Birthday wishes

It was my birthday a few days ago. I love birthdays. It is the ultimative celebration of a person being here on earth! And what is really better than that?

On my birthday I slept. The little one slept, and my better half slept. Yes, it really was a crazy week. But the day after my family came by and celebrated me being here on earth. And who better to celebrate with you, than the ones who have known you all your life?

They also brought gifts. I love gifts almost as much as I love celebrating! Birthdays are really a great invention!

One of my gifts were fabric. Yummy, yummy fabric.


How cool is that?


Now I am all ready for christmas.


Perfect fabric for the little one or the his brother who is being produced. Notice the red fabric with robots on. Robots! Does it get any cooler? I just need to figure out what to make. Maybe a stacking ring - which is actually on my project-to-do list!

And speaking of fabrics. I got these two lovely ones while I was visiting Nathalie. They have their own local branch of Fabric Heaven. Yummy!


And finally. Just because it makes me smile and makes the little man wonder. This little white flower.



Hmmm. Sigh! Hello, my name is Lene, and I am a fabric-o-holic!

Bruschetta

For the longest time people have been asking me about my bruschetta recipe. I got it from a magazine years ago and it is an all-time favorite.

One time my friend, Mona, came to visit. And out of her bag she got a loaf of white bread and a bag of grated cheese and she then suggested with a shy smile that we used that to make my bruschetta, if I didn't mind. As if I would ever mind anyone bringing food to my house?

I've been meaning to put them on the blog so the rest of the world can taste the yummyness. Yes, I like to share with others. It makes me feel good about myself. However, it seems that I have a lot of good intentions towards this recipe but there is not a lot of action happening!

But then a few days ago, Mrs. Nathalie called me asking for my bruschetta recipe. I instantly realised that this could be the answer to all my problems, well my bruschetta-recipe problems at least.

Within seconds she had agreed to photograph the process and blog about it. I didn't really have to do anything. It is brilliant.

So without further ado, I give you the amazing bruschetta recipe. They are so good.

I hope you'll try them out, love them as much as I do and then make some more!

Thank you, Nathalie, for writing posts that I can then use so I don't have to do anything myself - yes, the last week has been one of those weeks. Fortunately it is over now. All that is left is to rest and recover, kiss my little boy on his chubby cheeks and be grateful for all the blessings I daily enjoy.


Hmm, life is pretty darn good. Now I just need some bruschetta ...

Being in Aalborg

This is my friend, Nathalie. I love her.


Here she is showing off her new camera. It is a Canon. It is pretty. I would tell you the model, but my brain is having a hard enough time wrapping itself around the Nikon models.

Here is Mrs. Nathalie with her own personal better half, Michael, and of course my always amazing sister.



On our second day there we went to the park. It was beautiful with the big majestic trees and all the fall colours. And the frost on the plants.




Nature is so amazing. God is really a genius!

It is cold in Aalborg, really cold!


Nathalies husband, Michael, and the little one tried out the swing. It was quite a hit with the both of them.


As I mentioned in my last post, Mrs Nathalie is quite creative and she always seem to have some cool things, like this:






I came home having a great desire to paint something bright yellow. I didn't even care what. I just wanted something bright yellow in my house. It's so pretty!

And just to top it off. Here are some of her creations.




The flowers are made from old car tires. She put a pin behind one of the flowers so you can wear it in your hair. So funky and cool!

And this basket is made out of old bicycle tubes. Who ever came up with that idea? It is brilliant, and it looks amazing. Think of all the fun household items you can make out of these? And you can get the bike tubes for free at the bike store. Such a great idea.




One last picture from Aalborg. The little one and my sister checking out the planes.


We had a great time in Aalborg and it seemed that even 3½ days were too short. But we came home with loads of wonderful memories and experiences, and I look forward to the next time I am fortunate enough to spend time with the happy couple.

Vacation time

The month of October is known for one thing here in Denmark: Fall vacation! It doesn't influence me that much normally seeing as how I am a stay-at-home mum and the little one is not in school yet.

But this year we decided to use the fall vacation to visit someone who is in school, and so I packed up the little one and myself, met up with my amazing sister and flew across the country to the city of Aalborg.

Denmark is so small so when we say across the country, then we are talking about a 45 minute flight. Getting to the airport actually takes longer than that!

In Aalborg we were picked up by Mrs Nathalie and her better half, Michael. Nathalie, my sister and I have shared two apartments, many late nights and our share of wonderful days. If Nathalie and I both hadn't gotten married - 14 days apart - I think we would still be found on the same adress, together with my sister.

So it was a fantastic reunion. We talked, ate, slept, walked, shopped, watched television, hung out, played with the little one and ate some more. It was 100% pure relaxation in the company of superb people. It honestly doesn't get any better than that.

The lovely Nathalie is awfully creative and is even studying to become a craft teacher, so she has some fun and untraditionel things around her house. I brought my camera and naturally ended up taking 100 pictures of so in 3½ days.

However, that will be another post, since I managed to finish off two more projects from my Project-to-do-list before I left for our vacation. And what kind of person would I be if I didn't do these posts in chronological order - Ehh, I am not really sure where that sentence came from. Honestly, I am to lazy to upload the pictures right from my trip right now.

I made this little bag for toiletries. I wanted to finish it before we left so I could bring it and have a place for our lotions and so on.



I am quite proud of it, even though there is absolutely not a shred of originality or creativity in it. I bought it as a kit. I just had to cut out the pattern and applications, sow on the applications and sow the bag and that was that.

So I am not proud of it for the creativity or thought that I put in, I am proud because I bought it early on in my pregnancy with the little one and it has been lying in my cupboard for more than two years, haunting me, mocking me. It was the applications that got me a little nervous. But no more! It is done. It works. And it even looks kinda cool.

And let me be honest, I was actually creative and used some independent thought, since I decided to leave out the embroidery that said "Bath". I felt that was an overkill.

The last picture of the beautiful pink bag - yes, boys can also use pink!



Afterwards I finished off a bag for the little one. I started on it one evening sometime in April, and I just had to make the handles and sow it all together and then it would be done. Unfortunately, this became a project of pure procrastination.

By the way, please tell me I am not the only one who sometimes have an extreme overuse of needles.



I had to fold both the inner and the outer fabric and also attach the two fabrics. It seemed to me that the only way of doing that was so use approimately 100 needles!

A picture of my sowing machine - notice the cool stickers - and the little one drawing. He got bored playing with the needle and fabric that I gave him, so the next choise was drawing. He loves it. I think I could get away with pretty much everything as long as he could draw.



I will be back with more pictures of the reversible bag (ohh!) and pictures from my visit with Nathalie. So much to look forward too!

Harvest time

Fall is really here.

The little one and me went out looking for chestnut the other day, the sun was shining from a blue sky, the air was crisp and fresh, and the little one enjoyed all the leaves that had fallen from the trees. It was one of those perfect days.

Naturally, for every 2 chestnut the little one put into the bag, he threw 10 into the bushes. I didn't really care that much. I just enjoyed the day, being outside and a happy little man by my side.

And so in theme with the whole fall-harvest theme I made some felted carrots - erhm, yes, they were also on my to-do-project list, but none the less they fit with the season.



The carrots are needlefelted using orange wool. The top of the carrots are made using two different shades of green felt. When I was done felting the carrots, I cut a hole as deep as possible in the top of the carrot. I then cut out leaves in two different shades of green and attached them with glue. It was quite simple.

Because the carrots are pretty big and I wanted them firm, it took me a while to felt them. But it was an easy project that beginners can easily do, and I really like the result.




When I looked through my own selection of felt, I found that I had one green color, and it was very, very bright. It looked like green on drugs! I love things looking fresh and happy, but the thought of that bright orange combined with an even more bright green made my head hurt. So I called my sister, miss Anne, who is the owner of all things crafty. She willingly agreed to let me have some of her green felt because she is just a nice person.

This is my sisters selection of green felt.



Am I the only one who is amazed? I never even knew you could get felt in that many shades of green.

Now I have been on and on about needlefelting I think it is only fair I do a tutorial on it soon. Are you excited? I know, you want to know more about needlefelting ... if only I had a dollar for each time I had written needlefelting in this blog. Needlefelting, needlefelting, needlefelting! See, already I would be 3 dollars richer.

It is done!

There is excitement in our house. I am excited. The little one is excited. And I am excited that he is excited. Oh, all the excitement.


I have finished the mobile for the little ones room.

He likes it.


The mobile consists of 8 nylon strings, each with 3 felted wool balls. I just tied a little knot under each ball.


The balls have been needlefelted - not a big surprise, huh? It takes a while to do each ball since I wanted them quite firm, so I am sure I must have stabbed each ball thousands of times. A good way to get off some agresssions.

Just be careful with your fingers. Those needles are incredibly sharp, and they are barbed. I have had more than one of them pierce my thumb. Not a pleasent experience.


The mobile is gathered in a square cardboard frame. I cut out two frames approximately 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) with a 12 x 12 cm (5 x 5 inch) square cut out in the middle. I then glued the two frames together to make them more stabile. Afterwards I painted them light green - pretty much my favorite color.

If I could get my will I would probably paint everything I own that color. It's so delicious!


Assembling the mobile took me and my crafting night team a little while, and I doubt that I could have done it on my own. But the rest of the mobile is pretty simple to make. If you don't feel like needlefelting and spending the time that takes, then wetfelting the balls would be an option.

Now I just need to hang it up over the little ones bed. Even though I think I have to hang it quite high, otherwise I doubt it will last very long.


I am so excited about all the projects I am getting done. And I love being able to cross out things on my project list.

I was able to cross out another item, which I will share later. It combines my two favorite things; play food and felt.

Shh ... quiet!

Yesterday we had our weekly crafting night which I love with a passion. Not only are there good company, crafting galore and treats, but there is also wonderful people who will do my boring repair work.

One of those lovely, wonderful people is Lisbeth. Can you tell she is very concentrated?



She is also a great babysitter, I just wanna add. Anyway, yesterday she was slaving away for my sister, Miss Anne. Anne made her sow this car:



It is for the amazing quietbook Anne is making for my little one. This is how the page with the car will more or less look like when it is completely done.



Lisbeth was still sowing away on the blue car while Maria took the picture - yes, I even have people to take pictures for me - so the blue car is missing in the picture. Just imagine it sitting in the bottom of the page all excited and ready to drive. Cause that is exactly what these cars are going to do. Each car is sliding along on a piece of black satin ribbon enabling them to "drive" back and forth down the road.

It is cool, huh?

She is considering making an etsy shop where she would sell the patterns once she is done. I really do hope she will. I think everyone should be able to create such a fun quiet book. And how about this page?



I love apple trees. And the little apples are attached with a little metallic clip so you can take them off the tree ...



And put them into the little basket.



Ahh!

I can't wait for the book to be finished. I just fear that the little one and me will end up fighting for who gets to play with it.

Play food

One of the cool things about having kids - apart from the obvious, how cute is this boy?



Anyway, as I was saying. One of the many cool things about having kids is that you have a legitimate reason for having toys, looking at toys and most importantly, playing with these toys.

As I already mentioned I am quite fascinated by play food. Maybe "quite fascinated" is a slight understatement, but let's not get into that right now. So of course I already tried to make some play food.

I didn't really know what to do with it at the time, so it just ended in a box waiting for better days. But I am hoping the little one will soon be ready for it.

Meatballs with tomato sauce with pasta.



The meatballs are needlefelted, while I made the pasta out of white felt, pinking shears, needle, and thread.

He is a little interested ... although mostly in grabbing the meatballs and throwing them behind the couch. Maybe I'll wait a little longer before he gets to play with it.



Tomato. Needlefelted. I love needlefelting. You can make anything with it. Amazing what you can do with a sharp, barbed needle and some wool.



Petit fours. I think they are so cute - is it wrong to love something you made yourself?







Somehow I have this picture in my mind of a little girl having a tea party for her teddy bears with these lovelies on a small tray. Someone please have a little girl soon!

Cherry! I love them. They are tasty, rumour has it they are healthy, and they seem like such a happy little fruit. What's not to love?



A little felted carrot is also under construction. It is ... you're never going to guess this ... needlefelted.

Yes, it is an addiction. I am seeking help.