My sewing machine

Dorothee asked me, what kind of sewing machine I had. So I made some photos of it. It is a Pfaff 230 and it is from the late 40s or 50s. I inherited it from my Grannie.



Technically it is not equipped very well and it doesn't run with electricity, but I am so used to it that I don't mind that I can't do any button holes etc.



And the nifty thing is: You can turn it into a piece of furniture when not in use:



I received my virtual vacation and tea swap packages. Thank you soooo much guys. I will post pics tomorrow when I am not so tired anymore.

No news on cute guy.The whole thing is dead :-(

Some Sewing

For my wrists' sake, I had to take a break from knitting, so I sewed this dress from the latest "Burda Moden" magazine. It is both very retro and stylish and I'm loving it! I used one of the fabrics I got from last weeks shopping spree.



Cute guy called last night. These mixed signals drive me nuts....

Shopping galore!

Yesterday I went with my dad on a little outing to Butinette and look what I got!!! (And my Dad paid for all of it - yeaaahh)

First of all the yarn:





Then I got some fabric as well (at the moment I am working on a dress with the rightside fabric):





And some other stuff:



And yesterday I already did this (you can put little candles in it and they are made out of transparent paper):



And also this (I used the napkin technique which is so simple that I will do a lot of this now):



BTW: Cute guy says he wants to get to know me slowly and that we should take time and maybe he was too rash in the beginning???? Isn't that kinda breaking up before it has already begun? Have to read "Men are from Mars, women from Venus" again.....

I'm back!

I'm back from one great week on Rhodos! I was really nice there - the island is beautiful in a kind of rugged and barren way. But, and there is only one but, it was just too hot to do anything else than sit in the shade on the beach and hope for a little breeze. We had around 45°C every day! Thank God we had AC in our hotel, otherwise I think I would have died. I finished three pairs of socks - pictures will follow in due course. I think I was the sensation of the beach - everybody came over and wanted to know what I was doing. Anyhow, I wasn't the only one knitting, there was another lady clicking away while sunbathing.

After having done the unpacking, the laundry etc, I did this yesterday:



I bought some Amy Butler fabric a while back on ebay and these projects were just perfect for it:



Both patterns are from the net. The box bag tutorial by Kelly is great and easy to follow! The purse I will use for my knitting stuff.



I presented the scarf from the last post to the gute guy and he was really happy about it. He said that if I hadn't offered it to him he would have asked me to do one for him :-) He is soooo sweet, he called me at 4 am just before I boarded the plane to Greece. Isn't that nice? Anyway, keep your fingers crossed...

sewing+knitting

This dishclothbag is a present for a friend who has her birthday today. We celebrated yesterday night and she was delighted about this present. It is made out of cotton dishcloths and I think the colourways fit together very well.





This is the project I'm working on at the moment. It's Glampyre's Orangina and this is the back part. Currently I am working on the front. The yarn I used is Baumwoll-cablee from Junghans.

Summer Vintage Sewing

I made this summer dress a couple of years ago and it was so hot on Wednesday evening that I wore it to the summer school concert and I thought I could make a photo of it for my blog. So there it is...The pattern is from Burda and I think it dates back to the 70s, at least from the design and look of the pattern etc. I inherited the fabric when my Grandma died and I guess it is as old as the pattern. however, retro rocks! Wearing this dress always makes me feel like going to a posh cocktail party at a house with a pool :-)

Bag

I am so happy with my new knitting bag!! I made it after Emiliy's tutorial. It is dead easy and very quick - instant gratification. My Mum gave me some dishtowels last week and I used two of them for this bag. The cool thing is that you can use both sides. I can have a pink bag or a yellow one (I used a yellow one on the inside, didn't take a picture of that though). This is a great beginner's project (try your new machine on this one Melissa!). You can't do anything wrong with this one. I am about to do a second bag with "normal" towels for going to the lake in this glorious weather. Pictures of that coming soon!

FOs

Since I have my sewing machine in my flat and am on vacation, I am on a sewing mission. This is another skirt I made over the weekend. I think I can wear now a different skirt on every day of summer... This one is from the latest Burda Moden Magazine and the fabric is from http://www.stoffe .de . I like the 80s look - I am retro!
I also used a new website to work on the photos. It's called Picnik, very easy to use with great results!




Another FO are these socks. I made them for a friend of mine in European men's size 43. I hope they fit! The yarn, I have to confess, is from Woolworth's - but being so cheap it is nice on the needles and I like the grey colourway. The pattern is very straightforward, K 5 rows, P 1 row. I wanted to go with something not too elaborate for a guy. Are there any patterns for guys' socks out there? If you have seen some pattern, let me know!

one week vacation

You are White Chocolate

You have a strong feminine side with a good bit of innocence thrown in. Whether your girlish ways are an act or not, men like to take care of you. You are an understated beauty, and your power is often underestimated!

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Half of my holidays are over and it seems like a day and not a week *sigh* . Anyway, I like being white chocolate, would have guessed something else, though.

I got some more Brown Cotton Fleece and I'm doing the Rusted Root by Zephyrstyle. With this yarn I get in a kind of knitting frenzy - I just can't stop and knit for hours on end.

Inbetween I made this skirt from the latest Burda Moden magazine. I used dark green linen I inherited from my Granma about 12 years ago. Although it said that it's a petite size and according to Burda's measurement I have a normal size, it fits perfectly. Honestly I don't know about sizes...Regardless, I always use the smallest given - and it fits. However, when using normal sizes, pants are usually 10 cm too long (and I don't believe that I have that short legs!!)

Unintentionally

I made these two garments separately - and it seems like I created a complete outfit unintentionally! The top is "Green Gable" by Zephyr Style in Brwon Sheep Cotton Fleece. I love this yarn! It is very soft and it knits almost by itself. I ordered some more from the US to do another top with it. The skirt is from the last Burda Moden magazine. I was always afraid if doing pleats but I think the look nice with this stripy fabric.


I went to the wedding of a friend of mine from my teacher training course. The wedding was perfect! We had nice weather, the atmosphere was great and the show wasn't too embarassing. We danced and we ate and had a really great time. Here you see the goodies I brought home. The little gift on the right side (with chocolade in it) served simultaneously as a clace card.


Last but not least, I want to share with you a picture of yesterday's hailstorm. This photo is of the backyard of my apartement house. And the amount of hail came down in about 5 to 10 minutes. It really is Murphy's law. As soon as school holidays start, the weather turns bad.

Happy Easter!

I hope you all have nice holidays and happy Easter to you! I stayed with my parents over the long weekend. Partly to get pampered and not having to cook (which is not one of my favourite pastimes) and to avoid feeling lonely now that my sweetheart is back in the sunshine state. And I have been busy! I moved to my own place last September and the last piece of furniture still missing is my sewing machine. It is an old "Pfaff" from the 50s and it is put into a sort of little cupboard, so that if you don't need it, you can hide it in there. Alas, it needs at least three strong man to move it and carry it up to my flat on the second floor.


So it still is at my parents and I always sew when I am there. Maybe it is as well, because otherwise I wouldn't work at home but rather make new clothes all the time!


So this is what I did this weekend:



I think this blouse is perfect for spring and with tight trousers it will look somehow "retro", right from the 70s. I like mixing retro with modern style. I think it gives fashion a special twist. I also started on a dress, pictures of which will be delivered when I could bring myself to putting in the second sleeve!