A belated christmas present & some 2012 wishes

Belated Christmas Present

Dear lovely readers,

I hope you and your families had a wonderful christmas.

You might have wondered why there were only so few posts in the last couple of weeks?

I have to admit, that I simply lacked any creative sewing ideas or visions. I have read on other fellow sewing blogs, that they have had times like these, too and I can remember that I simply couldn't imagine that something like that might happen to me.

Now I can totally understand, though there isn't even one recognizable reason for this kind of emptiness.

Anyway, I am writing this post today because I think I am under way to get over it! :D

As I went to my favorite local fabric shop, I experienced a wonderful belated christmas! You have to know, that those women working there do know me already because I stop by at least once a week.
They have always been very nice and helpful to me.

But today was special. They were busy with an end of the year clearance and found lots of Burda magazines from 2006, 2008 and 2009! Guess who was the lucky girl allowed to carry home two big bags (26 magazines) with about 13kg!...hahaha, that was me! :D 

Sometimes one is really lucky. Sometimes time and chance simply go together perfectly. With this large boost of inspirational patterns my sewing drought HAS to come to an end! I feel really good about this and it makes me looking forward to the new year.

Have you already made up your New Year's resolutions? Usually, I am not that kind of person, but this year I have some little resolutions I want to write down here in order to push myself heading for them! 

• Have at least one sewing project per week and publish at least one post per week.
• To work out on a regular basis. I would love to loose the weight I gained this year.
• To use time and effort more efficiently.
• To appreciate time with family and friends more consciously.

 So what about you? Do you have any resolutions you would share with me?

3. Weihnachtswichteln (secret Santa) by anmutig and sodapop - Beautiful gifts by Klee

Some weeks ago I applied for taking part in the 3rd 'Weihnachtswichteln' (secret Santa) carried out by two wonderful German bloggers Caro (sodapop-design) and Nadine (anmutig) and lucky me was chosen as one of 24 bloggers to participate.

The deal was, that everyone should make something handmade and send it to one of the other chosen bloggers until the 10th of December. Nadine and Caro drew the adresses by lot and send them to the participants secretly.


So I didn't know from whom I would receive a little present, but was extremely happy, when a package from Franziska Klee arrived!!!

I have been a secret admirer of hers for a while already. She makes and sells really, really beautiful accessoires like leather bags and woolen winter accessoires and she also shares some nice tutorials (in German). She is a wonderful source for inspiration!
Anyway, I just wanted to share the gifts she sent me. A beautiful little mustard (I LOVE THIS COLOR) colored purse, a super cute owl bucket (perfect for fabric scraps!) and a lovely wooden 'Klee' brooch. These little prezzies simply made my day! Both the bucket and the purse are made of real leather.

Thank you Franzi so so much for these beautifully made items. And thanks to Caro and Nadine for having had me in this lovely secret Santa! Now I am in a christmas mood!♥

Everyone should have a Minoru Jacket!

So glad to finally publish this project! I have been longing for the Minoru Jacket pattern by Sewaholic for weeks, especially, after I saw what beautiful creations Anna of Paunnet and Novita of VeryPurplePerson as pattern testers came up with!

I chose a camel beige colored linen-cotton blend for my version and am very, very happy with that.

Actually, this was the first time I tried a pattern from Sewaholic and I have to say that I am very pleased with the whole pattern and instructions. Though this jacket scared me at first (zipper on the front, zipper on the collar, hidden hood, lining, lots of topstitching, etc.) the steps were so perfectly well explained, that this jacket almost evolved on its own.

As a little eye-catcher I decided to use a floral cotton as lining fabric, but turned to normal plain lining fabric for the sleeves, in order to make them more slippery when putting the jacket on.

So if you were thinking about whether to try this pattern, too, I can only recommend it. It is definitely a lot of work, but it totally pays off. 

Have a lovely day and take care everybody!