Treasured finds and a peg bag lesson.

I love rooting around in charity shops and earlier in the week I found these lovely threads bundled up in a plastic bag for 50p!

I also found the square of cream fabric, cotton or cotton linen mix, I'm not sure.

Then there was a bag of these, all meticulously labelled and putting my box of unlabelled, knotted threads to shame.

And finally these beauties. Just look at the packet on the zip and the original price of the poppers!

I like to think that whoever they belonged to would be happy to see them recycled and used.

I had a friend over today who bought a sewing machine a while back and needed a few pointers, so we made peg bags because I think they are a good way to start and you end up with something useful.

My weekend's sewing..

I have come up with this fellow, and thought I might make some for the christmas fair for the children. He is a bean bag filled with grain and I've done chickens in a similar way in the past and they are very tactile and good for throwing around!!

My inspiration came from a picture of a reindeer printed out from the very first blog I ever read,

Molly Chicken.
 Unfortunately the blog has not been added to since january 2010, and I have been back to the archives but can't for the life of me find the link for the reindeer. Her's was a free standing reindeer with a base but I always loved the simplicity of it.

I made this using the same base pattern as for the Smelly Nellies and the Aroma Robbins.

I cut the bag out of old cord trousers and appliqued on the face. The antlers are a double layer of felt zig zagged together to give them some strength.

I have also finished another couple or mug rugs using the tree pattern as before here.

Festive in October, oh my word!!

What has come over me!
 I got an email from MOO (presumably after ordering these), saying I could have a reduction and the next thing I knew I had ordered some cards for christmas. I have never done this before.
 The process was very easy and a few days later this came through the post..

 

And then I was asked to do my 'usual' craft activity at the school fair in November so I decided to get a few red and green supplies so that I can do some experimenting and try and come up with a new twist on the badges of the last couple of years.
 Last time I underestimated the amount of help the little ones need with any actual sewing so I plan to keep it simple.
Has anyone else got any tips or ideas?

And the gorgeous flower spikes on the pineapple sage are just coming out

and match in rather well!

Starting to make a few christmas presents.

I like this design and it's one I have done a few times now, a very simple hot water bottle cover.

I start by making a strip of outside (approx 10" by 35"). This can be made up anyway you want.

Then I layer this with wadding or blanket in the middle and some lining fabric (more recycled shirt in this case) and quilt the 3 layers together.




 I bind one of the short edges, then I fold the strip to form a pocket with a flap of about 5" sticking out at one end. The flap is the unfinished short edge.

I sew the two side seams with wrong sides together (ie so the cover is the right way out when you sew it and there are two unfinished seams down the sides).

Finally I bind the three unfinished edges and attach a button!

 

I hope that makes sense for anyone who wants to have a go.

Little trees become a small wood.

My two little trees have been put together into a mug rug.

First of all I cut two rectangles of the French fabric and put these together with the tree blocks. Then the red edging strips were added. I layered this up with some wadding and a recycled shirt for the back. and hand quilted them all together. Well that's not entirely true, I machine quilted them first, didn't like it, unpicked it, and then hand quilted it!

As you can see they aren't very accurate as one tree is hand sewn and the other one done on the machine. I kind of like a bit of inaccuracy as I think it just adds to the character. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
(The berries are beautiful on the holly at the moment and they always seem to get eaten by the birds if I don't get in quick).
Finally I cut some 1 1/2 inch strips of green fabric to bind the edges..

The tree pattern is found here, and is easy to follow and fun to do. I may need to move on to a forest.

Another apple apron and two small trees.

I have made another apple apron as a gift..

and have also been experimenting with these little fellows..

I found a tutorial for them over at The Pearl Bee and have been meaning to have a go. I'm not sure what they will be made into yet. Will let you know.

Guardian Angels.

I have made a few of these now and they are one of my favourite toys to sew.

The pattern is by Sandra Monat of Herzensart and is found in this book which I have a feeling comes in different guises (covers). The pattern is easy to follow and always seems to work.

This little angel has a cotton front, linen face and hands, and a corduroy back made from some recycled trousers. The wings are cotton and linen.

 There is something very lovely about giving these to people and I love picking out all the fabrics because each one looks different. These are just a few that I have pictures of..

And each one reminds me of the person that they were given to.