Nothing is Forever

I´ve recently started to work with textile wallhangings again. This one is called "Nothing is forever" and was inspired by our beloved dog Snuff who sadly passed away a week before Easter, 16 1/2 years old. He had the most wonderful life a dog could wish for and had followed us since our student days through the half of Northern Europe as we lived in both Germany, Norway and now Denmark and we do miss him a lot. Here he is in a picture taken last spring:

On a happier note, spring has finally arrived after an unusually long and fierce winter. Lovely to be out gardening again, especially when you have furry and feathery company!

And after a couple of hours digging and planting, what could be better than relaxing in the conservatory with a cup of tea and cake.

It´s the best room in the house, especially in spring, when it´s often too chilly to sit outside. Filled with light, birds singing and watching how the daffodils and tulips unfold and the garden is getting greener every day.

I`ve recently bought the Dottie Angel book "Granny Chic" and I have to say it´s one of my favourite books as it is filled with happiness and crafty inspiration. Inspired by the book, I made this crocheted sling bag to accompany me to the fleamarkeds and carboot sales of the season:

I also made new curtains patching together vintage fabric, lace and linen, embellished with doilies and hand embroidery and finally I re-vamped a couple of old lampshades:

See you soon, enjoy this lovely springtime - and pop around my fb page if you like!

Flowers!

It´s so nice that finally spring has come! I´ve been out gardening every day for an hour or so the last couple of weeks, with a garden the size of ours you need to be out there by now otherwise you´ll never catch up! And I enjoy it!

Even my creative space has been dominated by flowers this week. First I made these waterlily brooches, they feature burnt organza, taffeta, handdyed lace, silk and pearls.


Next project were some crocheted flower-hairpins in merry colours. I first crocheted lots of tiny flowers:


Then I embellished them with small buttons and seed beads and attached them to the pins:


I´m going to list some of them in my shops soon, if anyone should be interested ;-) And - it was so wonderful sitting in the conservatory making these colourful brooches and happy little flowerpins while the birds were singing outside!


And of course I had to try the new stuff on - remember always to wear flowers in your hair!


I made the little scarf last year and I simply love its colours, just the right thing to wear on a chilly spring day!

I´m also very happy because I´ve been invited to exhibit in Germany in May, so I´m going to be rather busy the next couple of months!

Last thing for today are these pictures from my spring garden, lots of snowdrops where the ground in the summer is completely covered by ferns:


And these small beauties that resemble snowdrops but they aren´t! I tried to find the English name, but I couldn´t - in German we call them "Märzenbecher" and I love them!


Have a wonderful Easter and don´t forget to pop around Kootoyos blog to visit other Bloggers creative spaces!

Spring....

The last couple of days you really could feel spring in the air, so wonderful after this long and cold winter. I didn´t get much done last week, mostly due to my old cat Frasse having been so poorly. But I managed to finish this commissioned doily scarf:


I´m really pleased with the result, it looks gorgeous worn as a shawl as shown in the picture before, or as a scarf:


I really want to thank all of you who left a comment or sent an e-mail wishing my dear old cat Frasse to get better soon, and although we didn´t have much hope it seems to have helped, at least for the time being. He is much better, the blood test showed that there is something wrong with his liverfunction, but he is reacting well to the medication and has started to eat again and actually gained some weight, so we´re rather hopeful. Apparently the next week will be crucial, as his dose of steroids and antibiotics has to be reduced soon and time will show if he can cope with the lower dose, but they´re is quite a chance that he might be around for a while longer, so keep crossing fingers ;-) Here he is, enjoying the spring sun in the conservatory, I took the picture this morning:


I had some great swaps with blog friends lately, yesterday this bunch of gorgeousness arrived from the lovely Cat from La Dolce Vita - lots of fantastic lace, fabric and trims and one of her beautiful artworks, based on a landscape photography:


Already a couple of weeks ago I got a parcel from another blog friend, Alicia from Altered Bits:



I had won the beautiful Frida ATC at her blog give-away and swapped the rhinesone buckle, and she was so nice to add some more nice bits´n bobs! Make sure to check both Cats and Alicias blogs to see more of their fantastic stuff.

Before I go just a couple of spring impressions, the first flowers in the garden, winter aconite and snowdrops, we have them all over the garden:


And a spring wreath for the front door I made from hop and pink organza ribbon:


Enjoy springtime and pop around the other creative spaces, you find them at Kootoyos blog!

My Creative Space.... Spring colours!

I didn´t make it to join the creative space the last two weeks, but now I´m back with some colourful, springy pictures! I can feel that spring is on its way, although we still have snow – with night temperatures down to -7 degree it takes time for the snow to melt, but we´re getting there....

Luckily we have our conservatory, and I spend as much time as possible there working on my projects. I have bought primula in bright colours, daffodils and muscari to get the right spring-atmosphere:

Even my creative projects are inspired by the colours of the forthcoming spring and summer. I made a prototype of a new necklace design in vibrant colours, combining crochet, vintage buttons and vintage bakelite flowers:

And I finally finished the commissioned wristlets for Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company:

A couple of days ago I received this yummie yarn in the mail, it´s pure cashmere from recycled sweaters and the colours are simply gorgeous, not to mention the supersoft luxury quality of the yarn.

I´m looking forward to turn the yarn into lightweight lacy summershawls on my knitting machine, right now I´m working on a lace shawl in a pale limegreen shade:

On a more sad note, my old cat Frasse hasn´t been well lately.... I had him checked a couple of weeks ago and he seemed alright, but now he has lost his usual appetite and quite a bit of weight, so I have him checked with blood tests and everything again on friday. He is almost 15 years old and I know he won´t live forever, but he was always very agile and fit for his age and I can´t bear the thought that his time might have come.... He was the first pet we got together and has moved with us through the half of Northern Europe, from Germany to Denmark to Norway and back to Denmark - a trustful and dear companion. So I have been a bit tearful the last couple of days, especially because our dog Snuff is very old, too, 13 1/2 years, luckily still very frisky and cheeky, but it just reminds you that their lives are so much shorter than ours.... it´s sad!

So please, cross fingers that Frasse soon is his old self again as in this picture:

See you, thanks for stopping by, and to see what´s going on in other bloggers creative spaces please take a look at Kootoyos blog!!

My Creative Space

I´ve had a quite productive and busy time since last week´s post and have many things on the go! I have a couple of commissions I have to finish, and one of them is a scarf made of doilies. It is amazing how the doilies change character when you dye them and use them in another context! Take a look at two scarves I made earlier before I show you the commisioned piece in progress:


This scarf is made of rather big cotton doilies, hand dyed in purple and pastelgreen and embellished with a crocheted edge in pink. I love the colours, the make me think of the spring we´re all longing for!

This is a more delicate piece:

Filigree doilies in a lacy quality have been dyed in a pale peach shade and embellished with a crocheted mohair trim in cream with a thin gold lurex thread.

The customer who commissioned a doily scarf wanted it in hues of off-white and cream and with two rows of doilies. I´ve started to crochet the trim around each single doily using organic cotton yarn:


I have actually dyed the doilies in a in a pebble beige shade but they still vary slightly in colour which I like. I´m going to use 22 doilies for this piece as she wants double width, and I think the finished piece will look quite elegant yet with the right twist of shabby chic!

I even have another doily scarf on the go, cotton doilies in a flower shape, hand dyed to a berry shade and embellished with a pale pink trim in organic cotton yarn:



This is another commission, for my Irish friend Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company:


A generous but delicate wrap in the most delicious laceweight kidmohair yarn with a dainty handcrocheted trim, here a little close-up:


The crocheted trim makes the wrap really special, but it´s driving me crazy - the wrap is 220 cm long and crocheting the trim takes longer than knitting the whole wrap, lol. Luckily I´m half finished now and I hope Rainey will love it ;-)

And, as I promised last time, a peek of my throw - I´m getting there! (And the colours look fresher and happier as in the pic which doesn´t quite do it justice ;-(. )


The pink-peach-red cushion is not finished yet, but you´ll get to see the finished piece next week! And - if you would like to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

Before I let you go two pictures of my domestic universe ;-) You´ve met our funny and highly strung border collie mix Gustav before - here he is again, in one of his rare completely relaxed moments, together with our cat Frasse, while I´m working on Raineys wrap:


Yes, our pets are allowed to lie on the sofas and sleep in our bed and we actually like it! Nothing more cosy than a dog or cat to warm your feet in a cold winter night!

I wave you goodbye with my rather cheaky new ostrich plume duster, given to me by my mum - dusting is suddenly more funny and you almost feel like a Moulin Rouge girl, haha!


See you next week and thanks for stopping by!

My Creative Space...

Welcome once more to my creative space! I´m still doing quite a lot of crochet work at the moment, unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of my throw, but I´m happy with the way it comes along and post a picture next week! I also started on a new crocheted cushion in fresh hues of pink, red, peach, yellow, orange and green to match my round sofa cushions. Apart from the yellow and green I found all the yarn in charity shops, so we´re really talking about a recycling project here!


Have you noticed our white cat on the sofa? You can probably understand that visitors sat down on him a couple of times because they thought it was just a cushion - or they didn´t even realize he was there ;-) In the next picture you see how the cushion has come along so far:


I have also made this rather glamorous scarf in shades of turquoise, seagreen, reedgreen and silver.


I have again used the technique where you place yarn between layers of dissolveable tissue, quilt the fibres together and then rinse the piece. This is how the yarn looked before it was turned into a scarf:


I have some of it left and have an idea on how to use it for flower brooches using the same technique... let´s see if I can show you something next time!

It´s Valentine soon, so I have listed some nice Valentine gifts in my webshops. Let´s start with my NotMassProduced shop where you find these:

Crimson Daisy Earrings

Candy Girl Button Ring

And in my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop you find this delicate embroidered brooch:

Marie Antoinette Brooch

Talking about Valentine - please, take time to stop by my friend Ivy´s blog Edera Jewelry , she makes the most intricate vintage inspired jewellery and has a gorgeous Valentine give-away:

Bonbon Necklace Giveaway

If you want to see my latest gorgeous vintage finds pop around my other blog Extravaganzza Vintage Treasures - I have just updated it and I promise lots of vintage eye-candy!!

If you want to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces please visit Kootoyos blog!

My Creative Space.....and snowy furry creatures!

Hello and welcome once again to my crafty universe! We had another snowstorm yesterday, this winter has been incredible so far as Denmark usually is not exactly known as a wintersports resort, lol. But this year we´ve actually had snow - continuously! - since the middle of decembre!

Well, having lived in Norway that certainly doesn´t scare me, on the contrary, I prefer it so much to rain and grey days! Just thought I show you some pictures of our horses first because they looked so cute + funny all covered in snow! In the first picture you see our shetlandpony, his real name is Speedy but we only call him "the boss" (guess why ;-) ) or warthog, haha.

Here you see all four of them munching their yummie hay, they look like a bunch of snowy yetis!
And - I can assure you - they are not freezing, they have a massive fur, a shed to seek shelter in and we make sure they get enough food to keep warm.
The two dun fjordhorses were our first horses and they are actually mother and daughter. They make gorgeous riding horses and you can always rely on them.


In the next picture you see our beautiful draught horse mix Sill, she is a rescued horse and was in a very poor condition when we got her 9 years ago. She is such a gentle soul and much admired by the many tourists in the summer because of her size and beautiful grey colour.


Ok, what have I actually worked on since last time? I finished this machineknitted shrug, it´s a new lace pattern and it looks beautiful I think.


I haven´t finished the pink bag yet as there still is more bead embroidery to do, but I made this wee purse:


It is once more almost a complete recycling project, I´ve used a vintage crochet tablecloth, vintage buttons and the lining is pale green silk from a thrift store. Only thing new are the handles which I bought at a craft fair a couple of years ago.

Last sunday the big annual booksale started and I bought a couple of gorgeous books, among them Cath Kidstons book "Print" and a Danish book about using thrifted textiles in all kinds of crafty projects. I was so inspired by the books that I went to my favourite brocante and charity shops where I found lots of old tablecloths and bedlinen to use in a big patchwork throw for our bedroom.


I don´t have the time to handsew it so it´s going to be a more simple machine sewn version but I still think it´ll look nice! So far I have only cut the different fabrics into squares and sewn the first panel together, but let´s see what I can show you next week ;-)

I´m still working on the crocheted throw every night and have actually finished the zig-zag cushion, so I´m rather pleased with myself!


Last not least a little peek into my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop where I´ve just listed these items:

"Glacier" Necklace

"Odilia" Buttonring

....and in my NotMassProduced shop shop where you find these:

"Marie Antoinette" Brooch

"Waterlily" Cuff

That was all for now - to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog!