building nests

With this absolutely gorgeous weather outside and the kids home for winter (20°degrees outside) vacation, I can't and don't want to stay inside. The garden is calling and we enjoy so much the sunshine and having the first meals outside.

A very small deco project I did anyway. I collected all the little twigs, that have been blown to our garden during the winter storms from our neighbors birch tree and tried to make little nests from it. Not so easy. I don't know how birds are doing it without 10 fingers to hold all the little pieces from snapping back.

I did one really good one that is for now housing my painted pebbles.

A bientôt,
Jane

Happy parrots

At the last flea-market I have been, I bought this glass full of parrots for 1,50€. The poor ones were not looking happily! 

Who is treating a little bird like this: poking a toothpick into its belly to stick it on a sandwich? 

After a little operation by Dr.Jane they now have little feet and the whole gang is sitting on some branches in my room, chatting with each other and waiting for the spring to come.

Who knows how many there are? 

The first one who counts (or guesses) correctly and leaves a comment with the number, will get 10 of them to give them a new home!

1, 2, 3, ..... many!

A bientôt,
Jane

Inspiration

This weekend I found a blog that fascinated me immediately! Geninne Zlatkis - have a look at it! I really like the style of her work. The birds have been somewhat familiar to me, I might have seen them somewhere before ... 

Anyway, I have been reading in her blog for an hour saturday night and had to go out with a pocket lamp to find some pebbles in our front yard to paint on. Not at all like Geninne's, but fun. I need to find darker stones or a more contrasting pen. While having already the white pen out, I used a scrap of black photo carton to make a little bookmark, with all the flower motifs I am using when making doodles - I love floral motifs!

A bientôt,
Jane

Simply quilting

Last week I wanted to do some free-motion-quilting. Except for my shoulders, who get always tense, I find quilting very relaxing. I don't even need to think very much! 

I quickly made a simple sandwich, added a hole for a bag handle, so I could use the piece of quilt later for a bag. Including the time I needed to sew-turn-iron the handle hole it took me only half an hour to do the first piece. Fun, fun! Until I found out, that I sewed a flap on the backside...

 I corrected it quickly, but after it took me until today to make a second piece.

 

Quilting little pieces (about 40x45cm) like that is just fun! They are moving so easily under the machine!

To make a bag out of them was a quick job too. I used bias tape to debaste the inner seams. For the top edge I cut a bias binding from the outside fabric and added it with the machine.

 

Beside that bag I made today some very yummy brownie cookies to welcome the weekend and the winter vacations of the kids. 

Bon week-end pour vous aussi,
Jane

My blanket

After a tiring weekend with carnival for our village school, organized by 6 motivated moms (I have been one of them), I lay down ill on Monday. Strange illness whose main symptoms have been a hurting cotton head that didn't like the sunlight and couldn't think well and a stomach that couldn't decide if to feel sick or not. 

For two days I spend a lot of time on the sofa cuddled in my favorite blanket. I made it only for myself in 2010 and since I have to defend it, because everyone likes to use it.

The idea is clear: There is one side of night and one side of day. Houses in sunshine and in moonshine. The border is made from all leftover scraps. 

The backside is of soft white fleece. It hasn't been long enough so I added a row of squares from the houses fabrics.

I didn't do any quilting, because at that time I haven't been experienced with free motion quilting and also I wanted the blanket to stay soft. And it is soft and cozy and I still love it after 4 years of use. The final size is 215x155cm, so it's perfect to wrap in even a tall person :-)

A bientôt avec quelque chose nouvelle,
Jane

Already done!

Very surprisingly for me, my new pyjama pants are ready. Already since yesterday morning, but I had to wait for my husband to make some photos today. And we found out, that it is not easy to photograph white pants. I am looking fat on most of the photos, what in reality I am not!

In the last 15 years I only had one pyjama that has been comfortable and stylish at the same time. I already mentioned that trousers are normally too short for me. If I buy longer ones they are often also wider in the waist and bulky around my bottom. So this one pants fitting well is now 3 years old and falling apart. I used it to make a paper pattern - this took the longest time. Then I cut it out of a light jersey, I already bought last fall. Same color and same fabric as the old pants. 

Yesterday morning I got out my overlock machine and just half an hour later it has been done! Then the moment of truth - yeah! - everything fits just great! And the seams are looking so professional with over-locked stitches. I am very happy!

When my husband saw my new pyjama when I put it on first this morning he said: "Hey, it's looking exactly like your old one!" - "Yes, my darling, that's what I wanted it to look like!" I took it as a compliment, anyway!

And now I directly want to make a second one with a little thicker fabric. Not that I am cold in bed in wintertime, but I want to have a comfortable warm pant to hang around on the sofa in the evenings. Hardest thing will be to buy the fabric. There is no fabric shop near my home! I need to find something online or have to wait until my spring vacation in Germany. 

I also took the decision, that I have to keep on trying with clothes. So every month now I want to present a new piece of clothes here.

A bientôt,
Jane

Snowdrops in the sun

When the rain stops and the sun comes out, it already feels like spring. The sun is warming my back, the kids are playing everywhere in the garden and starting a new hut, the birds are singing, the cat is going crazy and the first flowers opening up to the warmth. After the winter everything green or blooming is a miracle. I am going around and search for them. Every single one is beautiful and makes me smile, but the most I love the snowdrops. They are looking so friendly and discreet.

About 5 years ago I made a little patch with snowdrops. In size about 30cm by 30cm. I gave it to my mom, where it is still hanging on the wall in her office.

A bientôt, 
Jane