...I'm back, and as soon as I settle in, settle down..., I'll show you a sampling of my Paris photo album -- It was all très merveilleux, and thank you for making it even more merveilleux with all your Paris tips, suggestions and insights!
.... I'll tell you why in a bit, but first, I really want to thank all of you who took time from your busy lives to shower my last post with so many kind and enthusiastic words! I really wish I was able to reply to each comment individually, but at the moment, more than usual, I've been racing the clock... In fact, I've been running around like an idiot the past two weeks, trying to tie loose ends, because my family and I are leaving on a real treat of a holiday this week: the whole bunch of us are off to Paris for about two weeks! Yippee!
So, if any of you have any suggestions as far as where to go, what to see, etc... (where to buy fabric, of course...), please, please, leave me a comment here; I should be able to access my blog in Paris, and even perhaps write a few posts from there (though I'm not sure about that yet...) Anyhow, I will be clicking at anything that inspires me, so I should have lots of photos to share with you upon my return...
I leave you with a photo of some summer ruffle skirts I've been working on; I've been thinking of trying my hand at selling some of these in my Etsy shop when I get back....
Last week, I put everything aside, including this mentioned here, to prepare a fairy birthday party for my 6-year-old Nico; while her actual birthday was on April 18th, we only found time to celebrate it with her friends this last weekend -- our weekends have been so busy of late.... I also wanted to make sure that I had enough time to prepare something special for her; she's my last to turn 6 (sniff...) and is very much into all things "make-believe"; of all my children, she is the one who most loves to dress up and role-play and, without a doubt, she is my only fashionista! It's also been a while since I last went over the top with a birthday party; I used to go bezerk preparing themed parties for my kids, but I guess too many late nights with my glue gun eventually did me in, and low-prep, out-of-house parties have become my idea of a successful party!
The party was actually a Peter Pan party, not just a fairy party. The children dressed up as fairies, pirates and fairy pirates (some didn't know which way to swing...) and looked for treasures following a Peter Pan-inspired treasure hunt I set up (now, that was fun!). I didn't spend too much time on the pirate costumes; we have a fair amount of pirate paraphernalia lying around from Halloweens past and I was, quite honestly, mostly in the mood to work on the fairy stuff, knowing that Nico and all the little girls her age would opt for the fairy getup! After a few trips to the dollar store, I made some fairy crowns using stretchy headbands as a base onto which I hot-glued fake flowers and, my absolute favorite items at dollar stores, those colorful feathery butterflies! (Where would we be without hot glue guns!) As a finishing touch, I tied lengths of assorted ribbonnerie and ricrac to the back of the crowns. I then made some quickie elasticized fairy skirts using all the metallic and shiny fabric I've been saving for a special occasion like this one. With purchased (cheap) fairy wings, thrifted shiny bangles and a sprinkling of pixie dust, the stage was set.
My photos from the actual party were disappointing due to a dirty lens (unbeknownst to me), but I did take some photos before the party of all the fairy gear I made, and Nico agreed to become a fairy again yesterday so that I could take some more pictures (not a hard sell!). Here's a sampling --
...the patchwork duvet cover I mentioned in my last post is finally done -- Hooray! I first started cutting out and sewing together the squares back in the summer of 2006; back then, I decided to start a whole bunch at the same time (à la assembly line), thinking I could whip up all the duvet covers pretty quickly in this fashion... The few Amy Butler prints that I used in this design, now probably impossible to find, were all still pretty fresh off the press at that time! Of course, my plan to finish them all quickly didn't materialize, and I've been slowly finishing them one or two at a time, according to the demand I get for them.
My initial enthusiasm to make them waned after I finished the tops; sewing the squares together and machine-quilting the patchwork to a sheet of cotton (to make the top sturdier and hide the assembly seams) is the "fun part" for me. I felt a bit dispirited when faced with the prospect of making all the backings (cutting a huge piece of cotton sheeting and sewing the ricrac along the 4 edges), sewing the tops and backs together (not so bad), and finishing the openings with buttons...Ugh!... So now, when I actually finish one of these covers, I get a real feeling of having climbed a very, very high mountain!
I decided to opt for the "crumpled look" for my photos; my 12-year old daughter, Stefania, called me on it: Mom, why aren't you making it nice and flat for your photos?, she asked. (I gather she was thinking of something more like this photo taken in Molly's shop, the store at which I sell these covers locally.) Well, the crumpled look gives a better sense of the hodgepodge of colors and pattern going on in the patchwork, I said...Oh, she said,...Uh, it also gives a better sense of what it'll look like if one is covered by it in a bed, I added, smiling...Uh-huh, she said,...And, most importantly, it is so much faster to set up for photos than trying to making it all nice and flat!, I said, somewhat triumphantly. I can only imagine how much people time and computer time must go into making those gorgeous shots we quickly flip through in decor magazines crumple- and crease-free!
With the cover all done, I started on something new -- well, sort of new... You can catch a glimpse below; hopefully, my idea will work, and I'll be able to show you the finished product in my next post.
- what could be more perfect?!... I have been very busy in the last week, and when I resurface in the next few days, I will show you some of the fruit of my busyness -- See you then...
...that pretty much sums up my last two weeks! So, let's see - if I can remember it right - two weeks ago, I decided that it was high time to finish some patchwork duvet covers that I first started in the summer of 2006... (blogging is great for keeping a record of your progress or, in my case, lack of it). On January 12, 2007, according to my post on that day, these covers-to-be looked like this:
Now, I did manage to finish a few of them since then, but the top one in the lavender-blue-green tones along with three very close copies remained untouched. Motivated by the fact that someone has been waiting to buy one for a little -- ahem -- while now, I decided to tackle finishing them. As of yet however, I haven't managed to finish a single one, because my brand new serger broke down on me after only an hour of serging! (I'm starting to seriously believe that I am serger-challenged...)
With no serger and my youngest daughter Nicola's (or Nico, as we call her) 6th birthday just around the corner, I decided to make her something I haven't made in a while and have been dying to make: a cloth doll suitable for dressing up with fun and fabulous clothes! Well, after a solid week of very piecemeal work drafting her and sewing many variations of her different body parts up, I think I have a design I like, close to what I originally envisioned! The photo above shows my _____teenth and final draft version of her (minus her ears, yarn hair, embroidered face, etc...). I'm quite pleased with her and am looking forward to finishing her up (not going to happen for Nico's birthday though since it was last Friday...) and, especially, making all those fabulous clothes. I'm planning on showing you how she comes together as I finish her up, but first, I thought I should shift gears and think about something like this :
I've had a few ongoing and more recent requests for patchwork coverlets backed with cotton chenille like the one above, but in different color schemes and sizes. Hmmm...with no serger in sight and no finished doll for last Friday's birthday, I decided to start cutting fabric squares today for coverlets. Will I finish anything in the near future?! -- to be continued....
...that's the name of a beautiful blog authored by Mette, who lives in Denmark. Her blog showcases her creations which, like the little babushkas above, are absolutely charming! Luckily for us, she sells these pretty items in her Etsy shop. I was lucky enough to win a beautiful babushka (the blue one) and the pretty pincushion shown below in her giveaway, (ahem...) a little while back. I then bought little miss blue her three babushkas-in-waiting so she wouldn't be too lonely on her own -- aren't they sweet?!...
...all the babushkas are on their way to their new homes -- they should definitely arrive within the next two weeks (please contact me if this isn't the case).
Thank you for all the comments and e-mails you have sent me in the last two weeks; I haven't yet responded to any of them though, because I honestly haven't had any time since coming back from holidays last weekend... there is so much to do around the house! I really feel that spring has arrived in Vancouver -- I'm itching to be outside in my garden, trimming, planting, digging, tidying up and, most importantly, simply enjoying all the promising fresh new spring growth! Our holiday was spent in one of British Columbia's snowy wonderlands, Big White, to do some skiing and, let me tell you, there was not a single sign of spring there! I think that coming back down to balmy Vancouver (relatively speaking) from the mountains is the reason for my first little bout of spring fever...
When I get a moment away from doing all that has to be done around here, I'd like to share with you some of the amazing treasures I've received in the mail in the last little while...
...These still need bunny faces and bunny tails to become Easter bunny egg cozies; I used Yvestown and Cherry Menlove's pattern which you can download here. I know it might be a bit late in the game to make them for Easter, but they are rather fun and fast to make; if you do make one, you can join their Flickr group here... and of course, they don't only have to be used for Easter!
On the babushka front -- they're all sold! Thank you so much! As soon as I come back from my holiday next weekend, I will start shipping them off, and I'll update you on how it's going... In the meantime, I would like to thank you for your Easter good wishes, and would like to all wish you, in turn, a very:
...Babushka's face mirrors the look I had on my face yesterday when I started listing the dolls on Etsy...Wow! Thank you so, so very much, for your incredibly generous and enthusiastic response to my little shop and its first offerings! I would also like to thank all of you for sticking with me yesterday during my very slow listing of the dolls on Etsy - I honestly thought that I would have them all listed within 2 hours... OK, I'll admit that I perennially underestimate the amount of time it takes me to do things, but I thought the loading of each babushka in my Etsy shop would be much faster. Uploading my photos is the part that was at times, excruciatingly slow; perhaps my photos' resolution was much too high - I need some of you seasoned Etsy shop owners to shed some light on this for me so I can be more efficient next time...
Anyhow, I'm not sure that I'll get a lot of shipping done before I leave on my spring break holiday with my family on Easter Sunday; realistically-speaking, I think the bulk of the shipping will be done upon my return next weekend. I'm hoping on posting once again before Easter with something I'm planning on making tomorrow, specially for Easter. Before I run off, I would like to thank Suzanne (shop talk), Emira (domicile) and Tiffany (love boxes) for writing this, this and this... Again, I'm wowed!
...Please excuse my silence - I was hoping to post again last week and list the babushkas on Etsy shortly after, but instead, my children and I spent pretty much all of last week in bed trying to get over strep throat... to make matters even more trying, I was "single parenting" during most of this strep throat bout as Mr. Rosehip was out of town on a business trip -- OK, so you're getting the picture -- right?! A week I'll gladly forget!
Nevertheless, I'm on the mend now, and ready to list the babushkas tomorrow on Etsy. While this may seem a little short notice, I would like to list them in my Etsy shop ASAP because I'll be out of town all of next week, from March 23-29, and given your very enthusiastic response to my last post, and the fact that some of you have been waiting so patiently for my shop to open, I really feel that listing them is long overdue! Because I'll be away next week, I would like to also have as much time as possible before Sunday to take care of any shipping...
So, if all goes according to plan -- meaning, no children-related interruptions (my kids are at home as they are off for spring break) and no technical mess-ups (I thought I had lost all my babushka photos specially prepared for the shop about one hour ago - my mood wasn't pretty!) -- I will start listing them tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19th, at 1:00 pm (Pacific time) in my Etsy shop. I'm pretty excited about it all and I hope you are too! Wish me luck!
...at the finished babushkas! I was hoping to take more babushka pictures today, but the day was so gray, that most of the pictures I took didn't turn out. We are suppose to have a touch of sun tomorrow, so I should have some more pictures to share with you soon...
As soon as I photograph them all, I'll be figuring out how to list them on Etsy -- hopefully the listing part will go smoothly -- and I will post when I'm ready to open my Etsy shop. However, if you do wish to be notified via email as to when it'll be open and the babushkas up for sale, please leave me a comment at this post telling me so (please make sure that your e-mail is correct). Thanks for visiting and I hope that you stay tuned!
P.S. As you may have noticed, I'm very slow at replying to my emails and any questions I may have received within my comments... Please be patient with me -- I tend to work at a snail's pace!
...As they pile up, I'm plumping them up with stuffing and sewing up their bottoms -- I should have photos of the finished babushkas for you very soon... Meanwhile, you can take a look at more babushka pileups here...
I've decided to publish this post, despite a lot of my blog being misaligned at the moment: Typepad's current problem with formatting has added unwanted line breaks after photos and in list items in my blog...Ugh! Hopefully, it will be fixed soon!!!
...for babushka, stitching along her edges, stuffing to make her plump as she should be, and then, voilà, she'll be all done up -- hopefully, by next week, all 75 (+ or -) versions of her. As soon as I'm done, I'll have babushka photos to share with you. Now, I must run to cut more flowers to make her bouquets all pretty...
I've decided to publish this post, despite a lot of my blog being misaligned at the moment: Typepad's current problem with formatting has added unwanted line breaks after photos and in list items in my blog...Ugh! Hopefully, it will be fixed soon!!!
...Adorable Little Lulu is what I first saw when I opened a little package I received 
from Doe, who pens one of my favorite blogs, That Silly Lil' Doe,
and who must be
one of Cath Kidston's biggest fan on this side of the pond... Not a swap
nor a giveaway, the package is simply a Thank You! for being one of my cupcake tote giveaway winners -- Doe, you are a generous soul! Doe also enclosed a pretty heart pin cushion, which she made with a Cath Kidston bird fabric I've had my eye on for a while (such a long while in fact, that the print seems to be out of stock now!). There was still more in the package: pretty "Simplicity" squares from Moda and a yummy little polka dot thank you card -- Take a look:
As you can see, the gift has a Valentine's Day theme, and I did receive it just before Valentine's Day -- as usual though, I'm slow in posting things... I do have a babushka WIP post coming up in the next few days (guaranteed, because I've already taken photos for it!), so do stay tuned...
