Melted

When I saw the doll that a friend had made for her daughter, I melted. These days sitting on the couch, doing some crochet and avoiding complex thinking, are best for me. But I'm not experienced in crochet at all. Apparently that doesn't matter with this free pattern. You could give it a try too! And mind the other ones, that are great as well! Everyone who knows Ravelry, knows these dolls. But I didn't untill now...

This one is a birthday present for L.

Heart's desire

This one is an oldy. I mean, I made it already in January of this year. Meant for L's birthday, but only finished recently! F fixed the frame with wheels and (very important!) pull out handle. Sometimes it just takes long...
For years already L was begging for it: a roller case. I don't know where her desire comes from, as we don't have one and simply love our backpacks. I refused to buy one for her before because none of us likes the available ones with awful pictures of Walt Disney, Pokemon or what so ever. A solution that came up: make one myself.

You'll recognize parts here (thanks Debora!) and here, but after this post my hands were really itching (thanks Riet, for the inspiration!). The significant parts, wheels and handle, come from a cheap Marktplaats (Dutch eBay) buy. I just replaced the ugly case. 'Just' turned to be quite a job. I think this thing was the hardest ever. It just didn't come out of my hands like that and I had to redo about every part of it. I declared myself for crazy several times, but at the same time I very much enjoyed making it. I even laughed when I discovered late at night that I made the whole thing upside down (so zippered pocket and text were wrong). The embroidered words (like done here long time ago) are going to be typical I believe...

Denim was choosen for the outside, a sweet Petit Pan fabric for the inside. The color of the piping I so love! It's super bright as I noticed before; I can't even catch it by camera. Both inner and outer fabrics were stiffened with the most stiff fusible woven layer that I could find. But in the end the case still wasn't hard enough. So finally a strip made of polystyrene panel for the corners attached to foam board for the sides had to be added between the layers. Still I'm not satisfied. Who wants to tell me the secret of all those super hard looking little cases made by you, Belgian bloggers? Although I'm pretty sure I won't make another one...

In the early morning in January L found only one present on her birthday table. After unwrapping she discovered in every pocket some more (like my iPhone!). Among them this toiletry bag.

Now it's finally hers. This way she left for Vlieland. And she walked like a lady!

To warm my daughter

Just did it slowly. Searching a pattern that convinced me to give my daughter enough warmth during her cycle trips to school, passing the river and bridge, catching a severe winter. This one (see page 6) did: a hooded, zippered, high closed, simple designed one with nice long cuffs. Then reading the pattern again and again. I'm not a very experienced sewer; making a coat is a far away story for me! But at the same time an everlasting wish-to-come-true.

I decided to change the pattern, because of course it had to be lined. Plus the pockets had to be changed. Making these was also my first time and it felt quite exciting. But I just took it slowly as I said and considered everything I did as an autodidact sewing course. That helps.

Then looking around for the right fabric: preferably natural materials and perfect colors. After a long and critical search and some doubts it resulted in this green washed woolen fabric with soft olive green lining. Totally happy, but I wasn't finished yet, did the lady in the fabric shop tell me: I needed an extra third layer to keep the wind out. Ok, a common padded fabric was added. Don't start doing this to save money. I think this is the most expensive coat L ever had! As a matter of fact did I find in the same period a beautiful second-hand coat for L, so doubts were there again. F convinced me to go on and finish sewing. So did I.

It took me some evenings sewing the outer coat, then the inner coat and finally assembling these two, especially because I had to do a lot of thinking as applying a lining was not described... The cuffs were made in double fabric. The front, back and hood three-layered and the sleeves two-layered. Everything is ready in time to go back to school again after holidays.

Really, every step I loved, including the exciting beginners moments. I'm so happy now! The finishing touch was inspired by this great lady. Btw, the one and only button hole still has to be made. My simple sewing machine is not able to do a job like that :(. I'll ask my neighbour to use hers.
Curious how it fits L? Come back later!

Dull bag

On a second-hand market in school I bought this bag a little while ago. Because it was hanging quite unattractively on our mirror I decided to cheer it up a bit. Without any plan I just started making French knots and this is where it ended. To cover all threads on the inside I made a lining too.

I'm so glad I'm back with you again. In the meantime the stick horse flew into the world. Special thanks for featuring and visiting my blog! You came with so many via One Pretty Thing, WhipUp, Craft Gossip, Kireei, Modern Parents Messy Kids and other sites. It's not my intention to talk big, but having 4,500 pageviews a day is a new experience for me!

Another secret

Of course Sinterklaas visited school too. Yesterday all classmates of M received a felted pouch for their so called diatonic Choroi flute.
There's another Sinterklaas secret, this time for M (who I strictly keep away from my blog and I-phone these days): weeks ago I attended a parents evening where we were teached how to make a felted piece of fabric. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed doing it a lot. We were asked to personally embellish and finish the pouch at home. Yes, I'll do, Sinterklaas said.

Swapping

Kristel of Vlijtig and I know each other for a long time. We are different and at the same time have a lot in common. When she saw this scarf she asked me to make one for her daughter. We agreed on a practical swap of Sinterklaas presents, so we could make them in daytime. And so became swapping a new experience for me.
I sent her this post: a scarf on which I pinned some mini-presents for her two daughters. Hopefully they all like them. Have a look at Kristel's blog which beauties she made for M!

Busy

Okay, I said to myself, you have no time to do a self-made present for your birthday girl next door in these busy days. So I bought a present. But... when I made a supersmall present for Janne (I'll tell you later) I suddenly made another one for Jil.
And thanks to these girls I did my first button covering! See here (and soon after if you are curious) the result.

Old toy

Long time ago I made my eldest this ball. Especially the beams of the sun collected a lot of love!
Now I notice the ball is still choosen to play with. This afternoon I discovered a little hole in the felt and repaired it right away.

More motherlove

Just after birth I loved to embroider these baby sheets for M and L.

Greek colleague

Last weekend a colleague married in Greece. I couldn't make it to Greece, but attended her bachelor party. For this occasion I remembered my dear friends blog on vlijtig. I took good quality lightbluegrey linen and sewed this tablecloth with two matching napkins. After embroidering I wanted to copy the idea of the initials, but that didn't work out. My daughter was at the same time making a drawing of a bride and groom, with roses. Et voilà, see here the result! The roses are 1,5 cm only and are cut out of a HEMA eraser. In the end the most difficult part of the job seemed to make a nice and recognizable drawing of a rose.