Stary, Stary Night

This quilt is made by my mom.

Dear readers,

Thank you all so much for reading this blog.
I wish you a very happy Christmas.

Heartfelt greetings,

Ria

Things my mother made

Look what my mother gave me, last Tuesday. It's a potholder (it may look huge, but it's a 20 cm square). After a live a sewing, making lace, origami, knitting (not that much), embroidery and making Waldorf dolls she now is into quilting. It all started when we went to a summerfair 3 years ago. There were beautiful pieces hanging there and after a chat with the women over there she joined the quiltclub. They come together ever Thursday and she has been making wonderful stuff since then.

Here's another example. it's been hanging on our chimney ever since Christmas and I just didn't like putting it away already. A little bit of starlight in our home.

handmade in the kichen, part 2

This is the cover of a cookbook my mother made many, many years ago (I think during the sixties). She gave it to her mother-in-law, but she didn’t appreciate it very much. For this head-strong lady, handcrafting had to be useful. Embroidering or making thing from felt was too posh. Your time was much better spend knitting socks, sewing aprons and clothes, working in the vegetable garden.
But my grandmother died many years ago (reaching the age of 92) and now I own the cover and the cookbook. With a slightly moralistic tone concerning the household and lovely recipes. And probably one of the oldest pieces of handcraft of the many my mother made.
Thanks mum! I love it very much.

Handmade in the kitchen

On with the series of handmade items in my house. We’ve strolled through the utility-room and enter the kitchen. First, there’s the rack with the aprons and potholders.



This one was made (crotched) by Mark’s grandmother. I won it many years ago with Christmas. Each year, we play a game with the whole family where we slide wooden stones along a board, into various holes. Don’t know how it’s called in English. (Sjoelen in het Nederlands).
Another pair of potholders are made by my mother, using patchworkstips.



Then there are various aprons.



I made this one for Mark when his hair was still dark. Yes, that’s very long ago. It’s from a magazine called Ariadne, which was loaded with tons of craft ideas each month. Crocheting, knitting, sewing, they had fabulous designs. Many issues made me dream away when I was teen. I so miss a magazine like that in Holland. (Ariadne still exists. But they changed the format into Home and Decorating. Pity, pity).
I appliqued the image of the druid from Astrix and Obelix by using the sewingmachine.



This apron is for Pelle. I bought it in our Fair Trade store in the village. It’s made in Latin America.

Our most recent one. Ready-made with comments from Mark’s colleages.


We end this tour with a look into the drawer with the bibs. There’s one from Astrid, which started this blog , and one (stained, sorry) I made when Pelle was a baby. The front is inspired by the cotton back.






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So here we pause. And have a nice cup of tea.

My own handmade home

Ever since I’ve been following blogs, I’ve been reading the one of Soule Mama . She’s kind of the mother of all blogs, I think. I don’t visit her daily, anymore. But I bought her book about a creative family life and now she’s publishing a new one, Handmade Home.
I love the way her creative juices flow. I think I’m much more restrained to sewing, not to shaping my life. I would love to be a bit more playful and joyful. Maybe that will grow in me, as I learn to let more restrains go. In the meantime, I though it would be nice to show some of my own creative home items. That is to say, handmade items in the rooms of my house.
So here’s the start of a new series.
I just start with the ground floor, namely the utility room. Three bags in wich I keep my plastic shopping bags. The one in the middle I bought on a fair, 2 summers ago. The other ones I made myself.