The gathering provides crafters with an opportunity to exhibit their work and exchange experiences, and it gives visitors a chance to see that imagination and handcraft have no limits. It is also a place where you can learn something new, as workshops on different craft techniques are organized.

I was privileged with an opportunity to hold a workshop on hand embroidery. I love the craft so I love to share it with people who are interested in it.

What did we do during the workshop? The first thing was to learn how to transfer a pattern from paper to fabric. Then I showed the ladies how to do four simple stitches: Stem stitch, Chain stitch, Lazy Daisy as a variant of the Chain stitch and the French Knot stitch.

And then, practical work. As the Happening was dedicated to tradition, we used traditional fabric: linen. However, not completely the same as ladies in the old times used to – linen we used was unbleached and slightly rough and canvas-like. The embroidery pattern depicted a traditional thing: licitar. Licitar is a cake in the shape of a heart that in Croatian inland you would traditionally give to someone as a sign of love and friendship. Traditionally the cake is red with white, yellow and green decorations.

This is how it looked like.

Licitar drawing transferred onto fabric, practicing first three stitches, and pieces of fabric with examples of how the basic stitches are done, as a reminder.

The ladies who attended the workshop got the technique very quickly and started embroidering their own hearts using the combination of stitches they have just learned.

There is something really nice, very calm and relaxing atmosphere, when a group of ladies sits and embroiders together. You’ve got to try it!

We were honored by visits and kind support of other ladies who share the same love for embroidery – thank you ladies!

This is the work of the ladies who attended the workshop: the work in progress, completed licitar and – a view on the back side of the embroidery: making it as neat on the back side as it is in the front is a sign of mastery!

Finally, the ladies and their work at the end of the workshop. Sanja, Tina and Svjetlana, congratulations!

Hope you will continue exploring the endless possibilities of embroidery and enjoy it. Thank you for your enthusiasm, it made my day!

And a big thank you to everyone who stopped by to see what we were doing and shared their knowledge as well as memories of hand embroidery done by their grandmothers with us.

I am looking forward to the next opportunity, and in the meantime I will be posting tutorials on the basic stitches from the workshop here.

Love,

Mare

Cherries should have the main role in some things I am making these days. Search in nearby craft shops haven’t brought any fruit, neither cherries nor large red beads that I could use as cherries.

But my eyes got stuck on the polymer clay, and I reminded myself that I often state that everything you need you can make yourself.

I haven’t done any clay or similar craft since the kindergarten or maybe primary school, therefore it is the time I try it. Super-simple little project: cherries.

I used polymer clay, wire-stems with ready-made fabric leaves, narrow satin ribbon and nail polish.

I cut the clay into pieces, warmed it in my hands and made balls circling the clay between my palms.

Toothpick seemed just right to make a deep hole, the place where stems will be inserted. After baking and cooling, cherries were ready to be painted.

I used dark red nail polish – exactly the colour and shine of ripe cherries. Toothpicks again – inserted into stem holes so the cherries could be painted and let to dry.

Once the nail polish has dried, I put a drop of hot glue at the top of the cherry hole, put end of the satin ribbon on top of that and pushed it inside using the wire. That glued both the ribbon and the wire with the leaf to the cherry. I will know for the next time to make the holes a bit wider, that would make the whole thing tidier.

I smeared a bit of the glue over the wire and wrapped the satin ribbon around it. The other end of the ribbon got glued to the back of the fabric leaf. And here I have just the cherries I wanted!

What I am going to do with them? Stay tuned!

Mare

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Many times I find myself standing in front of my wardrobe wondering who has put all that clothes in it – I’ve got nothing to wear. Then I search for accessories to freshen up an outfit, and I ask myself who has put all those scarves, necklaces, bracelets etc. in my drawers?

I’m exaggerating, of course. But it does happen sometimes. Or it happens that my schedule does not allow me to go home and change my outfit before going to a party. Then I use my favorite solution: the most simple and quite muted outfit, no jewellery at all apart from my watch acting as a bracelet, and a single accessory: a handbag!

In that case, a handbag that is different, unexpected or with its own special story. Sometimes it would be 90 years old clutch bag that still handles partying as a girl, sometimes one of bags I made myself.

The Sea horse is one of such bags!

Love,

Mare

I made the Sea horse clutch bag from the remnants of blue-green fabric used for Three colours blue, slightly velvety to the touch. Inside of the bag is blue-green as well and it hides a pocket and a ribbon with a clip. The sea horse figure is actually a fridge magnet, attached firmly to the top of the bag. Swirls around the sea horse are silver thread machine stitches. Folds on the front of the bag provide a lot of space inside of the bag, and the back of the bag is flat. The clutch bag is 20 cm tall and 37 cm wide and it closes with magnetic snap button.

Bunnies and daffodils and tulips and all the beauty of early spring. Celebrating that, let me introduce Zdenko the Bunny!

Would you like to make such a bunny?

You will need: some felt, a piece of fabric in another colour, something to fill the bunny with – like fabric scraps or filling for pillows, two eyes, embroidery thread and sewing thread. Further on, of course: scissors, sewing needle, embroidery needle, sewing machine and hot glue gun.

The bunny pattern is here, the bunny pattern.

Cut two felt rectangles for the body. Transfer the body contour onto felt using transfer paper, tailors pencil or chalk. Draw the bunny’s nose and mouth. Cut the felt and the other fabric for ears, two pieces of each. Have in mind that you should add around centimeter of felt/fabric at the bottom of ears in order to sew them in. Cut the „sole“ from felt.

Sew single piece of other fabric onto single piece of felt, for ears. Stitch along what will be the inside of the ear. Do it twice, for two ears.

Cut the other fabric a millimeter or two from the line you have just stitched and ears are finished.

Embroider the nose and the mouth onto the felt with embroidery thread. Instead of using plastic eyes and attaching them using the glue, you can embroider them. If you are going to embroider the eyes, do it now.

Fold the outside of the felt towards the inside and secure folds with pins.

Make a sandwich from two felt body rectangles and place ears on the top of the bunny’s head. Make sure to insert a centimeter at the bottom of ears below the line on the top of the bunny’s head.

Assemble the bunny stitching along the drawn contour of the body, leaving the bottom of the body open – that will be the opening through which you will fill the bunny and to which you will attach the „sole“.

Cut the felt two millimeters outside the stitched line. Be careful not to get carried away – you should not cut off the bunny’s ears! Felt layers at that part of the head should be cut separately.

Fill the bunny. I used the filling from an old pillow.

Place the „sole“ to the bottom and secure it with pins.

Stitch around the „sole“ and by doing so close the bunny.

Mark the places for eyes using tailors pencil or chalk.

Glue the eyes using hot glue.

And Zdenko the Bunny is finished! When he puts on his spring bow tie he will be ready for a date with his sweetheart!

Have fun! If you will be making bunnies using this tutorial, I would love to see them, drop me a line.

Love,

Mare

Please have in mind that this tutorial is for your personal use only, not for sale nor distribution.

I often mention the cherry tree across the street. The biggest cherry tree I have ever seen, magnificently dominating the view. I am looking at it now while I am sitting at my desk, windows of my living room face the cherry tree and it is enough to raise my eyes from the screen. The tree is beautiful in the winter with its branches bare. It is beautiful in the summer dressed in leaves. In spring, when it wears its blossom dress, it takes my breath away. And the tree put on that dress – yesterday! I could not notice the flowers the day before – they were still buds. Yesterday, the tree just presented itself in all its beauty.

I often mention the cherry tree in my garden as well, I believe. It is a young tree, I planted it three years ago, entertaining neighbors as I was falling into the hole I was digging and causing myself muscle ache as I was not accustomed to digging. I caress it, I speak gently to it, I give it supplements, I shape its branches. It blossomed yesterday as well. In the morning I was besides myself with happiness when I discovered that the first flower this year has blossomed. Until dusk, there were seven of them. Today, there are thirteen. Yes, I really do count the flowers on the cherry tree. I look at them admiring the nature waking up.

Last year, around this time I took a photo of the big cherry tree. In the summer, I played with an idea of having photos on the handbags and submitted the blossoming cherry tree photo for a handbag design competition. A friend liked the idea, so another friend wanted to surprise her with a gift. I withdrew the proposal from the competition and designed and made a handbag myself.

Until the morning view on the cherries, stay well!

Mare

I made the Spring dress handbag from cotton fabric with a photo of the cherry tree across my street. The bag inside is made of cotton fabric with blue and white stripes and it hides a pocket and a ribbon with a clip. The handbag has been strengthened with a layer of interfacing for firmness and shape. It closes with magnetic snap button. The handbag body is 25 cm high, 40 cm wide and the top of the handles is on the height of 50 cm from the bottom of the bag. The bottom of the handbag has been strengthened so it would not sag, it is 30 cm long and 10 cm wide.

The speed at which the nature changes these days! I do not manage to notice everything. I take a look through the window, and see the garden full of daffodils. I do not remember they were like that the day before. I go outside to have a closer look and see violets winking from the grass. I pass by the cherry tree on the other side of the street and notice it is just about to bloom.

No, I will not write that I turned around my living loom and just noticed that a dotty handbag has blossomed. I worked on the old summer cotton dress and upcycled it into a handbag. I lined the fabric with strong interfacing, made folds and sides of the bag, hand embroidered the vines, made roses from satin ribbons and attached the bag to a frame. And here Lassie is, awoken into the second life!

Happy spring!

Mare

I made Lassie, Little Lady’s sister, from old worn out summer dress made of pink cotton fabric with white dots. I made the roses from pink satin ribbon and hand embroidered the vines with the chain stitch using green embroidery thread. Inside of the bag is made from pink-red linen fabric. The bag is 15 cm tall and 20 cm wide and it closes with a purse frame.

Bats hibernate during the winter. In caves. The spring is coming and they are waking up. To honor that, I greet them with a school bag.

I made the bag from linen artist’s canvas, one of my favorite fabrics. I made bats applique using violet linen fabric. Contours of wines that are waking up like the spring are made with machine stitches. I painted the insides of the wines with green fabric paint and hand stitched bat’s eyes using sparkling blue embroidery thread.

Violet bats tote is the Bat Bag’s sister, but I made it using different colours, mostly violet and yellow. It is made from strengthened linen artist’s canvas. The bag is 35 cm high, 50 cm wide, the bottom is 40 cm long and 12 cm wide and it has been strengthened so the bag would keep the shape. Inside is made from yellow cotton fabric and it hides tree pockets, one of which closes with a zipper, and a ribbon with a swivel clip. The tote closes with magnetic snap button. Violet bats can be carried over the shoulder, the tote has two handles that are 65 cm long. It can also be a cross-body bag, as it has an additional handle that can be attached to the bag and detached from it.

Good morning, bats!

Mare

We played with felt over the weekend. My primary-school friends, their Mums and a Dad gathered at my place and we were making felt flowers and accessories. We were cutting the felt and assembling it into flowers using the hot glue. We used them to make bouquets, brooches, headbands and hair clips. We started with flowers, then imagination took over and we have got hearts, clouds, everything.

The workshop was a party! Kids were happy, parents had a good time, I enjoyed it a lot. So we are all checking our calendars to see when to organize the next workshop.

Take care, Mare

Tiny treasures we used for decoration and trimmings: buttons, beads, ladybugs, hair ribbons, brooch pins.

The kitchen table waiting for the guests to arrive.

A bit later.

Some of the things we made: felt brooch with decorative button and headbands with roses.

A flower in the hair.

It is important very to carefully choose colours for the bouquet.

Sparkling heart – brooch.

A bouquet, hair bands, hair clips, brooches and a smile!

Happy little cloud, a hair ribbon.

I have got a present, a tiny magenta ray fish-brooch. The pin is attached at the tail, so it looks like the fish is swimming.

Thank you for great evening!

Mare

Have you been to Plitvice Lakes National Park? Or, how often do you visit the Lakes? I haven’t for a while and it is about time to plan a trip.

I love waters, I love forests, and spending some time at Plitvice Lakes is a celebration to me. The air is fresh and it has a wonderful scent. Shades of blue, turqouise, green are amazing. Tiny water drops gently touch the skin. Wherever you turn, you see lakes, creeks, waterfalls and the forest, connected and intertwined, flowing in and out of each other. The Lakes are magical.

Browsing through photos I have taken at the Lakes, I got curious – what would a handbag telling about them look like? I have chosen a picture, which was not easy at all, had it printed on cotton fabric and made a handbag with a waterfall outside and green-blue colour of water inside. What do you think about a waterfall flowing into a handbag?