The luckiest woman on Earth

(hand made gorgeous retro-looking bag)

I feel so lucky. I have just received this amazing gift from my teacher-come-friend Mati who was supposed to send me just a couple of books and she decided to add something to the package. I couldn't believe my eyes! She made the entire outfits for these two gorgeous bears!!! Is all full of details, even a suspender!! And the necklace.. and the tie.. It almost made me cry out loud!! Make sure you click to view full scale!

(click on the photos to view detail)

and the great books that I highly recommend, plus some gorgeous fabric!

Kids pressies with cotton & felt

This Xmas I've tried to make as many things as possible for gifting. That way I could get to be creative with someone in mind. It's been fun. Felt is such a great material to create fun things easily. I designed these things with no pattern and loved it!

This is an apron for Ella, who is 5 years old.
I really enjoyed making the strawberry pin.


And this is a mini string pack for Max, who is 2 years old.

Baby stuff

(click to zoom)

I have been reorganising old wardrobes in my parents home. I have found loooooots of my baby clothes (from booties, to little jackets, hats, even my cot's clothing!!). Amongst it all I found these super cute bibs which I found quite original! One was made by my great grandmother, she had golden fingers!! My grandmother was more into knitting and she also made me amazing stuff. I'm washing it all but once I'm done, I will upload a few samples. These are going directly to my own babies! :-) I cannot believe I was once that small!!


Also, I'm posting here some baby bibs I've made for a couple of distant nieces, Sofía and Rosie May. They are my first appliqué & quilting pieces made with cotton.

Vintage Embroidery inspiration

Lately I have got into embroidery. Well, so far I haven't done any but I am learning and reading lots about it. I went to visit my auntie and she showed me a few table cloths she made when she was young. I really like this piece because it is modern looking and it could work in 2 colours too.

Detail - click to zoom

Then, my good friend Nati invited me to join her and her mother (Manolita) to learn how to embroider "Yugoslavian stisch". Figure out! Yugoslavia isn't a country anymore so this must come from a looooong time ago.

Again, I really like this style of embroidery because it looks pretty modern and you could do this in many different colour shades. It is simple but cute.

New things

It's been aaaaages since I posted anyting but then again, it's been ages since I've been back to action and producing new little goodies. It's been all about gifts I've made for my friends, I'm excited to share them with you, I'm still finding what is my strength within the crafting world and I've joined some sewing classes. Loving using my new gorgeous black sewing machine :-)

Handbag for my friend Eli, made with gorgeous plum kimono fabric,
vintage buttons, chain and silk ribbon

Eli with the bag, she seemed pleased, she is a girly girl

Bag for Vane, is reversible with big pockets inside.
Vane is a bit of a hippy and she likes dark colours.


I needed a laptop bag and didn't like any of the office executive style ones
so I made one for myself in an hour.


This is a bag for my friend Marisol, she is a colourful character with a taste for the exotic

Every handbag gift I make is been designed thinking of the person who is going to use it. That is why there are so many different styles going on here.

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I went to Marbella to visit my best friend Mayo, who recently had a baby girl, Inés. So there I went with a couple of gifts for her and brother Miguel.

Wall hanging with pockets for baby Ines

And pockets wall hanging for her brother Miguelito

Updates

Been meaning to get updating here but having to resize pics and find the time to upload has hold me up... however, the time is here! I have mostly nice pics.. that I hope are inspiring..

I've had this massive collection of fabric samples.. and not known what to do with it.. so I started sewing, for the sake of it and this is what I came up with. A passport bag? or travelling jewelery bag? just experimenting..


During our holidays in Greece last August I started this scarf.. it was inspired by the colours of the sea there... I'm still working on it. Making the most of the sunny Autumn days, I jump in my bike for a work break and knit on the grass...

I suppose I should put a pic from Greece so that you can see what I was looking at whilst knitting...
And I think this inspired Talia to get on with knitting.. I've been preaching about it for so long now...

My friend Julia came to visit my flat.. as she hadn't been before, she brought house warming pressies.. how lucky am I?!!! Gorgeous lilies. Apparently she was looking for yellow and red to represent the Spanish flag but was disappointed for not finding them. However, she didn't realised that they are the Japanese flag's colours!! so well done!! She also gave me this gorgeous body cream that smells soooo yummy! And it came in this so-cute bag :-)


These red lilies were just stunning.. they seemed like made of plastic!! The colour was so intense.. (click to make bigger)
The contrast of colours was great :-)

And then.. to top this up.. I got last weekend another bunch of STUNNING flowers! the pics don't make justice and the scent... the most amazing sweet scent I've ever smelt coming from a rose! And the lilies were gigantic and the pink.. the fucsia I should say, was just unbereably gorgeous. But the delicacy of the roses, old style English roses.. wow..




And to finish.. quick recipe of salmon "cake": with mashed potatoes, plum tomatoes, spring onions and barely seared salmon with onion.. SERIOUSLY easy and tasty - was very succesful on the night :-)

Red shoes

(click to view larger)

I just cannot help it.. I love them!! specially the ones I appear in the photo with. I was wearing them last Sat walking around town - following the exhibitions in the East for 100% Design plus some Open House buildings - and wishing I had bought more pairs of the same model!! I think my alter ego may be Dorothy...

Another wonderful Sunday

Seeing that the weather isn't as nice anymore we got together for more crafting, yummy food and great conversation! It turned out fantastically!! In order of appearance: Marlena, Agnes, Mar, Delphine, Talia, Carly, Helene and me :-)

Remember you can click over the pics to see them big size

Funny, in this pic everyone looks bored!!
But actually there was some good chatting going on..


This is a sequence from an Amy buttler's pattern to Mar's adaptation of it

Special mention to Delphine, whose savoury carrot cake and yummy soup were homemade!! To die for...

the wonderful Fortumn & Mason packaging for the yummy cakes that Marlena brought

the whole group pitching ideas to help Carly with her new dress
cute, isn't it?

It's all about team work
And the result
Me in action....

Some details of the bag I made. The picture at the bottom of the collage shows
the way Mar taught me how to finish things to make them look nice.
I looove it!

ps- it is my granny's birthday today.. she turns 84 so from here: Feliz cumpleaños abuela!!