Instagram update - part 2. Books!

Got slightly hooked up on traditional textiles 

Next book on my reading list

A colouring book - fight your stress with it!

Highlights from Instagram - part 1

Just some updates from my Instagram 

Beautiful Kyrgyz shyrdak with Mongol slippers

Experimenting with flowers

Experimenting with flowers

Knitting a pillowcase together with our neighborhood cat 

One of the best purchases in Barcelona - a ceramic mug

 

DIY: My first kantha blanket!

I was always fascinated by colourful eastern patters and textiles. One of these that I find lovely is the Indian kantha blanket. So using a couple of old sarongs, an old fleece blanket I decided to make my very own kantha. Although I am not a sewing person - just not accurate and patient enough for big sewing projects, I find that making kantha was fun (especially because the stitches don't have to be perfect and you can decide yourself the distance between the stitches). The stitches on my blanket have 0,5 cm in between in the middle of the blanket and 1 cm on the rest of it. Except for not requiring a huge accuracy and sewing techniques, the advantage is that you can use old fabrics, pieces for kantha, so you don't have to spend a lot of money to buy fabrics. Using an old fleece blanket in between the fabrics means that you can wash it safely wash it.

And of course the best advantage of it all - I found hand sewing soothing and fun while binge watching "Orange is the new black".

Now that I know how to make it, I ordered a number of beautiful used saris from India (you can find them on eBay for a very good price) which can perfectly make a huge blanket (saris are rather long - 4 meters on the length and 1-1,5 meters wide).

1 cm stitches in different colours 

Final result

A little update on the crocheted bookmark

I think the crocheted bookmark I made earlier was a bit dull. So I made a little tassel to it. How do you like it?

DIY: Paper flowers decoration

This weekend I was busy with arranging a confirmation/ nonfirmation party for my daughter. I spent some time working on the decorations for the party and I made a huge amount of paper flowers. Some people asked how did I make them, so here I am sharing tutorial. As you can see there are endless versions you can make.












You need: 

• paper napkins in different colours 
• scissors 
• colour papers 
• paper stapler 

1. Start with making the middle of the flower by cutting coloured paper (I chose black here, but you can choose whatever suits you).

2. Cut the napkins in a shape of flowers. It doesn't have to be perfect.

3. Layer the shaped napkins and the coloured paper (the middle of the flower).

 4. Staple in the middle

5. Now the most lengthy phase - shaping the flower. You have to detangle all the layers of the napkins one by one for a nice and fluffy flower.

6. Then just fold all the "petals".

 and voila!

DIY: Upgrade your sofa with new pillows

From time to time I feel like changing the whole furniture in my apartment as I get new inspirations. But instead of making huge changes, you can make small upgrades with large effects. 

knitted pillowcase from leftover yarn 

wooden beads as buttons

Tunisian crochet also from leftover  

DIY: Knitted pillowcases instead of headboard

For a couch/bed potato like myself it is essential to have good pillows and blankets around. Our bed doesn't have a headboard, which makes reading or doing things that one does't supposed to do in bed (like checking emails or surfing online) rather challenging, especially for some people's necks... In order to solve this situation, some huge pillows were bought (80x80 cm) and I started the following project - a knitted pillowcase.

very early stages 

.

sewing a zipper to the pillowcase... 

the final product!