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Sweet Inspiration

2012-02-11T07:14:00.001-08:00

{Pictures from the new Tilda book}

I cannot keep track with the many ideas and inspiration of the new Tilda book. I will definitely get sewing right away which will keep my mind off things that are going on lately.I completely adore the fresh fabric designs and the theme. The theme is sewing and the projects are adorable but not easy.(The before book was a bit of a disappointment for me.) I actually find that the books aren’t going into details accurately about all the projects. It takes some time to find out how to do better certain things like stuffing and turning fabrics and seam finish.Any way I wish I could just sit at home and sew all day. I would love that.But for now I hope you get some inspiration from my scans.Enjoy!

Late Arrival

2012-02-11T06:47:00.001-08:00

Back after a long break feeling positive despite all our plans fell through.I was completely devastated after deciding not to go ahead with the purchase but that was best decision for us to make in the circumstances.So as Angie would say with that whimsy smile on her face back to no house, no car, no kid.I laugh at it myself but it really put me down in the last some weeks.Never mind have to stay positive something good must happen now really….Will see.

{Deviantart}

First Kitchen Plan

2012-01-22T04:38:00.001-08:00

I am happy to present our first plan for the new kitchen.I hope this will not bring bad luck as we are still in the procedure of buying our home, but I just needed something to look forward to. (We aren’t much in the procedure but the red tape is killing me and cannot seem to see the end.) I am still working on the details and deciding on the accessories but got the first core plan.I want to have a northern country feel to the kitchen when it is finished. Tiles and wall color is also to be chosen.

Anyway it a small something to look forward to.

My Bulb Babies

2012-01-16T01:50:00.000-08:00

Two years back got a beautiful book from my hubby. The book has a nice section about growing and keeping spring bulbs. I read it a few times and thought it will be easy-peasy to grow my own beauties in no time. According to the instructions I got some bulbs in October planted them and put them in a cold environment. As we live in a flat on the 3th floor that meant the fridge :O)).I packed the pots safely in plastics and put them in the bottom compartment. I took my babies out 1,5 week before Christmas hoping for the best, keeping all the timing right which was suggested. I actually wanted my bulbs in bloom for Christmas!!!Unfortunately all they did was grow leaves by then, a lot of leaves.No flowers at all. Later I found out that one part of the flowers I bought are too young to be in bloom.:O((( I hope they will be blooming next year. The other bulbs are starting to have blooms this week.The first was a hyacinth in bluish-purple.I cannot stop adoring it.Although I am keeping my little garden in the garden I had to bring it in to the bedroom to enjoy the fragrance.I am overwhelmed that these came up so well.

The before years I gave the bulbs away to my parents and grannies to plant them in their garden, but this year hopefully all going right I will plant them in my own garden.The other lot I will keep in pots and hope that next year I will have them blooming at Christmas:O). I will keep you posted

Vintage Button Heart Tutorial

2012-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

{White button heart}

I have received some really beautiful vintage buttons some time earlier from my granny Magdalene. She has been collecting them now for years.When I visited her I brought some of the buttons back (as she had so much with her that I was unable to take all). There were a lot of white buttons. Some of the new or newish some of them a bit worn.I don’t really mind that time gives a lot of character to things. I had been thinking for a while what to do with them but had the best idea form my favorite magazine Country Homes and Interiors. A wireframe button heart.So I set to make it on Sunday.I put out all the buttons I want to use in a heart shape. I got a simple gardening wire and formed a heart out of it leaving a small hook on the top.Than I attached the buttons one by one using a thin wire. This looked quite neat but I wanted it to look like as it was sewn on so I got a needle and some white thread and sewn through the button holes all the way around, this gave some extra firmness to the buttons as well. Although I was a bit afraid that it wont work well the whole thing came up really well at the end. I love it an cannot stop looking at it!!

{White button heart}

Merry Christmas!Have a lovely one!

2011-12-24T03:54:00.000-08:00

{Pintrest}

Merry Christmas!Have a lovely one!

At Last

2011-12-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

For me Christmas can only be a real celebration if it is white.I was a bit down up to now as there was none but it is all be covered in white soon.

{Snow Fall}

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

Winter Garden

2011-12-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

Of winter's lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer's secret
Deep down within its heart.
~Charles G. Stater

Christmas Crafts

2011-12-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here are the results of our hard work. I hope you will like them.

A Handcrafted Christmas

2011-12-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Christmas tradition I love the most is making gifts to people we know together.This is my mum and my brother who are getting very busy with a paintable nativity scene we got in a hobby shop. We also made cards and tree decorations. We roasted chestnuts and my dad played Christmas music on the PC.We had such a wonderful time. I hope by now everyone got their pressies, cards and are very happy with them.This might be a bit off but I actually like the preparing and waiting the most in this season. Although I plan to do lot of things every year I don't get to finish them all. Some times i think that if I had started a year advanced still I wouldn't be able to finish in time. I always put things I cannot finish aside and get them ready the next year I think this is the best way not to make the season too stressful for me. I had a lot of orders through my shop and was bogged down with those a lot, which did not allow me to do a lot in the days. I know you might have heard this a thousand times before but anything handmade is the best you can give and I am happy that my family is not globalized in this way and we might encourage others to startthes tradition of a Handcrafted Christmas.

Christmas Lights on Andrássy Avenue

2011-12-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

Andrassy Avenue is a very impressive broad avenue connecting Deák tér and Hosok tere (Heroes Square). Underneath runs one of the oldest metro systems in the world.
Between Deak ter and Octogon you would find all the luxury boutiques.Between Octogon and Heroes Square It is mainly inhabited by embassies and very posh companies. The Terror Museum can also be found here, as a memento to the torture chambers of the nazis and communists.
I personally think the line of trees and the amazing palaces give this street a fantastic atmosphere which are being decorated for Christmas each year. Some palaces are renovated, others display a certain fading charm still I love walking past them this time of year.Take a walk for heroes Square down to Deák tér where the advent market stretches down to Váci street.

Here are this year's highlights.

Princess and the Pea Doll Tutorial

2011-12-12T01:36:00.001-08:00

Dear Blog Friends,

As my before article of the Princess and the Pea doll was the most viewed on my blog. I thought the best would be to share this project with you as this year's early christmas present from me to you. Hope you will enjoy making this real Sweety Pie!!! I cannot wait to see the the results.

{Credit}

What you will need:

4 smaller pieces of same colored or themed fabric /approx.50cm * 50cm squares

1 skin colored square of fabric /approx. 50cm * 50cm square

1 white colored square of fabric /approx. 50cm * 50cm square

1 pearl any color

Doll hair, or fluffy yarn.

Small crown

Self healing board and cutter or a scissor

Stuffing

Ribbon

Safety pin

Instructions:

Cushions

Print the pattern. ( If you need to you can adjust it with aphotocopier)

Take your colored fabrics and cut two (one from a lightercolored fabric) 18cm*18cm square, one 19cm*19cm square, 20cm*20cm square. Sewthe 18cm*18cm squares up with the right side facing each other leaving a smallopening for turning out and stuffing. Turn them inside out stuff and sew the opening up. Hem one side of the19cm*19cm square sew up the sides as above. Stuff, with one of the 18 cm pillowand attach the pearl onto the side. Sew the 20cm*20cm square up with the rightside facing each other leaving a small opening for turning out andstuffing. Turn inside out stuff and sewthe opening up. Place pillows on top of each other and fasten them together inthe very middle.

Doll:

Trace body onto skin colored fabric. Trace legs and wingsonto white fabric. For the hands you will need a 2* 12cm*12cm color fabric anda 2*4cm*12cm skin colored fabric. Sewthe two pieces (one skin and one colored) together put the two fabrics on topright side facing. Press or Iron down the seam allowance. Trace hands onto thefabric sewn together with the top of the hand on the skin colored fabric. Makesure that the fabrics are exactly on top of each other and are the same size.

Sew all parts with opening turn and stuff. Legs to be sewninto the body by inserting them into the lower still open body part. It isbetter to fasten them with pins and sew by hand and only after that sew by themachine. The hands have to be sewn from the outside. For this finish the handsby stuffing and sewing in the opening, than pin it onto the body and sew it onwith hand.

Dress:

Cut a 14cm *14cm *2 square of a colored fabric. Sew on oneside together leaving 2 cm free on top andiron seam allowance. Hem the bottom. Hem the top with 1cm allowance so you candrive a smaller pin through it. Secure the ribbon with the pin and pull it throughthe hem hole .Sew up the side of the dress don’t forget to leave a hole for thearms on both sides. Dress your doll. Pull the ribbon on the top of the dresscut off extra ribbon.

Hair:

Cut off same size pieces of hair or yarn. Add the hair tothe doll by pinning it onto the head in the way you like it. Sew on the headand remove pins. You can plait the hair if you want to. Add the crown with ahot glue.

Wings:

Trace wings onto white fabric sew it up according to thepattern. Leave a small opening in themiddle of (the bottom of the) fabric andturn and stuff. Attach to the back of the princess. Add eyes and a bit of redness to the cheeks.

Place doll on pillow you can sew it on as well if youprefer.

Gift Roundups and ideas for Christmas

2011-12-10T02:48:00.001-08:00

Although I started out to make my lists for Christmas back in August I still haven't finished with all the presents.I was browsing around for some ideas on the net here are my favorite picks.

For Foodie Lovers

GraphicAnthology and lacerubbish

Mastering the Art of French Cooking and SparklesMacaron

SonjaCaldwell and sewlola

LittleBirdsBoutique and Postercabaret

For White Christmas Fans

Tuuni, thesimplequiet, mingtaphotography

mingtaphotography, FinePrints, Fairyfolk

cartbeforethehorse, cartbeforethehorse, TheLonelyHeart

For Nordic Theme Lovers

BlossomHill, Annasee, Floydine

BirdaKnits, larkadesings, BlueBirdie's Bootique

Karon, Sewingtami, SassandPeril

♥♥♥

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A Colorful Christmas

2011-12-06T01:48:00.001-08:00

I was brought up in a small village where Christmas wasalways done by the oldie but goodie traditions. Decorations weren't that muchflattering but very natural. We had a lot of ornaments made out of nuts, pineconesand straw. We had quite some apples on the Christmas tree as well. I have tosay though I have good memories of those Christmases still I prefer some colorin mine to spice up all the gray in the season. Here are some of the crafts Iwill be going this year. Most of the projects are from an adorable site Sew4Home I discovered somemonths before. I hope you will enjoy this small roundup and start Christmas stitchingsoon.

{papernstitchblog}

{sew4home}

Mini Hat Advent Calendar Tutorial

2011-12-05T05:29:00.001-08:00

I have posted some ideas before for Advent Calendars here is a tutorial forone which is the most adorable the mini hat calendar. You can give this a goeven if you have not ever casted a stitch!! It is extremely easy and can bedone in an afternoon.

What you will need:

Festive colored wool (enough for 24 hats)
Yarn
Scissors
4mm knitting needles
Ribbon or brown rope for hanging

Instructions:
{Beginners guide}

Make a nice cup of tea and curl up by the fireplace.
Cast on 28 stitches using double knitting yarn.
To start knit two rows or for a rib knit 1 purl 1.
Than starting with a knit row work in stocking stitch for 12 rows.
When you are ready for the next row knit two together to the end.
When ready cut off the thread leaving an approximately 30 cm long thread.
Cut the end of the line through a sewing needle than run it through theloops to remove the sewing needle.
Sew down to finish the hat to make it more cute sew a small bobble onthe top.
When you are ready with the hats hang them with a small bit of leftover yarnand hang your hats. Don't forget to fill them with sweets and for the healthieroption nuts and dries fruits!!!!

♥♥♥

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Our Home

2011-12-05T04:27:00.001-08:00

Some time before I wrote about that we have been looking for a house. Wethink we have found the right one but we are still in the procedure. As thehouse needs a lot of work to be done we are trying to get as much informationas possible before putting in an offer. I kind of do not dare to be happy butfeel really confused and frustrated at this moment. I think it won't get better until at least the offer process is over.

It took us months to find it because we were very fussy and picky, we havemet the worst agents (I don't know how it is in other countries but in Hungaryagents aren't that really reliable or listening to what you actually want, orours weren't). My biggest fear is that was nothing compared to what is ahead of us. It will takeages to sort out all the bureaucratic and logistic problems, builders and allthe rest......at the moment it is more like a nightmare than a dream....to make a house a home.

The house is we found is near Pest (25minutes) with perfect commute options. If we get through all the procedures ofbuying we will still have an enormous work a head of us which will take months.I am planning to write about this later incase the whole thing falls through. Wealso have to be planning everything ahead find things for our selves as we areon a tight budget.

We are also planning to do quite a lot of things together with my family andfriends to save on the costs. I love blogs that feature interiors and makeovers. Love to see and try the projects although upto now I only did smaller projects. I know this mightn’tbe a lot but still I am looking forward sharing all I will learn going through theexperience. Hopefully this might be helpful for someone else in the same shoe.

Well, dear (blog) friends, now that I finally shared with you this very importantnews for us, I just want to wish you a lovely week and ask you to please,please cross your fingers for us. I will be back with some more news reallyshortly.

{Credit}

♥♥♥

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Freebies for Christmas

2011-12-05T00:38:00.001-08:00

I have been surfing now for some time to find cute freebies for Christmas to spice up my handmade gifts. I have found tonnes of printable tags, calendars and cards and thought it will be the best to share some I liked with you. I will be adding some personal touches to make them extra special for my friends and family. All of the tags featured here are free to print and use. Print away!

Tags:

♥♥♥

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Cards, lists:

{Mufninc}

{Howaboutorange}

{Tipjunkie}

♥♥♥

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Calendar:

{myowlbarn}

♥♥♥

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Web Shop New Arrivals for Christmas

2011-12-02T07:16:00.001-08:00

Here are all new arrivals to the Christmas web shop. I will upload goodies throughout advent. The shop is on a Hungarian site Meska which is like Etsy. Orders can also be sent by email to tubarozadesignatyahoo.co.uk and tubarozaatgoogle.com.

Merry Balaton!

2011-11-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

Autum Vineyard

2011-11-20T06:22:00.000-08:00

I love all the time we can spend in the countryside at thevineyard but I mostly enjoy autumn days. We have grape, wine, apples, pears, chestnuts,walnuts and who knows what else. Any time out there is a feast!!! I lovelooking for chestnuts and roasting them on the stove in the cellar. Chestnutsand new wine..hmm.
Not to mention that the vineyard is in a forest so if we are fed up with theslopes we can do a bit of a forest hike. Here are the highlights of this yearsvisit.

What New England?Keszthely!

2011-11-19T02:24:00.000-08:00

Since many years I dream of travelling to New England in the autumn. Unfortunately up to now it stays only a dream for some while.Still I cannot complain at all as this year Autumn was so generous at the lake. I love walking in nature, and I love looking at the Autumn colors. I walk among the streets of the small town this time breathing in the scents of the season – wood smoke, mixes with the scent of the water – and I love it all!I’m so grateful for the scenes.Today I want to share some of this beauty with you, and show you the town dressed in warm Autumn colours.Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

St. Martin’s Day

2011-11-12T04:42:00.000-08:00

November 11th is St. Martin’s Day in Hungary a traditional feast day celebrated by tasting the new wine and eating geese. As cruel as it sounds this day falls right around the time when the geese are ready to be slaughtered. It is also the time when traditionally the first candles are lit.There are also a lot of traditions to this day concerning weather forecast for the winter. St. Martin’s Day traditions date back hundreds of years and there are several tales surrounding its origins and the connection between St. Martin, the geese and wine.Since the 6th Century, the seven weeks of fasting leading up to Christmas ('Old Advent') started on St Martin's day, or Martini. It was the day when the financial and the farming year used to end. Cattle and fowl that wouldn't make it through the winter were slaughtered and salted for conservation. Like sharecropping, geese - which by this time of year were fully grown and plump enough - were either part of the rent paid to the lord, or were given by the lord to the tenants who attended on him. It was the day when farm labourers and handmaidens were dismissed and given a goose as a gift. New farm labourers and handmaidens were also hired on this day. The families prepared for the dark times of winter by the fireside.We thought that we will get into the festive mood with a day trip to the Skanzen in Szentendre. Having collected all highlights of traditional Hungary the Skanzen is an open air ethnographic museum with nicely done houses presenting all the perks of village life.

Houses are grouped by regions in Hungary and can be visited all year long. Interiors are changing according to season.

This time many of the houses had small displays of churches and the holy family, most of these are handcrafted by family members in preparation for Christmas.

All houses are quite small but really homely. They remind me of how the village life was when I was a little girl. I remember that my aunt used to have the same furniture and that huge bed which was made out of feathers.Yeah Hungarians are very big on feather duvets, coats and all the rest we just cannot get enough of it!!Most things are done with goose feathers I don1t think I have to say that November is the plucking season:O)).Only down barbs are used to make the stuffing for all things warm. It takes an enormous effort to make a pillow a duvet not to mention the hardest part of the making is not to sneeze while tearing down from the quill.
My gran used to keep them quite often at her village house but not only for feathers and the meet but for many other benefits.The Martin's goose which was served goose with red cabbage and potato dumplings was said to have healing powers. Its fat (rubbed in) was thought to help against gout and its blood against fever. A feather from the left wing, burnt and mixed with wine, was believed to be a miracle cure for epilepsy. Even the wishbone of a goose had a meaning: if two people held one end each and broke it, the one with the larger end was thought to have their wish fulfilled. If the bone was pale and white, the winter was expected to be meagre and cold but if it was of a red colour, supplies were expected to last through the winter. I know these sound really unorthodox methods or even worse but these beliefs were big part of village life in the old times.I have to admit that although sometimes I find these methods frightening I still love to listen to them.

Martin's day celebration was organized to the highest standard. there were food and wine tasting, and crafts. You could also try feather cleaning, pillow making and painting, candle making, wreaths weaving, sock goose making and much more. We had such a good time with my niece who visited us that weekend. We made most of the crafts (which was free) and went home with a tonnes of stuff.

Our lunch was some fresh bread form the Skanzen bakery and cracklings made from sheep pig. Although i wouldn't prefer to have this all the time it was perfect for our so called picnic.

The part I mostly enjoyed was the farm which is right in the middle of the museum. The animals were really cute. they also had guinea fowls which are my mothers 'favorite' they would be eligible for the title of the most annoying animals in the planet for sure as they sounds are highly annoying especially at 6AM in the morning.They also had a Puli, horses sheep pigs, chickens, peacocks, cows and sheep.A delight for kids and adults.

There are several churches we visited in the museum this my favorite. Made entirely out of wood looking really warm and inviting make sure you do not miss it as it is quite walk from the entrance.

Doesn't matter what the season is Skanzen is one of the best places for a family visit there are a lot of things to do and make and see. For further details check the website.

♥♥♥

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Autumn at Virágospuszta

2011-11-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Some time before we discovered Virágospuszta. Any time weare visiting them in county Nógrád we make sure thatwe have time to enjoy the scenes. Virágospuszta is a huge nature reserve withanimals roaming free which you can pet as much as you like. I love theemus and the camels which are quite unusual in the quaint folk-art styled houses.Be aware that they love attention!!! The last time we were out there theweather was absolutely fantastic. Here are some of the pictures I've taken.