crisp looking dots and flowery gingham for the border and some fun ribbon with a splash of bright red in it. The lining is a small lilac gingham.

bag detail

Out of the left overs I made a small bag for myself. It sits by my sewing machine and picks up loose threads.

Even though it's modeling here with some yarn... cause let's face it, yarn makes a prettier picture than loose threads and clippings.

thread bag

thread bag detail

It's a different size and sports a different ribbon but the fabrics and patchwork band are exactly the same. I ended up using a sturdier interfacing for this one as it needs to stand up firmly to really serve it's purpose.

But all in all, not bad for a leftover...

So the baby boom in these parts is in full swing. Little ones are popping up all around us. And no better reason to make a sweet little gift than for celebrating the birth of a new born baby.

This set is still waiting patiently on my shelf to be send to a cute, new baby girl.

presents

The big fabric bag made from a Japanese cotton-linen blend holds a smaller drawstring bag, a crocheted rattle shaped like a bear and some cups and spoons.

presents unwrapped

The patchwork drawstring bag holds a trio of felt circus balls...

felt balls

Fun to make, fun to send and hopefully fun to receive!

And for those of you who'd like a bag or drawstring bag like this to wrap up your own presents, I've got some extra available at my Etsy shop!

Oh yes. A grand opening... of sorts.

An Etsy store filled with goods that I lovingly made and that are looking for brand new, loving homes.

Have a look, you might find the thing you've been longing for! It's over here!!

shop front

My daughters let me in on the secret of how to make your own aquarium.... when you don't even own fish!

The secret was deemed fit to be shared all over the internet, so here we go.

Take a bowl, any bowl will do, a handful of your most beautiful pebbles and a fake fishy thing. We prefer the plastic creatures that one just winds up and off they are for a swim. Now mix all those ingredients with some clear water in the bowl and hey presto, an aquarium without actual fish!

aquarium red

How clever is that!

Stamps are in. I can't remember ever having such a choice of stamps when I was young.

And what's more, making your own stamps is in. So are the tutorials on 'how-to'.

Well, there isn't much 'how-to' to it, it's all about supplies really. And once I figured out which supplies to get, I had a go myself.

The aim was to make a stamp for two kindergarten teachers that would actually resemble them.

top view

Mission accomplished!

bottom view

Out of a thin layer of some kind of soft rubber - the craft store made a solemn pledge that this beats lino any day and that it works easily.... and oh my, they lived up to their promise- I carved a simple image of their face. Just to be on the safe side I added their name...

Then I stamped the image on a nice piece of vintage wood (left overs from old staircase spindles that we used when we did up the house and that the husband cut to size... cheers, husband!) and glued the rubber stamp on the other side.

side view

I stamped the image once more on a simple linen drawstring bag that I made to measure et voilà....

stamp bags

A cute little bag with a cute little stamp.

And I only cut into my finger once! A very superficial cut it was too.

So now I'm thinking a set of stamps based on their favorite picture books for upcoming birthdays... Speaking of raising the bar just a tad...I'd better go and practice my drawing skills a bit more though.

Early on in summer I became the owner of some 1930's repro print fabrics. Sometimes I can find fabric so wonderful that I hesitate to cut into it. Just imagine that I cut left and right and am left with not enough when the perfect project for the fabric presents itself.

But in an attempt to avoid that this fabric would just sit on the shelf being beautiful, I decided to make something small.

doll quilt in progress

A doll quilt!

The suggestion came from the little owner of the residing dolls. And what a good suggestion that was.

A small quilt like this meant using only tiny pieces of many of the fabrics. It meant that I could go for a bold look. It meant that I could try to work the 1930's fabrics into a vintage looking zigzag pattern. And it meant that I could hand quilt this piece. Something that I hadn't done for a long time and was rather eager to do again.

doll quilt quilted

Tiny stitches for a crumpled effect. Oh, and as the pièce the résistance, an embroidered patch with an ever so cute little duckling. A vintage embroidery pattern that I pulled from Flickr. Amy from Nanacompany graciously grouped some of the better ones out there together in this post.

doll quilt embroidery

Contrary to most I just about never use a simple backstitch to do these embroideries. I prefer the stem stitch as it makes the curves nicer and well... more curvy. The only thing to look out for is the number of strands of embroidery floss that you use. A stem stitch is fuller and often requires a little less floss to end up with the same result.

Anyhow. After some embroidering, some hand quilting and hand binding, the blanket was ready for use!

quilt in use

Maybe the next project should be a bigger version of this?

Long time no see, don't you think?

I could write an entire chapter on how I had no idea I would be taking a break from this blog let alone for so long but let's not dwell on boring stuff like that.

Instead I'll just ask, what have you been up to?

Around here, enjoying summer break has been all that mattered. And still does. We've been playing, creating and collecting. Like this for example...

white pebbles

My girls are collectors to the core. And for some reason stones have been capturing their imagination since way back. As soon as they were old enough to walk, it seems they were old enough to bend down on every walk we took just to stuff their pockets with stones only to return home weighing a full stone heavier!

It's a lasting thing.

Stones.

Without interventions on my part I could have filled the drive way twice with all the stones and pebbles they picked up from my neighbors' drive ways. Now we just have some designated glass jars and bottles. And believe me, those treasured stones make such pretty decorations.

And from time to time we add our own little touch to them.

painted stones

Surprising to see what a permanent marker can do to a plain stone...

In the mean time

Wanna be my friend?

Festivities

Not so deep purple

Sweet baby gifts

Grand opening!

Aquarium tutorial

Stamp'n around

Vintage quilting

Long time