19 January 2017

Blithe Blog Tour has Started!


I'm excited to announce the Blithe Blog and Instagram Tour.

On the first day we have Katarina Roccella the designer of the Blithe Collection for Art Gallery Fabrics.
Her blog post can be found here, Like Flowers and Butterflies , also be sure to check out her Dear Deer Quilt  and her cute Christmas Stockings, a free pattern.

 I have copied this Instagram list from Katarina Roccella,  (I will be linking the blog posts after they are published, too):



1. Erica Toole - January 18: Instagram only @ skynme2

2. Mariana Diaz - January 19: Instagram only @ sewMariana

3. Ashley Herrmann - January 20: Blogged at Petite Stitchery @ petitestitchery

4. Isabelle Selak - January 21: Blogged at Teach Sew Love @ southbaybella
First weeks makes, all beautiful!

5. Stacey Derksen - January 22: Instagram only @ sweet_finnagin_boutique

6. Eleri Kerian - January 23: Free Tote Pattern @ sewandtellproject

7. Hemamalini Elumalai - January 24: Doll Mini Quilt @ helumalai

8. Paola Baker - January 25: @ loveoffabrics

9. Sue Stone - January 26: Really lovely Linen shirt @ needleinafabricstash

10. Cassie and Alexis - January 27: Great Girl's dresses @ lilyshineforlittlelizardking and myysweetsunshine

11. Carolina Moore - January 28: EPP Pillow @ craftmoore

12. Lesley Storts - January 29: Mini Quilt and Pincushions @ lesleystorts
From Week 2, links above

13. Ali Brorsen - Beautiful dresses and even a shirt for a boy!! January 30: @ becauseofbrenna

14. Kimberly Baird - January 31: Instagram only @ monkeykimberly

15. Rebecca Makas - Half Rectangle Triangle Quilt February 1: @ restitcherator

16. Natalie Santini - February 2: Yoga Mat Case and Essential oil case @ sewhungryhippie

17. Anna Durocher - February 3: cute girl dresses @ bizzy_bean_clothing

18. Sharon Mcconnell - February 4: Baby quilt @ colorgirlquilts

19. Laura Scaramella - February 5: Instagram Only @ petitestitchery
From Week 3, links above

20. Audrey - February 6: Awesome Canvas vest @ skirtfixation

21. Terra - February 7: the most adorable socks @ mamasayssewblog

22. Nichole Vogelsinger - February 8: The most beautiful hoops @ wildboho

23. Mara Capron - February 9: That's me, your here! @ mara.creates

24. Anne Boundy - February 10: a really cool 3D mini @ anneboundy

25. Heather Hatch - February 11: Instagram only @ tanglewood_lane_dolls

26. Michael Caputo - February 12: Baby Quilt @ patchworkandpaper

Week 4 of the Blithe Blog tour, links above.

27. Julia Liebl-Fern - February 13: Quilt and Tote @ finefabric

28. Nicole Young - February 14: Cathedral Window Pillow @ lillyellasworld

29. Karly Nelson - February 15: Girls dress and Cardigan @ paisleyroots

30. Ines Hilsberg - February 16: Woman's Voile Blouse @ naehzimmerplaudereien

31. Geraldine Wilkins - February 17: Lap Quilt @ livingwaterquilter

32. Deanne Chambers - February 18: Philosophers Thoughts Cowl Dress and Deer dress @ wildforesthandmade

33. Mathew Boudreaux - February 19: Hexagon Sewing Box @ misterdomestic

Week 5 creations, blog post and IG accounts, linked above!

34. Judith Posdziech - February 20: @ septembers_delight

35. Elise Baek - February 21: @ eliseandemelie

36. Marija Vujčić - February 22: @ mvquilts

37. Elina Temmes - February 23: @ elinatemmes

38. Maja Wlusek - February 24: @ betyipiernaty

39. Jennifer DauFerermany - February 25: @ petitestitchery

40. Jacky Ayres - February 26: @ jackyayresdesigns

41. Yuliya Reshetnikova - February 27: @ yureshetnikova

42. Christine Bacquer Joubert - February 28: @ lopolokko

43. Katrin Umlauft - March 1: @ puppilalla

 My Day is on February 9th, can't wait to show you what I am making with these beautiful fabrics, along with some gorgeous Brillo Aurifil threads!


18 January 2017

Nik as Santa

I owe you these videos, I realize unless you speak Greek, you won't understand a word of it, so enjoy :)
There was a lot of singing at the beginning of the play.
getting ready
 And Katerina's teacher made a speech.
the Principal on the left and Katerina's teacher on the right.

Nik on stage with the "children"

02 January 2017

Christmas 2016

So my computer is running poorly and Arthur tells me I need to get rid of some of my photographs, so you may be seeing lots of post in the next coming weeks, so I can put all of my photos somewhere.
Starting with the most recent, this post will include pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day 2016.

On Christmas Eve I made a Kiwi tart, why Kiwi, well at the kids school they sent home each child a big bag of kiwi's, I'm guessing it was around 3 Kilo's or 6 pounds per bag.  If you do the math there are about 100 kids at the school, yeah, that's a lot of Kiwi's
The kiwi's in the bowl are the leftover's from just one bag, the other bag of kiwi's I left at KokaRoka.
It was pretty good, if you want the recipe I will have to make it again since I was just goofing around and made up my own thing.
Katerina's godmother dropped by that evening so we ate Katerina's and Ero's favorite food, Spaghetti and Meat Sauce.  She brought presents for the kids, she is always so sweet in remembering Nik as well, they both just adore her.
A Barbie Farm Veterinarian

And a Helicopter for Nik
She only got to stay for a little bit before going to visit her mother, she is living in Athens right now and Thankfully has a job, unlike 50% of the rest of the young people in Greece, so that's good.
Having fun playing.
Christmas morning we woke up to having the stockings stuffed by Miss Molly Mouse, I had just finished Nik's stocking the night before around 10pm, I know I love a deadline, haha.
Just like my Mom I like to put some mandarin's in the stocking (no walnuts) and the morning juice, a lollipop, this year the inside present was pretty fancy with some additions from Amanda (see previous post for all of the gifts she sent)  Katerina was up first and had all of her stuff open by the time Nik came out, lol.
The Christmas Pickle hiding in the tree decided who got to open the first present, Katerina found it first, Arthur started pouting because I corrected him when he called it a Pepper and said it was a Pickle.
We always have the tree down at KokaRoka, there is more room and well I prefer it that way.
 I asked what they would like to open first, present from Mommy and Daddy, present from GeGe and GePa, present from mommy's friend Amanda or present from Santa, and surprisingly enough they went in the order that I suggested, I thought for sure they would say Santa's first, these kids never cease to amaze me.
Katerina's gift from us was a Fairy coloring book with Fairy stickers and some neon markers she had been wanting.
Nik got a plate, bowl and cup set from Mommy and Daddy, you can see the excitement on his face, hehehe, but I got this for him because he was always complaining about using the "kiddy" cups from IKEA (they are plastic and he wanted a real cup).
From GeGe and GePa a Playmobile Hair Salon, Katerina spends hours playing make believe with her Playmobile  and after playing teacher, doing hair and make-up is her next favorite topic.
Nik's gift from GeGe and GePa a game called Stratego, Nik's favorite thing to do is play games and especially military style games or Minecraft and he loves anything that requires some Strategy.  So this was a perfect gift for him, now he just needs a whole bunch of cousin's around to play with him all of the time, Mommy is kind of Strategied out.

The Third present to be opened was from a swap I did with Amanda, she sent the kids a Handmade gift and I sent her kids a handmade gift, you can see the items swapped here on this blog post.

Mr. Pouting Scrooge was on his computer the whole time, I was so pissed.

And his mother's usual position in the Kitchen, of course if she had been out she probably would have been yelling at the kids so it was better that she just was around but not involved.
The kids opening their gift from Santa, Katerina got her much asked for Barbie house that folds up, we do have a small house and Nik got a Playmobile Farm, that I was very surprised he asked for.  On both gifts Santa got a good deal, Katerina's was on sale from 40euros to 34euros and Santa had a coupon that had expired but that they still accepted for another 8euros off, so it came to a saving's of 14euros.  Nik's gift Santa had a flier that said it would cost 40euros, but when Santa went to the toy store they wanted 58euros, Santa showed them the flier and they called the company "Playmobile" and then they honored the deal, so a savings of 18euros, Santa greatly appreciated all of the good deals.


For lunch we had pork in the oven with potatoes (also ate this on New Year's day) only Nik and I ate, since ΓιαΓια Katerina yelled at little Katerina and made her cry so she went home and Arthur was still pouting so he went with her.
 Nik loves eating all things green, in fact we almost have a hard time getting him to eat meat, as soon as he taste any fat, he will stop eating the meat, so we have to be real careful in cutting the meat for him.
My little vegetarian, eating Horta, wild greens from the garden, he does NOT get this from me.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, does anyone else have a Scrooge in the Family? 


01 January 2017

4 Kids Christmas 2016, The Presents

I host an Instagram swap called #4kidschristmas and it's about sewing up a medium sized gift for a child for your partner.  This year we did an open swap where you traded with your partner and kept in contact with each other.  I really liked this because I got to know Amanda well and was able to talk to here about her kids and she was able to talk to me as well.
Wearing Senegence Lipstick with out the gloss on
When I found out she sold Senegence Lipstick, I kind of begged her to send me a color, since I love it so much.  And I would suggest you go out and buy it as well, it's fantastic, stay's on your lips forever, you can do many things and it won't come off (want a detailed list of what I did while wearing it, you can e-mail me, wink, wink ;)  Her Instagram name is @lastinglipscolorado if you want to check it out.
Amanda also made the kids the perfect gifts for Katerina a play mat, that she can play on with all of her little Playmobile.  And Nik a Minecraft sword out of felt, the workmanship on the sword is amazing.
The Frozen print is the interior (a better picture of the exterior play mat is below)
The secondary presents were perfect as well, I put these in the kids stockings, so they got them first thing in the morning.
Playmobile Santa for Katerina, it came with presents, but I couldn't find them when I took this photo, Katerina has been hiding them around the house.  Lego Minecraft for Nik, we don't have these here in Greece, so this are super cool and Nik wants all of the other Minecraft Lego sets, lol.  Thanks Amanda, hehe.
Inside of the Handmade Pouches was a small Minecraft toy and also the Jelly Bean candies, again we don't have these here, Katerina was so excited to try these, she see's them on Challenge videos. So of course we had to do a taste challenge, we put them in a bowl and I wrote down the different flavors and the kids were supposed to guess the flavor, it was fun.
A few more pictures.

This is just half of the play mat so you can imagine the size, it will come in really handy when she is playing on the verandah during the summer with all of her Playmobile.
Nik with his sword.
This picture is classic, I just love Katerina's face.
Thank you Amanda for making the kids's Christmas extra special.
I made 2 stuffies for Amanda's girl's, from the book "Sew Fantasy Toys"