Hong Kong day 4 & 5

on my way to Diamond Hill, originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

Sorry for the lack of information about my vacation in Hong Kong yesterday. But it seems that I catched a really bad cold so I wasn't in the mood for writing a blog post.
Yesterday was a really quiet day for me. I got up very late and went to Causeway Bay for some shopping. But due to the cold I wasn't really in shopping mood. I just took a few pics of the christmas decoration and left with a little breakfast for some relaxing in the kowloon park. I stayed for an hour but didn't take any pics at all. I spent most of the time in the hotel that afternoon. I just left it for an hour to get me dinner.

Today I wasn't feeling any better but kicked my ass out of the hotel at around 11 am. I took the MTR to Diamond Hill to visit the Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery.
If you ever go to Hong Kong you should definetly pay this place a visit. It's such a lovely garden surrounded by all the big buildings.
For all shopping fans is a big shopping center near the station. It's 3 story high and lots of cool brands. I spent my money on gifts for myself and my sisters. I can't speak about it yet but promise to show it later once I gave it to them.
I even got a cute bunny as a gift for my big purchase. I went to the supermarket in Diamond Hill to and found some good stuff I wanted to try. The cashieer was really nice and took the time to explain me how to cook it.
Diamond Hill is a great place to spent a few hours to stay away from the crowd in tourist areas.
For more pics head over to my Flickr account.

Hong Kong : day 3

Hong Kong : day 3, originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

My third day in Hong Kong is nearly over.
Today. I took the MTR and the train to Tai Po market. It's a place at the New Territories.
I was looking for the Old District Office North but wasn't able to find it. So I just went for a walk and discovered the Tai Po Waterfront park. The park is around 22 ha and has some little gardens with different themes. It a perfect place for young kids to discover the joy of nature.
On my way back I made a short stop in Tai Wai to visit the Che Kung tempel.
For dinner I met with Wendy in Mong Kok for a big bowl of noodles and some toy shopping .
For more pics check my flickr.

Hong Kong: day 2

Hong Kong: day 2, originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

My second day is nearly over. Only a few minutes and it's midnight.
Today I had a really relaxing day. I got up at around 9.30 and started with a refreshing shower. I have a shower with glass walls built into my room so I can watch TV while sitting on the toilett or having a shower (lol). I left the hotel at 11 to meet up with Wendy at the Tai Koo station. After that we met up with Wendy's hubby, Mo and her family and Helen in lovely restaurant for lunch. I totally love the chinese food in Hong Kong it's so different from the one you get in chinese resturants in germany.
After lunch we had some bubble blowing fun with Dortie and Sammie (Mo's most adorable kids). Later we went to Wendy's new home. It's so lovely and since I now know the interior I can make some stuff for her in matching colors. Later in the evening we went to Mo's home for dinner.
I had the most perfect day and I'm a very lucky girl to have so many lovely friends here in Hong Kong. They always make my stay the perfect holiday. For more pictures head over to my Flickr account.

Hong Kong day 1: busy streets

Hong Kong day 1: busy streets, originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

Yesterday I arrived in Hong Kong. I really enjoy every minute of my vacation. Right away after I left the plane I already regconized the smell. It might sound a little funny but every airport has a different smell....to me at least. Wendy picked me up from the airport. I was an hour late due to the bad weather in munich.We took the mtr and the bus and rushed to my hotel. Im staying at the hop inn in Kowloon. It's a different hotel from the one I stayed in last year but I really like it. It's small and cozy and without windows!!! So it's always a surprise when I leave the hotel to find out if I dressed right for the given weather conditions. The only thing I don't like is the fact that I'm in a tourist area...it's just too crowded.
So after I checked in, Wendy and I went out to find a bank so I could pick up some cash. I bought a card for my cellphone as well to make it easier and cheaper to talk with Wendy,Mo and Helen. Wendy and I went out for dinner to the same restaurant like last year.The food was good just like last year but stupid me managed to throw a full box of chopsticks from our table. It was so embarassing.
Back in the hotel we tried to make my sony tablet work. I had some problems with the wifi but right after midnight it started to work and it's still working. Stay tuned for more :D

I love boygroups

It's wednesday already so time to speak about things I love.

Every wednesday I TRY to post about things I love today (or last week).

This week I'm loving:

*NSYNC winter album

I love christmas music and every year I pull the *NSYNC christmas album from the shelf and remember the old good times when I was still a teenager and living at home.

I'm not sure if I told you already that I was a really big boygroup fan when I was a younger.

I went to lots of concerts and I was always in the first row screaming like crazy.

*NSYNC

I loved them. I saw them the first time when I was 15 years. They started there carreer in europe (germany) before they get famous and started in the US as well.

I saw them very often life in concerts. I looved the shows and I had a crush on Justin..

My sis met them while I was on a school exchange in france (1997). I was really pissed because she had a pic of her and Justin..

I met NSYNC a few years later as well but I never came as close to them as my sis :(

Backstreet Boys

I was not such a big fan but I saw them live as well...it was a fun show but I never liked them as much I loved NSYNC or Take That .

Boyzone

I saw them only once live in a big event with a lot of different other bands. I had some CD's at that time and I knew a lot of their songtexts.

The event was shown in TV as well and gues who was in TV while singing like crazy ?!

I need to find the videotape and show it.

Take That

My first fave boygroup .I was 11 when I discovered them. I collected every tiny piece about them and yes I had a t-shirt as well and I was very proud..

I saw them only once life in concert because they split up a little bit later *sigh*..

Mark was my fave !!!

World Apart

I loooved them because they covered some great beatles songs. They were always funny in interviews and the life show was great as well .

Caught in the Act

I loved them right after Take That split up. I wasn't a huge fan but I saw them life because my sister loved them like crazy

My fave was Bastian !

How about you ? Any ex boygroup fans around ?!

Hexagon travel kit

10 hours on the plane...what would you do ??

Sleeping, eating, reading, watching movies or just starring at the people next to you ?!

In my case I'm the movie watching kind of girl.

I traveled with finnair for most of my long flights and I always liked their movie selection.

They had the typical blockboster but also some nonfamous (at least for me) movies from different countries.

I never had any problems to fill my flight with tons of movies.

Due to a strike from finnair last year I had to fly with lufthansa.

I was really dissapointed when I saw there movie selection. They had only a few blockbuster which I already watched at home.

Since I'm flying with lufthansa this year again I will prepared to have nothing to watch. Since I won't feel comfortable starring at the people next to me or eating tons of food (I'm tall so my body and stomach is already completly crushed already due to the small seats which means I have no place  for lots of food ) I had to look for sth. to entertain me.

Making Hexagons entertained me a lot in the past months so why not making hexagons durring the flight ?!

Normally I would travel like this with my hexagon sewing stuff but for a long flight I really needed something more tidy.

So I jumped on bandwaggon and drafted a little pattern for a hexagon sewing kit kind of bag.

( I can make a tutorial when I'm back if anyone is interesseted)

I wanted to use some scraps so I tryed the bow tie pattern.

I started to quilt the white pieces by hand but found out that the pattern will loose all the prettiness once you fold it.

So I stoped on the project and put it aside for a fresh start.

This time I kept it really simple.

Just some 1 inch colorfull squares framed in black Kona and with a letter printed fabric background.

I hand quilted around the square with embroidery thread and I hand quilted some circles all over the the whole piece.

The lining really caused my headaches.

I had to decide how many pockets or other stuff need to be added.

I decided for 4 pocket to hold the precut fabrics and one pocket for the templates.

Sadly I made a little mistake with the measurements so one of the pocket on the far right is a little bit to small to hold my 2,5 inch fabric precuts.

I added a little piece of felt for the needles.

I just need one needle to sew the hexagons but the pins looked so nice so I added these as well.

BTW ...does anyone know if I'm allowed to bring needles on the plane ? Is it allowed ???

I added a little string made from some kona solid to hold my thread. You can easily change the thread color because you can open and close it with a snap fastener.

The little scissor is my fave item.

I bought in in the museum of history in Hong Kong last year.

I was looking for some scissores because I was working on a travel book durring the trip and needed something to cut all the stuff I wanted to glue in the book.

I hope this little sewing kit will keep my busy durring the flight and with some luck I will be able to finish some hexagons flowers for my second hexagon quilt.

sunday movie: Haruka and the Magic Mirror

If you are looking for a super adorable movie for sunday I suggest Haruka and the Magic Mirror.

It's such a lovely animated film directed by Shinsuke Sato.

My fave character is Cotton. I want a sheep toy like him <3.

christmas thoughts & others

" Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat hey put the penny in the old mans hat..."

I totally love this christmas song. It reminds of good old times when I was still in school. From the 7th till 10th grade our english teacher used to sing this song with us every year.

I still remember a chorus and sing it every year. I really need to learn the complete text to be able to sing the whole song.

I just found some youtube videos of choirs singing that song.I used to be in choir when I was in 7th grade.

Sadly I left the choir one year later because some older students didn't stop bullying me. They always made jokes about my big front teeth (they called me rabbit) and when we went on a choir trip together I found a big paper carrot on my plate for breakfast one morning.

I really love singing and maybe I should look for a choir where I live now.

But back to the main reson for the this blog post.

A few days ago I sent 3 little christmas packages out in the world. Since all of them arrived at their home I'm able to show you what I've sent.

This little christmas stocking is now in the USA with Amy.

The second stocking traveled all the way to Japan and is now with Ayumi.

Another package arrived in Singapore.

I made a pillow cover for Jo.

And a little duckling bag for Jo's lovely daughter Joelle.

more vacation sewing

My plane to Hong Kong leaves in one week.

I'm working on some last projects and bags to make my trip comfortable.

First of all I needed a new bag for my macbook. I still have my old one (made 2 years ago) but since I'm planing to bring the mac on the trip I really needed a new case. I want to blog each day because I will have free internet in my hotel this time.

I used one of my treasured linen fabrics from my stash for the mac sleeve.

It'a a very simple design but shows the lovely fabric so well.

I used lots of batting so I'm hoping that my mac will survive the trip.

Every woman need lots of bags. And it's already a little tradition to travel with a handmade bag.

In 2008 I made this bag for my Japan vacation and last year I traveled with this bag to Hong Kong.

This year I used the 241 tote pattern from noodlehead.

It's a really lovely pattern and I was happy to use the red fabric finally. I bought it a few years ago to make a bag out of it but never decided on a pattern.

I'm not sure if I'm able to fit all my stuff in this bag so I'm making another bag this weekend.

Keep your eyes open for handmade bags  on my blog.

The bright colors go nicely with most of my clothes.

It's getting cold here in germany so I got myself some new and warm muk boots.

The are so comfy and super cute. I'm ready for snow now !

week 46: Things I love

It's tuesday already so time to speak about things I love.
Every wednesday I TRY to post about things I love today (or last week).


This week I'm loving:

Sharing everything with my baby Mie

we share everything , originally uploaded by crafting with loove.

holiday crafting

Do you remember this post ?!

The pillow cover is not the only christmas related item which I'm taking to Hong Kong.

Since my wallet is a bit big and heavy I made myself a new one just for the trip.

It's big enough to store all my credit cards and cash but not to heavy and bulky.

I used one of my fave linen fabrics from the stash. I bought the fabric a few years ago but never found the perfect project to use it.

The wallet is something I will use daily so I will be able to enjoy the cute fabric very often.

The lining are some christmas related fabrics from my stash as well. I really need to stock up with some christmas fabrics but I will wait untill christmas is over to get them on sale.

This year I won't be able to use any more christmas fabrics so I have no problem to wait.

There is always another christmas coming !

If you are interessted in making the wallet the pattern can be found here and it's really easy to make.

And here is the latest update from the hexagon project.

The quilt is growing and growing. Sadly there will be no time to work on that quilt for the next 4 weeks.

I think I will be able to add a few flowers durring christmas holidays.

I really can't wait to finish this quilt because I'm plaing the next hexagon quilt already.

I know I must be crazy to think about another hexagon project but I really love to have long term projects.

I'm full of hope that the first hexagon quilt will be finished by the end of january 2012 so I can have a fresh start with new hexagons.

autumn walk in Hildesheim

Because I'm glued to my sewing machine this weekend I'm not able to enjoy the fantastic autumn weather.

Last weekend me and mr. artistic visited his parents (like we do every month). This weekend was extra special because my dad came all the way from Berlin for a short visit.

I had tickets for a Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler concert and arrived a day early to spent a few hours with mr. artistic, my inlaws and me.

The weather was amazing so we picked him up from the train station and went for a little autumn walk in Hildesheim before we met with the inlaws for some cake and coffee.

Mr. artistic showed my dad his hometown and we went to his old school.

Sadly it was closed (of course because it was a saturday) but at least we were able to sneak a peek.

Hildesheim is a pretty little town with lots of green.

It's the town were I studied and of course where I met my hubby (aka mr. artistic) more than 7 years ago.

Hildesheim was nearly destroyed during WW2 but a few church survived the war.

But not all old building were destroyed.  A street with cute little houses survived.

My dad is totally interessted in history and all that stuff so we had lots of fun exploring lovely places.

Sadly we had only 3 hours to explore Hildesheim together before we went for some cake to my inlaws.

I enjoyed every minute of the autun walk and so did my dad & mr. artistic.

Hildesheim is a lovely little town and if you are traveling in germany you should take your time for a little visit.