orange delight

we had a wonderful time yesterday! a great friend of ours turned 40 in summer. she had a fun party and we had found just the right present. only that the present didn't feel the urge to cross the atlantic and be here on time for the party. so we ended up giving her a funny card telling her that the present will be presented to her at an orange dinner to come (orange is her favorite colour - who would have guessed) at our home. this dinner was held yesterday and we invited common friends and had a blast!


the table was decorated with grey linen and orange flowers, little peppers and a little gift wrapped in orange paper.


for the flatware i used heavy silver inherited from my family. at the moment my favorite silver cutlery. it has a little monogramed FH on it. just love it! for the main meal i decided on some silver i got on ebay.


as a bread plate i used little silver plates orgininally made for a posh hotel. i found them a couple of mounths ago at a collectors meeting and bought them from a dutch man. he gave me such a good price i honestly couldn't object.


can you see the little knob formed like a shell?



first i had wantd to place the cocktial glasses at the plates as well. in the end we had them waiting on a tray for the guests to arrive. we served prosecco with mango squash. mhhh....


The menu was the best we have ever put together. boyfriend is a great cook! very innovativ always mixing new tastes together.


unfortunatelly we never took any fotos of the dishes. but i can give you the menu:

orange dinner menu

tatar of salmon & papaya
with wasabi cream and pumpkin chips

paprika chicken
with carrot spaetzle
and frech peppers

panna cotta
with frosted orange fruit

cheese platter

coffee and home made truffle chocolates

the paprika chicken is a viennese speciality and the spaetzle are a swabian (southern germany) speciality. very yum!!! for the panna cotta we tried a recipe from our talented friend nicky from deliciousdays (go and check out her wonderful prize-winning website and say hi from me). she is amazing and just wrote her first cook book. sorry, but the recipe was in the cook book and doesn't seem to be on her blog. the home made truffle chocolates were made by boyfriends grandmother who always sends us a box when she makes them for other family members. mhhh...

enough!!! i have to get to the kitchen and tidy up and wash some dishes. boyfriend has allready started and needs support.

take care erika

ps: i will try to do the tutorial on the memory this week. but i need daylight and the weekend has been fully booked. please be patient.

what i'm up to is...

... the xmas present for my nieces and nephews: memory!!!


it is a really fast and satisfying project. you get to use all your fabric leftovers - all the nice ones which are not big enough for a project on their own but are to special to leave in the leftover fabric basket forever.


i used some of my favorite fabric patterns. might keep them for myself. bad aunt!



ahh, ok it is a present and i'm not going to keep it.


i might write my first tutorial if anybody is interested. let me know.

Any idea what I'm up to?

any idea?



come back later and find out...

ok, that was not supposed to happen

well, it shouldn't have been there in the first place...

we had a friend over for dinner and something really sad had happened the day before and we needed cold wine really quickly. bottle into the freezer and of course we forgot...


only found the bottle this afternoon... what a pitty!!!

kitchen love

preparing my lunch...
thanks to simple sparrow for throwing in a new idea. i'll try to play along...


radiccio, green pepper, sping onions, and dressing with pumpkin seed oil.

mhhhh....

WIP finished and on to a new project

i just wanted to show you what i have been up to on the weekend.


Just finished this little handbag. the lining is a deep red strong corduroy to give the bag a bit of shape. there is an outside pocket for a mobile phone or some tissues. and the handles are just long enough to hang it from your shoulder.


i'm quite pleased with myself although next time i will do a couple of things different:

• inside pocket with zipper (for all the most important stuff woman carry in their handbags)
  
• some kind of posibility to close the bag at the top
  
• a slim foam lining to give it some extra stability
• little metalic "feet" for the bottom
  

but i'm in love with it anyway. hope my little sister likes it...



so... now i can tackle my next project: i'm meeting up with a friend to choose some fabric and pattern for my x-mas outfit. thinking of an a-shape top and skirt in some cream colored material. i'll keep you updated.

colour selection

for what colours do you go if you don't know if its a boy or girl and the possibility that the little one will have radiant red hair is high?

the mother's hair has the most lovely colour of red and curls in a wild and at the same time gentle style. as long as i have known (32 years) her i have allways wanted her hair. next to her sweet temper and helpfulness. she is an angel and alltough we rarely see eachother every time we do is as if we had just parted a couple of days ago.

when she told me why she is not having a glas of beer i immediately asked her if they knew if it is a boy or girl. no, she said they were not going to ask. which i understand and hope to have the patience to do the same when its my turn.


anyway this left me with a minor problem. what colour theme? first i thought yellow would be great. but yellow and red hair just don't hit it off together.


so i finally settled on green lilac and a little bit of yellow (couldn't help it) and am very happy with my choice.


i wanted it to have a light and fluffy feeling. so instead of machine quilting i decided to tie the quilt at regular intervals.


it took quite long but i love the result

still thinking of some nice little softy to go along with it. i'll see how much time i can still carve out of everyday tasks.

WIP

i have been quite productive and busy lately. yesterday evening - night would be more precise - i started the birthday present for my sweet little (she is at least 3 inches taller than i am) sister.




any idea what i'm up to?

ps: i love the mushroom fabric. i got it from the talented michelle at cicadastudio.

weekend fun

having a friend who enjoys crafting just as much as i do is pure bliss. she is definately one of the most talented girls i know and i love her bags. the other day she suggested that we do a crafting session together. so i packed my stuff and we had a lovely day. this weekend she came to my "studio" and we listend to "Glennkill" (such a lovely book) and enjoyed homemade quiche while sewing away. we made little dolls with magnets in their head.

the first heads i sewed had a too narrow neck and we were not able to squeeze the little magnets in...


all those sewwt bodies...


sewing on the heads while the magnet in the head made it a little difficult...


and there they are. we gave birth to 24 of them...


and now the really nice part started. decorating them. drawing features. giving them little flowers to hold. or a baby....


unfortunatelly their names are in german and would loose there charm if i tried to translate...



what a nice weekend i had indeed...

finally getting there

i had wanted an airy living room with lots of white, a little blue and even less pink for ages. i wanted to get rid of the dark red wall (we only painted it 12 mounths ago) on the one side of the living room. everything should be white - plain white. well to say the least i was the only person in this household wanting all this.

i had been trying to convince boyfriend on several occassions. showing him magazines with living rooms i liked, asking his opinion on different colour combinations, trying to not get overly excited when he finally (after 8 mounths- gosh! i was so patient on this topic) stated that he did indeed enjoy shabby chic. now don't get too excited yourselves: he doesn't know what shabby chic is, i figured it out that he must be meaning SHABBY CHIC(!).

so i went and bought all that fabric and was SOOOO thrilled when it finally arrived. i started planning and enjoy playing with the different fabrics, ribbons, buttons, etc. the other day boyfriend was in a very low mood. wanting to cheer him up i thought i would show him what i had been working on.


shouldn't have done that...

photo: love that paisley fabric

boyfriend and i had our first (semi-serious) raw on the topic. don't worry didn't last long. we were talking and laughing about it already a couple of hours later. so we(!) have finally decided to at least try it and than live with it and see how we feel about it.

photo: backside of the cushions. buttons still missing.

please cross your fingers because i really like it.

combination love

lovely colour combinations....

mhhh these little goodies (such a sweet fabric). i'm saving it for something very special. but i love the combination between the dark red gingham, the chocolat coloured curderoy, and the light pink fabric.


i started this little quilt the other day. for the front i chose a light blue fabric, lilac gingham and the flower fabric. the back is the most softest white corduroy. i still haven't made up my mind what i will do for the binding.


this is one of my other most favourites. i bought the fabric with the little fish in germany someday and i have been looking for a appropriate project. i wanted the fabric to be part of my "studio". where i can see it everytime i walk into the room. it has become a new cover for mathilda (also known as my beloved sewing machine).

the idea

i have had this idea for some time and now - finally - its about time to realise it. i'll just say as much as this: it's a doll.
and i want her to be unique. so i have been wanting to design the pattern by myself. never done this before...

the last 6 hours were like this...
design pattern, cut fabric, sew (be disappointed but stay optimitic)
work on design, cut fabric, sew(be disappointed)
work on design, cut fabric, sew (result still disappointing)
work on design, cut fabric, sew (result: *grrrr*)
anda again...(result: ok this is finally getting better)



this time i think i will make it work. hope so!

final result: 5 (partly angular) heads, 3 bodies, 1 arm and 1 leg (absolutely useless) and 1 beautiful and perfekt (well! atleast i think so) pattern.

more to come soon

dress no. 1

summer here in vienna has been soooooo hot that i was in need of a little airy tunica. i have had this pattern (anna tunic from amy butler) for a long time now and i just couldn't find the right fabric for it. well, the other day i found it... its a light and easy to iron cutton with the most cutest print.
i started of in making a tunic and changed my mind during the cutting process. this always happens to me.

in the end a added a stip of fabric at the bottom

i like it...

en voyage

the little quilt for the new sweetie still needed a little label. to make it i sewed two pieces of fabric (right sides facing each other) together just leaving a small gap for turning in-side-out. after turning it i sewed around it to close the gap and give the label i sweet frame. next time i’ll try a bright colored yarn (yellow would have looked nice). i finally stitched the name of the little one, his birth date and my name on it. this was the most challenging part because i’m very fussy and i wanted it to be accurately centred (well didn’t make that one this time - maybe next time then). having finished the label, i blind stitched it to the back right buttom corner.


guarded by a little gnom


the quilt is on its way to warm and cuddle the newly born.