Matroyshka´s

I made this little lady for a Matroyshka magnet swap on swap-bot. I haven´t finished her quite yet, and I first have to figure out where I can buy a small magnet... But I will do so next friday, when I have more time.

And these two ladies also found a home her in Schilde. I purchased them from Sew sew suck ur toe. The larger of the two ladies is quite big, I guess about 22 cm and she has her little girl nice and comfy in her apron-like skirt.

Quilt giveaway

Would you like to win this quilt? Go to http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/, Dana is giving away this gorgeous quilt.

Nic´s birthday

Today Nic turned 4. Yesterday night I made this Beehive cake with my WS cakepan. I think it turned out petty well. I made it so Nic could take it with him to school to celebrate his birthday in class.

And as far as I can see it, they enjoyed the cake, because nothing came back and it was a 1 kg cake...
As you also can see, the kids wear uniforms to school here.

When Nic came back from school we also had some pastery ready to celebrate his birthday at home, including the 4 candles which he blew out in one go. good for you Nic. And to top off the day, he and his brother are now spending the night at bomma and bompa (my parents).

Weekend

DH arrived back home on Saturday after spending some time working in Ghana (Africa). SO this relieved a bit of the pressure of taking care of the two boys of me. They are sweethearts, but can be very demanding in the attention (read MY attention) area.

So today I could make the two presents I wanted to. Two girls in Nic´s class are having birthdayparties, so I made them these little handbags.

I hope they like pinks, but most girls do, so we´ll see on wednesday. I only have to finish the lining, will probably do that tomorrow evening. I don´t feel like it at the moment.

I also was awarded a partner for the Spring quilt swap, so I must start thinking colors and theme. Oh well, I have some time left.

Vilde arrived in Schilde

This little green doll is called Vilde and she arrived at our home yesterday. I bought her from Ravenhill. She is precious and will get a new home in our new nursery. OK, if it is a girl. If the baby is a boy, she will keep me company at my sewing table, together with the other matryoshka dolls I collected and am still collecting.

Pay it forward

I saw this on several blogs and it sounds like great fun. It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based on the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on.
So here’s how it works:I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange.

I will email each person for their mailing addresses and send a handmade gift and maybe some extra goodies. I won´t send it this month, but I promise to send you a handmade gift.

What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog to 3 different people. Unfortunately this is only possible for those of who have a blog. So come on.....and see who wants to pay it forward. :)

Mod Mom giveaway

Check out these great prizes from mod mom:

tots-on-the-go :: 1 inline stroller with doubles kit $710

whole foods :: $100 gift card +3 heart gift baskets $250

barefoot books :: 12 eco books/cd + 1 grand prize $240

green works :: 12 green cleaners gift baskets $300

baby banz :: 4 child's sun protection swim sets $300

Check out her blog for to participate in this great giveaway.

Babushka dolls

These gorgeous little dolls arrived in the mail this week. The left doll is from Erleperle and the right is a precious doll from Holland made by Dutch Sisters. They are the first two dolls I collected, but they won´t be the last, I think they are too cute.

They will both be joining the new nursery that I have to decorate. I am still not sure what colors to use or even a style. If anybody has a great idea? Please let me know. If it is a girl I will definitely go for the babushka doll theme and pinks, if it is a boy, I will keep the dolls all to myself. What do you think?

Birthday party

Yesterday we (DH and me) had our birthday party. Most of our friends could make it, so we had a great time. I am glad that last year I started a wishlist, so I got the stuff I asked for. I also got some money so I will treat myself to a couple of patterns. I was soiled rotten and among a lot of things, I also got craft books:





I can't wait to try some of the patterns in these books.

Winter quilt arrived

My Swap winter quilt from 4 Season´s quilt swap arrived in the mail. It is a gorgeous Santa Clause on purple fabric, my favorite color! Thank you very much Anne I love it and it will get a special place on the wall next christmas.
At the moment I am making arrangements for our birthday party tomorrow. It will have a Tirol (Austria) theme, so I will show some pics.

Giveaways at ModMom

Check out these fabulous prizes that are in ModMom Valentine Giveaway:

roxio :: 10 mac digital burning software suites $1,000
tots-on-the-go :: 1 inline stroller with doubles kit $700+
kideko :: 1 mod luxury bedding set $260
blurb :: 10 publish-your-own professional books $300
global exchange :: 11 organic fair trade chocolates $250
itzbeen :: 6 digital baby care data trackers $150+
divvies :: 10 dozen vegan cupcakes $240
whole foods :: 3 heart healthy gift baskets $150
green works :: 12 green cleaners gift baskets $300
barefoot books :: 12 eco books/cd + 1 grand prize $240

Birthday!

Yes, I turned 36 today. Got some great presents from Niels and my kids and family. I was really spoiled and had a wondefull day. So I will keep this short and enjoy it some more.

Pregnant

BigPigGraphics.com

Yes, a lot of people already know, but we are expecting our forth child. I am about 14 weeks pregnant and we expect the new baby around July 25th.
So I better get started with a quilt and other handmade things I want to make. But where do I find the time with my two boys running around in the house?

Another thing: You are getting older when...
you go into a perfume store and the clerk doesn´t offer you a free perfume sample but three anti-wrinckle cream samples. Yes, it happened to me yesterday.

Back from Austria

We are back from our skitrip to Aschau in Tirol. Not much snow, no snow at all at ground level, but above 1500 meters it became better.
We tried to enroll Nic into some ski lessons, but as you can see, he didn´t like them. Especially the german speaking teachers. So we pulled him from the class as we don´t want to spoil his ´skidrive´ in the future.

He did however like the little rodeo bull they had in the restaurant where we had a pizza buffet, as did all the grownups. But they had to manage on a bigger version of this little rodeo calf.

We had a great time, but next year we would like some more snow, especially at ground level. Niels had a couple of good days of skiing, so that was OK, and we had two days of great weather (sunny) at the skihut.

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and happy New Year. See you all back in 2008 !

Happy Holidays

We are making the last preparations for the family christmas lunch and diner, so I want to wish you all a wonderful christmas.

Four Season doll quilt swap - Winter

Since I am sich at home with a sinus infection, I thought I can spent the ´awake´ time to start making my doll quilt for the Four Seasons Doll quilt swap. My partner didn´t wan´t a holiday quilt but liked snow, so I made a snowman quilt.

Will have to go to the shop to get some binding, but Iam bound to the house because of me being sick, so when I can, I will get some binding and finish the quilt so I can send it early.

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas was in town, he visited my DH´work, so we paid him a visit with the kids. As you can see, our youngest was not really enthousiastic. Nic however listened very well to what Sinterklaas had to tell him, because he knows that otherwise he won´t get a present. And spoiled they were, Nic got a playmobil knight set and Peter a box with duplo lego. So thank you very much Sinterklaas.

Christmas ornament swap

This is what I made for the cross stritch christmas ornament swap my friend Elaine organised. It is sent to my swap partner. No, I am not telling who it is, she will find out whenit arrives at her mailbox. I hope she likes it. the ornament combines two things I like, baking and cross stitching.

Tilda

These are my first two results from the two Tilda books I bought. The first is a sort of doily for Christmas. I made that one for a friend who celebrated her birthday last saturday.

And the mask I made for a friend that is going to hospital tomorrow for a spinal operation, so I made her a nice sleeping mask for her recovery.

Gorgeous books

I am really spoiled this last week. I saw this book (ISBN 978-82-02-27482-5) in our local craft store. It is really expensive so I didn´t buy it, but when DH herad of it, he told me to get it, so I did. It is a gorgeous book with christmas decorations. I just love it, will have to try some soon.
I made some pics to give you a glimps of what is inside.

Then yesterday this book arrived with the mail. It is from the same designer (ISBN 978-908-574-391-0) turned out. Ardiane At Home is a dutch magazine, and they said they would bring out a book, but it turns out it is a translated version of the norwegian book. But nevertheless, I love it, so I also will give you a glimps into this book.

Dora Live

This morning we went to the matinee of Dora´s Pirate adventure. We, that is Nic and I, because Peter is still too small to get the theatre.
Nic had a great time especially since I bought him and Peter a Dora flash light... The show was really good and focused on kids and we had tickets for the 5th row, so we had great seats.
Great show!

Happy Halloween

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween!

Ready for Halloween

As you can see: we are ready for Halloween. Nic carved a nice pumpkin with my parents, which we placed at our front door. Halloween isn´t a big thing in Belgium, but it is starting to get bigger. I guess shops need a new 'thing' between the starting of teh new schoolyear and Sinterklaas. So Halloween was a good 'new' holiday.

Well, we also went for it, although the pumpkin is the only Halloween decoration we have. And I must admit, I think it looks spooky when we light it and it stands near our front door in the dark.

Williams-Sonoma

A co-worker brought two cake bunds for me back from the States. They are Williams-Sonoma cake bunds and they are wonderful. The detail of the cakes and they are so easy to use. I am so happy with them!
She brought the bee hive and the inspects cakes pan with her and look at the result:
I will make some insect cakes for my co-workers on Monday, for now, we will enjoy these smart looking cakes.

Autumn has arrived!

This is the sight I saw when I entered our backyard this afternoon to get some wood for the stove. One big collection of toadstools. I think they are gorgeous, aren´t they. Too bad that they are poissonous. So I will gather them and put them in our green container to get collected.

Jules stayed with us

This is Jules. Jules is a doll that lives in Nic´s classroom and has a sleep over every night with a different child.
This weekend it was Nic´s turn to watch over Jules. He brought his own rucksack with his PJ´s.
But when it was time to go to bed, Nic mentioned that Jules didn´t have a bear, so mum (yes, that is me) made a little teddy for Jules at night. I also made him his own sleeping bag.

Jules went with us to Holland, where we visited family and went on a playdate with Nic, when we visted Sam. And on Sunday he went with us to a Midevil tournament, where we saw knight combatting with each other. At the end all the children got a fack soft sword and were allowed to fight with the knights as well. Nic had a great time.

Back from a weekend in Germany

We visited Koblenz (Germany) for our annual family weekend. This picture was taken by me to see if it would show the two rainbows we saw, and it did. Koblenz is a very nice city, great food, very nice terrasses where you can tast the Mosel wine.

We try to make a picture of the kids cuddle toy when we are on vacation, so here they are, Peter´s beertje at a fountain in Cochem, which is a town about 30 km from Koblenz. Cochem has a very nice historic city center which a beatiful castle as you can see.

We took a picture of Nic´s schaapje in a vineyard where we stopped to have a very nice ice tea. No, no wine for us, as we had to drive back home.

Insulating the heating tubes at home

Yes, we avoided it for a long time, but it couldn´t wait any longer. We started the works in our cellar, this cellar is just high enough to move around in on you knees, so very good for the back and knees.
We have to insulate the heating tubes underneath our home, since they were last insulated 30 years ago or so and the insulation was in very bad shape. So DH and I took a week off and in we went. We had some help from my dad, so everything went pretty well.

We encountered some living creatures, like frogs, etc.. We took them out since we don´t know if they will find enough food down there now that we have cleaned the whole cellar.

4 Season Doll Quilt Swap

This is the gorgeous quilt I received from Rose Marie (http://appliqueandpatches.blogspot.com).
Rose Marie has chosen this design because she knew I love blues and because she lives in Canada, teh maple leaf tree was a given. I really love the quilt and will give it a nice place in my home. Thank you very much Rose Marie.

The next quilt is the one that I have made for the swap and I will be send off tomorrow. After it has arrived at my swap partner I will show you also the label. The picture doesn´ t do the colours justice. Hopefully the weather is better at my swap partner so she can make a better picture.

Lazy sunday

We had a lazy sunday. This morning we went to Planckendael, a big zoo near the city of Mechelen.

In the lion monkey enclosure the monkeys are free to roam through a part of the forest, so it was really spectacular to see a monkey just a half meter away from the kids.

I have been busy quilting on my fall quilt for the 4 season doll quilt swap. But I don´t want to show a picture because it will ruin the surprise for my swap partner. So once it is arrived, I will show a picture.

It´s a Man´s bag

After the succes of the two handbags I made for the Birthday girls. One of my friends asked if I could make her son a bag as well, so here is my attempt on a ´Man´s bag´. It is not yet finished, but I can´t spoil teh surpise for here. So I will post a finsihed picture after Sil´s birthday, which is next weekend.

At the moment there is not much going on overhere, sine I have a strained neck and can´t turn to the right. I went to the doctor this morning, and it will heal in time, so I got Dafalgan for the pain and rest. Will however work tomorrow from home, because driving is not possible, since I can´t look to the right.