Holiday fever! Already????!!!!

Hello, my dear friends!

Those of you who knows me best know very well my obsession with handmade Christmas gifts….  There’s no need to talk about that much… but did I tell you that I want to have a nice Christmas tree this year… ? Since I’m so insane, I’m not only crafting gifts, I’m making tree ornaments too….

I have a precise idea about how my tree should look like and I’m playing a lot with the hook and different kind of yarn. I’d like to have sparkling garlands, nice white snowflakes, macarons and some felted embroidered hearts…. Let’s see if I’ll be able to finish off all the ornaments in time…

In the meantime I have finished off, blocked and stored the stole I was making for one of my sisters in law…

This is Luule pattern by Susanne Visch and I love it a lot! The yarn I used wasn’t the best one I have ever knitted with but it was worth the effort. The colors of this stole are too bright, in my opinion, but are perfect for the lady it is meant to. And I’m happy I was able to store it at last!!

As you can imagine, a new project is on my needles which should be finished off in three or four days… The Stone Tulip Shawl for my Mother in law ….

What can I say… I can’t wait to have it finished off and blocked!!!!!

My Mother in law is going to have a small pressie before Christmas, though… three pot holders…

I’m not satisfied with the finishing of those, however. Sewing is still my weak spot which has to be improved a lot… Sometimes it happens that my projects turn out nice but sometimes they do not…. I have to work a lot on appliqués….

At last, I knitted myself a hat! It was a while that I wanted to make this for me, a pattern I saw for the first time on Sewchet’s blog…

This hat is perfect! I love this pattern very much and I love to wear it during our waks… By the way, we spent a few hours outdoors this weekend and here are some photos of the Lake seen from above!

I hope that you will enjoy this views!

I have to go now and have lunch ready!!

(Breathe, Tajana, breathe….)

Love

xxx

Tajana

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Popping out again

Hello, my dear friends!

It has been a while since my last post here on the blog. What had happened….? Well… It is hard to say but let it put that way… I have a compulsive need to create and hold in my hands the result of this compulsive activity. Around Christmas last year I found so hard to spend time both online and crafting and I discovered Instagram, a quick and easy way to share photos, exactly what I needed in that very moment. So you can easily imagine what had occured. I was able to show you my WIPs and FO projects and follow and be followed by all my blog friends. Well, to be frank it is much easier to find me on my personal Facebook profile and on Instagram than here or on Pinterest…. So I totally neglected my blog and all that beautiful people who are my ultimate inspiration. As I always say that there wouldn’t be any crafted goodie at mine if there weren’t you, my friends, who inspired me.

I have to thank Roma for bringing me down from the moon. With few lovely words she made me think about the goal I gave to this blog and I understood that writing always  calmed down that crafty urge I have and always made me collect my thoughts. For a new beginning. Maybe I’ll not be present so often as I used to be but i promise I’ll start sharing again my projects here in blogland. All the photos you’ll find on Instagram first…. Sorry for that!! But my musing will be written here.

I’d like to start with sharing one of the Christmas gifts I finished off lately. I knitted a stole for one of my SILs ….

It has taken me a while to knit this stole but it is totally worth the effort. The pattern is a simple one, I just replicated a lace chart from Elisabeth Lovic’s book. 🙂

I have knitted two shawls too… the Stone Tulip Shawl! What a beautiful pattern!

The first one is for a friend of mine while the second one is meant for another SIL (there are three of them… the gift for the third one is in progress… ).

A friend of mine asked me to crochet her a Mermaid tail blanket.

 

If you like to make one of these you can find a pattern here.

My Big man and I were away for a holiday in the mountains this summer and having a break under a glacier eating a sandwich with home made bread and wearing hand made socks was great!

Alost the same feeling as in the moment i found this book in my mailbox!

I had fun with little sewing projects…

…. and I crocheted a Sleepy Bear following a pattern by Jennifer Olivarez.

This was a very busy summer because I discovered the joy of fruit…

….and made a lot of jam!

I hope that I was able to illustrate a bit of what had happened here down in Italy during my absence. Now I have to say bye and hurry to knead my flat bread with the yeast starter (…who is yelling for some attention down in the kitchen… ).

Stay tuned and have a nice day, lovely people out there!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Salva

The Big Acorn Race

Hello my dear friends!

It has been quite a long time since I wrote a post on this blog of mine. Life is rolling in its usual way here. I always craft a lot but I’m spending my time on a job hunting which takes me a lot of time. Oh,no result up till now but I’m enduring this situation. Well, if you like you can follow me on Instagram. I love it because I can share the photos of my projects much faster than here on my blog.

I popped up here today because I’d like to share with you somethng really sweet. An amazing blogger and a good friend has published her first crochet book ever. Jennifer from Squirrel Picnic wrote The Big Acorn Race, a real crochet Wonderland!! What to say more?? Oh, my word treasure is really poor to describe it but if you click HERE you’ll find a really nice review by Kathryn Vercillo who has perfectly understood the essence of The Big Acorn Race.

I had the luck to have been asked by Jennifer to be her pattern tester something like a year ago. You can’t imagine how happy I was when she asked me that! I will never thank her enouhg to have had me taking part of her project!Her patterns are magical, they have the power to make you feel happy and thrilled and calm all in the same moment. I warmly suggest you to purchase her book, you will make yourself a really nice and magical gift!

Two days ago I have received my copy and I simply couldn’t resist, I had to put myself on work!

I crocheted some oak leaves by using the pattern from the book and applied them on a shopping bag I sewed for my Mother in law as her birthday present.

See??? This is only an idea and my personal interpretation of a pattern written by Jennifer. There are much more wonders to be discovered and a lot of lovely projects to be made thanks to Jennifer’s creativity!

Go and check out her pages, you will not regret!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Some rest at last

Hello, my dear friends!

Here we are, two more days till Christmas!

How are you, how is your crafting going on? Are you freaking out? Oh,I hope that, whatever is your business right now, you are having great time!

I managed to craft all the gifts I planned to and here are some random shots…

I embroidered two Russian nesting dolls, one for the lovely lady who owns my fav yarn store in Parma and the other for my MIL, to add to her gift since she copied some of my ideas and I wanted her to have something special though… Both were turned into lavender bags….

The pressie for my Big man is wrapped….

… and put under the tree…

…we still have the same tiny tree from Parma… maybe there a change should be made… oh and yeah, my BM will have a new pair of socks soon 🙂 …. Isn’t the above yarn just lovely…? 🙂 🙂 🙂

I made some fabric hearts for some friends…

…. and crocheted some of them too…

The candy bags are filled and some of them were already given to the children…

I knitted some cowls, the one from the below photo is for one of my SILs…

And I wrapped the gifts for my friends…

I took the photos of the embroideries and I will show them to you after the holidays.

My dear friends I wish you a very merry Christmas and I hope that the new year will bring you smiles, happiness and love! Thank you for being there!

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Love

xxx

Tajana

Candy Bags for Girls

The below two are my favourites…

I followed a simple but very lovely pattern found here 🙂

Love

xxx

Tajana

FOs and WIPs

Hello my dear friends!

Another post about Christmas gifts! Oh,please,try to stand me if you can… but this is that part of the year… the final crafty rush !!!

I start with the gift for the most important person of my life, my Big man…

Following this tutorial I made to my Big man an apron to add to the previously sewed messenger bag… Since he didn’t want me to knit him a sweater I had to find a solution for his Christmas gift and decided to make something he won’t never imagine to receive. I added a personal note to the apron….

Oh,he don’t like garments with writings so I had to camouflage my message 😀 😀 😀 and,no, we are not married but ‘I have the best companion on earth’ didn’t sound me good so I opted for ‘wife’ …. well, there’s a clear desire expressed in my words too and I hope that he will understand…. ( 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 I’m laughting because I know he wont…. ).

He has already received two pairs of socks and the cable scarf…. and under the three there will be the below goodies…. not bad… What do you think? Would your husbands like to have those goodies for Christmas?

🙂 🙂 🙂

I’m so happy that I can show you one of the embroideries I’m making for my friends since the receiver doesn’t have neither a FB nor an IG account… 🙂 And since I like poppies….

My friends can do with their embroideries whatever they want…. a bag, a frame, a pillow…. The others will be shown after the holidays 🙂

My FIL has his first sock ready ….

…. Rowan’s Fine Art is so soft…. thank you, Magliuomini!!!!

I’m so happy because I will finish Christmas my list soon, in a two weeks all the items should be ready…. well, at least the biggest ones… there’s a scarf for my brother to be finished off, now on my needles, the blanket for my younger nephew and the second sock for my FIL… I feel quite ok about, the buntings for the blanket are cut out, the scarf is made on 8 mm gauge needles and the second sock is going to be started tomorrow during a knit café organized by me here in Peschiera (I hope someone will come tomorrow….) .

My BM asked me to make something for his colleagues’ children so I made yesterday two small bags to fill with candies…

As you can imagine, the bird is for the girls and the dog for the boys! Well,I have to change the fabric for girls since the black colour isn’t the best choice I could eventually make but all in all the idea is nice. Quite quick too 🙂

That’s it for now, my friends! I have to run to the supermarket and pick up some groceries so…

I wish you a happy weekend and a lot of happy craft!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Love

xxx

Tajana

Back From Holiday

Hello, my friends!

How are you? Is everything ok?? I hope it is and I hope that you are having a great end of this crazy summer! My Big man is back to work and I’m back to my crafting after having spent four days in Croatia. There is a lot of things to talk about and I was wondering which photos share with you first. There are many of them to be shown, in particular those from our holidays are quite interesting, but I decided to start with the craft done before leaving, to put some order in the last week happenings. Both because I’d like to do justice to a great crochet designer and a friend and because I’d like to show you my first Xmas scarf FO yesterday night 🙂

As first, let start with the second bag I sewed for the family girls. I have found a tutorial for a really nice bag. I have simply fell in love with it and decided to try myself with, even if it looked a bit tricky…. well, it wasn’t so difficult to sew but I have had some problems with the union of the top and the bottom since the main fabric and the lining have to be attached in the same time…. oh,my version of it isn’t so bad at all, since I use jute and it looks quite cozy, but if I want to sew an elegant version, like the one from the tutorial, I have to be more careful…. here are the photos of my bag…

I find it so suitable for my artistic SIL! Very simple, made out from some natural fabric as jute and with one beautiful flower to adorn it. I hope she will like it 🙂 What do you think about my versione of the Canvas Slim Bag? Do you like it and, in particular, do you like the crocheted flower? I’m so very happy to introduce this ornament to you because its pattern was written by my friend Jennifer whose blog, Squirrel Picnic, I simply adore. This lovely lady is writing a crochet book, The Big Acorn Race, and asked me to be a tester for her pattern for this lovely flower named Tall ‘n’ Fast!

Can you imagine how happy and honoured I was and am to have taken part to her beautiful project!!! I highly recommend you to have a look at her blog,you’ll find there a lot of inspiration, and follow her during the book writing! She’s a genious indeed!! Can’t wait to see the book! Hi, Jennifer, hugs are crossing the ocean!! ❤

The first Xmas scarf is done! YIPPEE!!! I have started it a while ago and since I worked only during evenings I’m happy that it is FO 🙂 Since today it is quite cloudy I was lucky to have caught some sunshine during the photo session 😀

A simple seed stitch and some nice soft yarn, a mixture of cotton and merino wool, in a nice dark brown shade. So manly,don’t you think? 😉

I’ll be back soon with my holiday photos.

Love

xxx

Tajana

FO :: My Very First Quilt

Hello,my friends!

What an awful heat we are suffering here in Italy!! Still!!! And it seems that we will have such a dreadful weather during all summer… Can you imagine…?Just to describe a bit better the situation my Big man and me went to buy a portable air-conditioning and they were all gone!!! And here is how I look like almost every day…. Please,forget the red lipstick and the elegant hairstyle seen on Facebook….

Sweaty, red in face and very perplexed!!! Please,please, heat give us a break!!!!

I try to craft despite the hot weather even if that’s not always easy… the concentration lost and a lack of creativity are always around the corner… but you know me,I’m stoic! So,inspired by Sheila’s patchwork picnic blanket, I tried to sew one by myself too… I bought the wadding and the plastic tablecloth I needed the day after I sewed together the fabric squares….

… and I didn’t have problems with the wadding and the quilting itself….

…. but sewing on the plastic tablecloth….THAT WAS A REAL DISASTER!!!!

It was hard to make it slide properly, it curved and curled continuously…. a nightmare!!! Now I know that sewing a plastic or a vinyl or a leather fabric is just too ambitious for me. I’m not even sure if I have an appropriate sewing machine foot at mine for this kind of materials. Here they are….

Is there anything suitable,in your opinion? On my hand,I decided that I’ll study my sewing machine accessories once the heat will be gone….

Back to my quilt now. 🙂 I didn’t give up from it and decided to change the original project by using some fabric I have at mine for quite a while…

Its purpose didn’t change at all, since it is FO I’m using it like a rug in our living/crafting attic and I use the plastic tablecloth to protect the quilt from the dust… See what I mean in the below photo and, by the way, this is how the back side looks like …

The borders are not straight like I wanted them to be but all in all I’m satisfied… and here it is the front side…

The plastic tablecloth is bearing the scars of the many tries I made to sew it on…

… but i decided to leave it so and remind me that I still have a lot to learn about sewing…

And finally, my quilt in use….

What do you think? Did the quilt turn out ok since it is my first one? I was thinking about sewing blankets for the little ones of my Big man and my family! In your opinion,can I dare to?

Despite the imperfection of my crafts,my aim is to have a cozy home and I see that slowly I’m achieving it. 🙂 This makes me feel good indeed….

Love

xxx

Tajana

I gave a try to …

…the art of patchwork…

The lovely Sheila from Sewchet wrote a tutorial for a waterproof patchwork picnic blanket and I liked it a lot!! What a nice project for a beginner like me!!

I’d like to have one too to use like a rug in our living / crafting room and since I have a lot of fabric remnants I cut out the squares by using a cardboard template of the desired dimentions….

… and then I sewed them up, first in stripes….

…and then in a big patch 😀 ….

The only problem is that the seams do not correspond at all. I suppose that using a template and a pair of scissors is not the best to obtain patches of identical dimentions but I do not have the mat, the ruler and the rotaty cutter at mine and don’t want to buy them before seeing if I’m capable to sew a blanket without… Well,the big patch is quite neat though so I decided to continue with my project… I have to buy the wadding and the plastic coated tablecloth and was thinking about going for some shopping tomorrow in the morning,but I’ll see if there will be enough time since I have a lot to do at home… The only doubt I have is how to quilt since the seams are irregular… Well,I think I’ll ignore them and just sew straight following the square lines… I sincerely hope that my blanket will turn out well….

Love

xxx

Tajana

…and they even fit well…

….. oh indeed!!! Unbelievable!!!

With the very precious help of my friend Monica, I managed to sew myself my very first pair of pants ever!!! And they fit!!! A very easy Burda pattern with an elastic belt and no zip so suitable for a beginner like me but despite that the help of my friend was essential!

So here we are….

I used my favourite type of fabric i.e. a fresh and light linen so perfect for summer and of a nice grey shade which will fit with many other colours…. yeap!!!

Thanks for your help, Monica 🙂 🙂 🙂

Love

xxx

Tajana