Hooked

I have been working on a custom order bag this week (and it will be finished tomorrow, I promise) but I couldn't stop myself from going back to my crochet hooks in between cutting and sewing.

After my first attempt at crochet flowers a month ago I got completely hooked and this past week I have been working with the tiny hook number 1 and some skinny ecru cotton yarn to make lacy crochet flowers and rosettes. I can't read crochet patterns and have only learned the basics from internet tutorials  so I am making up stiches as I go.
I did find one very user-friendly tutorial at a blog writen by a pattern analphabet like myself  - Mandy writes a delightfully simple tutorial for a very sweet flower HERE and you can see the final results in my blurry iPod picture below (the little flower on the lower right corner of the right photo).

Zakvačkana

Ta teden šivam torbo po meri (več v naslednjem postu), a si ne morem kaj, da ne bi vsake toliko časa sedla k mojim kvačkam. Odkar sem pred kratkim spet pogruntala kvačkanje rožic, sem čisto ujeta in moj zadnji projekt so čipkaste rozetke, kvačkane z mini kvačko št. 1. TULE najdete link do še posebej enostavnega opisa izdelave luštne rožice - opis je zlasti za takšne kot jaz, ki ne znamo brati kvačkarskih hieroglifov.

Sprrrrrriiiiiiiiing!

After I posted my last story about learning how to crochet again, the flu season came around and between nursing my children and myself for weeks, everything had to be put on hold...

But I am back, with some fresh, colourful items in my shop, which is better than a vitamin shot as far as I am concerned.

new Pippa bag with crochet flowers

First I finished the bag I started working on before I fell ill - it is a small shoulder bag Pippa, adorned with freshly picked crochet flowers. It felt strange to pick up my work after a month's pause, I am not yet sure what to think of it but as every new thing it needs time to set in. I have made some new, vibrant crochet flowers in the meantime and I am determined to give it another try.

And last week, to my great surprise, one of Loddelina items made it to Etsy's front page! Features of this kind have been few and far between so I was delighted to see how much attention little coin purse got afterwards, there were tons of hearts and shop views. So many in fact that I decided to make more of this reverse star applique design - and here they are, four new coin purses in my shop since last night.

four new coin purses are now available in my shop

I wish you all a great week ahead!

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Pomlad!

Kmalu po moji zadnji objavi nas je ujela epidemija gripe in ko sem končno pozdravila sebe in otroka, je bil naokrog ves mesec. Zdaj sem spet v formi, z novimi pisanimi torbicami v trgovini. Najprej sem dokončala torbico Pippa, okrašeno z mojimi kvačkanimi rožicami - hecno, po enomesečni prekinitvi mi prvotna ideja nekako ni več sedla v srce, a za prvi poskus bo v redu, čaka me še cel kup novo nakvačkanih rožic in odločena sem, da bom poskusila še enkrat.

Zadnji teden pa se je zgodil manjši čudež, moja mala denarnica z zvezdo je prišla na Etsyjevo prvo stran, kar se ni pripetilo že celo večnost, zato sem še toliko bolj vesela vseh srčkov in obiskov trgovine, ki so sledili. Odločila sem se, da hitro zašijem še nekaj novih barvnih inačic zvezde in zdaj so tukaj, v moji trgovini.

Lep teden želim vsem skupaj!

Learn a new craft

A new year, a new craft, that is what Etsy blog suggested the other day. So I decided it was as good time as any to finally try to learn to crochet small flowers I have been wanting to add to my designs for a long time. My mother taught me crochet basics when I was a little girl but I haven't touched the hooks and yarn since...

However, with a little help from YouTube tutorials for beginners I learned to crochet several diffenent flowers in no time! First attempts were a bit awkward but after one week of crocheting I have over 40 flowers ready to be appliqued to my bags.

 trial and error

Tiny and small 5 petal flowers (6 petals are a result of a welcome mistake in counting)

You can find the tutorials HERE and HERE.

I also llike these ruffled flowers, perfect for adding pearls in the middle or plain and simple, resembling a chrysanthemum. Find the tutorial HERE.

Do you have and interesting crocheting tutorial? Please share!

Nauči se novo spretnost

Čas je že bil, da se končno naučim kvačkati rožice, s katerimi si že dolgo časa želim okrasiti moje torbice. Mama me je sicer že davno tega naučila osnov kvačkanja, pa sem do danes vse pozabila in tako   spet prvič prijela za kvačko. K sreči je na YouTube-u polno navodil za začetnike in tako sem se v enem tednu naučila kvačkati tri različne rožice in jih do zdaj naredila že čez 40. 
Zgornje, s petimi lističi (ali šestimi, kar se je zgodilo kot dobrodošla napaka pri štetju zank) sem naredila v dveh velikostih, spodnja, skuštrana, pa je še posebej zanimiva, ker jo lahko naredimo poljubno gosto, dodamo perlice, brez pa še najbolj spominja na krizantemo. 
Povezave so pod slikami, če imate tudi ve kakšno zanimivo kvačkarijo, jo prosim delite!

Chocolate and polka dots

I listed another Pippa purse today and due to a small error (pssst, don't tell anyone) I made the bottom slightly deeper; the end result is this very petite purse with more prominent hexagonal shape.

The purse with a sort of 50's feel is made from dark chocolate brown upholstery fabric and warm grey canvas, decorated with red polka dotted ribbon, red corduroy straps and matching flower brooch. Ever since I bought the craft book Kanzashi in Bloom, I wanted to try out one of its many fabulous ideas and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I cut out and folded five petals from grey canvas and decorated them with red wooden beads. The three dimensional flower is attached to a pin and can be also worn independently as a brooch.

Pippa purse is lined with creamy beige checkered cotton canvas and has one interior zippered pocket plus a swivel hook for attaching keys. New bag is now available in my shop.

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And remember those zinnias I bought last week? They are now planted in two flower boxes and are making me smile every time I look out the window...

Have a great start of the new week!

This month's inspirations

Zinnia flowers waiting to be planted in my window flower box

Neighbour's garden poppies against the dark blue sky

My children's crayon shavings

And here is a bag I made for myself recelntly (yes, on very rare occasions I do make stuff for my personal use).

First I meant to use it as a shopping tote in which I could bring home bread and other dry groceries but now I mostly use it to carry parcels to the post office. I wish I could take it for a walk more often but when I do, I do so in style...

Slow week

Another weekend is here and yet I have no new bags to show you - there is a work in progress on my sewing table, a new hipster bag, but I forgot to take a picture of it while it was still light outside... Hopefully I will soon have pictures of the finished project.

It is a rainy weekend here in the east of France but the rain is very welcome after an unusually long dry spell. The heat and dry winds have finished off all the lovely tulips but luckily here comes the next prettiest flower - poppy!

I love driving past fields and fields of these bright red flowers that gently sway in the breeze and I don't care if they are considered pests, for me poppies are just plain gorgeous.

So with these borrowed images from davygoat.com I am wishing all of you a nice Sunday - see you soon!

Daffodils

Spring is around the corner but it will take a few more days for the first cherry tree blossoms to open - on this high altitude spring is always delayed by at least three weeks...

But following a tip from the locals we drove not far from our town to find a field where the first daffodils have started popping out of the ground. It was a beautiful afternoon with wild clouds above our heads and the children enjoyed picking tiny yellow flowers (this wild variety is much smaller than what I am used to seeing in people's gardens, it only grows about 20 cm tall).

After a while the clouds got darker and our boots were covered in mud so it was time to go home.

In my kitchen now stands a beautiful bouquet of sunshine yellow blossoms to brighten up our mornings.

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Have a great weekend,

see you soon!

The colours of Alsace

Last week my husband and I spent a couple of days in Alsace - the home country of storks.

We stayed at a budget hotel in Colmar (and rather spent the leftover money on delicious food) and on the second day drove a few miles further north to a small vine - growing town ofRibeauville. It is just as beautiful as Colmar but much less crowded so we could enjoy our walk and take pictures without ending up having (too many) tourists in them.

Everywhere we turned there was a podstcard-perfect view and at the end we couldn't say which house, street or doorway we loved more. Even with the harsh midday sunlight, the pictures I took with my tiny camera still came out ok.

The flowers and the colours of Ribeauville are an endless inspiration - may they spice up your September creativity!

A summer hello!

I feel a bit guilty for having neglected you, my blog readers, while I'm on vacation - so I bring you some flowers to make it up to you!

These pictures were taken last Saturday at Ljubljana's central market place where the flower merchants are nestled at the side of the Cathedral of St Nicholas. This time of the year their stands are full of happy sunflowers and bouquets of dried flowers that will outlast the summer.

And while driving around the nearby villages, I could admire even more pretty flowers, a traditional window and balcony decoration of most houses in Slovenia. Somebody felt that even this old, abandoned house deserved some cheerful flower pots...

Ljubljansko barje, the marshes south of Ljubljana, are also in full bloom right now with delicate and colourful wild flowers gently swaying in the wind.

Show me your summer flowers, I would love to see them!

This week's inspirations

Flowers on the windows of a nearby house,

at the local farmers' market

and a bouquet of flowers in my bedroom.

Spring blossoms

The weather has cooled down quite a bit over the past few days and with all the rain we hardly noticed spring arriving in full bloom.
This morning I was posting some letters and just across the street from the post office there is a row of charming old houses with iron fences and window shutters, all decorated with blooming trees and hedges. Even with the gloomy skies above I just had to take some pictures!

The delicate cherry tree in front of this house is a perfect accessory to the pale green window shutters.


I like the balcony on this second house; the flower pots are still waiting for the fresh flowers to be planted but already they make a unique decoration - together with the litle flower pot guy, sitting on the window ledge.


I wonder what the summer vegetation will bring to the street in the next few months - I will keep you updated...

New in my shop

I know I should be searching for my Monday inspiration right now but instead here is a brand new Pupa shoulder bag I listed last night.

It is made of floral upholstery fabric in olive green I bought years ago in Troyes in France - I found a lovely fabric store very close to where we used to live, but sadly it was closing down so I had to quickly grab the leftover pieces that were still available.

I love this soft and luxurious fabric and it goes really well with raspberry pink corduroy and metallic lace trim in old gold. In my vintage buttons box I even found two matching metallic buttons and to make it more summer like I lined the bag and the zippered pocket with colourful rose print. The handles are made of thin ribbed corduroy in khaki, adorned with raspberry ribbon.

Flashback Friday

My love for flowers goes way back...

Want to play along? Link your post over to Christopher and Tia...

Live, love, create!

;

The Loddelina bag in the picture is a special order I once made for a girl who wanted many colourful flowers on a large black velvet tote bag. I used little pompons and pieces of felt and attached them on the bag with colourful embroidery thread (unfortunately I can't show you any close-up pictures of the bag, it would take me weeks to find the right back-up CD at this moment...).

St. Valentine is supposed to bring first signs of spring, waking up the sleeping roots of plants and flowers.

So happy Valentine's day and I hope your spring is just around the corner!

Daily Painters

I've recently added a widget to my blog called Daily Painters Art Gallery - it introduces some very talented contemporary artists with different styles, painting techniques and favourite subjects. Some of those artists also sell on Etsy.

I love flowers so here are a few of paintings with flowery theme - though the gallery also features lots of amazing landscapes and portraits.

Michael Naples

Jacqueline Gnott

Jinghua Gao Dalia

Nicole Smith

Felt flowers

I've made these felt flowers for my daughter's mobile last year - I've attached them to strings and let them hang over her bed. They are about 7.5 cm/3 inch in diameter and made of felt, stuffed and embroided with colourful yarn.

As soon as she could stand up and reach the flowers, I had to take them away. Now they are waiting to be a part of another project - any thoughts?