Happy New Year!

I hope that you have all had a lovely Christmas however you have celebrated this time of the year? We had a lovely day and invited one of our Dutch friends over for Christmas dinner - turkey and all the trimmings. I think he enjoyed it all. He was quite amused with the crackers we were able to buy at a Dutch shop called Xenos - they were from the UK. He said he had never seen a cracker before!

It has been a year of mixed emotions for us all as a family. The birth of a beautiful baby boy - my Grandson - in February - then the loss of my wonderful sister a few months later. I am hoping that 2014 is a better year all round. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a new year full of peace - hope - good health - Love and happiness.
 

Elf outfit finished!

Well it took some time due to not concentrating and sewing it together incorrectly :( but I finally finished the elf suit I was knitting for my Grandson for Christmas. The pattern can be found here:  http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/santas-baby-elf  I thought the hat would be too long for a little head to carry so I made the hat from this pattern: http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/santa-baby-suit. Inside the end of the hat I sewed a little bell and made sure it was very securely enclosed then topped it off with one of the crocheted circles on the end instead of the pom pom on the pattern. My daughter absolutely loves it and can not wait to see him in it.

 

Dolls house Show - my buys!

What a wonderful Time I had looking at all the variety of stalls from worldwide. So many miniatures to choose from. It was a great day out and I got quite a few bargains. Roll on April 2014 for the next one.

 

Dolls House Nederland Show!

One of the stall holders lovely creations.

It is that time of the year when the Dolls House Fair is with us again. This weekend at the Americahal in Apeldoorn - the Dolls house International Fairs doors will be open both Saturday and Sunday.
I am really looking forward to seeing the many stalls that will be there. More information can be seen here:  www.dhnshow.com

Tickets cost 10 euro for the day - children up to the age of 12 free with an accompanying adult.

Sat: 11.00 - 18.00

Sun: 10.00 - 17.00


26th and the 27th October 2013.

Americahal Apeldoorn.

Red Crocheted Wellington Boots!

Well I finished the wellington boots for my Grandson to go with the Sou'wester and his duffel coat - to complete the Paddington Bear look lol! The pattern is a mish mash of one pattern I found online and the rest of it is trial and error on my part. The spotted red buttons add an extra dash of colour I think. Going to be sending them along with the hat and duffel soon.

 

Paddington Bear Sou'wester for Grandson.

We bought our Grandson a little blue duffle coat for Christmas and of course I had to make a sou'wester to go with it. After looking on the Internet for a pattern and finding only one that is for sale - I decided to have a go and make my own. The hat is crocheted and the basis of it is a pull on cap with an added brim. I have no idea how I got there in the end except through trial and error - sorry I did not write it down. I sewed the brim half back and added a teddy bear motif. The ties were added after giving it thought and realising that a 9 month old baby would probably pull the hat of his head lol! It goes wonderfully with his little Paddington duffle coat. This was bought from a store here in The Netherlands called Hema    http://www.hema.nl/ which has really good quality clothes for children along with lots of other items. I am attempting to follow a pattern for a little pair of crocheted red boots to match - will see if it works or may end up buying a pair :).

 

Art and Craft Fair Haul.

What dreadful weather we had yesterday - Heavy rain coupled with gusty wind was not a good combination for holding an umbrella up. It did not stop us from going along to the Artistieke  Handen fair (artistic hands). Thankfully we only had the short walk to the bus stop to battle with the weather. There were not as many stalls there as usual and even less visitors - which was good for us as we  did not have to fight our way through crowds to look at the stalls.

I bought a few things that caught my eye and got lots of ideas to make things from looking at the vast array of crafts there. The one stall I love to go to is this one:  www.feestje-enzo.nl They have lots of Tibetan silver charms - ribbons - motifs - beads and lots of other wonderful craft items. I was hoping to buy some of the Tibetan silver 3d Eiffel tower charms they had on their web site for using in my dolls house miniatures - but when I saw the size of them they were huge - so too big for what I wanted. The lady who has the business along with her husband were so lovely and went out of their way to help me. I was able to buy a small parasol for crafting from them which I paid for there and  they are going to post it on to me - they spoke wonderful English too :).

They had containers of beautiful ribbon - 6 for 1-75 euro and lovely motifs for the cardigans I knit for my Grandson - so I bought a pack of 2 dogs for 99 cents. The pack of 3 teddy bears were 1.05 euro and all the motifs are reversible - curly on one side or flat on the other.

Stickers of the alphabet and numbers are always very useful when making birthday cards so I stocked up on those in silver and gold. I think they came to 3.50 euro for the 5.

We are very lucky here in Apeldoorn to have a really good bead shop - it also has lots of mystical things to buy to - but I have to pay a visit each time we are in town and rake through the hoards of beads they have for sale. I was delighted to see them at the Art and Craft fair and found these really cute china beads in the shape of Dutch clogs. They are the ideal size for dolls houses and a pack of 6 cost 1.70 euro.

Also from there I bought some jewellery findings and some really pretty rose beads in a rainbow of colours and a pack of flower head beads.  www.uniekinkralen.nl

We had a wonderful time looking around. There are a lot of very talented people in Apeldoorn. Our next event is the dolls house fair at the end of the month - cannot wait for that one.

Artistieke Handen. Art and Craft Fair.

It is October and once more the art and craft fair is here with us in Apeldoorn tomorrow. There are so many stalls to look at. Artwork and crafts are sold along with the means to make your own crafts - knitting wool - beads - charms - jewellery - paints - stationery - and because it is the October fair there are lots of Christmas themed products. It takes us a couple of hours to look at everything with a break for coffee in between (keeps my long suffering husband happy) .

Sunday 13th October.

10.30 - 17.00.

Cost:  7 Euro.

Senior citizens 65+ with pass:  6 Euro.

Children up to age 12:  Free (with adult)

Americahal.  Laan  Van Erica 50. Apeldoorn.


 www.artistiekehanden.nl


Have started an elf cardigan for my Grandson to wear on Christmas day and was well on the way to completing it when I sewed the it together wrong sigh! Spent a couple of days unpicking seams and re-knitting another sleeve - but back on track now and will post pictures when it is finished.

 

 

 

Two more cardigans!

I have this tendency to start knitting and feel I have to keep going until it is finished lol! So in the space of one and a half weeks I finished 2 cardigans for my Grandson - they are now on the way to him. The green one has a dog motif on the front and spotted buttons - I did not have enough of the green to complete the button band so I knitted that with yellow - which I think blends nicely. I then hand stitched the crosses around the base of the cardigan and the sleeves with the yellow. This one is size 6-9 months although I am not sure if it will fit to 9 months - it is stretchy.
The blue one was an afterthought as I found the wool amongst my stash and loved the colour so it was knitted very quickly and simply - with just the cat motif and the striped buttons added as a contrast. This one is size 9 - 12 months and is noticeably larger.

The basic pattern for the cardigan is the same one I use for all of them found here: http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/babysweteddy.htm




 

Back after a short break!

It has been some weeks since my last post. Our visit to the UK in April/May was short but the main purpose was to meet my beautiful Grandson. He is perfect in every way and it was a delight to spend time with him - and of course my daughter. The village she lives in looks like a picture from the top of a chocolate box - so pretty. We had a wonderful time and the weather was so warm that I forgot my coat and left it hanging in the hotel and flew back to the Netherlands groan! - not a problem though - my daughter collected it and posted it on to me.

We had been home 4 weeks and had to fly back to the UK for another visit. One that I did not want to make - to attend my sister's funeral. It was very unexpected and a great shock to us all as she was only 54. It has knocked the wind out of us all. This is partly the reason I have not been keeping up my blog and partly because our computer was broken.

The summer holidays seem to have flown by too quickly and all the plans we made - most have fallen by the wayside as time overtook us.

My other sister had a birthday in July and I made her a Paddington bear and crocheted her an owl tea cosy in pink and made my daughter a ladybird one for her birthday in August. I shall be starting another cardigan for my grandson soon as Autumn approaches.

I hope that you have all enjoyed the summer break and that the weather was kind to you? We have had wonderful weather here in the Netherlands - a little too hot for me! It is good to be back.

 

Sailboat cardigan!

Another cardigan finished for my grandson. This was so much fun to make. I knitted the cardigan from the pattern I used previously and then embroidered the sailboat by hand.
It is the last one I will be making in size - up to 6 months - and will be concentrating on the next size up.

I am off to the UK next weekend to meet the little boy in question for the first time and will be taking this with me.

This week is a blur of preparation - packing and jobs that need to be completed before the trip. I am so excited at the thought of seeing him and my daughter and cannot wait to hold him at last.

Doll's House Netherlands Show. April 2013.

I had a wonderful time at the doll's house show on Saturday. There were so many stalls to look at. It took us 2 hours to walk around and I could have gone back to some stalls twice but we could not walk another step.

My aim this time was to buy mainly dishes and anything else that caught my eye.

Many of the stall holders from October were there. My favourite stall owned by Gaby Jansen was my first stop. She has bargain baskets on her table and I managed to buy a couple of rocking horses for 1 euro each from her. Other stalls were asking 6 euros for rocking horses so I was delighted with my find. Unfortunately she does not have a website. She lives here in The Netherlands.

It was a doll's house miniature's delight and I cannot wait for the next one in October.

http://www.amanspeakminiatures.com/

http://www.becks-miniaturen.de/

http://www.tumdee-dollshouse-miniatures.co.uk/

http://www.streetsaheaddollshouse.com/

http://www.mytinyworld.co.uk/dollshouse/default.asp

Dolls House show Netherlands

It is that time of the year again. Yes! The Dolls house show is back on Saturday and Sunday, the 
  6th and 7th April.


http://www.dhnshow.com/us/us.html

The Americahal - Apeldoorn.

On:

Saturday: 6th april 2013


At: 11.00 - 18.00

Sunday:  7th april 2013

At:  10.00 - 17.00

Tickets cost:   10 euro for a day pass.
children accompanied by an adult are free.

Car park is free also.

Happy Easter!

To me - Easter is a time for reflection and a time to give thanks for all we are blessed with. If you can have chocolate too - well that's a great bonus.
When visiting our shopping centre in the town - they had set up a delightful animated display for Easter with rabbits. My favourite books as a smaller child were the Brer Rabbit stories by Enid Blyton and I would read those over and over again. I just loved how Brer rabbit managed to outwit Brer Fox and Brer Wolf every time. When My daughter was small, I would read her the same stories from my original book of 1968 - timeless.

.......and then there is ....chocolate mmmh!

Have a wonderful Easter time and take time to reflect and give thanks. God bless.

Dr Who - new series.

New series of Dr Who - Yay! Tonight at 18.15 on BBC 1.

UFO's or helicopters?

On tuesday night around 8pm, I noticed lights in the sky over the opposite houses. I grabbed my camera and stood outside and watched. They came in a formation of  2 - then 3 came behind them and then another 2. Seven in all. They were large and an orangy red in colour. They all grouped together and went off in the opposite direction. There was not a sound to be heard. I managed to capture a picture of the 3 together and one on its own.

We looked on the UFO report sight for this area of The Netherlands the next day but no-one reported seeing anything. The only other thing we noted was that they were doing a simulation of a disaster practice that night in Apeldoorn so maybe it had something to do with that? Not sure. My husband is convinced it was helicopters related with the simulation - it may have been but it was too quiet and why 7 helicopters? I would like to think it could have been UFO's - but I have a feeling my husband is right.

A room made entirely of Chocolate - heavenly!

A lounge made entirely of chocolate is on show in a shopping centre in Minsk, Belarus. The sculptor - Elena Kliment - used over 600 kg of Belgian chocolate to make all the items in the 20sq metre room. It took 2 months to prepare and 2 weeks to construct.
The room will be on display at the shopping centre till the 14th April - then some of the chocolate will be cut into small pieces and offered to the visitors.

Apparently, it is not the first room to be made in chocolate. Last year another designer in Lithuania used 660lb of chocolate to make a dining room. The room featured everything from book shelves - to artwork - to lettuce leaves and was on display for two weeks over Valentines day in Vilarus, Lithuania.

I bet the shopping centre smelt like the streets of Zutphen did at their chocolate festival last year. My idea of heaven.