red scout tee

I’ve been itching to get back to my sewing machine. Sewing seems to come in phases for me, sometimes I can’t get enough and have a hundred ideas playing ping pong in my head and sometimes I’m just frustrated with whatever I come up with.
This Scout tee was actually made months ago, but with a little collar that looked very cute in my head and decidedly less cute on the actual shirt.


So it sat there, unloved, unworn for a while until I finally worked up the motivation to rip the collar out and finish it with bias tape. The fabric is a red voile, soft and nearly sheer.


A simple but versatile little tee that will hopefully see lots of wear this summer.

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handmade advent wreath

Advent wreaths are tradition here in Germany and are usually very colorful and most of all green. I posted a glimpse of the one my mom gave us last year here. The idea is to light a candle each sunday before christmas for 4 weeks, so when the fourth candle is lit it will be christmas.
This year I wanted to make our own advent wreath and make it very simple and elegant and scandinavian inspired. I put a lot of thought into it (my work colleagues will tell you I spent all lunch breaks for weeks pondering on the colors and decorations of this wreath) and in the end nearly everything about it is DIY.

I first thought of buying a wooden ring, but couldn’t find one I liked, so I made my own using willow twigs collected in the woods.
It’s easier than it looks and secured with wire holds up really well.

Next were the ornaments. I knew I wanted beeswax candles, so stitched red felt ornaments sounded right and I was itching to do a bit of handstitching anyway.



The candle holders were only available in silver and gold, so we (meaning the boyfriend) simply spraypainted them white.

It turned out just the way I hoped and I love our handmade wreath which we will be using for years!

red button down skirt

Finally, some sewing again and it’s not even navy blue!

A bright red skirt which has been in the works for nearly two months! Phew. It’s based on the same pattern as the blue pencil skirt, but I wanted to add a button placket at the front.
I first procrastinated on actually drafting the pattern and when I finally did, I made many stupid mistakes…I redrafted and sewed the skirt up pretty quickly and it was looking really neat when I realized I had miscalculated the button placket and the skirt was now way too tight. So I ripped the placket out again and got creative in adding a new placket without having to redo the whole skirt (I was out of fabric for that anyway). Add a little time between each step to stew over it and get my motivation back up and you have two months of work on a simple skirt. At least now it fits!

It even has pretty buttons and button holes and is fully lined (don’t get me started on how many times I messed up the lining).

I think I’ve worked on it too long to determine if I like it. I’m sure some of you know that feeling. I’ll see how I feel about it in three months. That sounds depressing, I promise to be more upbeat in my next post 🙂
The necklace I’m wearing is by Native Clutter on Etsy btw.

a peek of red

Fresh strawberries from the balcony. Since growing them I never buy strawberries anymore. Not because I have enough homegrown strawberries (I don’t), but because once you’ve tasted what a strawberry should really taste like the storebought stuff loses all appeal.
Same goes for cucumbers and tomatoes btw.

More gorgeous poppies. If only these fields didn’t make me sneeze quite so much.

A little plant at the barn.

I’m off to Italy to photograph a wedding, wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

two new pillows

I can’t seem to move on from the sunny circles…I guess frayed-edged circles and me aren’t done yet! This time on my favourite purple Ikea fabric (don’t go looking for it in the fabric section…it’s a bedsheet that I cut apart).

And this one isn’t technically new, since I made it for a friend and she received it some time ago but I haven’t shown it on here yet. The fabric is a bright red jersey, so no finishing edges, yay!
It’s pretty quick and easy to whip up, I might do a tutorial if anyone’s interested?

scandinavia quilt

My dad’s birthday was on Sunday, so I can finally blog the quilt I made him. Last year I wasn’t home for his birthday and then my sewing machine got broken and he only got something small for christmas, so really this quilt covers two birthdays and one christmas 😉
While I love bright, sunshiny colors and the look of patchwork I know my dad definitely likes a more subdued look and scandinavian colours. So when I found this red pinstriped linen blend I knew it was perfect. The backing is a plain dark blue and the plaid binding connects the two colours and livens it all up a bit (I think).

I had originally planned to machine quilt it but it just didn’t work at all with my treadle…no chance without a walking foot. So I sat down to cried a bit and then I picked myself back up and started handquilting. Inspired by Anna Maria Horners new post I did big stitches with embroidery floss (3 strands if anyone wants to know the particulars).
And then I looked at it and the bold, rough quilting looked just perfect for the overall look I wanted to achieve. I think I will do handquilting with embroidery floss from now on on all of my quilts…I love the look of it and it is nice and quick work.

Not that quick though…so when I found out I only had two and a half days to complete it (due to my dad being away on business the whole week until his birthday) I went into panic mode and spend those days quilting and sewing. I never would have believed it but in those two days I got it basted, quilted, bound, washed and dried (though I had to drive over to my mom’s to use her dryer).

Except for sewing the binding on on one side the whole quilt is entirely handsewn and I am pretty darn proud of it. Thankfully my dad loves it so it was definitely worth it.

Want to know one of my guilty sewing-secrets? I never use a hoop for embroidery or quilting…when I learned it I didn’t have one and when I finally bought one it drove me crazy and didn’t work for me at all. So I just stretch the fabric tight with my hands while quilting.
This picture actually has the truest colours for the lovely red fabric (and it was at the beginning of the handquilting…a few hours on my fingers looked considerably more covered in band aid).

diamonds in the gutter

circus elephant pillow

After all those photo posts at last a little sewing again! This little pillow was inspired by Sara Gruen’s great book ‘Water for Elephants’. The idea just popped into my head one day and I already had the little elephant stamp which I had carved out of lino. The scraps are mostly a selection of Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks line (my love for that collection will never die!) and are handstitched on a piece of white fabric with red embroidery floss.
The gold fabric is a satin-woven Ikea cotton, which I love to use for almost anything, because it’s so silky and I’m in love with that precise colour so much 🙂

The combination of gold and bright reds and purples feels totally ‘circussy’ to me!

It’s up now in the shop and I will probably make another one or two when I find the time. If they don’t sell I’ll just keep them all for myself 🙂
I’m also working on another Sunny Circles Pillow, which will also go to the shop in a couple of days (I know that one is a favourite among my friends so I thought I’d give heads up here…talk about lame excuses for shameless self-promoting!)
Wishing you all a day full of colour and sunshine 🙂