Travel tip: 40 years of Playmobil exhibition in Speyer / Ausflugstipp: 40 Jahre Playmobil Ausstellung in Speyer

One thing that you might not know about me is that I'm a big playmobil fan. I don't really remember when I started to play with playmobil. I have two older sisters so I guess that I at some point just started to play with their stuff. There wasn't that one present that started it. However, while my sisters liked playmobil, I LOVED it. I played with it all my childhood. There was nothing else that I asked for when my birthday or christmas was approaching. I saved big parts of my pocket money to spend on these fabulous toys. My whole room was full of little playmobil children and I got really angry when someone from my family would move them. When we were on holidays or just went to a restaurant I always took some figures with me and then played. I was in my own world and didn't even hear people talk to me. At home it wasn't enough to just call my name when dinner was ready. They had to actually touch me to break the magic and call me back to the normal world. Playmobil really was my happy place until puberty set in and I sadly lost the ability to live in my own play world. I did however never loose my love for playmobil in general. I didn't play with it anymore, but I collected all the catalogues from the 80s till today. I love to flip through the newest one and to see the new creations, the revivals of some old themes, etc. My parents have kept most of my playmobil through all those years and I'm now revealing it step by step to my daughter. I'm really curious whether she will once be a similarily passionate playmobil player as I was.

Eine Sache die ihr noch nicht über mich wisst, ist dass ich ein sehr großer playmobil Fan bin. Ich kann gar nicht sagen wann ich anfing playmobil zu spielen. Da ich zwei große Schwestern hab, gab's Playmobil wohl eh schon immer bei uns. Das eine Geschenk mit dem alles begann, gab's nicht. Während jedoch meine Schwestern Playmobil ganz gern mochten, hab ich es regelrecht geliebt. Ich hab mir zu jedem Geburtstag und Weihnachten Playmobil gewünscht und auch große Teile meines Taschengelds darin angelegt. Mein ganzes Zimmer war eine einzige Playmobillandschaft und wehe, jemand hat da was umgeworfen. Wenn wir im Urlaub oder auch nur wo zum Essen waren, hatte ich immer ein paar Figuren dabei und spielte damit. Ich war in meiner eigenen Welt und hörte nicht mal wenn jemand was zu mir sagte. Auch zu Hause reichte es nicht wenn man mich zu Essen rief. Es musste jemand kommen und mich anstupfen, damit die Magie durchbrochen wurde und ich in die normale Welt zurück kehrte. Playmobil war sozusagen mein happy place bis ich in die Pubertät kam und leider die Fähigkeit in meiner eigenen Welt zu leben großteils verlor. Playmobil fand ich jedoch auch weiterhin toll. Ich spielte nicht mehr damit, aber ich sammelte alle Kataloge seit den 80er Jahren bis heute. Ich liebe es durch den neuesten zu blättern und neue Welten oder die revivals von alten zu entdecken. Meine Eltern haben mein ganzes Playmobil aufgehoben und so kann ich das nun langsam Stück für Stück meiner Tochter zum Entdecken geben. Ich bin sehr gespannt, ob sie eine genauso begeisterte Playmobilspielerin wird wie ich.

Sew fantastic blogs: Straight Grain

I'm so happy to have An from Straight Grain today. An not only sews the most beautiful garments for her sweet daughters, but she also sells her own patterns (different dress patterns and a sleepsack) which are full of different options and just oh so perfect. She has a ton of tutorials on her blog and also contributes to both the birch fabrics blog and the Miss Matatabi blog. This doesn't come as a surprise as her fabric taste is impeccable and her clothes always have that little twist that takes them from just a dress to WOW. An also hosted two amazing and inspiring sewing series: Kids Clothes Belgian Style and Secret Squirrel. And last, but definitely not least: She is a super nice and friendly woman that I hope to get to know better in the future.

Here are some of my favorites.

Birthday dress and crown, Bean Bag, Bubble Dress with improvisational pleating

The Näh-Connection Blog Hop

Dirndl and Staple Dress

Louise from Thread Carefully invited me to take part in a blog hop. Do you remember her? She was my partner in the Spring Sewing Swap and she is this amazing talented dress making woman who sews like crazy ;) Thanks Louise for inviting me. I'm really happy that you chose me and my little blog.

Louise vom Blog Thread Carefully hat mich eingeladen an einer kleinen blogtour teilzunehmen. Könnt ihr euch noch an sie erinnern? Sie war mein Partner beim Spring Sewing Swap. Sie näht wahnsinnig tolle Kleider für sich und ihre Tochter! Danke, Louise, dass du mich eingeladen hast. Ich freu mich sehr, dass du dich für mich und meinen kleinen Blog entschieden hast.

Farm house museum Illerbeuren / Bauernhofmuseum Illerbeuren

 

So as promised yesterday, today I have a total picture overload for you. The pics were taken in the Farm house museum Illerbeuren which is just 10 minutes from where we live and one of our Go To Places for a short trip. 

Wie gestern versprochen, gibt's heute endlos viele Bilder für euch von unserem Besuch im Bauernhofmuseum Illerbeuren. Da das Museum nur 10 Minuten von uns entfernt ist, sind wir sehr oft dort.   

Thursday soulmate stitching: The Staple Dress (+ wieder mal RUMS)

Do you remember the sew fantastic blogs interview with Sophie from C'est la vie? And how I said that she seems to be my sewing and blogging soulmate? The last weeks I've been in contact with her almost daily. It all started with me asking her to translate the instructions for one garment out of this French sewing book for me. I won't tell you now which one, but you can be assured: It's a big project and I really hope to make someone happy with it. I sent Sophie a little present (some fabric) to say thank you for the time that she put into the translation. We then started to talk and realized that again we were both sewing the same thing at the same time: The Staple Dress by April Rhodes. While we wrote message after message I even more started to feel connected to Sophie. Again and again would she write exactly what I was going to say the next moment. 

Erinnert ihr euch noch an mein Sew fantastic blogs interview mit Sophie von C'est la vie? Und wie ich sagte, dass ich glaube, dass sie meine Näh- und Blogseelenverwandte ist. Die letzten Wochen waren wir fast täglich in Kontakt. Alles ging damit los, dass ich sie fragte ob sie für mich die Anleitung zu einem Kleidungsstück aus diesem französischen Nähbuch übersetzen kann. Ich sag euch noch nicht welches, aber ihr könnt mir glauben, dass es sich um ein großes Projekt dreht und um eines, das hoffentlich jemand glücklich macht. Ich hab Sophie ein kleines Dankeschöngeschenk (Stoffe, was sonst) geschickt für die viele Zeit die sie investiert hat. Darüber kamen wir ins Gespräch und merkten, dass wir mal wieder gerade das gleich nähten: Das Staple Dress von April Rhodes. Während wir so hin- und herschreibten, fühlte ich mich immer noch mehr mit ihr verbunden. Immer wieder hat sie genau das geschrieben, was ich gerade sagen bzw. schreiben wollte.

Sew fantastic blogs: Handmade by Brienne

Today's guest Brienne never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Her style is unique and cool and she definitely is the queen of layers and the flashback skinny tee. On her blog you will not only find fun, comfy and stylish kids clothes but also some beautiful garments that she has sewn for herself and of course the coolest bags ever. And as if that wasn't enough, she also knits everything from scarves to pullovers, stamps and paints her fabric and writes the most beautiful posts about her life with her husband, son and daughter. I'm so glad to get to know her even better today! Do you want to see some of my favorites from her blog?

Harlequin Skinnies, 3 layering pics, STYLO contribution

The Lil Luxe Collection Alley Cat Romper (+ a giveaway)

 
Recently I was lucky enough to be chosen for another pattern test. This time by Jessica from Lil Luxe Collection for her Alley Cat Romper which features a really unique design with a snug bodice and a flowing wide body.

Vor kurzem hatte ich wieder Gelegenheit einen Schnitt probezunähen. Diesmal für Jessica von Lil Luxe Collection und zwar ihren Alley Cat Romper, dessen Design wirklich besonders und ungewöhnlich ist. Das Oberteil liegt sehr eng an während der untere Teil super weit und fließend ist.

Sew fantastic blogs - Max California

I'm especially happy to welcome today's guest, Ari from Max California: If I was to choose to follow only three blogs, her's would probably be the one that I would decide on first! Her style is completely different than mine. She is a total rock star while I'm just a plain normal person ;) Together with Kat from Sew Chibi she is doing a monthly series called Sew Geeky where they sew clothes from cartoons, mangas, movies etc that might be a bit geeky  - and that admittedly I mostly don't know at all (guess I'm not a geek? plus these characters maybe didn't show up as much in german tv?). Her sewing always is different, fun, creative, just "Max" and it really didn't surprise me that she won season 6 of Project Run and Play and was part of the first issue of STYLO. This girl is just the best... Here are some of my favorites (two of them are quite recent, but you really don't have to go far back in time to find something you like...):

Sew Geeky: Tank girl; Sew Geeky: Star Wars creatures; PR&P Signature Look

R sews: Drawstring bag / R näht: Turnbeutel

Today I have a little something for you that I totally forgot to blog about. My daughter R sewed this little drawstring bag with some help of me already some months ago. We use it every week when we go to the gym or sports ground to do all kinds of ball sports. The size is perfect for her sports shoes and a bottle with water. 

Heute hab ich einen kleinen Turnbeutel für euch, den meine Tochter R mit meiner Hilfe schon vor einigen Monaten genäht hat. Hab total vergessen ihn zu bloggen. Der Turnbeutel ist jede Woche im Einsatz wenn wir uns mit unserer Ballspielgruppe treffen. Die Größe ist genau richtig für ihre Turnschuhe und eine Wasserflasche. 

A new camera and a trip to sweden / Eine neue Kamera und ein Schwedenurlaub

 
Wow, it's already more than a week since we got back from our vacation in Sweden. And what an incredible and wonderful vacation it has been. When you are a regular reader of my blog you might have heared of my love both for Italy and for Scandinavia. So far we had only been to Norway, but as a super big fan of Astrid Lindgren and all her books, the movies, the songs, etc. I always knew that one day I wanted to visit Sweden (What you don't know Astrid Lindgren? Go to amazon right now and order some of her children books. They are the BEST). Also, our house here in Germany is an "import" from Sweden. We bougth it from a company here in Germany, but they ordered it right in Sweden and then the different pieces of our red beauty were built there and send to Germany on some big trucks.

Wow, jetzt sind wir schon wieder eine Woche aus unserem Urlaub in Schweden zurück. Ach es war einfach wunderschön. Wenn ihr meinen Blog öfter besucht, wisst ihr ja bereits dass ich sowohl Italien als auch Skandinavien liebe. Bisher waren wir zwar nur in Norwegen gewesen, aber als super großes Astrid Lindgren Fan, ihrer Bücher, Filme, Musik war klar dass ich auch mal nach Schweden möchte. Außerdem ist unser Haus ein Import aus Schweden. Wir haben es zwar bei einer deutschen Firma gekauft, aber die wiederum hat es aus Schweden importiert. Wurde also dort gebaut und dann die ganzen roten Wände auf große Laster gepackt und zu uns transportiert.

Knock it Off Series: Roberto Cavalli Parrot Shirt

What do you do when Heidi from Elegance and Elephants writes you an email to ask you if you are interested in taking part in her Knock it Off Series? Well, I no what I did: I screamed "YES" so loud that she could hear it all the way from Germany to Canada ;) To me the Knock it Off Series is one of the coolest that I've followed during the last years and I feel really honoured to take part this time! As soon as I knew that I would be part of it, I started to think about what I want to make. For quite some time I thought I would recreate one of the fantastic mini Boden applique t-shirts. However, during the last installments of the Knock it Off series many mini Boden clothes were used, plus these clothes aren't actually THAT expensive. I wouldn't buy my kids' whole wardrobe there, but if I really want that one tee, I can buy it. For the Knock it Off series I really wanted something unreasonably expensive if you know what I mean. So one day after work, I went to a big magazine store at Munich central station and bought (for the very first time) the VOGUE Kids magazine. I must say there is some really nice inspiration in there, but oh, is this stuff expensive!

Sew fantastic blogs: C'est la vie

Today I'm really happy that I'm able to introduce Sophie from C'est la vie to you. Sophie's blog is the one of this series that I know shortest (only since March). But when I saw her Knight Hoodie, I added her blog right to my reader. Since than I have had a growing friendship with this beautiful french woman and sometimes feel ike she is my sewing and blogging soulmate :) I simply love everything that she posts and she is one of my most frequent commenters as well. Plus when I comment on someone else's blog post, she often has already commented or will comment shortly after me :) We even had the same idea to combine the Mara blouse and the Coachella shorts (my version, her version). However, there's one thing about Sophie that I don't think I'll ever be: She's classy. I love what she sews for her kids, but when she sews for herself „stunning, beautiful and – classy“ always are the first words that come to my mind. Her style is fabulous (well, I guess french chic) and it thus, didn't come as a surprise to me when Meg made her a contributor for last KCW. So, here I have some of my favorites for you:

Knight Hoodie, Stepford Dress, Neon fawn lily