For my mother

Over the years I got from my mother all sorts of materials,

often family treasures, 

like antique linen, lacework, ribbons..

..retro prints from the 70ties, which where taken down in the 80ties

and thanks to my mother's sense for value!! were carefully stored

heavy old linen curtains with huge burgundy prints,

folk cotton prints and and and...

seems  here pool is bottomless..

an in a weeks time she and my father will load their car again to drive

more goods down to Spain

so when my eyes got caught on my antique linen stack the other day,

I thought this bag might be the right thing

to say: "I love you Mama and thanks for being loved by you"

Silvana

Busy, busy

designing and sewing for a new shop, which opened its doors
1th of July in Calella, Barcelona, Spain

I will give Patchwork and creative sewing workshops from next September on
in this great space, where Elisenda and Carmen, the two owners, will offer a wide
range of creative classes..

All excited with the arrival of the first fabrics from the "Ring a Roses" collection by Guetermann,
I got started....

bird houses

...we made them last Saturday in one of my weekend workshops
and had great fun.
except for the little bird, there was no sewing, but
sticky fingers from the clue.

sowing and sewing...

carrots!!!
they are loved by my whole crowd.
Never have enough of them in the house,
since the kids were toddlers, there was always
a bowl of pealed carrots and sliced apples as snack
before lunch on the table.
They are a must in every green salad or standing alone with
lemon dressing and sunflower and squash seeds.

Now it's the season here in Catalonia to get sow them,
weather is getting warm and sunny, soil is prepared...

so I put the tiny seeds in their bed...
and knowing that it still takes about 3 months to have them on
the table, I started sewing some...
with help of the tutorial I found in
clarescraftroom.blogspot.com

Love is in the air....

...the almond trees are in blossom here,
the birds are singing sweet tunes,
first violets show their face to enjoy the late winter sun
and it's true "Love is in the air"

I oppened one of my most appreciated scrap boxes,
the one with Japanese fabrics...
made tiny hearts,
a wreath of vine twigs and crochet flowers
- a cage of love -
for the purple bird twittering among them.




Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Jeans recycling "la vida es bella"

I love the blues!!!
their textures, their seams, pockets, buttoms...
I like to wear them new, used, tattered
and I go mad recycling them
actually there is hardly no other fabric inspiring me the way
denim does.
I have a big box of old jeans and scraps of them
and often I just open, go through them, cut bits and pieces here and there
and start creating.

Here one of my " La vida es bella" projects, a huge, heavy stuffed reading cushion
for my lovely nice Rosalie

Blackboard Nostalgia

When my kids asked me about my time in primary school,

I liked to explain to them, that we had no copy books in

the first years to learn and practice writing and mats.

Instead of these, we used a small blackboard, a kind of

framed natural slate- if your parents were old fashioned-

or a fancier plastic version, with a small sponche tied on it

and a slate pencil to write. That all our efforts were wipped out

after each lesson, and no evidence of our beginnings remained.

I beleave it was the perfect tablet to deal with the huge task,

and sometimes I would like to have some for my little daughter,

when she tears out a page from her copy book in frustration.

....my slate tablet was smashed on the head of my

best primary school friend, and my father decided, for the security

of my class mates, to buy me a plastic one....

doing the blackboard writing again!!!

Laces&Roses

For the splendour of the day of happinesses in the air

To live the taste of colours easily

To enjoy loves so as to laugh

To open eyes at the final moment

She has every willingness.

                   Paul Eluard

Journal covers out of the scrapbox!!!

Coloring a dull sunday

Yesterday the kids were off, so there was no need for a big sunday cooking.
The day was dull and chilly.
I set up my sewingmaschine in the kitchen, beside the open fireplace,
put on my music and worked away to the voices of Marla Glenn, Alanis Morissette, Kirsty McGee...
and by the end of the day, I had made these wristlet purses 

you will find the pattern in here:

or join my workshop
soon

made this diary cover for friends
and wish them all the best for 2013!!