Hello Spring?!

We did just come into spring didn't we?? Yesterday, Easter Monday, we got up to discover snow on the ground. It didn't snow all winter but it wanted to snow in spring. We had decided to go for a picnic to Luxembourg for the day and the snow wasn't too bad so we went on our day out. Roads were clear all the way down, in most places there wasn't any snow, to Liege but once we got about 20km on the otherside of Liege (near Ardennes region) my goodness there was alot of snow! We stopped at a parking layby so we could all get out and investigate the wonderful white, fluffy snow.

This was the first time the boys had ever seen so much snow. Charlie stood in it and it came up past his little knees! Andrew loved throwing snow balls at Papa and Charlie wasn't very sure.

We got to Luxembourg and again most parts were clear of snow so we had a lovely day visiting our favourite valley and a castle. On the way home there was a traffic jam on the motorway so Robert decided to come off at an exit and go another way home. That was a bad idea. The road was really icy from compacted snow and everyone was going really slow. There was one point when I thought we were all going to die, ok slight over reaction but we were on a hill skidding everywhere and there was a big drop on my side of the road. All I can say is I am glad Robert was driving.

When we got to Namur all the snow disapeared again. We learnt 2 things from our day trip. 1 - Robert will have to wait in traffic jams, sometimes it is safer!, 2 - If there is a tiny bit of snow in Turnhout, it will be a blizzard in the Ardennes area!

Mei Tai is Finished!

I am so pleased that I have finished my first ever Mei Tai, an asian style baby carrier. After looking on the net for a pattern I liked and was so unsuccessful that I designed my own. It took me a good part of a week to draw it on paper. In the end I changed again it when I had the material.

The material was an absolute bargin. On Sunday I went, with 2 friends Ilse and Diane, to a Stoffen Spektakel (an indoor material market) that was in Antwerpen. There was so much on offer from material for wedding dresses to material for quilts and prices to suit everyones pocket. My material I got is a heavy cotton, the weight of a pair of jeans, and some pretty cotton print. Overall I got 5.5 mts for 13.50 euro!

As soon I got home on the Sunday afternoon I cut out my pattern and then first thing Monday morning Charlie and I went to get some extra strong thread. By Monday evening I had most of it completed with just the body to finish. The head rest part of the carrier really stumped me. I wasn't sure whether to keep it square, round, have none at all or to make it triangle shape. In the end I went with a rounded shape and I think it looks good.

Poor Charlie has been in it so many times just so I can see how it feels! His favourite position is on my front with his hands tucked in. He snuggles in for a cuddle! It is so comfortable. Charlie weighes between 11 - 12 kg now but all the weight seems to be spread evenly over the carrier so no one place feels strained. I fell so pleased that I did it. They only thing is I wish I had discovered it when Charlie was smaller, then I could have used it more!

W.I.P. and My New Toy!

Since my last post I have been doing very little but more ideas keep coming! To my ever growing list I have now added a Mei Tei to make so that I can carry Charlie. We do have a metal framed carrier but it is too big and heavy for me but Robert manages just fine and another reason for it is that Charlie hates his pram. So much so that when we try to put him in we have to tip it back slightly so he can't escape, not very safe. So I have been searching the net for different ways to make it. So far I haven't found one single pattern I like so I have been drawing my own plans from the inspiration of others. When it is completed I will definitely have a post about it. It will be first big project that I will be using my new toy for, my new sewing machine.

So far I have only been doing simple things to get acquainted with how it all works. I made Andrew a rice pillow for bedtime and a cover for it. That is my work in progress. I have started to embroider it to brighten it up. On one side he wanted some chicks because it is coming up to Easter and he has just come home from a farm trip with school and is still all talk about the animals. Orange Flower has a lovely chicks and Easter bunnies pattern that I used. For the back I took some inspiration from one of the boys t-shirts but I haven't started the other side yet.

Here is a beautiful present Robert came home with last night. I hasten to add he didn't buy me it, it was a gift from a person he works with. His brother grows them in the Netherlands. I have some from another time but the flowers have since died but the plants are still alive so it looks kinda dull, I think it takes up to 6 months for an orchid to re-flower so we will hang on yet!

Rainy Day.

Today is such an awful day with heavy rain and wind. I am not looking forward to getting Andrew from school, I will either walk or cycle. Poor Charlie wanted to go out the back and play but all he could do was watch the rain falling but he seemed to enjoy it!

I have so many things running through my head that I want to make. I think I better write them down and maybe I will get round to starting something soon. The cold, grey weather is so uninspiring and dull.

Yesterday we went to a flea market in Eindhoven and I bought the boys a play ironing board for 1.5 euro. They are very pleased with their new toy and have ironed everything in sight! Even Charlie's cloth nappies have been ironed. I was thinking of recovering it just so I can use my new toy Robert bought me last week, a new sewing machine. I have also dispatched him with an order for a book called Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing today but I am sure he will forget to order it.