Crafty Secret Santa Present

For the last two years the English Speakers of Karlsruhe or ESoK have done a Secret Santa party. It's nice to get together with as many of us as can make it once a year and share a bit of Christmas cheer. This year I was given the name of a fellow crafter and sewer so I decided to use a fabric remnant that I was given in Paris to make a fancy pin cushion jar for her. It ended up being a pin cushion on steroids though because I couldn't get a Mason jar in Germany and so I had to use a different kind. And because I made the poof too big. Because who doesn't like an oversized poof, right?? Whatever.

This it the final result:

It's really quite easy and all you need is the following:

• fabric remnant that is at least an inch bigger in diameter  than the lid you are covering
• a Mason jar, or in my case whatever jar is available
• cotton balls or cotton wool
• scissors
• a hot glue gun with at least one stick of glue
• a pen

First you lay out the fabric wrong side up and center the top on it with wrong side up and trace a circle around it like this:

Then you cut out the circle. Once the circle is cut out, you start gluing the edge of the fabric to the edge of the top leaving a hole of about 1 inch, like this:

Then you push the cotton balls into the hole until you have a sufficient amount in their to make a functional pin cushion. It should look like this:

Then you glue it the rest of the way shut. If you, like me, do not have access to a Mason Jar, then you glue this pin cushion directly to the top of another jar.

If you are one of the lucky ones and do have a Mason jar, then you should follow this tutorial, as I did, from this point onward. http://www.momtastic.com/diy/168161-diy-mason-jar-sewing-kit/

Since I was making a Secret Santa gift, I filled the jar with sewing notions and decorated it with a ribbon. Ta da! Homemade, thoughtful, Secret Santa gift that took about 30 minutes to make and all with things I had on hand. :)

Musing about Happiness

I've lived in Karlsruhe, Germany now for 9 years. That's only two years shy of being a third of my life! So granted I've had a lot of time to adjust. I've learned the language. I've integrated. I feel more at home here sometimes than I do when I go 'home' to America.

But during the last year I've been confronted with people who actively hate living here. They hate the language, they hate what they perceive as the rudeness of the people, they hate the weather, they hate the opening times of the shops. Actually they hate everything that isn't exactly the same as wherever they came from. As if it is an afront to themselves that how dare Germany be different. They don't enjoy the differences and the quirks but rather resent them.

And yes, I've done my fair share of whining about crotchety old ladies giving me parenting advice, or the stores being closed when I really need to buy something. But crotchety old ladies are the same everywhere. We are just more likely to write off their eccentricity when it's our own culture. Whereas in a different culture they come to represent the population. And the store times are posted. It's my fault if I don't take note and plan ahead.

It baffles me how a 'place' can make people so dissatisfied with their lives and so unhappy. It's just buildings, culture, and weather. However, I've come to the conclusion that they are not unhappy with the 'place' but the circumstances of their lives. And unfortunately the circumstances of one's life are things that don't change with geography. The circumstances of one's life are things that come from within in my opinion. If you are happy with your life and yourself, you can be happy almost anywhere.

Maybe the question is what makes people happy. Internal things or external things. For me the question of happiness is answered internally and not externally. Is this because I am an introvert and not an extrovert? I am happy with myself so I am happy? Do extroverts have more trouble being happy if they are unhappy with their surroundings? I try to understand but I have trouble thinking that the grass will be greener when these people move elsewhere. I hope they will but I don't think so.

Halloween Pumpkins

I finally got our Halloween pumpkins yesterday at the local market, Gutenbergmarkt. I only paid 3.50 and 1.80 per pumpkin! Normally they cost me between 12€ and 20€ so I'm a bit pleased. We carved them yesterday after we got home and before our friends came to visit. I always try to fit in too much in too little time. So it meant that I was still cleaning up from dinner prep when our friends arrived. Oh well. At least they're good old friends who could care less. At least they hopefully care less anyway.

The little Nut wanted a 'bad' face so he got one. Neither of them wanted to touch the insides of the pumpkins though Isabella at least made an attempt to do hers. She got as far as touching the guts and then had to wash her hands. She then tried again with a spoon but it was still too gross for her. Maybe next year? At least they were awake for the pumpkin carving this year!

So in the end we ended up with two pumpkins  with 'bad' faces and one with eyebrows and one without. We didn't have any tea lights so we lowered proper candles into the pumpkins with grill tongs. You have to learn how to help yourself in this world! I left one of the candles burning with the top off while I cooked dinner so that I could look at it every now and then and have a feeling of home. At one point I looked and the candle had been blown out and the top was on. Isabella told me she put the top on and she didn't want it to burn so she blew the candle out. Children learn so quickly.

Fabric Market and Aprons- Because why not?

There is a bi-annual fabric market in Karlsruhe that, for the fabric lover, is like being a kid in a candy store. This last weekend was the Holländische Stoffmarkt and I arranged to have a few (4!) hours to myself to peruse since I have an amazing husband who loves spending time with his kids (hi P!). So I perused. And I bought a bunch of lovely fabric and sewing notions (I learned a new word!) like bias tape, decorative ribbon, and waist- and armbands. Sound boring? Only if you don't like beautiful fabric! The weather was great as well. Cool enough that I didn't boil and so that I could wear a coat to hide my wallet. I met a friend of mine for coffee, saw another friend on the way to the coffee shop who told me some really exciting news, and met another friend when I was done shopping and showed her all of my amazing finds. She actually has a blog of her own yosami.co and has a bit of a following because the things she makes are really great.

I actually mainly went to the market to buy bias tape since I needed some for an apron I started a month ago and for which my self-made bias tape didn't go so well. And because the iron lives upstairs and I sew downstairs so my bias tape didn't get pressed. Whoops. And so my project has been laying there mocking me like that dress I made out of amazing fabric in August and whose pattern hangs on me like a sack. I hate being mocked by my projects. It's just wrong. So I finally got some bias tape and got back to work!

And this project is actually only a trial apron before I cut into the amazing waxed cotton that I bought in the US and with which I will eventually (this week?!) make my sister an apron as a congratulatory present/ birthday present because it's almost November and I like to multi-task presents like that.

So the apron went well. I sewed on the bias tape. Went to connect the wings to the bib. Noticed that I had two lonely pieces of fabric remaining. Crap. Where did the pieces of fabric go. I had a sinking suspicion that they went on the ends of those wings that I was about to attach. Back to the directions. Yes, they should be attached to those wings. Whoops. I did some creative attaching of the lonely pieces and finished off my apron. It turned out well and I am very happy that I did a trial apron since my waxed cotton is too beautiful for such a mishap.

And then I was on a roll so I made 3/4 of a pair of Pumphosen. Wide cute baby pants with elastic belly and ankle bands. They're for a friend's baby but I think I'll make more in the future for other babies.

This is a definite Me-in-Progress post because it's something that I wanted to do to see if I could. Can I sew? Yes, I can sew quilts and dresses. Could I sew an apron or a pair of baby pants that I wouldn't be ashamed to gift to someone? Not until yesterday!

When I have time I'll update this post and post some pictures of my projects. Since I can show them with pride and all. :)

Reverse Culture Shock: The Kindergarten Pick-up Line

We're visiting my parents in the US at the moment and I had a moment of reverse culture shock last Friday. My girl is attending three weeks of Kindergarten at the elementary school around the corner from my parents' home. We are doing it so that she has 3 weeks exposure to Southern English, has someone to play with, and, to be honest, so that we have a bit of down time with only the Little Nut. 

Friday was her first day and it was a full day of assessment with pick up time at 2:55. I got there at 2:45 and there were already about 50 cars in the pick up line for the K-6 elementary school! At first I got in line but then I thought, why am I waiting in line when I could park in the parking lot and walk up to get her? I should just park and not be lazy, right? So I did.

And the sky promptly opened up and a deluge poured forth for the next 45 minutes. And I was in my car. In the parking lot. 20 yards from my child. So I walked through the deluge, got soaked within one minute, arrived at under the awning to be told that I could not pick up my child on foot but rather I must stay in my car and pull around. What?!?!?! We were planning on walking over on nice days and picking her up. For that I apparently must get special permission from the office. Imagine my surprise. And worry that my child wouldn't know what was going on and would be scared running up the line of cars trying to find my parents' car that she might or might not recognize. In the end they called out her name on the walkie-talkie when I finally made it around, she ran out in her little herd of 6-8 children, looked adorable, heard my call, and got into the car safely. But I am still disturbed by this very strange episode of culture shock.