Wednesday 31 December 2008
Ouch!!!
Sunday 28 December 2008
A Christmas Surprise from Australia..... Many thanks Lise
Also some lovely Moda fabric.
I have never actually seen any Moda fabric in my hands before and it really is lovely. This is very generous of Lise to send this and I shall think very carefully about what I shall use it for.
This was totally out of the blue and a really kind thought. Lise said in her card a thank you for organising the swap and she really did not have to do this. I really appreciate Lise thinking of me at this time of year and she has become a blogging friend who has stayed even after the swap had finished. I hope this continues and I wish Lise and her family a Happy New Year and much more visits and links in blogland as we go into 2009.
Best wishes to you all.
xx
Wednesday 24 December 2008
Happy Birthday to me......Tra la la la.....
- Bleary eyed I sat up, (we had had friends round the night before and got to bed quite late, when did my party animal skills leave me?) and sipped my tea. I have to say that I was very spoiled with my presents and Sophie was very good because when she was two she kept ripping all of the paper off my presents and it was the fastest birthday I had ever experienced then or since!
Sophie's eye was caught by a rather large box which she wanted me to open and I really had no idea what it was and hubby sat there with a grin on his face as it was from him. I was delighted to find it was a record player that you can plug into you TV, UBS for an MP3 player etc. We are playing some of our records from the 1980's as I type this post. It will get used a lot particularly when Mr Indigo Blue goes radio control car clubbing on Friday's and it will be turned up if Sophie goes with him too.
This arrived yesterday,
Hubby answered the door and asked him by name, two apple trees so we will have to put the fence up in the garden very quickly now as it will need to grow along the fence rather than upwards as a usual tree. He then rang his parents to thank them because it is his birthday next week and one has a birthday tag and one has a Christmas tag and they said glad they have arrived but they are not for you! So I have two apple trees which will go nicely with my blackberry bush. So plenty of jam next year and other apple goodies.
We decided to go to The Eden Project for a meal but it closes at 6pm today so it was lunch instead.
Got there and half of Cornwall seemed to be there too. So we went and had a look round the Biomes first then had a lovely baked potato with hot salsa bean sauce, Sophie had a pile of cheese but she finished it bless her.My camera kept steaming up which is why it looks a little foggy.
There was a Christmas mini market and Sophie had a go at candle dipping,
Guess what it is made out of.......
Plastic carrier bags!
We had hoped to stay until the lights came on but Sophie was getting a bit tired and it was drizzling to we decided to go home.
When we got back we all sat down and watched this...
This was the first proper film that Sophie saw at the cinema and the worst bit was the trailers. Even thought there were lots of young kids watching it they still had trailers for films older then their certificated age. Sophie loved it and because she has heard a lot of ABBA in this house she sang her way through most of the film and really enjoyed watching it again tonight.
We had tea and then had some of these,
Only three candles otherwise the plate would melt!
The day went very quickly as it always does and Sophie was very good t going to bed. She was fascinated by the record player and called the records big CD's.
I have nearly finished my blue knitted bag and it has turned out well. It will form part of my new 2009 section in Etsy.
A Christmas thought for you....
Sophie: "What if Father Christmas runs out of wrapping paper? After all he has a lot of presents to wrap."
Mummy: "Oh, he has a wrapping paper machine that is run by one of Elves, he will have plenty."
Sophie (looking at me with suspicion) "Oh, are you sure?"
Mummy: "Yep"
Take care.xx
Sunday 21 December 2008
Ballet success.....
Well done my little dancer, you went in with your little group and dance teacher and came back out 20 minutes later with a smile and a chocolate Father Christmas. They all passed, it was the Pre-primary level.
Could be the first exam of many.
Just wanted to share that as I perhaps do not write a great deal about my life outside of craft.
xxxxx
Friday 19 December 2008
Christmas Holiday Break....at last.
A couple of years ago I bought this at Creative Stitches. I had seen it on previous visits but then I decided to give it a go....
Basically with this you can not only make decent arrangements in next to no time but with a variety of things, including candles! It looks like this without anything in it and you can fill each bit with water or sand etc depending what you are using. It comes apart so that you can make arrangements of different levels. You can then clean them in the dishwasher.
A handy little gadget and I have used it many times. Glad I gave in and bought it.
After lunch Sophie was low again and packed up on the sofa with her quilt that I made in the summer and dozed, so maybe I was right to keep at her home afterall. So I managed to fit in a bit of sewing. Made over the week three bags from my own pattern, two purses and started to put togther some pincushion kits with Cath Kidston and cotton fabric. I want to put some new items in Etsy for 2009. More on that another time.
Off to finish our Christmas shopping tomorrow while Sophie has a play-date with a school friend.
Take care all.
Thursday 18 December 2008
Christmas Swap Delight.. Thankyou Julia
Lots of very interesting packages.
The first one that I opened was this lovely star!!
It is made from sparkly felt with lots of beading, sequins and embroidery stitches. It is a lovely colour. The hanging loop ribbon reminded me of something and then I remembered that is is the same as that which Julia put in the fabric giveaway that I was lucky to win. It is really nice ribbon and goes very well with this decoration.
The next parcel had this hidden inside....
This cute little tree is made out of fabric and has buttons on the back and embroidery and buttons on the front. It is hanging on my tree like I have had it for years, and I will have it for years to come as well.
Then a lovely fabric cone with chocolate coins in.....
and even Tiger, the cat, was not left out, look at this huge pompom. We have re-wrapped this so that he can have something to open on the 25th!
These items along with Nan's great swap will be treasured and I am astounded at the time and effort that craft bloggers go to for people that they have never meet but have a common interest and love of the same thing ... Crafts and Making. As each day goes by I am more and more thankful that I started a blog. I have 'met some lovely people, learnt new skills and crafts, been inspired with new ideas and improved my use of the Internet and digital camera. Wish I had started one much sooner.
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Etsy up-date and Un-expected Sales...
Cath Kidston fabric pincushion. 1
Cath Kidston Pincushion 2.
Cath Kidston fabric zippered purse.
Sunday 14 December 2008
Eight- Square Patchwork Pincushion Tutorial.
I have to say that the size of many of my pincushions can depend on the size of the fabric at the time. The floral fabric is Cath Kidston which I bought as part of a bag of patchwork fabric, so it had already been cut into the squares seen. This tutorial will show you how I made the pincushion and not the size as it could be adjusted to suit whatever fabric you have.
Cut a total of 8 squares, 4 for the front and 4 for the back. I have used a bright pink cotton fabric to compliment the Cath Kidston fabric.
Pin a floral and pink square together in pairs and stitch using 1cm seam allowance.
By putting the pins at right angles to the edge of the fabric they will be easier to pull out (I am left handed which is why the pins are facing this way), you will not hit them with the machine needle should you forget to remove them and you are less likely to catch yourself when sewing and get blood on your work!
After each seam you should always iron it flat. Whilst studying for all of my courses (degree mainly) we were always told 'sew then iron, then sew and iron'. Boring to hear at the time but very true. You get a perfectly flat item at the end.
You will then to add the pairs together to make two sets of four squares. The key here is to try and match up the centre which is nit always easy. It looks right when pinned and then once stitched, you open it up and it is off centre again! I tip that I have learnt to gain a matching centre is by ironing the seams in opposite directions. See picture below:
Carefully stitch as before.
Hopefully you will end up with a lovely matching seam centre like this.
Stitch both sets together to end up with the above.
Put right sides together and again try and match up the seams. Decide where the opening will be to put the stuffing in and stitch around the outside.
Again, put the pins in at right angles to the fabric edge.
Once turned round the right way your pincushion should look like this. Push out the corners so that they look as neat as possible.
Stuff the pincushion firmly and tuck in the raw edges.
Line up the edges carefully and pin. Then using matching thread stitch up the gap using small stitches.
Put the end of the decorative braid in the centre of the pincushion and attach it with a few stitches, then wrap it around the cushion to look like a parcel. Again stitch it in place.
The joins of the cord is then hidden by using buttons. here I have layered two flower shaped buttons in colours to compliment the fabric. I took the needle right through the pincushion and put another button on the back. By stitching right through the pincushion through both buttons will make the centre dip down and make it firmer in the centre. To cast off I wrapped the thread around the button and knotted it so that it sat underneath the button. You must make sure that it is knotted off securely.
Once I had finished the pincushion I saw that there was enough Cath Kidston fabric to make a needle case to go with it.
I cut the piece of fabric that I had left into an even rectangle and stitched a matching strip of braid down the centre front of the needle case cover.
Using some left over pink fabric I then lined the needle case to hide the stitching and to give it extra strength.
I then used pink craft felt to make pages for the needles to go into and stitched this through the centre of the case.
Very simple to do and gained a matching needle case too.
There is perhaps nothing really new here but for anyone who has not made something like this before it may be of some help. The set will be put in my Etsy shop in the next few days.
Since creating this tutorial I have created kit versions of this pincushion and they are available in my Etsy shop. They come with full colour picture instructions etc. Or you can place an order and specify a colour scheme.
Take care.