A Beastie at mine

Hello, my friends!

I think that you have noticed that I didn’t talk about my BM’s Christmas gift in my last post… That is because I didn’t craft him anything… I asked a friend to do it for me… that because I have seen this post a long time ago and I said to myself that this could have been a perfect for him!

So I wrote to Helen from Crowcrafts Beasties and asked her if she was avaiable for this project… AND SHE WAS!!!

So, after an hideous and long journey, our new family member was dropped on the the doorstep on December 30th, on my BM’s birthday… What a perfect timing!!!

Our Dr. Who made himself at home immediately…

…. and found his favourite place ….

He has a passport…

… and he carries the Sonic Screwdriver…

And what to say about the Tardis… ????

AWESOME!!! Simply AWESOME!!

I do not know how to describe Helen’s work… it is neat, well finished, you have that clear feeling that she put her heart in it… every single detail is at its place! My MB and I, we felt so well while opening Helen’s parcel… So, my dear friend, thank you a lot! My BM appreciated your creature and its space time vessel so much indeed and thank you for the Beastie calendar and the lovely postcard too, they were a really beautiful and unexpected surprise.

Have a happy and crafty week everybody!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

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I’m still here

Hello, my dear friends!

Yes, I am, I’m still here! I have been neglected the blog for a while and that because I’m on a big delay with my Christmas gifts cratfing… Oh, well, I will be able to make everything on my “to do” list but I’m not sure if I will have the scarf I want to knit for me before Christmas…. I hope a miracle will happen but I’m affraid it will have to wait until next year…

Oh, never mind, here are my latest FO…

An off the scedule hat for my BM…

The pattern is the same I used for my hat, the Cabled Hat by Debbie Bliss.

My Mother in law Stone Tulip Shawl

I have to admit that I like it a lot!

The Lace Scarf for my Mum

I followed this pattern and even if it is in Finnish it is easy to understand.

All the gifts for the ladies are done and now it is gentlemen’s turn…

Socks, socks, socks!!!

I have started with my Father in law…

…. and I’m going on with my brother’s pair…

Oh, I feel I’m working so slowly….

Some more Christmas tree ornaments are ready too….

Making all those things by hands… Insanity! That’s the most suitable term to describe how I’m feeling in these days!

So…. since the last few months were so discouraging because a lot of bad things had happened (Brexit, Trump president of the USA, Italy stroken by two terrible earthquakes…. I stop here!) I’d like to share with you some random photos of this still beautiful autumn…

Places we have been….

Garda

Garda

Garda

Lazise

Verona

Verona

My dears, enjoy and relax! Of course, if you have time for 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

Bye!!

Ponti sul Mincio (… yes, I love to make selfies 🙂 )

Love

xxx

Tajana

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

October

Hello my dear friends!

Autumn is here! Already?! I don’t know how and why time flies so fast, maybe aging do not bring only wrinkles but it also changes our percepction of time flow… Well, I don’t care! At all! I love this time of year (this came with age for sure… 😛 ) for its colours, the need to gather in house and the pleasure to spend my evenings on the sofa watching television and knitting.

The walks in the mountains also become shorter and less frequent but they are still good and liberating. Here are some shuts from the Apennines.

I  particulary love the second photo of the first row…. It is quite poetic…

Spending time indoor and crafting are a perfect autumnal coefficient and I’m glad that I can show you some results of that sum…

A cozy hooded capelet

A friend of mine asked me to knit a hooded capelet for her daughter and I finished it off some days ago… I followed this pattern but I changed the lenght and the gauge. I used 8 mm needles and have to say that I love more those big cables instead the smaller ones…

The WIP

After have FO the red stole I have started a new one… This new one is also meant for one of my SILs… 🙂

I found a lovely pattern with which I fell in love so, despite the itchy and irritating yarn, I’m stubbornly  working on it.

The first of three beanies

From time to time I have to put aside this project though and make something quick with a yarn which caresses my hands. Merino for this purpose is great…

The beanie for my BM’s nephew is finished off 🙂 🙂 🙂 and I like the pompom quite a lot 🙂

A simple and easy pattern by Purl Soho but so lovely!! I adore Purl Soho’s projects. They are all so easy and fresh and modern and so IN and… and…. Just go and have a look!

Happy October and happy crafting!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

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

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

FO :: The Messenger Bag for my SIL

Hello, my friends!

After the great excitement and the fever felt during Abilmente, I’m back to my everyday life (but with some interesting events on my schedule… in case they occur I’ll write about for sure 🙂 ) and to my Christmas gift list… I was able to finish off the bag for my SIL which was approved by my Big man…. he didn’t like the flap I embroidered some time ago …

….. so I had to change my initial project…

Well, the new bag looks like that….

I have to tell you that I sweated a lot to finish off it… It is true, sewing is not my favourite crafting method but it allows me to make items faster than crochet or knit…. but I had a devil in my hands yesterday…. I hardly align the handles with the bag, in some points the fabric was too thick and the bag glided slowly and it even stopped to glide in some moments… Well, I think there are tips which are useful in those cases but since I’m a beginner I simply can’t know them and my nerves suffer…. All in all, the bag is finished off, I can be happy about moreover because I put on some slides for the first time ever and which give a more refined look to it.

I almost forgot to tell that I used my selfhealing mat and the rotary cutter for the first time ever…

The cutting of the fabric was faster indeed!! Great purchase for real!!

I have to go back to my gifts now! Have a great day, kind and lovely people out there, and enjoy yourself 🙂 ❤

Love

xxx

Tajana

PS: here you can find the tutorial I have followed for the bag. It’s a nice tutorial indeed!

Exciting Events

Hello, my friends!!

How are you? Wow, it is the first day of Autum today!!! How do you feel about that?? The beginning of a colourful season and it is my brother’s birthday!! This is nice! I’ll call him later to wish him a happy birthday 🙂

Since we are entering a cooler part of the year and since this morning I saw this sky…

… I thought it is time to slow down a bit and write a post about what has happened and what is happening lately…

I was at home in Croatia last week and came back with a nice goodie….

A thermic mug!!! Oh, what a big deal indeed! But as I saw it at the supermarket I fell in love with this simple thing and had to buy it! So now I will have hot tea for a longer time than usual! I love those small life pleasures….

I’m thrilled!! Indeed! Like a child! Because I’m going to attend Abilmente! Abilmente is a craft fair held thrice a year here in Italy, twice in Vicenza and once in Rome. There will be a lot of yarn, needles, hooks, fabrics, threads…. and a lot of great creative people! I was invited by a nice group of male knitters called #magliuomini ( find here their FB page and here their blog ) to attend the fair as a sock knitting teacher. I will hold a four hour workshop and anybody interested in socks will get the basic directions to try themself in sock knitting. This is simply exciting!!! This is the first time ever that I’m going to attend an event like that and I’m out of my mind for that! Since there is a lot of excitement to deal with I started to work on my workshop to calm myself down and have finished off my first pair of socks  🙂

(… to notice the thermic mug in its natural surrounding….)

Today I take a day off from knitting but I’m going to start a new pair of socks with the grey yarn from the below photo..

…. yarn bought in Trieste during my last trip in Croatia in a nice yarn store, Lalanalà, run by two lovely ladies indeed! It was fun to buy some yarn in a store I read about and liked on Facebook! This store had opened a long time after I left Trieste and I am so glad to have found a pearl like that in a town I love so much!

Will the excitement end…? No, it will not for a quite long time! Because I received Sheila’s parcel!!! We had a gift exchange and look what this lovely lady and expert tailor sent me…. ❤ ❤ ❤

A bag to bring along my projects…

…. and the matching card keeper, coin purse and phone case with my name embroidered on! How, for God’s sake, can I avoid to have my heart melted?? And did you see the beautiful card she sent me?

My friends, I’m so overwhelmed by all this excitement! Nice things are happening lately and I have to admit that I’m enjoying it with a lot of joy!!

Now it is time to lend on Earth again (…. Huston is calling, Tajana, answer, please!!!) and get on work! New ideas are in the air and I hope I’ll be able to materialize them!

Have a great day!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

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