Crafty Catch Up

Just a quick post to share what I've been up to craft wise. 

I have mentioned that I wanted to make something patchwork but while I was looking through my fabric I found something that I'd started but had forgotten about. Last May I purchased some pre cut squares of vintage fabric and had sewn some plain natural colour fabric on to the back of the pieces with the intention of making a fusion blanket. That was as far as I got with it so this week I've been busy sewing blanket stitch around the edges of the squares. There are 60 squares in total and I'm about half way through with the blanket stitching.

These are some of my favourite prints.
               The fabric was purchased from Ebay seller, coneygarth.

I've also started to knit a multi stripe cardigan using a pattern from an old Let's Knit magazine. This was to use wool from my stash but I needed to buy a couple of balls so that I had enough. I bought the extra wool from Deramores. I've now remembered why I don't knit so much these days, I'm in agony with my hands after just a couple of days knitting so this cardy is going to take a while.

Little L asked if she could try knitting again so we got her little needles out and had another go. The thing with Little L is that she gets distracted so easily by anything ... the dog, the telly, other peoples conversations. I cast on 20 stitches and counted them after every row she knitted (at one point she ended up with 34). She's get there in the end.

Dog T-Shirt

Our pup seemed to find it a bit cold in our house last week and while he didn't mind being bundled up in a blanket and be carried about like a baby, it's not very practical. At one point I even put the central heating on for him. I knew that Boston terriers feel the cold, that's why there are lots of photo's online of them wearing clothes and while I don't think it is chilly at all yet, Opie was shivering. 

We bought him the smallest t shirt that we could find in our local Pets At Home but the armholes were too big so his legs slipped out and he got in a bit of a taggle. Also he wasn't keen on the hood.

  

I looked online and found this free dog t shirt pattern and I made him some today using a couple of old t shirts. It fits much better than the one we purchased and so far he hasn't tried to pull it off.

New Family Member (and it's not a dog)

Last weekend we took Caleb to pick up his new pet, a crested gecko.

 He didn't want to buy one from a pet shop as the gecko's he had seen had no tails. (I thought they would grow back as they do with most lizards but once they drop off on this species, that's it). He found someone who breed them from their home and arranged to collect it. We already had a vivarium stored in the loft from when we had anoles and geckos years ago.

The gecko is female and has been named Tig. I think she's quite cute. She has little spikes just above her eyes which I think look like false eyelashes. She has been handled every day so is very tame and usually just crawls about on your arms though you have to be ready for the odd jump. Caleb's had her sat on a stool feeding her banana from a teaspoon. (He has his own separate spoon for this. I like lizards but I don't fancy sharing my cutlery with one)

My lovely next door neighbour popped round with these this week. Yesterday I made apple cake and applesauce cookies. Today it will be apple crumble then I'll stew the rest to put in the freezer.

I made a start on making Christmassy things this week, two stockings for dogs. The Molly stocking is for my cousin's Shih Tzu pup and Opie is for our dog when we bring him home. I used this free pattern for the bone shape.

It was so hard trying to think of a name for the dog. The only one most of us agreed on was Opie. Now Caleb has named his pet Tig it looks as though we're choosing characters names from Sons Of Anarchy ... but we're not.

Felt Cactus

Today the sewing machine was out so I could do some mending and while it was set up I made this quick cactus hoop art.

The inspiration for this came from a little plant that was a gift from Little L. I don't know who thought it was a great idea to glue things on to a plant but when I tried to remove the hat I snapped the top of the plant. I've squashed it back together hoping that it will heal its self and not die on me.

The felt pieces were all machine sewn on

then the embroidery and wobbly eyes were added.

These are the pattern pieces that I made to make it.

Fleece Ear Warmers

A few weeks ago Jenny from Winnibriggs House posted a handy tutorial for making ear warmers and hosted a giveaway for the materials to make one. I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients.

This lovely package arrived at the end of last week. It contained a beautiful hand written card, fleece in a chosen colour plus some black fleece to practise on or make extra ear warmers, velcro for the fastens and two pins to attach to the warmers. As Jenny knew I would be making mine for Little L she made some especially for her depicting some of her interests.

Aren't they cute? Little L was delighted. I think that Caleb (who will be 18 next month) even had his eye on the pirate one. It's a wonder him didn't try to bribe it off her.

After the weekend I got cracking straight away. There was no way Little L was going to let me hang about knowing that they were for her.

She loves them. So handy in cold weather especially as Little L as an aversion to woolly hats. 
If you would like to have a go at making some for yourself the tutorial can be found here. Thank you again Jenny for this kind thoughtful gift.

Felt Heart Cushion

Today I made another heart themed item, a cushion which is going to be a Valentines Day gift for Little L. The only cushion pad I had at hand measures 12in x12in so it's not very big.

After my fabric pieces were cut out I pinned the felt hearts in to position and drew on heart shapes in between. The hearts are spaced about an inch apart.

The felt hearts were sewn on using my sewing machine then the hearts that I had drawn on were outlined in chain stitch with embroidery thread.

The cushion has a simple envelope closing back. I inserted some pom pom edging when I joined the front and back pieces together.

Jute Heart Bunting

Last week I began to dismantle these jute gift bags that have been hanging around the house for a while. The fabric was quite stiff as the back had been coated, it looks like a layer of dried glue.

I was limited as to what to reuse use the fabric for due to the size of the pieces and I settled on making some bunting.

I marked out a triangle and heart shape on to the fabric

and chain stitched around the heart shape with some DK cotton yarn.

I cut out the triangle shapes and using a sewing machine, sewed on the crocheted edging

then glued some buttons on to the top corners of the triangle.

Crafty Catch Up

Today I'm sharing a few things that I have recently finished making. 

I began to crochet this blanket quite a while ago and after a quick look through my old posts I saw it was July 2013 (I didn't realise it was that long ago). I did start with the intention of it being a large blanket but it seems I got bored.

The blanket is made from 95 hexagons and measures approximately 31in x 42in.

I sewed some black fleece on to the back to tidy it up abit and for extra warmth.

The wool arrived to make the zig zag Hilda mitts from the Pretty Knitted Hands book.

The pattern was very easy to read and I'd finished them in a couple of days. I've been wearing them out ever since as it is still quite chilly here.

At the moment Little L loves to play on the tsum tsum game app so I made these Chip N Dale coasters inspired by the game.

For the pattern I used some free Disney colouring pages which I resized in Photoshop.

At the moment I'm in the process of dismantling some jute gift bags but I'm not sure what to use the fabric for yet.

Crafting For Christmas

Over the past couple of months I've been making a few bits and bobs ready for Christmas. These are what I've made some far.

A poinsettia cushion. I have seen a few versions of these on Pinterest. The tutorial that I used can be found here.

Simple hearts using Christmas print fabric and free motion embroidery holly leaves. 

Some mini gingerbread men magnets for my Mum. 

A Father Christmas hanging decoration. The triangular Santa design is something else that I have seen in Pinterest. 

The hanger at the top is a curtain grommet covered with felt with all the bits and bobs glued on.

Spooky Sewing

Having a couple of hours spare before Little L was due home from school today I wanted to try and fit in a quick project. With Halloween almost here I decided on making the character Oogie Boogie from one of my favourite films, The Nightmare Before Christmas. I settled on this character because he isn't very detailed and I knew that I already had suitable materials.

The fabric I used for the body is from some old curtains that belonged to my Mum. The eyes, mouth and slit in the tummy were cut from black felt and sewn on by sewing machine. I then used embroidery thread to make stitches around his mouth and tummy slit. A line of straight stitch was sewn all the way around followed by a row of zig zag stitch. I did this because the fabric is a quite loose weave and frays a lot. I chose to sew the body parts together this way because I wanted him to have a bit of a tatty look to him. The little plastic spiders were attached using a hot glue gun.

Dressing Hats

On my last post I showed that I had practised making a corset on a plant pot. 

Today I made the actual ones. These hats belong to one of my friends and now they have their corsets on she will finish dressing them with other steampunky bits and pieces. I love the fabric that she chose and think it goes well with the style of hat.

Crafty Catch Up

I've not really made much this month but I thought I'd share what I've been up to.

I used up lots of scrap bits of wool making this bag. I'd seen one like it over on Helen Philipps blog and loved the use of turquoise as the main colour.

I lined the inside and the strap then added some pom poms to the bottom.

Little L had seen a pom pom rug on Pinterest so we used more scrap wool to make lots of them. They need a good trim yet and we still have many more to make.

I started to make something with a shark on for Little L but I haven't quite finished that yet as I need to use a staple gun. My hands can't do it so I have to rope Anders in to help me with things like that.

I've sewn some small toys in to waterproof packets to leave in containers when we go Geocaching.

I had an odd request this week from a friend asking me if I could make a corset for a hat. It was to dress it up steampunk style. Having never made a corset before I had a go but the only object that I could find in our house with a similar shape was a plant pot. I never thought I'd be doing that when I woke up that day.