time for change

Fiona's room desperatly needed a makeover. Seriously. Too much stuff. Too many toys, animals. Too much of it hardly ever used.


So we have been sorting, rearranging, donating and organizing, storing the currently not so popular stuff in the garage and creating a more airy and light feel in her room.

What really got us into the groove, was a new vintage little cabinet, that we found in a furniture store in Nob Hill (thanks for the recommendation, Ann, love the place!).

Now there is a designated space for precious little knick knacks, like Indian pottery and Kachina dolls.

For now this is also, where Soe's tiny paintings are, which I brought from a trip to Hamburg last summer. Soe's child geared paintings are beautiful and - as for now - reasonably priced, and if you are in Hamburg, you should check out the little store near the Bahnhof Altona in HH Ottensen, where she sells her artwork. She has also done a fantastic job illustrating my friend Dirk's book, which may be published in the USA hopefully 2010 or next year, I will let you know. Soe is to be found HERE on the internet.

I have yet to show off a recent thriftstore score, this tiny handmade quilt, currently decorating Fiona's table for a teaparty.



Can you see the long fabric strips with the turtle pattern? Oh, to have a yard of that, sooo lovely!

And hey, the ripple blankie, re-discovered and risen from the clutter, sitting on the vintage little doll crib with the sheep matress!

And here, last but not least, a vintage Scherenschnitt of Dornroeschen (what is that called in English, hmm?),which is probably more dear to me than it is to her.

And guess what? She spends so much more time in her room, the dolls that remained in her room got new outfits, and btw, Irmchen to the far left is still her favorite:

And at her little desk she started working on a secret project for big brother, who will be 11 in May. (Eleven..., hear the ring of that number...!)

She said: "Does this look like camouflage?" (yes) "This is a lot of work, so I have to start it early!"

Pssst, this is our secret.

Have a great weekend!

one afternoon

You may know, that the heart of our dining room is a beautiful large table, which comes in quite handy for formal dinners (once) or homework (almost daily) or crafting/painting with the kids (often) or crafting/knitting with friends (once a month).
When Amanda, aka Mrs. Soulemama invited her readers to think about the highlight of our week it took me a moment. Then I realized that my favorite time last week was a painting event at said table a few days ago. Not just did I thoroughly enjoy watching the kids do their artwork, but also did I love that we all worked on something similar, we all painted.

Here are the kids finished pictures, water colors combined with oil pastels. I don't think it is hard to guess, who did what.

But it was not just this creating in harmony, that made the afternoon special, but also what I was working on.

For quite a while I had been wondering what I would like to make as a larger design in rug hooking. And the idea of a rug that incorporates designs/pictures of the kids was just the "rough draft" until it hit me how I wanted to do it.

I started going through boxes with old artwork. I found pictures that used to be my favorites, others that symbolized important phases in the kids' lives or typical drawings that I've seen over and over again. The Giant Squid. Lewis was obsessed with the Giant Squid for a while. Snakes, another object of fascination for him when he was five, frogs, too. Halloween, everyones favorite. The little girl, always drawn by Fiona with the hair growing out above the ears. The green horse, a framed picture on the wall. The butterfly, for a while Fiona drew nothing but butterflies.

The idea how to put it all together came naturally.

And now I guess it is obvious, what made this afternoon so memorable. A feeling of being connected in a desire to create, at the same time remembering what we have shared in the past and to get a glimpse of where we come from and maybe also of where we are going.

I really don't know if mine will ever become a rug, but all these paintings will always remind me of a very special afternoon.

just two things

One of the noteworthy happenings in our house is definitely when the kids are crafting. That's when my heart jumps with delight, when they choose paper, glue and string over gameboy, TV, anything that requires electrical power!

Just a few days ago the Valentine bug hit Fiona and she got busy.

Days like that leave me thoroughly content.

Then there is music.

I have been hunting for a song, which - unfortunately - is not available through iTunes, though it really should be. This one was real popular in Germany, not sure about the US.

And if you are ready for a good laugh (the video is from the 70s, think shoes, dance moves, etc.) and you feel like some movin' and groovin' click here and have a fabulous day!

P.S. Thank you, Su.

big impact

Fiona has a tendency to attach artwork to her door, when it comes to events of public interest. During election time last November she put up a sign that read "You may only come in if you vote for Obama". Neat, huh?!

Seems that I am not always watching too closely what my kids are doing/drawing, it took me more than a week to spot this on her door:

In case you wonder, it reads "Michael Jackson is dead". Little stinker spelled it perfectly fine, too.

And this is what has been on my mind or better in my hands these days. The yarn is a blend of organic cotton, soy and bamboo (Linea Pura, Lana Grossa), great feel for a summer project, when it's up to 97 F outside.
Even though the orange bolero has been calling with unfinished sleeves, this is the preferred choice of knitting, I still have not given up hope to be done with it on time for our Hawaii vacation next week.

Pattern from the German magazine 'Stricktrends' switched to an all solid version:

Pretty neat, too.

the greatest gift

Have I mentioned yet, that my son likes the Army? I mean not just "like" it, he is actually obsessed with it. He dresses in camouflage, talks about tanks and guns, eats books about WWI and WWII, plays on a daily basis with his little Forces of Valor toys, tanks and soldiers and perfectly imitates the sounds they make.

Do I like it? No. Do I want him to join the Army? No. Do I remind him constantly not to forget what weapons and war are about? Definite YES. Do I hope, he will outgrow this? Yes, yes and yes.

However in all this I have to admire the passion, with which he gets into everything he likes. So far he went through several phases of obsession in his life. To name a few, there was Brio, Lego (which has been an ongoing hobby with highs and lows), butterflies, ocean animals, specifically the giant squid (yes!), reptiles, his favorites the snakes and he could name them all. He has always been interested in drawing, crafting and art, he has crocheted and embroidered and tried to spin yarn, but all those do not rank too high on his to-do-list these days. So imagine my joy, when he brought me a drawing just yesterday, that he had made especially for me:

He had made this 3-dimensional pencil drawing of what he loves best these days and for me he had made it a German tank!

I loved the days, when he painted flowers, frogs and snakes for me, but here I was really touched by his effort to please us both - to combine our passions (his for the army and mine for everything artsy) to create this picture.

I should probably also mention that he does not really like school, so of course he ranks his hobbies higher. He always tries to find a way to weave the two together, like he recently gave a report on General Patton. Today he beat all previous efforts: he had to write a story that started with the words "water is good for...." and managed to turn that into a story about a combat situation. I am serious. That is art, too. Right.