A Stolen Summer Day

What more could you want? A stolen summer day, the smell of freshly mown grass, great relatives, easy-going kids and a snail to match your clothes. Not much I don't reckon. Well maybe a collection of baths

Small but Very Pink

Okay it has taken me a while. Now I know why people make things for kids.... it's because they are smaller so you can get them finished. I should be spending my sewing time on finishing those pjamas. Those ones for a birthday that happened in May. But the satisfaction out of starting and finishing something in one go is addictive. This is a small apron for a little girl who was given a play kitchen for her second birthday. Very pink, very girlie. No use for such items in my household. The chefs in my house don't do pink.

Presents, parcels..... the unexpected ones are the best

Thank you Jean and David, the parcel was great fun and the contents are great too. The jumper is perfect, especially for our little jumper fan. He'll be modelling it as soon as the weather cools down a bit again.

Knitting - what happened to summer?

I can feel the winter lowering. Okay there are good things about autumn and winter. Invigorating walks in the autumn sunshine, beautiful leaves, and being able to wear hats.....one day I'll learn to knit them myself. This great hat (I love fun knitted hats) was knitted by my knitting, stitching, quilting mother, Mrs. Crafts.....what would I do without her?

But right now I could just do with some more hot summer sun. Somehow there just wasn't enough this year.

A jammy weekend

It was a real JAM weekend. How could it not be. Look at these plums….. We now have loadsa Pflaumenmus. It’s a sort of German plum spread. I love it. Ours turned out quite lemony (due to really strong lemon peel) which is alright cos my little family seems to love the taste of lemon. The smell of plum jam wafted through the house all day Sunday. Both of us realised how the smell of jam is an integral part of the smells and memories that conjure up home and childhood. Mmmmmmmmm...............

And there was a real JEWEL walk in the weekend as well. My little two year loves to go on walks. Not sure where he could get that from (neither his great grandparents….bless them, nor his grandparents (on either side) nor his parents like to walk, hike or ramble!!).Well after he had had enough plum picking, swinging and climbing on the climbing frame, this little guy decided it was time for a walk.

‘Dis way, ‘dis way….he rattled at the gate and wanted to go….so off we went. Papi was left in the house stoning plums. My son and Iwith our great new wellies on our feet (thanks Helen and Clive), what more could I want in life? We saw tall grass, we investigated creepy crawlies, looked at the sky, jumped in puddles (well I watched), walked down “new to us” roads, discovered old style electric pylons, met a man with a Jeep and a trailer, enjoyed each other’s company. And when we got home again, most of those plums had been stoned.

The thing that struck me all weekend, and yes it has been threatening for a while, is that autumn is upon us. The colours (and the temperature) outside reinforced that feeling. I love this time of year, even if it is kind of melancholic. The long summer days are over.

Birthday Furniture 2

Here are the finished table and chairs. I am amazed for two reasons. Firstly because I finished them (anyone who knows me will understand this!) and secondly because they look as good as I imagined them to. Lots of white paint and some blackboard foil have turned these old guys into nice new shiney furniture. There is something very satisfing about making (and finishing) and giving presents.

What a Day!

He's been with us for two whole years. Amazing! And what pleasure filled years they have been. What did we do before he arrived? I suppose we slept longer and went out more (in the evenings). But to be honest you can get by with a lot less sleep than you think and I have been out more in the day, met new friends and generally enjoyed my life a lot more since Yorck has been around. Thank you, Sweetheart. You are such fun!

Yorck enjoying the first of his cake at 06:30 am. Well there do have to be advantages of a failed cake the night before! I reckon this is the way to start a birthday!

And here is the very same little boy picking the Smarties off his cake. Not interested in the presents, just interested in picking these things off his cake. How did we get him to the age of two without him knowing what they are!! We watched in amazement and stifled our giggles. Okay, we have spent a lot of effort keeping him away from Gummibärchen but not Smarties. After he had successfully removed them all, he then turned to the serious business of present opening.

Sadly there are no pictures of us in the park where we spent the rest of the day, due to a mother leaving her keys in the back of the door (and the camera in the flat)! But a good time was had by all. It was still 30°c here yesterday so we even got to play in the fountains in the park. Such weather on September the 8th is a birthday present in itself.

2 Today!

Congratulations!

A Rowan Tree

Yorck and I went to pick up his birthday furniture last Wednesday (lazy blogger here!). It was a beautiful afternoon and I took the opportunity to shoot a few pictures I saw on the way home (or even over the past few years). We often drive home via Belgium as fuel is much cheaper there. The quickest way is along the back roads near Mützenich.

There is one field which is hedged or rather lined by rowan trees. This year they are bearing so much fruit, it surely is going to be a very hard winter (should get my curtains finished!). Everytime we drive past that field I think of Anne of Green Gables (in Anne of Ingleside): “A rowan tree? Whyn't you have it planted by the front door? It would keep the fairies out”.

Birthday furniture

Over the weekend I started to renovate a “desk” and some chairs for Yorck’s 2nd birthday. Somewhere for him to draw and paint. After deciding that I’d at least like something with a bit more history than the standard stuff from Ikea, we kept our eyes open at a couple of we’ve been to flea markets recently.

I already had the coffee table (and yes it is old Ikea. Thanks Andrea). To go with the rest of the furniture in his room, I decided it should be white (I do quite like the shabby chic look of that sanded blue paint though). The weather was so nice that I started the renovation outside. And guess who was so very enthusiastic to help? Seems a bit wrong, but who am I to stop his renovation fun?

We spent the weekend away in the Eifel (where there is considerably more room for such things) and it was great. I got to spend it with my family and choose when to sneak off and work on my crafting projects. What a combination. Apart from the furniture (which still needs more work) I finished a promised seat strap for my littlest nephew on his holidays. Thinking about it, I finished it more for his parents and their eating pleasures. Then I started and finished (!!) a couple of presents that I can’t show you yet. The birthday surprise would be spoilt so you’ll just have to wait until they arrive on the other side of the world…..hopefully in time for the 13th. Might be pushing it a bit, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.