easter in germany= baking ( like crazy)

and the second post for this evening ( i listen to the music of the movie where the wild things are, i just love childeren movies..)

and it kind of fits.
this time in germany i just felt incredebly blessed. i sucked in every minute. it was nice sunny warm weather. i had olenty of time with my parents( mr le chef and daya). made long and less long bike tours. we wnet to a lake which seemed so fare away as a child and isn't that fare away after all. how perception changes still fascinates me. on one of teh trips we saw a little lamp abandoned by the rest of the sheps, my mum and i where directly overwelmed by motherlyfeelings but on our way back the mother cared again about it.

going to the market to buy some good food. i love especially one stall owned by a woman named maya. she is old, quite rough and speks the lokal dialect, next to veggies from her fields she sells the moste beautifull flowers...




i also baked ..like crazy. some times even in this homienes i go a bit crazy... this time one cake collapsed on the ground and i threw it verry angry into the zink, with the result of some dough on the kitchen window... after this sudden emotional outburst everything was ok again.
and also knowing that at home( i mean the other home, antwerp) there was waiting somebody for me. but first i had to go to amsterdam to meet an young artist. more about that later on..





Eastereggs: we had chicken, duck, goose, chocolate and marcepein ones. i backed some gist nests for them. and a delayed birthday cake for may mum. rubarb cake, so the chocolate butterflie doesn't really fit but looks good.

sleep well
it's proably not the best idea to go to bed with a stomache full of warm cake but just today i won't cre( so fare to my suggar free diet...)
kisses
s

another foggy winter's night

Dear S.,

Another foggy winter's night.



(view from my room)

Today I went to downstairs to my grandma's. It is so weird to see all her things, smell her perfume.

I took her old sewing box, glued the broken parts, tightened the screws, polished the wood.




here are some of the treasures from the box. (click the photos to enlarge them!)

this is how my grandma kept her buttons:


I still remember how I used to play with them and sort them by colour and size when I was a kid.

Here's a real curiosity: mending thread for nylon panties! Do they even still sell this nowadays?
The pretty black folded paper contains high quality stitching needles.






some of the most beautiful buttons. I love the tiny irregular ones, the slightly damaged ones. Also check out the three round see-through buttons- they are made of glass!

And here, a beautiful assortiment of mending wools, mending needles and other old stuff. I especially love the "Alpen Stopfwolle" :)


This is it for today. I hope the foggy times will clear up a bit, soon. For all of us, especially for J.

Love,

M.

PJ

Dear S.,

here's my latest sewing project! my very first pyjama pants + shirt with applications, coming in a travel bag- a Christmas present for N.







sadly enough I don't have any time for sewing right now. Uni work is keeping me busy, hours and hours a day. For my master courses, I don't have any exams but I have to write papers. The first one of 19 pages is done, 2 more tasks to go. After a week of almost constant uni work, I am really tired and don't feel like working at all. the winter sun is shining into my eyes right now, as I sit at the table in my room. I feel like going for a walk or drinking coffee with friends or starting a new sewing project or reading a book or just being lazy and watch tv all day long. sigh. Need to start next paper, it's only a short one, 1500 words, but it needs a lot of research, deadline tomorrow evening. need to start next paper.

Lots of love, dear S.
I am looking forward to all of us being back in Antwerp. I miss all of you, I miss my own house, I miss Charlie Mew. But the air here does me good, I was able to work good for uni, and I think my family kind of needs me now. So I'll still stay, for a while.

kisses,

M.

Mohnkuchen am Heiligen Abend

Dear S.,

I was so happy to see your cookie-photos! Fi-na-lly you were able to bake again :)

I hope you and your family had a beautiful Christmas night yesterday.
With us here, it all went well. We all were rather nervous, because everything was different this year without my grandma, who always used to be the "master of ceremony". You know, her death is still so incredibly closeby, and it was hard on all of us that she wasn't with us. Still, we stuck to our beautiful and beloved tradtitions. First we all wished each other 3 wishes for the coming year. Every one of us gets a baking wafer (Backoblate) and tears three small pieces of the wafer of the person you are wishing the three wishes. Don't ask why exactly we have this tradition - no idea. It has always been like this in our family. Then, my grandma used to give a little speech, in which all our friends and family all over the world are thought of. This year, my dad took over this "task". Of course, Germany and Belgium were mentioned in his speech. These two traditions are the most emotional parts of the Holy Evening, many a tear is shed then. Afterwards we ate our delicious traditional christmas dinner: Steinpilzsuppe mit selbstgemachten Nudeln (porcino soup with homemade pasta). The pasta we used was the last batch my Grandma ever made. sigh. Afterwards, there were various salads, Karpfen ( carp fish - my very first time and I quite enjoyed it!), Schnitzel and rice and potato salad and bread and what not. After dinner, the 4 children (erm... aged 18-34) had to leave the room with the christmas tree and clean up the kitchen... until the little bell rang and the Christkind had arrived (=Papa incends the candles on the tree). Then we sang, beautifully, of course. Presenttime. The children (again 18-34) bring the present to the grown-ups. ah, childhood is such an expansible concept :)

Dessert follows. Here is were the pictures finally come in!
Traditionally, Oma made a Mohnkuchen, a rolled-up cake with poppy seed filling.
This year, my aunt and I made the cake together. We just couldn't imagine Christmas without it. Although we put slightly too little sugar in the filling and slightly too much filling in the cake (one of them tore up in the oven), the cake is very nice.







We are all sure that grandma watched us closely yesterday, because all the food was delicious. Before this year, we have never been allowed to do all these cooking tasks alone.

So, here's some Christmas feeling from Austria for you :)

Love, M.

some decemberism

Dear S.,

quite some time has passed since the last post.
You still don't have any internet at your new place and I have been busy with all kinds of things.

My beloved grandma is gone. I went to Austria to say goodbye to her. I spent three overly busy and tiring days together with my fanily inbetween two days on the train.




sigh.
On the way back to Belgium I had a slight obsession with the electricity cables of the train, it is so strangely fascinating how they move to each other and part again...





Now I am back in Antwerp for 6 days, packed with Uni research, Christmas preparations, seeing friends and so on. And sleep of course, 9hrs is what it takes.
N. and I have made some patchwork decorations for the holidays:





I will use them as table decoration on the Holy Night dinner. The rest of the decoration I still need to buy/ make today. Also, Mum and I discussed about Christmas tree decoration: we've had a blue and golden tree for the last few years, this year we're probably going to decorate it in red and with straw stars- very traditionally. I'd love to include the beautiful old porcelain ornaments of my Grandma.

It might seem weird that I am so busy with all that Christmas stuff in these sad days, but it helps to go on. After seeing my family in such sad circumstances, I am really looking forward to a calm and beautiful Christmas celebration with them.

My dear S., that's it for now.

Love, M.

Von Nähkästchen usw.

Dear S.,

back in Antwerp, both of us. Good. Good to have you here.
The last 4 days were so immensly turbulent and it really struck me now that I am in my masters too. It is so interesting and intense, but also such a difference to bachelor studies. hard. 2nd thing that struck me: autumn. As you said today, you only notice the change of the seasons when you travel outside the city. The only difference here is that it's grey and colder.. the heating is on.

I really like your new atelier, and I do envy you, I want such a room too! Unfortunately literature students are not considered worthy of their own atelier.
I do have a working spot at home though that I really like, here it is:




This crappy old table includes garden view and a kitteh that decided to make it its own. Always when I sit down and work on my table Charlie goes to sleep on her blanket on the table. Once in a while she bites my books, tries to drink my water or catches my pen. (when she noticed I was taking a photo she was embarrased to be on it asleep and started a whole show. she is currently searching for a kitty boyfriend, you know).
What else is on there: cheap purple plastic flowers from my mum, a part of the art-wall in our kitchen, my beloved Ikea lamp, crafting projects, books. and a reflection of our brick wall. I really should stop taking photo's at night :)

Writing this and taking a closer look at it, I really notice that I should take more care of my working spot.

A few weeks ago a got a great Charleston-inspired H&M dress as a present. I love its softsoft rosy color, and I really wanted to wear it for my brother's prom ball. So I collected all kinds of accessories to complete the outfit:



The shoes were a real bargain, I found them in Austria for 8 euros. The long pearl neclace comes from a flea market, the pearl bracelet is a heritage from my aunt. what I still needed was a fitting bag- so I made one. The broche is also a DIY thingie.

And here another random photo, because it fits the colours of the dress pic:
Charlie having herself a little tea-party with the beautiful tiny rose service we found at the second hand shop.



My dear, there is an old saying that claims that the state of a girl's sewing box reflects her state of mind("wie es im Nähkästchen eines Mädchens aussieht so sieht's auch in ihrem Herzen aus" or something like that). I always found this saying true for my own room, and now it is true for this entry and myself. I'll borrow the words of Virgina Woolf to end now and explicate my state, kind of. It is a little dramatic, I am aware of that ;)

My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery - always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?

Love,

M.

I'm a barbie girl

Dear S.,

I am most proud to tell you that the supermodel of all the supermodels in this whole wide world agreed to work together with me for presenting my latest pieces... BARBIE!

check it out!

Barbie checking out the setting in her beautiful ensemble from her girlfriend's collection Outdyked. That's the real girl!

There was no time to lose, though, her schedule is packed!

completely relaxed, Barbie posed in the first outfit: back leggings and a super comfortable strapless jeans dress with beautiful pink ornaments. you could also wear the dress as a skirt!

next on: a lilac bandeau top with a handstitched heart application, which perfectly accompanies the airy athmosphere of the swinging light blue jeans skirt.

Lastly, Barbie presents another pair of colourful trousers with the jeans top:

This is the perfect outfit for a cycling trip: comfy but smart! Barbie got a little excited during this last shot, but doesn't she always just look beautiful?

....

So, I was invited at my cousin's yesterday, who has three little children. Of course they insisted on me playing with them. When I was fed up with playing Duplo farm, I went over to the barbie-house... and was a little shocked. 1: My little cousin has almost no clothes (I mean, that really is one of the most fun things about barbies, no?) and 2: the clothes she had were f*ing slutty. So, when I got home, I thought.... hmmmm

And this is the result. I really like it. I wanted the clothes to be things, my 3-years old cousin would wear herself. and I would SO love to have the 60's jeans skirt.... if only it were that easy for bigger people. I even discovered a skirt I must have made myself when I was a kid.. a pretty ok white pecil skirt with ruffles and pearls and a bit of stretching band.. all handstitched :) this passion is lingering inside me since forever, I guess.

Now I need to go sleep; tomorrow at 8:45 am I have to be at the dentist's, for the third time in a week. One of my teeth was hurting a lot, so now it is getting electroshock and antibiotic-paste therapy. tomorrow it will (hopefully! fingers crossed) be sealed forever. Actually I planned to spend most of this night outside as there are a huge many falling stars this night... but it is raining, cats and dogs. So I posted this instead. :)

Till very soon!

M.

new recycled bag // very austrian marriage

Dear S.,

my week was filled with grandma's, green beans, household, books and tv.
so, I'll post a thing I made a few weeks ago for a good friend, who gave me a bag of old clothes to craft.

So, I used striped boxershorts as a part of the lining and inside bags, a beige shirt as the main lining and several details of old jeans. I really am happy with this bag; I think it fits my friend perfectly (and I hope he actually uses it, do you?)

For the rest: I was at the traditional wedding of my cousin today and I have to tell you, it was gorgeous. Bride and groom were so radiant with joy and all the guests formed such a colourful background for them. I am deliberately posting this blurry picture to keep a bit of privacy.. but you do get a bit of an image. Here is some austrian music for you to get into the right mood :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBOQ0wR51PQ

It's funny that you also have this kind of city-spectacle going on right now; so do we! And it is horrible! I really hate these crowds of drunkards and carousels and brass orchestras and overly made-up teens.. :s

Nevertheless my friends convinced me to go there with them. And we surely did have fun: as no one else really danced, we started doing our best right in front of one of the 4 stages. hihi, I really felt that we were like a group of exotic birds; so utterly different from the average visitor there, doing extreme-dancing :)

but then a half-naked guy stole our thunder, when he started to play the air-guitar and pole-danced to "Highway to Hell". His act certainly made up for the 5 euro entrance fee.

I have some more things to tell you, but I'll keep them for a next time; I'm still really tired from the nice wedding-food :)

Love,

M.