You may kiss the bride...

Tomorrow I have a bachelor party and they asked met to make something so that anyone can see who the lucky girl is. And since I had a very busy week at work, I kept it simply, but I think you can´t overlook who the bachelorette is... Do you?

That reminded me that I forgot our 7th wedding anniversary this week... I rest my case, I had a very busy week and so did hubbie, hence, we did nothing, not even go out to diner. Oh well, next time better.
Today son #1 passed another swimclass (Congrats!), so next week we can sleep in because he is in a higher class that starts at 10.00. That is a relief until son #2 starts his lessons in September at 8.30... then we spent all our Saturday morning in the pool...
Afterwards we drove to Katwijk in Holland to visit friends that celebrated their little girls First birthday, then we had something for lunch with other friends and their two girls and then we all went to the next birthday of a big boy that turned three. He celebrated his birthday on teh beach, so that was great fun for all the kids and their parents.
We cut the birthday festivities short since son #3 is teething and he was enoyable, do I need to say more?

It´s a girl!

The Zoo of Antwerp is very proud of the birth of a little elephant. It is a girl and she is called Kai-Mook, what means ´pearl´ the same as my name, Margy.
She is the forth baby of her mother but they were all still-born, so this is very special. And this morning we went to visit the little baby. Since we have a year-pass we are allowed in an hour before opening, so it was still very quiet when we walked through teh park and you can see the animals getting fed.
We had to wait about 30 minutes before the doors were opened of the elephant enclosure, but this little baby was worth it, she is gorgeous and tiny.
Afterwards, we got ´suikerbonen´ which are traditional chocolate birth candies that are given here in Belgium when you visit a baby. It is nice to see that she is doing well and luckily it is a girl or otherwise she would have to move to another zoo with more space. Because they don´t have males in Antwerp since the zoo is rather small since it is a very old zoo.

First drop for the Toy Society

Yes, I joined the Toy Society and made my first drop. I made a happy monster, gave it a tag and letter and off he went. I know, I am belgian and he was made in Belgium, but theis weekend we were in Rijnsburg, Holland, so I chose to drop him near the sea, since my husband comes from this part of Holland.
I dropped him in Katwijk, as you can see from the church in the background and he was left at a pole near the beach.
When I came back to check on him, he was gone, so I hope he found a good home.

Cars Quilt

Long overdue, I finished son #2 's Cars quilt. I started it during my maternity leaver and somehow it ended up my WIP pile. But it did finish it and he loves it. The front is made from cotton handkerchiefs that they sold in a local discount store and the back is a panel and some chequered fabric I bought on internet. This way he can use the back side to play with his cars.

So now son #1 wants a Spiderman quilt. And since I have never seen spiderman fabric overhere, I will have to take a look on the internet. Does anyone have ideas?

Frog quilt finished

The frog quilt I was making for son #1´s teacher is finished. I finished the binding and I only have to attach the label at the back. But I will make a nice label since I have time enough. It will be his farewell gift at the end of the year for his teacher. I hope she likes it.
But I am sure she does, since she collects all sorts of frog items. The fabrics have been bought from etsy or given to me and even one was won in the great stash giveaway. Thanks again for that one. Here is a picture of teh fabrics more in detail.

The weather over here is very poor. Rain and wind, so indoor time. The kids are playing with the Wii together with DH and I will start on the binding of son #2´s Cars quilt. I have already attached it on the front so I will hand sew it to the back. When it is dry and son #3 wakes up, we will have a stroll through the park to get some fresh air.

And we are all looking foward to the short week next week, since thursday is a official holiday and DH and I are also off on Friday, so we will have a really long weekend.

Mother´s day

Yesterday we celebrated Mother´s day, although the official version here in Antwerp is in August, the kids brought home these wonderful gifts they made in school. Son #1 made a car with a lavender bag inside, for in my car and son #2 made a small cresson plant in a flower shape. I aslo got three wonderful pink rozes, for each of my pirates. EDIT: many people ask me where the pirated coats come from, they are Playama´s.

The sign says it all, 'my' motto. My mum got me this sign and I have to hang it in my kitchen, this is so true for our household, LOL.

Doll quilt

I saw this wonderful doll quilt/duvet on etsy How to. The example is a duvet, but I made it a little quilt. The sleeping animals are just so cute and peaceful.
Now I only have to find a little girl that needs a doll quilt, since my boys think this is to pink, I will make them one with a crocodile...

Tutu

My boss and his wife got a baby girl and I wanted to make something really girly, so what says more ´girl´ than pink, tulle and bling bling. So I decided to make their little girl a tutu onsie.
On thursdaynight Hubbie and I went out, since all kids stayed at my parents and when I pasted a fabric/notions store, I jumped in quickly and found what I was looking for. So this is the result. I think it looks very cutsie and I hope they like it to. This is the girliest I know, since I live in a male household, LOL.

Japanese magazines

A friend of my mum visited Japan and she bought me these gorgeous magazines. They are just wonderful. I can´t understand why they have such lovely magazines in japan and not overhere? These Japanese ladies must be very crafty to see the beautiful work, quilt, espcially the bags they make. I will make myself a cup of coffee and sit down in the sun and dream that I have the time to make all these wonderful projects. Thank you very much Marie-Louise.

Visit to the farm

Son #1 went on his first schooltrip. They went to a working farm by bus, their first trip in a real coach... He is the one at the back on teh right. They were allowed to pet some animals and they also made a real bread.

This is the result, it looked and tasted great, they really did a good job. They also were proud of their achievements at the farm.

It was a very memorable day and the kids loved it, so I think these schooltrips are a good thing.

Today he also brought this piece of art home, a farm inspired mobile.

Meikevers = May bugs

If you see very carefully you can see son#2 holding some leafs and 2 May bugs or cockchafers. My dad found 7 of them and took 3 of them with him to our house. They are nearly eradicated in the last century by the use of pesticides, so I was very surprised that he had found some. I remember them sitting in the hedge of my parents as a kid, but I haven´t seen them since.
Nic took them to school to show the other kids after I informed the teacher and after school we set them free in our hedge so they can lay their eggs there and maybe start a new colony.

Cool play kitchen

Since my son got a wooden play kitchen and a cousin asked to make her daughter a fabric kitchen, I have been on the lookout for something like that. And look what I found on the web:

I think it is a great idea to recycle these large cans. If you want to see them in the shop, I saw them at Lunoa. Not much is going on here at the moment, I finished quilting the frog quilt and now I have to attach the binding, but yesterday evening I had a meeting at city hall of teh GECORO and when I arrived early (I am somebody that tries to get in early at appointments) I saw that the Red cross was having a blood donation rally at City hall, so since I had time, I donated some blood as well. As a reward I got a cookie, so I had a cookie to go with my coffee in the meeting. Oh, they forgot the coffee, but the idea was OK.

Tutorials

I made these two baby jar pincushions following the tutorial at craftpudding. I admit, the small jars are nicer, but helas, my boy wants big jars, so I attempted the pincushion with the bigger jar and I think it worked out fine. These pincushion are cute and I have enough jars, that is for sure.

I also made this barbie sized blue berry pie, but I can´t seem to find the link to the tutorial, will look for it and post it later. This is a really easy one, I admit, the ´dough´ should have been a lighter brown, but I think these are really cute. And the idea of using a beer bottle crown as pie pan, genius.

Happy Easter !

Happy Easter, we have been staying at DH´s parents place in Holland since the kids stayed with them during the first week of the Easter break from school.
This morning we had breakfast with DH´ brother and SIL. As you can see, we had sandwiches in teh shape of a chicken and colored eggs, which the boys decorated.
Son #1 decorated the eggs and son #2 the box in which the eggs are stored, so it looks lovely. After breakfast we cleaned up and packed to go home.

But not before a drive through the flower fields. My FIL lives in the part of Holland where they grow flowerbulbs, and at the moment Hyacinths and what we call Easter flowers are bloming. The tulips are not yet blooming, so you didn´t have the typical red flowerbeds, but nevertheless, it looked fantastic.

Easter egg hunt

This morning we left home at 8.00 in the morning to have Easter brunch at DH´s work. Since he is president of the PV, we had to be early and start organizing stuff and getting things ready with the other members.

The Egg hunt was a big hit among the kids. As you can see, son#2 was very proud of the two eggs he found, and his sandwich.

There were also two clowns that made balloon animals, which the kids loved. son #3 got an apple, if you watch closely, you can see the little black stem on the bottom.

And I loved this flower arrangement. I think it is gorgeous, isn´t it?

So we had a day well spent.

Getting ready for Easter

I made these two bags for the boys so they can store the eggs they find tomorrow. Tomorrow we save an Easter brunch at DH´s work. The kids can egg hunt and afterwards there is a big brunch. So this will give them a headstart... I think not but OK, they think they will collect more eggs. There is no contest since all the eggs are collected in one big box, but it is the game that counts.
And look you joined us as well... This is one of two and maybe three turtles that found a home in our pond. None of them are ours, and we knew when we bought the house that there was one turtle in the pond, but last summer we definitely saw two turtles laying in the sun and DH also saw one in the water... I will try to catch the other ones as well to check if they came out of their hibernation OK or if we need a vet.

Giveaway

Aren´t these pillows fantastic? Kellie is hosting a giveaway on her site Don´t look now.
I immediately ordered her patterns for these pillows, because they are absolutely fabulous. Check out her blog, she has some gret tutorials as well.

Latest creation

This is my latest creation. I finished him this afternoon and right away took a picture of him. What is he you say? I don´t know.
I ;ade him with a little piece of cotton I had left over.

Birthday

Today son #2 turned 3, so I made him a big brooch to wear to school.

And since he likes trucks so much, a truck cake for the class. You can buy these trucks and accessoiries in teh supermarket.

And the teacher also made some fun pictures from the celebrations in the class. He got to sit on the nice chair and got a crown (a bit big, but very pretty). I think he had a wonderful day. Congratulations Peter!

Cars

Today my FIL came to pick up my jeep to have it restored to it´s former glory. We will also have it repainted and I chose purple, so we will see.
And while we are on the subject of cars. My FIL gave us this picture of his dad´s trucks. He had his own flower company and these were the trucks they drove around in. On the billborad in front of the trucks it states ´Nic den Heijer´, the same name as DH and son#1. So this is a special picture and we will hang it in a special place in our home.