Book cover

Shopping tote

When I made this shopping tote (the one in the left) my children wanted one for playing 'shop'. They have chosen their own colors.

For marbles

In the Netherlands children bring some treats to school on their birthday. Usually these are sweets, but it is more preferred to bring something healthy.
For my 5th birthday my mother made a small bag for marbles for each of the children.
The past years she made them also for her sister, who is a teacher in primary education.

I like this tradition so much that I decided to do the same for my daughter, and I will do the same later for my son. It is a very rewarding task. It's a lot of fun to design 30+ of such bags. I made two different shapes:

These have a circle at the bottem to which I've attached a rectangle. The other one where flat, leaving more room for decorations:

It is a fun project, especially using some scraps of my favorite fabric.

Easter bag

Last year I made this bag for easter together with my daughter. We made it from some scraps.

Lavender bags

I have some lavender in my garden and I like making bags for our wardrobes. Together with my children I selected some shapes that they liked. One side is felt to make them sturdy.

I spy

I found examples of I spy bags on several blogs. It is not something familiar in the Netherlands. I had a lot of fun collecting small things from the house and putting them in the I spy bag.

Unfortunately I had more fun making them than my children had playing with them. Still, they look very nice ......

Handkercief cosy

Simple and a nice alternative for the plastic that you buy the paper handkerciefs in. I made some with my 6 year old and her friend.
I can't find the original pattern anymore. The idea is simple: you take fabric for the lining that is just a little bit larger than the fabric for the outside. That creates the nice strip in the front. You then fold it, in the middle just overlapping. Sew both sides and then create some height by sewing the corners.
Similar can be found on  http://creanita.web-log.nl/creanita/2010/06/de-zakdoeken-hoesjes.html.

Bathrobe from towels

I found this wonderfull pattern: http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2010/07/dish-towel-bath-robe.html.
I made a similar bathrobe from some towels. Later I used the idea of the pattern to make a bathrobe for my daughter's doll.

Thread cather

Now that I have a new sewing machine, I've created a new workspace where I can leave my machine. It is so comfortable not having to fetch it and have to put it back into its case immediately after finishing the project.

To help organize this new workingspace I've made a thread-catcher. I didn't know the concept before, but I found one on the blog of Merriment Design. This got me inspired. From some scraps I made one of my one.

Diaper pouch

Last year I made a kind of envelope for diapers.
I hoped to limit the space they take in my bag. That didn't work out exactly, but still it looked a lot nicer using this when having to change diapers in a public place.

Car caddy

It is difficult to find some crafting projects for boys. This summer I made a cozy for cars, inspired by the tutorial on http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/12/cozy-car-caddy-tutorial.html.

Starting a blog!

I've been planning this for some time now: starting a blog!
I think this will be a nice way to archive my crafting projects, possibly inspire others like I've been inspired by other blogs and at the same time practice my English