French Memo Board

I found another use for my beautiful apple fabric that just makes me happy when I look at it: a French memo board for my kitchen. I used an old canvas, sewed two pieces of fabric together, stapled them on and added some ribbon. I hand sewed some buttons on and that's almost it... Now I finally have a place to put some of our pretty postcards and wedding invitations.
 

apples, gingham and big buttons, what more could one want?

The canvas I had sitting around was quite large, so I decided to divide it up a bit and add some handy features on the bottom part that are not typically included in the French memo board.... like a "clothes line" to hold some note pad or take out menus and stuff like that. It's just a piece of ribbon with some clothes pins on it. I stitched it through the cover fabric and canvas with  a large needle and tied a knot on each side of the line on the back of the canvas.

the "clothes line"

I also sewed two pockets on the gingham fabric efore stapling it to the frame, one I left as it is to hold some note paper and one I divided up in smaller sections to hold pens and scissors.

some pockets sewn on to hold pens and scissors

 And that's it - my new French memo board.

French memo board with some handy organizing features...



Gingham in a circle...

Did you ever wonder how a gingham weave would look like in a circle? I was playing with this in my mind for a while but it was time to do a little weaving project to make it visible for you...
The circle is really small, so the wool is sort of bulky in the middle and the whole thing is not laying flat, it's not finished properly but who cares?! The only purpose for this little project was to show you the gingham in the circle... I really love how it looks like and I can totally see this in a bigger project maybe one of those T-shirt yarn hula hoop rugs that I spotted on pinterest:

Source: familyfun.go.com via Lydia on Pinterest

My tiny Gingham test version actually looks like a mini-Kippah and I might just use it as that for our baby boy!

Hanukka Gift No. 2: iPhone cover and Circle Pouch

Source: erinerickson.com via Lydia on Pinterest

This earbud pouch has been all over the internet since last November and it inspired this gift to my husband. A little iPhone cover and a matching earbud pouch. He lost his earbuds so many times and I thought it would be a great thing to have a little pouch for them on his keys. But bless him, he never used it up until now, which may be my own fault because it was buried under a pile of stuff in our office. 

My take on the earbud pouch... finished with black bias tape.

Red Gingham and Aqua with black accents and my earbuds.

The iPhone cover. Aqua with a red wonky stitch decoration

Lined with Red Gingham. I.LOVE.RED.AND.AQUA!

Now that I've finally take the pictures and uploaded them I can put these two into my husband's stuff so he may actually use 'em.

Hanukka Gift No 1: For My Little Chef

One happy little cook on the planet.

One of the most fun projects to make so far was this little outfit for my chef. My baby loves to help in the kitchen. In fact she won't let me cook alone unless she is asleep. If she's in a bad mood I just have to say "hey want to come and cook something?" Her little face will light up and within seconds she'll be in the kitchen. I think when she turns 3 she'll be ready to cook our dinners. Just kidding.

Needless to say, she loves her cooking outfit. When she starts cooking in her play kitchen she'll first bring the hat and apron and I'll have to help her put it on. There are 2 mittens, too and she'll put them on running around with little pots saying "heiss, heiss!" (hot, hot in German).

Ready to zoom in on the details a little?

2 sides of the apron

straps from bias tape

ruffles

I made the apron extra big so it will fit for a while. The straps also leave room for adjustment.

oven mittens

The mittens are simple cotton lining, padding, cotton outer fabric. all held together and finished with some red bias tape. Simple and effective. I made the opening for the hands quite big, since in my last version turned out pretty tight and not so easy to put on for little hands.

the hat from top.

the bottom part of the hat lined with felt

And last but not least: The simple chef hat. Two rectangles of fabric. The lower one lined with felt for stability and better fit on fine baby hair. The top part was ruffled on the bottom and tied up on top with a string to close up the hat. There are other ways to create a chef's hat using a square piece of fabric for the top part. Both ways work well.

And here the cook in action:

What's for dinner?

Steamed felt carrots.

For a Girl and her Mouse

 

I spotted this pillowcase here a while back and I knew I had to do it for a little girl's birthday...

Source: fleetingthing.com via Lydia on Pinterest

The little girl I am talking about is my baby's fried and she sleeps with a bed full of these...

I drew my own sketch of a girl and her mouse and hand stitched it to some fabric I added 3 farbic/felt hearts to it. And than I made a pillow out of the fabric square with a red gingham back. Happy birthday little girl!