Another bag for A1

For my birthday, Seb gave me a book on sewing bags for children and adults. It was mainly bag patterns for school children and teenagers.

 

I was determined to do a bag from this book before I start work tomorrow. Out of the 25 bags pattern, I decided to make a sling bag for A1.

 

Here is the end product. The author suggested using leather for the whale but in the fabric shop I went to, it sold leather or fake leather at a minimum cut of 50cm by 100cm. That was way too much. In Singapore, I bought some felt materials from Daiso (a $2 shop). So I used felt instead.

 

This is the back view of the bag with a pocket. 

 The inside of the zipped bag is red. It matches the handles.

I showed A1 and he was happy. He will bring it to school tomorrow. He told me not to do him any more bags as he had enough. He is reasonable. He has a backpack and this hand made bag and he felt he had enough. Few months back, I made him a messager bag but we left it in Singapore.

When A2 saw the bag and the book, he pointed to the bag on the cover and said 'This one is for A1. Me, I want this one.' He was referring to the other bag on the cover. I tried to convince him to pick another design. But he insisted on that. I guess I shall have to make that rocket bag though I do not think it is practical for A2. I have to go back to the fabric shop to get a little yellow fabric. With me starting work, A2's bag will not be done any time soon.

I will post it when it is completed.

Seat cushion

I bought two chairs from Ikea for the boys. When A1 saw it, he told me he wanted it to be colourful. So I went to buy two square cushion foams and cut up one to fit the chair. I then sewed up a cushion cover. It was colorful. Fabrics bought from Bangkok by my brother and his wife.

 

I proudly showed A1 the next morning. He took a look and said 'I want the chair to be colourful. Not this.' pointing to the cushion. He turned and walked off. So this cushion is right now sitting on A2's chair.

 

Argh.... this 4 years old boy. The other cushion foam is on my work table. I don't think I will do another cover since my effort is not appreciated.

But hey, it does make the chair more colourful right?

The end of SAHM

It is September 2013. This marks the end of my status as a Stay At Home Mother. I have been a SAHM for 18 months. Now that A2 has started school, I no longer receive an allowance from the gouvernment. It would be boring for me to stay at home without the children. Furthermore, my company is waiting for my return.

As I live too far from my workplace, I requested to work from home. I was expecting the worst as it was not my company's policy. However, I am grateful that my bosses accept it. There are conditions and I do have to go to office every monday. I will continue to work part time 80%. This means I would be working 7hours a day, 4 days a week.

This works out well for me. On Monday, Seb would put the kids to school and I will fetch them from the after school care latest by 6.30pm. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, either Seb or I will drop the kids at school. School starts at 9am but the school gates are open 10mins before. I can drop them at 8.50am and then start work at 9am as the school is only a few minutes walk from home. When I finish work at 5pm, I will go fetch the kids. They end at 4.30pm and would only stay back for half an hour at the after school care. Furthermore, they would have their afternoon snack time there.

I start work in a week's time and am feeling excited. My brain is rusty and I hope I can pick up fast where I left off.

The past 18 months had been a great time. There were difficult moments and sweet moments taking care of A2 full time; our puppy who is turning 1 soon; being bed ridden because of a back fracture; having my mother here for nearly 2 months and the boys and I going to Singapore for that long too. I joined gym STEP in the village. I got to know a lot of mothers and neighbours and a few even became friends.

I like this chapter of my life. It has come to an end but it is a good ending. I still have my job. :)

New school term

Today school opens for 2013/2014. A1 is going to the Moyenne section (middle class) and A2 will join his brother in school for the first time. He will be in the Petite section (small class).

As the village school is small, the boys will be in the same class with the same teacher.

I prepared their bags yesterday and A2 was so excited to have a school bag that he carried it the whole day. Even when we went to the park. Once he woke up in the morning, he asked for his school bag.

 

Here the boys were showing me their school bags.

 

And here's a photo of the boys walking to school. A2 cried when we were leaving. But I am sure with his brother around, he would settle down very fast. A1 was happy to see his friends.

 

They are such big boys now. Makes me smile just looking at the photo above.

More bags

I rushed and made bags and zipped pouches before heading Singapore two months ago. Then we spent almost two months in Singapore. That explained my silence in this blog.

 

I love the size of the tote bag and this bag is really simple to make. I had made a few for family and friends in Singapore. I kept the last one for my own usage because I love the colors.

 

For the blue bag, I made two. One like the size of the beach bag which I made for my mother in law and the other one smaller. The flower print bags, I made two too.

 

For my birthday in June, Seb gave me a book about sewing school bags. I will try to get one done before I start working in mid Sept. By then, I will surely have less time for my sewing hobby.

Tell me if you like my bag.

Father's day gift

After mother's day comes father's day. A1 made this pens holder at school. Seb loves it and it is now sitting on the computer desk. Right beside me while I type away.

The gifts for both mother's and father's days' are made from recycled materials. This pens holder is a yogurt pot sitting on a cut out calendar board and decorated with used coffee capsules.

Come September, A2 will go to school. He will be in the same class as A1 as the class is made of small section and middle section. A1 will be promoted to the middle section. I wonder will I receive the same presents from the boys since they will have the same teacher. We shall see that in a year's time.

Zipped pouches

I took up the courage and worked on zips. My first zipped pouch was for my mother in law to go with her beach bag. It was not difficult to work with zip as I feared. I do have to improve on sewing the ends to make them neater.

 

After the first pouch, I made another one. I just love the polka dots fabric. It was left over from my days of making five stones. This pouch is meant as a gift for a friend's birthday.

 

I am crazy over sewing. I made a tote bag for my mum. The size is just nice to use for marketing. I am sticking to making tote bags for the moment. I do have to rush a few before my trip to Singapore. People are requesting for them.

Beach bag

Finally, I made a beach bag for my mother-in-law. She requested for one when I received my sewing machine. I made this just in time before she heads for the summer house in Brittany for the summer. I hope she will like the color.

 

This is a simple tote bag with two pockets inside. I had a few hiccups while sewing the bag. Good thing my mum was around and gave me good advise on how to cover up my mistakes or redo without costing much time.  

 

 

This bag measures about 45cm by 55cm. It should be big enough for 2 beach towels.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Since we drove to Munich from France, we took the opportunity to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was 123km from Munich. Nicole joined us and helped to reserve the tickets.

 

The castle only allows guided visit. Good thing Nicole bought the tickets online as the queue at the ticketing office was very long. We arrived an hour in advance for our guided tour. We grabbed a quick lunch. The kids' grandmother bought them each an ice ceam.

 

The weather was fine that day. That was essential.

 

We took a bus up to the castle grounds. It took 5 mins instead of a 45mins hike up. From the Marienbrücke (Marie's bridge), we had a good bird eye's view of the castle.

The guided tour lasted 35mins. It was rather rush as there were tours every 5 minutes due to the crowd. So one could not stay long to admire the beauty of the rooms. The view from the castle windows were enchanting. We looked out to steep cliffs and mountains. Very romantic and breathe taking.

 

After the visit, we took the horse carriage back down. We then drove back to Munich. But not before buying the kids each a knight on a horse from the souvenir shop. A1 is into knights and dragons at the moment.

 

This castle is worth a visit if you happen to be in the Bavarian area.

Munich again

On the second week of A1's school holiday, we drove to Munich and spent a few days there. We left the house at 5am and reached Munich at 5pm. We had a few toilet stops, a lunch break at Stuttgart and got lost while in Munich looking for the service appartment. We stopped by a gas station and bought a map. While we were checking the map, a man knocked on our car's window and offered to help us. He spoke french as he could see that our car's plate was french. What a good samaritan.

 

We stayed at Concept Living service apartment. It came with a bedroom and a studio with self contained kitchen. A supermarket was 5mins drive away and we made a simple lunch once. The location was good and it was only 4 train stations away from Marienplatz. There was a direct bus from the English Garden.

 

Our first day was a rainy day and we drove to Marienplatz for dinner. The next morning, we shopped at Lugwig Beck. Seb loved to visit the music section of this big departmental store. We met Nicole and her boyfriend for lunch at the Augustiner Keller restaurant. After that, it was the usual stroll to the English Garden for beer. The boys had ice cream.

 

On our third day, we drove to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle which was 123km from Munich. Nicole joined us. More on that castle in the next post.

 

Seb went to visit the Hi Fi exposition the day before we left. It was bigger than the ones in France and he spent a whole day there. The rest of us met Nicole in the city and as it was raining, we went back to our service appartment. We bought cakes and made tea and spent the afternoon calmly. Nicole played with the kids and read to them. When Seb came back, we all had dinner at a nice Italian before sending Nicole home.

 

The next morning, we packed and headed home. It was another 10 hours drive back. We stopped by Chinatown in Paris for dinner. It was a fruitful trip. The kids and my mum love Munich. Seb got his day visiting the Hi Fi exposition. I got to catch up with Nicole in person.

 

Below are some photos of our visits. There was one of the children with their grandmother in a moment of calm. Yes, when they were watching a TV programme for kids.

Bonne fête des mamans

It's mother's day in France today. On friday, A1 brought back from school a heavy wrapped up gift with fragile written on it. He told me it was for mother's day and his father had to help him hide it from me.
This morning, he gave the gift to me. I opened it and it was a beautifully decorated tile. It was heavy and indeed fragile. A1 told me that his teacher wrote the words 'BONNE FÊTE' and he wrote 'MAMAN'. He pasted the stickers and decorated the edge of the tile with blue and red plasticine. There was even a note pad attached. A1 said I could write my supermarket list on it. So sweet.

I was so touched by the gift. It was an innovative idea. I told him I would put it in my room but he insisted to have it in his room. Well, so my mother's day gift is right now siting on my boy's bedside table. My little 4 year old boy. :D

Bags and purses museum

My mother and I visited the Museum of bags and purses in Amsterdam. It was a small museum where we spent an hour looking at the history of bags and the trend of modern bags.

 

Below are some photos I took. The building itself was beautiful with lovely interior decorations on the ground floor. It showed how a typical rich merchant lived at the turn of the century. There was even a tea room. Enjoy the photos.