Crochet lace covered stone

Holidays are a perfect time for crocher experiments so I took my crochet hooks with me to Slovenia this week. I must have been the only one in the whole train not playing with an iPad or reading a book on Kindle but instead happily occupied with my analog entertainment, crochet.

I have long admired crochet lace covered stones on Etsy and wanted to give it a try myself. That meant going beyond the basic crochet flower and learning new stitches to cover the entire front of the stone.

I improvised a lot and managed to come to the other side of the stone, where I used a temporary yellow thread to tighten the loose hooks and then crochet around it to finish the cover. 

Pictured with the finished stone is a beautiful ceramic plate, made by a fellow Etsy artist Tika.

V kvačkano čipko oblečeni kamni

Že od nekdaj na Etsyju občudujem v čipkaste mojstrovine oblečene okrogle kamne, zato sem se odločila, da še sama poskusim narediti kaj podobnega. Najprej sem se morala naučiti še nekaj vbodov poleg osnovnih rožic, da napolnim celo zgornjo ploskev kamna, sledilo je veliko improviziranja in prispela sem na spodnjo ploskev, kjer sem zanke povlekla skupaj in jih obkvačkala. Krožniček na sliki je delo ustvarjalke Tike. 

Fabric hunt and a new clutch for the summer

On my last fabrics and supplies hunt I came across a shop in Besançon selling mostly decorative upholstery fabrics and curtains. After I explained to the owner what I needed fabrics for, he invited me into the back room and showed me cardboard boxes, full of scraps, leftovers and fabric swatches. He told me local schools often come to him looking for smaller, inexpensive scraps to make different sewing projects.

I happily dug into those boxes and found some interesting, large enough pieces of upholstery jacquard and other sturdier fabrics, mostly in neutral colours with plenty of potential. There was also a vibrant palette of chenille swatches and couldn't wait to get home and start mixing and matching the colours.

The result are these three large clutches in cotton corduroy, decorated with stripes of chenille - as there was only a small swatch of each colour, these clutches are one of a kind. All three are now available in my shop.


Lov na tkanine in nova torbica za poletje

Pred kratkim sem na lovu za novimi šivalnimi materijali naletela na trgovino z dekorativnimi tekstilijami in zavesami v Besançonu. Prijazni lastnik, ki sem mu razložila, za kakšen namen kupujem, me je povabil v skladišče in mi pokazal kartonaste škatle, polne ostankov in odrezkov. Menda k njemu pogosto hodijo šole, ki iščejo poceni materijal za šivalne projekte, jaz pa sem se z velikim veseljem zakopala v škatle in našla precej uporabno velikih kosov v nevtralnih barvah, ki jih bom zlahka uporabila. Kot prve sem razrezala pisane vzorčke šenilje, ki sem jih uporabila za proge na novih torbicah iz rebrastega žameta - vse tri torbice so že na voljo v moji trgovini.

Inspiration: France

Being an expat in France has its advantages - and I am not only talking about more than 350 varieties of cheese...
I mostly enjoy observing the local architecture, especially windows, shutters and doorways, and am always discovering charming details, be it in larger towns like Besançon and Dijon or small town houses in my neighbourhood (Pontarlier).
Here is a collage of images, taken by me in the last month and posted to my Instagram album.

Have a great weekend!

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Življenje v Franciji ima svoje prednosti, pa ne govorim samo o neštetih vrstah sira - zelo rada opazujem metstno arhitekturo, predvsem okna z očarljivimi polknami in vhode v stavbe, pa naj bo v večjih mestih (Dijon, Besançon) ali našem malem Pontarlieru. Tule je izbor slik iz mojega Instagram albuma, posnetih v zadnjem mesecu.
Lep vikend želim vsem skupaj!