Flowers

I would love to be a clutch-person. You know, just grab your keys, phone and lipstick in a pretty small bag and go?

I don't really know why I keep carrying all the stuff I have in my bag around. My worst nightmare (almost at least) would be stopped at the street by someone, who would like to see and maybe even photograph the content of my bag. You've seen those sort of articles at cosmo or somewhere and they always have only elegant stuff and maybe one receipt there (a latte they bought five minutes ago) and they're just about to toss that. That's not me.

I make decisions every now and then to keep my bag clean of extra stuff. Like books, pens, chewing gum, measuring tape. Yes and sort out the essentials like cell, wallet, makeup pouch, keys and camera. And those receipts. I just seem to put them into my bag and forget them. Huh.

In the meanwhile (when I am making an effort to get more organized) I keep making these pretty little purses, and who knows someday I'll leave the house carrying one of those. And just that.

Colorful Thursday - it is almost weekend again!

It's a small world

I have been reading this lovely blog for a while already, and admired Helen's beautiful home and her wonderful creations. I also saw at her blog a while ago that their beautiful cottage was featured in one of my favorite magazines. I went to newsstand here but nope, it wasn't there. I wasn't that surprised but annoyed yes, and went home without buying anything.

Then on last Saturday I was shopping, tired, a bit cranky and very wet from heavy rain. I went to magazine section and just crabbed a "looks-great-will-do" one and biked home (in rain again). In the evening I finally sat down on a sofa with a cup of tea and opened the magazine. Looking through pages I saw a pretty red-head and thought that I knew her somehow... Hey! It was Helen in the article I wanted to see - about her cottage! It was a lovely surprise (and the cottage was just so beautiful) and it just made my evening. It's a small world, indeed.

Happy Wednesday!

World's next top model

I enjoy what I do but when I have a model this handsome I absolutely love my work! Take a look at him:



Is he the cutest or what?

But making the item as cute as him? Took some head-scratching before I got it started. I really wanted the bag to be adorable yet usable and yes, it was a challenge with a this star-model. Then I just crabbed my needle and started poking...

I think the bag turned out quite cute (read: oh boy how handsome), and I think he approves, too!



Kisses to the cutest and happy Tuesday!

Weekly weather report

The weather was pretty this weekend and I managed to take some photos outside. The colors of the nature are changing, and leaves fall. When sun shines, it's nice and warm, and you could almost forget that it is the end of the September already.

After some (eh) years I also took out my bike. With sunny and dry weather it was truly wonderful to cycle around, and it was quicker, easier and more fun that I remembered. But the wind was freezing, I needed to take out my gloves too so it is almost October.



I played with my tweeds, too, and made two birdie-bags. Looking those pictures (above) you could almost think that it's summer still but no. Just the season for tweed though, my friends!

Happy Monday, and stay warm!

Gone with the...

Gone aunting.

Happy weekend everyone and see you here on Monday again!

The way you do

I had something else in mind for today's post, but after I read Pam's thoughts yesterday, I wanted to talk about that. She wrote about making items based on what you already have rather than looking for something, that you would like to create from. I think she meant mostly preparing fabrics and designs beforehand, but it got me thinking the whole way I create.

I create one-of-a-kind of pieces. That said I still base my creations to a few designs like cellphone cozies, pouches and couple of different shaped bags. Then there are tweed pouches, they're sized depending the zipper length. So I could make my work more organized, definitely.



My lining and pockets are made of reused fabrics only. I hardly ever buy fabric as new. I feel that it makes my items even more special but it also slows the process as I need find just right sized piece of fabric. Or is it me just being "too creative" and not wanting to make for example five cellphone cozies one after the other? How hard would it have linings and buttons ready when I start knitting? Would I then need to base my needle felted decorations to my lining colors and not other way round (as I now do)?

How do you make your creating more quick, effective and easy? I am really interested in this matter as I really love what I do, but I definitely think that there are million ways to make my creative process better. I know your way might not be just the right for me, but there are many things you just do without realizing why before someone tells you. And I know it's hard to go and say hey, you could or should make this or that - but if one asks for advise? Bring it on, friends!

Thank you Pam, for making me think!

Thinking big

My new phone (well it's not that new anymore but still) is quite big. By that I mean it works big time but it also is quite large. I also know there are others out there who use these touch-pad phones and want to cover them beautifully with felt so I needed to get to my drawing board with this.

I had some custom orders for these too, and I think I got the measurements quite right. The cozy is definitely large enough but still compact and cute, too. And felt is just great material to cover these gadgets with big screens, soft yet durable. Sorry about the promotion for felt but it just is a wonderful material. Actually I need to go and make some new items of it now. Right now.




Any new inventions craft-wise lately? Please share - happy Wednesday!

Home

I have mentioned the renovation at our home so many times, that I am boring most of you already. But this time I am not moaning about it, I promise, as we're getting closer to finishing it. I am all exited about it now, and wanted to show you something.

When we moved into this old house (and it needed a lot of work) I hadn't never

a) lived in an old HOUSE before
b) done any renovation bigger than painting a wall.

I am not going to details (how it took longer, was harder and more expensive than expected) but I'll show you something I think helped me a lot. Before we moved in I was passionate of magazines of homes and decoration, gardens, furnishing in and out. I also had a huge collection of magazines I didn't want to take with me when we moved. So out my scissors and...

Click images to enlarge, please

I chose beautiful (read: dream) pictures of kitchens, living rooms, baths and bedrooms. I cut out color schemes, floors, cupboards, tiles... And clued them into a book. My dream-home book.

I do not have that pink Smeg yet (and I do not need that pink cow-shaped toast-grill any more) but otherwise many things from my book are now in my house. Not exactly the same, ofter a cheaper DIY-sort and thrifted, newly painted but still. I love my book and I love my house. And now I am back to those pages for bedrooms and studies...

Happy Tuesday!

Weekending still

A great weekend is one without a specific plan what to do or a long list of tasks to complete. A great weekend has many little things to do (and many get done, too) and many moments with nothing to do (and that normally goes well also).

This weekend of mine was striped. There were many gray stripes, and then there were sunny yellow ones too, and some chocolate brown. And there were busy moments, but just enough lovely lazy ones with knitting, DVD and a good book to maintain the great balance. And did I already mention chocolate?

My knitting seems to be striped also, again, which I do love. I think this is going to be the theme for this week - happy stripes for everyone this Monday!

Black and white

It all started with a pretty thrifted find...



And then something from my stash...



...and some more from my stash...



=




Purr-fect weekend, everyone!

Back to the basics

My blog has been wondering around gyms and holidays lately, I am sorry, but now I am back to basics. Which in my case are felts and birdies. I have been knitting, felting and making tweets also, and here are some of my latest ones.

I have had some troubles with my sewing machine lately, too. It's now on repairs, and I've been using my old one. Oh-oh, what a difference! You know when you use something old, and you know all it's tricks and you just know how to kick/bang/shake it to get it operate? Then you get new one and you wonder how you ever managed with that old one - and when you need to get back using that old (no matter how temporary) it almost hurts. Sigh.

Our home improvement-project is almost half done, who-ho! The best part is on it's way as we're getting to build new now - all the old is out. I am very exited with all this, and I'll show you the results as soon as we have some.

And this is very important too: I want to thank you so much everyone, who already yesterday joined to my Christmas-project! It will be great! New participants are more than welcome, still, and we'll talk about that a bit later again. In the meanwhile: Happy Thursday!

Hear the jingle bells already?

I know I am going to annoy some people by starting to talk about the Christmas already! Some of you have just about getting used to autumn (Hugs, Viv dear!) and now I am already getting into holidays. But but but I had an idea while sweating at my gym yesterday (Hi Jane, I am taking my exercise!) of having a Christmas calendar here at my blog!

I know Christmas calendars are mostly for kids, but I have had one every single of my 30-something years and I am not giving up that habit now! And this idea of mine (and I am going to need your help with this!) is not a regular calendar, but 24(25?) different ideas, patterns and tips for Christmas crafting, decorating and maybe for some for cooking too? I would love to see your holiday ornament-crafts and learn how to make them - would you like to share some? And yes, I also remember, that many of you craft for living and I am definitely not asking you to give up those patterns you make for sale. If someone wants to do that, it's great, but what I am asking here is to share your little beloved Christmas secrets to all us to enjoy.



I am thinking of sharing some of my own patterns (needle felted Christmas tree decorations and maybe a family-heirloom cake recipe?) but I just couldn't get it done on my own. So I would like to ask if anyone was interested in sharing yours? You could either send me the picture/s and pattern or text you want to include, and I would make that days post, or you could make your own posting at your blog (if you have one) and I could link it from mine to that day. Either way, all the credit will be yours and links back to your blog (or even shop if you have one) would be made.



Anyone interested? I am early, I know, but I would love to prepare this with time and love. So if you already have a great project in mind (or just would love to create one for all of us to enjoy!), leave a comment please or e-mail me handmadebymia at gmail.com and I'll get back to you!

Happy Wednesday!

Red, hot and...

I have a bad back. That said I must confess that I am bad at taking care of it, too. I am tall, and have had problems with my lower back since childhood (nothing too serious, but growing worse over the years) and have had it really bothering me a few times over the last ten years. Mostly I have caused it myself by misusing my back (yes, you can definitely do that, lifting heavy items being the most popular way), and also slowly working out less and less. Sitting on a couch knitting/surfing the net/watching DVDs for hours doesn't help. Exorcising does tremendously, but getting it done regularly is an another matter.

I was in great shape when I was younger. I mean great shape physically, I am not just missing the young me (sometimes that too). I worked out more than regularly and my back didn't bother me at all (neither did those tight jeans). Then many things like family, very busy work, middle-age (almost) happened and the gym didn't. Just getting there after a busy day at work seemed very difficult.

Please ignore chairs, tools and other horribly messy items on background

I have had my own "gym" for a while, I live less than ten meters from my beloved machinery! It's nothing fancy (an underestimation of...), just a garage like room filled with unused furniture, tools and extra wheels for cars. But hey, it has two of my favorite machines: red1 and red2. That's all I need - bye bye back ache!

I know some of you keep fit by dancing, and some of you run - any other suggestions on feeling (and looking) hot this Tuesday?

Sunshine!

Missing the sun

I am totally fine with autumn, but miss the sun. I mean it's alright to have some rainy, gray days every now and then but hey, it's only September and days are so short already. Some days we haven't had any visible sun, and that's just too much (or too little, depending).

I need sun. I need it not only for my own well-being (and sanity) but also to take decent pictures of my creations. I've given up trying inside, and run outside when ever I see even a ray of sun. It's a bit inconvenient, but I just do not want to use the flash if it's not absolutely necessary (and it will be when it's -30C outside or the snowstorm strikes).

I dream of a corner of my house (my crafting space) being only for taking pictures. With white walls and some good, natural light bulbs it should work? I have even seen DIY lightboxes with white paper inside and again effective lights doing the trick, and I also want a good stand for my camera. So many things I want, so little... You know.



These little birdie-pouches I photographed yesterday, we actually had a few (almost) sunny moments during otherwise very gray day. I am happy with the results, and oh how effective one can be when black clouds hang above ones head. Talk about the relaxed working atmosphere!

Happy Monday!

Pretty storage

I have a thing for storing little things in pretty boxes. I love tin boxes, but have some cardboard ones too. Tin boxes I cannot buy single, they seem to move in here in sets of two or even more often three.

What do I store in my boxes? In kitchen tea and coffee. And I have one for all possible cables and battery chargers (two for cameras, three for cellphones, one charger for all batteries - just to mention a few) and batteries. Then there's one for sewing: needles, safety pins, poppers and hooks. One I use for pens and one is filled with tea lights.

I decided earlier, that I do not need any more tin (or other) boxes to my house. But now that we're re-doing upstairs and I'll get a brand new room for my crafts! What if my old boxes do not fit? Color-wise I mean. I'd better to take a look of their net catalogue (we used to have their shop here but not anymore *sigh*). Just in case, you know.

Happy Thursday!

P.S. Friday is an official nephew-auntie -day around here, and I'll be busy all day. I might not find a gap to post, so if not: Happy weekend and I'll see you on Monday again!

I heart you

I have talked about this many times earlier, but this wonderful land of Internet amazes me still almost daily. There are so many things you can do without even leaving your house: buy, sell, meet people, find answers to your questions and simply enjoy things around here.

Many, who have read my blog for some time, know that I have a little shop too. I've been happily filling it up for three years and every now and then checked my hearts, which show how many friends or happy customers you have, and they are persons who like your work. This morning I checked again and I had 1000! One thousand hearts, how wonderful is that? I mean I still remember having just one.



I feel so lucky to be part of all this. I have met so wonderful people via net, found so many interesting things and learned so many things. I can, hand on heart, say that I would not be on my way to a full-time crafting if there weren't net.

Thank you all so much for your kindness, support, happy moments, creativeness and joy you all have given me! I heart you!

Yours,
Mia