Paddington and me...

... are going to Great Britain!
For two weeks on a teacher exchange to Scotland!
I'm so proud of the bag I made from the curtains I bought at the flea market in England. The pattern is taken from "The Bag Making Bible" by Lisa Liam - a great book!!!

Paddington Bear  on the back of the bag

The front with a large pocket

You can definitely fit a lot of things in the bag -
perfect for a weekend trip or as a carry on on the plane

Face of summer...

...or a face of autumn?!

I found this little creature today among my flowers on the table - I'm not sure what he is trying to tell me. Is he part of the summer that is supposed to be here, or did he come with the rain and cold weather?? 


I'll try to find out!!

Summer in a bag

The last weekend felt more like fall than summer - cold, grey and wet. So I decided to fight the sad weather by finally taking on the Cosmo Bag from Amy Butler. It  took me the whole weekend - but I finished, and now I feel like summer wherever I go...

I love how the bag has turned out - very summery!

I divided the inside pockets, so I now have four - and already packed the most important accessory this summer - my umbrella! 

It's my turn / Endlich eine Tasche für MICH

My Reversible Shopper by Amy Butler - I added the little side pocket (it used to be a little pocket on the apron as well).

Ok, I have the bag-fever right now, as my hubby pointed out. I have done a number of bags from the Amy Butler book - but now it's my turn... I made a great and easy shopper for myself. I used IKEA and vintage fabric - actually it was an old kitchen apron from my grandma - that I found in the dress-up clothes box (Faschingskostümkiste) in the basement. I love the pattern and the colours. And now I love the bag. Used it a lot on our trip to England - as a shopper and a beach bag!

The bag is huge - I could almost fit my dog in (I don't think she would like it ;o)


These are the other two shoppers I have made:

The reversible side.

A farewell present for our help Elena at school (all the kids drew pictures on the inside fabric).

The shopper for my mother-in-law.

England-trip fabric treasures

We are back from a lovely two week trip to Dorset, the south of England. We had great weather, a great campground on a beautiful little beach, found some nice fossils on the beach and took our time to do a lot of reading and relaxing. AND shopping - especially at all the charity shops and flea markets we passed. These are the fabric treasures I found...

Two vintage curtains - I just LOVE the Paddington Bear fabric!!

Three pieces of home dec fabric - two from Cath Kidston (very dangerous store!!)

Handmade Gift Exchange

For the second time I have participated in the Handmade Gift Exchange, hosted by Linda at  craftaholicsanonymous.net .
And this time I not only send off a gift - I also received one!!!! My partner was lovely Nicole from Belgium. I made for her a little summer bag, some flower pins and some sock animals for her kids. Because she told me she does a lot of flower arranging I also send her two embossed stones.

The gifts I sent to Nicole...

a little bag and some flower pins...

embossed stones which I found on a beach in Wales...

and the sock-animal gang.

Finally I can show you...

... the finished DearAnna-Bag!

The finished bag.

I found an old blouse at the thrift store - the flowers and the colours were ideal for the lining.

I had to enlarge the bag to fit in books - now even the pattern book fits easily!

At first I wasn't sure about the button - but it needed something...and now Anna loves it, so I'm good!