KCW Winter 2014 - Burnous

Bathrobes for the children are probably the item the longest on my to-do list. It was getting urgent, as some mothers at after school swimming already accosted me about the size of the bathrobes of –especially- the boys.

The label of their bathrobes said ‘size 18 months’ so at the age of 7 years old, it goes without saying that they were (far) too small and (far) too short.

KCW Winter 2014 was the ideal motivator to finally make 5 bathrobes.

Our children don’t like the rope that closes most bathrobes, so I decided to make a burnous – an Arabic style coat amongst others worn by camel herds.

While going through ‘Intemporels pour enfants’ we found exactly what we had in mind, which saved us the process of drawing/testing our own pattern.

We added a wide, decorative band to all openings and to the hood, this is not described in the original pattern.

All children got their own color bathrobe, decorated with a matching Petit Pan trim.

Elias

Louka

Jade

Omar

The burnous are rather large so we can use them hopefully for a couple of years.

As usual Felix boycotted the photo shoot!

We tricked him into it anyway, so –by the time the other kids were tired of taking pictures- we got a scarce picture without tears.

Pattern: The book Intemporels pour enfants from Astrid le Provost was bought @ Kinokuniya in Dubai Mall.

Fabric: Good toweling is hard to get in the UAE and ordering online results in high delivery costs because of its volume so we cut up good quality towels (2 per burnous). The Petit Pan fabric was bought @ the online Petit Pan store.

The National

He was as proud as punch when he looked at his own picture in The National newspaper!

The last Xmas present

It is my sister her birthday, so the ideal day to show the Xmas present we made for her eldest son, my godchild.

He already got another present but as godchild he got a little bonus.

Cousin J is a hockey player, which explains the image on the front ‘from-monkey-to-hockey-player’, we got inspired for this on the internet.

In contrast to the previous versions we made of this jumper, we did not make any changes to the pattern this time around.

The hoody is a size 10 years for our very tall cousin. He is exactly the same age as Omar but the hoody is too big for Omar and looks on the small side for cousin J. Luckily he has two smaller brothers.

Pattern: Stof voor Durf-het-Zelvers.

Fabric: The teddy fleece was bought @Sammtex in Ronse, the brown interlock and rib was bought @ stoffennet.

Mittens

Our globetrotter got mittens to take with her on her trip to Belgium. Secretly she was hoping for snow, she didn’t get to see any snow, but she was impressed by the ‘clouds’ coming out of her mouth while breathing.

Granny also got a pair of mittens, inspired by this pin we made ‘mommy mittens’, for the occasion called ‘granny mittens’.

Note to self: Do not postpone making cute things until the kids have outgrown them. These mittens look way more cute when you make them for toddler hands and not a teenager whose hands are almost the same size as those of her grandmother!

Pattern: I took the outline of her hand for her mittens and the outline of my own hands for granny her mittens.

Fabric: The teddy fleece was bought @ Sammtex in Ronse.

More gifts for the cousins

The middle son of my eldest sister is only a couple of months younger than our youngest. Felix has outgrown these onesies already, so Felix as well as Cousin L got a jumpsuit as Christmas present.

Felix refuses point-black to wear homemade clothes when they are just finished, I have to hang them in his wardrobe first and then he might want to try them on.

So just like here, his sister got involved to show the new onesies. 

Her arms and legs are somewhat to long for her 2.5 year younger brother his clothes but we just managed to get her dressed.

Our children are incapable to pose in a normal way for a picture, they always have to overact and nowadays for Jade that means doing handstands or bridge.

Felix got a jumpsuit in blue dragon fabric and one in red ‘firefighter’ fabric.

All of a sudden Felix realized how much fun his sister was having in front of the camera. Jealous of the attention she got, he started to showcase his own gymnastics moves.

And he had no more objections in wearing the onesie for his cousin.

Keep practising for straddle and bridge darling!

Pattern: The pattern is the same as here, we made it a little bigger/longer then last time and the finishing of the sleeves is according to the method described in Kiind Magazine.

Fabric: The fire fighter fabric was bought @ Fatima in Ghent, the dragons where purchased online (if I remember well that was @ Bambiblauw) and the red ‘Funky Frames’ fabric was bought @Michas Stoffecke. 

A weekend at Al Ain (hospital)

Last weekend the kids had a rugby tournament that started very early so we decided to make turn it into a family-weekend-trip. The first day we spend in Al Ain zoo, we stayed overnight at a local hotel, and on the second day the kids participated at the youth rugby festival.

The zoo suited us fine especially in comparison to Dubai Zoo –well Dubai Zoo is probably not worth the name Zoo!

Especially the monkeys worked inspiring!

Omar and Elias searched for the crocodiles.

Their search was rewarded as one of the crocodiles walked to the glass and proudly showed all her teeth.

We saw white lions, white tigers, giraffes, rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, and lots of other animals.

Jade pushed her brother the whole time.

Well, until she got exhausted and then he sat on her lap for the remaining of the trip.

We ate real Belgian ‘Prins’-biscuits.

Dad left for the airport shortly after we finished our trip to the zoo and the kids slept all together in the big bed.

The kids played out of this world, first on and later of the pitch.

He finally wore this jacket without crying!

We should have left after the last game, because on the bouncy castle it went wrong!

Elias fell out of the back of the castle on the machine that inflates the air. As the castle was rather high the paramedic on duty did not take any risk and drove him with the ambulance to the hospital. He needed checkup and stitches (he finally got 4 stitches).

The siren coaxed a watery smile from Elias, so I knew that a concussion -feared by the paramedic- was probably not under discussion.

It took about 4 hours before he was taken care off and when the cashier appeared not to be on duty –on a break to pray. I nearly lost my patience, I desperately wanted to go back to pick up the other children whom I left alone with a –really nice- lady I never saw before!

All is well that ends well, the fraternal/sisterly love was never that big; and -after an exhausting drive home- we all slept in the double bed. All their warm bodies –with a here and there a scar- cozy together!

Regular post!

Thanks to the blog and our facebook pictures family and friends are aware of our adventures in the Middle-East. One couple in our circle of friends is not aware at all of the life we lead. After months of futile attempts to use a computer and surf online, they renounced the use of a computer for good.

Neither of them needs a computer/the internet for work and on top of that ‘he’ is a great fan of ‘regular post’

They beg me every year to get some updates of our life through regular airmail. Honestly the ease of current e-communication made me lazy, but when I found this delightful ‘Pigeon Voyageur’, I knew who would finally receive something in his mailbox from us!

The kids cut, folded, glued, and wrote a message on a tiny note; the envelop slit in the pigeons beak and it all fits in a cute little box.

I hope our ‘letter’ arrives safe and sound, we miss you dear friends without internet!

The smallest gift

When I saw these pictures, I knew the perfect Xmas gift for our smallest cousin. It was the smallest by also by far the cutest gift we made this Xmas.

The bonnet is easy to make and as I did not know which colors I preferred, I just made a small series of them.

For cold days a thick lining: teddy fabric, nicky-velour, and toweling.

For warmer days a thinner lining: interlock fabric.

We found just enough dolls to present every bonnet. Nevertheless not every doll’s head was as suitable as the other, and not every doll was as voluntary as the other to pose. The doll’s mommy helped out by telling a story or comforting with a dummy.

Eventually we gave cousin A 3 bonnets –he got the most boyish looking ones- one for every weather condition.  

Pattern: You can download the pattern here.

Fabric: The pink and teal flower fabric was purchased at the online Petit Pan shop, the blue stars and the red retro fabric was bought overseas but I don’t exactly reminder in which shop. I received the brown fabric with the retro design from her and the lining fabrics were purchased at Tahir. The brown teddy fabric was purchased at Sammtex in Saint-Sauveur in Belgium.