A special gift for a special friend!

My very special friend Véro is expecting her first child. How exciting! The first baby amongst my friends and family! I wanted to give her (and her baby) something very special for the occasion. What’s more special (and more personal) than a hand-made gift? Nothing, so I decided that I would sew up a baby quilt for the two of them. Something they can use now but also keep for life!

Once again, picking out the fabric is my favourite part! It’s so exciting to chose the different motifs and try to imagine what they will look like once assembled. I just fell in love with the fabric that has the different animals, and what about the yellow fake wood! Love them all!

The longest part of the whole process is actually quilting together the different layers. It’s a tedious but well worth while because the effect is extra comfy and inviting!

A little hand stitched animal on the backside of the quilt really makes for a personalized gift!

Voila! Enjoy my friend (and new tiny friend to come)! A gift from me to you, made with love!

My cross stitch family

I few months ago I came across this great idea of making cross-stiching people. I instantly fell in love. I knew I had to make my own cross-stitch family.

The first step is to draw up the different members that you want to represent. I tried to add details that are specific to each person. For example, my dad always wears a bow-tie, so I added one on his cross-stich persona. Drawing out the cross-stitch people is the longest (and hardest) part but once that’s done everything goes well.

Here are my parents.

Myself and my sister Anne.

And last but not least, my sister Elizabeth.

Each square on the grid paper is equal to one little x of cross-stitching. All you have to do is follow the drawn up plan.

I framed-up my family portrait and offered it to my parents at Christmas. 

One gift a day, to feel the Holiday way!

This year I decided to make a very special Holiday gift to my sisters and my parents. I saw in a magazine this great idea from an Advent Gift Chain, with one small gift to open every day of December leading up to Christmas. 

For each day from December 1^st to the 24^th , I wrapped up a little surprise and tied them one to the other forming a little gift chain. Each day, all you have to do is snip off the present of the day and voila!

I made my sisters each their own Advent Gift Chain, but for my parents I decided to alternate. So day one, a gift for mom. Day two, a gift for dad and so on. They take a long time to put together but I think I can say that everyone was very excited with this special Holiday gift. I think it might just have to become a new tradition of mine!

My Christmas countdown!

Happy December to all! Is everyone as excited as I am for a full month of celebrations and good cozy moments with loved ones? I sure hope so!

The advent calendar has always been an important part of my Christmas celebration count-down. For as far as I can remember, my mom has always bought my dad, my sisters and I a chocolate advent calendar. Oh the joy of starting each day with a tiny chocolate that you have to find amongst the scrambles dates. 

This year, I came across a very special, adultish version of my beloved advent calendar. There is this great tea company called David’s Teas, who specialize in loose tea and tea accessories (and who started out in Montreal, Yeah!!!). This Christmas, they came up with this lovely 24 Days of Tea concept. 

I couldn’t help but treat myself to this great calendar that lets you discover a new tea ever day in December up to Christmas.

24 different teas are described along with brewing instructions so each day you can have the joy savouring a new hot cup of happiness.

I guarantee that this 24 Days of Tea is something that every tea lover would be ecstatic to receive and a fantastic to  introduce tea to those who don’t love it yet!

Enjoy!

This Ilk … Happy Third Birthday!

I want to congratulate my dear friend Thamara from This Ilk and wish her a happy celebration for 3 years of fantastic and stylish creations.  

This Ilk is a collection of jewellery created form vintage laces that started out as earrings has now been extended to necklaces, body pieces as well as certain clothing elements. 

Make sure to check out the This Ilk website as well as the Etsy shop.

Enjoy!

Perfect gift ideas for a perfectly new baby

I have a brand new niece! Yahoooo! A new addition to the family and a whole new person to discover! How exciting.

I started browsing gift ideas for the new baby girl. Here are some of my favourites that I found at the online Etsy store.

Hello Mr Owl!

(Fongstudio on Etsy)

I adore these natural wood animal cut-outs!

(Littlealouette on Etsy) 

I‘ve always loved quilts. A baby quilt seems even more special!

 (Pieces of Pine on Etsy)

Personalized natural wood teether.

(Little Sapling Toys on Etsy)

How cute are these lovely shoes with crocheted flower.

(Pixie Dust and Co on Etsy)

 Hmmmmm… I seem to have a fixation on textiles and wood. Oh well!