Flowers on Earrings, Flowers on Coasters

Boho Floral Earrings for this Summer

I think polka dots and flowers are always amazing and a perfect choice for a boho summer day. If you click on the picture you can check the other two pictures that my amazing customer, Melissa has sent me. The art photos were taken in her studio, by her friend and fellow photographer Elizabeth, Liz Godfrey Photography.

Floral Fabric Coasters

I purchased these rose patterned fabrics back in Naples, Italy. After the click you may see other pictures as well, where you can observe even more closely how these reversible coasters are actually made of four kinds of rose fabrics; red, yellow blue and green roses.

Earrings with Roses

If we are talking about Naples, Italy, these roses also came with me home to join the red Czech glass beads on these earrings.

Let's be Boho! Happy Summer Days Everyone!

Fabric Coasters - Work In Progress

 

(First thing first: I am afraid that blogspot has a problem with the greens, because I have no idea how my lovely pastel greens became these wild wild greens on these photos. Sorry!)

These Shabby Chic coasters are almost finished, I've already sewed the green binding for it. The binding that is folded back is being held by the pins while I sew it down with my sewing machine on the front side "in the ditch".

Previously I always did the last sewing on the back by hand, but with lot of practice I finally learned how to do it with my sewing machine. I really loved to sew these last closing stitches with my hands in a comfortable armchair in front of the television, but I do have to admit that this way is a lot faster and thanks to all the practice by now it looks just as good.

More Work In Progress are here:
http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/05/wip-wednesday-sewing-for-me.html
and
http://teamquiltsy.blogspot.hu/2014/05/wips-on-wednesday_28.html
and
http://estheraliu.blogspot.hu/2014/05/wow-polka-dot-points.html
and
http://www.sewmuchado.com/2014/05/we-did-it-wednesday-206.html

The Winners of the Raffle

The raffle closed down on Thursday night. Finally 960 tickets were sold, which is fantastic! Estella used the random number generator on Friday and got the winners. Everyone who purchased a ticket can check in the following blogpost whether they are among the lucky winners!
http://star-of-the-east.blogspot.hu/2013/02/and-winners-are.html
Even though I didn’t win, I still feel very lucky as I can be a part of a very loving and supporting team and I can experience what it’s like to have so many people join together on Etsy and on Facebook for a good cause.

I’d like to thank everyone for their help and support, and congratulations for all the winners!

You can find everything about this raffle in my previous posts or in Estella's blog:
http://star-of-the-east.blogspot.pt/search/label/raffle

Sandra’s items in her shop - thanks to everyone - are depleting at a high rate, but you may still go and purchase some of her beautiful ceramics!

And I curiously await who won my Blue Roses Coasters and in which direction they will depart to into the world. :)

The Last Raffle Day - For A Friend

Here are all the gorgeous prizes (with my Blue Roses Coasters), there will be 55 winners, you can be one of them by buying a ticket or more, thank you!

You can find everything about this raffle in my previous post or in Estella's blog:
http://star-of-the-east.blogspot.pt/search/label/raffle
Thank you so much for your help!

Happy Quilting! – National Quilting Day

Today is the National Quilting Day in the United States. Every third Saturday in March the National Quilting Day celebrates fabulous quilts and those who make them.

Today is a day to recognize and appreciate the quiltmakers, the skill and the warm and the results. If you are a quiltmaker, spend a minute to recognize and appreciate that you have truely been blessed with a special skill. If you are not a quiltmaker, wrap yourself into a quilt and enjoy the warmth. (http://www.holidayinsights.com)




In Hungary I am celebrating today with making a crochet needle case holder roll with a suitable coaster and making a new treasury with my favorite quilts. :) And you?

Clicking on this small picture will direct you onto my treasury on Etsy:

Happy Quilting Day!

Happy Monday Moodboard – Springtime Flowers

Around here Spring arrives really slowly, every sunny day is followed by one that is quite cloudy and cold. Crocuses already crawled outside in our garden, but they are shivering as well.

I miss sunlight and the flowers a lot already which can be seen that when I’m sewing I usually start with the cheerful flower patterned fabrics first and somehow the sunny spring flowers come first in my treasuries as well.

So let this Monday Moodboard be like this as well, even if this day was vastly covered by clouds in the sky, let’s be cheerful!

1. Star of the East 2. PhotographyBy Jagna 3. DUEALBERI 4. Queen And Eye

You can check out all the other Monday moodboards at Star of the East's Blog.

And here is my happy Spring coaster set, just like the sun is shining right now!

As an addition my treasury of the day. The title will not surprise anyone I guess: Springtime Flowers. ☺

Clicking on this small picture will direct you onto my treasury on Etsy:

Coasters for Valentine's Day

This four is actually on route to their new home, but I really liked them so I thought I could show them here.


I appliqued the hearts with the technique that I practiced on the wall hangings onto the linen base. This is still the same linen that I have written about before. (Last year I’ve got a whole roll of home-made linen from my grandmother – her mother and grandmother wove it at home by their hands, which is a big treasure. It’s rough weaving, natural-colored or self-colored.) I was sure that these red hearts would look very good on this natural base and I believe I was right.


I made the binding with my current favorite, the red polka dots fabric that turned out to be buttons in great hurry.


I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's day, with roses and many chocolate, red hearts and everything else that comes with it! :)

Coaster Shower In Blue

I don’t know about you guys, but it happens to me a lot that right after I start into a realization of an idea, I can hardly disengage from it. While I am working I start to wonder, even though for example this tissue holder looks nice, but what would it be with some different colors? And I start again that with new fabrics. Or as I’ve written in my Etsy shop before I usually think in “families” (in whole product lines), so everyone finds matching things. But it’s always true and it also makes me wonder every time I finish a pouch or a wallet (and they are successfully done), how for example an eyeglass case would look if I make it from those same fabrics.

So this happened again with the coasters. While I was working on the Cartography Coasters order (remember, the Little Mariner’s Compass) it came to my head how good they could be for sailors in blue.

So I made them and what is more one set will be sent tomorrow to Canada for my good friend.

While I was embroidering the blue ones (I had plenty of time to think) I thought that the Cartography Coasters have really good land colors and garden colors. My father has a small vineyard where he makes delicious red wine. I thought that a Green Garden set of coasters would be great gift for him, as I would change the Mariner’s Compass embroidery with a bunch of grapes. As this idea didn’t leave me alone, I started to make these new coasters, with Cozy Brown and Green Garden colors, and for them I embroidered the grapes.

I still have to make the batting and backing and sew the bindings, and they will be ready. But then I really finish with the coasters, since I am already thinking of new kinds of pouches, and can’t wait to start making them.

Coaster Shower

The already mentioned coasters for our cartographer friend were completed. I made more than he asked for, so put some up on Etsy.

This was the first time I “embroided” with a sewing machine. It was an interesting experience for me how the embroiding is kind of eating up my thread. By the time I finished with all the mariner’s compass patterns, I used up about 400 meters (440 yards) of strong red thread.

I have a good progress on the “Coasters for Sailors” as well, you could have seen some of them on the previous post’s picture. I still have to sew the binding, then they will be packed and ready to set sail.

Small Things

Christmas is coming, so I am creating some smaller usable things, which ones I would like to give as presents: pouches, coasters, wallets etc. I really have to hurry up now, so I am just sewing, sewing and sewing in the next days. Fortunately my family is very understanding and supportive about it, they take most of the housework off my shoulders.

The little “Mariner’s Compass”

We have a very good friend, who is a cartographer and runs his own firm. With the coming Christmas season closing he started thinking what kind of presents he could give his business partners. As he told me most usual formal gifts are all the same and a bit boring as well. He wanted something special, memorable, something that resembles him and his firm, but is also practical. In addition his partners are mostly men. So on his request I started planning the coasters, that he could give as a present, with a bottle of fine wine.

We talked about what kind of symbols are typical in cartography. His firm’s logo is a table globe, but that is too complicated to look good on a coaster. Then he got the idea of the compass, which is found on every map (even the really old ones). I think this is very exciting, since one of the most famous, most versatile quilt block is the “Mariner’s Compass”.

“Mariner’s Compass” from hgtv.com

Bbbut. As soon as I started to deal with this block thoughtfully, I realized there is a reason why they make large center for “medallion” style quilts from it, or king-size quilts that are made of big mariner’s compass blocks. Just try to imagine this pattern on a 4” x 4” coaster! See what I mean?

Brick Red Moss and Gold Compass Log Cabin Quilt from Amish Country Quilts, Pennsylvania, USA

Or this:

Compass quilt by Mary Benedict Baker, 1850

What can I do? I am sure I can’t sew a so beautiful but so complicated pattern on 4” x 4” (not to mention to make them in 6 piece sets!).

Okay, so I have to “cheat”. And that’s how I found the answer: Circular coaster made of 8 slices (4-4 different fabrics), that I embroidered the compass’ main lines with strong red. With this I already quilted the coaster and I only had to sew on the backing then to sew the binding. I never bound like this, constantly in a circle, but thanks to my bias binding I could manage good and easy. It cuddled up to backing perfectly, so it was very easy to finish the coaster with blindstitching by my hand. On the back I sewed a label with his firm’s logo instead of my own.

Luckily my “customer”, our cartographer friend liked it, he couldn’t even decide between the two (Cozy Brown and Green Garden) colors, so he requested two sets from each serial. I hope the receivers will appreciate – and use – this unique present as well.

Oh, right. Because this compass shouldn’t be only for cartographers or sailors (by the way I will create the whole thing in blue colors too, for sailors’ own sake), I will a few sets available in my Etsy shop as well!