Last minute presents

I made a few Christmas trees, and 2 fabric bowls for last minute quick presents for some friends yesterday. I found the pattern for the bowl in the Gumtree blog.

The little bag was partly made by my younger son aged 8, for his class mate as a Christmas present. He stitched the name on a label, and I sewed the label on a little bag along with a few buttons he chose for Emese, the little girl he was to surprise on their last day at school before Christmas. I think he did very well! I am proud of him.

Tegnap csináltam néhány gyors meglepetést pár barátnak, a tányérka mintáját a Gumtree blogon találtam.

A kis szütyő pedig Döme fiam (8 éves) karácsonyi ajándéka az osztálytársának, akit húzott a kalapból titkos ajándékozásra. Ő hímezte ki a nevet, én meg felvarrtam a címkét a szütyőre, néhány általa választott gombbal egyetemben. Szerintem nagyon ügyes kisfiam van. :-)

I don't believe it!

I finished my Christmas table runner. You might ask me how? Well, after I took my machine for repair and it still didn't work, I asked the mechanic to come to my house to see the problem here. He came and win, and told me to turn the stitch length button to zero, and then my lower feed dogs will not move the fabric and I can move the darn thing under the stippling foot. Now, this little thing was not mentioned in my manual, believe me, I checked it a few times... I used to cover the lower feed dogs with a little plastic thing when stippling, but for some reason this didn't work this time, it was to tight to move the runner between the foot and the plastic cover.

Anyhow, the mechanic left, I stippled the runner in about 20 minutes, and finished the binding in the evening as a way to calm myself after my daughter's really awful behaviour at their Christmas party at kindergarten. And voila, here is my long awaited Christmas runner!

Befejeztem a karácsonyi terítőmet. Hogy hogyan? Kihívtam a szerelőt, mert miután hazahoztam tőle a gépet, továbbra sem tudtam kukacolni vele. Kijött, megnézte mit akarok csinálni, és kiderült, hogy ha az öltéshosszt nullára állítom, akkor az alsó anyagtovábbító nem viszi az anyagot, azaz mozgathatom én a munkadarabot a talp alatt. Ezt persze nem írták le az amúgy is roppant hiányos és vacak fénymásolt használati utasításban, ami a géphez volt, ez olyan jellemző.... Eddig egy takarólappal takartam az anyagtovábbítót, és úgy kukacoltam, de valami miatt most így annyira szoros volt a kukacoló talp és a takarótalp közötti hely, hogy nem működött a dolog. Pedig ez egy vékony béléssel ellátott darab, nem értem a dolgot...

Mindenesetre a szerelő elment és 20 perc alatt befejeztem a kukacolást, este pedig a szélét is felvarrtam, hogy lenyugtassam magam a lányom kritikán aluli viselkedése miatt a karácsonyi szereplésén... És íme, a karácsonyi terítőm!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I am so miserable, I cannot use my sewing machine as it has its own mind and doesn't want to stipple. Maybe if I got lucky and receive one (or both?) of these

I would be a bit happier. A lot happier, in fact :-)
I was a real good girl all through the year, so please pick me!
Thanks!

Játék, hátha nyerek :-)

MIA

I am not completely lost, just MIA. Lots of work, lots to do before Christmas, lots of learning with my eldest, and my sewing machine is not happy, thus I am not happy. I had it repaired and it still doesn't want to stipple, I am seriously thinking of buying a new and better machine in the not so very far future... I had an unhappy try with basting spray while doing a Christmas runner, now I am back to the good old security pins... and the runner is still not finished. Life happens...

Nem tűntem el, csak sokat dolgozom, sokat tanulok a Naggyal, sok a tennivaló, és elromlott a varrógépem. Megcsináltattam, de még mindig nem akar kukacolni, nagyon érik egy új és jobb gép vásárlása... Kipróbáltam a ragasztóspray-t, teljesen sikertelen voltam, így most a jó öreg biztosítótűs módszerrel rögzítettem a karácsonyi terítőt, amit csinálok, de még nincs kész... Zajlik az élet...

Another wallhanging

I made a second wallhaging. While I love the first one too, stitching this one I took Jenny of Elefantz's advice of taking my time to stitch and enjoying the process, and the result is even better than the first one. I am very proud of my even small stitches! :-)

Ismét megvarrtam a kis faliképet. Az első példány is tetszik, de most lassabban, jobban odafigyelve varrtam, megfogadva Jenny tanácsát, és az eredmény sokkal szebb. Roppant büszke vagyok magamra! :-)

Wallhanging

I finished my little wallhanging from 'Among the Gum Trees". I changed the writing, it is in Hungarian saying Merry Christmas. It was such fun to stitch this, and I made it for a friend, and now I am thinking of doing another one for another friend.
Instead of the recommended gold beads, I made French knots, firstly because I preferred to, secondly because I learned at last how to make them. I never really understood the technique of it, until I found a great tutorial, and now I want to make them everywhere :-)

Befejeztem a faliképemet. Kisebb változtatások vannak rajta, mint pl. magyarul írtam a szöveget :-), és a gyöngyök helyett francia csomó (vagy hogy híjják ezt magyarul???) került a helyükre. Sokáig nem sikerült nekem ez a fajta öltés, de most találtam egy remek videót, és azóta olyan egyszerű, akár az egyszeregy :-)
Lehet, hogy csinálok még egy ilyet, ez egy barátnőmé lesz, de van még egy jelöltem, aki kaphatna ilyet...

Daily life

Okay, so it is not always sewing, sometimes it is reading about the life of sewing friends from all over the world. I joined ParkCityGirl's game, it is fun to read how other people spend their days, I always loved hearing little details of other lives. You might call me curious :-)

Here is my day. Actually, I don't have the same timetable for everyday, my routine depends on what day it is.

6.30
I get up, make breakfast and snacks for the boys for school, we have breakfast together, I help Emma to get ready, the boys do all these by themselves, and at 7.15 my husband leaves with the kids. I collapse, take a big breath, then clean up the kitchen, and prepare myself for the day.

8.00
I sit down at he computer. I check my letters, blogs, forums, than if I have work, I start translating around 9.00. If I have nothing to translate, then I try to do some sewing. I work/sew until lunch, occasionally stopping to have a cup of coffee or tea, to check the incoming mail, to load/unload the washmachine or the drier, or both, to cook something quick.

On Mondays I also do some cleaning, if it is not the cleaning lady's Monday, when she comes and does a throughout cleaning. At 8.45 I am at the swimming pool, as my daughter goes there for her swimming lesson with her kindergarten group, and she expects me there to dry her hair. In fact the teacher also asked my to do this and being a SAHM, I couldn't say no.
If it is Tuesday or Thursday, I also go to the gym from 10.00-11.00, and do the shopping, or run errands on my way home.

1.00
I have lunch. My elder son comes home at 13.15, I help him with his homework if he requires, or do some more translating if needed.

15-15.30 depending on the day
I start my shift at my "Children Transportation Service". Jacob (my eldest) have water polo training 4 times a week, Döme (my younger son) has football 4 times a week, and quitar once a week. I usually take Jacob to the pool first, then pick up Emma from kindergarten, then Dome from school and head home. Then we have some time to have a snack, or finish homework, before taking Döme to football at 17.30.

On Tuesdays, I pick up my younger son from school after lunch, have him practise for his quitar lesson. I take him to his lesson at 14.15, pick him up at 15.15, while I also drop my older son at the swimming pool for his water polo training. On our way home, we pick up little Emma from kindergarten, then I help my younger son with his homework, before taking him to his football training at 17.30.

On Mondays and Fridays I also bring home from the swimming pool my best friend's son, and we watch him while his parents come to pick him up around 6.30-ish. Tuesdays and Thursday my friend brings home my son from the swimming pool in exchange.

18.30
Either I or my husband picks up Döme from football.

18.45
We have supper, then it's bathtime for the kids, story-time (yes, we do read to the 11- and 8-years-olds too :-)

20.30
The kids go to sleep. We collapse. And this is when I start sewing in front of the telly. I do hand sewing there. When I want to machine sew, I go to my sewing room in the downtairs sewing room/guest room during the day on weekdays, and after lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, while Emma naps, and my husband and sons watch some tv programme as a rest.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it? It IS confusing, no wonder that there were one shameful afternoon, when I forgot to pick Döme up from football, but luckily SuperDad of a friend brought him home when he realised that no-one was coming to pick the poor kid up... :-(

But usually I am doing all right and everyone is where s/he should be when s/he should be there.