Seeing black

Some weeks ago I posted that I was only seeing red in my garden.

Now I also see black:

and pink :-)

Music!

Call my musical taste eclectic or whatever you want. Because ...

I love Mika. 

And I love Nick Cave.

Indeed.

Hooded Microfibre Poncho

Decathlon's got great hooded beach ponchos and we've been using them for years.

But they are quite big and get super-heavy when wet.

 

So I made a lightweight microfibre copy :-)

  

Of course I got the material from Decathlon: two large towels and one medium. And the elastic part was reused from come old cycling shorts.

Very happy :-)

A new dress

When MiniMojcek No.1 - who, btw, is about 25 cm taller than me by now - finished high school and celebrated the ending with a lovely ball, I needed a new dress.

And I had to make it myself, of course ;-)

A few yards of fabric, no pattern, only an idea in my head how the finished dress should look like... How hard can it be? 

Well, it turned out very very beautiful. Butterfly sleeves and very flowy. So light and so comfortable to wear. Just the right dress for the opening waltz with their mothers :-D

Memories

To prepare two presents for two wonderful occasions, I scanned plenty of old photographs and made two photobooks. 

I inherited the photos from my parents (who unfortunately passed away way too soon), so going through the photos was quite emotional. 

But fun :-)

 

All these photos were taken between 1965 and 1967.

While I understand old skiing equipment, I cannot comprehend what my Dad was wearing for alpine hiking...

Lego exhibition

There's a Lego exhibition in my home town.

 

For the kids and for those of us who refuse to grow old :-)

Christmas cards

Almost all the Christmas cards have been posted, so I can reveal this year's mystery.

 

Folded 3D cards.

Not only did I change the colour for a bit of variety, every person got the mountains/town of where they live :-)

I am quite happy, especially considering that they are my plan B as the plan A didn't work. Oh well.

December?

Whoa, December caught me off guard!

But I am catching up as quickly as I can.

First was the Christmas wreath.

Admitted, more in tiger than standard Christmas colours, but hey, I never was standard :-)

Tiger jewellery

More tiger-inspired fashion: I made three necklaces for three birthdays.

I had so much fun making those :-)

Tiger dress

Another birthday party, another tiger dress.

 

Yes, yes, I know. Leopard robe.

With gold ribbons around the sleeves, neckline and the hem :-)

:-) again

Remember my post from February - now it's time for an update:

I already used 2 out of 3 fabrics.

I used the concert tickets.

I used the plane ticket.

 

But in the meantime I acquired:

5 new fabrics

another concert ticket

new plane tickets

Me happy :-)

Souvenirs

What do you do when you travel and want to bring a T-shirt for your older kid, but they don't have the right size? Even the airport shops let you down?

Well, you copy the T-shirt design and have the T-shirt printed in your local T-shirt-printig-shop :-)

These are Latvian pagan symbols, representing luck and success, wisdom and wealth.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Spend these holidays with people you love.

 

 

Doing things that you like. 

And appreciate the precious time you're spending together.

Birthday present

Say a very good friend of yours is celebrating her birthday. 

And she explicitly asks for a Nijntje/Miffy bunny.

But you just cannot give the bunny as it is, right?

So you sew the bunny a red silk dress ;-)

And yes, this is real silk. 

Leftovers from an old dress of mine.

And yes, I made her black lacy underwear as well :-)

Italian lakes

And we were off again.

Summery

Yes, I feel summery. Joyful. Colourful. Almost like a parrot ;-)

 

Possibly you noticed (probably you didn't) that the far left and the far right dresses are the same pattern. That is because I bought the right one, liked the fit so much that I made myself a copy of it :-D

Update

I just realised I haven't posted for a while... 

One of the reasons is that I've been away. Again :-)

Enjoying some classic Tuscany landscape... and some wonderful Tuscan art.

 

And some classic views:

Another reason is that after successfully avoiding covid for over two years, I now tested positive :-(

I've been away :-)

A lot of "aways" recently ;-)

This time to an interesting old town in Austria.

 

 

 I did say Austria, right?

Music

A few days ago I was reminded by a very good friend of mine of Cohen's Anthem. 

It brought back memories...

Yes, this is a T-shirt I painted with the album cover.

But then I accidentally heard Gabriel Bruce's El Musgo. 

And I am happy.

Christmas cards!

With most of the Christmas cards on their way, I can finally reveal this year's design. I must admit, never before did I have this much trouble making the cards as sub-millimetre precision was required.

They are lots of fun. They work. 

But I am making something simpler next year!

 

P.S. The inspiration obviously came from  Rufus Butler's Gallop! - a wonderful children's book with plenty of such 'scanimations'.