good friday

Good Friday.

One thing is certain.
Easter weekend will be completely different this year.

No Easter brunches with family and friends, no restaurant or terrace visit, no trips...

We are blessed with a garden and being able to go outside.
The weather has been amazing for weeks now.

The sky is beautiful, crystal clear and clean air.
The stars shine brighter in the sky at night, like never before.

Nature helps us through this uncertain time.

Just before dinner we walked for only half an hour in the polder near our house. We enjoyed the beauty of nature to the fullest.

Happy Easter to you all!

And take care, stay safe and stay home (at least for 23½ hours a day)!

painting a palette

Work in progress.

I'm painting a simple color block canvas for our new bedroom. Using the colors from Marrakech, Majorelle blue and moroccan pink. I don't have that many colors in stock, so I have to mix colors and use my imagination to fill in the remaining white blocks.

Haven't been paiting on canvas for ages, but it was great fun to work in the backyard with an improvised easel. Being creative helps me to spend these weeks in a positive way and I'm beginning to 'appreciate' the time for new projects.

I am already quite satisfied with the result so far and will finish the canvas tomorrow.

spring cleaning

Being homebound for the upcoming weeks, is bringing me also in a major spring cleaning mood.

You all know me a bit, i get bored of the same old look so i like to change things up now and then. I took spring cleaning to another level.

So I ordered some lilac fabric paint to re-use one of our 'boring' white duvet covers. I think this could be a cool combination with the moroccan pink panelled wall behind our bed in the new bedroom.

So I dyed the duvet cover and pillow cases in the washing machine. Exicting experiment.

I was curious about the result of the lilac color as it is quite a large piece of fabric, so I watched the washing program for the first 5 minutes.

Mission lilac was successful.

I will paint the wooden floor tomorrow. The white paint can dry for a few days and after the weekend we can continue with the best part, decorating our new bedroom.

and Minne called me Laa-Laa yesterday, because my outfit reminded him of the yellow teletubby...

moroccan pink is making a comeback

While we’re quarantined, we planned to move from our cozy attic bedroom to Minne's bedroom, the master bedroom.

It is the largest and lightest bedroom in our house.

When we moved in our house in 2004, Minne & Pippa both chose the larger rooms on the first floor and we liked the cozy attic bedroom.

Minne found his own apartment just before the whole corona crisis started overhere.
Our plan was to slowly try out if we maybe should move to the first floor and sleep some nights in Minne's room to test it.

However we already knew it right away, when the room was almost empty. Let's go for the spacious room and let's use the quarantine period to create a new beautiful master bedroom. We have plenty of time...

We are very attached to the blue & white wooden panels behind our bed. Once they were beachhouse doors. Those vintage doors will stay in the attic, which will be our future guest room.

So time to get started, a creative #stayhome challenge!

We started with a panelled wall behind our bed, this to approach the atmosphere of the headboard in our current attic bedroom.

Furthermore, we will both choose our own bedside table and table lamp. We thought it would be a nice idea, to seperately and secretly choose 'our side of the bed'. So it will be a surprise what will come in front of the panelled wall.

The world map wall painting made by Henk in 2004, will stay and the other furniture in the room we will 'shop from our stock'.

The Moroccan pink on the wall is making a comeback. This color once adorned our kitchen, still love it!

The wooden floor needs to be painted and we are not in a hurry at all. Hence, for the time being we will still sleep on the attic.

PS: the paint was not completely dry when I took the photos and the moroccan pink actually is even prettier now!

diagonally striped mittens - crochet pattern

What a year this week has been.

We are all in the same #stayhome situation and I will not elaborate on it now.

As a matter of fact, I did not really find time to crochet much, but I did a lot of things in the house and garden.

Due to this whole quarantine challenge many unfinished projects and piled up mess are finally tackled. No rush, because we seem have lots of time all of a sudden.

As promised, I wrote and worked out the crochet pattern for the diagonally striped fingerless mittens. The pattern is now for € 1,00 available in my ETSY SHOP in Dutch and English version.

The proceeds of the pattern sale will be donated to a corona fund, just like all other patterns in the shop.

I would like to thank everyone for the many enthusiastic purchases of cocooning craft patterns. I hope you all amuse yourself while crafting and the crochet- and knitting pattern are helpful to prevent boredom.

And well spring has started, time for mittens is almost over. Who cares? You can also use the pattern to make a sunglass or phone cover. Use your imagination...

Stay home and stay positive!

Xx
Ingrid

creative cocooning - all patterns 1 euro

Creative cocooning without cinema, concerts, school, sports, work etc.

Try to stay at home if you can for a while.
It’s an unforeseeable period and we have to deal with it. A new way of life.
And try to spend the days indoors by entertaining yourself with things you never find time for and stay positive.

Being creative can help you to spend your days indoors. Crafting can be very meditative.
Staying at home and not only watch tv, Netflix or read books and magazines, but strive to be creative and experience the calming effect of crochet and knitting.

Many of you might have plenty of yarn in da house to start a new project. Furthermore you can download patterns you can make with yarn leftovers, in case you don't have that much stock.

All crochet- and knitting patterns in my ETSY SHOP are € 1,00 now.

You can find 25 patterns, most crochet but also knitting, smaller and larger projects, for beginners and advanced.

I will donate the proceeds from the Etsy orders to a Corona fund.

We are in this together.

Take care.

Xx
Ingrid

PS: I haven't worked out the above project yet, it's my current project - diagonally striped mittens - however I will try my best to write the pattern soon.

slow fashion & sustainable souvenirs

Even before the term 'slow fashion' existed, I was already acting this way.

I always preferred original, beautiful and quality fashion to enjoy in a responsible and sustainable way.

Developing a personal, timeless style, is essential to avoid getting sucked into the madness of chasing after the latest trends.

Many items of my clothes- and shoes collection I already have for years, sometimes more than 20 years.

Although some of you might see me as 'Imelda Marcos', in reality it is not that excessive.

The same rule as it comes to interior objects. I try to follow the sustainable style, by buying for example timeless interior souvenirs.

Fashion fades, style is eternal - Yves Saint Laurent

Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality not quantity. - Vivienne Westwood