Colombe top

Citronille is one of the cutest brands of sewing patterns. I discovered them about a year ago and have fallen completely in love with these vintage inspired patterns. Even though their adult patterns are quite nice too it's especially the baby clothes that make my heart melt. 

My Moschino inspired strawberry fantasy dress (Meg pattern) was one of my last projects however since my husband and I found out we're going to have a little baby boy by early October (we are so excited!!!!) I just can't stop sewing baby stuff...

This Citronille Colombe top is so adorable I just couldn't wait to make it in this fabulous blue rabbit cotton I bought a while ago. I actually started making the top before I knew the sex of the baby. As I thought it was quite unisex (at least for a baby) I went ahead and started on this adorable blouse. I made the long sleeve version of the top for winter time. It has 3 buttons at the back.

In case you're interested: Citronille patterns are available from www.citronille.fr however they're only available in French so a basic knowledge of the language is required...

Coffee please!

I don't know about you but I am completely besotted by Pinterest. Yes, you can call me a Pinterest addict. I wake up in the morning, open up my laptop and as soon as I type the letter P my creative brain goes bonkers with excitement from all the ideas it has to process.

Last week I saw a photo of a nice kitchen coffee station. With 2 espresso makers (yes, my husband prefers the Italian style whereas love my flavored Nespresso) and a cupboard without much purpose except from collecting rubbish I thought it would be the perfect spot to create our own coffee station. 

                        Ready for some afternoon tea!

Arabic delight

Hummus, moutabal, tabouleh, sambousek... having lived in the Middle East for over 10 years I have to say I'm a great fan of the Lebanese kitchen, the so called Arabic food. Apart from it being a healthy kitchen it's the spices and flavoring that really push my taste buds.

I do admit I don't cook it too often myself, just because it's so widely available, freshly made and very cheap. 

One recipe I really want to share with any soup lovers amongst you is one of my favorite dishes... Arabic lemon and lentil soup.

I generally love soups, not only because they're easy to make but also because the decent content of your daily amount of veggies. My only reservation for drinking soup in Dubai is that , with temperatures rising to 40 degrees celcius round this time of year it's not exactly a weather appropriate dish. But that's why I love this soup. The freshness of the lemon makes it a perfect summer lunch.

You'll need:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tomatoes
2,5 liters of chicken stock
1 kg yellow lentils
2 tspn cumin powder
2 tspn ground coriander
1 tspn chilli flakes
1 cup of lemon juice
coriander leaves as garnish

Getting started:


To start off you'll need to soak the lentils. It's best to do this overnight.
Put some olive oil in a pan. Slice the onion and add it to the pan until it starts to caramelize. Then add the lentils, stock, tomatoes, cumin,ground coriander and chilli flakes. Boil for about 30 minutes.
If you like the soup less thick you can add chicken stock to your liking. Season the soup with pepper and salt. Add 1 cup of lemon juice. Once again, you can adjust the amount of juice to your liking. Run the soup in a blender and garnish your bowl with some fresh coriander leaves. 


Enjoy!
 

 

Strawberry fantasy

Moschino has always been one of my favorite brands. I love the way their designs are very creative, fun and unusual all at ones.

When I saw a picture of this dress I went completely bonkers... This dress just made me crave summer time, love and holidays all at once.

So I attempted my own version of this fruitilicious baby doll dress.
I choose Citronille's Meg dress.

I made some minor changes to the pattern and shortened the sleeves slightly. For the fabric I used some left over cotton I found in my mum's stash. 
Firstly I made the bow on the front in felt as I thought it would look very strawberry-ish. However, it made the dress look more like a costume than a dress so I remade it in plain cotton.

Summer, here I come!

Here I am again... My apologies for my absence in the last two months. I haven't been home much and many exciting things have recently been happening in my life. All will soon be revealed...
It's not like I haven't been crafting though... I finally finished my husbands Negroni shirt, just in time for his birthday. I also made a Moschino inspired strawberry dress. Tonight I laid the finishing touches to my last project which I will keep as a surprise.
I will certainly be back with you in the next couple of days to show you the end result of my projects. As for now, as I'm almost falling asleep I'm calling it a day. 
Goodnight everyone and speak to you soon!