Look at this adorable owl. I found this pattern on pinterest - quite similar to the pattern of the bear and hippo of Heidi Bears. Next on my to do list - absolutely lovely!

It's great summer weather in the Netherlands, finally! Time to get some colourful crochet started. I came by the beautiful blog of crochet for the home. There are some very pretty and inspiring photo's on this blog. When I was scrolling down I found this mandala pattern. And I couldn't wait any longer - my first mandala was on it's way. Here it is!

This was a very good first attempt, and I will probably make some more :)

Do you have a nice mandala pattern to share? Let me know.

Have a great week!

xx Anne-Marie

An almost finished crochet work in progress. This is a giant doily rug using Zpaghetti yarn (t-shirt yarn).

The pattern I am using is this one by Creative Jewish Mom. I think the rug only needs three or four more rows before it's finished. Yay!

Two months ago I bought Burda magazine. Usually I make my own patterns, but I always love Burda for the patterns, ideas and styling that they have. There is also a Dutch pattern and sewing magazine, but it is a bit old fashioned, sizes are usually a bit too big and the styling is not as good as Burda's. So I fell for the June version of Burda, which had this little tube dress in it.

I love the neckline and the gathered part in the middle & bottom part of the dress.

So let's start!

For my version of the dress I chose a jersey in brown/green. I first put the pattern on the fabric. It is a really long pattern as almost the whole dress is gathered from the neckline to the bottom.

After cutting the fabric and gathering the front and back pattern pieces, I put it on my mannequin. Voilà!

Almost done. I stitched the front and back together and attached the hem to the lining.

And here is the end result! I really like how it turned out. It is a bit on the small/ tight side so I have to pick a skinny day to put it on.

What have you been working on lately?

Xx Anne-Marie

After creating the baby boots (here and here) it is nice to get pictures of the babies actually wearing them : )

The first baby to try my shoes is little Vesper (yes, she is named after the Bond girl :) Vesper got to try two versions as the first pair was too small already. I adjusted the pattern to make the shoes longer. Now I can make baby shoes for new born babies as well as three month old babies.

Next one to try my larger version is Olivier, with shoes in white with a blue flower. Don't they look cute on those tiny feet?

Have a great day!

Xx Anne-Marie

I ordered some lovely new yarn, as you can never have enough yarn.

And, I still had a number of mason jars, so I could start on a new set of candle light holders. Yay!

All the crochet covers have a slightly different pattern. If you look really close you might spot the differences.

I just love these kind of projects, easy and quick to make, with instant results. Lots more to follow :)

Xx Anne-Marie

After making my first two pairs of baby Mary Janes I have created loads more. It seemed that lots of my friends are getting pregnant or are delivering babies to the world, so new baby boots needed to be added to my stash urgently.

This first pair in white and blue was for Olivier, a baby boy.

The next pair is again for a baby boy, named Pako, of a colleague of mine.

The next one is for my friend Mar at the sewing café (Naaicafe) in Rotterdam. The pair is for her new grandchild. As I didn't know if it was a girl or a boy I kept the colours quite neutral in white with a green touch. Mar was very happy with it :)

The last pair is again for a colleague of mine who went on maternity leave last week. As you can see she is expecting a girl :) This is a new version of the Mary Jane with a strap in the back instead of the front. In this way the shoes won't come of the little feet that easily.

Which version do you like best? The ones with the strap in the front or in the back?

Have a great day!

Xx Anne-Marie

I have been pinning a lot of crochet projects lately. So it was about time to actually start on a crochet project instead of only pinning them ;) So I decided to make these nice candle light holders from mason jars. They make a nice gift and they are very easy and quick to make. So I am planning to make a lot more - just need enough empty mason jars :)

This is the third set of coasters in blue and grey. See my previous posts on coasters here and here. I will start on something new this week, have seen some nice projects on pinterest like this owl for instance. Soooo looking forward to start on that one! What have you been working on lately?

Xx Anne-Marie