May, June, July…What!!!???

Wow… Yes, July already and almost gone…! Ok, so I owe some shares from May and June… Here we go so:

 

I made my first Sewtogether Bag! I love this bag so much, everything I need and more fits perfectly in it. My daughter was so jealous I had to make one for her too, in one evening!!! I purchased the pattern by Sew Demented on Craftsy, but I followed the Sew Along tutorial from The Quilt Barn. I really recommend to follow her tutorial, it makes it really easy. Some bits were quite tricky, but just make sure you have plenty of time, no interruptions and tons of patience and perseverance… It’s worth it!

 

I also made a quilt for a customer. It was ordered for a friend. I really like how it turned out. I loved when my customer was giving me some input as well as free rein on the design. She wanted squares, and the fabric choice was very specific because it had to carry a lot of meaning.

There are some embroidery bits like the name of places where the family lived under the squares with house prints, and other names of places that mark important events in their life. I also quilted the names of their four children among the steepled quilting design, so they are quite camouflaged and keeps all that information quite private and unnoticed.

And finally, I made lots and lots of Superbibs! I received the loveliest feedback ever and I felt so thrilled! It was so nice to read this:

Hello there, I just wanted to drop a quick message to you to say that 2 years on we are still using your beautiful bibs! We bought 4 when my little girl was 6 months old, she is now 2 1/2 and still wears them. They are still in fantastic condition, despite being worn 3 times a day every day 🙂 And they still fit her, which I can’t believe. What a wonderful product they are that you make, and I hope you continue to make them. Best wishes, C. x

I love purchasing fabric for making these bibs, there are so  many cute prints! I try to have a good selection of neutral, colourful ones, as well as boyish and girlish ones.

I am still making a more and they are all being listed in my Etsy shop.

The good news is that if you would like to get one for your little one, or a little one that you know, you will  soon have the chance to enter a giveaway to win it. If you follow me on Instagram (you’ll find me under @elpetittalleretsy) you might have seen already some hints about this. Well, I’m inviting you to pop over to Faye’s blog, BabyLedBlog, where you will learn about great recipes and food related tips for babies and toddlers and their mamas and papas and wait for an interesting post this week about the Superbib.

Come back to check or follow me on Instagram and Facebook for updates!

 

 

 

Doing maths…

I am flying solo for the next two weeks, since Mr. F.  is touring the States (again!). That means I am a “stay at home mum” and I’ll be trying to squeeze as much stitching as I can during naps, night time sleeps, and Toy Story show times (it is the Toy Story era at home at the moment).

Last night, after tidying up the millions and gazillions of toys that were spread in the living room floor, I sat down and saw Hana’s sketch pad right in front of me. I took it and started to think of how could I use that charm pack that I cut many moons ago to do something which I can’t remember… I did draw something nice, but let’s say that my maths after 10pm are not really accurate.

Aquests dies faig de mama soltera! El senyor F. torna a estar de gira a l’altra banda de l’Atlantic (una l’atre cop!!!) aixi que intentare exprimir les hores de cosir durant les migdiades, les nits i les pel.licules de Toy Story, i es que estem en plena era de Toy Story a casa…

Ahir, despres de recollir les cincuantamil joguines escampades pel terra vaig veure els bloc de dibuix de la Hana. El vaig agafar i vaig dibuixar una idea per fer servir uns rectangles que vaig tallar fa moltes llunes per fer no se que… ja ni me’n recordo… El que passa que les mates no em quadren passades les 10pm. I avui, quan he recalculat tot, no podia sortir-me amb la meva (ja que he de comptar amb els rectangles tallats), pero si que m’he inspirat amb el dibuix que vaig fer. Ara nomes falta enumerar les tires i deixar-les enllestides per cosir-les mes endavant, abans de que vingui el carter i em porti la tela que vaig comprar a Fluffy Sheep Quilting! 

This morning I tried the calculations again and well, it doesn’t work with the 2 1/2″ x5″ rectangles… but I think I’ll make something nice inspired on the sketch I made last night. Having said this, I’ll better hurry up to have those rows numbered (I don’t think I’ll start sewing it), before the post comes with my order from Fluffy Sheep Quilting! I have the white triangles  cut for another rainbow wonky square quilt that a lady from America has ordered. I’m pretty sure she’s a first time mum and, oh boy, her joy and excitement is contageous! I love making these wonky squares and it makes me so happy that somebody across the sea wants it to decorate their baby’s nursery. 

Last week I finished another custom quilt for a little girl called Ciara. I like the fabric choice that her aunt made and I think the pattern works well with it too. It’s a pretty simple pattern I made that works well with 4 coordinating prints, that’s why I decided to offer as a custom order at the shop.

Ja tinc els triangles tallats per fer un altre quilt de Wonky Squares que una noia d’America m’ha encarregat. Crec que es mare primerenca perque esta tan entusiasmada que s’encomana i tot (l’entusiasme, no les ganes de tenir-ne un altre que ja en tinc prou).

This quilt measures 38″x 51″ and I used 4 prints from the line Enchant by Riley Blake and 3 Kona solids (white, ash and posy). I free motion quilted it with that stippled effect that I seem to not being able to leave alone (I wish I could try something different but I’m too scared!!!)

La setmana passada vaig acabar un altre encarrec, un quilt per a una nena que es diu Ciara (es pronuncia Kira). M’agrada molt la tela que la seva tieta li ha triat i crec que s’hi ave molt be amb el diseny que he fet. Per aixo l’ofereixo com a encarrec a la botiga, amb 4 teles estampades i 3 de llises queda molt be. 

And there is another thing I’m thinking of… again sketching it and trying to do my best at maths! Hopefully I’ll be giving a tutorial on how to make a cute toiletry bag. This time I’ll try to make it into a pdf. I’d like to have a couple of pattern testers… would anyone be interested? Thank you in advance 🙂 That’s all for now, I better go and pick up my darling princess from school! Here’s how she looks like when she telling me a thousand stories… and Conor is faster than a rocket…

I tambe hi ha una altra cosa que estic maquinant… estic dibuixant, disenyant i calculant! Espero tenir aviat un tutorial preparat per fer un necessaire, aquest cop m’agradaria tenir-lo en pdf. M’agradaria tenir un parell de cosidores voluntaries per provar el patro, algu s’hi anima?

I be, aixo es tot, millor sue em prepari per anar a recollir la Hana a l’escola. Aqui la teniu, aixi es posa quan  m’esta explicant mil histories! I el Conor, que es mes rapid que un coet…

Working on my New FO wish-to-do list

It’s been a very busy time around here lately. The Little Button was pretty sick for more than a week, the nights were veeeeery hard and it was even harder having to go to work in the morning… And he was teething as well, so you can imagine…  Then, thankfully I had a few days off and could prepare Hana’s birthday party, her birthday crown and do some sewing too. I had a good amount of alterations to do among the projects I really wanted to work on.

Hi ha hagut molt de moviment aquestes darreres setmanes per aqui. El Botonet es va posar malalt durant mes d’una setmana, les nits eren horroroses i mes horroros era haver d’anar a treballar al mati! A mes, li estaven sortint dues dents mes, ja us ho podeu imaginar. Menys mal que despres vaig tenir uns dies lliures i vaig poder dedicar-me a preparar la festa d’aniversari de la Hana, la seva corona i tambe cosir una mica.

I’ve been able to do a lot of progress on several things, but the one I’m really enjoying the most is Conor’s quilt, which I had in my NEW FO Challenge WIsh-to-do list. I have made 4 stars so far and I’ve bought some DMC Perle cotton thread for hand quilting it. Now you know why I’ve been taking up some embroidery projects lately, I’m just practicing for the big day!

He pogut avançar bastant en alguns projectes, pero el que mes m’esta agradant es el quilt que li estic fent al Conor, i que tenia a la llista de coses per començar al 2013. Ja tinc 4 estels i ara toca fer-los ballar, inclinant-los dins d’un altre bloc. He comprat fil perle de DMC per intentar fer l’encoixinat a ma. Ara ja sabeu per que estic fent tants brodats ultimament, m’estic entrenant pel gran dia!

I hope to have this quilt finished by his 1st birthday… I still have 6 weeks to make it happen.

Espero tenir-lo acabar per al seu primer aniversari! Encara em queden 6 setmanes!

Here’s his new 2 top teeth!  Les dues dents de dalt que tant malament ens ho han fet passar…

4

My sweet beautiful Hana.

She’s 4 today yesterday (when I was writing this post it was the 26th of March, Hana’s birthday… but when I finished and hit the publish button it was already past midnight… just realised that!!! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I caught her, not long ago, laying on my bed pretending to read a book. ‘I’m reading a story’, she says. ‘I see…’  says I. To Kill a Mockingbird. She asked me was it a nice story. I said it was, that it was probably one of my favorite ones and maybe it will be one of hers too, or so I hoped… She asked me to read it. ‘But there aren’t any pictures here, Hana. It’s all “abc’s”. ‘But I want you to read it, just a little bit…’

 

I thought that was funny, and I knew she was tired, so I thought it was a good way to make her go to sleep quickly (SO I COULD DO A BIT MORE SEWING!!!). Ok so, and convinced that she would asked me to read another story after the first sentence, I started.

‘When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken…’

And a loooooooong list of questions started. ‘Why Jem got his arm badly broken?’, “did it fall off?’ ‘who’s Jem?’ ‘ how he did it?’…

I explained (being used to so many interruptions at every second word).

‘Oh’, she says.

After the first page I asked her should I stop and to my surprise she said no! I kept on reading, until Boo Radley appeared. More questions. ‘Is he spooky?’ (she loves spooky things). ‘Do people get scared in his house?’. I explained again about who Boo was. Then another ‘oh’.

I read three pages, and then we decided to go to bed and to leave the rest of the story for another day.

This happened about 2 months ago. I thought it was pretty amazing that she was actually listening and just getting what she wanted to get. She was pretty concerned about Jem’s arm and kept asking me about the story for days, and then of course that lead to other questions about anatomy and the human body, bla bla. I find this so amusing, I love when she asks me all these questions! and boy does she ask…

I told her dad about this and his eyes lit up. Jaysus! Maybe I can start reading The Hobbit to her!!!

Oh dear.

So here’s my baby Hana, who doesn’t let me call her baby anymore. The big sister who loves her brother to bits and calls him the best baby in the whole world. She’s the one who asks me do I want to play with her and I say ‘yes!’, and then she says, ‘ok, pretend you are my mum, ok?’, the one who asks me ‘why are the hot days not happening?’ and the one who can’t wait for spring to come because she really really wants a pet ladybird but don’t worry mummy she’ll stay outside…

PER MOLTS ANYS HANA

T’EsTiM0!

A Teddy Bear Picnic

It is still very cold here, it even snowed in some parts of the country,

but it looks like spring wants to show up and it’s doing its firsts attempts with these lovely sunny days.

Encara fa fred per aqui, pero sembla que la primavera

vol treure el cap i de tant en tant fa aquests intents amb uns quants rajos de sol.

We walked to our neighbor’s cottage where Hana hosted a tea party.

Vam caminar fins al cottage de la nostra veina,

on la Hana va organitzar una cerimonia de te.

There is enough for everybody, even Conor gets to join the fun with some tickles.

Hi va haver prou per tothom, fins i tot en Conor es va afegir a la festa amb pessigolles.

Maggie, our other neighbor’s collie, spends lots of time with us too.

La Maggie, la gossa de l’altre vei, tambe passa estones amb nosaltres.

And after the party, some playing on the steps…

I despres de la festa, una mica de jocs als graons de l’escala…

It’s amazing how a bit of sunshine enlightens our day…

Sembla mentida com una mica de sol i llum ens alegra el dia…

My sewing machine gets a rest on days like these, too nice out there!

La maquina de cosir fa una pausa en dies com aquests, fa massa bo a fora!

Hana’s A-line dress

Hana’s dress is finally finished! It’s been for a while but it was so hard to take photos, especially when she was wearing it. The lighting is really bad as it’s been raining a lot and when I’m free it is too late in the evening to take good shots… Anyway, here’s how it looks, much better in real life though.

It’s a simple A-line dress and I followed the pattern from this book. I do not recommend this book though, it is not clear and there are many gaps in the instructions which would make a beginner to go bananas! An A-line dress is one of the easiest projects for beginners, yet this book makes it a bit more complicated unnecessarily, I should have followed my guts and experience while I was making it and I would have saved some headaches…

Season Greetings! – Bones Festes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

I WISH YOU ALL THE  BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR 2013!!!

BON NADAL A TOTS

US DESITJO EL MILLOR PER AL 2013!!!

Hello! My name is Conor – Hola! Em dic Conor

Hello, I’m Conor! I let my mum and dad know I was on my way last Saturday 19 of May at 5.45am, I’m an early riser you see… I knew they were worried I wouldn’t give them enough time to get to hospital,(boy these Irish roads are bumpy!)but I made sure I gave them plenty of time to get there. I even let my mum have a laugh in the labour room chatting with her friends on the phone and skypping my sister and grannies at home and my daddy read the newspaper with a coffee…

Then I really wanted to come out and I rushed things, I got really serious at 11.30am and I saw my daddy’s face freaking out at 12.22pm. They didn’t expect me to pop out in 40 minutes, ha! got them!

Now I’m at home and I love it. I’ll talk to you again, going for a nap now…

 

 

Hola, soc el Conor! El dissabte dia 19 a les 5.45am vaig avisar als meus pares de que ja volia  veure’ls. Com que se que estaven una mica preocupats per si no els donava prou temps d’arribar a l’hospital vaig esperar per a que arribessin amb temps de sobres, i renoi amb aquestes carreteres irlandeses que em feien botar amunt i avall!

Vaig esperar una mica per sortir i un cop a la sala de parts fins i tot vaig donar temps a la meva mare per a que s’ho passes be rient una mica i xerrant amb les seves amigues per telefon i al meu pare per a que llegis una mica el diari i es prengues un cafe (ah! i van fer skype amb la meva germana i els meus avis!).

Pero a les 11.30am ja tenia ganes de sortir i em vaig posar bastant serios, em vaig concentrar molt i a les 12.22pm vaig veure la cara de sorpres del meu pare! No s’esperaven que sortis en 40 minuts, 

ha! si es que soc un crac!

Ara estic a casa meva i m’encanta. 

Ja tornare per explicar-vos mes coses, ara me’n vaig a fer una bacaineta…

 

Hana and Conor