Working on....

Hi guys! 

Only few words from me.... I love the place  I live!     

Rhodes island, Greece! - yes, I live in GREECE!!!!!! And I loveeeee it!

Here is why:

 It does not matter, how bad you feel, how bad your day went, how angry or disappointed you are because of the politicians - 

 if you live in Greece - you feel like winning the lottery! It is beautiful in colors, the most clear watters, natural beaches, friendly people, fantastic food, tasty wines, the best olive oil and what matters most - is the family. You keep your family  together  (and I mean the whole family, not just mother, father, brother or sister, but uncles, aunties, cousins of 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade - in other parts of the world you would not even know they exist  - you keep them together!)

this is what Greece is about !

 And here is what I am working on:

That's it for today!

thanks for stopping by!

Pride

After posting about my attempt to learn crochet, I can already show you the final product I made from my granny's squares.

I thought though I am new to crochet I don't want to make stuff just to learn - I want to use them.

So here is the blanket I made from my first ever granny's squares.

And here are some detailes of it:

thanks for stopping by!

Just a picture

And here is just a picture of something I am learning (I am really new to this craft):

 

Flowers

Finally I am "allowed" to post these decorated cookies. Why I use the word allow? Because I have made these beauties since few days ago but was not able to deliver them sooner to a friend of mine who was the recipient of them for her son's nameday.

But as I am 100% sure she received them I am going to show them to you too:

simple sugar cookies  

I love these sugar cookies, and today I added also few drops of orange extract ( I use the orange oil) 
and the Royal Icing colored in my favorite colors - red, blue, green, orange.... and of course white.

 and here you can see the whole range of designs

Thanks for stopping by!

Strawberries! & Easter Cookies!

Hi everyone! 

I am really good in the "once in a month" blogging. I really am sorry.

There is so little time in my life though I do nothing else then working, driving, super market shopping, picking up / bringing my child to his swimming trainings and english school. But still -  I dream  the whole week for  my favorite day of the week to come and what I would be crafting - and when Sunday finally arrives I have to choose between crafting and cleaning, cooking or marmalade cooking or visiting friends or family. 

But I was finally pushed (I do not like to be pushed) to make some things  I am able to show you.

First I made the first batch of this year's strawberry marmalade.  And everybody is happy about it, because trust me, since I made my first strawberry marmalade last year, nobody really wanted to eat the story-bought one. So the rest of the year till the last Saturday - we eat honey or Nutella instead of any story-bought marmalade. Funny, isn't it?

And because the Greek Orthodox Easter is still to come - we will celebrate it this weekend (April 15th,2012) I made some decorated Easter "Egg" cookies - using Royal Icing and brush embroidery on some of them.


Here are the results:

The Easter Bunnies cookies are round.

I know, I know, they are not perfect. But I had just the last Sunday to make them. And was happy to get them finished by the evening the same day (it was a hot Sunday here, so the Royal Icing did dry really quickly - surprisingly!)


thank you for stopping by!
 

flower free motion quilt

flower free motion quilt, a photo by janarhodes on Flickr.

my second attempt on free motion quilting

Here it is - my sedond attempt on free motion quilting on my sewing machine. It did not take me a lot of time - only 2,5 hours the whole stuff - from cutting the flower, applique (on my sewing machine) and quilting.

It was a lot of fun, thouhg I see a lot of space for  getting better.... it is definetely MY STYLE and you will see much more quilts from me.

thanks for stopping by!

Messenger bag

This winter is a very cold winter here. I cannot dress like I love to (high heels boots) - just because of the low temperatures. I was "forced" to wear a skinny jeans and very warm columbia winter boots (no high heels) and a appropriate bag - a messenger bag brought to me as  a gift from my sister in law few years ago.
I was wearing this bag the whole winter - every single day. And so it happened that few things "stopped" working or broke or teared off.

So I dreamed about a new messenger bag - a bag of my choice in colors and size and design.

I must first tell you that when it comes to design and fabrics and their combinations - I love Desigual.   So the choice of colors and fabrics may be too bright for some of you.

But I really really love my new messenger bag.

And here it comes:

the old bag - sorry for the not clear picture - but you get the picture, don't you?

and the NEW ONE

 and here are some details:

I reused the zipper of the old bag (clever girl I am)

I even thought of not loosing my keys in the bag- so here the key chain can be attached

the "back side"

front side beneath the flap

the detail of the flap - quilted

and the deatil of the applique

And the fabrics are a combination of Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler fabrics. I am in love with the new Lark by Amy Butler collection.

I hope you like it! My first ever messenger bag with my first ever inside / invisible pocket with the sew in zipper.