Finished Friday

Ok so today is technically Saturday but I was too tired last night to get this post done but its still friday (just) in some parts of the world!

This weeks project was one that happened so fast it never even made it onto my to do list (although I may add it on just so I can cross it off and make it look like I am getting through it- I hope I'm not the only person who does this!)

One of my friends told me that she was moving out of her parents house into a rented property so I had to start thinking about something to make her as a housewarming present. I had a brainstorm with a crafty friend and I googled and came up with a sachet to hang on the door which said 'home sweet home' on it.

I used some pictures of sachets that I found in a google search as inspiration and drew a freehand house picture and copied some freehanf lettering for the words. I then had my template and cut out a front and back from some scrap fabric I had leftover from some napkins I made. (I almost forgot to switch the template for the back sachet- it was a close call!!)

I then wrote the lettering on using a washable pen (this was my first time using it and I was impressed, it is definitely going to be used more often) and used chain stitch to stich over the lines.

As I hadn't been to her house I didn't know of any colour schemes that she had which made it very very hard to decide on colours to use. I went for blue anf white fabric with red lettering so it would stand out- i decided these colours were not offensive to colour schemes and were a safe choice!

Below is a picture of the finished sachet and I'm very pleased with it- it went from idea to finished item in less than a week- my kind of project!

I decided to leave the edges rough and just stitch it together with a blanket stitch in the same thread as the writing.

I now have another friend moving to a new flat so will need to either make another one of these or think of something else to make her as a housewarming present....hmmm.....!!

Xxx

#febphotoaday week 3

Hello!

Here are my 3rd week of pictures for you! I tried to not leave it until late in the evening to take the pictures but still managed to forget some days- useless!

Day 16: Something new. This is the new issue of Mollie Makes which the shop actually had in on the day it came out which was BRILLIANT as I love this magazine and didn't have to wait until after the weekend to start reading it!

Day 17: Time

This is the clock that is in my room. It doesn't tell the right time in anyway! I haven't changed it back an hour from when the clocks went back (and not just this year- for about the last 4 years!!), it is also about 10 minutes fast but I always know what the real time is by looking at it!

Day 18: Drink

I was really annoyed with myself on this one as I went out the day drink was the theme and had cockails for a friends birthday which were really nicely presented and did I remmeber to take a photo of them- NO! So I took a picture of my favourite drink instead which is not the same!

Day 19: Something you hate to do

I HATE IRONING! I find it very very very boring and avoid it at all costs unless something is too creased to be worn I won't iron it!

Day 20: Handwriting

I found this quite hard as since no longer being a student I found that I barely wrote anything at all so this picture is just a section of my notes from uni (an interesting snippet from Family Law).

Day 21: Where I work

This is where the camera on my phone decided it didn't want to flip the pictures anymore so you will have to tilt your heads to see the wonder that is a Marks and Spencer store!!

Day 22: Fav picture of yourself

I don't really like any pictures of myself so this was quite hard, but this was taken on a night out for one of my friends birthdays (i think) I find if i'm not being serious picyures look ok but if I just have to sit there and smile they turn out horrible! (I'm the one at the back with ginger hair by the way!)

Day 23: Shoe

This is my favourite shoe for going out in- it is the only pair of heels I can a) walk in and b) keep on all night and were definitely worth splashing out on as they are about 5 years old now and still going strong (although they need a good clean looking at them in this picture)

And that is the end- another week has gone by and I am nearing the end of my #febphotoaday challenge- only one more week to go and it will be March- can you believe it?!!

Xxx

Work in Progress Wednesday

Fabric letters are my Work in Progress today. I brought some papier mache letters aaaaaages ago from Hobbycraft but haven't finished them yet!

I saw on the back page of Mollie Makes (the page where someone gives you a tour of their craft room) months ago and wanted to have a go myself. They were 3 fabric covered letters which spell 'sew' which I think is perfect for what I want.

I want to create an area in my room for sewing and general crafting and want this to be part of it. So far it is just a sewing table and sewing machine given to me by my great aunt. I would like to have a pin board up so that I can have a mood board and also space to hang scissors, embroidery hoops other equipment I use all the time.

These are my letters so far:

I have wrapped strips of wadding around them to make them padded (but I remembered not to cover the bottom so they would still stand up!).

I am going to cover them in some off cuts of Cath Kidston fabric I picked up from the discount store in Bicester Village but I haven't decided which print for which letter yet!

The main reason this hasn't been finished is that I don't know how to cover the letters with the fabric- most online tutorials tell you to glue it to the back but I think this looks quite messy and as I have wadding round mine the fabric wouldn't stick very easily to it.

I want to try and sew the fabric onto the letters but not sure if I should cut out a template or simply cut as I sew, and I don't want to mess it up with the fancy fabric!

I can see this not making it to Finished Fridays blog for a long time yet!!

Xxx

Finished Friday

This weeks Finished Friday is going to attempt to be a bit of a 'how to...' post. It is for a union jack bag I decided to make a friend for her birthday that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago on a Work in Progress Wednesday post.

Here is the finished bag:

And now how to make your very own in 14 stages! (I did forget to take pictures for some of the stages as I got carried away with making the bag)

Step 1: Choose your fabrics. I chose to go with a gingham background, cream, and blue and pink in the flower fabric. They were all bits of fabric I had in my stash so raid your stash and see what you can find- you'll be surprised!

Step 2: Mark up and cut out your bag shape from the background fabric. My size is 40cm wide by 50cm tall for front and back pieces.

And NEVER let your cat help you with this stage!!

Step 3: Cut out the strips. I made the cream fabric 2cm wider than the flowery fabric to give it a nice sized boarder. Remember to cut the strips about 4cm wider than you want to finished strip to be and you will press the rough edges under before sewing them on to give a nice neat egde.

Step 4: Press all pieces. I know this is boring and time consuming but it really does make a difference. And remember to press a double hem in your main fabric for the opening of the bag. Then I liked to lay mine out to get an idea of what the finished product would look like.

Step 5: I stitch along the double hem pressed earlier and sewed on all the cream strips to create the background for the flowery strips.



Step 6: I used bondaweb to stick the flowery strips onto the cream ones and then machined over the very edge of these with a zig zag stitch to make sure they were secured.

Step 7 I decided to embroider a blanket stitch along the outside of the cream strips just to make them stand out a bit more. I chose a dark purple embroidery thread for mine.

Here is where I stopped taking pictures!

Step 8: Make the bag. Put right sides together and sew around 3 edges (leaving your double hemed side open) and turn right sides out.

Step 9: Make the lining. For this I measured the finished size of the bag and cut out 2 pieces of fabric that size. I pressed a hem again for the opening of the bag. Then sew along 3 sides again.

Step 10: Make 2 handles. Cut a piece of fabric 3 times as wide as you would like them to end up and however long you would like them adding about 5cm for sewing in place. Press the long raw edges to the middle and then press the strip in half again. Sew a line of straight stitching along the folds and you have a bag handle.

Step 11: Place the lining inside the bag so you can see the right side of the fabric.

Step 12: Pin the handles into place between the bag and the lining so the short raw edges cannot be seen. I like to make sure the bag hangs straight and that the handles are both in the same position.

Step 13: Pin the lining to the inside of the bag making sure the top edges meet but the lining doesn't come over the top.

Step 14: Machine a line of straight stitches along the top of the bag as close as you dare the the edge. The will sew the lining to the bag and the handles in place and then you have one completed union jack bag.

But there is one more surprise...the bag can be reversed!!!

This was not the intention when I was making the bag but I like it!

If you have problems following the step by step guide just let me know and I will try to make it clearer.


Xxx

#febphotoaday Week 2

So with week two of February gone already (can you believe it?!) here are my pictures for the week.

I have to admit I have lost a bit of motivation this week with the pictures and have forgotten to take anything until I got into bed so they are a bit random!

Day 9: Front door

Self explanatory this is my front door!


Day 10: Self portrait

Here is a stick drawing of me- other people just took pictures of themselves but I put in a whole 3 minutes (I'm over estimating this!) of effort to draw a self portrait, and the resemblance is uncanny!!


Day 11: Makes me smile

This is my cat 'Scat' who makes me smile!


Day 12: Inside you closet

I think closet is the same as wardrobe? So here is the inside of my wardrobe the top shelf has my fabric stash on to the rail is very full of all clothes and shoes!


Day 13: Blue

Here is one where I forgot to take a picture and the only thing blue in my room was this glass!


Day 14: Heart

My heary necklace from accessorize!


Day 15: Phone

Again forgot to take a picture until late so just a picture of the house phone- i meant to take a picture of the phone box over the road but I forgot!

So that is my #febphotoaday update for this week. I will try to take more exciting pictures next week!!

Xxx

Work in Progress Wednesday

Hello!

This weekend I (somehow) ended up with 4 days off in a row- AMAZING!! So I did lots of crafting of various projects- why can I never just stick to one at a time?! I finished making my friends birthday present from a previous post (the union jack bag) and almost finished a 'new home' present for a friend I am seeing on friday who has just started renting a new house. But enough about my finished projects and onto my work in progress for this week...

This week I have chosen to dedicate this post to a blanket I have been wanting to make since 15th October (I only know this because I was on the plane on the way to Spain for a girly holiday when I saw it- not strange and remember dates I see things I want to make!) The blanket is from Mollie Makes and is made from old jumpers.

Doesn't it look snug?! It's really easy to make. You just need 3 or 4 old jumpers which you cut into squares of the same size (or different sizes if you want to make more of a random patchwork one). I cut 35 squares all the same size- it is a bit tricky to cut straight as the jumpers move around and stretch a bit but I found it was OK because it looks neat again when you sew them together!

Once the squares are cut out you lay them out on the floor to work out how you would like them sewn together. I did 7 rows or 5 squares.

Next you sew the 5 squares together in each row so you end up with 7 strips squares...and that is as far as I am at the moment!! This is my pile of squares which are sitting at the end of my bed just waiting!

And below are a couple of rows laid out so you can see- I went for a random formation of the squares and just made sure I didn't have 2 the same colour next to each other.

So all I need to do is sew the strips together and put fabric binding around the edge and its finished so hopefully it will appear on a Finished Friday blog soon!

Xxx

Finished Friday

My finished friday today is something I made for #twitknitclub on Twitter.

It is a string of knitted hearts that are now hanging from my light switch in my bedroom.

I did an earlier post for work in progress wednesdays where I had only made the larger two knitted hearts and didn't really know what I was going to do with them. They are only strung on some wool at the moment so I will probably have to change them onto chord so they last longer.

I now have 4 days off work for a change so am hoping to get lots of crafts done in this time and catch up with some presents I need to make for my family and friends birthdays next week.

Xxx

#febphotoaday Week 1

Hello!

Here is my first week of feb in pictures! It is for the #febphotoaday challenge I blogged about earlier. I have been tweeting this pictures on twitter but thought I would bring them all together with an explanation in a blog post every week.

Day 1: My View Today

 This is my view along the river on the walk into work- who knew Bedford could look so nice?!

Day 2: Words

 Just a picture of my Emma Bridgewater notebook.

Day 3: Hands

A picture of my friend's daughters handprints.

Day 4: Stanger

I forgot to take a picture when I was out so had to improvise with the scariest film I saw in the cinema EVER!! (Although when watching it at home was not as scary as I remembered!)

Day 5: 10am

I was at work this day so had just got to the car park by 10am in a very snowy Bedford.

Day 6: Dinner

Not the most exciting of dinners today- it was a pork chop with sweet and sour sauce and veg with plain rice.

Day 7: Button

This is just a picture of my button box.


Day 8: Sun

It was cloudy all day so I had to take a picture of where the sun should have been!

So that is it for week one in the life of me! I'm really enjoying the challenge of taking a photo every day (even if I sometimes forget until I'm in bed), I will update you again next week.


Xxx

Work in progress Wednesday

Today for my Work in Progress Wednesday is a bag I am making for a friends birthday present.

She is obsessed with Union Jacks and last year I stitched her a tapestry Union Jack cushion pictured below. It was my first ever attempt at tapestry and looking back it was a bit ambitious as I didn't even have a chart to follow! I worked out that it probably took me over 90 hours to stitch the front and its a bit wonky as I didn't realise I needed a frame to hold it straight but I was so pleased with the end result and so was my friend I think!

So this year I had to think of something equally as good to make her! I thought I would go with the Union Jack theme again and decided on a bag. I have used some fabric from my stash to make a patchwork flag and stitched it onto a background of blue gingham.

This is as much as I have done so far. I decided to use embroidery thread to blanket stitch around the edge. And you can probably see that the blue cross is wonky and doesn't match up but that is the charm of handmade right?! I need to do some handles and I was thinking of a bag organiser inside as she is quite unorganised! But I need to get a wriggle on as her birthday is the 17th!

I'll have to start thinking of another present for next year soon!

Happy crafting!

xxx

Finished Friday 3rd February

I forgot it was Friday but luckily I finished a project this evening so panic over!

This weeks finished friday goes to a memory box that I saw in an issue of Mollie Makes a few months ago and really loved.

The idea is that you have a box with a card in for every day of the year, each day you write something on that you did. It doesn't have to be anything major could be you watched a film with friends or read a really good book or anything at all you did that day. Then you just watch your memories grow.....

Above is my memory box. I have used some old postcards to separate the months and a grape punnet to hold all the cards in until I find a box the right size.

It takes quite a while to stamp all the dates on hence it only just being finished in February. You could write the dates or print them on the computer but I liked the old feel the stamping has given to the cards.

I can't wait for a few years time to look back and be able to see what I did on this day in previous years.

Happy crafting

xxx

Work in Progress Wednesday 1st February

Can you believe it is February already?!

This week I have been working on various things but my Work in Progress Wednesday this week goes to some sock monkeys I have been making.

One of my crafty friends has been making these to give as presents to babies and they were just so cute I had to have a go myself! They are so easy to make- all you need is a pair of socks and a sewing machine and for how to make them just google 'sock monkey tutorial' and there are loads of step by step instructions.

I brought a pack of 3 socks and decided to make all 3 at the same time but have only finished the bodies for them so far:

This is what they will look like when they are finished:



Aren't they just too cute?! I really want to make one from knee length socks so it will have really gangley arms and legs that go on forever!

Until next time.....

Happy crafting!

xxx