Le Challenge #23 - SINGLE BUTTERFLY

A single butterfly in the garden made me stop in my tracks. Time seemed to freeze as I watched my daughter Lucy skipping after that butterfly. For a moment I wasn't there anymore, I became Lucy or rather myself as a child following a butterfly in my Grandma's beautiful garden. 

Childhood memories rushed in front of my eyes and for a fraction of a second I couldn't move. You might think I'm exaggerating but I swear it was like when you smell something you haven't smelt for years and it makes memories suddenly come into your mind. Hasn't that ever happened to you?

To capture the moment when a single butterfly stopped time for me in the garden that day I made this special Hairband. I used a single butterfly from Rashida Coleman-Hale's magical Night Sky from the Moonlit collection for Cotton + Steel and decorated it with tiny beads. 

Joining Le Challenge #23 - SINGLE hosted by the lovey Nat @ Made in Home and Lucy @ Charm About You:

Pearl Buttons Pincushion - Le Challenge #21 Tradition

When I saw this month's theme was tradition I immediately thought of my Grandmas. Family traditions are among the first things you learn as a child and it's like learning a family language.

My Nonna taught me to love craft. She was always making something, absolutely always!

My Grandma taught me to collect things. She collected stamps, postcards, buttons... just to name a few of her collections. 

All the pearl buttons sewn on this pin cushion are from my Grandma's and Mum's button collection!

The pattern for the cross stitching on this button pincushion is from Cross Stitcher magazine. If you like cross stitching, this magazine is fantastic. They feature all the latest trends and there are always a lot of great projects.

Linking up with the super fun Le Challenge!

Oops, I was a minute late linking up and missed out! I'm off to visit all the entries...

I will be linking up with 2015 Finish-Along over at Adrianne's On the Windy Side as this is my goal number 2 for Q2.

P.S. Speaking of traditions, I've always admired Pearly Kings and Queens. I also admire whoever had the patience to sew all those pearl buttons on!

Thank you and Giveaways not to miss

First of all a big thank you to my friend who gave me this incredible mat for Christmas (we only just managed to exchange Christmas presents last week!). She really knows what I like and this mat is such a good way to start the (crafty) day, isn't it?!

Cotton Joy - Stonewashed Convertible Mat

An enormous thank you also to the Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring Le Challenge. Thank you to Lucy @ Charm About You and Nat @ Made in Home for organising and hosting Le Challenge. I was so lucky to win the December edition Le Challenge #18 - Ink with this entry on Instagram:

Ink Note Pouch

These are the fantastic fabrics I chose with the Fat Quarter Shop's gift certificate:

Airmail by Eric & Julie Comstock for Moda Fabrics

Mochi Purple Floral by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cotton + Steel Fabrics

The Makers Multi Happy Crafty Quilt Panel by Cori Dantini for Blend Fabrics 

And now for the giveaways! If you're looking for an updated list of giveaways, Melissa @ Missouri Mel has transfered The Giveaway Roundup to a new location. You can find it here and she's hosting her own giveaway to promote the new site.

If you love pin cushions then you don't want to miss my friend Mara's giveaway at Secretly Stitching. Don't forget to vote for her lovely Fabric Frame at the Fat Quarter Shop's blog the Jolly Jabber. She is so creative!

Quilt #1 Fabric Frame by Mara of Secretly Stitching in Greece

Le Challenge: Ink Note Pouch (and a giveaway!)

I really like Le Challenge and every month I look forward to reading what Lucy and Nat come up with. When I read this month's Le Challenge was Ink my mind went completely blank. And when I say blank, I mean BLANK!
Then the day before the link up, I suddenly remembered a panel I made during a workshop at the Lago Maggiore Quilting Day this summer, using a kind of silk print technique called mono printing. As I desperately needed some way of keeping all the papers/bills/notes I carry around in my handbag tidy, this is what I came up with:

The Ink Note Pouch! The text panel is "framed" with wood grain fabric to look like a painting. It's funny, a fabric painting!

The lining is a tiny polka dot I used recently to make a mushroom. It makes the painting front look less serious!

For the back my Mum kindly donated one of her beautiful "vintage" pearl buttons. This one is particularly special as it is dark coloured instead of the usual white/cream pearl colour. The ric rac loop easily hooks on to the button, keeping all my mess of papers inside the pouch!

This pouch is going to be really useful and it has already brought me good luck as I (still can't believe it!) won a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!

Thank you Lucy @ Charm about you and Nat @ Made In Home for all your hard work. Don't miss Nat's giveaway here, she's celebrating her Baby's first month!

Le Challenge X - The Nora Clutch by Heidi Staples at Fabric Mutt

When I read the theme for this month's Le Challenge was X, the first thing I thought of was Maths. It was the perfect theme because not so long ago I won some fabric from Quilt Taffy and couldn't resist getting a charm pack of Elementary by Sweetwater for Moda too. You must have seen this collection, it's so fun! I couldn't wait to use it.

When I was choosing (a loooong time ago!) which University to go to, I was very tempted to study Maths. I have always liked Maths, I suppose it has to do with my Mum. She has a degree in Maths. In the end I studied Architecture... About coincidences, a couple of days ago it was my Mum's birthday. For her birthday she asked my Dad for a tablet (!). During the Zakka Along 2.0 I had made her a kindle pouch and I see she uses it all the time, so I thought I'd make her a tablet pouch too.

It's a long time I've been admiring Heidi Staples' "The Nora Clutch". I know it's not for tablets but I thought that you could use it in two different ways, depending on what you need it for. A clutch when you don't need a big handbag. You open up the clutch and, voilà, you can use it as a tablet pouch, when you want to take your tablet around with you. Fancy and very useful!

So here's my Mum's handmade present and... she likes it! Success. A lovely pattern that looks great with all sorts of different fabrics/colours. Thank you Heidi for the very clear tutorial!

50's Style Placemats: Le Challenge

Once upon a time I bought two tea towels from IKEA and they stayed for a long long time folded in a draw. I liked them so much I was afraid that the Evil Marks of the Kitchen would attack them. The spell I cast to protect them made them fall asleep for one hundred months (?!), hidden away in that draw until...

Fairy Le Challenge arrived and magically opened that draw, freeing the two tea towels from their long sleep...

with a wave of her wand, Fairy Le Challenge transformed the tea towels into four pretty 50's style placemats and made the Breakfast Table their new reign.

And they lived happily ever after.

P.S. Fairy Le Challenge also cast a spell by which the four placemats shall never be attacked by the Evil Marks of the Kitchen... how I wish!!!

Fairy Le Challenge lives here 

(in case you need help with something in one of your draws...):

Bright Fabric Triangle Jewellery (or Jewelry): Le Challenge + One Block Project

Le Challenge #11 is: Bright. The first thing that came into my mind was diamonds! Seriously (I'm a woman, that explains it!). Diamonds of course made me think of jewellery (or jewelry!) and as I'm working on the Triangle Quilt Along over at Paula's The Sassy Quilter, triangles and jewellery just clicked together and I couldn't get them off my mind. I also kept reading that geometric jewellery is very trendy this year... So I had a bit of fun and here's my entry for the Bright Le Challenge: Bright Fabric Triangle Jewellery!

I have to thank my personal and very patient photographer/daughter Ella. I don't know how she puts up with this model and still manages to take nice photos! 

This is the front of the triangle fabric necklace:

There is some brightness in the fabric: it's Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander (I bet you'd already guessed!). There is also some brightness in the thread: it's Aurifil's gold BRILLO 726 (in Italian Brillo means "I shine"!).
This is the back of the necklace:

And here's the bracelet. My colleague Elena kindly lent me her hand (well, sort of...) for this photo. She's a nail artist, when she's not working in our office. Every week I run to see what she's come up with during the weekend!

This is the snap on bracelet when it's open:

The Triangle Quilt Along has been very useful, you can't see very well in this photo but I swear the triangle points are perfect! This is made using strips of Botanics from a Jelly Roll.

We're adding this project to our One Block Project: it's about finding fun and useful ways of using single blocks. We'd be really happy if you'd like to take a look at our previous projects in this Flickr group.

Linking up to:

Also linking up to:

P.S. If you'd like to participate in our giveaway (open until the 28th of April) you can find it here!

This is the first finish for my Q2 FAL2014 list!