Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Vacation Packing: Take and Leave















What's this?














Mademoiselle Potette Plus - Carolina's new portable potty.














With wings.

Another pair of wings we can leave behind - water wings for Clara, as she successfully completed her "seahorse" swimming course this week, she is now officially a swimmer.


















Carolina got a her own pair of swim diapers, matching her big sister's swimsuit - Pink Dots with Frill.














We are all looking forward to going on vacation. Clara's smile says it all - she leaves behind her first lost tooth.














Offline for 10 days or so.

Friday, October 19, 2012

I Heart Summer














Summer is back for a three-day-stint in Germany!
A short goodbye to scarfs, sweaters and heating, and hello again to smooth temperatures, birds singing in the morning, warming rays, and air that smells ripe and delicious. What a difference a couple of temperatures make... they send me straight back to a summer project that I had already left behind.

I really enjoyed plant printing this summer (blogged here or here or here) and did my last print (for the time being) with our neighbour's ivy, that reminded me of little hearts.














Printing with ivy was not as I had expected, the leaves were thick and water-repellent and the resulting prints didn't really resemble hearts. So I just let it lie around in the studio, in the hope that the prints would age like wine and get better.














This morning I looked at the printed ivy again, the air from outside coming into studio just smelled and felt so good and suddenly the prints became my last summer souvenir. Sewing those two prints together and stuffing the pillow was a breeze.














One last round in the garden, then the ivy pillow can hibernate on the couch.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Mallorca Pants

Carolina's pants for catching the sun, feeling the waves and picking flowers are ready.


















This is the front.


















This is the back, with the addition of a cute yoke. The turquoise fabric is baby corduroy and the yellow is vintage cotton.

They are the Quick Change Trousers from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings, and they have been on my inner sewing list since I got the book (which is before I was even pregnant with Carolina). The pants came together quite smoothly over the course of three days, whenever I had some sewing time to spare (or just TOOK it). Carolina even played in the studio at some stages of the sewing process - which must have been an incentive for her, because she took her three first little steps in a row, when she tried to reach the bookshelf (which book did she pick? - Yoga for children).

So chances are high, that Carolina will make a couple more steps in her Mallorca Pants - we will take them on vacation with us and I hope to come back with beautiful photos of Carolina wearing them against the beautiful backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean island.


















Good for reducing luggage - the pants are reversible. What a star!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Pink Moment of the Week






















 ... the roses in our garden, blooming for the second time this year.
(first time blogged here)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sun & Sea & Little Flowers














Work in progress - an addition to Carolina's wardrobe for the soon-to-come family vacation. Unusual colours for me, reflecting my wish for sunshine and blue waves and, yes, little flowers.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Weekend Summary

Home again after teaching a weekend retreat for pregnant women at a yoga ashram at the North Sea. A wonderful weekend with wonderful women (and my own little family) full of yoga, laughter, dancing, fresh air and good food.



Some examples of the beautiful birth art that was created (inspired by exercises from midwife Pam England's book Birthing from Within).

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

What Carolina likes to do at Home

If you ever wondered what life with a 10-month-old baby girl can be like, here is some insight.


















Carolina likes watching the washing machine in process...














... and helping me to sort the laundry afterwards.














She plays with her own toys every now and then...














... but finds the toys in her big sister's room much more interesting.














Carolina also sneaks into Papa's room...














... to tear at the not-so-very-adhesive cover of the sitting room table (here is how we made it), that has found temporary asylum in Papa's room, so Carolina has free access to the couch for walking along.














The most engaging thing in Mama's studio...














... is the wheel of of the antique Victoria sewing table.

Felt feels good to play with too...














... maybe Carolina feels that this is the fabric of her coming birthday present.

But also other rooms of the house encourage roaming about...



 










... crawling through a chair in the living room...














... and taking a well-deserved 2-seconds-rest afterwards.

The furnace offers some technical power of attraction...














... as does the dish washer in the kitchen.














This little girl already likes to help...














... her Mama when it comes to cleaning.














Exhausting thing, I tell you...














... getting up from another 2-seconds-rest.

For fortifying, eating noodles is a favourite...














... but dropping them and picking them up from the floor tastes even better!














Also delicious...














... tearing up and eating paper...














and how can it be not... Mama's wool and knitting.





Sunday, October 7, 2012

A Day Living Up to Its Name

Introducing today in XL ...

















... Sun Day ...

















... Blue Skies ...

















... lots of trees.






























































PS: Passionate Sunday.


Saturday, October 6, 2012

Plain Pink

And then the sun came out this afternoon... the perfect moment to hold my face into the warming rays and get a sunny shot of the tunic I sewed this week while masses of rain were pouring down (don't mention the wind).



Same pattern like last Saturday (see here), this tunic is just so much quick sewing fun, that I had to make another. And oh-so-comfortable.

I tried a new stitch on my Carina sewing machine again - this time an overlock stitch (it is stitch number 09, visible in this post), with a special presser foot.



As I am not having the patience right now to thread and adjust my serger, I thought I might also give it a go and see what this will look like while getting to know Miss Carina better and better (I'll spare you the embarrassing details of my shouting fit, when I pressed a wrong button, which resulted in a blocked machine with stuck thread and me, who eventually fixed the machine after two hours of surgery of Miss Carina's inner functions).

Was it worth it?



It looks OK, a more professional inside finish, but it caused the fabric to pucker - maybe jersey is not the first choice for this stitch (I guess, you could just use the good old zigzag stitch the pattern suggested, takes less time, less yarn and is just as durable). But hey, if I can get a chance sewing with KNITS while not actually knitting, how can I resist?