Lucy's New Room

The move has finally happened! Lucy has moved int her new bedroom two weeks ago.

I think I mentioned it before, but my pregnancy brain is like a sieve at the moment and I have not enough energy to read through all my previous posts, so here goes again: Due to the birth of our second child in November, we decided to move Lucy into a different room and use her old room as the nursery again. So, the plan was, to give her a whole new, very grown up big girl's room. Since April, i have spent time on decorating the room. Several trips to IKEA have taken place by me and my husband and it seems like endless afternoons of painting. With a toddler, who wants to be involved in everything and help all the time, I only ever got an hour here and there. Therefore the painting process of the trees was the longest of the whole decorating.

I am very pleased with the outcome. The trees are slightly wonky and I think over the years there will be more things added. But for now it does the job. Lucy likes it and has settled in well. It probably helped that she has slept in her bed already since March and was therefore in a safe and familiar environment. Anyway, you can make up your own mind:







Just for a small update: I have now only 8 1/2 weeks left till due date. i am fed up, sore and tired. My back is sore, and lately my legs are killing me also. i am not comfortable at night anymore either. On nearly a daily basis I feel very lonely and emotional. I am strongly hoping for this baby to come a little bit earlier. But hey, I don't want to just moan all the time. I am glad all went well so far!

Birthday Celebrations and the finished blanket

On Monday, the 22nd February 2010, my little baby girl Lucy turn 2. Very emotional times, I have to say. She is now officialy not a baby anymore (even though she seems to think she is ;) she calls herself baby all the time at the moment, just so she gets a cuddle), but a little bouncy toddler. funnily I even treat her differently now, let her do more and give her more little tasks. She really enjoys that. I even style her hair differently now, which makes her look more like a proper little girl. So cute.

We had two parties. One, on Sunday, for my husbands parents and sisters, and one on Monday, for children. Both were nice in their own special way. Lucy loved the attention, the presents and most importantly, the cake. Well, one in particular: the chocolate cake.


It is her favourite cake in the whole world. She ate three pieces on monday ;) And being her birthday, I didn't deny her any cake. I might share the recipie later with you, if you are interested. It is the simplest cake ever and has no flour in it. Perfect for people with a gluten allergy.

I also made a German strawberry gateaux with a white chocolate and joghurt mousse. It was sooo yummy.



The children party was more enjoyable from the aspect that I could decorate the table a little bit more.




I made little individual bug cakes in the shape of a butterfly,


a bee,


a dragonfly


and a lady bird


for the children, with each having a windmill stuck in the middle of it.

The main birthday cake was a butterfly. I used the same mould last year and think it might turn into a bit of a tradition :)


Our present to Lucy was, if you remember, the den under the stairs. Well, the space under the stairs is still looking the same as the last time I showed you. For one did I just about manage to finish the blanket, but we also have tilers in the house this week and she wouldn't have been able to use it any way. I decided that it has to be a slower job instead of rushing and pressurising myself. So, I thought I would share the finished product of the blanket with you.




Lucy also got a mini table from Ikea with two matching chairs, which was the biggest hit ever.

Granny Square Crochet

I have decided to make a granny square blanket for Lucy. In the spirit of the colour scheme I am useing for her birthday i am sticking to lime green, orange, purple and cream. I just love those colours at the moment and it makes me happy working with them.

My dear online friend Carina was so kind to get me the beautiful yarn she is using from Denmark. This is the nicest yarn. It is so soft, easy to work with and has these amazingly vibrant colours.


The only thing that scares me now is the amount of squares I have to make in comparison to the time I have left. I have started on Monday and have made so far eight squares. But I only have until the 22nd of February. Ah well, I have always been a positive thinker ;)

January Madness

There was me thinking all the christmas hustle and bustle was over and I could finally get stuck into some much needed crocheting and sewing for my still to open etsy shop. But of course, as life goes, mothers just seem to have no time...EVER for anything else. Or so it seems to me (any advice on how to change that is welcome ;)

This month is now keeping me busy with the preparations for Lucy's 2nd birthday and I am beginning to wonder if I have taken on to much with her present. i still have to pick a fabric for the curtains to partition the den off, which I then have to sew. I also still have to crochet a granny square blanket with is meant to be a decent size and not just something that will last her one year. eventually i would like it to maybe go onto her bed or so. And I have started the snake which has turned out a bit of a nightmare. there are so many colours in the pattern, which constantly change and I don't like crocheting rounds very much. It has over 200 rounds!!! HELP! But I thought I would share my progress with you and see what you think about the colour scheme:




Can you see all the ends? I am NOT looking forward to weaving them in.

I have also agreed to make another little pouch, similar as the one I made for my cousin.I really enjoy doing this, even though it is extra work. Luckily it is a much smaller version and I am already nearly finished with the crochet bit.


This pouch is for my very best friend Liana, whom I know now for 10 years. She has picked the colours and yarn herself and we chose the button together. i love the button. It looks so bright and cheerful. I really do enjoy making these pouches and am seriously considering selling these. What do you think? Would you buy them?

Birthday Surprise

This time of the year is birthday time in my family. First, Lucy will be 2 years old on the 22nd of February, then I will be 29 on the 17th of March (Oh oh, the big three O is getting closer. Not that I mind ;). I also just discovered that my blog is gonna be ONE on the 13th of March.

BUt of course Lucy's second birthday is my main focus and will from now on get most of my attention. As her birthday is so close to christmas, it is difficult to get her presents. i don't like a toy overflow. There is nothing worse than giving a child too many toys. In my opinion they only end up not knowing what to play with and get bored. And to be quite honest, Lucy already has quite a substantial amount of things to play with. So, the plan for her second birthday is to give her a permanent fixture in our house: a den under the stairs.

This is the space I want to close off for. All the way up to the radiator.




And as you can see, there is enough space for her there. Even when she is older, she can still sit in it and have her own little hide-away, whee she can have secret tea parties with her teddy bears and dolls.

I will close it off with curtains, so that one day it can be easily dismantled again. There will also be a lot of cushions and a blanket that I will crochet for her. Oh, I don't think I have quite realised yet just how much work it will be. And not that much time left.

I have been thinking about a colour scheme. I am not a very pinky pink person. I love greens and purples and blues and turquoise. But I am also an Interior Designer and it is important to me that no matter what it is, that comes into our house, it has to match somehow the rest of the decoration in that room. The wall that goes up beside our stairs is a light purple, so I thought of this colour scheme:


I am not so sure about the last three colours yet as I want to stick mainly to lime green, dark purple and orange. We will see. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Happy New Year! and wintery past times.

First of all: A Happy New Year to all of you!!!

I have been so busy in the past few months that this little blog of mine had to come last on the long list of making presents, preparing the house for several visitors and first of all of course, taking care of my sweet baby Lucy. Not so much a baby anymore, she will be turning two next month. And I will be boring you with all the birthday preparations as I am making her present myself. But more about that the next time


This is the way Northern Ireland looked yesterday. Well, at least my part of the country. There was not only a lot of snow (if you consider that we nearly never have snow), but also a loooot of fog. This is nothing unusual, but the combination of snow and fog made everything look really eerie and quiet. As if the world is wrapped in cotton wool. There were hardly any cars on the roads and I think not many people left their home. Unless they had to work of course.

This kind of weather calls for lots of wintery indoor activities. So, this is what we have been up to yesterday:


You gotta have a fire to keep you warm.


Lucy was entertaining herself with this lovely wooden jigsaw/puzzle.


And I was finishing off a granny blanket for friend's new baby girl.

Lucy's Creativ Space

In Germany we have a saying: "Früh übt sich!" It means if you start to do something early on you will learn it and get better and better.Well, I believe it is important for children to be creative at an early age already and to be given the chance to test their creativity and to live out their phantasy side. Naturaly I bought Lucy this fantastic easel from IKEA. Since Germany she loves standing at it and draw wit her crayons whatever she draws ;)

This is the currant drawing...



...but there are a whole lot more already.







P.S: Don't be confused. My husband was drawing a little bit with her ;)

You are my sunshine, my little sunshine....

here is a little sneak peak of what I am working on at the moment. It is just something to keep my hands busy in the evenings, but will have a purpose in the end. I will not show you more at the moment. Most likely I will not get it finished before friday, so you will see more of it after Germany as I won't be able to bring it along with me.

Lucy absolutly loved it and wants to have it every time she sees it. She is not too impressed with the fact that she can't have it.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Come fly with me.....

Today has been a quiet day. Just the usual stuff: grocery shopping, cleaning, looking after Lucy...

Tomorrow is the start of the last week before Lucy and I will fly to Germany. I brought her over already three times. But this time will be very different. for all of us. Now, Lucy is walking, is starting to talk and is in general not the same child as on Christmas anymore. My family will have to get to know her all over again. My mum hasn't seen Lucy since her first birthday in February and that was pretty hectic, as we were so busy with the party preparations. She also came as a surprise and was therefore only here for two days.

Now that Lucy is walking it will be much harder for me to bring her over all by myself. Last year I just strapped her into a baby sling and off we went. This time I will have Lucy in a buggy and a suitcase and I have to go from the airport in ha burg onto a train to my Mum's. I also have to change the train once. We will be on the go all day, from around 7:00 am till 7:00 pm German time, which is 6:00 pm our time. Eleven hours. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

So this week is all prepeaations in the house. That means: cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.... I really want to leave the house spick and span for my husband. he works so hard and deserves to come home to a clean and tidy house every night.

Next week will be then all week packing. Well, its only four days really, so that doesn't leave me with much time. I have to wash all our clothes and actualy do a trial run with the packing of the suitcase, just to make sure its not over weight.

I don't want to bore you any more. Just thought I let you know what it's like here. I doubt I will be getting much crafty stuff done from now until the 14th but if I am lucky maybe the elephant.

Hope you are all having a lovely week so far.

The Tale of Lucy and the Electric Rainbow Blanket

There once was a little girl, who was so happy and kind that every person that saw her fell in love with her. She was full of energy and vibrant and her aura shone in all the colours of the rainbow. Very rarely was this little girl in an unpleasant mood, instead she took it upon herself to make everybody else in this world happy as well.
One day a fairy watched the little girl as she went shopping with her mother. So many people turned their heads and looked at the girl, smiling to themselves, that the fairy knew there was something special about her. She decided to watch her a little bit longer. Soon she was also under the spell that the cheerfulness of the girl cast on everybody and she decided to create something that would catch the many vibrant colours of the girl's aura so that every child that enters this world will be surrounded by the happiness and kindness of this special little girl. So she made the Electric Rainbow Blanket....



Well, the girl really exists. She is my little baby Lucy, who is very special indeed. The blanket also really exists and is created (pattern and colour sequence) by the fabulous Carina, who in my opinion has created a blanket so cheerful, every baby should have one.







I made this blanket as a trial, as Carina wanted to see how easy to understand the pattern and instructions are. as a newbie at crochet I found it very easy. It was a real pleasure and joy to work with these fantastic vibrant colours and cheered me up every time i saw them. It took 10 days to complete and Lucy is now the proud owner of a real Electric Rainbow Blanket.



Anybody who is interested in the pattern should contact Carina or else you can buy similar blankets on her Artfire shop. It is really worth it!