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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I made this felt cake stand yesterday. It took me a while before I got the courage to give it a go after buying the pattern from the designer (Sweetie Pie Bakery). I am not a big fan when it comes to tons of instructions. The pattern I bought has more written instructions than pictures to show the steps. Luckily I made a felt box few days ago and using that, I used my own instructions to make this cake stand and referring to this pattern instructions from time to time.
I received my Basic Felt Sweets book yesterday from a Japanese seller. I spent so much time looking through the book and thumbs up for this book. It is a great felt sweets book for beginners with step by step pictures showing you how to make the cakes/sweets. Though I got to say, not all sweets come with step by step instructions, you still have to use a bit of your imagination. Really love this craft book and there are so many others which I want to buy and try out. I've been cutting down on my cross-stitching since I started this felt crafts work. I am just not in the mood to do any other cross stitch works, except for my current HAED. Btw, Angel of Spring just got her 2nd eye ;0). Will post a picture once that page is done and it won't take long actually.
I need some help here. What do you call that 'raspberry' thing (between the kiwi and the strawberry). I am buying rhinestones now as this book requires quite a lot of them but I have no idea where to start my search from when I don't have a clue what that 'raspberry' thing is called. It is formed with some beads together but I am sure I can buy these as a whole. 
Thursday, December 10, 2009
I am so much into this new hobby these days. These 3 are still my 'guinea pigs' :0)) I am really amazed with myself. Few week ago, I would even dare to venture into any sewing, except sewing a button. I am really enjoying every minute doing these cute stuff. My 5 year old DD loves them a lot. She really treats them like treasures (see how long that will last). I bought this Felt Cakes Lot from Umecrafts. There are so many patterns which I could see myself doing from her designs - Miniture Dollhouse, Chinese Dim Sum, Christmas Set (DD wants me to do that for her), etc. What's my next felt projects? Back to FeltCuisine. I still have tons of her beautiful felt goodies to make from the Ebook I bought from her.
Rosy Sweetheart Cake 
Mocha Sweetheart Cake
Strawberry Sweetheart Cake
(replaced the red dots with my Stenboden pearls instead)
Katerina just completed a new artwork - Christmas Spirit. This artwork is really amazing and I've been waiting for so long for her to come out with more B&W with hints of colours artworks. This one really takes my breathe away. Hope HAED will get it charted before the sale ends on the 21 December.
Last Sunday was Sankt Nikolaus. These are the things we put up for her, though the big red bag was prepared by her grandmum. DD put out a few pieces of biscuits and a glass of milk for Sankt Nikolaus. She was really excited the next morning to see whether Sankt Nikolaus put something out for her. She even told me the evening before to wake her up if I see him coming into the house.
2 evenings ago, my husband found this trapped outside our basement bathroom. It slipped through the metal covering . This Polecat scratched our window frame really bad and we have to make a new one. We started by putting a long broom into the hole, so that it could climb out but it was biting and playing with it instead. I thought of a ladder too but it was too late by then. I was shopping in Germany and called my DH but was told it had been shot by the Falck man whom my DH had to call for such situation.
Christmas cookies baking will start from next week. Lots of baking next week. I am going to bake a cake for the kindergarten parents' coffee and pølsehorn (probably) for the kindergarten Julefrokost.
Friday, December 4, 2009
She has an eye and it took me nearly 2 hours to finish that eye - the wonders of tenting. The last time, it took me nearly 4 hours! I remember the artist, Katerina told me that she took approx. 4 hours to draw the eye too.
I finally unpacked the Christmas stuff which I bought few weeks ago (didn't had the time to do it). My favourite is the 3 angels. 1 of them will soon go to a new home. She will be flying to USA with some boxes of chocolates to NY in USA very soon ;0)) I hope the recipient will receive it before Christmas.
Yesterday was the last lesson for DD's dancing. The school decided to stop this group as there are not enough children since September this year. Parents were allowed to sit inside the dancing room this time, since it is the last day. The instructors said some of the kids are good enough to join the older kids in the next group, if the parents want them to continue. We are not sure about it. She is not so crazy over dancing, compared to her gymnastic however, though she still does her part when it is time for her dancing lesson. We also found out that she is totally crazy over one of the dancing instructors and she wants to dance with him only and not anyone else.
One of the girls who attended DD's birthday party last week, lost a tooth. We looked through the whole house but couldn't find it. I spent 2 days cleaning up the house + emptying all the toys in the boxes and still no tooth. I really hope it will turn up one day. To make up for the disappointment, I ironed the completed Hama beads she did while at our house and put in some candies and sent the package to her. Hope she will feel better.
Christmas is just round the corner, have you done all your Christmas shopping? I think I am almost done. DD will get another Go Go Pets add-on and the pink Barbie musketeer, maybe more since the toy shop in my in-laws' town is having up to 80% sale for a lot of toys. The sale starts at 11am on Sunday and I will definitely put myself there from 10.30am! As for DH, it will be Dexter 3. I still have to search for some stuff for our niece and nephew and will do it next week in Germany.
This Sunday will be Sankt Nikolaus. Bags of goodies had been prepared for DD by her grandmum and us. It is going to be fun :0))
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I was so closed to tears on Thursday evening as the cake made for DD's birthday for next day was ruined. The cake broke from the baking form, leaving a huge chunk inside the pan when I tried to get the whole cake out. DH drove out to get some more ingredients for my 2nd attempt in the same evening. I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 4am again.
Ruined Cake
The cake managed to turn out nicely after the 2nd attempt. I actually made the same cake within 2 days - 1 for the kindergarten and 1 for the birthday party on Saturday. It was rather stressful for us on her birthday. We were very late bringing the cake to the kindergarten and 30 mins later, the kindergarten called. It is never a good thing when the kindergarten calls the parents. We almost got a heart attack but one of the group leaders just wanted my recipe for the cake, as well as to borrow this baking pan. We got DD after a few hours later and I took her for our weekly grocery shopping. We were running out of time as her grandfather (the real one) wanted to come over for coffee. People in the supermarket were not co-operative as they were walking so slowly and parking their shopping carts right in the middle of everything.
Things were a bit calmer the next day, even though it was the party. I am never stressed up whenever our friends and their children come over. They always help out by putting the plates away, clearing the table and getting their children to put the toys back before they go home. It was a great party, as always.
Before the over-exaggerating decoration
After my over-imaginative decoration
On the morning of her birthday. Our gifts to her : The hopping thing and Go Go stuff + some from her grandparents who are away for holidays in France.
Looks really empty but her grandfather came with more boxes of these balls during coffeetime.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Approaching the challenging part very soon - Her Eye! It took me approx. 4 hours to stitch her eye last year and I am looking very much forward to see how much time will be needed this time with tenting. I am only stitching on her during the early hours in the morning while the whole family is still sleeping. I am rather pleased with the progress.
Another felt cake done. I only used an hour to complete this. I made the Strawberry Felt Cake yesterday and it took me hours. The designer Felt Cuisine is such a talented lady. For someone who doesn't know how to sew, like me, finds it really easy. The instructions and pictures are so easy to follow from her ebooks. I don't even have to buy tons of different felt colours as the colours used are not that many and still I can so many lovely felt goodies. I made them for myself but yesterday, our 5-year-old daughter wanted me to make more after she saw the pink one I did.
So, all my craftwork have to be packed away for the time being as it is DD's birthday tomorrow and I have to start baking the Fairytale Cottage cake tonight. She will celebrate her birthday in the kindergarten tomorrow and her grandfather will come by for coffee. We are throwing a birthday party for her on Saturday, inviting some friends and their kids over for coffee and dinner. Another birthday celebration for her again when her grandparents return from their holidays in France, lucky girl!! I am really excited to see whether all our guests come with the same brand of toys. I think by now, the whole world knows that she is a huge Go Go Pets fan. She will be getting Go Go stuff from us and her aunt and uncles.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating this special holiday.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
It took me a lot of courage to get these started. I can stitch but I am not good at sewing. I decided to start on these 2 new things which I've never done in my entire life. I finished this stitching beginning of this year but couldn't find the courage to turn it into an ornament. It wasn't that difficult actually but it is not perfect and I am quite determined to keep on trying until I perfect a padded ornament. By the way, I had the ends of the braid wrongly around the ornament, it should be on top instead of bottom.
It is like a dream come true to make one of these. I bought the CD ROM from the designer few weeks ago. I managed to buy the materials here and there and only when I happen to pass by certain stores that are selling felt. I couldn't even find the sponge and luckily my mother in law had some. Not easy to live at the countryside, eh? It took me a long time to make this felt cake as I have to sew so slowly to get the right spacing. This felt cake is just the beginning, I will definitely make more of them and some felt tarts too.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
We still managed to do a lot of stuff!! Remember this? I finished it a week ago and was waiting for my Bulgarian friend to come over to help me to sew this into a wall hanger. We managed to complete it yesterday evening. I am still not very confident with the sewing machine and I need a lot of practice. She is a great teacher! The Bulgarian couple left early this morning. They had been staying over at house for since last Thursday. We introduced to them both German and the Danish culture which they really enjoyed.
Not only did Silva helped me with the wall hanger but she managed to find them to do a felt strawberry too! She is really good at sewing. She is quite hooked onto these felt goodies that she wants to try out more when she is back home in Bulgaria. I have to say, she uses her own imagination a lot when it comes to sewing, a very creative lady.
We had this Feuerzangen (the German one). I didn't like it as I find the drink a bit too strong compared to the Danish one. Well, DH loves it. After a cup of this, I lost my voice for a few days. Last evening, I made the Danish Glögg and æbleskiver for them as evening coffee and they love it.
We took them to a few places in Germany and Denmark. We went to Tønder in Denmark as the Christmas market started last Sunday. I love this Christmas market, especially Det Gamle Apotek as the Christmas ornaments are so lovely and I could buy everything inside! Silvia and I bought quite a lot of Christmas ornaments inside here. I think we spent more than an hour inside. We had to leave as our husbands were getting rather impatient.
I hope our guests had fun and we invited them over again during summer. It was an experience having them with us as we learnt each other's culture and food. They made dinner for us yesterday, using the pot given to us by the man's mother. This is one of the best gifts they gave us. It is a very special pot which can cook meat in the oven. I'm already thinking of using this very soon with some meat and vegetables. Before they left, we gave them some gifts too. DH gave him a wireless earpiece + loader for his car. I gave Silva a huge Hama container that contains 19,000 beads and the mum 2 boxes of the German Lebkuchen. During their stay here, Silva enjoyed doing these Hama beads with our DD and she had never seen them in her country.
I cleaned up the basement after our guests left for the airport this morning. They are very neat people, so it didn't take me to long to clean up the basement. At noon, I made this 3D foam Gingerbread house with DD. I bought 5 different kits from an Ebay seller. The kit is missing some red dots for the house, so I had to use the other colours to replace the red dots. 
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I didn't want to post this until I finished the whole page - about 1500 stitches to go but to mark the 1 month anniversary, I simply have to. I started her on the 10th Oct and this is how she looks like as from this morning.
DH's 40th birthday is over and next one is our daughter who is turning 5 years old soon. She is looking forward to it a lot and we've already bought a gift for her which she doesn't know what it is yet. We are bringing her to choose another toy for herself just a few days before her birthday. As for what we bought for her.... it is something which needs lots of pumping and DH will have to do that during the night before her big day in her room.
My first try making Marmor Kuchen from scratch yesterday. It turned out well but the taste is a bit different. I am supposed to use Sunflower oil but I only have Olive oil in my cabinet. I am going to try out this weekend again as I really want to buy this Nordic Ware Fairy Tale Cottage baking pan to bake this cake since the size and height is the same as a normal Marmor Kuchen baking form. Well, I don't know any other cakes recipes which can raise that high while baking, except for this one.
As I mentioned in my last post, lots of cleaning to be done every now and then. Not only that, I have quite a few bakings to do too and I am in need of more recipes!!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I started this on Monday evening and completed it early this morning. I am sure I could had got it finished by yesterday if I hadn't been struggling with those stubborn kreinik. I've substitute the DMC white to HDF white. So, now I have this ready, I only have to wait for my friend to arrive in Denmark next Thursday and hopefully she can teach me how to make this into a bellpull. She is still searching for a nice red fabric for the backing but if she can't find some, we will shop for one in Germany.
I even managed to clean up the house today. DH is turning 40 next Monday and we will have some friends and family members dropping by for coffee. He is a bit disappointed that he can't get that castle to throw a big party since the owner had been declared bankrupt, so he rather not have a big party at all. He will be going out for dinner with his father in the evening. Cleaning again next Wednesday before our Bulgarian guests arrive next Thursday for 5 days. More cleaning up again after that to prepare for DD's 5th birthday party on the 28th Nov and then cleaning again!!! I hope that is all the cleaning for the rest of the year.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I got her done quite a bit just within 3 weeks. Lots of confetti stitches for the flowers in her hair but that didn't slow me down a bit :0)) I haven't been sleeping well lately, waking up like 3.30am to 4.30am in the morning. So, I really worked a lot on her during the early hours. I was debating whether I should start on her face after finish 2 partial pages (top of her head) and decided to start on the left hand side, at least it will keep me moving faster and looking forward to see her face.
I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that my finished HAED Sleeping Beauty was published in one of the Cross Stitch Collection magazines. Well, I finally received the prizes last week. Since I am not a metallic person, so I held a Giveaway on one of the stitching forums. Looking at the replies posted on that Giveaway thread, I didn't know Madeira floss are not easily available in USA. Congratulations to the winner - Leah from USA! For those who are interested, you can see my picture on Katerina's Fan Gallery.
Beauties arrived in my letterbox yesterday! I was so excited when I saw who it was from - Katerina Koukiotis, one of my favourite artists! This is one of her 2010 Calendars and there are so many beautiful artworks inside this calendar which I simply adore. Eternity is also in this calender. Kat drew this for her HAED fans and we love it. I had been thinking hard about this pattern when HAED charted it. I don't like to stitch men and had been wondering how and where to crop this pattern. I think the problem is solved now as I saw a smaller version of this artwork in the calender and will get HAED to do it in that size :0)) The card attached is really sweet with a personal and extremely touching message from Kat. It is actually from one of her ACEO Prints called Home for the Holidays. I've always love this little girl, though I often wonder why she has such a sad face. I hope she will be charted by HAED during Christmas time. Thank you so much for everything, Kat and for appreciating your fans so much.
I bought a sewing machine finally! I had been wanting to learn how to sew on a machine for a while but was too scared to do it. The last time I touched an old Singer machine was like 22 years ago and I was so bad at it. I stared at it for a long time when I took it home, no clue what and where to start with. Of course, the manual but everything is in German which I am not good at! I brought it with me to my in-laws yesterday and my mother-in-law showed me the very basic, putting the thread. OMG! It was like going through a maze putting the thread. In the end, I told her to leave her spool of thread intact on the machine as no way am I going to remove it and run the thread all over the machine again. I had my first try test-sewing and it is quite fun actually :0)) My husband has invited one of his programmers in Bulgaria to come to Denmark. He and his wife will be staying with us from the 14th Nov for 5 days. His wife is very good with the machine and I had been communicating with her over emails regarding sewing. She will look for some fabrics and wool mix felt for me as well as to teach me how to work on the sewing machine. Bulgaria has a huge fabric industry, so I am pretty sure they have almost everything there.
Antenna???
See what arrives at my 2nd mailbox? These are the stuff which had been sent to my in-laws in Germany during the week. I am still missing a Rico Design book though and I hope to get it soon.
My box of books arrived from Amazon.de. I was really excited as I couldn't wait to read this book and take a look at Kat's artwork in They Bite.
Finally, my bellpull hangers arrived. Yes, I took 2 of the same, just in different sizes. What I like about them is that they have candle holders. I want to use one of them for the birds bellpull which I want to stitch very soon, so that when my Bulgarian friend is here, she can teach me how to sew it into a bellpull.
A friend of mine Chiloe is giving away the last issue published by De Fil En Aiguille. Today is the last day for this Giveway and I hope you still can make it. If you are interested, please enter your name and email on that post. You don't have to know French to stitch the patterns in this magazine. I have this magazine and I don't understand French either but the patterns are not difficult to understand at all.
The kindergarten had a Laterne Laufe (Lantern Walking) on Thursday. The evening started with a horrible weather with lots of rain and wind. However, during the 20 mins walk with the lanterns, there wasn't any rain or wind but started again when all the kids and the parents reached the kindergarten to have some warm drinks and snacks. I couldn't take any pictures as my camera's flashlight is not good enough to be used in the dark :0(
I hope everyone had a great Halloween. It is not a tradition here in Denmark as we have our own which is in February. Still our daughter got lots of treats from her grandmum yesterday, Halloween or not.
I am going to visit my friend's newly-opened shop today. She just opened an Asian shop which is very near to our house. Can't wait to see what she has in her store. After visiting her, we might drop by at the small carnival which is in the next town.
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