Work in progress–window seat cushion

Apologies for the lack of posting – I’ve had a bit of a busy couple of weeks working.  Sadly no crafting accomplished, but I have earned a little bit of money so that I can indulge my fabric habit!

Anyway, my latest project is to make a cover for my window seat.

I order some fabric from Fabricworm, which arrived a couple of weeks ago & which I absolutely love.

So for the last couple of days I’ve been cutting squares and sewing them together.  I’ve managed to make the top, bottom and side pieces, all that is left now is to put them together.

I did start cutting the squares out with the Accuquilt cutter I won, but sadly the 5” square die doesn’t cut at all cleanly and I was finding that I had to finish cutting all of the squares out manually, and I was getting a bit annoyed with it.  So I went back to the cutting mat & rotary cutter and millions (well, it felt like that) of squares later I had enough to make the cover.

Shall I say I’ll put it all together tomorrow? or will you hold me to it?  I know - I’ll say I’ll finish it by the end of next week and then it’ll be a nice surprise & will make me look highly efficient when I finish it early!

Sally

xxx

Tutorial Simple Paper Boxes

I thought I’d share a quick tutorial with you today.  Simple paper boxes that are ideal for putting small handmade gifts or chocolates in.

The good thing about these boxes is that you can make them whatever size you like – there is no real measuring involved and only 4 cuts to make – easy huh? 

You will need 2 square pieces of paper  - 1 for the top & 1 for the bottom of the box.  A4 paper cut into a square will make a box base or lid 3” x 3” (7.5cm x 7.5cm)

Find the middle, I would suggest you draw faint lines on the wrong side from corner to corner to find the middle.  These won’t be seen when the box is finished.  Then take each corner to the middle point and crease the fold.

Repeat for each of the corners

Then open them out again.

Next fold each corner up until it touches the fold on the opposite side

Repeat for all of the other corners.  Then fold each corner down to touch the line nearest to it.  (ignore the pink lines – they will be used later, I forgot to photograph this step so did it later!)

Are you still with me?  I hope this has made some sense!  Folding over now, next take your scissors and cut along the lines I’ve highlighted in pink (see I told you they would be used later!)  The ideas is that you cut down past 2 folded lines on opposite corners & down one fold on the other two corners.  Hopefully these photos will explain things a bit better.

Now for the part where you need more hands than you actually have!  Take one of the corners with the shorter cut & fold it over as in the photo below.  You will have to reverse the fold nearest to the corner point to make it lay flat on the base of the box.

Fold the opposite corner in the same way and hold it.

Then fold one of the longer edges up and over the sides.

Repeat for the other side.

Hey presto, the bottom of a box.  Repeat the above for a second time to make the lid of the box.  If you are using paper you can make both pieces the same size & they will fit together.  If you are using card or thicker paper, I suggest you make the bottom of the box slightly smaller so it will fit nicely inside the top.

Hope these boxes come in handy for lots of things.

Sally

xxx

Lucky End to the Year

At the beginning of December, I was lucky enough to win an Accuquilt Go!Baby cutter & 3 dies, in a giveaway over on Pings&Needles. (Go have a look at Sarah’s blog if you’ve not visited before – its fab!)  Well it arrived 2 days ago (the cutter that is) & I’ve been playing with it ever since!

(I really should tidy my workspace before taking photos – maybe a new years resolution?)

Look at what I’ve cut so far:

Some felt flowers using the funky flowers die, and grey shapes using the rag star & heart die.  Here is a close up of the fringing on the edge of the star:

I also cut some flowers from bright fabrics backed with bondaweb and then appliqued them to both sides of a plain white tote bag using free motion embroidery.

I then cut some 5” squares with the third cutter and used them to start making a cushion cover for my living room.

Phew, I have been busy over the last two days! 

So thank you to Sarah at Pings&Needles for finishing my year in a really lovely way.

Hope that you all have a very Happy New Year, and here’s hoping that 2012 will be filled with lots of fabric and crafting.

Sally

xxx

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas & hope 2012 brings you all everything that you wish for.

Sally

xxx

Help … there’s a sock monster in my Christmas tree

You know when you find a pair of socks that just cries out to be made into something else?  I found some socks just like that today. They are the kind with separate toes, just perfect for making a monster with a mohican & mouth tentacles.

This is my first attempt at making any sock creatures & I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be hooked on it.

Have a good weekend everyone

Sally

xxx

Lots and Lots of Crafting

Right back to crafting!  I have a few bits and bobs that I’ve saved up to show you.

Firstly, the latest issue of Simply Homemade has some New Year projects that I designed.

There is a wall hanging, notepad cover, fabric covered canvas and a purse time-capsule.  They all use freezer paper to print from the computer.  These were the first things I’d made using freezer paper, and I was really surprised how easy it was to do. I like it for adding lettering to fabric as my handwriting isn’t always the neatest.

On Saturday we had a Christmas celebration in our village.  There was festive music, a street market and also (I was very excited about this one!) Santa arrived, walking down the high street accompanied by his elves.  I was lucky enough to be offered space in a local shop (the carpet shop where I work part-time) to set up my stall, so I didn’t have to spend the evening freezing on an outdoor market stall.

It was a great evening.  My lovely mum came to help & we spent the evening socialising as well as selling a few bits and bobs.

Before I went I spent a bit of time making some gift bags to give away with purchases.

I used some decorative papers that I had got free with a couple of different crafting magazines, and just cut & glued them into small bags.  I then put a thank you note inside each bag, with my contact details.  I also used the embellishments from the paper books to add to some plain white boxes, and again stuck the same little notes inside the top cover.

Everyone seemed pleased with the little boxes and bags, and hopefully some will lead to repeat business.

And finally last night I braved the horrendous weather & went to a wreath making workshop.  Please bear in mind that I am not a flower arranger – my attempts at arranging the odd bouquet I get consist of snipping the binding and throwing the flowers as they are into a vase.  But I did however manage to create this from various foliage that grows locally, plus a few artificial berries and some cinnamon sticks.

I’m very proud of myself as it actually looks like its supposed to, and for once, I’m not embarrassed to show you what I’ve done!

Right off for a lie down after all this creativity! 

Sally

xxx

We have a winner….

The winner of the My Memories Scrapbooking software is

Number 2 -  Quiltin’ Sandy who said…

What a lovely giveaway! I have never tried scrapbooking. There are so many beautiful designs, it is so hard to choose just one, but Life Love is very pretty. :) Sandy.

 

Thanks to those who entered and I hope Sandy enjoys the software as much as I did.

Normal craft blogging will resume in the next couple of days, as I have lots of pretty things to share with you all.

Sally

xxx