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.

Ocean waves quilt

This is the first quilt I finished on my own!

It was a lot of work and there are some irregularities, but I'm still pretty proud of the end result. Ocean waves is a pattern made up out of a lot of small triangles. It's ideal for your fabric leftovers. I did cheat a little bit by using a square in the middle! The white fabric with large blue flowers is a fabric which my mother bought about 25 years ago and one of my best friends donated a piece of fabric as well, so besides it being my first 'big' quilt it also has an extra personal touch.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh, a city with an impressive castle, a beautiful park, lovely old buildings and GREAT shops!! The shops above (except for Bibi's Cake Boutique) were all in the Grassmarket area where we stayed for three days.

1. Mr. Wood's Fossils - we bought a Mosasaur tooth, which is around 70 million years old, for my nephew who turns five this week and is really into dinosaurs (like my boyfriend).

2. Materialise - this shop wasn't actually open when we came across it, but I loved the window. It's a a place to sew in, create, learn and share ideas in and a shop where you can find fabulous fabrics.

3. The Red Door Gallery - okay, so this one is my favorite out of all the shops. They call themselves a 'melting pot of affordable artwork, prints, artists books, accessories, jewellery, homewares and artist cards'. I refrained myself and only bought a brooch and some earrings for my niece who turns eleven in two weeks.

4. Owl & Lion - This is not only a shop where you buy books or prints but where you can also follow bookbinding courses.

5. Bibi's Cake Boutique - Just look at the website, I need not say more!

Freezer paper

I bought freezer paper from VANMARIEKE and downloaded the bowler hat and moustache image from Knippie a while ago. My nephew turned four last week so a nice chance to try them out together.
I printed out the image and traced it onto the 'paper' side of the freezer paper. The other side is more shiny. I cut out the image and laid my now iron-on stencil with the shiny side onto the fabric and ironed it on. The final step was to paint in the hat and moustache. Make sure you put a bit of cardboard inside the shirt so you don't get stains on the back. Let it dry for the amount of time it says on the paintbottle and 'klaar is kees' (as we say in Dutch)!