Meow!

Here's one of the very first projects I made for my boys: two cheeky little tomcats from Bettina Schons' book "Meine Kuschelfreunde: Die wunderbare Nähwelt von HerzensTREU" (in German, rough translation: "My cuddly friends: the wonderful sewing world of HerzensTREU"). Yep, I had twice the fun sewing one for each of my boys ;-)) As far as I remember, it took me several months (although definitely less than nine) from choosing fabric to the final assembly.
 

Car caddy (no. 1)

While I was writing my last post about the little pinafore that I did some applique on, I had to think of my first applique project that turned out quite well (after lots of failures, will write about this sometime). So here it is.

I found this wonderful tutorial for a car caddy over at Homemade by Jill, and I decided to try it out for a birthday present for one of my boys' friends a while ago. What shall I say? It's FABULOUS. Really well explained, sews up easily and quickly and you won't need much beside an old pair of jeans and some small pieces of fabric.

However, I did not follow instructions exactly, but made a couple of design changes. For the inside, I picked some bright green corduroy - oh, I so love sewing with corduroy! I find it easy to cut (just follow the lines ;-)), and it's wonderfully soft to the touch. It can be a little tricky as it has a tendency to shift in one direction, but careful pinning does the trick.

Pinafore

Less words, more pictures today :-) Last week, I sewed up this pinafore for our friends' cute little girl.

I had been tempted to buy this lovely fabric (from the Nördika Collection by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics) for a while, but never really knew what to do with it. Now seeing how it looks in a little dress, I guess I'll have to buy some more for myself to make a skirt - or even a dress? ;-)

Joining the buzz on childhood magic

I wasn't actually planning to get "philosophical" in my blog, but as this article about childhood magic is popping up everywhere now, I guess I'll put my two cents in. Basically it's about why I've just started this blog, so if this isn't the right time to talk about it, I don't know.

Yes, I'm one of these crafty moms who "scour Pinterest for the best ideas" and collect tips and tutorials for rainy weather, for spring crafts, for garden fun, for sewing projects and thousands of other things. I just looked it up: I have nearly 5,000 pins on my 65 Pinterest boards. Does that mean I feel in any way pressed to try all of these things myself, or with my kids? No. Do I think "Ooooh, I wanna make this" often? Yes, all the time. That's why I pin these things. And then I pick only one or two of the coolest ideas and actually break out the scissors and glue and paper muffin liners and fabric and sewing machine (erm, no, not all of these at the same time, that would be a strange project, I imagine). Do I think "So many things to do, so little time!"? Yessss. But I don't need Pinterest for that, or craft books. I have a "to do" list (or "wanna do" list, or most likely "would like to do but probably never come round to" list) of my own ideas that would keep me busy for a lifetime or two. Already. And still growing. I just feel that all those fantastic blog posts and tutorials and beautiful craft books and magazines provide me with some inspiration and background knowledge. By spending my kids' nap time reading blog posts about how to make bias tape or the best recipes for homemade finger paint, I not only do something I enjoy, I also learn something that might (or might not) be useful later on.

And that's one reason why I craft with my kids.

We're in kindergarten now!

Okay, so here it is. My first blog post. I've been planning to start this blog for quite a while now, but never really found the time to actually get it going. And suddenly, I have a tiny little bit of time to myself. Because my boys are now in kindergarten! Wow, what a huge step. Guess I haven't quite realized what it means yet.

But well, time for my first little show-and-tell. Ta-da:

I sewed little backpacks for my boys. The pattern is lillesol & pelle's "Kindergartenrucksack Rudi". I bought the ebook 1 1/2 years ago, knowing that it would take me some time to finish the bags. And then (suddenly?!) the big day was there - and I had to sew until 6 in the morning to make it in time. Kindergarten started at 9, so I still had time for a short nap, a cup of coffee and a shower. Strange how I need close deadlines to complete some projects...