Package from Sam arrived today!

Thank you, Mr Postman, you have made my day!

A lovely package from Sam arrived this morning and I couldn't wait to get a spare moment to take some pictures before opening it. Even the envelope looked tempting but once it was opened I could smell the sweet scent of lavander (I have mentioned to Sam that it was one of my favourites...).

The little envelope with my name on it (I love the butterfly and bird stamps!) contained a card from Sam and some lavender blossoms came pouring out. With every little package I got more excited, they were so pretty I almost didn't want to open them in fear of damaging the wrapping.

Thank you, Sam, for the lovely earrings, a piece of yummy lavender soap, a sweet notebook, amazing little note cards, a flower shaped candle, pretty vanilla zig-zag trim and two lovely scented bags (they will go straight into my warderobe!).

I have posted a few of these pictures on Flickr - check our some other amazing packages from the exchange participants!

Buttons and ties

Returning back home from my vacation I took with me a few things I had stored at my parents' house when I moved away (there was no way I could have taken everything with me and it is nice to keep coming back and discovering forgotten treasures...).

On top of all the sewing supplies my mother has collected over the years, I myself have never thrown away an interesting button, a piece of ribbon or a leftover piece of fabric - one never knows when they might be the very thing that puts a finishing touch to the design.

On this last visit I've discovered a box of my father's old ties from the 70's I have once saved from being thrown away - they are a collection of amazing vintage patterns and colours, some wide, some narrow (early 80's, no doubt), some have stains, some traces of wear and tear, but I'm sure I can incorporate at least a part of them in one of my next projects. The other box contains my collection of buttons; some I've bought over the years, some were cut off items of clothes that were too worn to be given to charity and some are the "backup" buttons from clothes I've purchased (and have long ago left my wardrobe).

Aaaaghh, so many ideas, so little time! I have to reopen my Etsy shop first and then it's back to the sewing machine!

A lovely package for Sam (part 1)

A while ago I've signed up for a lovely package exchange organised by Danni at Oh, Hello Friend. I've just posted some of the pictures of my package on Flickr, keeping the contents a secret since it hasn't arrived at it's destination yet...

My assigned partner was Sam, a young girl from Oxfordshire, UK, who is training to be a florist and loves country garden themes, soft colours and floral prints. I've found a couple of pretty things I hope she will like and "wrapped" them the way I know best - as a purse. I sewed a pocket just big enough to fit the present, using beige linen-viscose blend for the outside and black cotton for the inside of the pocket. I then carefully sewed fabric rose petals all over the pocket - I have bought a box of them as home decoration a long time ago, I knew they would come handy one day... To hide the stitches on the rose petals in top row, I sewed a piece of golden lace along the rim and added an elastic loop that goes around the button.

It was a race against time to finish the package before the evening got too dark for outside photography - in all the rush I forgot to take a picture of the protective wrapping the purse was put in... Maybe Sam will take one for me when she gets her present. She loves photography and has an amazing Flickr album.

There's another lovely package exchange in December - I will be sure to participate again!

The world according to Gaston

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My almost three-year-old, like all children his age, has always shown great interest in electronic gadgets adults were using in everyday life. Having mastered the phone and the DVD player it was soon time to try the digital camera...

At first we would give him an old Canon IXUS with a broken display that only showed the generic pictuire of a bird when switched on but made attractive picture-snapping sounds upon pressing the button, which was enough for a start. This past week, however, Gaston began to be bored with his camera never capturing anything so he started borrowing mine. Watching me he soon figured out which buttons to press and after a few days of happy snapping I could make this selection of his "essentials" - without adjusting or cropping the pictures in any way.