A little bit of color...

I wanted to add a little bit of color to our living & dining room area, as right now everything can be categorized under "earth tones", red, and a twist of darkish blue in the rugs. Earlier this week, I dug up a small painting I made last year - nothing spectacular, really, but I thought it (sort of) works well with the brown painting and the dark wood of the dining table and chairs.



Today I decided to make some pillow covers based on the the leather squares idea from a couple of weeks ago. I still had a piece of petroleum blue leather in my stash, about the same shade as the blue I used in the painting. Though, I like the way it turned out (except for one minor detail - the leather slightly peeled off when I pulled away the tape I used to keep the squares in place while sewing...humpf!) I'm not sure it actually "adds" color or the right color. The oatmeal colored linen seemed kind of dull in the brown sofa, so the pillow might end up somewhere else... Need to check with K., to see what he thinks before I start on the other one I planned to make. M. already generously offered to put it somewhere in her room...

As to the leather squares, I still have a couple more ideas in mind. I'm sure you'll be able to read about it here! I'd better start thinking about another solution for the tape problem, however...

Shoo fly...

Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.

C.A. White


This fly, I spotted on Friday on my window while I was ironing...

Inspire Me Thursday :: Ghost

This is my entry for this week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge: ghost.
It's actually a picture from the recyclables series I had fun with earlier this week. The original picture can be found here. I case you're wondering what it is: it's nothing else than the cap of an empty Coke bottle (Zero!!) photographed through the bottom of the bottle. I found the effect most intriguing and when I saw this week's challenge I immediately thought of this image. I played around with it a little - inverted the colors and added the blue. And there was "my ghost". I hope it won't come chasing me... WHOOOOO!!

Anyway, as I was taking a look at my most recent pictures, I noticed there has been a lot of black and darkness involved. And hardly any natural light (the flowers, the eggs, the headband - light box!). Don't get me wrong - I'm not depressed nor in a dark mood. It just happened. I'll try to do better at adding some color to my pictures and taking the camera outside the light box, where it has been residing almost continuously over the last couple of weeks. It's Spring after all, isn't it (but where's the sun??)!

Now, let that be my challenge for the days to come...color and natural light!
Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Recyclable...

Sorting recyclables has never been more fun...









and never been slower...

I am...

- Outside the water, I am nothing -
Duke Kahanamoku


' Thought this quote from a surfer legend, suited this water drop really well...

Easter :: Egg warmer - a tutorial

A bit later than promised, I know, but here it is: the tutorial for the egg warmers! The reason why it didn't get here earlier is because of problems with printers and internet connections and a computer deciding to install updates when I didn't want it to... and - I admit - some poor planning from my side... But, here it finally is!



For this project you'll need:
- scraps of fabric - I've used two different ones for the outside (linen) and inside (cotton)
- 4cm of ribbon or twill tape
- scissors, thread, needle, pins, sewing machine,...


Step 1: Print pattern (when you click on the image it will/should open in another window) - when I tried this on my printer, I had to print at 50% to obtain the correct dimensions which are 12cm in height and 13cm in width, measured at the base - I suggest you check first (with an egg if you like) before you start cutting. The pattern takes into account seam allowances already. Cut the pattern from your fabric - twice for both lining and outer fabric.



Step 2: Sewing - Pair up one piece of outer fabric with one piece of lining, twice. Place the two pieces on top of each other and sew together at the base about 5mm from the edge. Fold open and flatten the seams a little on both pieces. Now, put the two pieces obtained on top of each other - making sure you have lining on top of lining and outer fabric on top of outer fabric - right sides together. When doing so, sandwich your piece of ribbon in between the two outer fabric layers, squeezing the "loop" inside at the top.





Next, sew the two pieces together 7mm from the edge, leaving a small opening in the lining for turning inside out the egg warmer.



Make small cuts around the curved edges, perpendicularly to the seam.



Turn the egg warmer inside out through the opening. Whipstitch the opening closed.
And ready!

Step 3 - optional: Decorate the egg warmer. I've used some iron-transfer (make sure to print in mirror if you use text!). But you could use stamps to decorate, embroidery (better do this before sewing everything together), or you could just use colorful fabric for your outer fabric...

Et voilà, an egg warmer!

Please note, this tutorials is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form without permission. Thanks for understanding!

A glimpse...

Yesterday, I had a terrible off-day as I call it - nothing of what I tried worked out the way I wanted. At the end of the day, however, I thought of this: an egg-warmer! Don't ask me why, since we don't eat any eggs... However, I fixed this little thing in less than an hour and a half, including the pattern design and pictures! And the good (?) thing about it is that I want to share this little project with you, as maybe this is something you might want to try for Easter. I will have a tutorial ready, probably by Monday. If all goes well, that is!

In the mean time, take a glimpse at this cute little egg-warmer...



Oh, and in case you were wondering about the egg-holder: it actually is an egg-poacher which I got at merci...
I had to buy something, right!? Not that we poach that many eggs...

merci!

Yesterday, I visited "merci", a new store that just opened its doors in the 3° arrondissement in Paris.
What's interesting about that, you ask? Well about everything about this store is!



merci is a concept store as well as a charity shop. Not a regular charity shop, though. I would rather describe it as an up-market (and dito priced) charity store given the fact they sell vintage items as well as designer items, clothes made by "des jeunes créateurs", used books in a "café bouquiniste", home and kitchenware and furniture. At merci, you can find flowers, fragrances and jewelry as well ... The "charity" part kicks in at the level of the seller, as all profits go to a fund to help kids in Madagascar and the staff consists of volunteers. An ambitious but beautiful project given the recession we're in.
With its 1500 square meters the store is quite big and organized over three floors. Just the location - a former fabric factory - and the way everything is displayed makes this store worth a visit - and I'm sure once there you'll be able to find something to your taste...
Just know that every euro cent spent will go to a good cause...

merci is located at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, 75003 Paris - Métro 8 - Saint-Sébastien-Froissart. You can read more about merci here.
















pictures taken with permission from the merci store manager

Headband aka "serre-tête" :: a tutorial

So, here it is. The tutorial I have been announcing for about a week now. So, I hope you won't be disappointed it is only this: a headband. Right in time for spring!

When we arrived in France, almost two years ago now, one of the first things I noticed - well, not literally of course, but still - were these cute little headbands made out of fabric which all little French girls seemed to be wearing. We got a couple of those and as I was repairing the seam on one of them recently, I realized how easy to make these headbands are. It won't be a huge cost saver to make these oneself, as they tend to be rather cheap. But on the other hand: wouldn't it be nice to accessorize your little girl's new homemade spring outfit with a matching headband?

No tremendous sewing experience is required for this easy project...

This is what you'll need:



- two rectangular pieces of fabric: a big one of 40cm x 12cm and a smaller one of 20cm x 6cm (seams included) - Note: you might want to change the dimensions depending on the size of the head, the type of fabric you chose and the elasticity of the elastic. The sizes given here, worked fine for my 5 and 8 year olds. Also, you might want to try to make a wider one. I've seen them in a wider version, which is especially pretty with long or very curly hair.
Note: my oldest one tried on this new headband when she got home from school and found it a little tight. Although I used the same dimensions on all of the headbands, I used a different brand of elastic. To avoid disappointment, better cut the elastic a little longer - it's easier to make the headband smaller than the other way around...
- about 12cm of wide elastic
- matching sewing thread
- safety pin and needle pins
- iron
- sewing machine

Step one: Lengthwise, iron in the seams of the bigger piece, folding over the fabric twice (about 7mm). Next, with the right sides to each other fold the smaller piece in two, lengthwise and iron flat. (pic. 2 and 3)





Step 2: Sew the seams about 5mm from the edge. (pic. 4 and 5)





Step 3: Turn inside out the smaller piece, using the safety pin (pic. 6). Slide in the elastic, also using the safety pin (pic.7). Secure with pins on both sides and then sew to secure (pic.8).







Step 4: Fold over the bigger piece as shown in pic. 9, such that its width becomes a little more than twice the with of the smaller piece with elastic. Secure by sewing a couple of stitches near the edge (pic.10).





Step 5: On one end, put the elastic part on top of the bigger piece, the bigger piece being right side up (pic. 11). Squeeze the elastic part in between by folding over fabric from the sides and secure with pins (pic. 12). Next, sew it closed (pic. 13). Repeat at the other end (pic. 14) - before doing so check one more time for the size!









And... done! "Une serre-tête" as my girls would say! The result should look like shown in pic.15 and 16. Good luck with it. And please, let me know if you have questions or how they turned out!

Flowers... and a sneak preview

On our way back from school, yesterday, we bought some lovely flowers: ranunculus. They're my favorite flowers together with tulips. Of course they ended up in the light box, before putting them in a vase...











And here's a sneak preview to tomorrow's tutorial...

A lovely weekend...

We had a lovely weekend. Busy but fun! The days are getting longer again, the temperatures a little higher... We spent yesterday afternoon at the Jardins de Luxembourg and for the first time in months the kids played without jackets! Fun!

I did make time to take some pictures too, this weekend. I did a "photo shoot" of both of our girls (well, more like two 10 minute sessions of clicking...), experimenting with a black background. Too bad daddy didn't want to have his pictures taken - he'd rather go to the dentist than have himself photographed... The pictures turned out beautifully well, which has more to do with the girls than the photographer! I'm glad I have an "update" on my two not-so-little-ones-anymore!



Also, I continued to make pictures of "things in my kitchen". I actually might print out a couple at some point and put them up in our kitchen. I also came to realize that I *need* a macro-lens. So, suggestions on macro lenses are more than welcome!



See what I mean? In case you might wonder: it's rice (above) and rock salt (below)...





Back to reality now, however, as I have a huge pile of clothes waiting here to get ironed, not to mention everything else that needs to be done... So I'd better get started...
Don't forget to tune in from time to time, as I have a tutorial coming up this week!

But I believe I already mentioned that, didn't I?