Lineanongrata

laundering money (Avent calendar giveaway, day 17)

I can explain this.

No really, I can. It's not at all what it looks like. I'm not money-laundering.

It was more like money-soaking.

I had forgotten that I put these twenty Euros in the vase in the hall one day, not knowing where else to put them but not wanting to leave them out in the open. 

A couple of days ago I decorated the flat for Christmas. Put pine branches in the vase, and in an enlightened moment - plants need water, right? - I poured water into the vase.

Turns out you can soak Euros for two days and neither does the color wash out nor does the paper loose it's nifty structure.

European quality, I tell you.

..........................

Tam, you won yesterday's advent gift. Would you please send me an email and tell me your address so I can send it on it's way?

For everyone who's new to the Lineanongrata blog: We have an ongoing celebration of Advent until the 24th of December. Every day one of you readers wins a small gift. If you'd like to participate, just leave a comment on each post until the 24th of December and you'll automatically enter the draw.

A ridiculous but short post about home bliss (the advent calendar giveaway, day 15)

For years I've thought that decorating your home for the holidays (Christmas or Easter, you name it) is for girls (it isn't mentioned in the kickboxer's manual to tomboy-ism, for example). Because really, the holidays only last for a couple of weeks (why aren't they called Holiweeks, or even Hollyweeks?) and you have to a) find the decorations in the basement, dig them out, dust them, find a place for them, find a vase for the entire arrangement... and then b), once the holidays are over, take them down, put them neatly into a box (because otherwise you won't find them next year in that croweded basement), hide them in the basement (because if you didn't, where would be the fun in searching for them next year?), and all that just for a couple fo weeks! A lot of effort for a couple of baubles, I thought.

This year though, being much better organized than last year (probably because I have invested in a dishwasher and an automatic vacuum cleaner) I have found myself with at least ten free minutes to spare. And I thought 'Wow, what now?!' So I went to the basement and...

You know what? I've found that a) is really worth it. Because even though I only run by my Christmas-bauble arrangement all day in great haste (and it lives in a water jug intended for large batches of punch), it still reminds me that this is Advent, that Christmas is coming and that damn, in all that running around, between all those trips to the post office, all those emails, the Christmas cards, the whatever-else-comes-up, we should be happy.

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Chrissy, you won yesterday's advent gift (which makes me happy)! Would you please write me an email telling me your address so I can send it on it's way?

For everyone who's new to the Lineanongrata blog: We have an ongoing celebration of Advent until the 24th of December. Every day one of you readers wins a small gift. If you'd like to participate, just leave a comment on each post until the 24th of December and you'll automatically enter the draw.

(hoping for a) quiet moment

What do you do when every possible surface in ones apartment

- and I do repeat: every possible surface - is covered in things to print, glue, make or finish?

Well, you weave a way between your kitchen and your sofa, sit down with a beer,

knit quietly and silently, fervently, pray that it may pass until next you sneak a look.

five minute kitchen makeover (washi tape frenzy)

Spring is a bit grey around here at the moment, although some rain is probably a good thing for all the growing green things out there.

But although I'm green at heart, I'm not green on the outside and I stopped growing when I was in my early twenties. Or maybe when I was around fifteen. I can't remember the day.

And although I still appreciate a good splashing leap into a puddle, I prefer to do it in sunshine. And maybe clad in a bathing suit, now that I think about it. Possibly barefoot, too. And if maybe my little sister could stand right beside that puddle and get splashed, that would make it about perfect.

As sunshine isn't forthcoming at the moment, I made my own. Or at least something equivalent that makes me smile every time I look at it.

Have you heard of Washi tape? It's sticky, beautiful, exists in a variety of colors and patterns, comes off the wallpaper without leaving any trace... it's like sunshine for your home.

There are many many things you can do with Washi tape. For more inspiration have a look at the hostessblog or greenteadesign.

If you feel you need some of that tape, too, you might want to have a look here and here.

There are a number of online shops that sell Washi tape. Cutetape is one example, happytape another, but there are tons of other ones, too.

Happy decorating everybody!

iPhatuation

The reason why I can't blog regularly is my new infatuation.

No, really. It is.

I mean, who in his or her right mind can own an iPhone and do anything but iphone all day long?

So many things to do, so many Apps to buy, my friends.

...I'm kidding.

Ok. I'm half kidding.

But I do wish you all a good weekend.

Next week I'll tell you about everything I did these last weeks. Including a good story from my new teaching job.

Many a night

Quietly at night, I cut and stitched and cut some more. For weeks in January.

In February I swore when it came to handling 2,50 x 2,50 meters of cotton batting,

I swore when I had to iron 2,50 x 2,50 meters of cotton fabric

and I swore when I had to put about tenthousandthreehundred (estimated) safety pins into a 2,50 x 2,50 meters cotton-batting-cotton sandwich.

Where are the houseelves when you need them?!

But I loved when it all came together. In the first quilt I've ever made for myself.

(It's the wedding quilt from the Purlbee)

Paaaaarty (Advent calendar giveaway, day 15)

Don't believe anyone who tells you we Germans don't know how to celebrate.

Yesterday, in celebration of my success at the Christmas Craft fair I went out and got myself a celebratory vacuum cleaner.

Maybe tomorrow, in celebration of a good night's rest I'll get some really funny humor back.

There's always hope.

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Jessica, you won yesterday's Advent gift. Will you send me an email telling me your address?

For those of you who haven't yet participated in the Advent calendar giveaway, just leave a comment on each day's post and you enter the draw automatically.

...

For the rest of you: Your comments make my day. I read every one of them, poking my head out of utter chaos and smiling. Thank you.

tomorrow is another day

A whole day of drawing and nothing to show for it. After a break I always have to start at zero all over again and it's the most frustrating thing in the entire world.

Of course I have an idea and of course I don't take small steps. That would be too boring, wouldn't it? To soothe myself step by small step until I reach where I have been before. Instead, I'm expecting one of those (very rare) moments of grace to take place. Right. Now. What? The Universe and all it's connections? Of course. I can draw that. In one day.

Humble? How do you spell that one?

You get the idea. This is what I have been all day. The pits.

Luckily, tomorrow is another day and we're all allowed to start over again. 

Fortunately for tonight, everything can be healed and a broken day might be fixed in the kitchen.

There is something so soothing about preparing food. Even now that I'm on my own and don't cook for an entire soccer team of winemakers anymore, cooking hasn't lost any of the sense it makes to me. It's not because I'm sick and can't eat just anything I want, either, I think. 

Maybe it has to do with the mechanic motions. Cleaning, cutting... the movements, always the same. The pride in transforming good ingredients into something else with almost no effort at all.

Maybe it's the kitchen itself. I can't remember how many nights we ended up in the kitchen, drunk or sober, numerous and all tangled in one big cozy pile on the floor, or just a few, going through the fridge late at night or early one morning. Sitting on counters, pacing, whatever the moment called for. I guess if you have an emotion to loose or one to acquire, the kitchen would be a good place for that.

cache-misère

'Cache-misère' must be one of my favorite french words. It literally means 'hide-misery' and I probably love it so much because it's a very accurate way to describe how I tidy up things: Put them all into something and then firmly close the door.

If the situation calls for it (too much weight pressing outwards, from inside the doors, for example), barricade said doors.

The downside is that I usually can't find what I'm looking for. On the upside, it's easier to clean when everything is off the floor and shelves.

Also, burglars sneaking in to look for things to steal will immediately conclude that there's nothing there and leave again. No harm done.

In the case of cache-misère shown above, they are handmade from the pattern for CD Holders in this Amy Butler book. The bathroom environment seemed to call for plastified fabric, which makes for rather stable boxes but is a little bit awkward to turn inside-out once you got the lining in place. It actually took quite some strength and even more patience.

Did I ever mention I'm better with strength than with patience? No? Well, here's a tip: Don't use too much strength on this project, or you might rip it apart. A bit. And then you'll have to start all over again.

Well, anyway. Hiding away all the bathroom misery also depends on height. Because if you're tall enough to look down on the boxes, you'll see everything I have hidden in there.

But exaggerated height (like anything above five foot five) has never been one of my problems.

well, what a start to 2010

Sorry folks, I blanked out again.

A happy new year to you all. Here's to a good one, regular blog posts, spring coming in, uhm let's see, three months, sewing, knitting, and a good time in general.

 

I still owe one last Advent gift to Glitzerkeks, if you would write me your address.

Things are a bit weird for me at the moment, as I try to settle in, organize my new space, get a handle on how to start my new career. That's why I needed some time off again. I hope I'll be able to post regularly from now on.

While braving some cold weather and a heap of snow, feeling utterly lost after so many years in France (where it is a bit less cold, I just have to admit), I did some comfort sewing. The quilt cover above should be turned into a finished quilt for one of my best friend's 30th birthday, which was in October. And Christmas, which was, as you all know, in December. So all right, I did it again. The 'I already started your gift, and you'll get it later' thing. But it didn't matter so much, because my friend was sick at Christmas in any event. She didn't realize her gift wasn't ready.

How clever of me. I'm proud.

There has also been some organizing, or at least an attempt at it. It's very much 'make do and mend', as I'm trying not to spend more money than absolutely necessary. Starting a new career as a full time illustrator makes for a careful spending policy.

So back to organizing: I did my best. But the place looks worse now than before I started. It's this particular talent I have. Starting more than three projects at a time will do that to your workspace.

In the good news department, there may be some prettily re-done chairs very soon. Along with two quilts, no, make that three, a heap of pin-back buttons, new postcards for the shop, and a couple of other new things.

2010, here I come.