Beads and Pearls

This week I started on a lace collar, I got some beads from my sister and thought they went so well with the color of the lace. I also have some little pearl beads who I will be sewing unto it as well.

the beads are tiny, only a little bit bigger than 1 mm. it takes a lot of work to sew them all on.

However, it is a nice thing to do in the evening, whilst watching some shows.

when the beads are attached I will sew it onto a piece of fabric so it can be used as a collar.

at this moment I have put about 4 hours work in them, I think I will need 4 more hours for attaching the beads. but, when it is done I will have something to be proud off! 

The first Hairsticks

Yesterday I finally started with my first hairsticks! I decided to test with paint first on a couple of sticks, so I bought a basecoat and paint from 2 different brands.The painting itself was not very hard, but it was good to try out. I found that I need to improve my techniques a bit since I have hardly any experience with paint.
I am happy about the results though.

I added the basecoat to all 3 sticks, the stick on the left I painted with purple acryl.
On the stick at the back I added a effect paint, it was supposed to be blue but turned out more like violet.
The stick on the right is the purple acryl with the effect paint over it.
That also became my favorite stick! the colors come out so pretty!

The effect paint takes long to dry, so I have to stay patient for a while longer, I will be able to add the finishing coat tomorrow evening, after that I will be able to test how the paint holds. I am certainly very curious to that!

Last week I was back in NL for a while and I bought a small amount of beads, mostly semi precious like Onyx, Amethyst and Jade. I can't wait to work with them but it makes me a bit nervous as well.

but, in the worst case scenario I can take them of a stick when it does not work and use them again.

English rose pillow front.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a ruler for on my sewing machine. 

I always found it quite difficult to make straight lines next to each other, but with this extra accessoire it is much more easy! At first I practiced on some leftover fabric, but soon after that I decided to try it out on a soon to be pillowcase. I love the effect, it is so simple but it adds a lot to it. 

About the fabric, I found it in a quilting shop last month, I fell in love right away.the colors are so soft, and the print is simply gorgeous! I think I would describe it as romantic.I would love to make a big quilt with this type of fabric.Prints with English roses always have my weakness I suppose.

Meanwhile I am working on some other projects as well, I found a picture of a gorgeous white summer dress. Of course it was impossible to find a pattern for it, so now I am trying to draw the pattern myself. Up till now that seems to be fine. but I know little problems will still be on the way!

I hope to get this dress ready for summer. the color is yet undecided though. The idea of white really speaks to me, but it is a long dress and I do not want it to become like a wedding dress.

someone said mint green would be nice, and I am certainly keeping that open as an option!

I also received some cute lace collars by mail this week, I have some idea's for them and I hope that will work out. More about that later!

Crane and Chrysanthum

yet again it has been a long time since my last post.

in September I became an auntie, the boy is 5 month's now and such a darling!

In October I moved to France, we had quite a busy time until December.
and in December we went on holiday to Canada.
It was wonderful! 2 weeks in Toronto. I had a great time.
we went to see the Niagara falls and the falls were very impressive.

Last week I found a place were they give free french lessons. there are 4 lessons a week each of 2 hours.
The teachers are retired elderly who volunteer,isn't it wonderful?
I will go there 3 lessons a week, and hopefully start speaking French faster!

Now things are finally settling down, I am done sewing curtains and making the house comfy.
and there is time again for my sewing.

Last week I got to make some pillow cases for on the couch.
We bought a Japanese print a few weeks ago, and I wanted pillow cases in the same theme.

They worked out so well! I still have to sew a button on the back though.

I saw a special sewing foot for quilting I would love to order. I have some great idea's for oven gloves.
Hopefully I get to order them next week, so I can get started next weekend.

I would also love to decorate my own hairsticks, at the moment I am looking for hairstick suppliers.
it is hard to find any in Europe, but I am sure they must be there. So, the search is on!

big changes

it has been a long time since my last blog entry.
a lot has happened, and I had not a lot of time to update.

my DBF has a new job, but it is in a different country.
he has already moved to our new city, Marseille.
it is all very exiting! it feels like we are making a new start, with new opportunity's.
I have also moved myself, to a temporary house, I am staying until October, because I want to be close when my nephew will be born.

when everything was sorted for my new house I finally had some time to be creative again.
I started off with a play blanket for my nephew.

the daiper bag I started on is nearly done, I just need one more detail done, but I can't find the supplies.

I am also working on a new dress, for myself this time. I will update pictures of that soon!

cupcake fun

This week we were asked to make some cupcakes for a baby shower.

My sister took a day off, and in the morning we started baking the cupcakes.

After licking the dough from all the utensils and bowls the cupcakes were ready to come out of the oven.

When the cakes were cooled down enough, we were ready to work the fondant.

This is the fun part! Of course the baking is fun too, but working with fondant is just great!

You can let your imagination go, and come up with gorgeous creations! and, after that you can eat them too ;)

Because it is a baby boy, we worked with white and blue colors.

On the internet I found such a cute example of someone who made baby's under blankets with fondant, and we tried to make our own version on that.

It worked out wonderful, they took a lot of time, so we made only a few, but they turned out so cute!

Pregnancy dress and garden visit.

My goal for today was to finish my sisters dress, she is pregnant and I bought her some fabric, so she can have a nice dress for summer.

We had a fight, the dress and me, the sleeves did not want to cooperate. but eventually it worked out alright.

The fabric is so soft and pretty, but it is not very easy to work with.

Now I still have to hem the bottom of the skirt, but that will have to wait until sis has time to come over.

I am also currently working on a diaper bag, she went to buy the fabric herself, and it is so cute, I wish I had some myself.

the fun thing is that her fiancee has a few of the same type of sweaters as the owls are wearing.

Here you can see the front of the bag, with some pockets attached to it.

They are going for an owl theme in their baby stuff.

it is adorable <3

Now, I hope to finish the bag soon, that way I can start on some new sewing projects, I found such a gorgeous dress pattern. I can't wait to get started!

It was wonderful spring weather today, and I went over to the garden to check out how it is after winter.

Things where not bad at all, and I managed to remove quite a lot of weed.

The first seeds for the veggies are already growing!

I will sow some more seeds this weekend, probably some beans, and broccoli.

A new year!

Even though we celebrate New Year in December, I never feel like a New Year has started until March. because that is the time to start planting the seeds for the garden, the time the first spring flowers start to grow and the time the sun show's up for the party a bit more often.

first, I'd like to welcome you to my new blog, Ishje's Bits.

here I would like to share my creative affairs, from sewing to baking, soap making and working in the garden.

I'd like to keep a better record of my project's, and I can't think of a better way than starting a blog!