My new project!

When I find fantastic yarn in fantastic prices, I can hardly resist!!I have said it before, I'm a yarnaholic :) When I arrived home from holidays, the package was waiting for me! Two packets of a gorgeous silk yarn, two packages of a delicious synthetic yarn in velour tape from and some skeins of fancy yarns:

And guess what? I grabbed my needles right away!!

And made this scarf:

gardening

When I came back from holidays, I found my plants in a terrible condition!Other were dried up completely, other were rotted from too much watering by my son!

So I went and got new plants, I got a jasmine, a beautiful hibiscus, geraniums and herbs ... 

I also planted some seeds...

1.fairstore 2.piabarile 3. amoronia 4. miloo

The weather is starting slowly to get cooler, holidays are over and today I'm starting work again! For today's moodboard I chose the grey colour, which will be very trendy for this fall/winter!


For more moodboards visit Staroftheeast's blog!

Wardrobe refashioning

It is true that we all feel often the need to update our wardrobe! But this can hurt our pockets ;)
But if we are crafty and have some basic sewing knoweledge, we can transform and refashion our t-shirts and tops in beautiful trendy pieces!
I had some leftover striped fabric from a skirt I made this summer, so I thought to use it to make a nice outfit:

1. I used an old simple V-neck shirt I had in my closet.

2. I cut 2 strips of fabric 7cm wide from the width of the fabric

3. I sewed the strips on the center lengthwise with the machine set to the biggest stitch, leaving along tail. Then I pulled the under thread to form the ruffles

4. I pinned the ruffles around the V-neck and sewed it on the shirt. In less than an hour, I had a new shirt :)

Surfing online for other ideas of refashioning, I found a lovely idea for refashioning a tank top at ruffles and stuff blog:

1. I bought a very cheap tank top at H&M.

2. Took an old black lace and a striped fabric from my stash.

3. Marked the spot with a pensil on the center of the top, where I wanted to sew the ruffles.

4-5. I cut a strip from the lace 8cm wide and 2 strips from the striped fabric, one  7cm wide and the other 5cm wide.

6. Made big stitches by hand on the one edge of the wide strip, fastening together the lace strip and gathered the strip to a ruffle, and did the same with the other strip separately.

7-8. I pinned the ruffle around the mark and sewed it.

9. Then I pinned on the same spot the second ruffle and sewed it on the top.
Finally, I sewed on the centre a piece of black trim and three white buttons,

10. and the ruffled top was ready !!

How does it look?

Custom order during the heat wave

It is a fact that summer is not the ideal season for knitting and crocheting!! The hands sweat, the yarn sticks on the fingers and it's no fun! But what can you do, when you think it's time to pack the needles and hooks and you get custom orders from friends? Which you can not say no to? Especially now that sales are so low? You grab your needles and start knitting....and sweating...

A friend asked me to make this white clutch (this was an easy task and I finished it very quickly)

her sister wanted a top in A line, with the colors and pattern of my  "sea waves purse". I chose a different pattern for the waves and I was very pleased with the outcome! But it was too much work! I was sweating a whole week to finish it!!!

And when I thought I could start being lazy, the final hit came! two baby blankets with crochet finishing! This was literally a torture!!It took me days of endless knitting and tons of sweat to finish right before leaving for holidays! And I must say, I will not make any blanket again!!

Monday moodboard

1. Kostaslekkas21 2. SilverStreet 3. Kitty016 4.Staroftheeast

For more moodboards visit Staroftheeast's blog!

Salmon with Tomato-Basil Relish

A very light and easy dish, perfect for these hot days of August! And it's also very low in calories  ;)
Ingredients :

2 large plum tomatoes

seeded and diced

2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Dash of cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves

2 6-ounce wild salmon fillets skinned

Execution:
Preheat oven to 375ºF

Mix the first 8 ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside

Place half of the spinach leaves in center of the foil. Lay one piece of salmon on top of the spinach.

Spoon half of tomato mixture over fish. Fold foil over and seal edges securely. Repeat. Bake packets for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the fish is opaque in the center.

Monday moodboard

1. stephmel 2.MariaKonstantin 3.felicitycrew 4.EarthLab

For more moodboards visit Staroftheeast's blog!