A Shopping Bag For Mercy

 

After a couple of months of having so little time for creating, I finally finished this project... I´ve actually intended to use this carry- all bag for my daily needs in the office...It´s big enough to carry so many things, things which I have to bring everyday to work, most importantly umbrella because of our changing weather, my lunch, make-up kit or maybe sweater and scarf... As from now on, winter can come and I´m ready for any eventualities along my way to and from my workplace...

 

I used  a vintage mother of pearl button for the closure.

 

 

 

When I create a bag , I always pay attention to the details like this one and it´s the detail that takes a while to finish the project...

 

 

 

 

 

I cut fabric strips so I could sew them to the straps as decoration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the interlining, I used a stiff nylon and added compartments. Since this nylon has a firm structure, it makes the bag stand on its own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To my wonderful readers from all parts of the globe,  I´m wishing you a pleasant Monday evening and  bright Tuesday to all those friends who are ahead in time ( Asia, Australia , New Zealand, etc) 

 

Friends from New York City and the East Coast, may you all  be safe from the big storm Sandy.

 

Til next,

 

Mercy

 

 

 

 

Stylish Wrap-Around Skirts

 

 

 

Wrap-around skirts are really a welcome addition to anyone´s wardrobe, they are very versatile and can be worn in almost all occasions, you only have to choose the fabric for each event , like a woolen wrap-around for winter, linen for summer, etc

I like making all sorts of wrap-arounds skirts, blouses or dresses. With just one pattern and a bit of imagination, I create various styles of skirts with different fabrics...

 

The first pic on top is a skirt I did last year and its fabric has a jungle motif. I think it´s a perfect match to the african necklace below ( there´s a previous posting on this necklace under
 http://challengingartsandcrafts.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/a-dash-of-swirls-african-necklace.html ).

African Necklace

 

 

 

Wrap-arounds are classics, they never go out of fashion and they are practical & comfortable to wear. I wear them in the office, during travels, at leisure times or shopping days.



 

 

The floral fabric I used for the above skirt is a thin 100% cotton almost similar to voile , this can be worn on a very hot weather, it´s light and airy....

 

 

 

 

 

I made these skirts using a 1 x 1.4o m fabric... this size is exactly what I need to make a one whole piece skirt without cutting the fabric. Actually, cutting was only needed if I´d decided  to wear it shorter. To have a perfect side shape, I used pins to mark the line of about 10-15 cm and sew it into place to attain the pencil skirt shape.

 

If you´d like to make one, be sure to try the fabric into your body, by wrapping it onto your  waistline, both ends should be overlapping. I hide the side button by sewing 2 fabric strips onto the skirt to tie a knot on one side..all skirts also have an inner button to hold the other end of the skirt in place.

 

 

This one here is a normal pencil skirt that has an extra wrap around part to be tied on one side.

 

 

 

 

 

The second part can be tied onto one side of the main skirt.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, this is my fave wrap-around made of embroidered linen fabric. When I wash this, I use a light starch so as to make it a bit stiffer. It´s great to wear this with a white blouse trimmed with laces on its edges.

 

I thank you all for reading my blog today.

Oh, by the way, the time in Europe (MEZ) will be set back to the real time in an hour...that would mean we will be sleeping 1 hour longer.

Wishing everyone a nice Sunday!

 

Til next,

 

Mercy

 

 

 

 

Hummus + Recipe - Mercy´s Version

 

 

 

 

HUMMUS

 

There are probably hundreds of recipe-versions of this dip...I have learned to make hummus from a lebanese lady I knew while we lived in Africa in the mid 80´s...a very popular Middle Eastern appetizer, as a dip, it can be served with pita bread or any white bread, this one is my version....

A colorful way to use this platter, it gives contrasting color when serving hummus....from Gmünder



Keramik.


Ingredients:

200 gms (1 cup) chickpeas, soaked in cold water with 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup of tahini paste (sesame paste)
1 juice of lemon,
4 tablespoons olive oil to add to the paste and a bit for garnishing the top.
1 tsp. ground cumin, a dash of cayenne pepper ( optional if you want to make it a bit sharp).
1 tsp sweet paprika and a bit to garnish the top
fine salt to taste.2 tbsp chopped parsley, 1 thinly slice onion to garnish
150 gms. ground beef..


Preparation:


1. In a container filled with enough water, soak the chick peas overnight, drain and put in a large saucepan covering the peas with water. Bring to boil and reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour until the peas are very tender... It will take about 30-40 minutes if you use the pressure cooker.

2. Drain the cooked chick peas and reserve some liquid for later use.

3.Put the chick peas + the juice of the lemon in a food processor, blend it until it resembles a paste, add the tahini and the olive oil and crushed garlic, blend well until the paste becomes very fine. If needed, add the reserved liquid if the paste is too thick. add the salt , paprika , cayenne pepper (optional) and cumin and adjust seasoning according to your taste.. set aside.

4. in a pan with 1 tbsp olive oil, stir-fry the ground beef til meat looses its pink color, season to taste....

5. Arrange the hummus paste into a platter leaving the middle portion of the plate free to add the cooked ground beef... add the sliced onion and parsley and sprinkle the olive oil all over so it gets the yellow color as contrast to the paste. Serve with Baguette/ white bread or flat bread (turkish bread) hot or cold...!


Try and enjoy it with your family & friends! Bon Appetit!


Til next,

Mercy

What´s in a Flower?



Yes, what´s in a flower?  I often ask myself.
I only know I always like them since childhood days. There is something in their appearance and fragrance that attracts me. Flowers make me smile, make me feel livelier, it reflects token of love, express our sympathy for someone, show admiration and appreciation. We cultivate them because they make our homes beautiful and they simply brighten-up our days.

Time of Roses...... by Thomas Hood

 It was not in the Winter

Our loving lot was cast;

It was the time of roses—

We pluck'd them as we pass'd!

That churlish season never frown'd

On early lovers yet:

O no—the world was newly crown'd

With flowers when first we met!

'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,

But still you held me fast;

It was the time of roses—

We pluck'd them as we pass'd!

I guess I could say I´m lucky to be able to live in the beautiful city of Vienna, considered to be one of the best cities in the world. A quiet city with lots of  wonderful architecture, old buildings with its  amazing facade, Museums, famous State Opera , wonderful classical sound of music, small cafe´s, narrow streets, etc... Fronting my fave flower shop is one of the Dome towers below.  The Stephansdome was erected during the Middle Ages, 11th Century AD.

The flower shop is located vis a vis this wonderful Gothic architecture....and have a look at the amazing facade!!!

Roses here, dahlias there.... make all passers-by to stop, gaze and have a closer look at these gorgeous flowers and get tempted to buy one....

Nowadays, almost all kinds of flowers are offered everywhere. Flown-in from some tropical paradise no matter what climate a country has, most flower sorts are always available for sale in the shops.

Shades of Autumn 2012, who wouldn´t love to have these arrangements and colors... they can simply make your day when it´s a "grey on grey" weather.

A pleasant evening to everyone.

Til next,

Mercy

Making A Curtain Tie-Back

I think curtain tie-backs are essential in interior decorating, they are generally trimmings that hold curtains to its side to allow light and add  an elegant and decorative look to the room.

When I made the youtube video "decorate a small elegant bedroom"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me_EuixojRA&feature=plcp ,
I created the tie-backs out of the fabric remnants I used for the curtains and bed canopy.

First, I created a template by using the old tie back of my old set of curtains I´ve done in the past. Depending on how thick the side curtain comes out, I always adjust the size of my tie-back by either making it shorter or longer by adjusting the template.

Here, I used a firm interlining which is the same material I used for making a firmer curtain pelmet.

Most curtain shops offer this material where one side of it is self-adhesive, so the when the fabric is attached to it , a smooth surface is attained. With this template I fold the fabric right side on right side and cut the 2 fabric shapes.

By peeling this protective paper, the fabric can now be carefully attached to its surface..

This is the back side of the firm interlining with the adhesive side attached to the fabric. When cutting the fabric I gave an allowance of  2.0 cm for the inner seam. This allowance can still be trimmed to 1 cm so the bulging won´t be too obvious on the outside surface when the fabric is turned right side out.

By putting together the right sides of the 2 fabrics, I sew the edges outlining the firmer interlining leaving about 15 cm open.... so later I can turn the right sides of fabric easily out.  By cutting V shape like edges, they will prevent the fabric from getting twisted when turning the right fabric side of the tie-back. Mind you, the turning of the right of the fabric out is very tricky for a beginner, so I would suggest that if you try making this one, be sure to make the opening bigger than 15 cm say about 20 cm and just sew the opening either by hand or machine.

                             

Sewing the edge is optional  but I opted for it because I think it´s much nicer, just for the look of it.... the open seam was also sewn by machine and I have added a ring on both ends of the tie back so I could hang it and begin gathering the side curtain as in the below photo...

Now the tie back is finished.

And this is how the guest bedroom looks like now, everything in its proper place....just  the way I wanted it to be.



Here´s wishing that you have enjoyed today´s blog.... tomorrow is a new day, get inspired and enjoy whatever your  plans might be and don´t forget to SMILE!

Til next,

Mercy

Cross Stitch - Lovin

The first embroidery project I did  at 14 were those 4 kitchen cloths beautifully outlined with  running stitches in different colors. The designs were huge petals of flowers stitched using dark colored DMC against the cream cheesecloth color of the fabric...Oh my, I still vividly remember those. I also made a pillow case that had a cross-stitch design of a wreath , I copied 1/4 part of the design and transferred it to a graphing+ paper, stitching until I completed the round wreath.. Well, those are gone now...





The above ABC cross-stitch project was done in red color against a cream aida fabric, it was a gift to my husband to commemorate the acquisition of our spanish finca in 1998.. It´s now being displayed on the wall of our guest bedroom there.

This same framed cross-stich ABC was also featured in my youtube video called decorating a small elegant bedroom, if you wish to see my decorating video here is the link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me_EuixojRA&feature=plcp

This set of  cross-stitched letters were meant for a wreath project, but the C went to the US as a gift to my american friend...

Embroidery is a craft that is really handy to make especially when you´re watching tv or listening to a music... For me, this craft is calming and a stress reliever after a hard day at work.

Wishing you all a very nice Sunday ahead for those readers in the US, Canada, South America.... and for those in Asia, "good morning"....wherever you are in your part of the world, enjoy your Sunday!

Til next,

Mercy



Shades of Autumn - A Country Bouquet

 

 

 

They are absolutely gorgeous, those red orange berries of wild roses. And this is the time of the year that I love to gather them. In Spring, wild roses are everywhere and abundantly growing along the sides of the roads and countrysides. These wild roses have varieties of shades, they come in pink, white, red, orange with a bit of yellowish color in the middle....

For the bouquet above, I used many small glasses ( marmalade glasses will do) with water and distributed them on all sections of my shopping basket...that way, the shape of the bouquet is controllable rather than having a big container or vase to hold all the materials.

 

 

When the flowers of the wild roses have gone dry,  their berries begin to develop and they turn from light to deep green to red as the Fall  approaches. Well, it´s  kind of  tricky cutting them off the branches  when you´re not wearing gloves because of their thorns.

 

 

Gathering them from the woods nearby, I also cut other materials such as the yellow flowers, black berries, name of  which I really have no idea what they were called. But, I guessed they were not edible, so  I just gathered them to be part of the above flower arrangements I  wanted to make.

 

   

 

 

The yellow flower arrangement with its matching vase above was done some weeks before when these wild yellow flowers were abundant along the fields near our home. The ceramic vase is  vintage that came from hubby´s Oma. I think it´s a design style that was very popular in the ´70s.

 

I hope you have enjoyed today´s blog, I´m wishing everyone a nice Friday and a great evening ahead.

 

Thanks for being here and  for reading my post.

 

 

Til next,

 

Mercy

 

 



 

 

 

Affordable Stylish Belts

I got them all from an after the season sale...

The store put them up on sale at a fraction of a cost to get rid of them.... But, nobody wanted these belts because the sizes were simply too long (!).

Well, I bought some of those long belts as you can see in the pic above and with a bit of imagination, I transformed it into the size of my waist...

Here´s how I did it:

First, be ready to have the screw below , you can get this from a hardware shop that sells various screw, just ask the one for the belts.

This image is courtesy of  Google.com

I cut the leather on the buckle back part shorter, made new hole by hammering a very big nail to insert the screw ( please refer to the photo below ).

                               Photo is courtesy of Google.com

As the belt was cut shorter, I had to make a new hole for the buckle as well...and I used the old hole as template for the new one. A Stanley knife was used  to cut a rectangular hole to fit the buckle before screwing the fold together.

 These are now the finished and adjusted length of the belts

Having all of these belts transformed into the size of my waist, I suddenly have stylish affordable accessories that fitted my wardrobe.... and I didn´t have to spend a lot of money to buy them......

Thank you for visiting me today and ......HAPPY WEEKEND  TO ALL!

Til next,

Mercy