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A childhood friend of mine had a baby girl called Margaux 2 weeks ago. So in a last minute rush ( yep, misslastminute.com it’s me) I quilted a cute little quilt. She can use it to  put down the baby or as a play mat or just a cuddly blankie. Also Dale, our quilt mentor who started

  Quilt Quorner here in Athlone and taught us girls to quilt, had given me for Dylan a little cuddly square, full of colours and textures. So I thought I’d make one for Marguaux too. Thanks Dale!!

 Here’s what I came up with:

(Here’s Dylan’s cheeky hand there on the left lol)

(Flannel I got at the Rds show a few weeks back.Cute little birdies! Top stitched with gold thread)

…using recycled paper. What a great idea I thought! I’ll try to use that soon. In the meantime I’d like to share the tutorial with you from the blog www.swirlyarts.blogspot.com ^_^

This week I made Tea wallets and tissue holders! And they’re matching Perfect gift, each under 10 dollars!

I use my tissue cozies all the time, I’ve got 2 or 3 on the go in each bag lol. They’re so handy plus they look good. Plus isn’t what we’re constantly told: to reuse?! There you go, reuse in style ladies ^_^

A cup of tea tissue cozy, let them eat cake tissue cozy, cup cake tea bag wallet and teapots tea bag wallet for more pictures…

I have been waiting for these for 3 months! no kidding, it’s true. The wait for this artisan to send you the beads is 6-8 weeks which was more like 10 weeks, plus shipping time…Anywho, they’re here now! Please let me know if you have a favorite, it’s always good to know which colours or shapes people like best.

Fancy earrings, a  bracelet or a necklace made for you with any of these bead sets?

Could it be that these beads were meant to find themselves in your jewellery box?

 I love custom orders, send me a message and we can talk about what you have in mind. I’m going to get started on one of these little babies pretty soon. So let me know asap. Otherwise, I’ll be posting pics of the pieces I came up with soon I hope ^_^

I have been wanting to show you what I’ve been up to for ages, but making 1st proofs and then the real thing took time… I’ve only got nap time to sew! and sometimes, it’s very short

In any case, here they are, a first shot anyway. Hope you like them. You know I’m not into complicated stuff, I belive in simple sophistication or simply but classy. So these are useful, handy pouches (with different fabrics inner pockets) which you can used in your bag, in the car, in the house, wherever for whoever!

‘Sew me pink’ and ‘sew me turquoise’ coin purses, all listed on my shop

‘Provence’ clutch and coin purse

Hopefully more accessories to come soon…Hope you like ^_^

We had a fabulous time on saturday with the girls at the RDS in Dublin. It was the stitch and knit show, but there was much more than just yarn and fabrics…There was paper crafts and cross stitch and designers showing their textile work and quilts and workshops and sewing machine demonstrations….If that’s what you are into, it was great! I loved being able to actually see what I was buying as opposed to always buy supplies on the internet and then you have to wait for the items to be shipped and then anxious wait for the postman’s ring of the bell. Plus for once, didn’t have to use the credit card: It’s got to be a good thing right?!

So here’s a few pics of my finds…mostly fabrics…;)

The shop Pippablue from Galway had a great range of Amy Butler fabrics, and I especially was attracted to the laminated cottons. I was a bit cheeky there because there was 3and different rolls and the minimum to buy was 1/2 yard. But because there was another woman interested in them, we managed to get them to give the 2of us a fat quarter of each roll. That bundle of polka dot fabrics by Amy Butler is a fave too!

They had a few japanese fabric imports, but most of them were gone. I still picked one though and hope to use it in a pouch or a purse.

Scissors! I loved the print and got the lady to swap a scissor fabric for another one in that cute square little bundle. (I know, cheeky me…)

Great Alice in Wonderland fabric, here’s a few bits of it. And there again, I didn’t want a whole meter so I kinda got a little less….;)

And a few bits and bobs, mainly jewellery findings and stuff. Also got to make a cute hairbow for free that I wore straight away. so cute!

Today it’s David and I’s anniversary. I can’t believe it’s already been  4 years. And a 14 month-old toddler! Things do change. And when they change for the better, who can complain!! Hopefully, tomorrow night will be our evening as we’ll be going to the restaurant. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be exchanging presents. I kinda already know what mine’s going to be cos I had pitty on David and told him there was a handmade bag on Etsy that I really liked. He got it for me but unfortunately I don’t think we’ll get it on time. Never mind, as long as it arrives through the post! As to my present to David, well I can’t say anything just yet, in case he reads this post (you never know) but 2 of them are handmade…by me! I’ll post pics soon to show you.

 So I thought today I would share with you a litle selection of rings and ring boxes. Since I was little, I’ve always loved boxes and containers as I consider cute boxes as a treat too. Don’t ask me why but I do. Especially quirky boxes. So hope you like the selection…

Full House Ring 24K Gold plated brass by www.wewear.etsy.com

Large Carnelian, stamped sterling silver ring by www.Madeforanangel.etsy.com

Bird’s Nest Ring Pillow wedding accessory by www.flowerthyme.etsy.com

ring house by www.myhouseparty.etsy.com

Because package is as important as what is in it, I’ve been working on a multi purpose reversible fabric folding box lately.  An smaller version with a ring holder is on its way. It’s  handy for a gift , for travelling or simply hold your little treasures at home. I haven’t listed it yet, what do you think of it?

same box inside out

Violet hydrangea ring box by www.thedailypincushion.etsy.com

Please click on pic to go and check out my treasury ^_^

A new challenge for the Etsy Ireland team has arised. Rach from Balanced is the one behind the operation: All the participants who desire to make a treasury can do so for the next 4 days. It should feature 8-10 fellow team members and not include one of our items. Voting will be done via a poll widget on friday 15 Oct  here and the winner will be announced next Wednesday, Oct. 20. All the participant treasuries can be found here. The winner will receive a a little feature post here on the blog AND their Etsy Mini listed in the sidebar for one whole week!

The theme is Comfort…My chosen colour combo here is what I find comfy. I don’t know why I just do! Hope you like it, there’s nice items and shops there that are worth looking at

Oh! and a great tip I found (maybe you already knew about it) but I couldn’t ‘catch’ treasuries pictures. What I needed was a screenshot and I found a website for it http://www.thumbalizr.com/ where you can thumb your pages! Brillant!

Ok, you will not believe what happened….(see post below for part 1) I was happily getting ready for that wedding on saturday afternoon : put on my makeup, put the dress on, got Dylan ready. My favorite part is when you put the final touch on, the accessories. I was really looking forward to dress up with my lovely dress. So I  just bent down to pick up something on the floor and squooooooooooooooeeeek. The zip was w i d e  o p e n . OMG! What am I going to do?!

After a lot of  efforts, my husband David managed to put the zip back together. But really, if it happened once, could I ever trust this evil zipper again?? Imagine it happened during the ceremony…I had these horrid visions of my dress opening up for everyone to see :O

 Anyway, as it stayed in place and knowing that I had a trench coat on ‘just in case’ I got in the car. Not even out of the drive way, the zip failed me again. That was it! Had to get changed (fortunately, I had brought another dress with me). Guted, so I was. But all accessories matched the other dress. Which was real comfy and in the end, it all worked out.

Still a bit annoyed I couldn’t wear my dress. But eh! I can get it fixed and wear it again some day.

Here are the accessories I made :

Swarovski crystal rondelles in 3 different sizes set in sterling silver with sterling silver. (sold)

My cute satin turquoise bow on headband. I made it all myself and was so proud to wear it. Forgot to take pics on the day though!

My fanciful fascinator…first one I’ve ever made, using scraps from my dress, felt, tulle and swarovski crystals on a tiny comb. It was an option B so in the end I didn’t wear it. Still had a great time making it!

Bracelet made with the beads I got from the petite bead box swap a few weeks back. The colours were absolutely perfect for the dress.

This is my first ever clutch using satin. Just used an A3 sheet as a template for an enveloppe style handbag. Added a flat ruffle and a handle. Looks dead easy like that by as I had never done anything like this  before, it took me ages. There’s even a poket in the lining woohoo!

David, Dylan and I on the day