Cable Tidy

I have a craft fayre coming up so I need some quick projects to add to my stock.  This one used up some of the fabric scraps that I feel so compelled to stash.  It has solved my own problem of containing those various pesky cables that keep getting entangled.

Leftover Lucy

I'm sure that I'm not the only one with  collections of scrap papers, card, ribbons, fabric etc. It is always satisfying to find projects that will reduce the volume of these.

I chose a pattern from Debbie Shore's Sew Inspired  2 magazine to make this rag doll for a friend's grandchild.

I'm sure that some of these materials are from items that I made about 40 yrs ago.  It only goes to show that if you keep something long enough you will eventually find a use for it!  (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

A Free Gift Goes to a Good Cause

As a member of the Create and Craft Club I have the opportunity of receiving free gifts during the year.  I don't always send for them as they need to be worth the £2.99 postage.  However, the last one was Craftwork Cards products so I decided that I could use them to make cards for charity.

Here are some of the 30 cards that I have made to date. 

I still have enough resources to make some more.  Not bad for my £2.99 outlay.  The base cards and envelopes were a purchased some years ago and I am delighted to reduce my stash, even if it is by a small amount !! These are on their way to the local Shelter shop.

I have been diverted recently to sewing and jewellery making projects.  Here are some of my makes.

 

 
 
 
 
 

A New Year of Crafting

It's been a while since my last post.  I have a list of excuses that I won't bore you with except for the fact that I did go back to work for the last six months of the year. I retired three and a half years ago but was asked to help out until a new person was appointed with a job that I did in the 1990s.  It was a challenge that I enjoyed enormously. I involved two of my great loves - the use of computers in special education and working with individual children.


To start off the year .... my last year's Christmas card.  As I mentioned in the previous post, have I been attending a weekly watercolour class so I decided that I would use my new skills to produce the card.

My new Canon scanner/printer takes card really well so it was quite a straightforward process. It was so easy to just print those extra cards that you always seem to need. 


I would also like to show a sewing project that I completed last week - a paintbrush roll.  This will keep them all together instead of searching in different places for a particular brush. I recycled some Laura Ashley material that I had used to make a blind - many moons ago.






I bought a shower very cheaply curtain from Asda to use as the lining. Hopefully this will wipe clean.

I'm really pleased with the result.

It's Been a While..

It's been a while since I posted but I have not been idle  (in the crafting sense ).
Life does get in the way -  I'm sure that you will agree.

As a gentle reintroduction to blogging again, I will post some of the things that I have made during my absence. Here is the first:

 I followed a tutorial that I found here. I made minor adjustments to the pattern but they  are basically the same. I did decide to reinforce the base using a heavy duty interfacing as I felt that this gave a little more stability to the final product.

These were given as a gift to the long awaited arrival of Imogen - the first granddaughter of a friend.

New Project

I have had a break from card making in recent months.  I have devoted most of my time to making jewellery and, more recently, to sewing.  Have still been making the odd card for friends and of course my Christmas cards were all handmade with the proceeds going to Shelter Scotland.

One of my newest projects  has been these iPad/ tablet beanbags.  They can be used to support your device on your lap, on a table or in bed without having to hold it in your hands.

Those pictured above are the largest size measuring 30cm in width and 40cm in length. I have made smaller versions for the iPad mini and for phones or iPods.

They were well received as Christmas gifts and at a couple of craft fairs that I attended so I will continue to make them if the demand is there.

 

 

There's Been a Murder!

We went to a Murder, Mystery Evening last night at a friends' house. We were all given characters beforehand and had to be suitably dressed for the occasion.

My husband was to be a suave and dashing French count and had to wear an evening suit. Now, he though that someone was having a laugh because he has none of these characteristics! He wanted to return the joke by wearing one of those tee shirts with a dinner jacket printed on to it. Too late to get from the internet and none available in town, so I said that I would make one myself.

A black teeshirt was found and I drew the shape of the collar and front with tailor's chalk then used a close zig zag stitch on my machine to follow the lines. I sewed on 4 buttons to give a double breated look and a hint of a silver waistcoat ,a bowtie and a silk flower completed the look. Here he is trying, (unsuccessfully) to be suave and dashing

A pillowcase became a maid's apron and hat for my part.

It turned out to be the best fun that I have had in ages and the murderer turned out to be me!

The relentless quest for organised craft space

I seem to spend as much time tidying up my crafting materials as I do crafting nowadays. Keeping my ever growing stash in order is one of my top priorities in life. How sad am I??

Here is my latest idea. I saw something similar in an infant classroom some years ago. The teacher had stapled pieces of card together to hold her pupils' rolled up artworks.

I have made mine out of sturdy cotton that was left over from my aunt's conservatory blinds. It is essentially a long rectangle, folded in half and sewn at intervals to create pockets. I then folded the top edge over a trouser hanger and sewed it into place. All unfinshed edges had been zigzagged first to stop fraying. It hangs in my craft cupboard and I no longer have to waste time searching for what I need as I can see everything at a glance.

How long can a pair of jeans last?

Number one son appeared yesterday to pick up his favourite pair of jeans after I had mended them for the umpteenth time. My sewing machine does a good job in darning the worn areas but I have told him that if there is a next time then it will have to be to convert them into a pair of shorts.

This reminded me of a pair of his old jeans that I had used to make into a craft tote bag. I cut the legs off, used part of one to make a base and the handles and hey presto....somewhere else to store my craft stuff. The pockets are already there so it was a relatively straightforward project.

Now what can I do with the other leg? Watch this space!!!