Still here

Im not gone. I haven't forgotten... it is just that I have been a bit concentrated on this sewing machine business. Learning by trial and error can be fun and helps to develope your creativity, inteligence, etc... but it can be such a pain from time to time... like when the machine doesn't do what I want... who says we humans control machines??

On the other hand it is also harvesting time... broccoli, carrots, more strawberries...and since we can't eat it all at once, we have to wash, cut, freeze...




On the other hand it is also time for making jam... peach jam...


And peach crumble...


So yeah, basically, we've been eating a lot these past days... as always.
But hey! I also did some stuff. I made a large lap of white felt using some merino tops, and then combined it with some canvas type fabric. Cotton but thicker, don't know the name... and came up with this:



And then I tried this pattern to make a box type bag... you can't really tell by the picture... but it is box-ish! :)




And... recycle recycle... never throw away... with the fabric scraps, those bits one ussually end up on the floor... a flower with unidentified use yet: brooch, corsage, just simple adornment of a bag or... something!



Next week news coming about a "give away" which will be hosted by another blog. What will be given away is this bag I painted specially for this ocassion:


But that is for next week.
Hope you all have a nice sunday!

On my desk wednesday!

Yes, wednesday again. Unbelievable. Where did the week go we all ask ourselves... week after week. Nobody knows... but it is half way gone for sure.

But it is the time of the week to shop what's on my desk.
If it is too warm, I ussually don't feel like felting because...you know... wool, sun... it just feels too warm. Plus, considering the little sun we get around here, if it is sunny outside...I am outside as well.
But these apst few days it has been horrible. Warm/cold/rainny/sunny. So I've been inside and I went to check on my stash of wool, see if it is still there, and got the urge of wetfelting a bag.

I did that, and now I am working on some embellishments and ...I have to figure out how is it that Im going to hang it from my shoulders.




But all of this happens while we are harvesting from our garden before it is too late, and turning about 2 kilos of peaches into yummy jam.



So, we are pretty busy these days.
How is everyone doing over there, on the other side of the screen?

oh, sun again... going outside! bye!

A look around DaWanda's shops V

Hello everyone. I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I had a wedding which took place last weekend in a castle... all very glamorous and chic. My husband and I, not very fond of grand displays of wealth, kept repeating ourselves "with the amount of money they are spending here this weekend, I would quit my job and travel and travel... ". Some people just rather have a majestic "most important day of their lives" (which is super ironic considering that according to statistics 45% of them will end up hating this day within the first 10 yrs of their marriage, and divorce...no, Im not a cynic. Just... saying).

:)

Anyway...but the thing is that we weren't that far away from the ocean, and yet we couldn't travel to it.
You see, I grew up by the ocean and now that I live inland, I miss it terrible. The big waves, swimming, walking, open spaces, black sand, sea lions looking above the waves to check on people, parrots, seagulls, whales, orcas and the rest. The good thing about living next to the ocean is that you get to eat lots of fish and sea food. YUM. So, I went looking for fishes in Dawanda...

...and i found, of cours, Anna's fishes in her shop, HalfanAcre:


I really like these fishes. Colorful, great patterns on them and the colors are great. Vibrant...very summery. I would have included them in this summer thingy going on in Dawanda. They would definetely liven up any house indoors or outdoors.

Then I found, by Glasprimitif this great "Oriental Fish", painted silk to bring you good luck:


Fabulous colors again. I admire anyone who can paint on silk and have such great results. Did not work with me ...

In Maggiejo's shop I found this great set of pendant and earrings of enamelled copper.

I just love the colors and the texture. I am so very intrigued about this technique. It's in my list of "to dos".

And last, but not least, from Portugal, a great pot stand in olive wood by Alentejoazul :


I love olive wood (olive oil, olives, the shadow of an olive tree, the memories of picking olives in summer...etc). The grain is so pretty and comes so much alive! This shop has great kitchen ware also in wood...


So, those are the fishes. What do you think?
Got any fishes to shop, want to put them up here in this post? send me a pic! The contact button is there on my website: Florcita


It's monday so...have a nice week!

Birdland bag

A week or so ago I made this post about the new line of handpainted/collage canvas bags that were coming to my shop. Then, Ruth, the brain, hands.... everything! behind Birdland Creations asked me to paint a bag with the logo of her shop.
I like custom orders because it is something new, you have the chance to talk and get to know a bit the person behind the shop...and it is ussually a nice experience. A challenge.
So, I set out to do it.

I printed the logo in A3 size and then tried to copy it onto the bag as acquaretely as possible. There is no making mistakes here or you have to throw away the bag and start again with a new one.






Then it was time to start painting. I mixed some yellow and red for the orange flower and beak... only I mixed too much! I don't like throwing away. I hate wasting materials... and there was so much paint left! ... quick! I thought, grab another bag and paint something else.











...the "paralel" bag. Some tulips.









The finished bag:


And the little (21x25cm) tulip bag:


This was fun, really, it was. I started to get all sort of ideas whilst painting this bag for Ruth. And I'm glad that she likes it too!

On my desk, wednesday

Running running running all day. Too many things to do, so little time.
Our garden has exploded with this tropical weather we are having in The Netherlands... rain, sun, rain, sun. Plants grow like crazy. And yesterday, first dry day in....weeks, we went out and put some order there. You know how plants are...when you aren't looking everything gets out of control. And, our friends the moles came back, so we have nice mountains all over the garden. Great for plants (the tunnels they make give air to the soil) not so good for the gardener...us.

But, in keeping with the garden theme, this is what I was working on today (I started it months ago!):


Iit's a flower garden... sort of a bug view. Quite similar (or style like) a few handpainted tiles I made a month or so ago:




Anyway... is it wednesday already???? wow. Gotta go...

New old machine

A few months ago I received as a gift, a very old sewing machine. The neighbour of a friend of mine, a very old lady, was moving away and she wanted to get rid of this machine she hasn't use in... decades. It is actually a machine from the 60s. Old.
I have absolutely no clue about machine sewing. The little sewing I have done in my life has always been done by hand. I always wanted to learn and never had anybody to teach me (my grandma refused because since I was going to University to study big things, what was the point of learning how to sew... that was her reasoning which I still don't get).
I had that machine laying around (like everything, in the living room) until a few days ago I finnally sat my mother in law in front of it and gave a command: "make it sew!". No, not really or I wouldn't be alive now.
She sat there and patiently showed me the laberynth the thread has to follow, through loops and holes and little needle eyes. The secret thread underneath...aaaaha! so that is how it works! I didn't know about it!!! And all sort of things. And she said... ok. Sew. That was a command. And I folded a piece of fabric and stepped on the pedal... and I haven't stopped since.
No, not a pro yet (or ever)... not by chance. Buuuuut, just to make myself learn, I decided to make two little bags to take as a present to a play date with my kid. We were going to visit girls, so... little bags I made:



And then I got excited by the results (hey, pretty darn good for a first timer!) and made a combined bag, two different fabrics... and lining!!!!




Wait wait... that is not all... I do work with hand made felt after all, don't I... I made a few laps of felt and then tried them on the machine... shouldn't be so thick next time. I tried that "free hand sewing' thing... kinda fun!

(two different shades of green merino and some linen fibers)



(beige merino -black in the front- and those stripes are silky lint).


Not fully satisfied, after all I am in experimentation phase, I went and downloaded a bunch of free patterns from Amy Buttler..........pffffffffffff.... not only is everything in inches (ok, I could do the math...could...maybe...); but I think...nonono... Im sure that that is a complete other league. Delusional, moi???? naaah.
So back to simple.
I harvested some lavender from my garden yesterday, so this morning I made small little sachets with fabric scraps, stuffed them with lavender and put them around in my drawers. My drawers, because my husband can not imagine his socks smelling like lavender. I made extra small sachets to include in the packages sent to customers.


And last... recycle, recycle, recycle.... nothing gets thrown away: a multi-scrap sachet.



This should provide enough reading for the rest of the week...hahaha...
Have a nice monday!

Saturday's shopping list 2

Is it saturday again?? sure?? where did the week go... what did I do this whole week??? For some reason I get the feeling that I spent a lot of time in the supermarket this week...or at least I went too often. Do we eat that much...? apparently.
Well, since I spent all my money in food, my saturday's shopping list has gone from 13 items to...4. Yeah, drastic cuts in the budget :) I actually wanted 6 but Flickr won't cooperate, so it's just 4.

This saturday's list theme is Flowers!

From top left:

Flower brooch by woolyfabulous

Girl and Flower print by Lilypang

Mini cherry Blossom earrings by Jorgensenstudio

Regency Necklet - a textile necklace and bracelet in one by Fancypicnic

I love all of those items. It is a short list but a quality one!
Hope you enjoy it too! Do click on the links and visit the shops...

Have a nice weekend!

Well, the links are all weird...but they wont fix. Since it's too warm to discuss with blogspot... and the links do work, I 'll just leave it like this!