Like a cursed princess

A while ago I stitched this card for a friends birth day. It is not a classical bday card of course but I came across this design in one of my Cross Stitching Card Shop magazines when I was searching for a nice card for her. Stitching on dark Aida is quite a nice experience as it looks so neat and nice.

Feeling "home"

When I came home yesterday a huge parcel was waiting outside my door. First I wasn't even sure what I've ordered.... I ordered quite some Christmas presents these last days but thought that I've got all of them. Well, once I looked at the box a bit closer I obviousely remembered what it was. My Britshop-order. It is very hard to come upon British food in Switzerland. The English Book Shop (Orell Füssli) sells some things, but not much. And, as I discovered this week, Coop too, though only a very limited range (Marmite - yuk! - some crackers, tea, apple sauce, mint sauce, custard and some marmelade and cutneys)

Last week I decided to try out the Brit-Shop. Delivery charges are quite high, but well... If you order only once in a while it is ok. And they were very quick, I ordered on Sunday, payed by credit card and got it all on Wednesday. So I can higly recommend it!

So there is only one British thing I really miss... Pret à Manger... Well, and Boots... And Monsoon.... And Sainsburys chocolat chip chookies....

Christmas crackers (the fill-your-own ones) * Christmas cards (wasn't able to resist...) * Kettle Chips Mature Cheddar and Red Pepper * Walkers Salt & Vinegar * Coleman mustard powder

How to upgrade a High Street brand winter coat.

I bought my winter coat last year at C&A and really love it. I love the tweed, I love the wide collar and I love the belt. But when I had to fix some lose buttons  I decided that it needed a bit of an upgrade. So I spent a happy hour yesterday evening with my sewing box, trying to find ways how to decorate it a bit.

You need: Your winter coat. Two hairclips with flower. Ribbon. 1 plastic (or wood, or glass or whatever) pearl for each button. Sewing supplies like thread,  needles, pins, scissors

I bought some plastic pearls a while ago at the Christmas department of a furniture shop. I applied one to every button. I just sewed the button on and then as last step before securing the thread I sewed the pearl on. I guess it would also look great with a small button applied on top of the normal one.

The sleeves also had a button on it, which I think is quite useless. I removed the button, fixed the fabric with some stitches - quite easy on tweed as it is almost invisible. Good for somebody who isn't able to sew neat and nice... - and then fixed two hairclips with flower to the buttonholes.

As I was already on it I removed the belt loops which were only thick thread. I found some black ribbon and formed it to two loops about the size the original belt loops had. Then just sewed them back in place - I marked the place where the original loops were with a pin before I removed them so that I knew where to place the new ones. I did the same with the buttons - and put the belt back into them. Done.

 Sleeve before

 Sleeve and buttons afterwards

 The button loop before...

... and after

Sorry for the bad quality pictures, light was bad, I wasn't in the mood for testing and trying how to get better pictures, so I just took some while I worked and here they are.

Dior 677 Rose Flamboyant Blazing Pink

A while ago I told you about my beloved Dior Red Royality I bought in New York. Last week I used his little brother, the Rose Flamboyant for the first time in quite a while. I really like the colour, it is pink but not too pink, a fresh colour but not too much. Just the right thing to brighten up a dark and foggy autumn day. I wore it with a matt top coat, which I think makes bright colours much more elegant.

Sunday again

*seen* Downton Abbey. Phineas and Ferb. Pixiwoo. Guess who's coming to dinner. *heard*Virginia Plain (Roxy Music). The violine piece from A novel in the viola. *read* The hat shop on the corner. *done* Stitched like crazy. Was lazy and did nothing at all beside stitching. *eaten* Homemade brownies. A stew I haven't had for ages. Carott soup. *drank* A lot coffee. Gingerbread latte. *thought* that Christmas is coming closer and I'm not in a christmas mood. *been glad* when the weekend came. *been annoyed* about my shyness. *bought* Mr Chartwell. "London weather forecast" nail polish. *Clicked* a lot pages with crafting ideas.

 Zurich about two weeks ago when my bestie and me had dinner in town

Bento

A while ago I decided that I "need" a bento box. But as soon I had it I realized that it is too small to carry my lunch... Amd as I'm normally just taking left over dinner with me I put it into good old Tupper again.... And the nice bento box ended up somewhere in my cupboard. Till I found it yesterday evening.... As it happens I have some stuff like nuts and dried apricots to use up as they're coming close to their best-before-date. So I decided to start taking my snacks with me in a bento box. These are the boxes of the last two days.

 Top: Clementines. Bottom: dried apricots, walnut, ginger bread, chocolate 

Top: Clementines Bottom: Quark with lemon curd, 2 oatmeal cookies, dried apricots and bananas