Tag Archives: red

And its off to market we go…

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Its going to be a very busy weekend for handmade by me. We are going to be participating in 3 different markets over the weekend. Firstly we will be taking part in our usual Bay Harbour Market all weekend long. And for the first time we will be joining the Lock Stock Market which is in conjunction with Die Plattelande food market at the Palms Lifestyle and Decor Centre on Saturday . And then on Sunday we will be joining the Blue Bird Garage Food and Goods Market in Muizenburg. There’s live music there and lots of wonderful things to buy and to eat, so come on by for some lunch. If the weather is great, all the markets will be worth a looksee as there is plenty of outdoor area to sun yourself and have an ice cold beer. If the weather is bad, everything is covered and you can come and escape the wind or the rain, or just to have a good time. I’ve heard really good things about these two new markets and am very excited to see what they are like to sell at. Here’s hoping we have a really successful weekend ahead! Don’t forget to come and say hi : )

And to get you ready for what you might find at the market, here are a few new available products to purchase…

Of course you can always get ahead of the crowds and shop online here.

More vintage aprons…in new designs…
MINI Blue Origami Birds, Birdy Num Num & MINI Black Origami Birds

my brand new Cup O Tea napkins

Birdy Num Num napkins

MINI Origami Birds napkins in black

handmade by me.

Time for tea…and finally the move!

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So next week is the big move! And as much as I am absolutely excited to get my little business going in sunny South Africa, there are lots of mixed emotions with leaving Ireland, my home for the last 6 years. Anyways with that in mind, I won’t be posting much over the next 2 weeks while we enjoy our last few days in Dublin, and start getting settled into life in Cape Town. I can’t wait to begin posting again because that means I will have started to get cracking on my next set of ideas and projects, and I won’t be able to wait to show you all. So while we get on and move, I’ll leave you with some pics of my new tea towel range, all ready and waiting to find themselves a new home : )

And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with any news in the meantime you can go to http://www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog and “like” handmade by me’s facebook page.

My new Cup O Tea design…

Pink Vintage Squares


Birdy Num Num

Pink Flamingo!


Blue Origami Birds

Striking Strelitzias


Red Vintage Squares


Indigo Red

Handmade by me.

Cats and dogs go home…

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Remember the bespoke design “cats and dogs” I created for my friend’s serah and paul? Well they sent me some pictures of their lovely cushions and napkins in their apartment and I would love to share them with you!

If you want to see the original post I did….including the super cute photos of their cat Greebie and their dog Bluff…and for more information about my design…click here.

And so….here’s how things turned out!



Handmade by me.

Plum Crazy!

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My friend Claire asked me if I would design her a wallpaper pattern for her new foodie blog called “The Plum Farmer’s daughter“. I thought I’d keep the pattern fun and modern because there are so many “same old” fruit prints out there. The beauty of digital printing is that it allows me to play around a lot more with photographs and textures and I wanted to combine the two with my very distinctive digital style. I also wanted to develop the pattern into napkins, tea towels and eventually aprons so the pattern had to be bright and colourful. I only found out AFTER I had created this design that Claire isn’t really into purple!!!! (ha ha I know!!!) So I created a slightly more blueish version for her to use.

Here they are below…soon to be available in napkins and tea towels for all people plum crazy : )

Handmade by me.

Nothin’ like the real thing…

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So I have been very busy sewing away and I realised that some of you have only seen the designs and not the finished products. Here are a few of the things I have been working on lately! Still can’t decide which is my new favourite…

Pretty Proteas looking oh so lovely as a cushion cover…
 

New blue origami birds cushion cover…

Red vintage squares cushion cover and matching set of napkins…

Indigo red napkins…

And Nicky’s vintage bikes tea towel…

Still more on the way! watch this space…

Handmade by me.

happy times snoozing in red square land…

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Remember the red square pattern I created for my friend Nic’s doggies Shangdi and Teddy? Well I said I would put up a post of them with their new beds…and so here they are looking slightly confused as to what’s going on, but nonetheless happy and content and finally…sleepy!

The red square pattern here is also available in vintage red and pink…see below…and all are available in cushion covers, napkins and tea towels from my Etsy store.

Here’s Teddy…

And his brother Shangdi…

And after all the excitement its time for a snooze…they look really comfy there don’t they?

Here is the fabric in vintage red…

And in vintage pink…

And my vintage pink square cushion cover…

handmade by me.

beep beep bespoke design…

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My friend Sabrina asked me to design her a cushion for her newborn nephew Charlie’s new room. We toyed with the one idea of featuring cars and trucks, and the other of baby animals. Toys and trucks won instantly, and so i got to work on a design. Sabs sent me a picture of the curtains that were going into Charlie’s room (see below), the walls were going to be painted a light blue with clouds like the sky (so super cute), and the cushion was to go on a bright red chair. I used the same colours as the curtains for my design, and because the chair was red, I thought that green would look the most striking against it.

Here is the design I came up with…

And here is what the cushion would have looked like…

And here are the super cute curtains that the cushion was to match…

Welcome to the world little Charlie! Hope you like your new cushion : )

Handmade by me.

cats and dogs…

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My friends Serah and Paul asked me to design them some fabric of their very own to make into cushion covers and napkins for their home in Spain. The brief was to design something which included their cat Greebie and their dog Bluff. They gave me a list of the designs of mine they like the most and asked me to keep in mind the colours of their apartment which are beige and navy.

I decided to come up with something floral and decorative that would look lovely in their apartment, and then encorporate the images I redrew of the animals, so that they didn’t overpower the design but became something you noticed the more you looked at it. Luckily enough the pics they sent of Greebie and Bluff turned out to be really great and also worked really well together. I also brought in a bright red/orange to liven up the beige and navy, everyone needs a bit of colour!

This is such a perfect example of how the bespoke services I offer work! If there’s something you want me to create specially for you, or for someone else, please get in touch and we can chat about various ideas and options.

Here are the pics they sent me….so cute!!

Greebie the cat…

and Bluff the dog…

And here is the design I came up with! I look forward to showing you the finished products in sunny spain when they are ready!

And a closeup…

handmade by me.

which is your cup o’ tea?

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As some of you may know, I absolutely love beautiful old tea cups and saucer sets. I have a few beauties in my collection which I love, but sadly seem to be more on display than actually used! Ever since Vera Wang did a collection for Wedgewood I have been OBSESSED with her work. So badly that everytime I am in a department store I try and convince myself that one cup and saucer is more important than eating for the rest of the month : ) This is the first collection I saw and drooled over….

It is SO going to be on my wedding gift list! And it inspired me to start a tea cup and saucer design of my own which I think will make really cool tea towels and aprons.

Here are my cups o’ tea….

And here is the pattern design in the form of a tea towel which I will be introducing to my collection shortly…

…and a closeup…

handmade by me.

Sweet roast pepper and tomato soup with chilli

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Another soup recipe from one of my favourite websites, www.tastemag.co.za. I’ve made this particular soup quite a few times…its cheap and easy and the chilli gives it a nice kick! And it goes really well with a melted cheese toastie. Optional of course!

The recipe: Sweet roast pepper and tomato soup with chilli
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
8 tomatoes
4 red peppers
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
2 chopped leeks
2 tablesppons chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1 red chilli
1 cup chicken stock

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Halve tomatoes and red peppers. Deseed the peppers. Crush cloves garlic and scatter over the red pepper, then rub the pepper and tomato with olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes, or until soft.

Place the pepper in a plastic bag and allow to cool before removing the skins. Leave them in for a while, the longer you leave them the easier the skins are to remove.

To a saucepan over a medium heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, chopped leeks, chopped parsley, bay leaf and a red chilli.

When the leek is soft, add the roast tomato and pepper, along with any pan juices and chicken stock. Using a stick blender, roughly purée to a thick consistency, adding more stock if necessary. Bring to the boil and season to taste.

handmade by me.