Last jam making of the year

Hello, my friends!

As I told you yesterday I discovered the joy of fruit this summer and made a lot of jam. Cherry jam, strawberry jam, apricot jam… I thought that it would be nice to give jam jars as Christmas gifts to my friends and mused a lot about how to embellish them for this special occasion… well, I found that kitchen string could be quite decorative… as much as buttons and tags…

Cherry jam

Strawberry jam

Apricot jam

I made the last pot of jam of the season last week with some really juicy plums…

… and I crafted the tags for the jars…

… with crocheted flowers which pattern is from this beautiful book…

I simply adore Emma Lamb‘s style!!

So here we are!

Well, I can feel satisfied! There’s enoug jam for everybody! Would you like to come and try some? You are all welcome!

Have a great weekend!!!

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

Abilmente Vicenza :: The Second Pair of Socks Is Ready

Hello, lovely people out there!

As you all well know, a lot of things are happening here in my tiny home lately! There’s a lot of sewing and knitting going on! And lot of home issues too, like a broken washing machine (I’m waiting for the machine doctor…) and some tooth ache (seeing the dentist in a two hours…. ) … For God’s sake, my craft helps me to preserve my mental health (read that in an ironic key, please 🙂 ) and I’m able to show you the photos of the second pair of sock I knitted to bring with me at Abilmente. There’s no need to tell that the final recipient of those socks is my Big man. 😀 😀 😀 (….. love is in the air….)

I have taken photos from the cast on because I’d like to write a brief report with the basic directions for sock knitting and I’d like to attach some photos to help a better understanding. So here they are…

The tubular cast on

The removing of the yarn

The ring closure

The heel flap

The heel

The FO socks

How excited I am!!!! I don’t know how to thank properly that fantastic crew of MAGLIUOMINI!!! I know their blog is in Italian but it is worth to be Google translated! Have fun and enjoy!

Better to start writing now!! Wish you a great beginning of the week!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Mission Accomplished :: I Sewed my First Skirt Ever

That thanks to my friend Monica who made the paper pattern for me 🙂

And it fits!!! 😀 😀 😀

Sheila, I owed you the photo 🙂

Have a nice weekend, lovely people!!!

My first messenger bag and my first appliqué

Oh,yeah,I did it! I sewed the messenger bag for my Big man and started a new one for his sister…

I bought a nice fabric a while ago and I thought it perfect for a men’s bag…. oh, there was enough of it for another one and I thought it would be nice make a second one for my SIL but more girly, of course 🙂 . I find nice to use the same fabric for the sibilings and highlight this kin relationship in that way.

While my Big man’s bag is almost FO….

…. I have only cut out the outer part of the flap for my SIL’s bag and sewed on an appliqué…

Well, I’m pleased with how this two projects have turned out. I was worried about the flat sewing and application but everything went well. I didn’t sew the strap on my BM’s bag yet because I’d like to make it adjustable and I need some rectangle rings for that…. So when the second bag will be FO I’ll be heading to the shop with both and try to find something suitable… 🙂

Before I run away to craft (my God,I’m always in a kind of hurry lately…. ) without mention them, here are the links to the tutorials I followed to sew my messenger bags…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D7vYZI9bh8

http://bluebirdbaby.typepad.com/photos/messanger_bag_tutorial/dsc_0406—version-2.html

I wish you all a great day ❤ ❤ ❤

Love

xxx

Tajana

Holiday Pictures :: Part 3

Hello, my friends!

Here I am with the last part of our holiday pictures, those I loved most. It was the first time that my Big man and me went to the island of Cres, just one of the myriad islands of the Croatian coast, and the nearest to my home town. Oh, even if I was several times on the island by myself, this time was different though ❤ . It was a really nice experience : the ferry, Lubenice, the Vrana Lake and the rainbow that saw us home at the end of the day. I especially loved our walk to the beach Sv. Ivan (St. John), a beach I heard a lot and where my brother has already been while it was the first time for me. You have a 45 minutes walk down a steep path to reach the beach and the way back takes you twice as much time.  It was hard but totally worth the effort and I’m so so so very glad that my BM loved it too. He’s a mountain kind of guy and it is hard to make him like the coast but I managed to surprised him at last!! Oh, bravo to me, indeed!!

Enjoy the view!! ❤ ❤ ❤

The ferry trip

On the island and the City of Cres

Lubenice

(ignore my look, please, but I have to post this photo to prove I was there… do you spot the village of Lubenice behind me, up there on the cliff?)

(The water was freezing but I had one of the most delicious swim ever down here)

(some stone castles,not built by me, and Jennifer’s skull hoodie 🙂 )

The Vrana Lake

On the way home

Love

xxx

Tajana

A Kind of Gardening and New Yarn

Hello,my friends!

I’m glad that I can tell you that the weather is better now here in Italy. Well, it is still quite hot but the humidity level is a bit lower and I can be active as my usual at last 🙂 As the temperature lowered down I took the chance to clean our home and to cut the grass in the kind of ridiculous garden we have… it is a 4×4 m square of open space which I’m totally unable to cultivate not because I have no time but because I kill all the plants I try to grow by my simple gaze! It is a kind of super power which unfortunately does not work on weed…. so to clean up our garden I used a sickle and sweated for two hours… but I did a quite acceptable work for my Big man and my standard…

I told to my Big man that I have no problems with works which require physical force but I need him to help me with plant growing…. I know that I’m a plant killer but he still didn’t try to grow anything… maybe he will be more successful than me….

But,please please please,let’s change the topic and talk instead about something else like our last purchases… first of all, a ladder!! It was high time indeed and I’m happy that I was able to hang the curtain I sewed in the kitchen at last!! 😀 😀 😀

Two more curtains to go!! Well, I do hope that I’ll be able to decorate this house before we leave it for another one LOL Despite my sarcasm, I like the look of my kitchen and the efforts made to embellish it a bit more. Now it is time to add something colourful and I left my mind to muse about wildly…

The second purchase was yarn and I had for the first time ever my Big man coming in the yarn store with me… 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well, there was a specific reason for it! One among the most famous yarn stores in Parma was having a sale lately and I wanted to take advantage of that for the Christmas to do list. So I obliged my BM to come with me and help me chose the yarn for the family boys. They will all receive scarfs 🙂 and I’m quite happy about the money I saved thanks to the sales :), something like 50 €, without losing in quality 🙂 Almost all is merino, except one which is a mix of cotton and merino 🙂

I was already looking for some patterns on Ravelry and can’t wait to start these projects!! I love to work with merino,in my opinion it is the best yarn!! All the girls will have a bag and all the little ones will have a quilted blanket… I foresee some busy months…. I have only one problem… My Big man realized that yarn actually has a quite high cost and asked me to not spend so much money on him…. that’s not good because I was thinking about making him a sweater with merino and the cost of the yarn is almost 80 €, the same I spent for the above yarn which is to be divided among five persons… what can I do instead of the sweater? Do you have any suggestion? I really don’t know what to do since I already knitted him a scarf, a beanie and two sweaters… I have even asked him if he would like to have a Dr Who’s scarf but he was honest and said that he would never wear it… so no colour, no yarn, then what??? I’m really in trouble!!!! Any advice is higly appreciated ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ Thank you so much!!!

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

What a heat!!!

Hello, my friends!!

These are dog days indeed!!!We reached 35°C and I am hardly able to do anything with this heat! Oh,add to this temperature a relative humidity of 73%… ohhhhh…. The only way I can face this weather is by knitting …. (what an excuse, isn’t it…? 😉 ) …. the border of my Crescent shawl is slowly growing….

I do hope that it will be finished off for the weekend…. Can’t wait to wear it!!

My Big man and me were at a local antiquity street market last weekend and we made a lovely purchase …. well,it was more like this…

Me: Oh, look!!! I love that! We absolutely must have that at ours!!! (read: I absolutely must have that at mine!!! ….. it is only me, or sometimest it happens to you too to think you live by yourself…. in particular when it is a matter of home decor….)

My Big man:

(ONLY BECAUSE HE CAN’T UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OBJECT I FELL IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT….)

Let me introduce you….

MY VERY FIRST CUPCAKE STAND

The photo does not do justice to the stand but I’ll try to take some better ones in the future. I simply love it! And, of course, I tried to bake some muffins just to see how the stand looks when there are sweets on it…

Better,don’t you think? Now I have to learn to make cupcakes and try to decorate them just because!! Well,even if my Big man doesn’t understand my enthusiasm for those useless things, he will love to pick up a muffin from the stand for breakfast from now on 🙂

Off to try to refresh me somehow!

Have a nice evening!

Love

xxx

Tajana