Stitches and Thrills

After last years success Imke from LoveJohnny organised another #creasint . This is a social media celebration of Sinterklaas. About 50 creative Dutch people exchanged handmade gifts. In the weeks before nervous tweets and updates started to appear on twitter and facebook: What to make? Do I have enough time? Will she or he like what I made? The Sinterklaas celebration is on December 5th, but lot of people celebrate it with family that evening. So we opened our gifts on Friday December 6th. My "creasint" turned out to be Daan of maandagdaandag ! She gave me a wonderful hand printed teapot with a text from Where The Wild Things Are. She added some delicious herbal teas as well. And on top of that she gave me 2 fabulous handmade stamps. Can't wait to use that strawberry with my fabric paint. I'm surely very spoiled! The person I made gifts for is Marike . I made her a mobile inspired on the movie UP! (see the bottom of this page for a basic tutorial) ...

The Nordic Island Hat: Inspired by the wind, the dune, the colours and the atmosphere at the Wad&Design festival on Schiermonnikoog, at which I was a part of an Etsy Pop Up shop last September. I designed The Nordic Island Hat on Schiermonnikoog and i knitted the first hats there from Drops Eskimo wool. Cute and cosy on the couch in the Etsy cottage where we stayed with fellow Etsians Babette, Margriet, Nynke en Barbara. De Nordic Island Hat shall be available in my Etsy-shop next week. I'm also working on writing out the pattern.      

The first 2 of my new summer hats are ready. They are made from organic cotton (Daisy Janie's Tilly collection) which I purchased at PureCoverz a few months ago. Olive The asymmetric model was already on my mind since my mum asked for a hat with a wider brim at the front (to wear when playing tennis).  Maroon They are different from last years sun hats because I decided to make these hats fully interfaced, so they will keep their shape better. The ceramic buttons from MuddyMuse give it just the finishing touch I was looking for. By the way: notice the hat stand? I made it from an old lamp , a polystyrene egg and 2 pair of nylons :)