:: what we did ::

Well, we haven't been very crafty lately but I wanted to show you the little bracelet my daughter made for a friend. She used felt, a piece of sari fabric, some pearls and thread obviously, I think it's very well made (I only helped her with the lining)!





I made a couple of matryoshka keyrings and more piggy banks for my dawanda shop. How do you like them?






On Dawanda you can currently find an Advents calendar. The motto changes every day and products can be ordered with no shipping costs (on that day, for national delivery only). But beware, the calendar started early, so today you can open window no. 11! If you live in Germany, go to the German Adventskalender !

:: Dutch fabric market ::

On Saturday I went to the open air fabric market in Potsdam. It's been said that it's marvellous but I was a little bit disappointed.

Maybe there are more stalls when the weather is a bit better - it was raining in the morning, and maybe it's more interesting in summer. A lot of stalls had winter fabrics only which I am not interested in. There were maybe 3 or 4 stalls that sold interesting cottons but they were quite pricey, so I only bought a red polka dot fabric and some trims that cost me an arm and a leg.

My son who accompanied me was very brave and only nagged a little!

:: sock animals ::

Life is a bit difficult at the moment and I don't find enough time to craft and blog.

But I did finish an elephant some time ago.

The ears were quite a challenge.

I think she looks okay.

Yes, it's a girl and her name is Alisha. That's an Indian name and it means 'guarded by God'.

She's available on Dawanda! Sold! Thank you!

Today I managed to make this little dog named Bello.

He's also looking for a new home. If you want to adopt him, look here! SOLD, thank you! I could make a similar one for you!

:: sweet little present ::

I got these buttons from my son who bought them from a boy at school. Isn't that sweet?! Six of them are covered with fabric and the other three are shell buttons. The covered ones will make excellent eyes!

:: more bibs ::

...

I can't seem to stop making these little bibs. They are fun to make and don't take too much time. I really like the simple pattern from this Japanese craft book (ISBN 407246385X).

For the backs of all the bibs I used a chequered fabric in a light pink, they close with snaps.

Again, the bibs are available at Dawanda! Dawanda has a new look, by the way, check it out!

:: wips finished ::

I am suffering from lumbago. So I had the time to finish a couple of wips that have been around for ages.

I finished the sock monkey that I started on about a year ago.

Then I finished a couple of bips for my little dawanda-shoppe. I used the pattern from this marvellous little book (ISBN 407246385X).

I also stuffed a whale made from old jeans. I actually made two. One is for the christening of my niece's son. This second one is also for sale.

:: crafting and baking ::

What have I been up to? Very little crafting and yesterday I did some baking because today we are going to celebrate the end of the school term. The children will get a new teacher after the summer break - I am not sure if that's good or bad but hopefully it's just for one more year.

Well, crafting - I made a little cushion which I discovered in my favourite Japanese craft book, my sewing machine did not like it though.

It's from this book, but there is no pattern for it, it's in one of the photographs which are all very, very inspiring:

Yesterday I made some brownies and a quiche lorraine. If anyone would like a recipe, please leave a comment.

:: look what I made ! ::

..

I recently made this little sock piglet. OK, it does have devilish ears but I still think it's very sweet! If you want to see the sweetest (real) piglets on earth, head on over to mollychicken's blog!

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If you want to make a sock animal yourself, check out the instructions for the classic sock monkey here and here, there also is an elephant here. I love the sock dogs from this etsy-seller, e.g. I really like this dog, very sweet!

It's relatively easy to make different animals from the sock monkey patterns, be creative! There's also a brilliant looking Japanese craft book which I don't own. It's now available in English here and here (lots of pictures). It has patterns for a lot of different animals .

no title

E. has been painting in the morning.
"Your hands are very dirty, E." -
"Yes, but it's a very nice colour combination."
There's no reply to that, is there?

:: new craft books! ::

Of course, it's Lyn's fault that I had to order more books from Yesasia!

Actually, to be honest, I've wanted to make those little booties shown in Lyn's post for some time now and actually meant to get another book but then Lyn posted many enticing pictures of this book, so of course I had to order it - and it's brilliant! I don't understand all of the instructions but most of them are quite clear, I'd say.

Of course, I can't just order one craft book, can I? So I also ordered a book with children's clothes and a zakka book. All of them are really great, I am very pleased!

:: knitted bag ::

I knitted this bag on commission for someone in Vienna. She had been looking for a long time for someone to make this bag for her.


It's a clutch. It was knitted using very thick wool and I made a matching lining. The last rows of stitches were transfered to wooden spars. I think it turned out very nicely. I hope she likes it.

fresh from the oven

If you could smell this! I made Swedish kanelbulle (cinnamon buns) and the whole flat smells of cinnamon, one of my favourite spices!

I already baked tons of cake this week because it was the twins' birthday on Saturday - we took cakes to their school and to their day care not to mention the cake we consumed at home!

Just now I also made some buns with crumbs on top because I still had some crumbs left over from another cake I made on Tuesday... It's the first time I made these, they are very fluffy and delicious. I think they would be even better with some custard filling!

for the shop

I made two things for the shop:



A pair of white linen pants for a toddler (size 86) with one back pocket - very simple - sometimes one really is fed up with all the cutesy and colourful clothes.



And a tote bag from a beautiful Japanese craft book available here . I used printed linen and checked bias binding.

SALE - Japanese craft books

I want to sell a couple of Japanese craft books that I don't need anymore. I actually didn't use them, so they are brandnew!! If you would like to get one, please drop me a line at ckebel at gmx.de! I am sorry for the crappy pix, I had to use the flash.

The first book is a marvellous book for those of you who are interested in needle felting. There are loads of very cute dogs (88 p, nearly 500 g, shipping in FRG would be 2,40 EUR, the book itself will be 18,00 EUR).


This next book has a lot of very nice booties in different sizes. 63 p. I am selling it for 18,00 EUR plus shipping cost.


I have got two copies of this little patchwork book, so I am selling one of them. 47 p full with lovely sewing projects with very clear Japanese instructions. This will go for 6 EUR plus postage. Drop me a line if you are interested!

The last book on sale. 88 p of cute knit and crochet goodness. Again, it's hardly used, only made a couple of xeroses. It will also be 18 Eur plus shipping.

Flohmarkt für Kinder- und Babykleidung

Ich habe einen weiteren blog veröffentlicht. Dort kann man gebrauchte Babykleidung und Kinderkleidung kaufen. Es handelt sich überwiegend um sehr gut erhaltene Markenware, oft kaum getragen, in allen erdenklichen Größen! Es gibt auch viele H&M-Artikel, insgesamt alles sehr günstige Teile!
Einige Rubriken sind noch ungefüllt, bei einigen habe ich mit dem Einstellen schon angefangen!
Über die Preise läßt sich natürlich reden, ist ja ein Flohmarkt!

Pouches!

I've crafted a little and made some pouches. They are available on dawanda !

because of a ball on the lawn

I had a horrible weekend. You cannot imagine how awful some of our neighbours are (we live in a row of flats)!

The children were playing football on Saturday.

Their football fell over the fence onto the lawn (yes, there is a fence, so that nobody can walk on it. I don't know what they want to protect because the state of the grass is really bad!).

Well, our interfering next door neighbour didn't want my son to climb over the fence to fetch the ball - can you believe it??

When I asked him what the problem was, she complained that everybody would climb the fence and foreigners could climb the fence...

I asked her to stop her racist remarks but she didn't, so I told her that her behaviour was despicable!

When her husband and another neighbour came home she went on the stairs and complained loudly about my bad manners and that I had insulted her. The other neighbour who by the way is a policeman and who wasn't present when I talked to her said that I should get a slap round the face - unbelievable, isn't it?

I really wish we could move, Berlin is so awful. So much dirt, so many aggressive people...

I did a little bit of crafting. I still had some leftover yarn, so I made a pin cushion. I filled it with some chick peas and polyfill.

craft books

Yesterday I received two craft books that I ordered some time ago.

I really looked forward to Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing" which got so many good reviews on other blogs. It's a nice book, very good design, excellent pix, practical spiral binding, patterns in a little envelope and one cannot not love the fabrics - but the projects are too simple for my taste. I don't need a pattern to sew a dish cloth, napkins or a tote. On the whole I was a bit disappointed. It's a very inspiring book and probably excellent for a beginner - but not for me, I am afraid.
The second book is "Simple Sewing with a French Twist" by Céline Dupuy. Again, a very nice book, it offers a lot of inspiration but it also has its downsides. Some projects really look simple but I think that more instructions and helpful tips are needed to see them through. A more experiended crafter can manage well but will probably find the projects too simple. This book is very thick and would profit immensely from a spiral binding! I also miss the patterns. There aren't so many to begin with, so they could have been included - there are patterns on only 4 pages at the back of the book that need to be enlarged.

:: crafting ::

I made a sweet little eyeglasses case from thick industrial felt. It asked for some embellishment, so I added a button and embroidered a little stem and leaves. It was a nice little project and I could actually do it away from home which is always very convenient.
It's available on DaWanda.

Underneath the case there is a WIP. I am quite sure that I won't be able to sew it with my ailing sewing machine but I will try! So far, everything has been sewn by hand.

Lucky coincidence!

I am very pleased! I was able to do a little swap with Simmy and I got the nuigurumi-book that I've wanted for some time now and that isn't available anywhere it seems!

So last weekend I made a little bear. It's quite small and therefore takes quite a long time to make. I think I should enlarge the pattern if I want to make another one...

The opening at the neck was a bit too large and instead of making it smaller (never even occured to me until this morning) I gathered it a bit. It didn't look too great, so he needed a little scarf or something. Well, that's what he looks like now. Any idea for a name?

paraskevidekatriaphobia?

I don't know if any of you is suffering from it?? It's fear of Friday the 13th. In German and English speaking countries it's considered a day of bad luck and apparently the risk of a traffic accidents seems to be higher on Friday the 13th! I think that's really incredible. So far, I never had bad luck on Friday the 13th (knocking on wood). I hope it stays that way and that it will be a very lucky day for all of you!

crafty week

I tried to use my broken sewing machine and it worked - a little. In the evening my right hand hurt because it only worked with considerable help - I need to turn the balance wheel by hand a lot. It seems as if there is something stuck.

Anyhow I made a piggy bank, inspired by a picture in a German magazine. Here it is:

I used some industrial felt, flowery cotton for the legs, pearls for the eyes and the little piggy tail was made from cotton yarn. It would have been much easier and faster had I also used felt for the legs... it took ages to turn the little legs inside out! I am quite pleased with the result!

Everybody's making tissue holders these days. As it's a small project and doesn't require a lot of sewing, I made a couple of them from my fabric stash:

Nothing spectacular but I am pleased to have made something. I definitely need a new sewing machine...