Thursday 28 May 2009

My creative space

This week I'm on "customing T-shirts" once again! I started to transform this old and large t-shirt in a dress for my daughter..

Stripes (like flowers) are always coming back in fashion, so I advice you to never throw them away..

In this other shirt, I so far covered a  stain that would not go away..(brown on white stripe.. couldn't have been on a black one?Grunf!) so for now I just placed a brooch on it..and voilà!
This year I've seen a lot of red+ dark stripes...

And last on my list.. I 'm going to make more of those superyummy hazelnut and Nutella bisquits! (And then I complain about baby fat ;D)
 Recipe:
1 egg yolk
180 gr white flour
100 gr. sugar cane
100 gr. soft butter 
1 teaspoon yeast
fresh lemon peel
ground hazelnut
Mix the flour  and  sugar, then add the egg, lemon peel, yeast, soft butter in pieces, and ground hazelnuts.
Knead well with hands until you have a ball, cover it with cling film and put it in the fridge for half an hour.
While you wait, switch on the oven at 180· and then take the dough and roll it 1 cm. thick with a rolling pin and cut it in shapes. 
Put it in the oven for 15 minutes, and when they are cool, spread some nutella on one of them, top with another bisquit and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

To see more creative spaces...check out Kirsty

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Relax!


Today is one of those days where I really need to look at my bonsai and relaaaaax!

Monday 25 May 2009

Customized t-shirt


This is the (once completely white) t-shirt after I add some pieces of beautiful paisley fabric,

and other cut in the same shape. Some cotton threads, beads, and plain stitching.

The picture are not so good...because the sky is quite dark today..looks like is going  to rain..but is still very hot and damp...not exactly "park or walk time"... (but at least is ... sewing time!)

Thursday 21 May 2009

My creative space

Today's creative space is filled with:

- Another ("vintage"and plain white) t-shirt to customize. At first I followed the shape of the collar to  stitch some violet thread, then I put some green beads, but at the end I realize I prefer to have more color to play with, so I'm going to "unstitch" some of the green beads to add some turquoise  ... and then I will add some paisley shaped cut fabric, with more beads and stitching.... 

-I 'm hoping I will finally finish this necklace (I must have started to make it about one month ago...*bowing head in shame*)

- Long walks into the hot weather with friends and our toddlers ... to try to eliminate some of the (still there) after  pregnancy (21 month ago!!) fat who doesn't want to go away... 

Anyway...for more creative spaces...click Kirsty!

Monday 18 May 2009

"Pointing fingers" weekend

The habit of pointing fingers to ask "what's that" is going on everyday, but during the weekend it's been like ... multiplied! Here, just some of the moments..

A walk, that usually last 10/15 minutes, suddenly turned into 40 minutes!Grass, plants , trees , flowers , ants , a shiny Harley Davidson...

..and then we discovered that some clever duck had 8 little yellow fluffy ducklings!(this happened in another pond, not the "last weekend pond", in this one, one day I spotted a couple sneaking off eggs...and there have not been ducklings in 2 years time) we knew they were about to be born, because we sow her sitting for a lot of days, half a mile far from the pond..
...and then we met some nice friendly ponies..Alba was looking at them with an expression that perhaps  "was wondering why they were not 20 cm long" , like on tv...but after a while she was screaming in delight (not so much the poor ponies..she can make deafings ultrasounds!)

And indeend, if you look closer, with "children eyes", even a normal spot of wild grass can be beautiful!


Friday 15 May 2009

Forget about bad weather..

So, yesterday afternoon the weather had a dejavù and it suddenly turned into a winter day. (mist, rain, cold air, gray sky), but thankfully in the morning I had an "illumination" and I bought those jelly stuff to stick on the (ahem, dirty) window.. and I gained 20 full mintutes of stitching with one eye...(one eye to watch the fabric, one eye to watch Alba, in case she would decide to taste them)..

And then among books reading, towers building, and  peek-a-boo playing, watching Pocoyo's vidoes, cake making is an must on rainy days..

We even pick up strawberries from one of my paintings!

...while we were waiting for this cake to be ready! (Almond and apricot tart) (Sorry about the bad picture..I was drooling and couldn't focuse properly!)

And the day quickly filled up...did I say it was a dull rainy day? Oh, I forgot about it ..

Thursday 14 May 2009

My creative space

With the hot season approaching..it's getting hard to find time to craft...(blame it to the time I spend in the park with my daughter), but somehow..I try to force myself to find little moments to: "customize" another t-shirt,by breaking up the all turquoise flower who were already machine sewed, with a bit of contrasting violet and cream...
 
... and attaching the velcro closure and the back to this almost finished necklace...
To see more (a lot more, I always post in late, due to the different meridian) check out Kootoyoo 's blog!

Monday 11 May 2009

Weekend in the park

Here in Catalunya mother's day was  sunday 3rd , I have no idea why, sort of like for  english people with left side drive..you know, just to be different..
The weather cast for the weekend was supposed to be rainy, but as usual it was the opposite...

So we headed for a walk and a run in this beautiful park (Alba after the birds, who were coming around to eat the breadcrumbs that people toss at them, and me after her)..
...observing ants and listening to the waterfall ipnotizing and relaxing sound..
...and admiring the little soft and fluffy ducklings, trying to fight the desire to pick up one to stroke and kiss..
Then she played in the sand with a 6 years old girl, who was there with her russian grandmother.
Suddenly we heard a horn playing (on football match day, whenever a team scores, men are making noise, with whatever they have around).
So the grandmother said "alarm, alarm"! in spanish, with a very worried expression, but her niece smiled and said it was ok.
So then she explained to me that in Russia whenever they were hearing a horn, they had to run for cover, because the attack was imminent. 
I felt very sad for this woman, but happy at the same time, as she is lucky to have the chance learn to transform a hated and feared noise into a happy one.

Thursday 7 May 2009

My creative space


This week space is filled with the transformation of an old  soft wool "poncho" into a sleeping bag for my daughter.  She "swim" around the bed during the night and usually wakes up with the head in the bottom of the bed..so she doesn't like the usual sheets and cover, because they don't let her move around nicely.
This light poncho is great for spring and autumn weather and it was very easy to cut it, I didn't even use a pattern, because as you can see, the bottom of the poncho was already cut. Now I'm going to add some colorful fabric on the edges and in the middle. 
And just to stick on the same colors... I'm sewing with white thread along the silouhette of this shirt . I felt something was "missing" in the design and now I like it more, I feel like the light edge brings out the design.

The third thing is ... to check how the tree out of the window is growing fast! I can now touch the last leaves! Will it enter inside the window by summer?
For more creative spaces..check out Kirsty!

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Threads


Don't you just hate tangled threads? I can't stand it!
 
So, in an attempt to avoid them, I  sticked the last end of each thread with some painter's tape, because unless the trasparent one, doesn't leave "stickiness" around, especially in warm season.

This cabinet was very cheap and I was using it to store my craft material. Each drawer use to contain some of my small craft material: beads, thread, needles and pins, buttons, etc
Now, since Alba (my daughter) is walking, I had to turn it face on to the wall, or she would have loved to put her hand (and mouth) on all those colorful beads and buttons!
But since one day she sow me turning the drawer to get something...she start to do it herself (it is a quite lightweight cabinet). 

So, I had to take everything off and the only thing I left (not edible by its size) are the threads.
How can a 20 month old baby girl can resist to touch so much color?
(..if even her 36 year old mum cannot?)

Monday 4 May 2009

Long weekend

After potting and re-potting (behind my back!! and so many time that  I'm not sure the garlic will survive!) the garlic and onion.. we had a long week end.The 1st of may it was a bank holiday(worker's day) and we went to a friend's birthday party. 
My daughter enjoyed the "discovery" of climbing up and down the stairs (climbing up, touching the door, and climbing back down, about 20 times)
The sky was impressive, half covered by dark clouds, on the back side of the house, and sunny on the front, were there was the party (thank you sky, for not spoiling the party!)
,The sunset was incredibly gorgeous, and I couldn't keep my eyes off(and camera) from it!