chain stitches

we're getting ready for our viking adventure later this summer. i finally got hold of some linen, and i'm sewing every spare moment now. here i'm working on a small, white linen tunika. couldn't find any interesting AND easy (very important, that one) embroidery patterns for this one, so i went for chain stitches. boring, but classical, i try to convince myself.

midsummer night turning to morning

i wish everyone a beautiful midsummer weekend - i hope you take the time to listen to the earth moving and breathe in the freshness of change!
(photo taken at 2.30 this morning)

toy week: 6

finally some good old plastic.
i really love these. they used to be mine and my husband's when we were kids.

the gang:

she never seem to play with these guys, though...

but even though i'm not particularly fond of them myself, i just can't seem to gather enough political correctness to throw them out. they're memories from a childhood where 'right' and 'wrong' was a question of who got the biggest ice cream.

oh, blogspot...

...why are you doing this to me??

i realised that if i write a post and save it for later publishing, then it will be published on the date that it was written. which means, far beneath the ones that i've been posting after saving it, in betweens lots of old posts, so that no one will see it. not even me (i don't know exactly how many times i pushed the 'refresh' button yesterday, but it was quite a lot, until i realised the post was there - far down on the page i was watching). now there's two of them, disappearing ino the great blog mess.
that's just plain stupid.

honey hunting

this plant is a hoya (waxvine). the flowers produces a nectar somewhat similar to honey, which the kids lick off. i have no idea whether it's actually edible, but no one has died yet.

toy week: 5

last years x-mas market at the kid's school and kindergarten made mom drool over beautiful, homemade toys. i was so looking forward to finally finding something for my daughter that i actually wanted to spend money on, and feverishly dragged her from room to room to get to the goodies before everyone else.
but the girl didn't want anything.
what?!?
how about this, sweetie? just look at the gorgeous colours and embroideries! and the sweet, sweet little doll inside! isn't it beautiful?!?


how can you not want it! it's almost edible!

i guess not.
but hey, if i buy it without her knowing, and then gives it to her for x-mas, then...

but look at this one, honey, isn't it great? and come to think of it, you only have one doll bed, and it's for the bigger dolls... isn't this just perfect?!?

i guess not, again.
but hey, come x-mas, she'll love it, i'm sure!

there was one thing she'd seen and that she wanted. we spotted him in the first room we entered at the marked, but i convinced her that we would find so many other gorgeous things that we could safely leave him.
but she could not forget this little fellow...

meet mr squirrel; two hazel nuts glued together with some leather scraps and wool for tail, at the cost of 2 dollar.
and thank heaven he was still there when the market closed and my daughter was getting ready to load that look at me that would have screamed 'betrayal!' all over the school yard...

of course, she liked her x-mas gifts.
but does she play with it..?
i guess you know the answer.

ordnung muss sein

my mother told me that when i was a kid, i used to have a fit if my shoelace bows weren't tied to make an equal size. when she told me, i looked at her in pity, asking how she'd coped with that kind of behaviour.
- well, i kind of agreed, she replied.
so i guess i know where my girl's got her sense of order from.

don't loose any more sleep...

...i've removed the easter eggs from my hanging garden. several weeks ago, as a matter of fact (let's not get into the x-mas decoration still hanging on my front door). the witch hazel (aka hanging garden/altar) is now inhabited by bees and birds, and a couple of richly ornamented fishy creatures.


i've really enjoyed this seasonal transition from spring to summer. i don't know why, but the older i get, the more important does the warmth and sun seem to me (even though i still don't like the dizziness of high summer). i've always been a fall girl, loving the chill and the moist of early fall and the october frost that signals winter approaching. and i still am, very much so. but ever so slowly, an appreciation of the warm season has crept up on me, and i almost feel that i'm being unfaithful by saying it out loud: i'm beginning to need summer. (need is even worse than like).

toy week: 4

this wooden doll's bed is one of the few things that i've actually spent money on. it was expensive. and irresistable. and she never plays with it.
except today, when she quite unexpectedly, and to my great joy, also played with another one of mom's favourites; the waldorf dolls. made by me (except the littlest one).
you hear that? how can she not play with something i made her?!?
oh, no problem, i assure you.

embroidered love

me and the kids made this small wall hanging for daddy on his birthday some weeks ago. my daughter made the text and drawing, i transferred it to linen (misspelled and all) and embroidered it, my son cheered us on :)

paper love

my daughter loves paper crafts just as much as i do. make her a paper scrap book and you'll have a friend forever. and what better way to spend time with her than exploring some paper love myself :)

toy week 3

this was a gift from a friend who had found it in a thrift store. it's like the one i had when i was a kid, but mine was blue. i really love this one, with holes in it and everything.
does she play with it?
no.
(it has nothing to do with the holes)
definitely a mom's favourite.

belated spring pics

so, the first big question is of course...
when they do make those tiny, tiny bundles of plant dyed linen thread...why can't they make just one of the ends stick out, so a woman can get to wind it without trying to kill the winding thing???

the second big question is; why are there still eggs in my 'hanging garden'?


spring just wasn't my blogging friend, i guess. but there was beauty, even though it wasn't published :)