More hoodies

For our summer vacation in Belgium we urgently need to expand our amount of long sleeve clothes. We already showcased the hoody for Felix.

Meanwhile also the girls got their version of the hoody from Stof-voor-Doe-het-Zelvers.

We added a zipper by cutting the front panel in two parts and made some small changes to the pattern, this to adjust the hood a little.

To avoid unhappy kids who never want to wear their hoody –like Felix- the girls choose the fabric their selves.

It was my job to find a reversible zipper in a flashy color. I know I can’t find them on the local market so searched the internet. Nevertheless we didn’t find what we wanted online either, until we found this web shop. Custom made zippers! I sometimes get seduced to do inordinate sewing related purchases; nevertheless I stayed in my right mind this time, 10,75 US$ for a single zipper exclusive of shipment costs is over the edge even for me!

So our completely reversible jackets are finished with normal open end nylon coil zippers.

The girls are ready for a Belgian summer and are looking forward to cooler weather.

Outside fabric Louka: Bought @ De Stoffenkamer

Outside fabric Jade: Blue violet fabric from Znok, bought @ Vermiljoenshop

Lining: Bought in Ajman @ Bengali Market

Water, Sun and fun

We have been sewing a lot this month, but we did not find the appetite to take any pictures of the creations. The kids always found a reason not to pose, our camera suffers from the humidity and me, well I was going through a picture-inspiration-bad-patch.

One sunny afternoon at and in the pool and we are ready for more posing this year.

So soon we reveal what was made out of this pile of fabric.

But first … fun in the sun.

Felix

Jade

Elias

Omar

Louka

Elias and Jade

And finally again 'number 5' Felix

Happy birthday!

Every time my sweetie flies to America for work, he has to load his luggage with fabric on the way back home. I order fabric in America and have it send to his American colleague who stores it. So I thought it was about time my darling gets something ‘homemade’ with the fabric he transported himself. It is his birthday today and he thinks he gets a new shirt. Nevertheless I cannot make a shirt secretly as I do have to take his measures!

So this time he gets an Ipad cover in his favorite color, and some yellow to brighten up the cover. 

I found the manual online and it is by far the easiest project I ever made! 

The second part of the gift wasn’t too complicated to assemble either. I made a cover for all his ‘plastic’. 

Currently I filled it up with our kids ID- and insurance cards. I saw the cover on her blog, but at the end it is her manual.

Lastly he also gets a matching purse to store away his coins.

The present is currently still wrapped, so I hope my birthday boy has no time to read the blog!

Outside fabric: Stamped by Ellen Luckett Baker for Kokka, bought at Drygoods Design

Inside fabric: Summersville by Lucie Summers for Moda, aangekocht bij Superbuzzy

The lure of Wadi Ray

Two days in a row I designed patterns, washed fabric and cut fabric. This resulted in two piles of fabric to be assembled. The first pile contains yersey for 8 different garments.

The second pile cotton for 3 dresses.

Nevertheless this weekend we had something better to do than assemble the different items. The lure of Wadi Ray was bigger than the lure of the sewing machine.

The weather during the month of April was not the weather we are used to in the United Arab Emirates. At least 2 entire weeks it was cloudy and on several occasions it actually rained, sometimes even inclusive of thunder and lightning. This is pretty exceptional not only for this time of the year as well as just for the climate in this region in general.

Thanks to these conditions the temperatures are a couple of degrees lower than to be expected this time of the year; thus permitting a day trip to the mountains before summer temperatures hit.  

Hoping there would be water in our favorite wadi, we loaded the car and took off to the Omani border.

We were glad to find the highest water level in Wadi Ray we have seen in 9 years. 

The wadi was converted in a glorious mountain stream and did not look anywhere near the dry wadi we mostly visit.  

Our walk, which is usually dry and hot, was heavenly as we could just wade through the water.

We swom,

we clambered and slide,

and we splashed.

The area was nice and green and the fauna interesting. The children tried to catch frogs and we saw huge dragonflies.

We enjoyed our picknick, along and on the water.

Normally ‘strangers’ don’t make our blog, but this one does! Meet the suicidal gymnastics trainer of our children ...

A daytrip to cherish, as soon it will be too hot, even just to go outside.

Family schedule

In order to be able to properly organize our family life we painted a magnetic chalkboard for the kitchen.

Every Saturday we write down the weekly activities as well as the menu for the coming week.

On top of that there is place for groceries. If someone finishes the last banana or uses the last bit of soap in the dispenser he/she has to find the corresponding magnet and put it on the board, to avoid stock problems.

We made the magnets ourselves. Some natural color cotton fabric was decorated with pastel blue lines and a vertical pink line just like ruled paper. The idea of ruled paper comes from here and here.

So the festive garland you saw here was converted into a set of kitchen magnets.

Our weekly calendar starts on a Sunday, which is not a mistake or a creative suggestion. Our week really starts on Sunday as the weekend is Fridays and Saturdays. We have to get used to over and over again every time we come back from Belgium.