Eye Spy!

I love the concept of 'Eye Spy' quilts for children (& adults!). I have this dreamy fantasy of sitting with a little one on my knee, playing 'eye spy' while finding the different pictures in the quilt lovingly draped over the 2 of us! 

Examples of Eye Spy Quilts from the web

About a year ago I started keeping my eye out for any fabrics that had a picture on it, from leaves & flowers to instruments & animals.  My box is starting to overflow now so I've started fussy cutting some of what I've collected into 2.5" and 4" squares. 

No idea yet how this thing will evolve, needless to say as my 'baby' will be 10 years old this year, it will probably be ready for the first grandchild, which better not be within the next 10 years! 

Baskets & Doorstops

I've been asked to take a few more classes at Oasis Caring in Action Centre this year.  I spent an amazing 12 months with these wonderful ladies last year, and got so much satisfaction from helping women from the local community learn new sewing skills and get excited about their very own makes.

This time around, we want to encourage some of the ladies to grow in confidence and become facilitators/tutors of future Quilting classes in Oasis.  We'll be getting the ladies inspired to have an Easter sale of the items they make to help raise further funds for the Quilting Project, and will be doing some old favourites - log cabin cushions & Amy Butler Swing Bags, as well as some new cutsie projects - check out the baskets and doorstop ideas below.

There are various tutorials available for the smallest sized basket.  Check out Pink Penguin and Vlijtig for fabric basket tutorials.

I sized up the measurements for a medium sized basket and a large basket (not shown), which was a bit tricky (not being a mathematical whizz!) but I got there in the end.

These little hostess boxes are a quick and easy make, although you do need to be spot on with your measuring and cutting for these.  Check out Sew Mama Sew for a great wee tut.

Door stops need to be sturdy, so I recycled my denim scraps to make this small pyramid shaped one.  The tut for this one is found on Bake and Sew.  It's another simple project, and as it doesn't involve zippers or fiddly velcro, I'm sure the ladies at Oasis will have fun making these.  It may be small, but it still took almost 1kg of dried peas to fill it!  Small but effective!

Esther's pressie!

My friend's daughter turns 9 at the end of this month.  She lives in England so when I make her presents they always have to be things that are easily posted.  This year I decided to make her a pencil case, after my success with making them for my own daughters. 

Teamed up with cutsie bunnies and characters (& a few secret sweeties hidden inside!) I hope she'll enjoy these 'little girl' treats.  Happy birthday Esther!

Pincushion Pleasure!

Sometimes a girl just wants to indulge herself with a glam wee make that sits on her table and makes her smile!  At least that's what I get when I look at my newly crafted pin cushions, made from recycled fabric - as sweet as pumpkin pie! 

Made from a pillowcase!

Made from a child's jacket!

I've been meaning to 'upgrade' my shabby old pincushion for a while (I made it when I was pregnant with my first daughter - she's 15 now!).  I find that I need different size pins depending on the project I'm working on so I made a larger one for my long, flower headed pins, and a smaller one for smaller pins.

They are simply made by sewing together 2 circles of fabric, leaving a 1" gap for turning.  Turn right side out and stuff with toy stuffing, chopped up bits of left over wadding, or even old tights (washed of course!).  Hand sew the gap closed.  Using embroidery floss and a long needle sew from the centre outwards, creating the 'pumpkin' like segments.  Finish off with a cute little button in the middle.

For similar tutorials, checkout Thecraftbegins and Stitchinmission.

Christmas Presents 2010

During the summer I hatched a plan with my 3 daughters to make daddy a 'prayer' quilt.  Daddy gets up very early in the mornings to pray, but during the winter months it can be very cold at 5.30am!  So we thought a snuggly quilt with especially chosen bible verses sewn into it would inspire daddy while he prays, and keep him nice and warm!  I gave the children 3 calico squares each with a handful of fabric pens and off they went, writing and creating.  I pre-cut 2.5" strips from some of daddy's old shirts and other shirt fabric I've acquired over the years.  They chose their strips to border each of their blocks and they sewd them around their verses. 





Complete with spelling mistakes! So cute!!



I then quilted them, and made them up into the quilt with other simple 9 square and log cabin blocks.  The quilt was made in a raw-edge style - each block is quilted separately, then sewn wrong sides together.  After snipping all the raw seams and putting it through the washing machine and tumble dryer, you get lovely fluffy seams. 

I designed the quilt so that the blocks on the front and the back are readable, so technically, there is no back!  Both sides can be admired!  Needless to say, Daddy loved his 'prayer' quilt made by his girls and has enjoyed a few prayer times (& snoozes!) under it. 

My eldest daughter had announced before Christmas that she would like a new pencil case.  I had recently spied a tutorial on Bits and Pieces Blogspot for a pencil case so thought I'd have a go. 

I was so pleased with the result, I made pencil cases for my 2 other daughters also, and wrapped them up for Christmas day. 

They were delighted with them and were quickly filled with the new felt-tips and pens Santa had put in their sacks.

Happy Campers!



Made for Me!

Having a dedicated sewing room tucked upstairs in the house is a wonderful place to escape to and bury myself in creative industry, working on new projects for classes, commissions and presents.  Time goes by at such a rate that I'm blissfully unaware of life carrying on around me, outside my inner world.  So much so that my husband has had to install a door bell extension in my sewing room so I can remember that other life forms do exist 'out there' - especially postmen!  I sometimes feel like I come out of hibernation & back into reality when I leave my sewing room! 

By this time of year however, I'm ready to indulge in making things for myself and spending less time in my 'lock-up', integrating more with the other humans I live with!  A dedicated creative space is great, but it's not very sociable.  So when spending time downstairs with the family, or watching TV, I like to crochet (my hands always seem to need something to do!).  I never took to knitting as a child (despite the enforced 'knit-ins' at school).  But when a great Aunt taught me to crochet at 8 years of age, I took to it instantly and found the quick making up of projects very gratifying. 

I haven't crocheted a thing since last Christmas, when I made 2 cushions for my lounge, and several other pieces for a craft fair (which sold really well!).  So when I found a great wee pattern for a crotched basket on chickpea studios I couldn't wait to try it.  I bought 3 balls of household string (eventually using 2.5) and went for it. 

I haven't crocheted with string before, and despite what felt like an upper body workout, and some very sore fingers later, this is what I produced.  It took me a few evenings to make, and I went for a pale green trim round the rim and in the handles.  I love the finished result and am still looking for a prominent place in which to show it off!!!!!

For any crochet enthusiasts out there, I would highly recommend this wee project.

Christmas Classes 2010

After 6 weeks of amazing creativity and energy, my 2 Christmas classes came to an end.  Well done to them all for their commitment in braving the ice, snow and busy pre-Christmas schedules. 

It's amazing what Christmas does to people!  The productivity & enthusiasm from the class was inspiring and I was humbled by and proud of what they achieved.  Like the tiny sunflower seed which yields the towering flower, a morsel of guidance and a few simple ideas can unleash wonderful creative results from minds and hands that are passionate to learn.  I think next year we'll start our Christmas projects in August!!

My Friday morning class made gorgeous table centres, some Christmassey, some not.  A special well done to those who were first-timers to a Rags to Bags class (not to mention not having used a sewing machine in quite a while!).  You all did brilliantly and I hope these amazing creations are in full view of all residents and visitors to your homes over Christmas!  Showing off is permitted!

Thursday night-ers got busy making scrappy stockings (large & small), gift bags, bunting (large & mini) and cornets!  Phew!  Busy Beavers!  I had a job keeping up & I'm the tutor!  I don't have many pics of their wonderful achievements, but check out Thursday night-er Sew Me who has some fab photos of her Christmas sewing fest.





Great way to use up your scraps!

 And now that classes are finished, I get to make my own Christmas presents.  My youngest daughter's teacher gets a vintage style stocking (filled with a bottle of mulled wine - yum!).  Classroom assistants, form teachers, piano & flute tutors all get gift bags filled with old fashioned jars of sweeties (double yum!).



Cream & gold scraps with vintage ribbon & lace worked in.



Awful picture!! Camera problems - booooooh!



I recently discovered the concept of patchwork coasters.  These have made great gift ideas for some of my friends and family members.  They are quilted and machine washable - fab!  Here are some of the log cabin ones I've made so far, using 1.5" wide scraps - throw nothing in your bin!!!!!



The other present projects I'm working on can't be revealed yet.  They're surprises & I can't risk any nosey family members finding out what they are before the big day!  I might post pics of them in the new year.