Candy

I told you about La Droguerie in Paris. That's where I found these candy like beads. Yesterday I had to wait during M's violin rehearsal and there this simple necklace was born. During her performance later on, M gave me a little signal that she liked it. Btw, they made me cry with their first performance after summertime.

This silicone souvenir from Paris is made by an artist with a beautiful name: Tzuri Gueta. M and I found it just 30 minutes before we had to leave by train back to Rotterdam again. And certainly no regrets!

Family wear?

She wanted to have these. To wear under shorts with tights. I allowed her to buy her first sort of unhealthy footwear. In the shop I joined her. It feels like former times! Perfect Saturday's wear. But as well under a jacket to the office.
Now the three of us have Allstars. F is a persistent refuser, so we finally canceled our plan to give him a pair for his birthday tomorrow.

By hand this time

This week I will be visiting Denmark. I'm invited by Kvadrat to enjoy three days of esthetic delight, full of design, fabrics, architecture, interiors, art...
The felt for this bag I bought already some weeks ago. The yellow strap is like here a thrifted judo belt. It's clear that last weekend a Kvadrat bag had to be made to accompany me to Denmark.

On the outside felt of Wernerkinck, on the inside a mix of fabric samples of Kvadrat: the traditional Hallingdal, Stripes of Paul Smith, Layers Vineyard of Hella Jongerius, Happy of Tord Boontje. I'm happy to carry all those great designers along.

Today I used the bag for the first time. A new project?, a colleague asked me. Yep, just finished. To be honest, it's wasn't a simple process. But it is what was in my mind. It's made all by hand, because I preferred to sit on our couch :). The stitches are done as invisible as possible (but very visible in strong sunlight!). It appeared to be easy to get the needle through the felt layers. Luckily the fabric samples already had overlocked edges. I'm not fully satisfied with the snappers. These are of Prym (I thought a trusty brand), but I think they snap not strong enough. Anybody better alternatives?

Hometowngirl

Last Saturday I bought two (!) new dresses. The silk one above (which is consiously shown unsharp ;)) is designed by a for me up till now unknown hometowngirl: Monique van Heist. After some research on internet, I discovered she's kind of spectacular in the fashion world: she won several awards. I can imagine, because I'm so happy with this dress!

Then a question. In my favorite fashion shop in Rotterdam I was recommended to wear my low boots with bare legs to a wedding which I attended Saturday evening. I felt quite comfortable, but what do you think?

Finally, the beautiful body on the right is certainly not mine. The bride's sister was wearing this dress. A better look at her dress brought me to the idea to sew copy (new English word?) this model some day. Of course I'll keep you posted.

And again

Yes, I like this fresh, summery one too! I'll use it to cheer up my quite greyish wardrobe :).

Did it again

Went to Amsterdam again. Bought some lovely red and white beads. Here's my new red necklace. The white one will be created soon after. 

If you want to make one too, you could use my tutorial.
Now I changed something at described step 3. I noticed one's getting a more jumpy effect, which I wanted to achieve, by crossing the wire in front of the wire you're holding sometimes before the bead and sometimes after the bead. (I hope it's clear what I mean. Maybe someone wants to correct my language?)

Taking some rest

Packed my holiday present. I'm ready for it.
Wish you all a great summertime and like to see you again in a few weeks!

Update: Suddenly saw the color similarity with my header :).

Good-looking

Wannahave-beads are best found in a not-being-internet shop. I think you should feel beads in your hand to make the right choice. And nosing around in beads shops is a feast to the eye! This tutorial brings you to a necklace to show the beauties you've bought.
If you like to read more about pictured necklace, just go here. And if you like to read about different possibilities, just go here, here, here and here.

This is what you need to make a single wired necklace.

1. a handful of beads you have fallen in love with
2. wire. Length, thickness and color fully depend on your personal preferences. The wire I used was 3 meter long, estimated 0,5 mm thick and green colored. You could even lengthen the wire during the process by connecting one wire to another, using a tiny squeezable metal ring. You can get the tiny ring out of sight by positioning it inside one of the beads.
3. a small lock
4. 2 tiny open rings
5. 2 foldable end pieces.

In case the length of the necklace is that long that you can put it over your head, you don't need the tiny pieces mentioned at 3, 4 and 5. All you need then is one tiny squeezable metal ring to attach both ends of the wire.

Wannahave-beads

Too much sewing around here lately. I like it that the tags on the sidebar show me that it's time for something else, something down in the list, for instance jewelry! That's why I visited this shop in Amsterdam selling a great collection of beads. There were just 5 minutes left before closing time and I hardly managed to select a handful of beads.
Today I wore this at the office. I'm not yet finished experimenting, but for this basic model I could do a tutorial. Would you appreciate that? Maybe you're aware of plenty of such how-to's on internet. To be honest, I didn't check myself yet... I told you before I was inspired by my neighbour's necklace some time ago.

Out of fashion?

Before I told you we had a Christmas dinner in style in the office. To be able to wear a sleeveless dress I was looking for a bolero in town. But, I was told, they're out of fashion and no more available... Mmm, what to do? I remembered this post and decided to knit one. Due to a lack of time I wasn't able to search for a pattern, so I just started to knit once I had bought the wool. Luckily the fit appeared to be fine, so it's no shame to share a tutorial. The bolero is made of exactly 3 balls of yarn of 100 gram each. I used this yarn, needle 8.
Here comes my very-first-can't-be-more-simple tutorial:

Addition: to see the kids version, click here.

Productive

Wow, what a week. My job is extremely busy as usual before Christmas time. Early starts, long days. Pfff. I survive by emptying my head and making things in the evenings. Planning so far: a necklace (Monday), a bolero (Tuesday and Wednesday), an addition for the nativity scene (later this week).
A small item I was pleased with was this experimental necklace, that I plan to wear tonight at a Christmas dinner in the office. A few weeks ago I fell in love with a necklace my neighbour was wearing. After a good look I tried to copy the tied knots into the wire. Once clear it's fairly easy to make. After five knotted wires the work was done. Now doors are opened; there surely will be more necklaces in the future.
In the morning my daughter was amazed and asked me: did you make this yourself? She loved to be a model for the camera to show you the necklace.

Me too

The leftover thread was laying on the kitchentable and suddenly was into my good old scarf. To make it more easy I quickly handsewed the ends together with a colormatching sewing thread. The crosses are less easy to make than you would expect. To get a neat result on both sides you have to take a look on either side of your work to control where the needle is coming out. The circular scarf can be wrapped two or three times, depending the cold outside.
Now M and I are a visible set too!

Colormix

In Bloggerland she's showing up often: Kristina Klarin of Kris color-stripes. This lady is making great necklaces that were so long on my wishlist, I couldn't resist it anymore: I ordered here even two of them! 
I love the colors (you should see her recent work too), but in real life the colors appear to be slightly different from her site. Good to know for those with the same longing.