Merry Christmas 2021
DIY Bottle holder for a belt bag
2 years ago or so I bought a fanny pack with a bottle holder. “Unfortunately” there were only in earth tone green, brown, beige. Not necessarily the colors I like.
All this time I had planned to sew the bag myself. This weekend was the sewing of the bottle holder. I had to first buy a few things such as thermofoil, rainproof fabric, etc.
Here is the original bag as I found it on Amazon.
Here is the original bag with the bottle holder
Every time I walked around with the bag in the summer, I was annoyed that my drink got warm so quickly.
That’s why I searched the internet for a fabric or foil that would either keep it cold longer or warm in the winter.
I found bubble wrap, which is coated on both sides with aluminum foil and is also used for freezer bags. So that it works even better, I have taken this foil double. I even used it on the striped part.
The bottle holder is slightly larger than the original, because I wanted the bottle is completely in the holder.
The original bottle holder can be attached to the belt so that it does not “wander” while running. I did the same with mine. I even had to buy extra wide Velcro for it.
And here is the finished bottle holder. The bag for this is very elaborate and will take accordingly longer until I have sewn it.
Happy Easter 2021
Has it really been a year since the world stood still?
That people had to stay at home on Easter? That life was no longer as we knew it?
I see pictures from Israel or the United States or even England, where people can come together again, where life is getting back to normal and I am happy.
I can’t wait to get an OK for the vaccination. After an allergy shock during a flu shot, I first have to be tested to see if I can tolerate the vaccine and get it. Unfortunately, this takes time.
My Easter greetings come today from home. I actually wanted to go out to the meadow and take pictures like last year. But unfortunately, the warm days, where the daisies are everywhere to see, came only a few days ago. No daisies to see. Yesterday I passed my park and saw some sporadically. But by then I had already taken the photos.
If you like the photos, you are welcome to use them as Easter greetings ❤ ❤ ❤ (Of course only for non-commercial use)
Stay healthy
Merry Christmas 2020
And the angel said, Have no fear; for truly, I give you good news of great joy which will be for all the people:
For on this day, in the town of David, a Saviour has come to birth, who is Christ the Lord.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Here are a few Christmas photos from me. Like every year I have increased my porcelain collection 😀
This is the first Christmas where I do not visit anyone, or do not get a visit. I was sick for 2 weeks, luckily the test was negative, but I don’t want to risk anything because I am not 100% fit yet.
But luckily there is the internet. There you can see your people just like that 🙂 Instead, we open the gifts during a video conference. That’s bound to be fun.
Stay healthy and save ❤ ❤ ❤
Advent, the 4th candle is lit
Is today really already the 4th Advent and in a few days Christmas?
I had so much planned, all the things I wanted to do. But then unfortunately a nasty cold came in between. Fortunately, the C-test is negative.
Last year a cold was just that. A cold. This year I’ve already had 4 tests and each time the wait with : do I have it or not?
Actually, I wanted to make a new picture with my Advent wreath and candles every Sunday. As I said, the stupid cold came in between. But today at least the wreath with 4 glowing candles 🙂
Last year I had Hanna knit me beautiful sweaters, because when I knit myself, it just doesn’t look nice and even. She even embroidered maritime motifs on my last sweater.
https://justelly.com/2019/10/25/my-wish-sweater/
That gave me the idea to have something made for the Christmas season. An embroidered Advent calendar.
Even if I can not embroider myself, I love the designs of V. Enginger. They are so cute and retro. I even have some of her books.
Hanna and I picked some designs for my Advent calendar from the books.
I waited almost a year for it. First, because there are quite a few parts and second, because Christmas was soooo far away. 😀
What do you say? Aren’t they just adorable?
Originally I wanted to make little bags out of all the embroidery. But when I picked up all the pieces, I noticed that some motifs are very large.
When I sew a little bag from it, you can no longer see the motif completely.
I’ll have to figure out the best way to do that. Maybe sew little bags and then sew the motif on the fabric.
Could look interesting, depending on what color the fabric has. Maybe red or green or even tartan I can imagine.
Stay healthy and safe ❤ ❤ ❤
Oh man, it is already the first Advent
This year so much has happened in the world, but at the same time so little in my life.
This stupid virus has turned my life upside down.
I miss the fact that I can’t date anymore, that I can only talk to friends on the phone, or that you can’t hug them anymore when you see them (6 feet apart of course).
After spring I hoped it would be over soon, I even gave up my vacation on my beach, just to see that the numbers are rising again.
Today is the 1st Advent.
For me this time is very important because my family has always done a lot together from the 1st Advent to Christmas: baking cookies with mom, making presents for family and friends, singing Christmas carols together, going to the Christmas decorated church. During the Advent season, our home always smelled heavenly of cookies and fir branches, which my mother had in many vases.
Knowing that the situation will certainly not improve this year makes me a little depressed today.
I haven’t sewn anything for ages. My sewing class closed again 2 months or so ago because of Corona.
But slowly I have to start with the gifts I have planned. I won’t be able to deliver the gifts myself this year, but there is still the post office, so I can send the presents.
Stay safe all of you ❤ ❤ ❤
Smile, and the world … DIY Face Mask
I am/have been like many others. All previous activities, like going to work, meeting friends or going to sewing classes etc. were unfortunately not possible.
I spent a lot of time walking through parks and playing Pokemon. The game was changed so that you could play it either from home or alone. Fortunately, because normally you play in groups. That’s how I got to know a lot of new people who are really nice.
Greetings from me to all players out there ❤ ❤ ❤
Here you still have to wear face masks.
I started sewing some for myself weeks ago.
So far they were all single-coloured or made of one single fabric.
But if you visited my blog before, you know how much I like to applique.
A colleague asked me to sew a “funny” mask for him. This gave me the idea with the yellow smiley
Only later I have seen in the Internet that there are these face masks already to buy
But whatever. Mine is made by myself 😀
As always when I sew something, I start with something simple and then I start with something more difficult.
On the internet I found a smiley face that was just too cute not to sew it. To increase the effect I made a red circle around it like a warning sign
I sewed my first face masks with two layers of fabric. But I noticed that you sweat a lot underneath at higher temperatures. That’s why these two are single-layer, only where the appliqué is, multi-layer.
Smile and Stay Save ❤ ❤ ❤
Happy Easter 2020
The first Easter I celebrate without friends. But safety first. I don’t want to be infected with the virus or vice versa.
I hope that these bad days are soon over.
So despite everything, have a nice Easter. Stay healthy.
I took these photos in the park.
I know that there are areas where you are not allowed to leave the house to go to the park or somewhere else.
For all those who could not buy Easter cards or why ever, if you like one or the other photo, you are welcome to use it
❤ ❤ ❤
Tutorial for my Christmas tree skirt
Yes, yes, I know. Christmas is long gone 😀
But if you have to stay at home almost all the time, you get the idea to sort out the photos from your mobile phone. And then you can also see the photos of things you sewed for Christmas presents.
Maybe some of you like my idea for the next christmas 🙂
I am writing my tutorial for a Christmas present while I am already sewing Easter presents.
Even though I don’t think I can meet my friends before Easter to give them the presents.
I love the colours red, green and gold for Christmas decorations. So often I have decided to decorate differently, but I always come back to this colour combination 😀
That’s why I have chosen these colours for this present. I have found a similar Christmas tree skirt on the Internet. But it looked so cheap that it would have been guaranteed to last only one Christmas.
In my fabric shop I found this very special fabric. On top it looks like satin, but it is thicker and has a black “coating” on the back. No idea what this kind of fabric is called.
But the colors looked so great that I had to buy it even though the price was so high.
Here my tutorial:
First I downloaded a beautiful free Christmas font from the internet.
Then I wrote Merry Christmas in very big letters, mirrored and printed it.
Now paint the whole thing on Bondaweb and iron it on the fabric. Here I had to be very careful with the iron, because I didn’t want to risk the fabric. Then cut out your motifs.
Actually I had planned to sew the letters directly onto the red fabric. But after I put them on the fabric and walked a little further away, I could hardly see what was written there.
So I decided to buy the same fabric in white for a better contrast.
Here you can easily see how much the fabric shines.
I don’t think I’ve ever cursed as much when sewing as I have with this fabric. I had so much trouble applying it because the fabric was so slippery.
You can see it especially on the red berries. With any other fabric the circle or the outlines would have been perfect.
As always when I apply, I do not rely on the bondaweb, but always sew on each piece for safety. Otherwise it would be annoying if a piece got lost in the washing machine later.
It has taken ages to remove the Bondaweb on the back of the white fabric so that I can iron it onto the red
Now the motif can be ironed onto the red fabric. Then sew the outline again as usual
My Christmas tree skirt has a diameter of 35 inches.
So you can calculate how long the ribbon for the edging must be. I used the same fabric for the backside.
Here are photos how to extend such a ribbon! Lay the ribbon like on the photo and sew as you can see the pin.
I wanted the border more three-dimensional. Therefore I have a cord (it is a coincidence that this is gold. It just had the thickness I wanted) and sewed it into the ribbon.
I sewed it with red thread so that I could see better later where to sew it on my Christmas tree skirt.
Now sew the ribbon onto the red fabric. Then cut around the edges. IMPORTANT: only cut the golden ribbon, not the red fabric
Now pin the back of the Christmas tree skirt with pins. But sew on the red side, because you can see the seam where I sewed the ribbon on. You have to leave a piece open, so that you can turn the whole thing around afterwards!
Close there after turning. It doesn’t look so good here, because I wanted to have the skirt ready that day and it’s just faster with a sewing machine than doing invisible stitches with my hand.
Here you can see how the ribbon looks like at the end. I definitely like it better as if it was flat
And now the finished Christmas tree skirt. I like it. Maybe that would be an idea for myself, too. But I still don’t have very good memories of it because of the slippery fabric. Although the result is worth it hihi
In retrospect, I would set the motif a little further towards the edge.
But whatever. Mrs. H. can decide which side she wants, the one with the motif or the plain gold side.
❤ ❤ ❤