A squirrel bag - and revealing the mystery prize!

I made this bag for Emma since she was begging me to make her a bag to fit all her ballet gear. So when I saw this pattern from verypurpleperson I had to try. She has the most stylish sewing ideas ever! The original bag is reversible and I guess this is also but the lining is quite lightweight fabric and gets wrinkled easily, so I prefer this squirrel side of the bag. And so does Emma.

This is the other side of the bag, a bit wrinkled still due to my complete lack of ironing skills:

And this is the reverse, both sides are the same and just as wrinkled:

Emma chose these fabrics by herself and she did a great job! The squirrel fabric is from Ikea, the polkadot is an old piece of canvas and I have no idea where I've bought it. The pink flower fabric is an old curtain, never used, so my mother donated it to me.

Now to the giveaway. I still haven't finished the mystery prize, minor sewing still needs to be done but as you might have already guessed, the fabrics in this picture will become a similar bag. Hope you like it :)

Please go and take part in the giveaway! I just extended the time until Wednesday 6th of April since I realized that I am going on a cruise with my family on Sunday and won't be here to select the winners :)

Pillows and pillowcases

I have been saving this piece of Ikea fabric for a long time. My original plan was to make a bag but I did not have any idea about what kind of bag this fabric would want to be. I had two pieces and the other one I save for my giveaway mystery prize and this one I decided to make into a pillow.

So the fabric is from Ikea and the pompom trim is from my grandmother's stash. I think it is secondhand, since it looks a bit disheveled and some of the pompoms are not very tidy anymore. Doesn't matter, now it has a new life :)

The backside fabric is also from Ikea and the filling came from an old pillow. The backside looks a bit plain so I am planning on adding something there. Perhaps a crocheted doily?

I also made two more pillowcases, similar to the flower pillowcases in my giveaway. These are going to my mum :)

Japan disaster relief - A giveaway! CLOSED

As promised, here is my small contribution to the victims of earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Let's start with the rules.You can participate if you have donated time or money to help the victims. However, I am not going to follow up on this, I trust you all :) Just let me know what you did and/or what charity you used in your answer and if you do not want to say, I'll accept also general notes saying that you have contributed something to somewhere. That's it, very simple. Oh, and donations made earlier count too, you don't have to donate specifically for the purpose of this giveaway.

Now to the prizes, all handmade by me.

1. Fox pillow case (fabrics from Ikea)

Front

Back

2. Flower pillowcase (fabric from Almedahls)

3. And last, a mystery prize made from these fabrics:

Yep, you guessed it, I did not have time to finish the last prize but I will, tomorrow. Promise! I will present the third prize probably tomorrow or on Tuesday, so stay tuned ;) The pillowcases are meant for pillows sized 45cmx45cm, perhaps 50cmx50cm might also fit but it is the standard size, at least in Finland.

So, let me know what prize you would prefer and I will announce the winner next Sunday, 2nd of April. Change of plans. I just realized that I am not going to be here choosing the winner on Sunday, so the deadline is now extended to Wednesday, 6th of April. Sorry about that but hey, now you have even more time to participate!

And in case you are wondering, I donated money via Red Cross. It was the easiest way to give money and the company I work for matched my donation, so it seemed a good way to help.

Thinking of summer - Linen tote

Did I say that I would be having a giveaway in my blog last weekend? Well, apparently someone got weekends mixed up - that someone being busy busy me. Sorry about that! But I will be having the giveaway tonight, after some boring housework has been done. Blah.

Anyway, I made this bag, even though my overlock machine is not working properly. I used my trusty old sewing machine instead. Actually for this project it was the only kind of machine needed since I had to be extra careful with all the pleats.

The fabric is linen, lovely light grey linen from Ikea. The pattern is from this book:

The pattern was easy and the instructions were very clear. However, making the pleats was a pain! In my bag the pleats are not even but let's just call this bag an interpretation of the original... Or something, haha.Next time I know how to do the pleats a bit better, hopefully. The original bag did not have any lining but I wanted to add it. I thought that with all those pleats I would never be able to find keys or coins from the bottom of this tote. I used remnants of the fabric I used for this dress for the lining.

Isn't it cute? I'm just wondering how to make the pleats stay nicely put...

Clutch renewal

I bought this leather bag from Italy more than ten years ago. I fell in love with a pair of heels that had the same white stitching and since I always try to match shoes and bags, I just had to buy this shoulder bag as well. However, I did not use it at all since the handles were so impractical: stiff and the proportions of the handles were so wrong to this tiny bag. It has sat abandoned in my closet for all these years and finally I decided to do something about it. I took the bag to my favourite cobbler and asked her to remove the handles and make a wrist strap instead.

The wrist strap is quite thin in purpose because sometimes I might just want to hide it completely and just carry the clutch in my hand.

I think this was a good change and now I think I will actually use this bag! I am going to theatre on Friday and will definitely be using this bag. Unfortunately the matching shoes have disappeared, no idea where they are. Perhaps I need to go shoe shopping...

On a side note, I am thinking of the victims of Japan's earthquake and will be organising a giveaway of some sorts in my blog during the weekend. I am hoping that all those participating in the giveaway donate something to the victims via official channels. But more info on that later. I try to make the prize as tempting as possible :) Suggestions are welcome!

Mario beret

Pattern: Mario beret
Yarn: Lana Cervinia Le Fibre Nobili Mambo, pink (2838)
Needles: 5 dpns

It does not look much like anything in the picture but trust me, it is a very good hat. The shape is just slouchy enough from back and it is a comfortable fit all over. I loved the yarn as well, so nice and soft, a very good purchase. Thanks, Satu!

I gave the hat to my mother who loved it but refused to pose for a picture. What a bore... Luckily I have enough yarn to make me another, perhaps that will be featured in my head. We'll see :)