Summer dress

 

I have always known  that I wanted to have a go at clothes making...i just never had the courage to do it! And I know why…it is not so easy! Well the sunny weather at the weekend made me dream about a nice pink dress for my little one. In fact I had something lying in the cupboard...it was meant to be a tunic, attached to a cut T-shirt, but for many days I tried to feel OK about the fact that probably the tunic will get stained the very first time...so such tunic never materialised. However a dress is a whole other story, and after Little Daughter called it Butterfly dress, and said that some pink wings would go well with it, I knew I did right!

Here is Little Daughter looking for said wings in her dress up box !

Love,

Irina xx

Happy Easter!

In preparation for Easter, Little Daughter and I decided to make and decorate some Easter cookies! To help us have fun I invited my friends and their little ones. The lovely mummies made the most delicious cookie dough, which made the yummiest cookies ever! Special points go to ginger bread cookie dough mummy! Also big brownie points to “Best Baker Mummy” (no surprise there) as we all loved the short bread cookies!

It was not easy to keep occupied six little people sitting and waiting in anticipation to cut, decorate and most importantly eat cookies, but they all enjoyed colouring the colouring sheets which I printed off from Cupcakes for Clara. They are all characters from Laura’s new book “ One Stitch At A time“.

And here are the cookies…and yes, they were absolutely delicious!!!

At the end everyone took home a little bag of cookies...

Now we are going on a car trip, somewhere outside Frankfurt, possibly along the river Main or is it the Rhein ( I am never sure) to enjoy the nature and the environment as today is Earth Day!

Have a Happy Easter!

Love,

Irina xx

A yummy bag

There are lots of beautiful rucksacks or bags to buy here in Germany, but the problem is that there isn’t much choice, what I mean is that the same bags are in all the shops. And again, everything, well almost everything is made in China. So I had a piece of red polka dot printed canvas which came with the UK edition of Home-style Sewing, some time last year. It was meant to become a bag but I decided to keep it, although I had no idea what to do with it. So a trip to the high street last week prompted me into digging it out and looking at it for a very long time - wondering what to make. My daughter had a little rucksack for the Kindergarten but it was rather old so there was the opportunity, and it was a real challenge, a proper sewing project, as I have never made a bag before. I mean a proper bag, with straps and front pocket. So there it is…a little red polka dot bag for my little one to take with her every morning.

As you know I love cupcakes and also free hand embroidery so there was no question what to make on the front pocket. The first time that I saw this kind of outlining the appliquéd object with free hand embroidery stitch, I immediately fell in love with the style and have used it many times since.
And it has proper shoulder straps too…

So off to tend to my sick husband and to dream about my next project - a fabric baby book, or something similar...
Love,
Irina xx

My poor blog

If anyone out there wonders why my blog has suddenly gone all plain, it isn’t, it is just a stage of transformation, or so I would like to think. Everyday I see blogs which are absolutely gorgeous to look at, without even reading the posts, so I will not rest until I have a blog which is not simply a chosen template from blogger but a true representation of what I like and what I believe crafting and sewing is all about! So please bear with me and my blog until it reaches the ultimate stage of bloggness!!!
In the mean time crafting and sewing will continue as usual.

Love,
Irina xx

Under the weather

I haven’t been feeling very well since last week, so I spent the days laying in bed feeling miserable for myself. I think I caught a virus from my daughter and of course she is fine, just a running nose, while I ended up in bed.

Well had a lot of time to think so hopefully it was not all that bad as I am full of ideas.

I haven’t got much to show you but since it is Easter next week, I would like to share my simple egg decoration. I used a tutorial which has photos of some perfect, gorgeous looking eggs…well, what can I say, I guess I need many more years of stitching practice to be able to recreate those…

I am also making something for my daughter, a bag, so here is a little peek…I am trying to combine some of my favourite things…cupcakes, red polka dot and gingham fabric…here is a sneaky preview…

Also a few things I would like to share:

- The lovely tutorial by Retro Mama to make above mentioned Easter eggs

- I just love those “End of the rainbow cupcakes”…so yummy and complete with a recipe for anyone who dares

- “A dress a day” - a bit like Julie & Julia

- Liberty prints and Nike trainers – pure genius or horribly wrong?!?!

- “Melly and me” – an Assie blog about fun things and lots of fabric toys

- Make a crown for your little ones…very sweet

Love,

Irina x x

Joining in the Easter spirit

Every shop I go to these days is full of Easter decoration, so I decided to make some of my own. Well, at least experiment. Some fabric Easter eggs are in the making and photos will come soon, but I wanted to make something more kiddie like so this is how little chick came about.

It was fun to make, and I must say I love its cute little feet...but it is somehow not what I imagined...expected...had in mind...Well I had to finish it and I took some photos to share, but I must admit it looks more like a hot pot holder that a sweet decoration.

Hope I'll have better luck with the fabric Easter eggs.

Love,

Irina x

Summer is on its way

Here in Frankfurt the weather over the weekend was absolutely lovely so it was definitely time to bring out my sunglasses. I gave up on expensive, designer sunglasses years ago, as they either get lost, sat on or simply scratched. So last week I bought a cheap pair from H&M that I can take to the park without worrying. However I couldn't bring myself to put them in my bag without a cover, and since they had none I made one.

And after it took me twenty minutes to find a pair of glasses that belong to my little girl, I decided to make her a box to keep all her sun glasses in ( she has about four pairs more than I do). If you have seen my previous post you’ll know that I use a great tutorial created by Christina at The Sometimes Crafter – and I have to say: Beware the boxes are highly addictive!I found myself going through the house wondering what else needs boxing.

However this time I did not have enough inter-lining – I only purchased a little bit to try out if it was hard enough. So I cut two rectangular pieces and placed them on top of each other to make a big cross. Than I ironed said cross onto the back side of my chosen fabric and did the rest as per the tutorial. The box turned out fine and if anything it has a much stronger base.

In hope of more sunny weather… and well looked after sunglasses...

Love, Irina xx