Holiday update

My winter break is slowly moving towards the second half and it feels so good to rest from everything, even the blogging... It is time for a quick update:

Two days ago I had an opportunity to meet a fellow blogger from Ljubljana, an Etsy artist whose work I have been admiring for a while and who I am now happy to call a friend. Sonja is amazingly talented in every art technique she decides to try (and there have been many), she currently focuses on jewellry making and mixed media but also spends a lot of her free time sewing (while also being a mom and working full time).

We met at the local mall, in a coffee shope next to a large indoor playground where Lily could play while we chatted. Sonja, who has already surprised me with a gift necklace, has brought a handmade present for my daughter this time, a darling handpainted doll...

And just before I left France, I made a small present for a friend and finished one special order for another. First one is a smaller version of my Mia zippered pouch, this time a little narrower and taller (12 x 15 cm, 4.7" x 6") - I always enjoy making special orders and trying out different suggestions people make.

The second one is a present for a dear friend whose mother has recently been diagnosed with cancer. The whole family is very upset and they are trying to stay strong and brave to fight the disease together. So I made my friende this iPhone cozy, embroidered with words that might bring her some of that strenght as she starts each new day.

My day is Friday

This week Maria from My day is Friday blog invited me to share my usual work day with her readers - it was great fun documenting my steps and HERE you can read more.

And today is also a day I hang a GONE FISHING sign on my shop door - Gaston's winter break starts tomorrow and we are spending the next two weeks in Slovenia. My shop will stay on vacation mode until March 8th and I will be back with fresh ideas & some new supplies to transform into new bags.

Holiday blog posts coming soon,

have a great weekend, everyone!

Soon in my shop

I made two new messenger bags with adjustable strap over the weekend, one will be available in my Etsy shop later today and the other I am keeping for myself ( I honestly needed a new bag!)

New Luna bag is a medium size messenger bag with tons of interfacing so it will keep it's shape plus you can store everything neatly in its many pockets - there are two double compartement interior pockets, one large exterior pocket in the back and one zippered pocket under the front flap. Interior also has a swivel hook for attaching keys and the front flap closes securely with a magnetic snap.

This was the first time I made two identical bags simultaneously, phase by phase. Usually I prefer making one bag from start to finish, from cutting the fabric and fusing it with interfacing to placing the magnetic snap and closing the lining at the end.

I am keeping the bag on the right. Perhaps when it stops raining I can model it outside...

And here is a look at the wall above my sewing table - since we are renting I can't do much about this ugly structured wall paint but I can dress it up a bit with my favourite pictures. The cheerful Amsterdam canal print is from Laura Amiss and next to it are my postcards of Ljubljana, Cape Town and one with Le Petit Prince.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Busy weekend ahead

I am working on a new design this weekend, a shoulder bag with adjustable strap

This morning I finished drawing out the patern and now it's time to choose the fabrics...

Ooooh, what to chose? In the past 15 years I have collected so many different fabrics but each time I want to sew it takes me forever to chose - I love my collection and fell in love with several fabrics the moment I saw them but since then I just don't feel inspired to transform some of them into a bag while I use others all the time.

I was thinking of offering sets of three or four pieces of matching fabrics as a destash in my shop, hopefully inspiring others to sew something. That way I can clear out some space in my closet for new stuff (!) - but what if those materials fail to inspire me as well after I put them on the shelf?

You see, it is a never ending dilemma...

Stay tuned for more pictures of my work in progress

& have a wonderfull weekend!

The MOO cards

Yay! it said on the package and that is exactly how I felt when I saw the envelope from MOO cards in my mailbox this morning.

I have been admiring these shiny, vibrant business cards for some time now and when I saw a special offer on Etsy, I decided to try them out.

50 free business cards (I only paid shipping from UK), come with a line on the bottom, advertisong Moo.com, but they still look great and you can chose one or 50 different images to feature on the front; I chose 13 different images but I think I will go for only 5 or 6 the next time. Some of the images came out a bit too dark so I will have to chose lighter, less contrasted items to feature.

The back of the card has plenty of room for all the information and even a business logo or a picture. The free cards are larger than normal Moo cards (5.5 x 8.3 cm) but they still fit neatly in this lovely card case I got for Christmas...

Pippa Grande

This new design came to life thanks to a custom request from Heather - she wished for a larger Pippa shoulder bag she could carry around every day and I made her a bigger version of this bag in brown chenille with embroidered branch.

I liked how a larger scale shoulder bag looked like so I decided to introduce Pippa Grande to Loddelina family (thanks, Dawn from Latouchables, for suggesting the name :).

So here is another one, this time in salmon orange corduroy and warm gray upholstery fabric, decorated with various blue buttons and embroidery. The shoulder straps are made from the same gray fabric and matching denim blue canvas and I added some teal blue stitches for a more graphic look.

I really enjoyed making this bag and focusing on all the little details, from the zippered pocket to swivel hook loop and embroidered word "handmade" in the lining.

Today I ran out of daylight to take the final picture of me modelling the bag, perhaps tomorrow...

Good night!

Night and Day

I have been trying to squeeze some work into my busy days - sometimes I have an hour in the morning and sometimes there is no time for sewing until the evening, after the children are in bed. So this is how the view from my sewing corner changes all the time:

And here is a glimpse at my latest project, a shoulder bag in salmon orange corduroy with embroidery and buttons. If all goes well I will list it in my shop by tomorrow...

Link your own button story to Petronella's Button Wednesday!