Anyway, today she went to get her Nintendo DSi – and she has been spending the afternoon playing with it. We will definitely need to make some kind of rules in that area, but we didn’t today. Now she’s in bed, but we’re going to be spending the weekend at my Mom’s, so I had to make a pouch for the thing, of course.

I found the perfect tutorial over at Mad Quilter, and it took me around 45 minutes to make it. I used heavy sew-in interfacing which worked well and velcro for the closure. The fabric is from the Danish fabric store Stof & Stil.

The tutorial is super-easy to follow, and the pouch is just the way it should be. Next time I make this, I may add a strap to it, so she can carry it easily. Other than that – it you have a child with a DS and no pouch (or you are missing one yourself) – get to it!

Finally I just want to show you what Ronja and Frida ended up looking like last Sunday at Fastelavn (carnival).

This is after they came home, and Ronja’s hair has dropped a bit. I think Ronja was really happy with her costume, and even though Frida initially had a bit of a “I-want-to-be-a-ballerina-as-well” trip, when she got to choose the colour of Pippi’s freckles (purple), and a flower on her cheek, she seemed alright with it.

As for the organza for the pettiskirt – I cannot advise anyone to use it, it frays too much, and the seams will fall apart eventually. I will be making two more skirts for sure – this time using the right fabric. It costs a fortune to have nylon chiffon sent here from the states ($50 shipping alone), so if any of you wise women out there know of a way to get it at a more reasonable rate, please let me know!

I have been sewing for most of the day today – geeeeez, there are so many yards to go over!

I should share the details, because I have been using quite a few resources, and learnt a few things during my sewing. I know I link to this tutorial/video in my section of tutes that I want to try. I did watch the video in the link, as well as read through the instructions, but I needed a bit more than that. A link in the comments led me here, and that tute did it for me. But you know, I do tend to Google everything to the extreme, so I’ll share a few more links.

• Best free tutorial (that I’ve found) by Kerri of Kerri’s Kreations

• Martha Stewart tute video with Kandi Lightner

• Overview of pattern pieces at Made By Bronwyn

• PDF with some great tips on how to not make it too hard on yourself

• Fabric source for nylon chiffon

Oh, and if it’s just too much to spend hours reading online before you can get down to business, Kerri has a photo tutorial here as well for purchase.

Let me tell you right away – I got the fabric wrong. And it wasn’t because I didn’t know what was recommended, no actually I was just way too late. Ronja needs the costume by tomorrow, and I didn’t go fabric shopping until yesterday afternoon. Noone has nylon chiffon in the shops, polyester chiffon is supposed to fray a lot, soft tulle wasn’t an option since the shop I went to didn’t have it in pink (the requested colour), so I had to take a wild guess on what would work. I left the shop carrying a bag of organza and some satin.

Organza does have the right lightness to it, but it still frays terribly. It’ll do the job, but you will be tearing your hair out over why you didn’t get the right fabric from the beginning – I know, ’cause I have been doing just that all day.

I got myself a gathering foot for my sewing machine, and I must say, I couldn’t have done the pettiskirt without it. I know some would – but they would have to be much more patient than I am – and not have kids. You are supposed to be able to attach and gather at the same time using the foot, but I tried that with the tiers, and it was a complete nightmare. The organza kept slipping out of the foot, and I had no control whatsoever. Soooo, I cut 9 new 4½ inch strips of organza, and decided to just be happy that I bought enough. Then I gathered first using the new presser foot, and attached afterwards using my regular presser foot.

It does take a long time, but still it’s a fun project, and once you get it, it’s not difficult.

Ronja loves her skirt. She wasn’t overly enthusiastic while I was sewing, but she definitely was when it was finished, so I just had to show you right away in spite of the lack of light for photos. Tomorrow for shrovetide celebration the rest of the costume will be a simple improvisation. I will tie her hair up in a bun if she’ll allow me, and I have sewn some of the pink ruffles to an undershirt to go with the skirt. A bit of facepaint and she will be ready to go.

The only problem is, that after Frida saw this skirt, she is not quite happy anymore, that she is going as Pippi Longstockings. Do I need to say that I will be making more of these?

But hey – I was ready for spring! It’s almost light when I leave for work in the morning now, and it’s not yet dark when I come home. The birds have started singing several times a day, and I want to sew stuff for spring.

This picture was taken Sunday in the afternoon after Fastelavn. I should mention that we – almost literally – haven’t seen the sun for weeks. And the few times that we have, it has been a glimpse through the grey, grey clouds, and then gone again… However, Sunday the sun was shining from a blue sky most of the day, and it was wonderful and much needed. It just has that incredible effect on your state of mind. Ronja was playing with shadows, and I grabbed my camera to catch it. I love this picture.

Now we go back to looking forward to the next sunbeam. In the meantime, if the snow stays, I’m sure Ronja will be thrilled – and Frida just might as well!

Saturday I had been making an outfit for Frida as well – a clown costume to be exact. I based the costume on the Onion pattern 10009 that includes a pair of basic loose pants, and a blouse that buttons on one shoulder. I modified them a bit – the pants are meant for rib at the lining and at the ancles, but I decided that elastics in dotted casings would work better for my tiny clown. The blouse pattern is meant for a knit, and has a rib at the neckline – I switched it and went with wovens and a clown collar at the neckline. I covered the collar edge with bias tape, made from the same fabric as the collar. Then I embellished it with a tiny pocket and two flower-buttons.

I threw all kinds of colourful fabric in the pool; Michael Miller, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, and a bunch of other stuff - and above you can see how it all turned out. Below, you can see the caring big sister holding hands with the little clown, while they’re having their picture taken together with Ronja’s friends Emma and Ida.

The Fastelavn-party took place in a gym, and all the kids lined up in different lines according to their age, to beat the cat out of the barrel (this very traditional event at Fastelavn has got to make no sense to many of you – read more about it here - about halfway down). Ronja had fun with her friends, and although I think the experience was a little overwhelming to Frida, she found it exciting as well.

Afterwards, Frida and I went to meet with my mothers group. It has been quite a while since the last time, because we’re all working now – but we had such a nice time, and the kids are just growing up so quickly. It was great to see them all again, and to watch the children play! Frida was exceptionally tired when we went home, so she had herself a good long afternoon nap.

Ronja on the sled

The snow has almost melted, and the weather is getting milder every day now. There is bird’s twitter in the morning and the spring flowers are beginning to show in the garden. Ronja had her last sled ride for this winter a few weeks ago – presumably – and she loved it. Now we’re looking forward to spring and summer – it is going to be nice to see more of the sun.

I’m doing ok with my running – it has been less hard starting up this time, compared to last time, when I decided to start running back in 2003. My most recent run was Sunday, and I ran together with my brother Jakob who has been visiting from Amsterdam this week. I was seriously skeptical as I haven’t been running with anyone before, but we had a really nice trip with good pace and we actually ran well together – I may even miss the possibility of running with a partner. It was a good thing that he talked me into it.

Ronja is one and a half year old tomorrow, and she is developing so much at the moment. Her words are going from total Russian (which we do admire even though we don’t understand one word) to something that makes sense, and she knows a great many words now. She also combines words to little sentences and is making progress so quickly that we can hardly follow her. She is great at “helping” with the laundry – meaning of course that I need to collect it all over the house, before I can wash.

Ronja is going to Shrovetide (Fastelavn) at the nursery on Monday, and we’re still not sure what she should go as. My mother is looking for a little clown suit (a wonderful one) that she made for my brother at that age, and if she manages to find it, Ronja will probably be a clown – and a cute one too! I’ll get back with pictures.