Back from a rainy getaway

Hello lovelies!

I've been enjoying a little getaway with Mr. L. and family. One whole week we enjoyed nature and good company. Unfortunatly, we had a lot of rain so walking times were scarce. The times we did enjoy nature were great, we even met a wild boar. I couldn't make a photo of it, since it was quite shocked by my scream * I am quite the hero haha *.

Remember this snake? I gave it to my nephew and he loved it, so it had to come with him to Ermelo. His name is now Jan de slang (John the snake). Baby bear has such lovely little hands to hold the snake! Cannot get enough of him, although the little bear is a fulltime job. So the respect for my sister in law grew even more for all the hard work and love she gives her little one. Also for my mother in law, who sparkles and smiles all day long despite a chronic lack of sleep.

We also visited the "Dolfinarium", an amusement park with marine life like dolphins and sea lions. There were some amazing shows and a lot of oooeeeehhs and aaaaaaahs. 

Despite all the great memories that we made in this wonderful week, I also missed blogland. I have a lot of catching up to do, lots of nice new posts of my favorite blogs still to be read and of course I have been busy on my own projects of which I will share more later on. It was delightful to return to our own little cottage on the eighth floor. I crawled on the couch for some cuddling and hooky time:

Aaaaah, so good to be home again! Talk to you soon! lots of love,

Suzanne

Done!

Hi darlings,

It is finished! My little side project is done :-D. Wanna see?

 

As said before it is inspired by a post of Lucy of Attic24, but I don't have the pattern. I just improvised. Even though I just started crocheting, I love how it turned out! It is a gift for my baby nephew, it also has a little bell hidden in the tail. I hope he likes it! Otherwise, Puck will probably claim it, he is already obsessed with it. 

In between

Hello dears,

How was your monday? Mine was a bit dull to be honest. I had to work today and I could not help thinking about my crochet works that I really want to finish! I am currently working on a granny stripe blanket. I already love it, back and forth, back and forth. Sitting on my sofa with the dog on my lap and pretending to be interested in the Tour the France *Mr. L. is addicted*.

Since I will be working on this huge project, I need some small ones that are done in between! I just need some finished things in between to keep me going with the bigger ones...is that weird?

So, I also have a small project going on. Inspired by this cute little project of the well known Lucy from Attic24 I decided that I really wanted one too! I don't have the pattern, but a snake is just around and around and around until it is the size you want it to be. It is not totally done, it still needs eyes and a tongue. Yet, Puck already found it haha. So, if it is totally done I will post some color pictures. For now, just a teaser ;-).

 - x - Isn't he the cutest? -x- 

Have a great week! Love, Puck and Suzanne

Mustache fetish

Hey you!

You probably already noticed, I have a thing for mustaches. If Mr. L would let me, I would put a mustache on everything! So I took my plain IKEA jar and customized it! I use mine for pens instead of kitchen use, so it looks great on my desk!

This is how it looked before:

This is how it turned out:

If you have a similar jar, you can make a cozy for it too! It's the "ORDNING" Cutlery caddy, stainless steel from IKEA and I wrote down the pattern. I wrote it in US crochet terms and hooked with a 3,5 mm hook.

1. Chain 4 and join to form a ring.
2. Chain (Ch.) 3 in to the ring followed by 10 double crochets (dc). Join with a slip stitch to the top of the ch. 3
3. Ch. 3, dc in the same stitch. Increase in each stitch, so 2 dc in each stitch. Join with a slip stitch in the top of the ch. 3.
4. Ch. 3, dc in the same stitch. *1 dc, 2 dc in the following stitch* Repeat from * until the last stitch and join with a slip stitch.
5. Ch. 3, dc in the same stitch. * 2 dc, 2 dc in the following stitch* Repeat from * until the last stitch and join with a slip stich.
6. Ch. 1, Single Crochet (sc) in the same stitch.* 3 sc, 2 sc in the following stitch* Repeat from * until the last stitch and join with a slip stitch.
7. Ch. 3 and dc only in the back loops. Check here to see what the back loop is if you have never done this.
8. Dc in all stitches for 10 rounds
9. sc around in the last round and fasten off.

I attached a mustache on the thing with velt, but you can leave it blank or use different colours yarn or attach buttons on it.

Have a nice end of your weekend!

Pin it up!

Hi darlings,

Today we did some small jobs around the house. Mr. L. put up some lights above the diner table and I redesigned the cabinets to make more space for all my creative equipment * I clearly suffer from hoarding disease *. All the rooms got a good wipe and were shiny at the end of the day, unfortunately the weather is now far from shiny.  It is pouring again...and it is suppose to be summer! Ah well, couch-potato time! But before I crash on my sofa, let me share a little project I have been working on using my granny doilies:

I thought it was a nice way to re-use the doilies and an old pin-up board. What do you need?

• A pin-up board
• Some fabric, I used an old pillowcase
• doilies
• pins
• batting (I used some that is used for quilting, but you can use anything you fancy)
• some cards, photo's ribbon or anything else you like to pin on the board

Cut the batting to the size of the pin-up board.

Pull the pillowcase or fabric over the board and the batting.

Pin the pillowcase to the board and get the doilies on top. Make sure you also pin it to the board on the back of the board, this way it will be nice and tight.

Pin all your cards and pretty things to the board with normal or sewing pins and experiment a bit with what you like best. And voila, your vintage pin-up board is done!

Wishing you the best from Rotterdam! Big kiss from me and puck!

flower bom

Today we made another nice walk, this time in the dunes at the coast of Holland. We (Mr. L, little Puck and me) visited my parents and they live near the beach in Katwijk. Sometimes this city girl needs some nature! And next to the millions shades of green I found myself inspired by all the flowers that were blooming. From white, to purple, to orange. But especially the shades of yellow and pink were striking! I might some pictures so you can love them too. 

Pretty huh? Mr. L. is finally out fishing and will stay out camping, so that means I have some time to crochet left moehahaha. Well, I wish you a great weekend! Big kiss from Puck and me!

birdy Bookmark

Sometimes you just need a small project to work on in between bigger ones like blankets. I made a little birdy bookmark made with some yarn and a paperclip. Cute as a small gift or using to keep track when reading a book.

I designed it myself and thought it would be nice to write down the pattern in case I wanted to make another one. So, maybe you want to try it out yourself. Here is the pattern:

I made mine with Annell Rapido 100% acrylique yarn and used a 3.0 mm hook.

Part 1: The body and tail (make 2 of these):

• Chain 4 and join to form a ring. Work now from the tiny hole that is now formed in the centre.
• Chain 3 in the centre, then work 11 double crochet stitches (US) or 11 treble crochet stitches (UK) in the centre. Join with a slip stitch in the top of the chain 3. You now have 12 stitches.
• Chain 3 then 1 dc  in the same stitch. Then work 2 dc’s in the next stitch and repeat this 10 times. You should now have 24 stitches.
• The body of the bird is now done. Moving on to the tail. Chain 1 and Single crochet (us) in the same stitch. Then a dc in the next followed by a sc in the next. So you do 3 stitches, a sc, a dc, a sc. Chain 3 and turn your work.

• Work a dc in the same stitch as the chain 3. Work 2 dc in the next stitch and repeat is one more time for  the next stitch.  Fasten off.

Part 2: The wings (also make 2 of these):

• Moving on to the wings. Chain 4 and join to form a ring. 
• Work in the hole the following stitches after each other: 3 sc, 2 dc, 1 triple crochet*, 2 dc, 3 sc, slip stitch and fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the wing to the body. 

* A triple crochet stitch is almost like a double crochet stitch but a bit taller. Check out this movie or the describtion on how to do it:

1. Yarn over hook twice, then insert hook into next stitch.
2. Yarn over hook and draw yarn through stitch - (there are four loops on the hook).
3. Loop yarn over hook and draw through two loops, (there are now three loops remaining on the hook).
4. Yarn over hook and draw through two loops.
5. Again, loop yarn over hook and draw through the last two loops on the hook (there is now one loop remaining.)
6. This completes one treble crochet.

  
Part 3: Sewing it all together

• You now have 2 bodies and two wings. Sew one wing on each body. You need to pay attention here, because you will have to mirror one body to the other one since they need to be put together in the end.
• Sew with black thread an eye on each bird. 

• Cut a little piece of orange felt for the beak and put it between the two parts. Sew them together and keep a little opening on the bottom. Now you can put some fiber filling in the bird and finally put the paperclip in place. Sew the rest of the bird to close it. 

And that's it! Enjoy your little birdy bookmark!

Beautiful, isn't it? But it is not a sunset, it is a sunrise! Today I woke up early, at 05:00 AM to be exact. Mr. L. wanted to go to the beach to find a fishingspot and fishing involves alarm clocks ringing before the sun is up. I could have stayed in bed, but since I love the beach I joined Mr. L. in a short trip to "Hoek van Holland". The beach was deserted and there was nothing but the sounds of waves, birds and the rustling of the wind. *Sigh* I think you noticed by now that I am quite romantic haha.

 

This beach has a massive pier into the North Sea. When you walk all the way to the end of it, you get the feeling you are surrounded by nothing but water, wind and seagulls. 

I love how the waves remove all the footprints and there was no trace of us left when we left the beach. I found another treasure once we got back to the car . Teeny tiny frogs! Look how cute! They probably live in the dunes and just stopped by to say, hello.

And of course I also have a small crochet project I would like to share:

It's a pincushion and I really like it :-), let me know if you like it too! Do you have a nice pincushion?



Hope you had a great start of your day as well, lot's of love,

Suzanne

Clear view

Today was an amazing day, one that you would like to stretch as much as you possibly can. The weather is truly summerish and makes sitting on a terras heaven on earth. After our chores for the weekend (some serious cleaning and some jobs involving boytoys like drills and hamers), we (me, my love and my parents) were of to eat "bitterballen" *a dutch treat* and drink wine at the SS Rotterdam. It is a cruise ship that has found her final destination in the harbor of Rotterdam. The city made her into a hotel and she has many restaurants to enjoy.

 

It's pretty impressive and once you get on the deck, it gets even better. Because the view is stunning:

It's been a perfect weekend, I hope you enjoyed yours just as much. Have a great sundaynight and I'll talk to you soon!

Secret project revealed!

Just a quick post from the Sunny Rotterdam! Look at the blue of the sky! The weather is extremely changeable at the moment, sun, rain, clouds, sun, it all comes allong. You need to make sure you take your umbrella with you at all times.

Remember this post? I told you about a secret project I was working on. Well, it is finished! And just in time cause it's a B-day present for my mother-in-law. Her birthday is tomorrow and since I was so busy with my blanket, I had to hurry up and finish it. But I did it! She has been hinting me on wanting a cozy for her tea pot and now she will finally own it. She doesn't know that she is getting it though, so I hope she will be pleasantly surprised. Want to see it?

Tadaaaaaaa! It's a tea cozy made from granny squares! Isn't cute? I kinda like it! Since it's made with square parts I made the top with a pull rope so it would be round. To make it super cute I attached some hearts. The pattern from the squares are from the talented Lucy and can be found here.

On the back is a teany tiny button * unfortunately you cannot see it well on the picture *. 

Hope you like it and more important, that my mother in law likes it too! It is a present but I am thinking of making another for my own tea pot. It's still naked! Cover your shame potty! Haha. I wish you all a great weekend and talk to you soon :-D. Lots of love

xxx