Half fabric, half knit

I didn't plan on it, but 2014 is turning out to be the year for finishing UFO's (UnFinished Objects). I cheated a bit with this one, because it was supposed to be a square pillow made out off little squares (8 knit and 8 purl). It turned out being a rectangular pillow with a back out of fabric instead of a knitted one. I ordered the fabric some time ago from Spoonflower, a company which makes it possible for people to design and sell their own fabric. The colours go well together, so I really like the end result.

Confetti

 

Photographics is what they are called, these lovely drawings on real photographs from de Verderkijker. I sent some actual confetti with this postcard (an idea I got from a friend)               

Happy birthday!



A new year

Out with the old.....

 

 

In with the new......

 

 

This lovely cabinet belonged to my parents-in-law. We decided to paint it a long time ago, but never got around to it. It was more work than we thought and it is always hard to imagine how the colour will actually look on the wood when you pick it out in the store, but we are quite pleased with how it turned out.

Felt balls

Yeah, it is finally finished! My wreath with needle felted balls. All balls felted by myself....that's why I didn't finish it last year around Christmas and it has been an UFO (unfinished object - my mum taught me this new abbreviation) laying around the house for several months. I learned this technique from my cousin from Atelier Love for Wool.

How to make a needle felt ball:

Materials:
- Wool roving (I got mine from Kleiendraad)
- A felting needle
- Foam block
- Soap
- Bowl of lukewarm water

First you take a peace of wool of about 15 cm long and you tie it into a knot. Wrap the ends around the knot so it already looks a bit like a ball. Stick your needle in from different sides and angles. Use your foam block so that you don't stick the needle in the surface your working on. You'll notice that your ball will get firmer. Dip it into your bowl of lukewarm soapy water and roll it between your hands into a nice ballshape. Let it dry and you can use the balls to decorate whatever you want.

Christmas tree

A few years ago without planning it I started a new tradition of collecting Christmas ornaments from the countries we visit. Funny enough you can even buy them in spring. This year this cute little bird with a knitted hat was added to the collection in St. Jacobs, Canada. It goes well with the tree my boyfriend made out of wood three years ago. Although I miss the scent of a real tree, it is pretty practical to put it in the attic in one piece after the holidays and take it back out the next year. We do take out the ornaments, but the lights stay in!

Flower cushion

Tadaa!! My crochet flower cushion. I'm not experienced at crocheting, but I did make this and it turned out pretty nice. I followed a workshop by Natasha from Natashaakt.nl (too bad if you don't live in the Netherlands, but there are a lot of tutorials online as well). It is made with a 12 mm crochet needle and Shetland wool and probably looks more difficult than it actually is. The cushion is about 50 cm.

Birdhouse

The temperature dropped significantly this week so we started to think about feeding the birds again. I saw this birdhouse in a magazine and my boyfriend recreated it in a couple of hours! He used leftover pieces of wood that were overcrowding our small shed. I added a sketch to give you an idea of the measurements.