For the "end of summer swap" I had a partner with a "teesha moore bag" on her wish list. I always liked them as a concept, because they sounded like a lot of fun to make, but since they don't really go with "my style" I never made one. This was the perfect opportunity to try myself at making one!
I had NO idea how much work goes into a bag like this, especially if you're not skilled at embroidery. I also didn't make a plan of how many patches I will need and how big the bag is going to be when I started, so before actually putting everything together, I realised it was going to be quite big and that I had to sew more patches. (so if you want to make a teesha moore bag, is strongly advise you to plan ahead:)). Luckily I own an embroidery machine, so I could make a lot of patches with its help. Anyway, here are the pictures.





I know the pictures are quite bad, but I wanted to share the project as an inspiration, since I couldn't find any other firefly teesha moore bags on the internet, and had quite a lot of trouble to think of what to put on the patches.

The patches I made were:
on side 1: the course of the song that's at the start of every episode, the logo of the series, Jayne's hat, Wash's dinosaurs ( made them with polymer clay), which is my favourite patch:), "Also, I can kill you with my brain" quote, and a kind of portrait of the Captain (I got inspiration for that one somewhere on Craftster, don't remember where)
on side 2: "big damn heroes", a patch with fabric that reminded me of Inara, a patch that say "Captain tightpants", a picture of Serenity, a patch from Kaylee's uniform, and the quote "I'm a leaf on the wind, watch me soar"

I love UT, but currently don`t really have money to buy designs. My machine also came with a dozen of designs, but they are all farm themed(imagine tractors, chickens, cows, barns... ). I always download the UT freebies and try those out. I can`t wait to have a job again, and money for designs:)

Hi! I'm Petra, 25, and I come form Slovenia (Europe). I'm currently unemployed and working on finishing my university degree with a very long paper about the female characters in the Disney Princesses animated films. I live with my father and dog (and usually with my boyfriend, but he's currently working in Cambridge). I love sewing and I'm getting more and more interested in machine embroidery and digitizing. I also LOVE baking and I'm learning sugar crafts . I also love travelling, reading and watching TV series:)
I like natural colours(like brown and green), but I also like fashionable colours like mint and neons if combined with neutral tones. The only thing I can think of not liking are skulls.
I have no allergies (I just can't wear earrings).

Wishlist:

Crafty things

-anything with a cable knit (socks, hat, mittens, pullover... anything:))
-hoopla art
-hair accessories (especially headbands)
-a (faux) leather clutch
-jewellery (except earrings;)), especially rings
-oven mittens
-random wall art
-funny/cute T shirt inspired by stalking me:) (or a t-shirt for my boyfriend if you would rather make one for a guy. he's a bass player and a computer programmer who likes most of the things I like:))
-anything inspired by my pinterest http://pinterest.com/pkok/ (but ask me first, because I already got some things in previous swaps)
-dog toys/ accessories (very durable ones, since our dog likes to destroy things:))

Supplies

-fabric. any kind you think I would like, any quantity
-thread for machine embroidery
-sewing machine needles
-sewing magazines
-wedding magazines (I might or might not get married next year. I don't know yet;), have to ask for his hand in marriage first:))
-fondant stamps and cutters
-freezer paper: I have no idea what that is, but sounds like a lot of fun:)

extras

-coffee
-chocolate
-exotic spices (or spice mixes)

Thank you for potentially claiming me!

The dress is gorgeous! I think you are entitled to ask for at least 350$. Sewing such a dress is almost like sewing a wedding dress and think about how much those cost.... It think you might be hesitant about the price because "it's just a costume" (I imagine I would be), but, well, it's not:) It's actually a gown fit for a princess:)
And I understand that you want to be a nice person and not charge much, but also think about all the professional people out there. If there are people willing to make beautiful things for almost no profit at all, it makes them look greedy and then they have a hard time finding clients (I have worked in advertising and it's the same problem there...). It's obvious you can't charge as much as they do (yet), since you don't have all of the skills or experiences, but charging half as much is more then fine. (in my opinion).  

this is the most adorable hoop ever! I also really love your choice of colors, especially the background fabric. I think it makes the hoop more harry-potterish (or something like that:))

This is one of my first digitizing projects that I think came out pretty good. I made the illustration in adobe illustrator (inspired by a "milk and cookies" google search) and then digitized it with PE design which I'm really really slowly learning how to use (it came with the machine:)). I still have trouble understanding different kinds of stitches and settings for the stitches (which you can obviously see on the hearts:)).



I would love any kind of feedback and suggestions on how to make it better. If anyone wants to try and stitch it out themselves (and give me some feedback) I would love (LOVE LOVE) to send you the file ( i can also change the word "Mleko" on the carton to the English word milk, if you want:)). But any comet would help! Thank you!

I read somewhere that you can substitute eggs with mashed bananas. They are also very sweet so I guess you will not have to add sugar:)) But I'm not sure that would work in a recipe:) I also think that rice flour and corn flour are gluten free (I'm not completely sure:)), but I think you can buy other kinds of gluten free flour in health stores.

Do you really want to make cake or is anything sweet and delicious OK? I always impress people when I make Chocolate Chantilly, which is basically chocolate mousse made out off just water and chocolate. I still have no idea how that works, but it does, and the mousse tastes heavenly chocolaty and rich and all other kinds of awesome. I have left it in the fridge for quite some time and transported it around and it always stayed fluffy and great. So if you want to try and make that, here is the recipe

http://cafefernando.com/the-best-chocolate-mousse-of-your-life-under-5-minutes/

We just harvested all of our pumpkins for this year, and there were quite a lot of them that ripped at a very small size. So I decided I wanted to stuff them with something. It's also the season for porcini mushrooms and my father brings some home every night (you usually don't pick them at night, but my father realised that it's quite easy to find them with a light:)). So I stuffed the pumpkins with a mushroom stuffing that turned out surprisingly delicious (I improvised the recipe), so I decided to share:)



For stuffing 2 small pumpkins (i guess you can use all kinds, mine was one Hokkaido and one that my father calls "Provencal" pumpkin, but even he's not sure what it is:)):
- one medium onion
-around 2 cloves of garlic
-3-5 porcini mushrooms (depends on the size, they should make around a cup when diced)
- half cup of whole grain bread crumbs
-1 egg
- half cup of parmesan cheese
- a tea spoon of dried herbs de Provence
-some grated smoked Gauda cheese (it is very important for the taste, that the cheese was smoked)

Dice the onions and sauté them in a pan until translucent; add minced garlic and when you smell the garlic (after 30 sec), add the diced mushrooms. Add salt (according to your taste), and cook the mushrooms on low heat. In the mean time, cut off the tops of the pumpkins and take out all of the seeds. Cut out some of the pumpkin meat, dice it and add it to the mushrooms. When all off the water from the mushrooms evaporates, take off the stove and leave to cool for some time. In a bowl mix the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and herbs. Add the mushrooms and the egg, mix well. Stuff the pumpkins with the mixture and put them in an oven proof pan. Add some water to the bottom of the pan. Bake in a 180°C oven for 40 minutes or until the pumpkins are soft. 3 minutes before taking out off the oven, sprinkle the Gauda over the top  of everything and let it melt.  I served them with mashed potatoes and tomato sauce and it was really really delicious!

Dober tek! (bon apettit:))

I'm going to the seaside for 14 days tonight! I didn't finish some things I plan on doing by hand, so that I will have something to do at the beach:)

I started on my biggest item and I'm soooo excited. The only fear I have is that I will not be able to pack this thing up and send it to the other side of the world... maybe I should just go ahead and make two while I'm at it:)