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Saturday 31 August 2013

The Quilt Photography Workshop -- August Link Up at Plum and June

I still own an old Reflex with a film, yes.. you know those things on a reel! I really miss my Reflex but it would be madness using it today with all the photos I (unsuccessfully!) take. So here I am joining The Quilt Photography Workshop at Plum and June with my mobile. Sorry!


For this workshop, I concentrated on using the white balance option and tried out all the possibilities on offer:

Cloudy option, not bad...

 This one's too green!

 This is isn't in focus, is it?

 This one seems a bit blue to me.

Don't like the colours here, either.


I keep going back to the Cloudy option, which seems to work well even on a sunny day. Recently I have decided:

1) to only take photos using natural light. Can't stand the effect the flash has on colours and am not equipped to take photos without a flash (that means my hand moves too much!)
2) to try and take pictures outdoors (if the weather is good enough)
3) to concentrate on the background. Once your work is finished, you have to find a good way of setting it off and I'm now playing with the idea of using interesting backgrounds that make the photo a bit more personal. This idea has brought me to take my latest photos:


I'd never thought about it before, but there are so many interesting details and textures in the houses around where I live. Hope nobody minds if I "borrow" them for my backgrounds!


I'm very happy to be able to link up with Beth's workshop at Plum and June to see how my new goals will develop and read everybody's inspiring posts.

Plum and June


Saturday 24 August 2013

Rainy Cloud Mobile and Ever Kelly fabric

Ever since I bought Ever Kelly's Storybook Lane fabrics and patterns, I've been wanting to make a cloud mobile with the "Curvy Stripe" fabric. At last I've come up with this. I hung it up last night near Lucy's changing table and surprised her when I first changed her this morning!


Mobiles are a really fun way for teaching toddlers new words and concepts. Even if they were completely useless, I'd still love mobiles! I'm a massive fan, starting from Alexander Calder... I was very lucky to have the possibility of seeing an exhibition of Calder's work at the Pompidou in Paris. It was incredible, unforgettable.


Back to Storybook Lane Patterns, I have to get a move on because at the moment I've only made two finger puppets and this zippered house pouch! They are really fun and I have two girls who can't wait to play with the whole set! 




I'm hoping Kelly Lee-Creel @ Ever Kelly will soon come up with another creative fabric collection soon!




Saturday 17 August 2013

Daisy Pinwheel block into Christmas Pinwheel Lollipop

It's very strange working on Christmas decorations when it's so hot outside, but Pinwheels make you feel fresh, don't they? So put Christmas and Pinwheels together and you have the Christmas Pinwheel Lollipop!


The centre of this Pinwheel didn't come as precise as I would of liked it to be and I was about to unstitch the whole thing when I remembered I had these pretty wooden heart shaped buttons. Sewed one in the middle and solved the problem in a flash!


These are the Daisy Pinwheel blocks I started off with, using a dark and a light coloured Christmas themed fabric to make the pinwheel more evident. 



More  Christmas Pinwheel Lollipops coming up. They can be used as decorations on the Christmas Tree if you add a tag at the back to hang them up. They're also a fancy decoration to add wrapping up a present: you can just use brown paper, a red ribbon and a Christmas Pinwheel Lollipop to make a present more special and personal. They'd make great place names for the Christmas table or an original substitute for a Christmas card just be adding a handwritten message on a plain ribbon, tied round the stick.


I'm joining the Flickr group for Across The Pond with the Christmas Pinwheel Lollipop. I've just realised I'm a bit cheating because with this project I'm covering last month's theme too, which was Christmas in July! I hope the Across the Pond Sew Along friends don't mind.

Amy Made That!...by eamylove

I'm also joining Summercrafter's Friday Night Block Party (late, as usual) because I discovered, thanks to Amy @ Amy Made That!, that this week theme is Pinwheels. I love, love, love Pinwheels!

Summercrafter

Thursday 8 August 2013

Pinwheels for the Across the Pond Sew Along

I absolutely love Pinwheels, so when I saw that Pinwheels are this month's theme for the Across the Pond Sew Along I was jumping with joy. Amy's post at Amy Made That! is full of great examples of Pinwheel quilts. I am particularly intrigued with the 3D ones, they look great. This is what I've made in the past:


Adoro le girandole, così quando ho visto che le girandole erano il tema per questo mese per il Across the Pond Sew Along ho fatto i salti di gioia. Il post di Amy a Amy Made That! è pieno di esempi di quilt con girandole. Sono particolarmente attratta da quelle 3D, sono fantastiche. Questo è quello che ho creato in passato:



I made this hotpad using a template called Lil' Twister by The Country Schoolhouse. Really fun to use. Read more about it here and here.

Ho creato questa presina usando un righellino chaimato Lil' Twister di The Country Schoolhouse. Molto divertente da usare. Leggi altro su questo attrezzo qui e qui.


Using a disappearing nine patch I came up with this pincushion. I really like using linen and decided to cover a button with a tiny detail from some special linen I had in my stash. I had a little trouble with this because it was very fidgety!

Usando un blocco nove toppe a scomparsa ho creato questo puntaspilli. Mi piace tantissimo usare il lino ed ho deciso di ricoprire un bottone con un dettaglio piccolissimo prendendolo da un lino speciale che avevo già. Ho avuto qualche problema perché era molto piccolo!




Will soon be joining the Flickr group for Across The Pond with some photos of a new Pinwheel creation. How can I resist?

Voglio partecipare al Flickr group for Across The Pond con delle foto di una nuova creazione con girandole. Come posso resistere?

Amy Made That!...by eamylove



P.S. The beautiful photos are all by Daniele Di Ciccio.

P.S. Le bellissime foto sono tutte di Daniele Di Ciccio.


Friday 2 August 2013

Ella's Pocket Bunting

I really enjoyed myself making Ella's Pocket Bunting! It's really for her bedroom, to put odds and ends in order. There's a lot of them in her bedroom... odds and ends that is, not order!

Mi sono veramente divertita a cucire il Festone con Tasche di Ella! In realtà è per la sua camera, per mettere in ordine piccoli giochi. Ce ne sono tanti nella sua camera...di piccoli giochi, ma non molto ordine!


I thought it would be a good idea for a party too (hence the photo!), with the Birthday Girl's (or Boy's!) name and some handy things you need for the party. Decorative and also very useful. What do you think?

Ho pensato che sarebbe stata una buona idea anche per una festa (ecco spiegata la foto!), con il nome della festeggiata (o dello festeggiato) e degli oggetti utili per la festa. Una decorazione ma anche molto utile. Cosa ne pensi?


The idea is from Marie Claire Idees, a French magazine I have been reading for years. There are often brilliant craft ideas and always exquiste French taste!

L'idea è da Marie Claire Idees, una rivista francese che leggo da anni. Ci sono spesso delle belle idee creative e c'e' sempre il buon gusto francese!

A word about The 2013 Let's Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog Hop: this is sadly the last week. It's been an incredibile experience and I feel honoured to have been able to take part. I see the wave of this Blog Hop is already echoing into new ideas and projects and this is fantastic. We will continue to surprise you (and ourselves!) in the near future! Please join us then this week in visiting these great blogs:

Due parole sul The 2013 Let's Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog Hop: purtroppo questa è l'ultima settimana. E' stata un'esperienza incredibile e mi sento onorata ad aver potuto partecipare. Sento che l'onda di questo Blog Hop continuerà a diffondersi verso nuove idee e progetti e questo è fantastico. Continueremo a stupirvi (e noi stesse!) nel prossimo futuro! Per favore unisciti a noi questa settimana per visitare questi fantastici blog:







Project mosaic




P.S. Thank you to Daniele Di Ciccio for the first photo of Ella's Pocket Bunting!

P.S. Grazie a Daniele Di Ciccio per la prima foto del Festone con Tasche di Ella!