The fellowship of the frog

Hi, y'all,

those of you who didn't grow up in Germany probably won't remember, but there was a German movie series in the Sixties based on thriller series by Edgar Wallace. Although I am old, but not so old that I watched the original broadcast, I loved the reruns in my childhood. One of these episodes was called "Der Frosch mit der Maske" - literally "the masked frog" but the actual English title was "The fellowship of the frog". Regardless of the translation I guess the German title must have run through my mind when planning a birthday present for my youngest godchild. Fun fact: I challenged myself to use all the DIY materials in my stash before purchasing something new. And I have to admit that it is not so easy to apply the fabric or yarn so effectively that it is a) sufficient for the project and b) the result is somehow presentable.

Anyway, I found two skeins of green yarn, and my sister will surely know what I used it for :-) Well, the color yelled "frog" in my face, and so I started crocheting this cute little guy.

According to the spirit of our time I made him proper business attire with his red bow tie as well as a face mask in case he wants to take the bus. 

Of course the mask is detachable and this is how buddy looks underneath:

In order to avoid him feeling weird with his mask I sewed another one for the birthday boy. Although he technically wouldn't need one, but you never know...

Before that birthday comes, my oldest godchild turns 17. He likes baking and is pretty good at it, as well! But maybe he's also interested in cooking and therefore, I got him an Italian cook book. Besides he wore a pirate costume last carnival which inspired me to this key chain:

The paracord pendant ends in a so-called monkey fist and the anchor works as bottle opener - pretty handy for cooking according to the saying: If you don't like the food, have more of the wine :-)

Some time ago I tried the first of these key chains, and while in the mood, I made a matching bracelet. (But while writing this, I realize that it's kind of dopey to have a bracelet matching to a keychain…)

But in this way I found an awesome transition to more bracelets, yay! Hubby's wearing two or three, but here are a few more which I braided or macramee'd over time: 

Have a good start into the new week!

If you've got too much time...

Hi, y'all!

First of all: I don't think you can have too much time. I personally never experienced that problem. But in the last two weeks I checked things off my to-do-list that were at the very bottom of said list, I can tell you!

One of these things was the deep cleaning of my kitchen. A while ago - a few months or even more - I bought a little crawling problem together with a packet of flour. Although I stored my dry goods as flour, sugar and salt in Tupperware, I only had one container for each of these items. But sometimes I buy several things ahead and then they stay in their paper bags. At that time I deep cleaned everything, threw the damaged goods away and tucked the undamaged into freezer bags. Since then I've been collecting glass jars from pickles, mayonnaise and cherries and turned them into storage containers. Of course I have to split one kilo of flour on several jars, and maybe square containers would be more effective space-wise. But I didn't want to shop for something new - and maybe even out of plastic - if I get these glass jars for free, although there might be more practical alternatives. Our household consists of only two two-legged beings and therefore, I don't need a post-war pantry like my grandma had. Should the zombie apocalypse impend I still can increase my supplies and provisions and store them in the basement, which is large enough. For the time being my kitchen drawers and pickle jars are sufficient.

As modern kitchens often have drawers instead of shelves and the jars have intransparent lids, I needed some kind of labelling to avoid having to lift them to see their content. As this is a living system, stickers were out of the question, because if there is an empty jar I will fill with anything regardless of the label. I needed something adaptable and then I got the idea of blackboard paint. Why not painting the lids with blackboard paint and then I'd be able to write on them with chalk. If I change the content, I only have to clean and re-label the lid.

During my research I learnt that this paint comes not only in black or green, as I assumed, but in any color you could think of. I chose bordeaux and it was a bit darker than I hoped for - I wanted a wine red not dark purple, but I like it anyway. Time will tell how durable this paint is, but in any case I've got plenty of leftover paint to redo it.

Here is how I started:

I covered the lids with two coats of paint, with drying it took me two days
- well, I had enough time after all... 

And this is the result - I like!

And once I was at it, I did a good deep clean of all othere kitchen cupboards, too - well, I had enough time after all... 

Take care!

Hoppy Easter!

Hi, y'all!

Did you enjoy Easter despite the lockdown? I was somehow molested by all the flying pollen but apart from that I had a good time. Weather was awesome, we started our BBQ season and my first week of vacation is already over.

But I wasn't lazy, I sanded and oiled our outdoor furniture, I prepared two large containers to serve as planters for potatoes (I guess I already mentioned that we plan to grow a few potatoes). Moreover I planted some bell pepper seeds and I am very curious if they are going to make it. And then there was another task on my to do list for today: renew some silicone joints in our bathroom. That was all far from spectacular and therefore no pictures because I don't want to bore you.

Here is something nice - part of my Easter decoration:

Again, I reused some milk and juice cartons and painted Easter in silver water color on them. A few silk flowers (there is a life after Frida Kahlo...) et voilà. 

Holy Thursday I spent baking - first a lemon cake (vegan, is in the freezer right now), yeast rolls with vanilla pudding (half of them are also frozen) and burger buns 'cause we like our burgers with homemade buns the most.

This is how they look when assembled:

On Good Friday we used to make sweet yeast dumplings. Served with vanilla custard and canned plums it is one of my favorite childhood memories. As hubby isn't a fan of sweet main dishes I made something salty instead which was not only fit for Weight Watchers  but also World of Warcraft appropriate (which means you can eat it with one hand and keep on playing with the other one). :-)

Carrot lentil nuggets with curry yoghurt dip:

Due to the pollen I couldn't sit in the garden the whole time (at least not without some allergy meds and I still have to go to the pharmacy for that), thus I dug in some decoration for my office/sewing room.

Do you remember Matchbox cars? When I was a child I had quite a few barbie dolls but some cars, too. The nicest ones I saved in plaster. I wanted to fix them with hot glue to the frame, but unfortunately that didn't work, so I had to get out the bigger guns. After hanging in the basement for a long time they are allowed to live in my office now:

I already mentioned that I wanted to try out some water color painting. Worked more or less but I realized that I had the wrong paper for this technique - only printer paper instead of proper watercolor paper which is more absorbent. Thus I have room for improvement but had fun while painting, and as instant embellishment it was fabulous. As I started with a slice of melon I couldn't miss the famous dirty dancing quote: "I carried a watermelon." And I couldn't stop, so I added two more:  "This is my dance space. This is your dance space." and "Nobody puts baby (in this case kiwi) in a corner." 

The triptych required matching frames, and as I hoarded some cardboard packaging (confessions of an amazon buyer) I made some nice frames of cardboard and papier mâché. Nothing to last an eternity, but a pretty eye catcher for the time being.

Stay safe!

Staycation

Hi, y'all!

I am on staycation since yesterday. My employer kindly asked if I could take some days off until the end of our business year (30 June). And as it wasn't that hectic the last few days I have two weeks off around Easter and another two weeks around Pentecost. Weather is absolutely awesome at the moment (besides the flying pollen) and so I am very busy enjoying the sun. My travel plans so far: Housetralia, Sofambique, Islamabath or Bangladouche :-)

Last Saturday I sanded and oiled our garden furniture and had to treat myself afterwards with a chocolate cake! Tried a vegan version with flour, sugar, cocoa, plant milk (I mixed coconut with oat milk), baking powder and chocolate chunks - nothing very exotic but I liked that I could reduce our egg consumption with it. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against eggs, in fact I love my scrambled eggs on weekends. But when I think about the male chickens, I support brother-cock-initiatives and prefer recipes with one or two eggs, only. No abstinence but conscious consumption. Anyway, the cake was so yummy, especially when still warm and the chocolate chunks still slightly creamy...

Well, and then two friends of mine who also sew a lot showed me the face masks they sewed and I was hooked. Gathered all my cotton fabric scraps, searched the whole house for wire and sewed. Well, ironed mostly, to be honest. I followed the instructions of the city of Essen, and I imagined that people with glasses may not like the frame and some elastic behind the ear and thus chose the version with bias-tape instead of rubber band. It meant a lot of ironing, I can tell you, but in the meantime I learned that sewing elastic is as wanted and as available as toilet paper… So I made the right decision, I guess.

This morning I threw them in the mailboxes of our cul-de-sac-neighbors with a little note (handmade auxiliary masks, to be hot washed regularly - in Germany we like a good manual, you know). Hubby chipped in that I would rub it in the old folks' faces that they are old, at risk and mortal, but until now I only got positive feedback. 

Last weekend we also had a note in our mailbox with a poetry project organized by the daughter of our opposite neighbors. We are not allowed to go to museums but we can and should take walks. Therefore, she wants to adorn the pavements with poems and slogans , so you can enjoy nature, weather and poetry all at the same time. Everybody can contribute by dropping her a note with a saying or a poem which might be written on the pavement in front of someone's house. And the next rain will wash it away. I like that idea. 

Hubby wanted Einstein's saying about the infinity of the universe and human stupidity whereas I wanted something by the German comedian Heinz Ehrhardt. We compromised on a quotation by Steven Hawking :-)

THE THINGAMAJIG

Somewhere deep in Egypt’s desert
lies the hugest of all things,
a lady’s head, a lion’s body,
we all know it is the Sphinx.

With wanderlust, to the west she looks
with her still and stony face.
If she looked east, it wouldn’t matter,
she’d still see nothing any place.

(translation by Elaine Danforth of “Das Dings” by Heinz Erhardt)