Embracing your Heritage

In my last blog post, I shared a glimpse of my childhood, and this stroll down memory lane sparked some ideas. It's funny how that happens.

In looking at old photos I came across pictures of us wearing traditional Romanian folk costumes. We all had at least a dress or a top growing up. I realized that I never appreciated their beauty when I was younger, but I now see how intricately beautiful and special they are. These costumes are world famous for their embroidery patterns. 

It came to me that these embroidery patterns would look great as knitting patterns as well. So I started sketching out a few possibilities, and I really like the result.

You may have noticed that I have had baby on the brain for months now, but at the same time knitting, so it was only natural that at one point the two would intersect. 

My daughter is at the wonderful age when she is starting to notice things around her. She is especially fascinated by high contrasts, like black and white images. So it dawned on me....I could knit up something for her featuring these Romanian inspired images.

I am not sure what to call the end result. I suppose you can call them a crib mobile?
I attached them to the inside of the bumper and I have to say, Sienna loves looking at them.

Bonus....it helped me practice my stranded knitting!

Summer Vacation!

This is it, school is officially out. My (not so) little boy is about to experience his first summer vacation. How terribly exciting for him and at the same time terribly terrifying for me.

As much as I enjoy hanging out with my little man, I have not spent this much time with him since maternity leave! He is the kind of child that absolutely needs a routine, spur of the moment things do not go over very well.

I still remember that feeling of freedom on the last day of school, the idea of endless sunny days stretching in front of me. Every day a new adventure, full of possibilities. I was used to playing on my own, it never bothered me, but my son is different, he craves company, and needs help to get his imagination going.

So I have been thinking of how to fill our days. We have playdates and outings lined up, swimming and tennis lessons. But I also want fun activities to do at home. After all, we will be spending a lot of time around the house! Since Aidan is not great at playing on his own, I have to find creative ways to encourage him to be a more independent player.

I, of course, started a Pinterest board of ideas, and as often happens, this sparked my imagination. My son loves "Hunt and Seek" games, so I thought....why not create one myself?

I scoured the house for little toys and items to use, arranged them on a tray, and photographed it. This is accompanied by a list of items that he has to find in the photograph. 

This is what I have on the list:

a firetruck
the letter S
the letter A
an angel
scissors
a whistle
a bicycle
a medal
a  milk carton
a ball
a lollipop
a walnut
a rock
a dinosaur
a gift-tag
a basketball net
2 postcards
an antler
a brush
a ribbon
an elephant
a stamp
a slinky
a cellphone
a golfball
a flower
a key
an eraser
a house
a garbage can
a seashell
a harmonica
a cup

I mean the possibilities are endless, right?

If you are desperate for some time fillers with your kids, you can always download my pictures from my flickr account here, and the list here.

We're playing this afternoon....

Be careful what you wish for

Seven years ago, when I found out that I was pregnant with a boy, I felt a bit of panic. I grew up surrounded by girls, in a family where we had only a couple of boy cousins. I wondered, would I know what to do with a boy? How to play with him? How to relate to him and find common ground?

He is now six years old, and I have come a long way. Cars, trains, sports, hockey, I've learned about them all, alongside my son. True, I am still amazed at the level of energy, and I still have a hard time understanding how play-fighting is fun, but I can honestly say that I no longer have those worries about forming a bond. We are close, very close.

So you would think that I would have felt relief finding out that I was having a girl this time around, right? WRONG! Girls are complex and sensitive, and I started thinking of the importance of teaching them self-respect, and giving them confidence, showing them how to stand up for themselves. 

Of course these are all true for boys as well, but for whatever reason they never came to mind when I had Aidan.

And then I started worrying that I am already subjecting my children to a double-standard, when they are only this young. You can tell, I am sure that I have been driving myself mad!

In speaking to other moms though, I have come to realize that I am maybe over thinking the situation. The most important thing is to lead by example, pay attention, and also let their personality develop, as a lot depends on that as well.

So I have made the conscious decision to trust my motherly instincts and believe that I will know the right thing to do. The power of positive thinking, right? 

As if to reinforce this idea, a few weeks ago, I came across and advertisement for Dove, that to me, said it all. I decided to recreate it as a poster in Sienna's room.

It's quite a simple message, but I love it! If anyone else is interested in having it, click here for the JPEG version, and here for the PDF.


 

Happy Easter

Easter preparations are in full swing at our house. Since my mom is here, she is going all out with traditional dishes. We are certainly spoiled this time around, and it feels fantastic!

While my mom is busy with these preparations, I have had some time to ponder what sort of crafty surprise I can make for the kids. My criteria is simple, it has to be fast, cute and inexpensive. 

Now that there are 4 kids in the family, my sister and I have worked hard to create traditions and lasting memories for them. We are having an Easter egg hunt (indoors because it's still cold out), they will be decorating easter eggs, but I wanted something new as well. And then it hit me!

Why not dye quail eggs for them? They are certainly healthier than their chicken counterpart, and just their size. Plus the fact that they are spotted, makes for a cute pattern when you are done. 

Here are some before and after shots. What do you think?

And that lovely candle you see in the background? Remember how I was talking about my uncle with the bee-hives? Well he makes these candles as well, and this one has an adorable bunny theme.

Onesie Decorating Baby-Shower

I promised you a post about our baby-shower activity, and I am staying true to my word.

In planning the party, I was looking for something different that we could do. For the first shower we did the traditional games, and while that was fun, I knew that doing the same thing a second time around would probably elicit eye-rolls, or at least yawns.

So in researching ideas, I got to talking with one of my friends. She is a kindred spirit, a fellow crafter. She is the proud owner of a brand new Etsy shop, Lulu Belle Baby. She makes the most adorable applique onesies, you must check out her shop. 

Another thing that she puts together, are onesie decorating kits for parties such as baby showers. This is a custom package, that she tailors to the theme of the party.

How does it work? What do you actually get?

Enough fabric pieces to easily decorate about 15 onesies

Embellishments such as buttons, ribbons, pom-poms

Web fusing (it's what makes your design stick to the onesie)

Tons of templates and ideas for decorating

And of course instructions.

I bought the onesies, ( I suggest you get several sizes) and I had some fabric pens on hand as well. You need some other tools such as fabric scissors, whole punch, needle and thread, and you need an iron to actually iron on the applique’s.

We took our time paging though the examples and ideas provided, and some of us used the templates, others decided to let their imagination flow, and the result was adorable!!! My sister absolutely loves each and every creation, and we are actually planning to make some more with the leftover fabric. Everyone had a great time decorating the onesies, and I was so happy to have found an activity that everyone enjoyed, and that resulted in some wonderful keepsakes for my sister.

Now, I cannot wait to meet the new little one and see how these will look on her. I can also say that the toddlers in the house got jealous and requested some embellished t-shirts of their own, and it was so much fun that I just may have to oblige.

If any of you out there are interested in something like this, I warmly recommend you check out Lulu Belle Baby, she will create a wonderful package for you and you will have a blast!

The Apron

I love food. I love experimenting with different tastes, recipes and spices. One of the first blogs I ever followed regularly was not a knitting blog, but a food blog, La Tartine Gourmande. So there's always something simmering in my kitchen. As in many homes it's the centre around which life unfolds.

Since we moved into out new house 4 months ago, I have been busy thinking of decorating (see my Pinterest board) and making our house into a home. I like to be surrounded by things that have a meaning, items I've picked up during my vacations, a memento from my childhood, family photos. And lately also hand-made items, a felted bowl, a knitted pillow-cover and now.....an apron. I know you may think...really? An apron? Why should I be impressed by an apron? But you do not understand, for someone that had to film the sewing instructions she got, this is a big deal!

I am proud to present my second sewing project!

As always, my go-to blog for ideas is The Purl Bee. The Tutorials are the best. I am starting to get the hand of this, though I have to admit that the stripes on the fabric were a life-saver!

I also followed the suggestions of some of my blog followers and purchased the Lotta Jansdotter "Simple Sewing" book and I cannot wait to tackle some of those projects!

How about you? Any great food blogs you care to recommend??

The brief appearance of Betsy (White)

In my crafty adventures I've repeatedly come across really interesting and cute DIY's that require you to know how to use a sewing machine. Learning this skill has been on my list of resolutions for a couple of years now.
I am happy to be able to say that I have finally taken my first steps into the sewing world.

An acquaintance was kind enough to give me and old sewing machine, a family heirloom really. It was and old "white" machine from the 60's, very "Mad Men", she is pink!. As soon as I saw her, I decided to name her Betsy (White). As I mentioned, I know nothing of sewing, so I took her to Sonia, my sister's sister-in-law, who's a sewing machine guru (she used to give sewing lessons). Her verdict? Betsy's motor is in great shape, she is however missing some essential pieces, which make her in essence, unusable!

Imagine my disappointment! My dear sister however, came to the rescue and let me borrow her own (largely unused) sewing machine for an extended period of time.

A three hour session, during which I filmed (thank you IPod), and took copious notes, has made me feel confident enough to attempt making a place mat. Here's a glimpse of it, and the somewhat wonky details, but please keep in mind that this is the first thing I have ever sewn.

And I am also missing some basic tools, such as a rotary cutter, properly sharpened scissors, a cutting mat and even a ruler. I had no idea that cutting straight is such a difficult thing to accomplish.

My source of inspiration was this post from Design Sponge, it's incredibly well explained.

And because I was on a roll, I also "whipped up" this little beauty, inspired by a tutorial I found on the "Purl Bee".

And I will be honest, this one isn't perfect either, without realizing I closed the drawstring channel on one side, so it's an absolute pain to close, but hey, that's easily fixed.

Now that I am armed with a sewing machine and have been bitten by the sewing bug, any suggestions on what to try next? Any book suggestions? Any supplies I absolutely have to get?