Hopfaldera

Where I was

It was a bit quiet here on the blog last week. Do you want to know where I was? This was my view...

 
Nice, don't you think! We went to Crete, in Greece!

We made friends among the "wild' hotel cats. They became our pets for the week; every morning when we opened our door they were waiting for us (and the food we secretely gave them). Damaris and Emil gave every cat a name: here you see Taf, Paps, Blackie and Mams.

 

A sponge shop in Rethymno...

 

A visit to the Knossos...

Agios Nikolaos...

We had a great time, caught a lot of sun, the kids did a lot of swimming, I read two books: Sarah's Key and  Hanna's Daughters - A Novel Of Three Generations (the last one I read for the first time on Crete ten years ago, so I thought it was fun to reread it there; the book actually has nothing to do with Crete or Greece but is set in Sweden). Frederik got a lot further in his Wallander book Sidetracked which he is reading in Swedish. I think we all recharged our batteries, so to speak, and are ready for Fall and Winter!
 
 
 
 

My creative space 07

I have caught the kntting bug again!

A cowl with interesting stitches for myself.

A new hat for Emil.

This will become a sleeveless v-neck sweater for Frederik. Pattern found via Angry Chicken.

The yarn for a short jacket for Damaris still has to be bought. She needs to come with me to pick the color and to test the yarn for non-itchy-ness!  

More creative spaces at Kootoyoo! Thanks for hosting this every week Kirsty!

The Daily Prophet

 

It's the 3rd of October! That means something special in my town. Leiden, in the Netherlands, has been celebrating its release from Spanish Rule on this day, ever since 1574! This is what I wrote about it last year. This year´s report has a moving photo (like in The Daily Prophet in Harry Potter), but I´m not able to embed it in this blog post. Go to Flickr and see Damaris and Emil at the fair!

Some other news in today´s Prophet. Amy Karol put up the gallery of Mad About Plaid-aprons. My apron is among the other wonderful entries.

Do you want to see our pictures?

We're back! From Italy. We were near Venice and we had a great time. We spent our vacation with my husband's brother's family. They live in China, so it was a rare opportunity to spend a lot of time together and share lots of meals, sight seeing trips and play time together.

Do you want to see our pictures? Here is a selection (of 61 photos...).

On the last day Damaris and I made a drop for the Toy Society. It turns out that it was the first drop in Italy and Toy Drop # 555, nice number! We had a great time sneaking around and dropping the toy, and we even spotted the finders.

Appeltaart Apron

A couple of months ago, Amy Karol (Angry Chicken) announced the Pie-Making Apron challenge on her apron blog Tie one on. I really liked that theme and thought it was the perfect inspiration!

I made an Appeltaart (Apple Pie) Apron for Damaris. She is a star at making these pies. And I set out to make an apron for her that was cool, girly but not pink, slightly apple-themed, and fun to make.

Here is a link to our photo in the Tie one on gallery (it features Damaris' Appeltaart recipe!!) and here you can see the whole gallery of Pie-Making Aprons.

 

Here is the next challenge... I wonder what I'll come up with?!

What's going on?

Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest, with a cute song. The Netherlands didn't make it to the final again.

I didn't watch the Contest on Saturday though. The four of us went to see the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as a surprise for Damaris' birthday. She was so excited when we surprised her with the tickets. And we really enjoyed the show. It was colorful and marvelous! I could have looked at the costumes and stage attributes for days.

On a sadder note, I got another infection in my leg. So I am on a new track of recovery. I don't know what else to say than that I hate these infections and I never ever want to get another one. Did everybody hear that?!

Koninginnedag 2009

Yesterday we were having a wonderful, sunny, musical Queen's Day in Leiden....

Then somebody ruined the party in Apeldoorn by trying to kill the Royal Family. He did not succeed but did kill 5 innocent bystanders and himself in the process. And he ruined a wonderful  and unique holiday! They say it wasn't an act of terror, but if a whole country is upset and unsure that they will ever be able to have a great Queen's Day again, I call that terror.

New beginning

A new beginning, that's what it always feels like after I emerge from being ill with a infection of my leg. I have to start again to arrange my priorities and rethink all the activities I was involved in.
So, this time, I dropped working on the bazaar at school and I will probably not help in school activities for a long time (I believe helping with a felting project was the direct cause of the infection this time).
What I did not drop: Ceramics class, cooking at home (I made Melanzane Parmiggiana yesterday), my own creative endeavors, having fun with my family.




Right now this fun consists of sudokus with Emil, reading Harry Potter to Damaris and Emil; we'll start book 7 as soon as someone makes it to the book store.



The ultimate goal is to be able to go to Pinkpop with Damaris on June 1. I bought tickets for the two of us two days before I got sick. So I'm saving my energy now to see Amy MacDonald, Mando Diao, Franz Ferdinand, Anouk, Katy Perry and more with my hip girl!

Not on the list...

Do you recognize this? You make a to do list, and then do something that is not on the list.
That is what I did. I made three small bags to be sold by my kids' school at the bazaar in May. Every family is required to make three items to be sold and ten small items that go into a basket with wood chips that kids can draw a little present from (my brilliant description of a 'grabbelton').



The really fun part about the market with the larger items is that it is for kids between 4 and 8 and that the kids do their own shopping. Parents are strictly forbidden to guide their child to buy a certain item. It is so surprising what children will buy when they can choose completely by themselves. Damaris and Emil have come back with a pebble with a face, a matchbox with a wooden ladybird, a small fabric pouch with a shiny stone, a pencil with a hat, a felt butterfly, stuff like that. It is very empowering for the children and they are so proud of their purchases.

Some more thing that are not on my list but that I might work on:

- natural egg dying on 3191

- friendly birds (I received my kit yesterday, I bought it from my birthday money)

To do list

Here's my to do list:

Make a new bag for the summer

Make a tunic from a pattern I recently purchased (New Look 6774)

Make a dress from the same pattern

Finish the quilt that I have been working on (sneak peeks in the photos in this post). I got the idea and a tutorial from here



Work on the Bazaar at Damaris' and Emil's school. We're preparing a space travel experience in Emil's classroom.

Think up new plans for my ceramics. These birds come out of the kilns next week with glazes on them.



Not worry that no one ever buys anything from my Etsy shop (the recession is just not helping)

Read about Lucy Hatch. So much fun to be reading about people from rural Texas; so different from my own European town life. I borrowed the first two books from the library (in the wrong order of course) and now bought the last two on Amazon. [while I was doing the finishing touches to this post they got delivered!!]