Howling at the Moon

A while ago I discovered a new way of crochet (new for me, at least) and after a bit of trial and error I got the drill. To be not discouraged immediately I started with potholders. I never used potholders in my whole life, but since I made my first pair a couple of months ago, I'm asking myself how I ever could do without them all those years.  So, here's my first Tapestry Crochet Project... www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ The Cottage Market featured my Cross Stitching this week! Last week they featured my trip to The Ardennes !  Thanks, Andrea!  

First Love Top Sky by Lena Hoschek WANTED   Cute Top!

This blog isn't really about home renovating and stuff, but every now and then I like to share something we did in our house. Like the Portuguese tiles on our stairs...     www.betweennapsontheporch.net One of the nicest things in our home, I think!

My daughters had another school vacation (we live in The Netherlands and they have at least six holidays a year, each lasting a week at a minimum), so I had to think about activities again. Since we have an annual season ticket for the zoo, we go there at least once every holiday.  For the first time ever I saw the wolves howl! Here are some zoo pictures.   Usually we go to the theater or the movies also during school holidays. We went to House of Magic this time. It's with a cat and just because of that highly recommended. Other things we did were the playground and the fair (which, totally accidentally of course, takes place during the children's holidays). And we baked cookies! My daughters made these: And I baked Strawberry Cookies:     www.betweennapsontheporch.net For this I used a American Cookies recipe and replaced the chocolate for strawberries.

...my homemade Crochet 1940's Scarf! Scarf - Made by Me (this year) White Top - H&M (long ago, but they sell tops like this every year) Circle Skirt - Made by M e (this year) Ballerinas - Primark (this year) Bag - Pinup Couture (this year)

A while ago I saw this beautiful knitted 1940's scarf on Chronically Vintage , the blog of Jessica. It was on my to do-list for quite some time, but I had a lot of other projects to finish. After seeing it worn by her, looking so beautiful on her, I wanted one, too. And soon. So instead of waiting for the yarn store to open, I looked what I had left in my own yarns. Wool, no. Cotton, yes. But I don't like to knit with cotton, so I decided to make the same scarf with a crochet hook. That's the reason my scarf doesn't look entirely the same as Jessica's does, although I used the same pattern and altered it to crochet. You can find the knitting pattern at Skiff Vintage Knitting Patterns . www.betweennapsontheporch.net After finishing the scarf I looked for a rose pattern on the internet and cross stitched it on one side of the scarf, just for embellishment. May I say, without bragging of course, I love my crochet version of this pattern?

French Kiss Gingham Blouse by Lena Hoschek WANTED Again!!

Found this one at Subversive Cross Stitc h. www.betweennapsontheporch.net Don't you think one of the better things of growing older is that you care less and less about what other people think?  You can find more funny cross stitch kits and PDF patterns at Subversive Cross Stitch. I'm thinking about purchasing the Daddy Bird Tattoo , the Curse and Show Me Your Teeth , too! ~*~ My Grapefruit Upside Down Cake was featured by Lamberts Lately and Busy Fingers, Busy Life ! Thanks, Leslie and Barbara!   Busy Fingers, Busy Life also featured my new Pillow!

Again I saw a great little pattern for potholders, but since I had not enough yarn, I made just one and that's the only reason why I call it a Dish Cloth. www.betweennapsontheporch.net You can find the pattern here ! ~*~ This week my Draw String Bag was featured by The Shady Porch and by Creative Jewish Mom !   Thanks, D.! Thanks, Sara!   My Swallow Brooch was featured by The Inspired Wren   Thank you, Ren!

Cabrio Dress Star Flowers by Lena Hoschek WANTED   Sunny Dress!

I love all kinds of cakes, but my most favourite are the ones with fresh fruit in it! This week I made an Upside Down Cake with Grapefruits. Never made an Upside Down Cake before, it was just a try out, but it tasted great, so I share the recipe with you. www.betweennapsontheporch.net What you need: 2 grapefruits 100 grams butter 100 grams sugar 4 sachets vanilla sugar 1 box of cakemix (and the ingredients mentioned on the box, like eggs, milk and such, depending on the mix you use) What to do: Preheat the oven (for cakes it's normally 160 degrees Celsius) Cut the grapefruit in thin slices, enough to cover your cake pan. Cook the slices in boiling water for about three minutes. Take out of the water and dry with paper. Squeeze the juice out of the remaining grapefruit and save in a cup. Put the butter, sugar and 2 sachets of vanilla sugar in the cakepan and put in the oven until the butter has melted. Take out of the oven, add three table spoons of

Last summer my husband and I went to Bruges for a weekend, to celebrate our sixth anniversary as a married couple, and since then we are in love with Belgium.  We had been there before, lots of times actually, but for some reason we didn't get gripped by it. Until Bruges. Since Bruges we've been to Ghent around Christmas and we've been to the Ardennes last weekend.  And we have planned two new trips to two other Belgian cities. Some reasons why Belgium is great:  * it has history  * it has culture * it has nature * it has really good food * it has great chocolate And the best thing is: we live in The Netherlands and Belgium is just around the corner. Here are some pictures of the Ardennes, so you can see it for yourself! La-Roche-en-Ardenne: boucherie with the famous Jambon des Ardennes (ham from the Ardennes, a sort of smoked ham)   La-Roche-en-Ardenne: along the river Ourthe Grottes de Hotton Grottes de Hotton G