Sunday Mondays

To them, learning something new is every day business. Of course, they are terribly proud of new achievements, but in the whole seem fairly unimpressed by their fast-forward development. Yet I get really excited about learning something new. Even if that is trying out unfamiliar camera features taking pictures in a sports hall.

Wishing everyone a Sunday kind of Monday and lots of chances to learn something new.

Girly

I might be thinking about new dress patterns, but what she really needs are long sleeve T-Shirts. The ones I made last autumn can't really be called long sleeves anymore.

She asks for 'girly' so this is what she gets: a pixelated flower print, princess in pink letters and a circle of dotted chiffon that glitters (a little bit).

The pattern is the same as the one used for this T-Shirt (just adding more length to arm and bottom seams) and luckily, the skirt still fits for now.

Sunday Mondays

I can't wait to get sewing. My head is full of ideas, spring is in the air, the kids refuse to wear their jackets and I've found such nice lightweight denim fabric...

How can I possibly be boycotted by such a silly thing as 'lack of time' :(

Too old for a bib

She's a little too old for a bib, but still too young to understand that getting carrot-marker-beetroot-glue-tomato-jam stains out is quite a chore. One her mother would really like to avoid.

Maybe this will help - I made a version of this smock pattern (bigger and longer to maximize coverage).

She's a happy bunny because she no longer has an anxious onlooker when she gets a bit adventurous with the cutlery. And I might be brave enough to go ahead with another painting session.

Sunday Mondays

A little doze in the sun. Now that we have finally gotten rid of the flu (fingers crossed), that's exactly what we need. Wishing everyone a Sunday kind of Monday.

Dress for one day

Carnival week - 5 days of extra homework for the parents. Each day a different costume. One wearing different socks to kindergarten while the other one goes to school with a weird hairdo. Or one being dressed as an animal while the other one is dressed all in red and so on.

With her hair colour she doesn't really have any red clothes, so between dinner and bedtime we had to improvise. Luckily we found an old red long sleeve T-shirt that had lost its shape a long time ago.
Very quickly, we turned it into a red dress. And with her sister's red tights I doubt there was anyone redder walking the streets the next day.

Her first of many, many colouring books made it onto Apartment Therapy

Sunday Mondays

Sunny pictures but it is still absolutely freezing. Making tea and soups and warm water bottles non-stop and wearing gloves in the office. Anything to keep warm.
Wishing everyone a Sunday kind of Monday (with rising temperatures, please).

For big and small kids: The scale of the universe

Making Chai

Winter has finally arrived in Barcelona and even though temperatures don't drop below zero, those big old flats without heating get really chilly. Heating becomes a topic of conversation. Imagine someone asking you, "Do you have heating?" somewhere in Northern Europe.


Time for beautifully fragrant, warming, homemade Chai

6 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp anise seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp fresh ginger
6 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp black tea
6 cups of water
4 cups of milk

Put all ingredients apart from the tea into a pot and bring to boil. Turn down heat, simmer for a minute or two and add the tea. Bring to boil again, then turn down the heat and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes. Strain.

Big Collar Vest

Something for myself for a change. A big collar vest, which really is a rectangle of fabric with two openings for the arms and some cleverly positioned buttons. Well, and a lot of playing around and head scratching. 

Afterwards, it always seems so easy.

Somehow, the vest goes very well with the tree. I think I've found a new favourite photo spot.

Drawing faces

Thanks to Francesca I know about Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Faces. It is brilliant.
And ideal for making new handmade colouring books like these from last year.