Nostalgia trip

I went home to Croatia on the All Saints weekend and dug into my moms photo albums. What a trip:)

Me wearing a dress my great grandma sewed for me. Each ribbon was sewed on separately and perfectly. She was such a fantastic sewer, she could do anything and her sewing was perfect.

Different dress sewn by a different grandma. Her sewing skills were nowhere near my great grandma's, but she used to be so creative, she'd basically try and make us anything we wished for. (She is with me on the above photo)

Me with my dad and my brother, I am wearing a dress made from a Pipi Longstocking towel. I remember thinking this was the coolest design ever, two towels sewn together on shoulders and side seams. Incredible! And I loved that dress! Oh, this was also made by my grandma (above).

This photo has nothing to do with the handmade, but my mom (left) and aunt (right) are sporting some crazy hairstyles here. My aunt's glasses are beyond cool:) I love this photo!

This photo is the reason I went on this photo-digging spree. I was looking for it for ages. This crib for my doll was also my grandma's doing. It was a washing powder box, before she made it into the coolest piece of furniture ever, dressed it in fabric and even put lace trim on it. The crib also has a real mattress and bedlinen, of course. The crib is not around anymore, who knows where it ended up, but the linens are still there, nicely put away for future generations.
Update: my mom just told me the shirt I am wearing was actually an upcycle from my grandad shirt and pants were an upcycle from grandma's skirt.

Not always what it seems

You think the next guys life is better than yours? Think again!

Frog Prince, by Marbushka

Hungarian toy manufactory Marbushka just released their new game to the market. It is supposed to be their most beautiful game ever, but I think it is just as beautiful as all their other games. Sequel to The Lost Necklace, The Frog Prince will surely be the perfect addition to your family's gaming table.

Our story begins with a rash promise made by the well in the castle courtyard. The princess was playing with her golden ball on the edge of the well when the ball fell into the water. The princess was sobbing… in her despair, she even promised the frog who hurried to help her that in exchange for the ball, he may go with her to the palace. The frog helped gladly, hoping that this girl would finally break the curse and turn him back into a handsome prince once again with her kiss, but when the princess held her favorite toy in her hands again, she didn’t want to keep any of her promises anymore, and she left him. The frog went after her to remind her of her forgotten promise…

Czesiociuch - Polish brand foy boys and girls alike

Anyone who knows me would, I am positive, say 'this is so Petra' after seeing Czesiociuch, Polish label for kiddos with attitude. I talked to the creators, read it on EastOK Europe.

Baby walker from the olden days

During our summer vacation in Croatia we decided to take a day trip to Slovenia to visit Postojna cave and the incredible Predjama castle where this living room is exhibited. I'd totally accept majority of this furniture:)

I am talking about the trip more over at EastOK Europe. Jump over to read more about Postojna. 
Predjama Castle is HAUNTED, great read for Halloween:) 

Kindergarten Series: Sjötorget Preeschool

As you may know, we live in Budapest. City centre to add to that. It is a big city, and space is NOT abundant. Most nursery/kindergarten/preschools are a part of some resident building. Space is not abundant there either. Furniture and decor are not at all contemporary. I am lucky, of course, for several reasons...one of them being that we got in at all, the other that they are happy and loved there, so I don't want to complain. But I can still daydream, which is why I am starting this Kindergarten Series, on top of my Playground Season Series (both are open to tips and suggestions, I'd love to have your guestposts on either/both subjects too).

So, let's go to Stockholm today. It seems that Stockholm too suffers from lack of place to build separate nursery/kindergarten buildings. In the next few photos you will see what Rotstein Arkitekter studio did with the ground floor of this building:

 

I am a little obsessed with sharp angles when kids are around, maybe because my kids fall a lot...on their faces, so I am not sure about the green triangular staircase in the pic above. Other than that, I am in love. I think if my kids went here I'd find a reason to stay and hang out for a bit every day.

What's your kid's daycare space like?

Please tell me, you too lose it sometimes

The first thing I told my son this morning, was NO. And then fifteen times more! He was nagging me about something ridiculous, and he would not stop until I said yes, which I wasn't going to do, but he doesn't get it. He simply does not accept no for an answer! And then I snapped, and yelled at him. Like you would yell at a grownup, who doesn't listen to what you are saying. It was a relatively long YELL, full of  you-just-don't-get-its and will-you-ever-learns and ended with me furiously leaving the room.

Good morning mom!

I feel like crap since then...I mean, who is the kid in this house?
And then I cried to this video, wandering what P would say about me if they asked him today...

A New Perspective For Moms from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Do you, fellow moms, snap? Do you too lose it sometimes? Please tell me!

Raindrop robe

We lost our robe, so I had to make a new one. Melly Sews published her Sleepy Robe pattern just a week before Kids Clothes week - perfect timing! This pattern is so easy, and imagine...it is FREE and yet, comes in 4 sizes – 18m/2T, 3T/4T, 5/6 and 7/8!
I did some changes to the pattern, because we'll be using this for swimming and hood is indispensable. Fabric is SKÄRET Bath Sheet from Ikea. I tried to keep all possible original seems and I was really lucky with the hood, because I had an old hoodie, or part of it to be more exact (I used the sleeves already for these sweats) and the hood was perfect for this robe. I lined it with pieces of the towel and I must say that is the best feature. We already tested it and it does wanders for that wet after swimming lesson. Zipper was a practical choice, somehow belt don't work for us yet. P can't tie it himself yet, we it always ends up losing it or pulling it all over the floor.
String of the hood is a T-Shirt yarn I made not long ago.
I'd say this was a very productive upcycle:)

My way around stain removal

Kid's Clothes Week is always a good way for me to try to go through the pile of stuff waiting on my desk to be 'treated'. Way back during my first KCWC I challenged myself not to buy anything new, but to try to use what I have at home for my projects. Unfortunately, the pile has only grown since.

I will show you a bunch of T-shirts today, which went from useless to spotless:)

See, I am not your perfect housewife. For example, I am very bad at removing stains. VERY BAD! When P started his solids, the only way I was able to remove those carrots from his onesies was by boiling them on my stove. It is not really working for me, this stain removing business, I just can't be bothered to go through god knows how many chemicals just to remove a spot, when I can do this:

This T was fixed by mere accident. We were making a T for P and by mistake we printed a photo I had on my computer from the time I wrote this post for Budapest Moms. It is an illustration of a Cyclop by Csilla Kőszeghy. 
Although this was not the original plan, the deed was done, image was printed, iron on paper spent, we had to do something with it. Since this T-shirt was stained all the way up to the neckline (icecream) I decided to cut off this poor Cyclop's head and use it that way. I must say this proved that accidents are sometimes the best thing that can happen to you, because we received numerous questions about this T-shirt and I came out as very cool for making it. What is also very cool about it, is that iron on paper for dark fabrics (which is what this one is, because the image we wanted to print out originally was for a dark blue shirt) is thicker and more plastic, which means we could drip ice cream on this one whole summer and I was able to just wipe it off. This turned put to be a built in bib.

I had some Ts without the build in bib, which means more stains to cover up.

I cut this sign out from an old onesie all the boys from the family already used, so I didn't feel the need to keep it anymore for future generations. I also stenciled some star motifs with fabric markers to repeat the pattern from the sign.

Opening his eye-patch

Next one is also a cover-up from an old onesie, but flossed around with embroidery thread.

 

And just so you don't think P doesn't stain, he does...so we did his vest too. I met Dia (B!mba) for a coffee recently, and she surprised me with a bag of her fabric scraps.

 

I even drew some bird poo on there with 3D paint. My smart son called it bird seeds...I don't know why I didn't think of seeds instead of poo, but let's not dwell on that now.

Was this too much?
See my other T-Shirt refashions here and here or check how I made a beanie out of a onesie.

Autumn muffins

This for my sewing buddies around the world, since Kid's Clothes Week is still on I'd like to dedicate this quick bake to all the mamas who don't have to feed their kids this week:)

My kids won't eat plums! I don't know why, they get excited...no wander, colour is great, they smell super...one bite and they spit. What is up with that? Plums are autumn fruit you should binge on till they are only good to make jam. Well, not in this house.

So if you too have plums going bad in the fridge in hope your kids will wake up one day and like them, you better try this recipe. Perfectly moist and yummy and great even the next day! Needless to say, kids loved it. I didn't even have to hide the fact there are plums in there.

Mop beanie

I've only taken up crochet several months back but I only got as far as practicing some of the stitches for a few days. I do that often...get crazy about something and then forget about it completely.
So it happens,  I went to buy a circular cutter last week (which made making these color dipped pants sooo much easier) and I found some yarns I just couldn't resist. I've been looking for some fun boy-yarns ever since Peggy made this Fairy Hat for her daughter and this Schachenmayr Boston Style yarn came close enough to make me want to try again.

 I started with this video tutorial by Yolanda Soto Lopez, this is the easiest way to make beanies, you just crochet a big square and sew it together in the end. I love that you can do it without really thinking too much, no counting is necessary because you are just going strait and back. This is how I did the fist 4 rows, after the first chain which is the desired circumference of the hat I did a single crochet stitch into the back of my loop, this causes the ribbed look when you turn your crochet after each row.

Except that after 4 rows I decided that it doesn't make sense to have to sew up the hat in the end, why wouldn't I just make a circle chain one into the first loop of that row and continue crocheting in circles, which basically caused that braided look, because I didn't have to turn my crocheting anymore.

As for the pompom, I was going more for this look but T-shirt yarn I cut up smply did not want to curl up and this is how we ended up with a MOP BEANIE.