Striped PJs are OK

You know when you get a piece of clothing for your kids but you can't really picture wearing it, or at least not in that actual form?

They are too big for the baby, and too short and weird shaped for the boy, but you like the fabric. It looks good and is soft to the touch. Use an acceptable PJs to trace, add some cuffs and you are done. I think this was less than 30 minutes project, I even managed to use the original waist line, only hat to stitch it along the cut together with the elastic that was already there.

Good Morning Sunshine:)

You can find the tute for the top he is wearing here.

 

My skinny little boy being an angel:)

Messed up Submarine Pullover

A while ago I got this Shauna from Shwin & Shwin sent me the Submarine Pullover pattern to test. I did most of it, and the the whole family got down with the flu, bad one.
Here it is now...the patter calls for thinner fabric, but I wanted to try this out and used coat fabric instead. Great choice, since it is going to be steaming hot from now to eternity, they say. 
The pattern is for intermediate sewers, but I believe beginners can also tackle it without fear, maybe leave out the button holes (like I did, although button holes were never on my list of problems sewingwise). I also did something wrong with the hood so I had problems lining it up, and due to the thickness of the fabric it wasn't pleasant, but in the end I just decided to take it in and leave the placket outside the hood area. What I am trying to say is, there is always a way around things. Sometimes the solutions you find because you messed things up are the best ones and even though the garment might not be perfect it will make it unique:)

 I used daddy's shrunk sweater for the cuffs.

and cuffs of daddy's old polo shirt sleeves for the pockets and the rest of the shirt for the lining of the hood.

And now on the kid:

 

For a short while he tried to be a good sport.

 ENOUGH!

Linking to The Train to Crazy

Tropical Dream, new Jungle collection by EFVVA

 I don't know about you, but over here the weather is incredible. We totally jumped from winter into Summer. They are already announcing tropical heat wave in a few days. 30 degrees Celsius in tropical in April I should think. And with tropical heat you need

 TROPICAL DREAM

DISCOVER JUNGLE SPRING SUMMER COLLECTION BY EFVVA

Photos:PinkWings

Models:Antonina,Eryk,Eunice,Helena,Jeremi.

I love those pastel freckles and red haired kiddos and the collection is really wild, don't you think?

 COLLECTION AVAILABLE HERE.

The HooDress for Valentina

Rarely do I have the chance to sew something for girls so I was really happy when this time KCWC, Merrily we Sewalong with Two-Tee dress theme and a visit of my friend Monika and her little girl Valentina coincided. Nothing like three birds with one stone, right?
Oh, and I am still not buying fabric, so only upcycling in this house.

I started with two of my tops I used to love dearly and my sons T-shirt for the pattern and the measures, since him and Valentina are both 16 months old, only a few days apart, but living a world apart from each other. We are in Hungary and she is in Aspen, USA.

And ended up with this.

I even made a label, my first, yeeey!:) Couldn't get a better photo, she was moving all the time:)

Birthday Cake Series: #5

I completely forgot I never showed you out 4th birthday cake.
Yes, yes, it is cake #5, because this cake messed up our numbering.

P had one request, he wanted a cake to be really, really big.

His face expression was priceless!

Cake had P's name and age stamped all over it.

I used the same recipe as here, plus the food coloring but top of the cake was fondant (to be able to stamp) and layers were fixed together with homemade rose hip marmalade.

And that is that on the cake #5. My next cake is due in December...

Soup with a straw

P is not a big eater. He is usually 'sooooo full' after half a bite. So, sometimes I use tricks...like say...give him soup in a cup to 'eat' with a straw. He likes unusual things, especially things he finds funny.

Soup P is drinking in a photo is a Wild Garlic soup, for the recipe jump here.

Happy soup drinking!

Tree softie for a baby

I made this softie during nap time, for the baby boy we went to visit yesterday. Very simple project from an old Ikea Fredrika fabric with tree prints. 

Note: stump needs to be made wider otherwise it will fold over because it can't keep the weight of the tree top.

P woke up and had a complete meltdown over the tree softie. He's never been interested in softies, but if I make a toy for someone else he needs it really, really bad.

Playground season - SHOW ME YOUR PLAYGROUND CALLOUT

Finally, the playground season is here. I don't have to put tons of clothes on myself and kids to get out of the house and we can stay outside after daycare. Here in Budapest we go to the playground an luckily for us there are tons. I love the fact that you can find playgrounds in most unexpected places among old buildings or in the shopping area. Most of them are in pretty good condition, fenced and some are equipped with crazy constructions my boys love, like planes, trains or little adrenalin park features.

What is it like in your country? Do you go to the playground or you have your own in your back yard? Please join us in the SHOW ME YOUR PLAYGROUND SERIES! Contact me if you'd like to participate, I'd love to hear from you!

Happy belated spring!:)

IKEA goes cardboard

...and IKEA goes cardboard too, not at all expensive: SKYLTA market stand.

A different take on Gulliver

Same authors I wrote about several days ago when I posted about Snow White  made this award winning movie. See this take on Guliver and let me know what you think:



GULIVER movie from ZDENKO BASIC on Vimeo.

International Children's Book Day: Snow White non-Disney way

Ever since 1967 April 2 is the day to celebrate children's books. I am not sure how you do it, but I really try to bring quality reading into my children's lives. It is not so easy and sometimes kids like things you don't or would like them not to, but even though I will not force them or forbid books that are not on my top favorites list I do feel it is important to show P there is a whole magic world of fairy-tales beyond Disney.

The book you should definitely try to get hold of is a Snow White, magically retold by Stella Gurney and illustrated by two incredibly talented Croatian guys: Zdenko Bašić and Manuel Šumberac.

source

I like this version so much more than the one we read hundreds of times. Isn't it so much more likely that dwarfs' house would be really tidy and clean?:)

source

 The story is wonderful and illustration exquisite. Check out the whole illustrated book here (no text). Zdenko Bašić and Manuel Šumberac are winning award after award for whatever they touch and you really need to know them. Other book in their opus include: The Night Before Christmas and Pinocchio, while Zdenko Bašić also did Alice in Wanderland and The Cleverest Spider.

And guess what, they are making a movie Tales of the Wind, based on this book:



So incredibly beautiful! I can't wait...