Pretty kitchen

So following my brother's new apartment inspiration I made him some cute little things for his kitchen.   And it was the perfect chance to use the lovely fabric I won from Ivy and Neat. Have a look, what do you think?

For the oven glove I used a combination of the fabrics. I love the patterned fabric, not sure if they are mushrooms or trees, but they are adorable regardless... and I wanted to combine it with just one of the solids to highlight it.

The pot holders were just made with the remaining mushroom fabric that I had quilted. And they look lovely as a set.

And of course this is was the actual project I was working on when I posted the pincushion I made with the leftover quilted fabric. Remember? (click here for the full post)

They look so cute in my brother's kitchen, it just makes you want to start making something. I have to admit I really enjoyed the making process, so I am thinking of a little kitchen embellishment for me as well, yey!

Fabric stash news

I should first warn you that any similarity to pictures you've already seen in my blog, it is only because we had a gorgeous day in Luxembourg... and this do not happen often, so I hurried and taken all the pictures I had in my to do list. Sorry if I am boring you with the leaves of the trees in my garden as a background. Probably it is raining today, don't feel bad.

Anyway I am so happy with my new fabric additions...

So I added these gorgeous Cath Kidston fabrics, courtesy of my mother in law who sent them to me as a surprise, thank you I love them!

And this is a little half meter a bought of this lovely fabric on a trip to my local craft store, just because.

I also won a couple of giveaways! yes lucky me, but I am hoping to make lovely things and gift them too! Anyway here they are...

I won this fantastic bundle from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics in their Pin it Win it contest. It was incredibly fun and they got lots of people engaged in the game, and I was fortunate enough to be in the first 10 people to respond! Click here for a link to this bundle in her store.

I also won the Sew me a song giveaway that Amy hosted at During Quiet Time  and won a custom bundle. Thank you Becca and Amy for the fantastic fabrics.

Too much to think about now... what to do with them! So exiting!

And more blankets

Wow, I cannot believe how many blankets I have, and there are two more coming that will be sent in December as we cannot fit them.

Don't they look super cute? So we have three more this week. These two were made by Lisa, one of my friends from craft circle. She made these two soft and cosy baby blankets that will be treasured by their new owners...

And this one I had the pleasure to assemble, but the squares were made by Nancy, one of my fellow Argentinian living in Luxembourg. She is such a neat crocheter that the moment I finished sewing the squares together there was not much else to do, not loose threads to hide, nothing. Incredible eh?

To make it a little bit bigger I made a nice thick border around, basically to use up all my leftover yarn from the project. And voilà all blankets made.

It has been hard work, but cant wait to take all the blankets and hopefully get to meet some of their lovely new owners.

Secret WIP and another 5 minute craft

So I am working on something (actually a few things) but they are super secret... as they are a gift for people that I know read my blog... and I love them for that but not particularly today when I so so so want to show you what I am making. Especially after my husband asked me three times yesterday if I really had made what I was showing him. I just could not stop jumping around the house with a huge smile!

Well, I cannot help myself, I really want to share what I am doing, so here is what I did with some of the leftover quilted fabric from my project! The fabric is the one I won in the giveaway from Ivy and Neat (click here for the original post).

This really sweet pincushion fits perfectly in my sewing machine so it is really handy to have as I am sewing. And I still have two more scraps to make some to giveaway... I cannot part with this one. Can someone really love a pincushion?

But the greatest thing about it, it also takes less than 5 minutes to make, that is if you have quilted scraps, but I am sure you will at one point or the other have some of those, won't you?

I didn't use any templates, it is a very simple project, just cut your scraps to the size you want pin right sides together and sew along, just leaving a small opening to turn inside out. Fill and close the opening by hand, and voilà new pincushion to add to the collection!

Anyway now that I feel a bit more relieved I can go back to this productive week of mine and make some more presents... yes two of my friends are pregnant and I get to make lovely and cute baby gifts, joy!

 

Linking to W.I.P Wednesday at Freshly Pieced today for my secret WIP... care to guess what I am making by the look of the pincushion?

Traveling inspiration

So husband and I went on a little road trip last week. It was fantastic and we got to visit many countries, including adding three new countries to my list of visited ones! yey!

And there was lots of inspiration to be found, so here are the funny, inspiring, interesting things I found around.

I came across this lovely shop in central Munich, a felt shop, all felt, and the window was the best part of it, they had pre-cuts, by meter, ready made curtains, cushions, etc. Fantastic shop! I just wanted to buy it all!

The next day, in a town called Augsburg, where we were staying with some lovely friends, I found these cushion covers in a shop window, aren't they just great? (apologies for the blur but it was a sunny day).

I've been trying to find a tutorial for this in google, or at least know the name of the technique. Any ideas? Would love to know if you do... as I so want to make them now.

Anyway, moving on, the hearts in this picture as some sort of ginger cookie that is very famous around here. In Luxembourg we get them anytime there is a celebration in the city. But I just had to take a picture of this shop.

I think I also saw this in a museum in Augsburg, and I am sure are very valuable, but I thought they  would make lovely pin cushions!

Now have a look at this chocolate house, it took me a little bit to realise what they were selling (maybe 'cause I don't speak the language) but thought it was a fantastic display.

And a funny looking dog in Switzerland...

And some food inspiration in France...

Aren't these mini cupcakes so tempting?

Hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into my vacation and the things that called my attention or inspired me somehow. What inspires you? I'd love to know...

5 minute craft - Mini sewing needle case

Last week we were on vacation and of course I took my portable sewing kit. But something was missing... a needle case! So as soon as I got back I knew it was going to be my next 5 minute craft project! What do you think?

So to make this adorable mini needle cases all you need is some scraps of fabric and felt; some thin cardboard, glue, brush, scissors (rotary cutter is actually optional) and a pencil.

So cut your cardboard to the size you want your cases to be (mine had to fit in my portable sewing box see picture at the end). I decided I wanted a bigger one and a smaller one. Fold them in half and mark the fold thoroughly.

UR Priceless blog hop schedule

We are getting closer to the new blog hop I am participating in called UR Priceless, starting November 5th and you will be able to see what I created on November 12th. I have been working on my purses last week, with one lovely finished... one that I need to work on and a lot of cut pieces around the sewing room!
And now a little sneak peak on what I am working on...

The schedule has now been published, please follow the link in my sidebar! Look forward to seeing all the wonderful things all the participants are making!

One done and one to go

As we are getting closer to the due date for the charity quilts I find myself having more work in progress than finished ones... but here are the latest achievements!

A fantastic crochet blanket, made with an assortment of granny squares... (I will get working on the tutorial for this). The squares were made by Ieva, one of my friends from craft circle and I got the pleasure to assemble it. The wool used is so soft (already thinking in a scarf with the same material) and the colours are so so so sweet. Whoever gets this one will have such a cosy and warm time with it!

Look at the flower in the centre, isn't it the most beautiful square ever?

And now onto the WIP, I am half way (or sort of) assembling this lovely blanket made with squares by another of my friends who lives here in Luxembourg, Nancy. I've never seen such tidy and perfectly made granny squares, and with such a small hook!

I am planning on showcasing all her squares in the middle of the blanket and then add as many rows as I can around them in different matching colours. It will look divine and be so good for a little newly born baby!

I can't say THANK YOU enough to all the people that are helping me with the charity project and as usual to keep promoting charity and lovely work, I am linking this project to 100 quilts for kids (although not strictly quilts I don't think Katie will mind). We have only a few days to go, please don't forget to stop by and show all this hard work quilters your appreciation!

And finally as it is Wednesday today, I am linking to W.I.P. Wednesdays at freshly pieced for my unfinished blanket!

Have a wonderful day! And keep all the lovely hard work.

Pay it forward, a handmade gift

A few mornings ago I was doing my blogs review, this is a morning ritual that has started a little while ago, I sit down with a coffee, and browse through all the blogs I follow (there are plenty of them), check my Facebook page and others I like and have a quick look at what's new on Pinterest. When I came across this fantastic idea on Alyssa's blog Pile O'Fabric, Pay it Forward.

So after Alyssa signed up for this she needed to find three people to make lovely hand made gifts to. I am so exited to see what she is going to make for me! And once she found those three, me being one of course, we need to pay it forward... so I am making three hand made gifts for other fellow bloggers that would like to receive them... and then of course pay it forward!

Here are the "rules" (as taken from Alyssa's blog):

1. I will create a crafty gift for each of the first three people who comment to this post. This is a surprise, and will arrive to you anytime within the next 365 days.

2. In signing up for Pay it Forward, you are committing yourself to the project...someone pays it forward to you, so you pay it forward to others! Just post this, or something similar so others can get involved. Basically you will create your own post where you create gifts for 3 people as well.

3. You need to have an active blog of your own...(or some way to post up your Pay it Forward info like a flickr, pinterest, or Facebook account). Basically you'll need a place to announce your own Pay it Forward and to post some pics of the process.

4. After commenting on this post, post something similar on your blog...so you can spread the pay it forward love. I will email you asking for your mailing address (and the online address where you are posting your Pay it forward info) so I can get your crafty treat in the mail. Please make sure your email address is visible on your profile or leave it in the comment.

So what kind of things do you need or want? Are you going to leave it to my imagination? I would love to know what colours you are into at the moment... just leave a comment to this post, letting me know anything about you or the things you like... I will be stalking you for a little bit to get an idea and then get crafting for you!

Following a new series, Quilt Math

I just wanted to let all of you know that there is a fantastic series starting at Lily's Quilts. It may be a bit much for a Sunday morning (when I read the post), but after a good coffee the maths makes sense and I think it will actually help a lot when planning a quilt project.

I tend to get started with what I have to suddenly realise I didn't have enough material to finish the project. So using having the tips from this series handy will certainly help making sure I have/buy enough! I will keep the button on my sidebar during the series, or you can click in the one below for a quick link to the posts.

So thank you Lynne once again for all the inspiration and useful information in your blog! Hope you find this useful.

WIP, the lost and forgotten

For one reason or the other, I started thinking of all those projects that I started in the past and left them unfinished. And I thought if I make a list slowly I can start getting it finished. And I say slowly because I know that the list will start to get filled with new shiny projects that come my way... but at least I can keep them in the radar.

So what's on my lost and forgotten items:

I love this project, I think I will call it the zoo quilt. A while ago I made a pillow for a dear friend who just had a baby. And the idea is that I wanted it to be a 3D embroidered pillow, so I did a lovely sheep with all its curly fleece (done in wool, of course). And as I could not have enough of wool embroidery I started this pillow. But after I could finish it we were packing to move countries (again, that's an old story) and forgot all about it.

The idea is to finish embroidering the animals, cut them in little pieces (charm squares like) and then piece them into lovely blocks to make a baby quilt out of it...

I started this project before I bought my new sewing machine. The idea was to have the cushions ready to be sewn before the machine arrived... well and then I decided to start the charity project... so I have one almost finished honeycomb smock cushion front and a lot of fabric... but they would look adorable in the new bed (btw we haven't even bought the new bed when I started the cushions, well tough life!)

I have incredibly high cupboards in my kitchen, thanks to the I probably never made even tea architect that designed it. So one of the first things we did when we moved in was to buy this wooden steps from IKEA with the promise that I would make them into something nicer... So I have the paint, and the paper to decoupage it (yes with the lovely tutoring of my mum who is really good at it)... but for some reason or the other the steps always seem to remain undone! Isn't there a craft fairy that comes and magically gets your project done in your sleep?

Well now that they are all out in the open, I must oh I must get them finished up... promise to report on progress soon. And please do not feel bad if you feel like you have a lot more projects in your list than I do... note that I only listed the ones I actually got somehow started... Not included is the fabric already bought and ready to be cut and sewn, the pictures already taken and ready to be printed and framed, and the paper already bought and ready to be decoupaged...

Linking today's post to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Please do follow the link and show some of the other bloggers some appreciation for their hard work.

And October it is

I really like taking my time to see what I have done each month, party because I love lists and ticking them down, but also because I like to see what I have achieved. So last month I said:

"Finishing the quilting and binding of my charity quilt, working on finishing up a few more with some fabric that was donated, making a block for the dots on the dots blog hop and then making something else out of it! and redecorating the cushions and curtain tie backs in the spare bedroom. Oh and I must not forget to fix my husband's boxer shorts that have been on my to do list over a month now!"

So, what I have actually achieved?

Well, I did finish my first quilt (here), and it is all nice, lovely and cosy, ready to be donated. I also managed to get a few more quilts ready to go. And assembled a charity blanket with squares made by one of my friends from craft circle (still have another set of squares waiting to be assembled, but going one at a time), post will follow soon (as soon as it stops raining here and I can take some nice pictures).

I made, not one but two blocks for the dots on dots blog hop, and I am loving them... but not, I have not managed to make them into something (click here). Although I have now a great idea of what I want to make of them! And made my first purse for the fantastic blog hop (see below) I am joining in November... but of course I can't show you that yet.

And I have not even started, measured or even had a look at the fabric for the spare bedroom cushions and curtain tie backs! quite bad eh? Well it will stay a little longer in my WIP list I guess.

But I have proudly to report that I did fix my husband's boxer shorts and that has taken his mind of the amount of fabric that is now lying around the apartment and the mess I have in the spare bedroom/temporary sewing room!

And very happy that I will be linking this post to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts blog, as I can no longer participate on the small blog meet, due to my amazing more than 50 followers, yes you, Thank You! Please go over and visit all the super crafty people that will be posting their month achievements.

So what's in the to-do list for October...

- Lots of making for a fantastic new blog hop. We are making this absolutely stunning purses... great for gifts, though I am not sure I will be able to part from them when ready. But again you won't see them until November.

- And being realistic... I am pushing some of the other projects a little later on the year... so the one and only goal is to get all the quilts and blankets ready to be donated.

- But if I have some time I will make something out of the dots on dots blocks... as I would love to be able to finish them and give them a life of their own.


Happy start of Spring for those in the Southern hemisphere... I unfortunately have to report that winter seems to be coming early this year around here, but you have to love the wet fallen leaves everywhere...