Copycat??? What do you think??

My sister, Rach had a bad day yesterday!!! Firstly she was in her local supermarket in Italy when she picked up a craft magazine to find an image on the front cover of a pouch she made. She opened the magazine to find a whole page of images of different items that she had made. The people who produced the magazine did not contact her and ask permission to publish her work. They did however write this blog address so at least they gave her the credit. After she got over the shock of seeing her work published without her permission she realised that it may hopefully give her a little extra business.

Later in the day she received a message from a lovely person who informed her that a lady from the Ukraine is basically copying her work with some slight variations and selling it online. Rach had a look and many of the similarities are undeniable. Have a look at the comparisons below and see if you think they are copies or just a coincidence. There is no doubt that she had copied her bird design which is pretty original. She says the work is designed by herself but I think she has had a little help!!!

The photos on the left are from Lollipopup.
The photos on the right are original designs by Rach.What can you do?????

New Easter bunnies and bags

I finished off these bags and bunnies this week. They are now available in my shop!

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Pouch eiffel tower embroidery

A new pretty pouch is complete. This pouch is great for keeping all manner of things, lingerie, jewellery, hair accessories and so on. It is also perfect to sotre your I pad in or notebook computer.

I used beautiful antique Italian Linen hemp and then appliqued antique trim and pretty fabrics. To finish it off I embroidered an Eiffel Tower!

New gadget sleeves

I've been working on some new profects the last few days so I'll slowly finish them off and blog them.

I completed these sweet gadget sleeves today. They're great for mobile phones especially the i phone and i pod.
This sleeve is made with lovely Japanese linen and is embellished with antique trim and an embroidered cat.
This sleeve is made with beautiful textural antique hemp linen and is embellished with some lovely embroidered Indian trim.

This sleeve is made with antique linen hemp, vintage fabric applique and is then hand embroidered with a lovely flower.

Owl applique cushion

I made this cute cushion yesterday. I love owls and have been wanting to do something like this for a while now. The background of the cushion is antique linen hemp. Then I machine appliqued the owl using a mix of new and vintage fabric.

New patchwork cushions

I made some extra cushions for my shop. I really liked the colours I made for my customer order so decided to make a similar one. I used mostly vintage fabrics for these cushions.

Easter Basket vintage fabric

This cute Easter basket was inspired by the cushion I made in the post below. I loved the colours so much I made the bag with the same fabrics, many of which are vintage. Now available in my shop.

Patchwork cushion lialc and blue

I made this for a customer order. She wanted lilac, blue and coral so I hope she likes it! I liked the colour combination so much I'm making an Easter bag in these colours.

Rabbits for the girls

I finsihed a couple of bunnys yesterday just for the girls! One I sold as a set with a bag very sweet Easter present.

Heart lavender sachets

I've been working on these lovely lavender heart sachets the last few days. I used many different pieces of antique hemp linens I have. I appliqued, embroidered and beaded to my hearts content. I also used vintage and antique trims I have, some French and some Italian. On a couple I also used a little hand dyed felted wool. They are filled with beautiful French lavender I bought at a fair.

Inspiration for these sachets has come from Jude Hill . I bought her hearts tutorial which was a lot of fun. Her work is amazing so interesting. I love this method of combining and layering different fabrics and material to obtain wonderful texture.

More goodies I've been working on

I have been quite productive lately - I'll be honest it's been snowing here for nearly 2 weeks (unbelievable!) so school has been closed and I've been at home!!! Poor Lulu if she doesn't see a friend soon I think she'll loose it!

My sister Sas found the link on our blog to make houses for Japan so I thought I'd make one. So this is what I came up with. I used pretty soft colours, some vintage fabric and appliqued flowers. I hope they have room for one more house!

I also have many baby rattles and softies half prepared so here's one finished a cute dog.I also made a pretty lavender sachet in the shape of a heart. I used gorgeous vintage fabric and embellished it with a simple layered flower. So much fun to make! I have more goodies in the works so will be back blogging soon!

Easter is on it's way!

Slowly, slowly I'm making a few things in preparation for Eater. Here are my first bags and bunnies!

Lulu's scarf

I know after nearly a month of not putting very much on the blog I'm here every 5 seconds posting something!

This is a scarf I made for Lulu towards the end of October (before I got busy!). Lucy loves to sit with me when I'm sewing. SHe tells me she will draw me some patterns to inspire me. Boy does she inspire me at times! I loved her drawing of this rabbit so much I just had to put it somewhere. What better place than a scarf!!! I embroidered it exactly as per her drawing and she wares it with pride! The scarf itself is made with a mix of linen and cotton fabrics.

Who know maybe she will pass it on to her daughter or grand daughter!

Special order

I made all these goodies for a lovely customer. She lives in a hot, beachie, sunny place, hence she requested hibiscus flowers, turtles and whales on the bags. I think they turned out very sweet and are quite sunny! The bags are made with lovely cotton fabrics and are embellished with applique and embroidery.

I also made necklaces for the girls and some cushion slips too. Hope she likes them all! More images on flickr
The necklaces are made mostly with wooden beads and are completed with a felt embroidered flower.
I made the cushions on beautiful antique hemp linen with wool felt applique and hand embroidery.

Easter Baskets

I designed and made these a while ago and just didn't get around to posting about them. They are cute little baskets which could be used in and Easter egg hunt or even better to decorate the house or easter table. They would look great with little Easter eggs in them, flowers or even make for sweet gift baskets.

i made them with lovely felt and decorated them with applique, embroidery and trim. They are completely hand sewn no machine!

Little Houses for Japan

This is a really worthwhile project and something I would love to be apart of. Jo from the blog 'A Bit of This and A Bit of That' has come up with the idea to get people to make 100 fabric houses and letters to send to Japan. You can read all about the story behind this idea and get the pattern here. I hope that she reaches her target and I am sure she will. Now I need to start sewing some houses.

Easter Tutorials and Patterns

Want to make something really cute for Easter?? I though that I would share some of my favourite patterns that you can buy and some free tutorials.

The following are great patterns that you can buy from Etsy.

Bunny Embroidery pattern by Bumpkin.

Easter treat bags from Winter Peach.

How cute are these Easter Finger Puppets?? I would love to make them. The pattern is from FloralBlossom.

This is a very large pattern for a Bunny Rabbit from Dolls and Day Dreams. It's almost 50cm tall.

This pattern is called Peekaboo Bunny. Its quite a large softy available from The Little Tiny.

How adorable is this bunny?? The colour combination is very Easter! I love it and want to make some. The pattern comes from GandGPatterns on Etsy. All her patterns are adorable.... I want so many!

Here are some of my favourite FREE tutorials. I would like to make them all!!!
I want to make one of these in pretty Easter colours- Doorstop Bunny by Wee Folk Art.

Such a cute Rabbit Bag by Zakka Inspired.

Easter Bunny Basket by Disdressed.

Chickummy from Whip Up.

Fabric Easter Eggs from Retro Mama.

I want to make heaps of these!!! Love Birds from Molly Chicken.

Easter Birdy from Molly Chicken.

This adorable little bunny from My Little Mochi.