Giant Fabric Snakes and Ladders– Tutorial

Several months ago I decided that what my nephews couldn’t live without was a giant snakes and ladders game, big enough for them to use themselves as counters. 



Annoyingly this is the only photo I took of the finished game, sorry for the poor quality, I should really have ironed it before photographing it.

Right here is a quick guide to how I made it:

Firstly cut out your fabric – you will need quite a lot of fabric, I used 36 squares, each about 14” x 14”.  I was lucky enough to win a bundle of blue fabrics in giveaway a few months ago and with the addition of a few fabrics from my stash, I had enough to make it with.



Lay them out on your table to see how they look.

Next print out or draw lots and lots of numbers.  I printed 4 numbers on a landscape sheet of A4 paper, and this seemed to fit well in the squares.  Next trace the numbers onto bondaweb, (remember to trace them in reverse otherwise your numbers will be backwards when you stick them on) iron them onto some white cotton and cut them out.



Here is my pile of fabrics and numbers.

Your next job is to iron the numbers into the centre of each square, and then the time consuming bit – use a zig zag stitch to outline each of the numbers.  I used to bright blue thread so it stands out from the numbers.  Sorry no photo of this step, but I’m sure you can get the idea from my main photo.

Start to sew your squares together



Make sure you sew them in the right order as you want number 7 to be above number 6, so the rows go back and forth.

I used some felt to make the word Win on the final square, just to make it different from the other squares.
Once you’ve sewn them all together, you can either hem all around the outside edge or you can back it with another large piece of fabric.  I used a cheap patterned poly cotton to back it with. 

Next make and decorate some snakes and ladders from felt to place on the game.  This was my daughters job as she really wanted to help.





We made 2 snakes and 2 ladders, both different sizes, but you can make as many as you like.

So there you go, a giant snakes and ladders game.  If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to answer them.

Sally

Cross Stitch Instant Downloads

I have been crafting over the last few weeks, and a few times I’ve tried to write a blog post about it, but words seem to be playing tricks on me and hiding somewhere deep inside my brain and refusing to come out, no matter how much chocolate I try to bribe them with.  It seems that the longer I’m absent on here for the harder it is to write anything that makes any sense at all!

So today I thought I’d keep the words to a minimum and share a couple of photos of some cross stitch patterns that I have been designing:

This one is called “Through the Square Window: Animals” and is a collection of 9 cartoon animals.

And this one is “Game On! Retro joystick” based on a drawing by my son.

Both are very different styles, but both patterns are available as an instant download in my Etsy shop priced at a very reasonable £2.70 and £2.03.

Now my first post for a while is over I’m hoping that words will come a bit easier – we shall see!

Sally

xxx

Why?

Do you ever have the urge to make something that serves no purpose and has no reasoning behind it other than ‘just because’?

My banana basque was one of these mad ideas

as was a teeny tiny mouse with it’s house – (Mr D&D couldn’t quite figure out why I was printing cheese wallpaper for that one, my answer ‘just because’!)

here’s another photo of the mouse so you can see just how tiny he is:

Well today I’ve been working on another of my ‘just because’ projects.  Did you think I was going to show you yet?  Nope, sorry, it’s not quite ready for showing, but be assured it’s the maddest one yet!

Something to look forward to

Sally

xxx

Minion, mini-Minion and mini-mini-Minion

I was spending a lovely few minutes browsing on Etsy and what should jump out of the page shouting “Pick me….pick me!” but this crochet pattern for a Minion.  The pattern is for two different Minions, but this one was my favourite.

I must admit to making a few changes to the pattern, simply because I didn’t have the exact colours required and I didn’t have any toy eyes so I crocheted the first row of the eye with black wool instead.  Not quite as cute, but acceptable.

Once I’d finished, my mind begun whirring and I wondered how easy it would be to make a mini-minion:

And then, just because I could, I made a mini-mini-minion!

The tiny one doesn’t have arms and legs so is more of a jelly bean shaped minion, but I though he was cute anyway. 

Sally

xxx

Crafty Creatives

So far I haven’t shared any of my makes from February’s Crafty Creatives Box, so without further ado, here are a couple of the makes.  The first is a design that features on their blog, and as I had a friend’s birthday to craft for I decided to make it:



The candles are straws from the box and the green stripey tape was also in the box.  I only had to add a stamp, some string for the candle wicks and a card.  It was lovely and quick to make and made a really effective card.

The kit inside the box was a spotty clay heart.  I’ve never tried crafting with polymer clay, and was really excited about trying this kit. My kit had pink and blue clay and these are the pendants I created from the instructions:



I made the blue one first and then mixed the colours to make the purple one.  There was plenty of clay in the kit, so I gave the rest to Daisy to play with.  This is what she came up with:



She made two pendants and then with the last of the clay she made some clay beads which she is planning on turning into a bracelet. 

This box is far and away my favourite so far, I loved the kit and there was nothing in the box I won't use.  

Sally
xxx

A New Friend & Artist Trading Cards

At the beginning of the year I saw a blog post on Whipstitch asking if anyone would like email sewing buddies.  I signed up, and using a very scientific calculation (favourite colour - Red & number - 7) I was matched with Ginger who lives in North Carolina. 

Our first challenge was to create and exchange an Artist Trading Card.  I must confess I had to look this one up as I’d not heard of them before, but once I’d found out a bit about them, I set to making one.

This is the ATC that Ginger sent to me:



How lovely is that flower.  I’ve been reliably informed it’s a Kanzashi flower, another new technique for me to have a look at.

Here is the back of the ATC:



Ginger also sent me a gift of Fat Quarter of fabric, in a lovely bluey colour, which I've used as the background for the photo.  Such a pretty piece of fabric and it'll be perfect for several projects I have brewing in the back of my mind.

Just in case you are interested, here is my take on the ATC:



I stamped onto some white fabric, and used free motion embroidery, buttons and fancy machine stitches to hold all of the fabric together.  I wanted the card to reflect the two countries we lived in, so I chose red, white and blue fabric.

It was a really fun challenge, and a good way to get to know our sewing buddies. Thanks again for the card Ginger, it's now propped up on a shelf in my sewing room.

Sally
xxx

Simply Homemade issue 27

Slightly later than I’d intended to show this, but here are my ballet themed items in this month’s issue of Simply Homemade

A ballet bag, some crochet legwarmers, a bun cover and a tutu.

How pretty!  If you have a girl who loves dancing then these patterns are just perfect.

Sally

xxx