Restoring a Chest

This is what the inside looked like before.. the velvet moldered. The reaktion from the metal to the glue is funny, it turned green.

Switz Xmas Cookies

I have just recovered from this crazy cold. Just in time, it seems since it was high time we started our traditional Xmas cookies bakery. So we did and it was just so much fun as you can tell by the pictured mess. 

I've got the flu

I don't know how or where I got it but I'm doing pretty badly. It started yesterday in the morning. I have a mean sore throat and bad headaches, also some rhinitis which is the most tolerable of my ailments. I'm not too sure if ailment is the right expression since it's nothing serious. I mean, I do feel pretty awful but I guess I shall feel a lot better, soon. Hopefully tomorrow already. That would be real nice.
To get back some feeling of self efficacy, I have been drinking lots of hot water with slivered fresh ginger and dried peppermint leaves from my mother's garden. I guess you could call that tea until I pour some seabuckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides) jelly in it. Sounds strange, right? But I got pretty much used to it and now actually like it. Seabuckthorn contains lots of vitamine C and the jelly also some sugar so I makes a great brewage for the sick.
Just wished I wasn't too sick to get any sewing done. Sniffle. Oh, well.. I'll just wait and drink tea as the Swiss say.

My friend's trash is now my stash

Don't you just love rhymes? I do. And I love myself the newly organized view of below my working surface, where I never dared to inspect because it never was neat. But the other day, I was visiting a dear friend of mine and next to her door, she had piled up those wheeled plastic boxes. She explained, she was going to toss them. No. Way. I had to have them. I didn't even know yet when and where but I was pretty sure they were going to be used. Or maybe just one? Anyways, the next day, I realized they were all just perfect to fit below my sewing machine and now it's just so much easier to get hold of all the boxes and not having to lift them in a crouching position. Did I mention, I took them home by train and bike? What a journey!

Going mobile

Actually, I started this post in the train. I thought I had finally figured out how to blog with my android phone in the train. Thought this was great since most of my pics are taken with my cell phone anyways so I guessed this made sense.

I downloaded and installed the official blogger app. It looked quite nice to handle. So I went and took a pic from the interior of the train. Second class to first and a lil shaky coz the train was just rattling. Then I wrote a mini text and wanted to upload it. But the photo would be come lengthwise and couldn't be changed to heightwise. Very frustrating and annoying. And then, I couldn't publish the whole thing. It would have been so nice but no. Maybe I'll try some other time when I am really really bored in the train. Of course, I will not withhold the photo of the interior of the train, so here it is.

Ketchup Spill

Tablerunner

Usually, this would concern some topic about my man. But he was away on a business trip. So this time, I did it myself. Opened a new Ketchup bottle by removing the seal slowly and carefully... and holding the bottle itself so firmly that when the seal came off... well, see for yourself.

I shall be more patient with my man on the occasion of his next mishap.

A Walk around the Neighborhood

This weekend my partner and I didn't have a lot of time to ourselves so we just had a little walk around our neighborhood. We walked up to some farm, where we bought really good apples and pears. Hadn't we been by foot, I would also have bought some locally produced flour, but I wasn't too much into carrying the whole 5kg bag the whole time.

Anyways, we walked around and it was like we were in some kind of adventure park or zoo, there was so much to be seen and discovered. And all the lovely animals (even exotic ones!) were very nice, too.
On the way to the farm, we already met about 4 cats. Some stayed, some ran away. Then, just before we got to the farm, of course there were some cows, this one looked either really hungry or really mad, see for yourself.

Then, after we got to try (!) and buy the fruits, we met this one kitty. By the way she wanted to be only around my partner, I bet it was a female, I didn't check but this picture tells it all, doesn't it?





And last, but not least, just a few blocks away from our house, we spotted this exotic friend. I thought it was walking pretty fast, but after we were standing there marvelling, the owner looked out of the window and we had a friendly chat.

What a lovely walk!

Lots of new Projects

I have just read my last post from December 2008 and I really can't remember what secret project I was talking about in there. Probably some gift for someone.

So I am not going to whine about how sad it makes me when I see abandoned blogs and now it's happend to mine again and I shall never again do so. The thing is i have no idea if I will be sticking with posting or not. But let's surely hope so and time will tell.
Looking back, many things have changed. We have moved to another city. Our beloved cat passed away. She was old and we knew it was going to happen some day but we still miss her every single day. We have not gotten another cat.

Patchwork wise, I think practice has helped me getting somewhat better. I can now actually tell if a project is too difficult for me or doable. This is very nice and motivating.

One good example is this really nice quilt top I got at ebay and it had been started by some elder lady and she never got to finish it so her family placed it in ebay since nobody was interested in quilting. So I purchased it and when, after a long journey from the USA to Switzerland, I got it and instantly fell in love with it. It's called Tree of Life and must be from the 70s. Here's a picture of one corner. Since I didn't think I was going to be able to handapplique it, i started appliqueing it by machine. I have to say that my sewing machine has a really nice applique stitch. On first look you wouldn't think it isn't stitched by hand. Nevertheless, it wasn't going good at all and after several frustrating moments, I packed it nicely and kept it in a drawer, where I keep other UFOs.
And now comes the good part: This year, I have no idea why, I suddenly felt a strong urge to look at it again and when I did unpack it, I fell in love with it all over again. And this time I was more courageous: I tried and handstitched the tiny pieces. And it worked. Hello, Tree of Life. It might get me a lifetime to ever finish this, but you and I are <3.

So there's that. And remember this baby quilt? Well it's been delivered to my sister-in-law and she just threw it in some drawer and it was never seen again. Guess she didn't like it because it was handmade. She prefers (expensive) shop bought stuff. Oh well.
But the good thing is that meanwhile my lovely niece is big enough to terrorize her mother with what she wants to wear. And since she's into princess-stuff, I made her this dress. And she loved it right away. Lucky me, lucky my niece :-)

So I will not let this post get too long and boring, therefore wishing myself a big welcome back to your blog! and see you soon!

First Snow Of The Year

Tonight, we have had the first snow of this year. So here's our sweet Chilicat, cuddly as ever due to the cold, bad white "stuff" outside. Here she is on the very middle of my bed with no space left for me. But she definitely is doing the right thing it seems to me. Just wished I was allowed to hybernate like that as well!

Heute Nacht haben wir den ersten Schnee des Jahres gekriegt. Unsere liebe Chilikatze, anschmiegsam wie nie wegen dem kalten, bösen "Zeug" draussen. Hier liegt sie genau in der Mitte meines Betts, so dass ich keinen Platz mehr habe. Aber sie scheint definitiv das Richtige zu tun. Ich wünschte, auch ich dürfte so überwintern.

Flower Bouquet

This is a birthday card for a friend of mine. Unfortunately, she has to deal with some seasonal depression every year. So for her birthday this year, as it is a "round" one, we have decided to gather some money and to have a flower shop deliver a bouquet every month to her for one year to cheer her up. So I had to make an assorted card to the gift, right?

Das ist die Geburtstagskarte einer Freundin von mir. Leider hat leidet sie jährlich unter saisonalen Depressionen. Also haben wir uns dieses Jahr zusammengetan, um zum Anlass ihres "runden" Geburtstages ihr jeden Monat einen Blumenstrauss zukommen zu lassen, um sie aufzumuntern. Also musste die passende Karte her, richtig?

End of Summer

Last summer picture taken of my beloved Chilicat. The bush thing behind her reminds me of a throne and she definitely is queen in her garden. That day it was really very warm and looking at this picture makes me feel warm inside, too. Sadly, these times really seem to be over now and my poor Chilicat was found today in my bed below the sheets and depressed. The sky is grey-white and I wished I didn't have to face a busy day and could just join her to bed.

Das letzte Sommerfoto der geliebten Chilikatze. Das Buschding hinter ihr erinnert mich an einen Tron und sie ist ganz klar Königin. Als ich dieses Bild aufnahm, war es sehr warm und wenn ich es so betrachte, wird mir gleich wärmer. Leider scheinen diese Zeiten nun wirklich vorbei zu sein und die arme Chilikatze ward heute im Bett unter den Bettlaken deprimiert aufgefunden. Der Himmel ist grau-weiss und ich wünschte, ich müsste heute nicht so viele Dinge erledigen und einfach nur mit ihr unter die Laken schlüpfen. Aber ach!

Off to Holidays

Sorry I forgot to put down a note telling that I shall be off to holidays and back on July 14th.
See you then!
Of course, no worries about Chilicat, she is being taken care of by her groomer himself, lucky old lady, isn't she?

Sorry, I vergass eine Notiz zu hinterlassen, dass ich in den Ferien verweilen darf bis zum 14. Juli!
Bis dann!
Übrigens braucht man sich nicht um Chilikatze zu sorgen, sie wird von ihrem Zuchtpapa selbst gehütet, unser altes Glücks-Mädel!

Candy Man

Am Sonntag jammerte mein Mann, als ich den vorhergehenden Blog schrieb, dass ich niemals über ihn bloggte. Und wie zufällig gab er mir ausgerechnet am selben Tag einen super Grund dazu, etwas über ihn zu berichten. Oder vielmehr über seine wunderbaren Taten.

Nebenzu ist das Bild auf der Keksmisch-Packung zu sehen. So sollten die leckeren Guetsli aussehen. Läckär!

Unten ist die Realität: So sahen dann die Kekse aus und waren rundherum ganz schön klebrig.

Wenigstens meinem Mann haben sie geschmeckt, wie man ihm sprichwörtlich ab den Lippen lesen kann. Ich mag die Art, wie ich sein Lächeln schneller knipsen konnte, als es brauchte, sich zu beiden Mundwinkeln auszubreiten :-S

So my man was whining when I was writing my previous post on Sunday that I never was blogging about him. And, what a coincidence, that very same day he gave me a great reason to write about him. The top picture is the one on the cookie dough mix box to show the customer how their cookie should look when they make it. Yummy!

The one below is reality: those are my wonderful man's work and pride. At least he liked them a lot as you can "read" from his lips.

I like the way I got to snap the pic of his smile faster than his lips needed to smile on both sides of his mouth :-) or much rather :-S

Warm Weekend

Endlich ist es etwas wärmer geworden, juhu!

Ich wünschte, ich könnte ganz viele Nähblöcke vorweisen, jedoch war ich die letzten Tage (!) damit beschäftigt, etwas Ordung in meine Nähgefilde zu bringen. Das Tragische dabei ist, dass ich noch immer nicht komplett durch bin mit allem.

Beim umräumen sind mir dafür aber ein paar UFOs (UnFinished Object) in die Hände gekommen, die ich damals aus Frust- oder Unfähigkeitsgründen in die berüchtigten Tiefen meiner Schubladen verbannte. Nach der Bannfrist nun, habe ich so richtig Lust, an ihnen weiterzuarbeiten, oder gar zu beenden. Einige jedoch, mussten definitiv nochmals zurück in die Verbannung, sollen die doch da weiterschmorren!

Hier zur Unterhaltung noch ein Bild von Chilikatze, als ich mein brandneues Hellokitty Pijama MIR zum Schlafen zurechtlegte und nach fünf Minuten wiederkam. Sie lacht mich aus, oder?

So finally, it got warmer here!

I wished I could show off many newly sewn blocks but I have been busy tidying up my sewing room for the last few days (!). Tragically, I still am not through with it!
The nice thing is that I came across some UFOs that I now like again and am willing to finish them. Although, some of those UFOs had to go back to their drawers where they just seem to belong to right now. I'll finish them eventually.
For your amusement, I am posting a picture of Chilicat 5 minutes after I had nicely prepared my new hello kitty pijamas to go to bed.

Sunny almost Springtime

Soeben meine dritte Erkältung hinter mich gebracht diesen Winter!

Das Wetter ist nun noch kälter geworden aber noch immer sehr sonnig und das mildert die Umstände doch erheblich. Hier kann man unsere 14-jährige Chilikatze sehen. Sie ist so zufrieden mit der Sonne, dass sie sogar meiner Kameralinse ein Grinsen schenken mag.

I have just gotten over with my third cold this winter!
Wheather is even colder but still pretty sunny and that is making the whole thing a little better. Here you can see our 14 years old Chilicat. She is so pleased with the sun shine that she even grins at my foto lense.

First Entry

Dies ist also mein allererster Blog-Eintrag.

Ich will über unsere alte Katze, etwas über meinen Alltag, das Wetter in der Schweiz und nicht zuletzt über mein Hobby, das Nähen, schreiben.

Was genau passieren wird, wird sich zeigen.

So this is my very first blog entry.
I am going to write about our old cat, every day life and the wheather in Switzerland. Furthermore, I am also going to write about my hobby: sewing.