Just A Minute... November
Hearing:
A lot of music. Chris gave the little ones a harmonica and together they're learning how to play actual tunes. And ofcourse the house is filled with Sinterklaas songs all day. Because who knows, there could be a 'zwarte piet' listening on the roof!
Watching:
Project Runway, ofcourse. Episodes of Mad Men. And a lot of Dora and Diego the last weeks, with sick little ones on the couch.
Making:
Heaps of Sinterklaas treats. And eating them, ofcourse. And even though we have been looking forward to that for months, I honestly have seen enough of them again already. The little ones have a completely other opinion about this, I fear :-)
Sewing:
The coat. Still. I'm not very quick with this one. Life gets in the way all the time this month. Oh well, I guess it could be a perfect coat for spring too..
'Just a Minute' is hosted by the lovely Jenaveve. Want to join in or see what other people have been doing this november? Look here.
Rainbow Colours
It seems we can't shake off all the sickness just yet. But in between all the days on the couch and the cuddling and stroking little heads, we had a colourful day today.
The walking spiral (I have no idea how
to call that in English. If there is anyone who knows the English
name for it; I would happy to hear it) was a shoe present brought
to our little ones by Sinterklaas. It's
unbelievable how much fun you can have with something like that.
And how many functions such a simple item can fulfill.
The pens were used to make a colourful garland, adorned with many
hearts and kisses, for my mother's birthday party, that she
gave today.
Everyone is in bed now. The children were exhausted and we look forward to a good night's sleep too. But we all agreed while getting ready for sleep: This day really had some lovely colours.
Film Friday
Slowly we are getting back into a rhythm here. That means there is a little bit more time for simple pleasures. Especially on friday evenings we like to take some time, sit back and watch a movie together.
I have a long list of movies that I want to watch. The movie 'An Education', from which these pictures derive, entered high upon that list, even after I only saw some screen shots, without me knowing anything about the story line. Don't you love those outfits, how inspiring!
I hope you'll have a beautiful and inspirational weekend.
My Creative Space
At first I thought my creative space wasn't very creative. But as so many times before, I was taught a lesson by one of my little ones. Today it was Olivier, who showed me:
Wooow, it's spinning. It's tumbling. It might be laundry, but it's definitely... art!
Want to see so much creativity that it will make your head spin too? Look here.
PS. Today is my mama's 60th birthday. She's not only the best mama in the world, but also my savior when it comes to the laundry.. eh.. art department. So: Happy birthday, mama. I love you.
Sinterklaas Recipe: Kruidnootjes
Kruidnootjes (roughly translated as: spicey nuts) are an important part of the Sinterklaas celebration. When Sinterklaas and his Pieten arrive in The Netherlands, there are large crowds of children waiting for them. The Pieten carry sacks filled with kruidnootjes, pepernoten and other candy and they throw these into the crowds. You can imagine this is welcomed with a lot of cheering and begging for more by the children, who collect as many kruidnoten/pepernoten as they can.
Kruidnootjes
Ingredients:
-
250 gr. self raising flour
-
125 gr. dark caster sugar
-
100 gr. soft butter
-
2 tablespoons speculaaskruiden*
-
3 tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven up to 150° Celcius.
Sieve the flour in a bowl and make a little dimple in the middle. In the dimple add the sugar, butter, speculaaskruiden, the milk and a little bit of salt and crumble these ingredients through the flour. Knead until you have a flexible dough. Form little balls (the size of a small marble) with this dough, put them on an oven plate and bake them for 20 minutes, until they are brown. (I baked them in two portions, because you don't want to put them too close together on the plate to avoid them sticking together.) Let it cool off and then eat them. According to my little ones it's the most yummy when you eat them with handfuls at the same time ;-)
Bon appetit!
* Speculaaskruiden is a Dutch mixture of 8 parts cinnamon, ground,; 2 parts nutmeg; 2 parts cloves; 1 part cardamon; 1 part white pepper and 1 part ginger ground,
Little Purses
For a while now our little ones have been saving coins. Sometimes they find some, sometimes they get some coins from us and ofcourse there are their grandparents who now and then give them some money (for instance when they bring home their work from school and show how well they did). For a long time they were content with just putting the coins into their piggy bank, but a little while ago the subject came up and they decided they wanted to buy something. With their own money. And ofcourse, they explained to me, they'll need their own wallets then.
Via Grosgrain's Kathleen I found this tutorial (by cotton and cloud) for the cute little purses you see in the picture above. I think they would be perfect for Sarah, but I guess they would be less suitable for our big boy.
After some browsing around the internet I found the purse you see pictured above. Here you can find a tutorial, by Thimbleanna. I can already picture this in cute fabric for Lucas. With the little window and the key ring I am sure it would be a real treasure for him.
I think I should send Sinterklaas this tip. He has almost two weeks to get creative and make these. I am sure that shouldn't be a problem for him :-)
(No) Buzzing
The plan was to do a lot of sewing this weekend. But unfortunately, things turned out a bit different: I got sick. So my sewing machine has been standing on the table, lonely, and Chris has been an angel and took care of the little ones, while I have been lying in bed. Most of the time I have been sleeping, but now and then I did some reading on some of my favorite blogs. To name a few:
Maybe you can find some inspiration here too. Have a lovely week!
PS. Last week I received an award from Alison. Have you ever visited her blog? She makes lovely items with gorgeous tweed. Alison, thank you so much, that was very sweet!
Brave Little Thing
All around her the garden is dark and grey. The sky is clouded and the temperature is almost icy. I see her waving in the chilly wind and feel touched. That little rose, blooming while all her friends are long gone, dressed in stunning pink when the season's trendy colours are brown and yellow, is almost shameless in her beauty. Far from perfect, her little flaws are obvious, I can't help but admire her and take her picture. She inspires me.
My Creative Space
There is a lot of green surrounding me today. From top to bottom you see:
-
Lucas' little toes under a blanket on the couch
-
The pattern pieces of the coat I am making. This is the inside by the way. The outside will be a lot more... colourful.
-
Cups of water for the little ones.
-
Fresh herbs in our kitchen. I am planning to make a big pan of soup today with lots of vegetables and herbs. We all can use some extra vitamins.
Here is the key to a treasure chest of creative spaces. Have fun!
And The Winner Is...
It is time to announce the winner of my giveaway! I asked Chris to say a number between 1 and 15 and he chose the number 6. That means that Rae, of Made by Rae, won this blouse for her gorgeous little Clementine.
Rae, Congratulations! Please e-mail me your address so I can send you the blouse. And for everyone else: Thank you so much for entering. It was a lot of fun. There definitely will be a next giveaway soon!
Sinterklaas Recipe: Gevulde Speculaas
As promised I am going to share some Sinterklaas recipes with you. Be prepared for a lot of sweetness, because sugar is an important part of almost all of these recipes!
But before I start with the actual recipe for 'gevulde speculaas' I wanted to add a little explanation about this whole Sinterklaas celebration, because I received some questions and noticed that some people didn't really understand what it all is about.
It's a holiday on it's own, and for us it has nothing to do with Christmas, although the English/American Santa derives from the Dutch Sinterklaas. It's celebrated on december 5th, with presents for the children and the exchange of funny teasing poems between adults. You can read all about it on this page.
We do celebrate Christmas too, on december 25th. But most people don't exchange gifts during Christmas and the holiday is mostly more focussed on the Christian meaning, the tree, the lights and being together with loved ones.
Having explained that; are you hungry yet? Then here is the first Sinterklaas recipe:
Gevulde Speculaas
Ingredients
-
250 gr. self raising flour
-
2 tablespoons speculaaskruiden (herb mix)*
-
150 gr. dark caster sugar
-
150 gr. butter
-
2 tablespoons milk
-
300 gr. almond paste**
-
1 egg yolk
-
(optional: sliced almons for decoration)
Preheat the oven up to 150° Celcius.
Put the flour, the speculaaskruiden, the sugar, the butter (in small pieces) and the milk in a bowl and knead until you have a dough. At this point you could choose to roll the dough into some foil and put it into the refrigerator to let it soak up all the herbs, but I have to confess I mostly am too impatient for that, so I skip that step.
Now you split the dough in two equal
parts. The first part you roll onto a greased oven plate in
whatever shape you want, could be a square, a heart.. Smear the
almond paste on top of the dough, but leave some space at the
edges. Then add the second part of the dough on top of this and
close the sides, enclosing the almond paste.
Now you can decorate with the sliced almons and cover with the egg
yolk.
Put it into the oven and bake the speculaas for about 30-45 minutes (check if it's golden brown). Then get it out of the oven and make sure it cools off and gets a bit harder before you start cutting it (but not too long, because it's delicious when it's still warm :-))
Bon appetit!
* Speculaaskruiden is a Dutch mixture of 8 parts cinnamon, ground,; 2 parts nutmeg; 2 parts cloves; 1 part cardamon; 1 part white pepper and 1 part ginger ground,
** Almond paste is
something you can buy here already made at the store, but you could
make it yourself too. For that you need:
100 gr white almonds ground
100 gr granulated sugar
0,5-0,7 egg
grated peel of a half lemon
Put in a bowl the almond ground, the granulated sugar and lemonpeel. Add enough but not too much egg, to make it one whole mass but not too sticky on the outside. Roll it in plastic foil and put it in the refrigerator.
PS. Tomorrow I'll draw the winner of my giveaway!
At Home
This girl. So close to me, all day. Curled up on the couch with her feet on my legs, softly stroking my arm with her little hand. Playing with her dolls right next to me, letting me hold them while she makes them tea. Brushing my hair and trying to put ribbons in there, which I proudly wear all day. Playing with her brothers. Teasing them sometimes. And singing. Always singing.
They are still at home these days. All three of them are still a bit sick. And I have to say I secretly enjoy it. The long conversations. The slow pace. The cuddles in the middle of an activity. I know they love their friends and can't wait to get back to school, but for my own selfish enjoyment I sometimes almost wished it was possible to homeschool in this country.
How About Lingerie?
Pictures from here.
I love lingerie. The feeling of silk or satin on my skin. The look of a bit of lace peeking from under a garment. It makes me feel luxurious and feminine. It has been a while since I last bought some gorgeous lingerie. The last couple of years I have either been pregnant or nursing, so it wasn't very practical. But, now Olivier is nursing less often during a day, I find myself longing for some not-so-practical-but-oh-so-gorgeous new trifles.
But ofcourse, since I have been making almost all of our clothing myself the last period, the question rises: Shall I make my new lingerie myself too? Is that possible? Is it wise? Is it a completely different sport than sewing other garments and should I leave it to the professionals, or is my fear unnecessary and should I just dive in?
Do you have any thoughts on this, or tips, or warnings? I hope you'll let me know!
PS. For the little girl's blouse giveaway, look here.
Sinterklaas Arrived Today
Today Sinterklaas arrived in our country. The next couple of weeks, up until december 5th, there is the possibility of seeing a 'zwarte piet' hidden in a little corner, delivering some packages and listening to children singing. We will bake Sinterklaas treats and maybe even share some recipes. And ofcourse little shoes will be placed round the fireplace, with drawings and letters in them, and a bowl of water and a carrot next to them. Because the horse always loves a snack. And maybe, some mornings, we will hear excited voices cheer and little feet run down the stairs as fast as they can, because the carrot will be eaten, the bowl emptied, and in the shoes will be treats and sometimes even presents. Hidden there by Sinterklaas and his Pieten, somehow, during the night, while everyone was sound asleep. A marvelous, magical period began today.
Evidence
If you would look at our livingroom after admiring this real fall bunting that the little ones made, you could be deceived, dear reader, into thinking that you were looking at a lot of messy clutter. But don't let the appearence fool you. Because what you are looking at is really.. evidence.
Evidence that certain little ones inhaled a dose of healthy fresh air..
Evidence that some adventurous treasure hunting happened..
Evidence that creativity is cherished here..
Evidence that a healthy meal was prepared..
Evidence of play and cuddling. Both with people and dolls..
So, don't let the surface confuse you, dear reader. This is not a mess. It's merely evidence of a valuable day.
PS. I think I better start cleaning now if we want to have dinenr at that table :-)
PPS. The giveaway is still open for entering, until the 18th of november..
My Creative Space
It's rainy. It's chilly. All the little ones are at home today, sick. So today my creative space involves a lot of puzzling (my parents brought in at least a dozen puzzles this morning, all large and difficult. Good for hours and hours of puzzling pleasure), playing games, listening to Sinterklaas cd's, maybe a little bit of pattern tracing and fabric cutting, tummy rubbing and soft singing.
Oh, and did I mention puzzling?
For a whole list of people who share their creative space today, look here.
PS. Until november 18 you can enter my giveaway here.
Coloured Coat
All pictures found here.
For a moment I started to have doubts about my choice. I purchased a lovely soft wool velvet in a very bold colour. Well, multiple bold colours even. Today I was going to start drawing, but I had some second thoughts about the fabric. Isn't it too bold? Too bright? Too.. colourful?
Then I browsed a bit online. I looked at all kinds of coats. And I realized that especially the coloured coats drew my attention. I love those, the colours, the boldness! So I decided to go for it: The next project will be a bold coloured coat for me.
(Don't forget about the giveaway. You have until november 18 to enter!)
Embracing Changes Of Plans
I planned a day of sewing today. I planned to finally finish Sarah's blouse and maybe even start my coat. Nothing of that happened today. Instead my parents took all of us to the zoo in Rhenen. And we had a wonderful, perfect day together.
The blouse and coat will have to wait until tomorrow. Sometimes other things are more important than sewing.
Puzzling
Lucas is completely into making puzzles. Here you see his hands while he made a puzzle at his grandparent's house, where we were last weekend. The puzzle depicts Noah's Ark and ofcourse he wanted to know all about the story behind it and what it all means.
In the car on our way home we could almost hear him think. And there it came, the question we expected: "Mama, who is God?"
Now I have to explain to you; we don't bring our children up with a certain religious background. I haven't had a religious upbringing myself and Chris, well, he has a slightly different view on religion now than the catholic upbringing that he had when he was a child.
So there it was. The question. A question we suspected to come for a while now, since Lucas attends a catholic school and because of that probably has heard a lot about God already. I didn't know whether or not I was afraid because of the question to come. I do think that the answer is important. I firmly believe that our children should have the chance to explore their own feelings on the subject and I want them to stay open to the possibilities, not closed because of our (their parents') views.
So I asked him:"What do you know about God already?". He paused for a while. And then said, a bit shy: "I think it is a man who lives on the moon." I had to smile, ofcourse. Then I told him:"There are many people, Lucas, and many different views on who God is. Some people believe him to be the father of us all. Some people believe he is more of an energy, a being. And some people don't believe God exists at all."
He thought about it a while. And then, ofcourse, asked: "What do you believe, mama?"
I said to him: "I don't really know, sweetheart. I do feel that there is something out there. And I do think that maybe what I feel is God. What I really believe is that whatever and whoever God is, that he or it is loving and good. And that because of that, people can feel warm and safe, calm and caring. Maybe God is that what makes us be good to eachother. That what makes the world beautiful. But Lucas, I don't have all the answers here. I think you should try and feel for yourself what you believe."
He smiled at me. And stared out of the window. And finally, after a long time, he said: "I believe that God is on the moon. Or maybe he is the moon. And that he takes care of us."
I nodded and answered:"That sounds wonderful, Lucas. The only thing that matters, is that what you believe feels true to you." "It does", he said. And then he fell asleep smiling.
Softly I heard a little voice from the other car seat whisper: "I believe that God is really sweet. And that he is the moon. And the stars and the cute animals too!" Our little Sarah put in her two pennies.
Yes, I think our little ones will find their own wonderful way in life.
How Lucky I Am
Look at this gorgeous bracelet, how lucky am I to be able to wear it? Yesterday I received it in a wonderful package from Krista.
The package was filled with little presents, carefully wrapped in little boxes and black crispy paper, with silver ribbons around it. Inside were all kinds of treats, like candy and some lovely little charms. Oh, and a mysterious key...
Then there were these little skewers, perfect for halloween. I guess I better join in with Vanessa's halloween party next year, to make perfect use of these. Although I think I should really protect them, or else they no doubt will be used by some little pirates here. And who could blame them, these are perfect for dangerous pirates, don't you think?
And did I mention the treat bags? But ofcourse the bracelet stole the show. Isn't it beautiful? I am very, very lucky indeed. Thank you so much, Krista, for your wonderful present!
My Creative Space
Today I am working on a blouse for Sarah. The fabric is a really soft cotton with a print that I think will look very cute on her.
It's nice to work on a little project in between. This way I can build up some courage for the next project: A velvet coat for myself. Oh my!
Want to see what other people are doing today? Look here.
I Love..
.. The scent of freshly baked bread in the morning. Too bad you can't transport a scent through the internet, I would love to share this with you!
A Dress To Wear
As I said before: I love dressing up. Paying attention to my clothing, putting on some make-up, doing my hair.. It all makes me feel feminine and beautiful. Doesn't everyone love feeling that way?
My new dress, the one that I have been working on the last couple of weeks, matches this attitude. With silky stockings and high heels I feel absolutely up to any task.
Today that task might be just picking up the little ones from school. Or vacuuming the floor and washing the dishes. It doesn't really matter, does it?
Because whatever comes my way today: I'm all dressed and ready for it!
My name is Karin. I sew, cook and
take pictures. I tell stories. I dream. I love books, fashion, hot
baths, conversations that make me re-think my ideas and opinions. I
fantasize and realize. And above and beyond all, I am mama to
Lucas, Sarah and Olivier.
