The addiction continues!

... or gets even stronger. The food with faces kind is my absolute favorite among all of the kawaii characters! I enjoy sewing these by hand as it's so relaxing in front of the tv.

DIY: Farfalle!

I think HABA makes very nice things for a children's grocery store, but when I saw the price of a small bag of farfalle made of felt I thought it was kind of ridiciulous! Then I figured I could make something similar quite easily. And it really was a piece of cake! Hilde and I eat them daily now. Simply cut little rectangular pieces out of felt. Use a zig zag scissor for the shorter edges. Fold them lengthwise. Stitch them together in the middle. Done!
You could make them three-colored as well (just like the HABA ones!), but Hilde and I prefer the whole wheat variety. If you use the fabulous Rainbow Classicfelt from the Kunin Group you'll have vegan farfalle and real Italian noodles should be vegan of course. (Oh yes, I didn't eat the cat and am still vegan - I figured it would be the right thing to do.)
And just because it's cute. Hilde featuring the cupcake shirt I made her a while ago. Desserts are a must!

Look, what's for dinner!

I came inside to find this on our kitchen table and decided right away that this vegan crap ain't for me anymore. Anyone want a piece?

Crafty?

I'm trying to turn Hanni's daughter into a little crafting addict. So far I didn't have to do much. She was hooked right away. Can you tell she was really concentrated and focussed?She already has a lot of precision going on too!

Party time!

Yesterday I finally got to meet with my friends and celebrated the end of my time at the university. We had dinner at my place first and then went bowling.
I decided that we needed prizes and I knew very early what they should be, but as usual waited to the last minute to sew the little pouches. I made different ones because I wanted to try and meet everybody's preferences. I think it worked out pretty well. At least I hope everybody was happy with what they ended up with.I always spend a lot of time with making up my mind and when I found somebody to help me with that, I figured my friends would appreciate a little decision maker as well: Unazukins were put into the bags along with a few treats.I had so much fun yesterday! Thank you, J., J., K. and P. for being such awesome friends!

Thank you, Mette!

I received a wonderful swap package from Mette aka Erleperle yesterday. When I opened it, I found an amazingly pretty box and inside were lots and lots of lovely things. A little chocolate bar was gone before I could take a picture. I don't understand how that could happen, but yeah, it seams to become a habbit.
Mette says she was in spring mood when she finished my package. I think it shows and it makes me so happy 'cause I'm really looking forward to spring. Lots of happy colors for happy projects.

Thank you oh so much, Mette!

Is this shabby chic?

I don't really have a clue. But still this was inspired by one of my favorite Japanese crafting magazines "Café Special Vol. 2, Linen & Cotton" and Hannah's description "Think French shabby chic - cabbage roses, polka dots, stripes, duck-egg blues, light pinks etc.". When I saw the rose fabric at Charlotta's I had to have it. Not just for the coasters but because I found it irresistible - and I'm not usually a big fan of rose fabrics. This is different. Obviously a few other people thought so too, because it's already gone. Too bad I didn't buy more of this gorgeous Lecien fabric! Now I will be really stingy with the rest of it.
I just hope Hannah will get close to being as happy with this as I am with the lovely goodies she sent.

Spring?

Four days of beautiful sunshiney weather. Is spring really here already? I'd love to think so !

My gift wrapping says spring as well!
And so do my fabric choices these days...

Stressed?!

I kind of were when I came back from a very unpleasant visit to the dentist yesterday (two teeth missing). I could have really needed some dessert but of course that was out of the question right then. Instead I got cheered up by a wonderful RAK from the amazing Charlie aka Purl City. A knitting magazine, lots of chocolote (by the time I took the pic today one was already mysteriously missing), more of those great love hearts and two chocolatey books. So nice!And there was also this: Beautiful stitch markers! All you knitters need to head over to her shop. She really has the most gorgeous colors for her yarn and I'm sure she'd be happy to make some vegan yarn as well (I already have some, remember?). Just a while back I also received another RAK from YowlYY. Which also arrived at just the right time and really made my day! Two knitting magazines with great extras!
Today when I really needed even more sugar, I received my "Vegan Goodies" swap package from Sweden. Helena sent me very cool stuff (the little piece of sandalwood soap I got as well is already in the bathroom making it smell very nice!) and a recipe for a mushroom risotto that sounds very yummy... I think my teeth (or the places were my teeth were) would like something creamy as risotto right now! They also were very much okay with the Nöt-Crème, which as you can see was already opened by me. I had no trouble eating that and I love it! I think Johanna will have to bring me tons of it when she goes to Sweden the next time.

Yeah, I'm lucky! Thank you so much, Carlie, YowlYY and Helena. You really know how to cheer someone up!!!

Looking for some action!

He always is! Or almost always. He also loves his quiet time on my lap and can get quite upset if he doesn't get it. He always tells us what he wants... most of the time in a very demanding way. He is just so cute!When he was very little he was given to a woman as a gift. She didn't want him because he was black and he ended up at the animal rights group I was volunteering for at the time. C and I took him in as a foster kitten. I always want to keep all the animals we take in but C usually won't let me. With Mücke it was different. C fell in love with this outgoing and very demanding little guy straight away and he for a change was the one who wanted to keep him. Of course I was nice enough to allow it...

Just one quick shot!

That's all I could take, because as usual I waited to the last minute to take pictures and then it was so much more difficult than I expected it to be.
I tried to sew a little red riding hood costume for Hilde's doll and I will have to show you the whole outfit some other day. This is just the little dress. I also made her a pair of pajamas but again no picture. Hmpf.
And before you all ask: No, I did not make the gorgeous doll! I'd love to try again though - once I find some vegan yarn that will make good doll's hair (any ideas?!). Until then I'll just stick with my little version of it... or sew some more clothes for Hilde's.

Catching up!

Johanna had asked me to sew some oven mitts for her aunt way before Christmas but I was so busy with my exams that we agreed she'd give her a gift certificate first. Now the mitts are done.Not without the usual problems though:
Since last week I'm the proud owner of a wonderful serger but the two of us still have some difficulties with each other and probably will need some more time to bond. That didn't stop me from using it when sewing the mitts. To keep it short: I cut a thumb off... or almost off. Very smart indeed. I had to start all over because I didn't have enough fabric left for a third mitt. Not one of my favorite activities... The good thing was that I could make some adjustments to the pattern, because I found them a bit to tight at the arms first.
I used the pattern from "simple sewing" by Lotta Jansdotter. A great book! Lots of very inspiring pictures and nice projects.So the mitts are done and I actually finished a couple of other things too. Doll clothes for Hilde's doll, but I can't show them yet...

Oh my!

Today I received the most amazing package from the wonderful Hannah! We had tagged each other on the swap-bot forum before and I received something so extremely cute that I started to stalk her and after just a short while I asked her if she would do a private swap with me in such a very clever way (haha) that she couldn't decline and then actually said she would get the better deal. Now this is so funny because she hasn't received my swap yet and now that I hold hers in my hands I can say that this won't happen. I'm not able to top it, but look for yourself:I received all of the above even though we had only agreed to swap ONE mushroom pendant!Everything was wrapped beautifully with little extra notes.She made this pendant first but wasn't sure I'd like it... (I know! She's crazy!)She then made this blue one but still wasn't sure I'd like it. (So funny!)
So she made me a THIRD! Hannah, you silly! I love them all and can't even say which one would be my favorite!

But like that wasn't enough Hannah also gave me these gorgeous buttons (which I had admired on flickr before - were she said she'd send these out for a swap and I got all jealous):Then I also got a cupcake tea towel... ... and a cute little cupcake candle.Now I don't know how to thank you, Hannah! I really wish you'll just get close to being as happy about what I'll send you as I'm now with all my new lovely things. Thank you soooo much!