Jinbei

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for over two months. 

Because I've been busy. 

Because I've been away :-)

One of the things I did recently was a lovely jinbei shirt for Mr. Mojcek.

I had some super comfortable Japanese fabric:

Luckily I had a suitable thread at home :-)

The pattern is super simple, so it didn't take long and this comfy was finished.

I still need to iron it though. Oh well.

Kitty pillow

Not only was I celebrating my birthday, so were two of my best friends. And I needed presents.

Inspired by a kitty pillow I saw in Moemax, I made this little fella.

I'm happy, he's happy and I'm sure his cats are happy too :-)

Update C

I am still going through family stuff that I inherited, including clothes from my Mom - and me, when I was young. Here are some wonderful examples of how fashionable we used to be.

In the sixties:

 In the funky seventies:

 And  fluorescent eighties:

 And here's is what I wore in the seventies and the eighties:

When did I change to jeans and black T-shirts?

I was probably the best dressed at the age of 2-5!!!
Maybe I should do something about it?

Winter :-)

The igloo in the front yard is finished.
Christmas wreath is hanging on the doors. 
Christmas wheat is growing nicely.

And I'm finally making Christmas cards. Just a teaser for now:

Beach tote, part one

As usual, I'm in charge of the presents for the teachers. This year I decided to make them beach tote bags! And although I browsed through dozens of bag patterns, I didn't find a suitable one. So there I was, improvising without a pattern. Sounds familiar?
 
The first two were made for the kindergarten teachers - one girly and one bold. They had pockets both on the outside and the inside. I was just too lazy to add the zippers. Oh, well...

The first one is for a teacher, who loves butterflies. And pink. So pink butterflies she got :-)

Unfortunately, I don't know the second teacher that well, so I went for a generic striped funky pattern:

I think they liked them!

On the road again :-)

Not my typical destination but following the advice from a friend we're here and we're not disappointed. In fact, we quite like it here :-)

More pouches!

Remember two years ago, I made some fully lined zippered pouches based on this tutorial? This year I'm in charge of the end-of-the-year presents for MiniMojcek Nr.2's kindergarden teachers. Instead of buying something, I decided it would be much nicer to give them  home-made pouches. So ... here they are. First I had to find appropriate fabric and zippers:

Since there are two teachers, I got two fabrics:

Sewing them is actually fun!

And here they are. Each teacher will get a small and a large one: 

I hope they will like them as much as I do!

Ninjago Zane T-shirt

With Ninjago-mania of course came the request to make Ninjago T-shirt. MiniMojcek Nr.1's favourite ninja is Kai and he already has a Kai sweatshirt. So this time the request came to make a Zane costume. The white one. And what can a mother do than fulfill the request.

Zane's emblem is a golden lion. This is a just a rough sketch I made to check the size of lion's head.

 And the finished lion:

 The T-shirt has a fake belt (stitched on the T-shirt, but not all the way so that one can still tie a knot) and a stitched-on thingy at the neck.

 

I'm not quite happy with how the ropes turned out ... hmpf ... Let's just hope that MiniMojcek Nr. 1 likes the shirt.

But perhaps I can correct this the next time: I already have a request for the green ninja.

London Calling

My absence is excused.

 

  

Although I failed to see Mousetrap, I managed to find Seven dials and by pure chance crossed Harley Street.

On my way to Baker street, obviously. 

Tiger cake

Two of my friends were celebrating their birthdays meaning that a present had to be made. A bunch of us gathered, baked a cake and decorated it accordingly. Mind you, this was the first time any of us worked with fondant - or sculptured a cake, but we're all very very happy with the result: a tiger cake.

Photo not by me. I hope the author allows me to share it.

Happy Easter

I'm officially losing sense of time: there are Easter bunnies in the shops but I still have Christmas decorations at home. Where did the four months go?!?

Anyway, it's time for Easter eggs and potica.


I found an interesting motive in the used gloves:


Following last year's success with potica I decided to make another one this year. A chocolate-coconut potica:


Unfortunately I fell very sick and could not really enjoy the holidays. Or potica. Oh well.

Four Arms costume

It's this time of year again - when all the sewing moms in this part of the world are extremely busy. It caught me a bit by surprise that MiniMojcek Nr. 1 had to wear the costume on Friday (and not on Tuesday as I expected it) so it was a bit rushed... but nevertheless, a success!

He already has the casual Ben 10 T-shirt and Ben 10 jacket, but now it was time to transform into Four Arms:


I started with two red and one white long-sleeved T-shirts, a pillow, a pair of gloves and a large grayish button.


I was hoping to use the original Ben 10 T-shirt but I realised that Four Arms wears a slightly different one. Oh, well..

I cut several tapes of black fabric (yes, I always have a bit of black Jersey at home) and sewed them onto the T-shirt. A large button was used as Omnitrix and painted accordingly (and yes, I always have a bit of black paint for ceramics, glass, plastic ... at home).


The additional arms were made from sleeves and the gloves, stuffed with the pillow filling, and attached to the white T-shirt.


But the arms just hung there, so I connected them to the primary arms :-)


In order to be able to wear a parka over the four arms, the connection had to be removable, so I used a pair of tiny plastic carabiners. Here I was just adjusting the length.


The hood was made in a rush, just two pieces sewn together approximately in the shape of the head with a black ribbon and four yellow eyes.


And a pair of black joggers and MiniMojcek Nr.1 was happy. So was I.


If I had more time, I'd also make the proper shoes and gloves.
But I didn't.
Oh, well.