Dad's surprise

Dad was supporting Germany for the world cup. Cue screams of GER-MAN-EEEEEEEE echo-ing through my brain.
While I'd sooner forget the German squad (how dare they knock Messi out!) I wanted to do something for Dad to commemorate Germany's (mini) success.

In case you couldn't tell, it's a reusable shopping bag. I'm pretty proud of how I joined 3 strips of fabric together without a serger, which from all accounts is the holy grail of sewing appliances. Totally jealous of anyone who has one.

oh! P.S. I made the bag out of bed sheets. :-) The cheap scratchy kind- bad for sleeping on, perfect for a shopping bag.

Spontaneous Day

Yesterday, spur of the moment, my boyfriend and I took off to Cork for the day. We had such a lovely day walking around, eating wagamama, people watching, and a teeny bit of shopping.

I went into Lush and finally bought something for myself. I always go in and smell and want things but I treated myself. I got 2 temple balms and 2 massage bars. I'm really excited about the temple balms since I tend to suffer from migraines at least twice a month.

I popped into Marks and Spencers on the hunt for the jasmine infused green tea I love so much...and they had none!! That was the only down spot in an otherwise fantastic day.

While I was in Cork I did pick up some stuff for a surprise project for my Dad. I really hope he likes it despite the outcome of the match last night. So basically I did nothing creative yesterday, but today I'm gonna finish the white tee shirt I started for myself (reconstructed a mens tee into a fitted tee for me and forgot to adjust the shoulders!! lol) and make this project for Dad.

Busy busy bee-ing.

Hickeys Fabric Store

Today I stopped by Hickeys to have a look around. There were big SALE notices all around the windows so I figured why not? I was completely underwhelmed. There was very little choice and I wasn't the biggest fan of the sales associate I encountered. I had this idea to look for a jersey material to make a long tank top/dress out of and she directed me towards some polyester monstrosity. When I told her that wouldn't suit and told her what I was planning on making, you'd swear someone passed sour milk under her nose. And that's the face she made every time I asked her a question. I only asked about 3.
On the plus side though I did manage to pick up 2 really cute fabrics for some project yet to come to me as well as some plain red cotton to make a maxi dress from. I already have some intensely floral material on a red background I was eying up for the bust part so now I am ready to go. Hopefully I will have this made in the next few weeks for a birthday party I'm going to.

On an even better note I stopped into Silkes One Stop Stationery on Catherine St to get out of the rain. I love that store. The people in there are so nice. There is so much to look at and the prices are very reasonable. Love it. I spent about 30 minutes just meandering about looking at nothing and everything.
I really do need to find its equivalent in a fabric store.

Green Shopping Bag

I have to admit. I got a bit carried away last month when Glamour came out with the free Benefit pencils. I got all 3. Which was great, 3 full size benefit pencils for under €3 each. However I was left with 3 Glamour magazines. I wanted to come up with a fun way to use the magazines and I started to think about collages. I came up with this:

This is for one of my cousins. I have a little packet to send her and I thought I would make her something cute and fun. I used some leftover fabric and made a reusable shopping bag. I made a collage out of images from the Glamour magazines in the shape of her initials. I then attached the collages separately using plastic sheet protectors over them and sewing the plastic on over the letters. I think it turned out pretty cute. Looking at it now though I'm tempted again to make a large yellow flower and attach it near the top right corner...the bag is almost missing something. 

I would like to point out however that in the first picture, yes it does look like I could fit into the bag. In reality that's not the case (DAD) :). Its about 50 cm long to put it into perspective. I wanted there to actually be room for shopping. 

Organisation

So its a pain but a necessity. This house is beyond tiny and has little to no storage so I had to organise everything...again. Seems like I have to do it monthly as things tend to migrate around the house. The spare room serves as a guest room/craft/magic supply closet. I have to do any sewing or crafting at the kitchen table and this week everything was living in the kitchen.
I sucked it up and like an adult tidied everything into its proper place. I'm exhausted now. I feel like I have done enough accomplishing today. Probably enough for the rest of the week.
I'll see you back here next Sunday when I'm in the same boat again :)

My Garden

I have tomatoes growing!!! and courgettes!!! and a teeny tiny jalapeno pepper!! so exciting :)
My lettuces are almost big enough to start harvesting which is also exciting. I may also be getting a little aubergine as well. It flowered and well I'm watching carefully to see what happens.
In related news I have another sugar snap pea harvest to do today. My butternut squash has sprouted as have my beetroots and cat grass. AND!! very exciting- my water melon seedlings have little vine tendrils. so I will have to research a really good way to support them.
My garden is thriving. It's very rewarding to see all my hard work start to pay off!

My sister's got a new place!

M's got a new place! So excited for her. In the spirit of housewarming and helping her create a new home with her fiance and her stepdaughter, I started putting together a box of stuff to send. Don't worry A, your long delayed birthday present is inside :).

I have made her a bunch of CDs, the new mix tape don't you know. Hopefully they evoke some sort of memory...well not just some sort...the good sort.

I've also started gathering stuff for her stepdaughter. G is 3 and although I have never met her she sounds like the most adorable little girl ever. So far I have made her 2 dresses and a little bag. I'm working on something a bit bigger at the moment but I dont want to spoil the surprise yet. Although to be honest I will probably be so overcome with excitement that I end up calling and spilling the beans myself!

Here is the owl bag I made. Its from an owl pillow pattern but I changed it around so it could be a little handbag.

I recycled materials. The buttons were from a tin my grandmother gave me. She had been collecting buttons for her craft projects for forever, but she isnt doing them anymore. Yay for me though!

I also upcycled a tee shirt and a spaghetti strap dress into a whole new dress. I'm kind of in love with this one myself.

So excuse the harrassed looking face peeking out behind the dresses. My camera battery is dead so I have been using the iSight to take photos with. Also since we are going through a heatwave in this country of no airconditioning....things are mighty sticky shall we say. lol. Its almost too warm and humid to breathe. Enough complaining. This is a dress I made from a pattern I got on burdastyle.com. Its so adorable, not perfect, but I'm getting better. I left the straps long and I still have to hem it. I'm planning on hemming about 1.5 to 2 inches so that M can drop the hem or tie the straps shorter or longer depending on G's growth spurts.

Here is a close up of the material I used. Its really cute.

Cookies!!

These are cookies I made recently for a Christening. They were all ordered and paid for so I couldn't keep any.

These were raspberry thumbprint cookies. I also made blueberry and strawberry ones.

Bite size oatmeal and cranberry cookies

Marbled Cheesecake brownies
Full cheesecake brownie before I cut it up. I made 2 of these.

Yum.

Hello!

So lately I have really gotten into making things. Sewing and crafting. It all started with P's birthday. Being unemployed :( I set myself the task of making something creative. I have to admit, I was really pleased with the result!!

I upcycled a pair of black treggings into a wristlet bag,

used scraps of material to make large flower pins for the bag

and then painted frogs on a glass tumbler to create a makeup brush holder.

It seems unemployment and an unhealthy bank account are my Muses.