I am back with a super cute Christmas Giveaway!

Sorry everyone for not updating my blog during these (ugh!) last 3 months, but as you can understand it is not easy at all to combine university life with part-time job and social life. I have to commute everyday to reach university (for a total of 180km/3h a day, if the trains are on time, which happens rarely), this means wake up very early and come back home very late, not to mention the fact that I haven't had a single weekend on my own to relax a bit thanks to my *lovely*and*gentle* boss at work. Many things have happened in the meantime, but I promise I will keep up and dedicate more time to this blog.
I started two amigurumi project, which I will show you in the following posts, and got completely captured by some sewing projects (in fact I am planning to sew me a dress during these Xmas holidays with my mom's brand new sewing machine ^n^ ).

To make up for my long absence, here your are a super cute Christmas Giveaway!

We have less than a month before Christmas, have you already thought of presents for your friends? Well, maybe these super cute plushes are just what you are looking for!
Tygra Beaumont of Dollie-cious is giving away one of these sweethearts to a lucky pal, so don't miss the opportunity to take one home! To enter the giveaway just go to her blog, leave a comment and wait for Santa!
If you don't win you can always purchase one on Tygra's Etsy Shop!

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I ♥ handmade

I have always been interested in handmade items. As a child my mother taught me to sew, to embroider, to knit and nearly to crochet. She wanted me and my sister to become "accomplished ladies" who would be able, once build up our own families, to do practically everything, "as a good wife and mother should be".

After a short time, however, both me and my sister got bored and quit our "apprenticeship" for two reasons: the first was we were in the middle of the 90' and there were more amusing and interesting things to play with (Barbie dolls, first Nintendo videogames, etc.), the second was the fact that my mother had (and still has) a peculiar way to teach things, that is "let me show you how to do it properly (and let me make it in your place)", which was terribly annoying.
Now that I'm a grown-up I re-discovered the magic and the appeal of handmade things, an unique way to express myself in putting a lot of time, effort and passion in whatever I do. I have to admit I miss those lessons my mother gave me because today I could be able to do things in a far better way, but you know, it's never too late!
I started with felt hand-sewing (I made a lot of elves clogs as Christmas presents for my friends), then with crochet (mostly amigurumi) and now I'm really into sewing small things like pouches, bags and camera/cellphone cases. But there is one problem: the sewing machine.
My mom has a very very old Necchi sewing machine (most probably 30 years old) which she used to make our Carnival costumes, Barbie clothes and even lovely skirts and dresses for me and my sister (I remember I had one, white with little flying bees, that I adored). Now she uses it rarely, mainly because it is very big, very heavy and very noisy! That's why I dubbed it "il Trattore" (the farm tractor).

Today I eventually "forced" my mother to show me how to use it. She got her usual attitude, so I seized the opportunity when she was cooking lunch to make a little practice on my own. The results are better than I expected, and I succeeded in completing three pouches in a crescendo of accurancy.

Since I am serious about sewing, I decided to buy a brand new sewing machine. What scares me the most is the range of prices, which goes from affordable 90 € to astronomical figures. I do not know which one has the best price/quality relashionship, so I will go around (with my mom as technical advisor) and hope to find one for my low budget, following the italian motto "poca spesa, tanta resa" (low cost, high profit/efficiency).
In the meantime I will get familiar with my mom's beloved Trattore.

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Super-cute amigurumi books

After so many researches on the internet, calculating prices and shipping fees, I finally found a bargain on YesAsia and bought some amigurumi books!

I fell in love instantly with the squirrels featured on the cover of ちいさなかわいいあみぐるみと小物 (kiisana kawaii amigurumi to komono), as well as with little cute sweets of あみぐるみ sweets. But my heart suddenly went thump thump thump when I saw リラックマとかわいいキャラあみぐるみ (rirakkuma to kawaii kyara amigurumi)... I definetely love Rilakkuma and the other San-X characters and when I found out that in this book there is also the pattern of Kamonohashi Kamo I couldn't help but buying it immediately!
The shipment is a bit slow but I won't complain since I did not pay any fees! I'll have to be patient and wait 'til the 22th September... in the meantime I should slow down crocheting and start revising my German knowledge for the admission test that awaits me next month! -_-'

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