Midsummer

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Midsummer

Last night we celebrated Midsummer Evening. The weather was beautiful, so we had invited good friends over for barbecue in the garden, followed by walking to the big bonfire just on the outskirts of the town, behind the church, by the fields and the woods.

The Girls at the Bonfire

I love the warm atmosphere that is so unique for this particular evening! We had a wonderful time, walked back, and stopped by a new playground that’s been built not too far from our house. The kids went to bed waaay too late, and I was grateful that both girls were tired, yet happy this morning when I went to wake them up (which I never usually need to do).

As our friends were visiting, I had a chance to give them this.

Otto RomperThree and half weeks ago they had a little baby boy, and I wanted to make him something nice. Since Frida practically lived in the two rompers I made her last year for summer, I decided I would make him the same romper from Ottobre 3/2007 in the boys version. I used one of my OttoBear tags to embellish it, and while I was sewing it on, I realized it was a perfect match – the boy’s name being Otto. :) The romper looked huge next to that tiny baby, but I hope he will grow into it over summer – they do tend to grow quicker than you anticipate.

The Nature of Modeling

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Iris

When I came home with the girls this afternoon, it was windy, but still very nice weather. It may not have been quite warm enough for Ronja’s new summer dress, but she really wanted to try it on, and I didn’t put up much of a fight.

It’s getting more difficult to take good pictures of her. I don’t mean that she’s growing to be less beautiful, but she’s becoming increasingly conscious, meaning that the second I get out the camera, she starts to pose. Now, I may be difficult that way, but I don’t want children to be posing in pictures. I’d much rather get a shot of our girls quietly (or loudly – I did say our girls) playing by themselves, totally consumed in whatever role they’re into at the time. The nature of modeled shots definitely makes this challenging, but with Ronja’s present conscious modeling-mode, that’s just plain impossible. She makes funny movements with arms and legs, that are supposed to resemble a cross between what she has seen in magazines and the neverending grace of the princesses of “Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses”. Ehhmmm – hopefully that’ll all get better with age. ;)

I like this one, though – and there she is wearing her new sunflower dress.

Behind the leaves

There’s nothing pink about it – and she loves it all the same! There’s another one here where it’s a bit easier to actually see the dress.

Summer Sunflower Dress

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After a heavy rainfall that lasted a few days during the end of last week, this weekend offered nice weather for the children to play outside.

I myself have done a little bit of sewing – I made Ronja a summer dress from the latest Ottobre. It’s called the three-way dress.

Sunflower Summer Dress

Actually in my version, it’s going to be a two-way dress, because I’m not too much into the third version that has unattached sleeves, but I am going to make the little wing-like sleeves in the second version to attach to the ribbon. However, I ran out of the kid check fabric from Michael Miller, so now I’ve ordered some more here – I’ll finish when it arrives. In the meantime it’ll be a one-way dress…  ;)

Sunflower Summer Dress

I have to tell you about the fabric, because I think it’s gorgeous – I got it from Fabric.com on sale, it’s designed by Jane Sassaman, and comes from a line called Prairie Gothic. There are several colourways, but this is my favourite – no question. I hope Ronja will find it girly enough.

Also I promised you pictures of Frida wearing her chicken-pants, so I got some yesterday. They have been washed and sun-dried already, and this must be the fourth day of wear for these pants.

Frida with the peonies

The peonies didn’t take the rain very well – the flowers are way too heavy to endure an attack like that, so they are almost flat on the ground now. I’m sure Frida is trying to make them better here…

Frida with the peonies

A few days ago, I received a package from a very dear blogging friend of mine. She had seen the most recent issue of the Dutch children’s pattern magazine Knippie, and thought that I would like it.

Knippie

And I do – it has some wonderful patterns, and I will definitely be making some of the stuff in there. I’ll probably need her help for a bit of translating, and perhaps my Dutch sister-in-law will be able to help me too. Also the card and the little tissue holder that came with the magazine are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, Mirre!

Chicken Pants with Heart Pockets

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After a few weeks without sewing, I made Frida these:

Chicken pants

I altered them slightly from the pattern which is from Ottobre 2/2003. The smallest size was an 86, and normally I would make Frida an 8, so I made them slightly narrower in the legs, and the fit is really good. I thought about having square pockets instead of heart pockets, but I decided it would look cute – and I think it does.

Chicken pants - back pockets

I tried the pants on Frida before I closed the casing for the elastic, and finished the hemming – and they look so cute on her. I’ll get a modeled shot soon, so you can see for yourself.

Chicken pants - front

Frida is already quite enthusiastic about the chickens…

Chicken pants - detail

Oh, and then I just think this goes perfectly with the colour of the pants – we have more peonies in bloom now, and I just love them!

Peony

Kayla Jacket for Frida

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This weekend I made a jacket for Frida. I made Ronja one a bit like it a little over a year ago, and she has been using it all the time, so I wanted to make something similar for Frida for the cooler spring days.

I went shopping for the fabric Saturday – I was going for some fleece, and I found something labeled luxury fleece. It is incredibly soft, and I have no doubt the jacket will be comfortable to wear! The fabric inside the hood is the same one I used for Ronja’s sweater. I was going to look for a pattern in my old Ottobre magazines, but just to be sure I checked the new issue first – and there it was!

I wanted to add something extra to it, and someone at a Danish sewing forum was kind enough to give me the pattern for the elephant appliqué a while ago – I think it works perfectly for this jacket! If there’s a drawback to this jacket design, it would be that you can’t really wear the jacket open, because of the  asymmetric front – but that’s a small thing, because I really like it! No modeled pics yet, because today it has just been too warm to wear it.

Other than that – we’ve had a quiet weekend. Yesterday, we both did some shopping, each with one of the girls. Frida has been having a rash, and at first we thought it was chickenpox, but it turned out it’s probably some sort of allergic reaction.  She started out having a fever, so she was at home Thursday and Friday, even though she was supposed to be at the nursery. Tomorrow, she will be going to the nursery for her first full day – Mads and I are both going to work, so I really hope it won’t be too difficult for her.

Finishing the fence

Today, as I mentioned, it has been summer! Warm and sunny – the girls have been outside all day, Mads has finished the fence down back to keep the girls in the garden – well, Frida mostly. We’ve visited our friends a street away for coffee, and we were actually able to sit in their garden, just enjoying the sunshine, while the kids were playing.

It won’t be long before bedtime – tomorrow will be an early day – taking both girls to daycare.

Our cherry tree

Matryoshka Appliqué Blouse

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I got around to taking pictures of Frida’s blouse, when I came home from work today. I so enjoy the fact that it’s light outside when I get home from work – it makes a world of difference to me.

Matryoshka appliqué blouse - mosaic

I have to say, I really like this blouse, and I love how the appliqué turned out! The pattern for the blouse doesn’t come in a size this small so I had to downsize it, and it seems to be a little short. If it’s too much so, I’ll lengthen it with some of the purple flower fabric, but we’ll see about that. The pattern for the appliqué is from the latest issue of Ottobre. I made the blouse from white linen, and edged it with fabric from Stof og Stil. The appliqué is made from different pieces from my stash.

** UPDATE **

Some of you would like to know that the pattern for this appliqué as well as a few other cute ones is found available for free download on the Ottobre Design website – get it here!

** END OF UPDATE **

Also, I received an award a few days ago.

i_heart_this_blog1

Helinä is the sweet giver, and you should go have a look at her blog, because she makes such beautiful things. (The last one up is a completely adorable little dress!) She writes in Finnish, so most of you will either need to drop by her site in Google Translator or just browse through the beautiful photos. Thank you so much Helinä – I really appreciate it!

“Puuheppa” overalls with a few more inches

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Some of you will remember these overalls that I made Frida not too long ago. I still love the pattern, and they are just wonderful in use – practical, comfy (I think), and sweet looking, just the way I like it in a garment.

Well, I made them in a size 74, which fit perfectly at the time – but Frida is growing a lot at the moment, and within a month they were starting to look a bit short on her. As they are still nice and wide, I decided to lengthen the legs, using the contrast fabric. And this is the slightly blurry result.

Lengthened Puuheppa overalls 

I simply cut off the legs just above the elastic, making sure the edges were alike and even, and made a pattern for the added length based on the shape of the legs above the cut. Sewed the pieces together, topstitched the side seam as above the cut, attached the new leg bottoms to the overalls, topstitched the seam, and finished with elastic at the bottom – just as they were before. Easy-peasy.

In my opinion, they’re even cuter now than they were before – this is definitely one of my favourite patterns during my time as an Ottobre subscriber. I may just be making another pair soon.

Frida and the “Kukkopilli”

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Just look at me! 

Frida isn’t using her dummy anymore – she stopped during the weekend. Or basically, we didn’t give it to her when we tucked her in – you know we had to get her off it. We were expecting her to just not go to sleep, and we were so wrong. It has been completely painless! The first couple of evenings, she had a look on her face that said, “mmm – am I not supposed to have something else, when I go to sleep?” and then she cuddled with her comfort blanket and went to sleep. I’m telling you – painless!

I started making this little tunic top during the weekend, but I didn’t have the right buttons for it, so I finished it Monday evening. When I go home from work, I have 10-15 minutes waiting while changing trains, and one of my favourite local sewing shops is close by. So I popped in to have a chat with her and get me some buttons.

Kukkopilli 

This is the same fabric I used for the baby shoes I made recently, and I’m just really fond of it. It’s an Ottobre-pattern from the latest childrens issue, called ”Kukkopilli” raglan-sleeve tunic top – and my version doesn’t have the appliqué, because I wanted a pocket there instead. A kukkopilli is a Finnish kind of rooster whistle, and they look like this – I remember seeing them in my family when I was a child. It would probably have been sweet as well, though – it’s been a while since I made an appliqué.

I love the pattern, and it looks so sweet on Frida – even if it’s hard to get her to not move too much in order to take a picture.  Here she is running away with her wet, combed hair – fresh out of her bath.

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