A Name Change + Some New Items

   This week I've been sewing a bunch of stuff and updating my Etsy shop. I decided to change my little business name and image because the previous name, Too Cute was a little confusing, people usually thought everything I made was for little girls. It is 18.0.7 now, which is a very important date for me and it won't limit the style of my products. I've also been designing new items, to keep it fresh. I'm getting ready for a reopening, I'm giving Etsy another chance. So all in all a very productive week!

   From the new items I've been designing this week, I decided to give a couple of them a go. I normally design my patterns digitally and tend to work on a few at a time to not loose the inspiration. I've been working on this one for a couple of weeks and my first try was a total fail...

...but if it wasn't for the crooked top-stitch on the outside of the second one, it would have been a total success.

   I'll still make a couple of adjustments but otherwise I really loved the outcome. This wallet was the result of the amount of times I've been asked if I sell actual wallets with card slots and coin pockets. My billfolds have 2 card slots but apparently grown-ups need a lot more so I doubled the amount ;). This wallet has 2 bill pockets, 4 card slots and a coin pouch that is attached to its center. It also closes all around with a zipper, so your treasures will be more than safe. <3

   The other thing I worked on was this clutch/cosmetic bag/thing that I've seen some lovely Brazilian ladies make since I started sewing. They call it by many names but most of them agree that its procedence is Japanese. It was love at first sight so I set on my way to make it, but there was no pattern... I saw that one of them had a link to a tutorial and I clicked to see that it was obviously in Portuguese and all the measurements in centimeters. It was a bit hard to understand but at least gave me an idea of the proportions and of how it was put together with lining and all so I started to design my own pattern. I'll make some changes next time but think I succeeded. :D

   It measures 9.5" x 5" x 4.5" and you can fit tons of stuff inside. It closes with a zipper and a flap, for added safety and prettiness. :)

What have you been up to?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news!

   A couple of weeks ago my friend Diane from Diane Writes awarded me with the Liebster Award. I can't say with words how thankful I am for her friendship.

   The badge originated from Germany and it is given to "up and coming" blogs who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word which means dearest or beloved.

I am passing this badge to other blog friends who deserve it. They are:

1) Jenna from Sew Savoir Faire
2) Suki from The Owl Club
3) Bean from Crafty Times

Fabric Crush #26

Michael Miller Gnomeville Border Red | Available here

   I bought some of this fabric almost a year ago and I LOVE it so much that I've been hoarding it until now. I made a super cute big bag, lined with Kona Caramel and added a red plastic snap to work as closure.

   A couple of days ago I snapped a couple of pictures of it through Instagram and guess what! I sold it, pretty much through Instagram.

   I hope its new owner will love it, cherish and enjoy it. :D

My Week Through Instagram

   I think everyone who follows me on Instagram is already aware of how much I love it. These are most of the pictures I snapped and shared with the mobile application this week.

1. Fabric ON SALE!
2. Mia just noticed a bird perched on the window.
3. One of my favorite TV shows ever: Cuéntame Cómo Pasó.
4. Colorful thread spools.
5. One of my grandsons.
6. Details of my handmade purse. Made by me!
7. Another grandson.
8. Hello Kitty! <3
9. Me, stuck because of a mild flood.
10. The not so mild flood.
11. Chicken Avocado Panini. That thing was YUMMY!
12. My first macarons ever!
13. Hazelnut macaron.
14. Strawberry macaron.
15. My fabric stash in my cute thrifted cupboard.
16. I stamped a bag with my new logo stamp: 18.0.7. More on this later. ;)

Fabric Crush #25

   Ok, I'm not going to try and make it look like I wrote this post yesterday. I decided that I'm going to keep writing Fabric Crush once a week but without the pressure of having to come a specific day to do it. Maybe one day when I grow up I'll be able to schedule posts to be published on time without any trouble, but I still write my posts day to day and some days it's just impossible. So, Fabric Crush # 25!

   This week I've been obsessing over African Wax Prints. I don't know, maybe it's my African heritage but I can't help it. Those patterns, those colors...

Starburst Orange on Lime green Genuine Wax Print | Available here

   I'd make me a purse, a wallet, curtains and cozies for everything LOL; if I ever learned to make clothes (does anyone want to teach me?) I'd make me an outfit of African wax printed fabrics.

Skin Blue-Green Genuine Wax Print | Available here

   The fabrics in this post are printed in West Africa, in Ghana to be more specific and they look a lot like batik, but much more colorful. I LOVE batik! What would you make with these?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news!

   Remember the custom laptop sleeve that I told you about last week? Its lovely owner received it yesterday and was so pleased that she decided to blog about it today. Click here to go read her post. Thank you very much Jenna for such a cute post, the support and the good vibes you send my way.

Custom Order + What I've Been Up To

   During these past few days I worked on a custom order for an awesome reader. She told me that she needed a sleeve for her computer that was cute and colorful. I didn't had a pattern for a laptop sleeve so I went to Keyka Lou's pattern shop and got me her 13" sleeve pattern to start with. The laptop for which I was making the sleeve was 15.6", so I had to alter the pattern a good bit, even the darts... but in the end I loved the results.

... and I hope she likes it too.


Remember this post? When I told you about the war that I had at home because of an orange tabby kitty that I adopted. Well here he is, Cheddar being part of the family; they're all friends now. I almost cried when I saw this scene.

   I also made some changes to my banner. I changed the font of the blog's name and added the 2 new members of the family, Cheddar is the one on the bottom right and the one on top of the title is Tsuki, (Japanese for moon) she is one of Mia's babies, the Calico. I decided to keep her because as one friend said: "She already decided that this is home". Say hi to Tsuki!

   Oh! and I know that everyone already talked about it but I'm happy that Instagram is now available for Android. My username is yadiras_adventures in case you'd like to add me.

The Waffle-Era Tea Room - Review

Warning: This post is chock full of pictures. ;)

   A few weeks ago I went with my partner and some of her colleagues to this gorgeous tea room located in Old San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

   In this post I want to walk you through the experience I had from start to end. I hope you enjoy the journey!

   It was around 9:30 am so the illumination was optimal for a gorgeous photo shoot. The decoration is very eclectic and with special attention to detail.

   They are a tea room so their tea selection was huge and as their name suggests so was their waffle topping selection, varying from sweet to savory. As soon as we got there we ordered some drinks to quench the thirst. We ordered a cup of coffee and a lemon juice. The lemon juice was super yummy, it was freshly squeezed from local lemons.

Their weird coffee brewing device.

I love places that serve their food in random utensils instead of a specific set of tableware.

   But I need to say it, after the drinks everything went downhill. We ordered our food then relaxed and had fun... for about an hour... until they started serving our food. We wanted to sample a few toppings so most of us ordered different toppings to share.

Wafflito with pizza-ish topping.

Waffle topped with Manchego cheese and prosciutto.

Waffle topped with wild berries and maple syrup.

Waffle topped with pesto chicken breast, mozarella cheese and cherry tomatoes.

   The food looked gorgeous but it was cold and tasted so-so. So we ordered some sweet waffles for dessert to sweeten our morning.

My partner and me. <3

S'mores wafflito.

Wafflito with Nutella, vanilla ice cream and pecans.

AND the king of the morning! Crème brûlée wafflito.

It was heaven. <3

   I have to admit it, the only one waffle I enjoyed from all the dishes I sampled, sweet and savory was the crème brûlée wafflito. The other toppings were pretty and interesting but not impressive in the flavor and temperature area.We also had to wait over an hour for our food and our orders got mixed up BUT our waitress who happened to be the manager of the place understood our situation and gave us a juicy discount in our bill without telling us, but we noticed ;). They also had some kind of glitch going on with their bathrooms and they were sharing bathrooms with another restaurant.

   In conclusion, I'd only be back if I was dangerously craving a crème brûlée wafflito and had a lot of time to spare.

   After we left from the Waffle-Era we walked back to our cars through the pretty and antique streets of Old San Juan. I really love it there! :D