Giveaway on Sewciety

Just wanted to let everyone know that Lisanne of Sewciety is having a fantastic giveaway.  2 prizes of 5 fat quarters of Pat Bravo fabrics.  Click here to go to her blog.

Take it from me, the fabric is as gorgeous in the flesh as it looks on the photos.  Good luck to you all.

Sally

xxx





Fantastic Felt Class

 

Yesterday Elisabeth from Sewciety had arranged a felting afternoon at her house, so along with my daughter and a friend and her family we descended on poor Elisabeth’s house.  Not sure she knew what she was letting herself in for with us all trying to do everything at once, she was run ragged sorting out the adults (making wet felted slippers and tea cosies) and the children (making felt sheets, balls and cupcakes).  It was fantastic though, we were made so welcome, and nothing was too much trouble.

For once I actually took my camera & I thought I’d show you a few photos of what took place.

My friend Louise looking like she knows what she is doing.

The children (plus I managed to catch Elisabeth when she wasn’t looking!)

Louise’s hubby Jon and his slippers before they were cut.

The girls after they’d raided Elisabeth’s box of felted jumpers.

As you can see we had a great time, and best of all we each made something lovely to bring home.  Sadly I forgot to take a photo of my tea cosy after it was just felted, however today, after it had dried out and I’d embellished it with my sewing machine, I did take a couple of photos:

 

Now I need to go and buy a lovely teapot for it to keep warm!

Sally

xxx

Felt bags and VW Van Pictures

I’ve had a bit of a mad week really, with varying bits of work, illnesses (children, not me luckily) and not very much crafting!  I do have a few bits to show you if you are interested of things I’ve made over the last few weeks, that I’ve finally managed to finish.

Firstly I found a place for the VW van pictures I made.  I think I’ve already shown you the top red coloured picture that I sewed and then painted with fabric paint.  The bottom right I’ve appliquéd fabric in the shape of the same van and sewn around the edges of it.  The top right and bottom left pictures are just some lovely fabric I got from Sewciety and framed.

Sadly this is the best photo I could get as they’re in my downstairs loo and its so tiny I couldn’t get far enough away to get a photo!

My felt craze is still continuing at a fast pace – I knitted a bag from 100% wool yarn, and washed it & this is how it turned out.

I knitted the handles too but the bag felted much more than the handles.  I guess that I should probably have tested a piece of each first.  I embroidered a heart onto it with embroidery thread after I’d felted it and also sewed the handles on post-washing machine.  Its only a little bag but I’m sure I can find something to fill it with.

Finally here is the other piece of felting I’ve been playing with.

This time I made the bag in one piece by felting around a piece of oilcloth I’d cut into the shape I wanted.  It was the first time I’d attempted something like this so am pleased that it came out in the right sort of shape.  Have made some felted handles to attach to it but they’re still drying so will have to do that tomorrow. 

Talking of tomorrow after a hard morning in the carpet shop I’m off to a felting class with Elisabeth at Sewciety.  Can’t wait.  Will try to remember my camera and take lots of lovely photos.

Sally

xxx

Owl Appliqué

 

Daisy found an old denim jacket belonging to one of my older sons and has taken to wearing it everywhere.  It was a bit boyish for her so for ages I’ve been promising to add some girlie detail to it for her.  Today was the day.

I started with this jacket:

and using bondaweb added an owl made up of various pink/yellow fabrics.  Then I appliquéd round the edges of the shapes, and this is what I ended up with:

I am going to add the owl template to my other blog Kids Get Messy, so if you want to nip over there & grab it, please feel free. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Sally

xxx

Toasty warm Felt Slippers

 

This is the first post I’ve tried using Windows Live Writer, so if if comes out a bit strange, then apologies.  Am hoping that it’ll make adding photos a lot easier.

I’m not quite sure where the last couple of days have gone, I’ve been so busy running after other people that I feel my feet have barely touched the ground. So this evening I was determined to carve out a little bit of time to make something I wanted to make.

Some slippers for my daughter.  Probably not the right time of year to make them as the weather here has just begun to warm up, but I’m sure that we’ll get some more cold weather & she’ll be grateful for them!  They’re lined with some of the lovely blanket felt I have, so not only are they cheerful, they’re warm too.

I got the pattern from a copy of Homestyle Sewing that I bought back in December. 

 

I liked the pattern then & had been promising to make them. They went together fairly quickly, however I’m glad they were for my daughter and not me as they came out very narrow.  They are a bit too long for her yet, but I’m going to add a bit of elastic at the heels and then they will be fine.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll adjust the pattern and make some for me.

Sally

xxx

Felt Purse

Rather a quiet day at the carpet shop today, so I used my time wisely and made this rather lovely felt purse.

For obvious reasons I didn't have my sewing machine, so I resorted to hand-stitching. 

The stitching is little bit wonky, but I think that just adds to the charm (that's my excuse anyway!)  I have another couple cut out ready and waiting, one pink and one blue, each with slightly different pieces for the front.

I've also spent the last couple of days photographing and adding some new handbags and purses to my online shop Ditzy and Dotty. Its taken a while to do but I'm glad they're finally all up there.

Hope your day has been as productive as mine.

Sally
xxx

New Blog For Childrens Crafts

Have decided to filter out the childrens crafts from here and have made another blog where I'm aiming to add all of the crafts I do with and for my children.

My new blog is:  Kids Get Messy

If you've written any crafts aimed at children or have any ideas for crafts/projects I can cover, let me know and I'll link to you from my new blog.

I will still be writing about "grown-up" crafts here though, so don't abandon me ... please!

Sally
xxx