Evacuation

The last couple of days there was unstable weather, and intermittent sand storms.

Today we even had a little bit of rain. Nothing exceptional I hear you think, except when you live out here, as rain IS exceptional in the United Arab Emirates. As it is not very common the house and road infrastructure are not adjusted to these weather conditions. Even with the slightest bit of rain, the electricity breaks down, the rain’s coming in through the roof and the roads are flooding. I am talking about a normal shower of rain and not a tropical downpour.

Today when the first drops fell down, we got the following mail from our children’s school:

‘BREAKING NEWS: En raison des orages et selon l'ordre du KHDA, l'établissement va fermer ses portes au plus vite possible. Le Lycée est en train de contacter les familles pour organiser le départ des élèves.’

All schools were evacuated today, and another couple of drops of rain later the kids were dropped at my doorsteps by the school bus.

I took them to Satwa fabric area, we spotted some nice fabrics at Tahir, unluckily enough they were being used as doormat to avoid wet shoes inside the shop. 

For a fabric-shopping-addict as myself it doesn’t feel right to use fabric as a doormat!

Next post we are back to business!

Flamingo

A last non-DIY blogpost.

As it is perfect weather at the moment, sunny with a light breeze, we have lots of visitors this time of the year. Consequently we spend more time visiting the town then we spend time behind the sewing machine.

Yesterday, we went to watch the birds at the RasAlKhor bird sanctuary and reserve; a peaceful place in the middle of the city.

I only brought my cell phone and the birds were too far to take decent pictures; so I placed my cell phone in front of the binoculars and took these cute snaps.

A tiny bit of nature in the middle of a lot of concrete constructions.

Sir Baniyas Island in pictures

A last post with sunny pictures; after this one we will return to the usual content of this blog.

Last Eid we went to Sir Baniyas Island, we already showed you a picture of that trip, nevertheless we took many more, and I finally found the time to select our favorites for you.

We had a great time spotting mammals and birds during a wildlife safari.

The kids had a great time playing, swimming, jumping, running, biking and looking for bones left behind after the hyena’s meal.

The girls showed off their gymnastics skills.

We took the time to take plenty of family pictures.

Hijab

Our sportive trip to India is already behind us. We fought our self to a reasonable 6^th place at the 2013 Asian Championships.

Just like in the previous edition of the Championship I was moved by the fighting spirit of the Iranian ladies team. We had to fight back strongly to defend our try line.

In addition the Iranian ladies team plays with long sleeves, long legs and Hijab, which makes it noteworthy more difficult to play in 32°C.

We got invited and agreed to go to Iran next spring to participate in a tournament. I am already looking forward to see those lovely girls back in Iran, within a couple of months to play our very first game in long sleeves and Hijab!

There was no time for sightseeing and the only taste of India was during a short walk. A busy road all of a sudden changed into a rural scenery, with horses carrying lambs followed by a herd of sheep.

Pattern reinstatement

The pattern of this ugly duckling got reinstated by the latest version that we made.

The bag is made with Chinese Blue –hand dyed fabric I bought in Shanghai- the details are in red to contrast with the blue of the main fabric.

A little treasure I made for myself and in which I proudly sew my label.

The bag got finished just in time to take to Pune, India, where I, together with the other girls of the National Rugby Team will represent the United Arab Emirates at the Asian Championships.

The luggage is ready, I need another hour to study the National anthem and then we can take off to play against Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, and Iran.

Wish us good luck!

Un ugly duckling

We introduce you our ugly duckling. We used the same pattern to make a gymnastics bag a couple of times before, but this is the first one I really don’t like! Surely if you compare it with my favorite one, the current one is not pleasing to the eye. We still can’t blame the pattern but all the more the choice of fabric. But as the saying goes ‘des goûts et des couleurs ne disputent pas’, and our -meanwhile– five year old daughter was delirious with joy when she finally got her personal gymnastics bag! 

The bag is entirely made of fabric and colors of her own choice. Her name on the top is flocked in her handwriting and my sole input is the stars on either side of her name.

During the photo shoot she is showing off her new bag by putting it on her head, around her neck and in many more funny positions. 

When I ask her to hold it in a ‘normal’ way for a couple of pictures she immediately turns into a ‘not happy’ mood.

I honestly doubted strongly if I wanted to sew my label in, but I ended up adding it; nice or not nice it at the end it is a Curl Up creation!

Pink flower fabric: Bought at NaNaKid Boutique in Abu Dhabi.

Hello Kitty fabric: Bought at our dear friend Tahir in Satwa.

Pattern: ‘Stof voor Durf-het-Zelvers’

In days long gone

October slipped by in a glimpse. It was super busy and there was not a lot of time left for social media; not for writing blogposts neither for reading your blogs. So it is time to achieve the right balance again and to make sure we do not have too much on our plate.

During Eid we did our best to do ‘nothing’, which still does not mean having a lie-in and read a book because that is out of the question with all five kids on school holidays.

We went to Sir Baniyas Island and enjoyed fully this well-deserved family vacation.

In 2009 we already visited the animal reserve. We took this picture.

Same spot but anno 2013.

We bumped into friends thanks to whom we now even have a version of the picture with all family members in it!