Personal

My mother's friend made this fantastic doll for our kids. Months ago. Lisa, as they called her, was all white and meant to decorate. I was saving it for a rainy day. Yesterday my eldest daughter found the doll on her own and since the weather was indeed very bad we decided to make her beautiful. Isn't it a wonderful idea? You could use almost every softy pattern to make such a white doll. Great present! Thank you, (autre) Toos.

Eye-candy

I was waiting for this book to be delivered. I pre-ordered 'Homemade' from Yvette van Boven when I saw a folder about it in a bookshop. Great recipes (making your own cheese or liquor) and beautiful pictures. I'm happy like a child. Today I made the hazelnut-lemon cantucci. Perfect!

This is me

Another fabric copy of one of Janne's drawings. It's a portrait of her mother. I do not have long hair and no elegant long neck. But I'm happy my daughter sees me this way. Unfortunately it is hard to catch the beauty of the drawing in the fabric. The original is a lot prettier. Maybe I should embroider the hair.

Simple pleasures

When I came across these colourful sticks of wood I bookmarked them right away. In the beginning of the week we collected the wood during a walk in the woods. And yesterday it was the perfect rainy day for painting them. Not as pretty as the example, but the kids had a lot of fun decorating them.

Gift

A quick and easy little project resulting in a lovely clothes-hanger for sweet dresses. I made a pattern by drawing around the edges of the hanger. Afterwards I saw this, this and this fantastic tutorial at Between de Lines. Make sure to check out Pascale's other tutorials too. All very stylish.

(Un)fortunately

One tomato-plant didn't survive the wind. It was carrying a lot of, still green, tomatoes. I remembered that these could be used in a chutney. So I googled a bit with ingredients I had in my cupboard and found this recipe. I haven't tried it yet, because chutney needs some weeks or months to get the best taste.

New hobby

€0,50 each cost these weaving-looms at the second-hand store. A great find. For the 4-year old it was still a bit too complex, but 6 is the perfect age for starting to weave. J. loves it.

Mmmm

Making your own 'sun-dried' tomatoes is very easy. Pre-heat your oven to maximum temperature. Cut small tomatoes in half. Lay them on a baking-sheet with the cut side upwards. Spinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Put the tomatoes in the middle of the hot oven and turn the oven off. Leave this overnight, without opening, to keep the heat in. When you wake up the next morning you will have delicious oven-dried tomatoes. I used them in a very tasty quiche. A recipe from the fantastic french magazine Elle a Table.

What a wonderful day

Yesterday we were in Brussels to spend some time with friends. And since the hostess is swedish, the day ended in a traditional crayfish-dinner. Yummie. Accompanied by swedish songs and aquavit. It was a pity that we had to leave right after dinner...

More preserving

Yes, I know you sewers would rather see items which involve fabrics. But with gardens producing very tasty fruits and vegetables and the kids having vacation there's not much room for that. But have you ever heard about tomato-jam? You can add a vanilla pod or some basil to this recipe. Very tasty and very good combined with bread and ricotta or old gouda cheese!

Memory lane

My only brother is going to be a father. I'm very excited. Last weekend I have been washing, ironing and categorising the littlest baby-clothes from our daughters, to give to my brother and his girlfriend. The striped shirt is extra special. My brother has worn that one himself, thirty-something years ago.

Made in one hour

Ikea has the best fabrics for my multi-purpose-bags. These crabs are perfect for a beachbag. Let's go to see the sea!

Nature's beauties

I planted the carrots too close together. No space to grow. This resulted in many very small carrots. But beautifully coloured. We ordered the coloured mixture at De Nieuwe Tuin. Since none of us likes cooked carrots I decided to preserve them in a atjar-like mixture.

Her world just got bigger

And here is the proof that our little one can ride a bike on her own. Today she added starting and breaking to the list.

Baby girl watched by her parents

The vacation wasn't over yet. After finishing the felt sandwich I was thinking what to make next. When I saw this drawing Janne made, it inspired me to make a felt copy. Do you have a suggestion what to make from this felt 'painting'?

Achievements

The pasta machine hasn't been used for over 5 years. But today we made our own lasagne. Our 6-year-old could handle the machine on her own. She was very proud. In the meantime our 4-year-old learned how to ride a bike. She was, of course, even more proud.

Waiting

My uncle gave a bag full of gherkins from his garden to my mother. She didn't know what to do with so many. So the gherkins came to me. Looking in my books about preserving fruit and vegetables I came up with two recipies. Sweet and sour pickles and pepper pickles. We have to wait some weeks to let them reach their full flavour.

Souvenir

Ever since my first pregnancy my olfactory nerve has been extra sensitive. I didn't wear any perfume since then. But now it was time to give it a try. This wonderful unisex scent of the house of Hermes was on my wishlist for a while: Jardin en mediterranee. I like to buy things like this during holidays, because then it brings back the atmosphere whenever you use the perfume.

Keeps you busy

Of course I took some craft-supplies with me on vacation. This book, some felt and embroidery yarn. The sandwich was fun to make but then what do you do with it? I bought the book via Yesasia. Just fill in the isbn-number in the search-area.

To the paradise again

We're just back from a ten-day-trip to France. The weather was perfect. Not too warm, not too cold (like last time). The kids enjoyed themselves. Catching butterflies (be careful...), visiting 'vide-greniers',

exploring a medieval castle (trying a crossbow),

secretly picking flowers in botanical gardens, seeing 17.000 year old drawings in caves etc. And when the kids have a good time, we do too.

Heavenly

One of the luxuries of having a 'potager' lies in the fact that you can eat vegetables when they're very young. As small and tasty as you'll never find them in a store. Today we had a meal that almost completely came out of our garden. Fresh potatoes with skin, fish (from th shop), young broad beans, salad with our first yellow tomatoes and first cucumber and, last but not least, japanese wineberries (rubus phoenicolasius) in the yoghurt.

Happy as a child

My sister in law gave me these lovely embellishments as a thank you for looking after their cat and house. Very cute embroidered buttons from Deep Indigo and a fresh flower-kit from Greatest View. Both Etsy-shops. Now these beauties have to wait for the perfect project.