Preparing for the new years party

Today we are going to celebrate new years eve in the Maritim hotel in Berlin.

I woke up early to get ready for the party.

Choosing nail stickers.

Pick a dress and matching shoes.

Get my cashmere jacket ready for the party.

Apply the stickers on my nails.

Having the traditional new years eve snack. A Berliner !

Watching some old new years movies.

Now I need to hurry. 

I need to fix my hair and make up.

How are your party preparations ?

my christmas week in pictures

It's already a week since I left home for christmas holidays.

I had no time for blogging because I was visiting family and friends.

I spent the three christmas days with the inlaws.

My little niece is growing so fast. She is turning 2 in january and already talking so much <3

I love it when is saying my name.

After Christmas I rushed to Berlin.

On 27th my sis (who is living in Berlin and where I'm staying till new years eve) and I went to my dad for dinner. My dad is living in Berlin too and he spent christmas with my sis.

We cooked together and watched a movie (which turned out to be the most stupid movie of 2011 for me).

The next day my sis + I met up with my little sis and went to my grandparents home. My grandma turned 75 and we went out for lunch.

(my grandma)

(my little sis and my grandpa)

(my big sis)

Yesterday I met with my friend Katja for lunch....

(me in the metro showing my sis via phone that I always bring my little toy cat)

...and some spanish chocolate with churros.

Later that days my sis and I went to Bärbel (an old friend of my dad) for dinner. We spent hours with chatting and eating <3.

Today my sis and I started our day in bed with a good Jane Austen movie.

Later we went shopping to use my christmas money to get myself a new coat.

Sadly m fave color was sold out already so I went with a light brown.

Mr. artistic calls the color poo-poo brown.

I lke it because it goes well with my purple hat ans scarf.

Merry Christmas !!!

Merry Christmas !!!, originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

I wish all my friends fun and relaxing christmas days !!!!

Have you seen the Hobbit trailer ?!

OMG...the Hobbit trailer is awesome.

Mr. artistic and I watch it over again and again. The song is so fantastic. This is soooooo epic.

One year and finally another amazing Peter Jackson movie is in the cinemas.

Are you waiting for the Hobbit too ???

I'm now at my inlaws home.

We had a yummer dinner and I'm wrapping the presents while mr. artistic is out to meet with his old school friends.

I'm watching my fave christmas now. "The holiday" and "Love actually".

What are you doing in the last hours before christmas ? Working on last christmas presents ? Relaxing and watching your fave christmas movies ? What are your most fave christmas movies ?

christmas tree

Today I found the most fun and entertaining christmas card for this year.

One of our partners at work sent us this card. You see one little wooden tree when you open the envelope.

After you open the christmas card you will find another little tree.

Now you just need to put both wooden tiles together....and get a real little tree.

Today was my last day at work. Tomorrow after my last doctor apointment for this year we will rush to the inlaws.

I will spent the christmas days with the inlaws before I go to Berlin to visit my dad, sis and grandparents and of course to celebrate new year with mr. artistic (who will come a few days later to Berlin) and a few friends.

Gladly I have my outfit already. But no chance to see it before new years eve.

diploma

Mr. artistic finished university.

Yesterday night he found out that he got a 1.3 for is diploma thesis which is totally amazing.

He started an intership in my company this month. Sadly they can't offer him a job later.

But he will get lots of work experiences and this is the most important thing.

Lets celebrate with some homemade pockys :)

 

Now we have to cross our fingers that he will find a job next year soon.

a wedding quilt and other patchwork goods

Attention: This post is filled with lots of pictures !

When I took the plane to Hong Kong my suitcase was filled with lovely gifts for friends.

I've been working on these goods for a few months already but wasn't allowed to show the results untill now.

You might recognize some of these because I showed some teasers a while back but never the complete work.

Lets start with biggest gift I brought to Hong Kong. My friend Wendy got married in november and of course I had to make her a quilt.

This is my third complete quilt (if I don't count the 2 quilt tops which are waiting to get basted and quilted) and I'm proud that I did all the work in time.

The post office really gave me headache a few times because my solid order took around 2 month to arrive.

But at least I did it in time.

Due to the lack of time (and quilting skills) I had to skip the the idea to quilt this baby free motion. I was afraid that I might ruin the whole quilt so I went with simple stright lines instead.

I really like the quilt pattern and I talked about it already here. Sadly my points never match completly but after the quilting and the washing it's not that bad anymore.

I used the kona espresso for the background and some of my nicey jane fabrics for the stars.

The backing of the is a mixture of kona espresso, some pink kona (I don't know the color by heart) and a big piece of nicey jane.

I went with the brown color scheme because I was hoping that it might fit into her bedroom (or living room).

The quilt is to small to use it as a bed cover but at least Wendy can snuggle under quilt on cold days.

A week before I left Wendy told me that a new iphone bag would be a perfect. The last one was to small she she gave it to her mom.

I'm always bad with measurements when I don't have the object in hand but this time it works.

It's a bit tight but at least it's working.

The back of the iphone bag as another star in red color. I hand quilted around each star. I really enjoy handquilting on small projects. You definetly see more hand quilted tiny projects next year.

Wedding is for couples so why not bringing a Hoppel couple as a little wedding gift ?!

I made two Hoppel couples because one couple went to Sabrina and Vincent who spent a perfect day with Wendy and me in Stanley (like last year too).

Mo is another lovely friend from Hong Kong.

I'm lucky that I was able to see her in Hong Kong a few times this year again. Mo has a super lovely little family.

I made two little patchwork pillow covers for lovely kids.

The pink one is for a Sammie and the blue one for her little brother Dortie.

They are both such cute and fun kids. In Hong Kong we spent one afternoon with making soap bubbles and another day Sammie thaught me how to make cute little angels made from beads.

Of course I brought a little gift for Mo too.

I made Mo a bag for her earphones early this year in red and yellow colors.

Mo asked for matching bag for her iphone since the old one is completly worn out.

I had lots of fun with reserve applique again and I tryed a tiny patchwork pattern.

I hand quilted both sides and added a little loop to be able add a fun charm.

Because I was totally in wonky stars making mood I had to play with that pattern for Helen's gift too.

I made a fun little christmas themed placemat (or mug rug because it's a bit tiny for a placemat).

I hand quilted this one too. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the back.

There was a little blue Hoppel for Helen as well. But sadly I'm not able to find the pic right now.

only 5 days

Only 5 days till christmas and I'm still not on holiday mood.

Still fighting against the cold which I catched in Hong Kong more than 2 weeks ago.
Runny nose, stomach problems etc.

I still need to prepare christmas presents.

(today at work behind my office)

There is no christmas decoration in my home this year. Not even a tiny wodden figure or a shiny candle. I own 3 large boxes of christmas decoration (+ one big box of christmas ornaments for the christmas tree). Mostly vintage things and lots of stuff which I got from my mom.

I won't set up everything for the remain days because I'm not in mood.

I hope next year I will be in mood to decorate the whole flat.

I'm working till thursday and mr. artistic and I will head to his families place for christmas on friday.

bobby pins

I'm letting my hair grow a bit to have a cute bob in a few months.

My fringe is still short and not managable. It's always in front of my eyes and very annoying.

I have very thin hair so normal bobby pins are to heavy for me. They always fell out after a few hours.

In Hong Kong I went to some craft shops with Mo and Helen and found some blank tiny bobby pins.

Today I had a few minutes left to make some cute bobby pins for myself.

I used some tiny vintage buttons from my big stash and two little flowers which I purchased in Hong Kong .

I got a blank hair band too and added two tiny flowers.

It's a very simple design but I love it. 

Beside of the bobby pins I'm working on a christmas gift for my SIL. It's a simple quilt made from precut stripes and some solids.

Mie really enjoys the new quilt too. But sorry baby. This quilt is not for you.

Now I need to finish posting because mr. artistic and I having our yearly "Lord of the rings" marathon.

This year in HD :)

Travel handmade

Before I left for my Hong Kong vacation I had to take a pic of all my handmade travel bags.

Jeni posted sth. similar before she went to sewing summit and I really liked seeing all the handmade goodies all together.

Before I took the pic I didn't realize that I have so many handmade bags and other goods in my suitcase.

I made some of these things last minute. Just a few hours before I left.

Like the case for my sony tablet which I bought as a early birthday gift (I will turn 30 in january) for myself.

Of course I needed a case to bring the tablet safe to Hong Kong and all the way back to germany.

I wanted to use lots of tiny scraps which I got from lovely sewing friends this year. I had so much fun going through all these treasures and putting them together.

For the background fabric I used my cute text print which I got from Ayumi earlier this year.

I saved the fabric for a special craft and I couldn't find a better project to see the lovely print every day.

I used Faith ipad tutorial for the bag. I just had to change the measurements a bit and it fits like a glove.

I hand quilted around the colourfull squares on both sides and I hand quilted circles all over the entire bag.

Sadly it's hard to be seen on the text fabric.

I'm definetly making another project with using those tiny squares. It's the best way to use up all the tiny left over fabrics.

Since I wasn't sure if I'm allowed to bring a needle (and my hexagon kit) on the plane (which was no problem at the end) I had to make a super quick bag for my crochet stuff.

I used Jeni's awesome drawstring tutorial. I just had to change the measurements to make it small enough to fit in my handbag.

I have to admit that I didn't make any crafty projects during the flight. I just slept (because I was lucky enough to have 2 seats on both flights) or watched some movies.

Some of my handmade travel goodies are already given away to my sisters.

The handbag turned out to be to small for me. I didn't use the bag at all so I gave it to my older sister.

The handmade wallet is now at my sis home because I bought myself a new wallet in Hong Kong.