I Was a Winner.

Boy, oh, oh, boy, I was a winner in a blog giveaway run by DragonflyCrafts. Look at the lovely goodies I received.

The parcel with lovely photo card.

The contents. The sewing on these is just so even and the colours fit together beautifully. Thanks very much, Fiona.

On the creating front a few felt softies have been created. The first was an elephant - made as a sample to show a group of children. the pattern came from the very useful book on my bookcase - My First Sewing Book Hand Sewing by Winky Cherry. The patterns in this book have been ever so useful over a long period of time.

The eyes are split pins and the tail has been plaited on after the sewing was finished. The idea for the split pin eyes came from the kits I have purchased from Paper and String. The elephants sewn by the children were then decorated with glitter and fabric paints whereas mine was left very plain.

Second on the felt softie creating spree was a little car. This time I created the pattern myself with some help from some images found trawling the web. Again this was a model to inspire a group of children.

When I worked on this softie with the children we left out the split pin idea. I had tried this to see if it would look like a door handle but in the end decided the car looked fine without this addition. I did wonder about adding buttons for the wheels but have not tried out that idea yet.

Last on the creation line were some Perching Doves from Fa La La La Felt. I purchased an ebook copy of this great little book of felt Christmas decorations and chose the doves to have a go at first. I tried out several different variations before settling on the way I like to make these. They are a little addictive - I couldn't just make one!

With these two I followed the directions in the book to stitch the wing detail but I added the curve at the top of the wing and a second row of decorative stitching inside the first.

With these two I experimented with stitching on a wing that I had cut out with pinking shears but in the end found this to be a little fiddly. I also experimented with both blanket stitch and running stitch around the outside and decided that I preferred the running stitch. I love the way Amanda Carestio has designed these to be sewn onto pegs! Instead of buttons for the eyes I again resorted to split pins.

The ripple blanket is still slowly growing - lucky for me the recipient is so relaxed about when she will get the finished item!

Happy Crafting

Still here!!

Ok, you could be excused for thinking we'd vanished for the amount we've been posting lately but we're still here!! The week before Christmas was pretty hectic and things didn't slow down until New Year's or so and this past week we have been away with no Internet access. Hence the small number of posts. Christmas itself was really good, we got to see some family we don't usually see including the littlies, we ate (lots) and of course there were the presents:

My haul, including having one of my cross-stitches framed, clothes, camera bag, DVDs and crafty stuff. Not to mention the vouchers (shopping spree!!)

My contributing for presents for the newest littlies went from this pile of fabrics (including a gorgeous vintage? Peter Rabbit cotton):



to these:



They are from the Softies book and I love them! They were easy to make and the only problems were the arms not sewing in quite properly but some hand sewing work fixed that. The blue one has been given and although the recipient is a bit young to appreciate the idea of Christmas presents, Mum and Big Sis were happy with him.

The pink one is going a way further and is waiting for a baby calendar to be finished before she and a texture cloth with her name embroidered on the back get sent away all together. It will be a rather late birth/Christmas present by the time it gets there, oh well.



And last but not least, an update on my underwater cross-stitch:


I'm more than halfway now :-) All of the right end is finished including backstitch and the left side only has 3 fish, 2 sea-weed plants, bubbles and a whole lot of water in it. I'm hoping to get it done really quickly, hopefully before June, but it should definitely be done before the end of 2009 :-) It's the biggest cross-stitch I've ever done but it isn't taking the longest, yay!


I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year's and that your 2009 is full of health and happiness.

Christmas is coming...

We're definitely heading towards the bust part of the year now! Everything's going on now that the year is beginning to wrap up.

So, a few quick updates on what's been going on.



This photo of my 'Underwater' cross-stitch is a bit out of date but it's mostly boring blue water and the small red fish at the top that I've been working on. I'm at home at the moment with a rotten head cold so more work that usual has been done on the stitching, mostly in front of the TV. It's finally gotten to big for our little scanner so it's photos only from now on!



Speaking of photos, I've been playing around with my camera a bit and this is my favourite of the photos I've taken so far. It's of pins in my pincushion and was taken with my camera's super-macro function. I think that particular function will see a lot of use in the future somehow.



And last but not least, here's a sneak peek of something I've been working on for my new cousin Emma. It's not finished yet and you'll have to wait til after the present has been received to see what the end product will be.

Now I just have to work out what on earth to give for Christmas presents this year, and there's a birthday between now and then too! My family are getting harder to sort out presents for each year.

More of the Christmas sewing!

I know that Christmas is over but after is the best time to share what was created as gifts. For my niece I wanted to sew something so out came all the old patterns and a call was made to confirm sizes. Boy is it hard to sew for someone only seen every now and again.

The pattern finally decided upon was New Look 6724 - view 3.



Not at all difficult for a last minute gift. The cross over bodice is one that I used lots when my daughter was little. I used snaps for the shoulders because I just didn't feel like facing the buttonholes at the last minute but am a little worried that this active little girl will kneel on the dress and the pulling might open the snaps. Putting the snaps in was a drama on its own with a lapse in concentration leading to one being applied the wrong way round and having the be carefully prised off and another one applied.



The hem was finished with one of my favourite techniques. the hem is pressed up first and then I apply the lace to the hem facing with the overlocker, re-press the fold and stitch along the hem from the right side. It gives a sort of mock petticoat look. This applies the lace and finishes the raw edge of the hem in one go. Fortunately for me I had this pretty lace sitting in the stash and it was just the right amount!



I was not able to see the dress on the little recipient but got some feedback that it was a little too big. I would rather that than it be too small. The depth of the armhole makes it a very loose fit but it also allows room for a t-shirt to be worn underneath.

Christmas is over and Happy New Year

Well Christmas is over and the new year has begun. I can now share some of the things crafted before Christmas as the gifts have been given, opened and taken to new abodes.

First up the finished product from this post.

From Secret Christ...

Thanks so much to Autum from Creative Little Daisy who created this wonderful applique based on the owls created by Moonstitches from this book.

Autum was so generous in giving me permission to use her applique design on a big, roomy bag that I made for my Mum for Christmas. I had previously made one of the little owls following Moonstitches tutowlrial for her and when I came across this design on flickr I just knew that it would look great on a bag. The bag is big and had a pocket on the inside with two sections.

I based the construction of the bag on the instructions for a tote from the Bend the Rules Sewing book. I also found the flickr group for Bend The Rules Sewing to be very helpful. It has lots of great pictures of finished products and also has many useful discussions about all the patterns in the book.

I also sewed some little drawstring bags following the instructions from here. Unfortunately as these were created very close to Christmas there are no photos. One was for a little teddy to live in, one was for a travel games bag that held a Yahtzee score pad, dice and two packs of playing cards and the last one held a stretchy frog.

I made two more pencil rolls as blogged about here. One was made from bright yellow fabric with coloured dots and the other from some blue fabric with soccer players. The only modification was to add a layer of fabric to the felt closure as I have found that the felt stretched when used on its own.

Last was a little dress which I will save for another post.

Happy New Year to anyone who wanders past.

Christmas Ornament

During my blog cruising this week I came across this little birdie. This, along with the purchase of some Christmas fabric, inspired me to create the little bird below. I have not added the bead feet to this ornament but will try that with the next one.



The wings are held on with the buttons and the eyes are sequins and small beads. The hanging ribbon is threaded through the body by making a small hole with a piercing tool.

I used the sewing technique from I'll Teach Myself Sewing Machine Fun by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan. The design is drawn onto freezer paper and this is ironed on to the fabric before anything is cut out. Batting is sandwiched between two pieces of fabric (the top piece has the freezer paper pattern pieces ironed onto it) and pinned together. Each pattern piece is then sewn around and then cut out just outside the stitching line. I used pinking shears. I have had the book on my shelf for quite a while and found it very useful when Avid Crafter and her brother were starting to use the sewing machine. I have seen another book called The Best of Sewing Machine Fun in my local Spotlight store recently.



The book has instructions and patterns for a button up dog or cat. Avid Crafter and I have made the cat and Avid Crafter attached her cat to a patchwork bag. The cat and dog are about 28cm wide and 26cm high. My ornament is about 9.5cm wide and 8cm high. This small size made it a little trickier to cut out with the pinking shears.

Have you seen?

No crafting to show but have you seen:

Moonstitches flat owls for banners. I made one of the owls that she has the tutowlrial for and I am itching to try this next idea.

This potholder by Creative Little Daisy. I love the colours and the whimsical look that this owl has!

This cool Christmas decoration idea. Do you remember making yarn dolls? I couldn't help myself so one was made yesterday but no photo yet.

I have sent my little monster off in the post to meet all the other softies that are assembling at Meet Me At Mikes for the Mirabel Foundation. I hope he travelled safely and is catching up with all the gossip.

Avid Crafter is very busy making many more button necklaces. Hopefully she will post some pictures when they are all finished. We are looking forward to a girls' weekend as the boys have gone spectatoring at the V8 Supercars!!

Starting on Things Christmas

Yes it is time to start thinking and organising gifts and bits and pieces for Christmas. I know it is only October but when you like to craft most of your gifts an early start is a good thing! These little felt mittens with decorate our Christmas tree and will be given to various people as small gifts at Christmas. The pattern is delightfully simple and I purchased it from my local craft store several years ago. The original pattern came complete with the felt, thread and button to be able to make several mittens. Nice and easy to put together using blanket stitch. The star and heart a stitched on with large, primitive stitches and I sew the button on even though the pattern suggests glue.



Christmas has changed again for me now that my children have hit "teenagedom".

They no longer awake early looking for signs of stockings filled with surprises and I am awake before them. Many pleasant Christmas mornings in the past have begun with us listening as the letter from Santa is read aloud and commented on before little rustlings sounds indicated stockings being explored.

They still enjoy the spirit of Christmas and love the gradual accumulation of parcels under our tree. We have a family tradition of not counting down to Christmas until after our son's December birthday. The day after his birthday the tree is taken out of its box and all the accumulated decorations are placed upon it. I am glad that they still both take part in this Christmas tradition. Our decorations are an eclectic collection of handmade and store bought items that have grown with the years of marriage. I love how the tree looks with all the different types of decorations mingling on it.

I am still struggling with an idea for this year's cards. I will be using my gocco machine for part of the idea that I am still pondering at the moment. Every now and then I think back wistfully to when both children wholeheartedly helped with stencilled cards, glittered cards and lots and lots of drawings for calendars that were given as gifts. The calendars are still made but the style has changed a lot and the contribution from my son has shrunk proportional to the years he has grown since we started creating them. Just part of the cycle of family life.

To finish this post here is another Art Rage image I created the other day. The inspiration for this came from an Usborne Art Activity book.