Autumn

I love autumn.
I love the palette of colours it chooses to paint nature.
Walking to the kindergarten to pick up Jacob, the street was covered with the loveliest carpet of yellow leaves and the last rays of the setting sun shimmered through the golden canopies of the trees.

There was a soft and nice breeze that brought with itself the smell of baked chestnuts...
The morning rain has made the ground evaporate with the beautiful smell of the leaves and earth...

Inspired by all these, here's my Autumn necklace.

Pom-Pom Scarf

Window shopping the other day we stopped at the Accessorize to get some inspiration (I love their tweed bags) for the upcoming winter. Eva saw a pom-pom scarf and knowing that I wouldn't pay for something I can make myself she got herself a promise that she'll have one.
And here it is.

She chose the colors (right then I realized how insufficient my knitting wool pallet is) to match her winter jacket, and leapt out of joy when it was finished. The most beautiful gratification for a mother.

Feedback

The Internet has enabled me to come across some very interesting blogs, meet (virtually) some amazingly talented people, discover and learn many new things and share the things I know about.
Sharing knowledge has always been an inseparable part of my profession and what I have valued the most is the feedback. Something that shows you that your work has not been in vain, something that made people learn, enjoy beauty or create beauties themselves.

I met this wonderful blogger Lisa recently and was amazed by her work. She used my melon seed tutorial and made some fabulous organic jewelery herself.
Thank you Lisa for the credits and for venturing into this project.
Update: You have to the check the necklace Peaches made out of pumpkin seeds. Amazing!

Ottobre sewing in November

Flipping through the past issue of Ottobre, we mutually concurred that certain pieces of clothing must be attempted to be made. The following was taken into consideration:

Eva insisted on having such a flirty skirt.

Jacob wanted a shirt just like this one.
I don't believe I am going to find similar fabric.
It is so hard to find good fabric for boys.

My choice. I want this for Jacob.
It is so simple but practical.

I've just seen the newest edition of Ottobre online. It is amazing and I must have it.
By the way, I have been busy preparing a tutorial upon request and it'll be posted next week. Tremendously excited about this one! Fingers crossed for everything to come out perfectly.

>> too-da-loo <<

Peacock ornament

This is a present for a very special girl in love with peacocks.
I found the pattern on the internet and although tiring due to the tiny stitches, I am glad I undertook the effort, because it turned out fantastic.
I plan to wrap it up nicely with the peacock feathers I have, but I'll have to show you that some other day. I have some errands to run as of immediately, so be well and have a nice weekend!

Moonlight flowers necklace

This is my Anthropologie inspired necklace.
I quite enjoyed making it, especially the flowers which are combination of dark purple organza and the silver taffeta.

I have several meters of this silver taffeta and love making accessories with it because it does brighten up clothing with the shine the fabric has and makes a nice effect.

Carnation necklace

During the weekend I made this beautiful necklace I can't take off of me!

It's made of a jersey piping, a remnant of a skirt I made years ago, filled with beads, and adorned with a lovely carnation.

Today I am working on another one inspired by the famous Anthropology. See you tomorrow!

The tutorial for the carnation can be found here.

Baby wrap -wrapped up

I finally have my baby kimono ready.
Today I finished embroidering the tiny pink roses and the green leaves. I didn't want to be quite plain so I think this small detail came in just nice. The little baby princess has an older sister and I want to send something for her too and I am considering a knitted scarf or a headband.

For the baby wrap/kimono I used this Lion Brand pattern, and I recommend you visit the site. They have some amazing patterns for all ages and most of them are for free.

Back to Lion Brand. I am currently obsessed by this.

Isn't this gorgeous? And it is also for free.

Would love to make this for myself. Maybe if I start now, I'll finish it in a year or two. What do you say?
That's why I like sewing more. You draft the pattern, cut the pieces, sew them together and you have a piece of clothing in a jiffy. With knitting it is a totally different issue. You have to work laboriously and for a long time (and curse a bit when you realize after a bazillion rows that you've made a mistake) to actually make something presentable.

Dandelion Dress remake

Yesterday, reordering my wardrobe I impulsively decided to do something with my Dandelion dress. I worn it twice last year, and I didn't enjoy its length at all. I didn't feel comfortable in it.

So, I butchered it successfully. I cut it off just a little above the knees, I took in the front and the back darts, and took off the unfortunate dandelions I wasn't satisfied either because I didn't like how they appeared sewn on the velvet. Instead I made three rows of ruffles and attached them as a bib.

Next, with the left over rectangle piece I made myself a bolero. That was the easiest thing to do.

I added a ruffle along the neckline and I got the cutest little thing! Now, I am sure I am going to wear it a lot.

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.