Bucket hats

As we're preparing for our next vacation (woohoo :-)) I noticed that I haven't shown you something I made for the boys last summer. Maybe you remember my preparations for that road trip? Well, it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. Our kids just don't like car rides. Full stop. Maybe I'll just sew a heavy curtain to separate the back of the car so the boys can do all their whining and screaming and breaking toys and arguing with each other while we enjoy some peace and quiet in our front seats? Just kidding. This time around, we'll find out if they like flying better than car rides.

The holiday was lovely, though. We stayed at a wonderful cottage with a garden. There were other kids to play with and lots of toys. That gave us a little break from time to time. It wasn't far from the beach, and the weather was fine. So I got the pictures I was hoping for :-) And here they are (drum roll please):

What a fun day at the beach!

The pattern for these bucket hats

A birthday present

My dear mother-in-law is the best cook in the world. I wish I could share with you the delicate scents of those yummy treats that come from her kitchen... Instead, let me show you what I made her for her birthday three weeks ago:

For the oven mitt, I used the pattern and tutorials over at

Some selfish sewing...

... and it's not even Selfish Sewing Week yet ;-) But as I won't be around for SSW (and let's be honest, I probably wouldn't get beyond planning stage anyway, as usual), I'm celebrating my own selfish sewing week right now.

I finished a Julia cardigan from Mouse House Creations yesterday, using MyMandala jersey knit in pink from the Elephant Love Collection by Hamburger Liebe (for Hilco).

Would you believe that I bought the fabric

Helau!

I love making (and actually also wearing) costumes, so Karneval is is always lots of fun for me. This year my boys are finally old enough to really join the fun. When I asked them what costumes they wanted me to make them, their ideas were pretty straight-forward: A cuddly blue cat for E and an astronaut for L.

And I must say