Fabric embroidered brooches

Sorting through my ever growing stash of fabric, ribbons and other stuff I dug out a box full of fabric embroidered brooches I have never shown here.

As you already know I am nuts about fabric accessories. I also have a soft spot for brooches, especially embroidered ones. As you will notice yourselves, they all feature flowers since I find Mother Nature remarkably inspiring.

French knots (Remember what I told you about these?)

Up-close and personal...

Flower arrangements purely romantic. You can guess the mood I was in.

This is actually a cushion for the rocking chair of Mr. Augustus the mouse (it's a long story...).

I hope you enjoyed the display!

My new dress

Well, here is the dress I made last week.
Unfortunately I don't have many pictures to share as I was hoping I would. My dear family (husband and daughter) made about twenty pictures out of which I was able to use (n)one, mhh, sorry family. (Should have brought the tripod!)

This dress was inspired by all those Japanese dresses I drool at, but I didn't use any existing pattern for it. Instead I drafted the pattern myself. I love how it turned out especially the ruffled collar and the lacey belt.

On my needles

What you see here is the front right part of a baby kimono I've started during our escapade.
I hope to share some pictures later this week. The pattern is hilariously easy but the result is adorable.
I've got tons of laundry to wash up, and house cleaning to attend to (make that manage and execute).
Talk to you later!

All packed up and somewhere to go

Can't tell you how excited we are to be going away for a while.
On Monday there is a national holiday so we get one lovely prolonged weekend!
We'll use it to visit grandparents! So grandparents, brace up... for the avalanche is coming!!

Genesis pendant

French knots.
I discovered a whole new dimension with them.
A person crazed by them.. mmm, ahem.....that would be me!

I named this one Genesis.
Couldn't make up my mind whether to use it as a pendant or a brooch, so decided it should be both, i.e. depending on my mood.
With the insertion of a pin behind, it easily transforms into a brooch.

Out of track

Well, we've been out of track today!
My little pumpkin woke up with high temperature and I had to take a day off.
I steered myself steadily and prepared for a day of tea making, temperature taking, fit throwing (not on my part!), stories inventing and induce monsters fighting (preferably taking my part quite seriously is going to get me on top of my son's list).

However, he's been as good as gold and feeling just fine. He did everything I told him to do, drank his coughing syrup, tea, ate his breakfast (I'll lie down later and allow the guilt to devour me completely for thinking otherwise).

And I did manage to finish a dress I made yesterday. I am showing just a bit, because I can't take a good picture inside. Inside the house it is as dark as a pit. Why you may wonder? Because it is raining cats and dogs, that's why.

For the dress I used the lace I bought recently and I am delighted how it looks in combination with the bluish fabric.

I plan a nice photo shoot for later this week so the dress may take a while to appear.

Cork embroidered cuff

Let me introduce my cork cuff.

Couldn't stop experimenting with cork embroidering, and I like how these turned out!

And if you just thought that I have gone slightly mad to actually embroider the cork discs wait until you see my french knots!

Phellodendron necklace

Exploring further the gifts of nature and in regard to my organic jewelery series, for this project I ventured into the magnificent family of Phellodendron or more commonly known as the cork tree.

For this necklace I sliced the cork and used different embroidery thread to embellish the surface.
Don't they look like small crocheted granny circles?

Although its construction was quite exhaustive, time consuming and painful (my fingers still ache), it was really worth making.

Along with my Melon necklaces this is the second, most favourite piece.

I can even wear it as a bracelet.

Credits:
I would like to thank Mr. Thimble who proved quite a helpful assistant in my persistent efforts to conquer the cork and make it succumb to the will of my embroidery needle.

I would also like to thank Mrs. Needle who acted strangely sometimes and faltered on the way through, but was strong enough not to break during the process.

You don't think I could've stopped myself making just this one?!
Until tomorrow....

Resuming the post of a MIC*

Well..

Yesterday I got back from a three-day trip to find out, delightedly, that the husband and the kids did not burn down the house, that they managed to keep it clean and tidy (!surprise, surprise!) and even make a presentable reception and entertainment for Eva's guest.

Nevertheless, I am resuming my motherly duties as of immediately, so I'll just say "Have a nice weekend" and "I'll be writing to you soon".

(Pictures taken during the trip)

Don't worry. I didn't pluck off the peacocks. I collected the feathers from the ground.

Legend:
*MIC= mother in charge

Sea weed necklace

Meet my new necklace.

I love the combination of these two colours - they are the perfect match.
The two rows of crocheted flowers are joined together to create my new favourite accessory. Corks took over the part of dangling buttons.

The closure. I love it.

It's got two faces.



The green one is a little contorted due to the joining stitch but I really don't mind.

Creative space invasion

My creative space is invaded by words in electronic form.
Just a glimpse of what I was working on. The necklace is ready, but has to be photographed.

Thrilled to share another great project in construction - perhaps for the weekend...
And still organic...

Fir cone brooch and ring

Continuing the series of organic jewelery, this is what I made with fir cones. A lovely brooch.

I had plenty of fir cones that we gathered last year and which I used to decorate my home.

Working with them was a real challenge because they were pretty tough.
I cut the upper part down to the last layers, smoothed its inner surface. I painted the surface of the one for the brooch, but left the one for the ring plain because I liked its natural appearance.

Must say I am completely equipped with accessories for this fall.
Still there's more coming up!

Watermelon earrings and a necklace - organic jewelery

The continuation of my series of organic jewelery is with the lovely watermelon earrings and necklace.

The crocheted earrings are quite tiny. While crocheting them I thought my eyes are going to run out! However, it was worth it because I love how they turned out so delicate and sophisticated! It will be a real pleasure to wear these cuties!

Watermelon seeds come in such different hues of brown and black it is really amazing.
For my necklace I had sparkled brownish/beige seeds. I never paint watermelon seeds because nature has taken care of that itself.

This is the necklace with a crocheted detail.

Stay tuned until tomorrow. The series continues!

Melon Seed Necklaces - Organic jewelery

I have always been inspired by the lavish, ever-inspiring nature and its incredible power of taking care of its loved ones. In every sense of the word. Whether it regards providing food, clothes or decoration.

I would love to linger on the latter. The primal source of the ancient people to embellish their homes and garments. Back at uni I used to make myself necklaces by using these gifts of nature. So today I returned to the roots again and used the fruits of nature to create a series of organic jewelery. I am going to share my ideas here and the first to be introduced are

The Melon necklaces

Tips for using melon seeds:

If you want to make a necklace or something else, scoop the seeds with a spoon and wash them in warm water with mild washing detergent to take off the slimy fibers. Then, let them sun/air dry. I usually put them onto a cotton napkin so they wouldn't stick to it. It is great if the seeds are big because they are easier for manipulation.

Once dry I love to add a little colour. For my necklaces I used ordinary markers, (in the past I was more patient and used nail polish in different colours). I painted half of the seed because I like the effect they create when stringed together.

When piercing the seeds it is best if you do that in the middle. If you make a hole near the edges the seed might easily split.

After being painted, apply transparent nail polish on the colored parts so that the seeds don't bleed due to body heat/sweat or just simply if you get caught in the rain with them :) 

UPDATE (July 2019) Use acrylic paints instead of markers!!

Choose your favourite colours, string the seeds and make yourself some eye-catching jewelry!

Inspiration

I never get bored by these genuinely inspiring magazines.
Whether it's Cotton friend, Pochee or Pattern book.

Today I bought lace to make myself a dress inspired by these.
I am going to draft the pattern and hopefully have it ready next week.
That is if I manage to get near the sewing machine...

Out of the box

No, you are not looking at lollipops.

These are the beads I made for a necklace. Today is their lucky day since they've been in a box for more than a year now (even I can't believe that!) waiting to be finished.

Today I can't concentrate on translating to save my life and I decided to make short interludes during which these babies are going to be polished.

I was thinking that I might actually put a little effort and make the necklace before the turn of the century...