'Charm'ing Birdie

This 'project' started SUCH a long time ago....and wasn't a bird!

It started when a friend on facebook posted this photo...

in January 2011.  Isn't it beautiful...what a talented lady!

It inspired me to have a go!

I bought my fabric....but I soon realised with the various uses of our dining table that this runner wouldn't see the light of day much....or if it did it would likely get ruined!

I did start putting squares together but stopped quite quickly!

Then earlier this year Teenage Daughter and I took a trip to Brighton, West Sussex.  We came across a shop called Quilty Pleasures, what a joy....so many lovely bright modern fabrics

Whilst there we saw lovely creatures and cushions made up from designs by Sewgirl.
We ummed and ahhed and decided that we'd go for the bird cushion ....

I decided to pre-wash the fabric....DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!

I became ill and The Hubs took over the washing....he put my delicate patchwork in with darker stuff to wash and it came out 'grey'ed!!!!

I really lost the will....but then going through some UFO's I decided it either had to be finished or dumped!

I was disappointed with the fabric now.....but decided to finish as I hoped it would look OK when done.

Although I had already started to put the squares together I thankfully hadn't got so far that I couldn't wriggle things about a bit to squeeze in the shape of the bird twice and have enough for wings!

That's my 2 sides and this was left over from the tails ends for wings.....

I decided to back with felt, blanket stitch and stuff so that the wings stuck out a little.

I used the same technique with sticky bonding as I did with this Christmas Decoration.  It is the same as Kirstie Allsopp used in her Handmade series when she made the Christmas Garland of Hearts.

Now going back to my post on the Crochet Coat Hanger, if you are eagle-eyed, you will have spotted not only yarn in my bag but fabric too!  Look......

It was my Peace & Quiet night when I hid in Miss Flossie Vanroyce!

Here's the floss stash for a bit of blanket stitch.....

Slightly crumpled tablecloth, green tea and homemade muffin and about 1 hour 30 minutes to myself!  Bliss!

The 2 sides of the wing stuck together enough with the bonding to sew, but you can still pull it apart to stuff....and then to seal you run an iron around the edges...so the blanket stitch is purely decorative.

 

I secured the wings on with buttons before I sewed the two sides of the Birdie together.....

...and I also added button eyes......

I stitched around the edge of the 2 Birdie sides with my sewing machine and left a gap at the bottom to stuff it which I hand-stitched last of all.

I added a little yellow gingham ribbon around its neck and...there we are all done!

Despite my initial disappointment with the washing disaster...I really love my little Birdie...want to see it nesting on my bed?

OK, here we go........Ta-DAaaaaH!!!!!!!!

Thought you'd like to see both sides!

Back soon with more makes......it's been busy here in NoraLand!

xx

Celebrating our Wedding Anniversary

22nd July is a very Special Day for me & my Hubby as it is our Wedding Anniversary.

This was the delicious breakfast brought up to us by Teenage Daughter....

And there's a sneaky look at the stripey blanket I was working on back here .....it still has a little way to go!

We should have been celebrating with a weekend away this year, that was back in early July, but unfortunately we lost our childcare and so our weekend turned out like this.

We couldn't go away for the weekend of our Anniversary as my very lovely Godfather, Alan, had kindly agreed to help us pave part of the front garden.  The aim was to provide Hubbys Mum (who we call Mammy) a surface that she can negotiate in her wheelchair or with her walking three-wheeler.

It was also going to provide a small area for us to put a bench so that we can sit out in the afternoons and evenings and watch Tiddly Toes play, the bench to be bought for us as an Anniversary present by Hubbys parents!

You might remember back here, we started to clear the garden.

But with all the rain we've had, we couldn't get out to do much more and the soil we disturbed just spawned a multitude of weeds!

BUT, when I returned home at 8.30pm on the Friday night I thought...I'll just do 30mins!

It'll be enough time to dismantle the mobility ramp, lift the slabs underneath and skim the soil off to a more level pitch!

1 hour later I had done more than I thought!  GREAT!

Uncle Alan came at 9am Saturday morning and just finished things off how he wanted them before we started.  We really cracked on and by lunch he had laid all the paving across the front of the house AND constructed a nice wide step!

Look......

After lunch we continued the path down the side of the drive and began the labourious task of 'pointing'....filling in the gaps!

There were two small areas that he cobbled.....here he is at work....

Yesterday was a WonDerFullY sunny day, so, aided by my Fortnightly Crafty Friend, we made up the bench....

And here it is...........

I am exTREEEEMly proud of our joint efforts to achieve this.  It is going to be a fab place to sit (with a glass of something nice!) and watch Tiddly Toes play and the world go by!

That would normally have been my reveal....but I think you will agree that the next snap of it being 'Christened' by Tiddly Toes is worthy of the .....

Ta-DaaaH!..........

Back with some more creativity soon!

Nora xx

It must be a joke!

What? I hear you cry.

The email!

What email? You ask.

The email telling me that........

Hang on let me rewind...........................................................

If you take a look on the bar to the right of my blog, you will see that there is a list of online shops that I love to pop into for a browse (PLACES I LOVE TO 'VISIT'....).  I have either chosen them for their customer service, range of products, an attached blog...or all 3!

Although I could not visit in person....I do LOVE Fabricworm, take a look at the shop!  Echino fabrics, Michael Miller, Alexander Henry...Monaluna!!!!!!  *calm, calm*

I was rolling about the various pages when up popped a giveaway!  I never enter anything like this.....mainly because I don't believe I would win....I never win raffles and the like, so......

Oh!  Go on then....I said to myself....it is a lovely fabric bundle called Seaside in red by October Afternoon.  What have you got to loose? I asked myself.

So I made the required comment and basically forgot ALL about it!

Some time later I was skimming my emails.....it doesn't happen often and actually it was a bit of a miracle that I did because I spotted an email whose subject read......

"Congratulations! You have won Fabricworm's Giveaway of the October Afternoon Seaside Red Bundle in Fat Quarters!"

I REALLY thought it was a joke!

I opened it still disbelieving.

It read......

"Congratulations! You have won Fabricworm's Giveaway of the October Afternoon Seaside Red Bundle in Fat Quarters! Please email us your address, so we can ship out your prize!

Cheers!

The Fabricworm Girls"

Although I sat with a big grin on my face, I still didn't believe it....I wanted to believe it but....!

I even argued with myself about replying with my postal address....but then decided it HAD to be real and emailed it off!

It was a very busy time with lots going on in the family and my entry didn't really cross my mind again until this......

....arrived in the post!

Take a look at the senders address......

OH! I can't tell you the size of the GRIN on my face!!!!!!!

I opened it VERY S-L-O-W-L-Y....to make the most of the moment!!!!!!!!

The next layer revealed this.........

...and then......

Gosh it's exciting...I fanned, I piled, I folded and I photographed to share with you.  And this is it......

An utterly gorgeous, fabric-y surprise!

I haven't decided what to do with it yet.....but Miss Flossie Vanroyce could be the ultimate beneficiary of this!

But as soon as I start cutting and creating...I'll let you know!

It is only left for me to say......

THANK YOU FABRICWORM! xxx

See you soon

Nora

A Yarn-y Venture.....

This was the shot I showed on my teasy post about things to come....but this is halfway through the journey really.

It all started with......yes, you've guessed it.... Pinterest!

What doesn't really start with Pinterest in my world!

I found these.....

....on Studio SOIL, aren't they just adorable?

They are children's hangers, not quite my colours though......

I also saw some in a mag decorated with flowers and chickens, can't find the mag, so I@m guessing it was in a waiting room somewhere!  Anyhow, I didn't memorise the pattern just the nuber of chain to start you off.....odd thing to remember really!

But neither is quite my style.  Or is it?

I had decided that I didn't really want hangers....but then our caravan - Miss Flossie Vanroyce - came out of storage and I thought....hmmmmm!  A little bit of luxury on Weekend Escapes would be rather nice.

I whipped off to Amazon for some beech crescent hangers and got out my stash of Rico Creative Cotton. 

Remember it?  I used it for the post about  the Crochet Rainbow Stained Glass Tealight.

I picked the colours that appealed to me....the first photo up there ^ ^ shows 6 colours but I also added pale blue too, looking at it now they remind me of the beach, the cold colours of the sea contrasted against the warm colours of the sun......... mmmmm..... smell that sea air...

It also all came to me on a night when I needed some Peace & Quiet....I rather oddly decided that this could be achieved by decanting myself, the project and some homely things into Flossie-van, like this.......

My lovely 'bucket' of green tea in it's little cabled sweater (a birthday present from Tiny Angel Mummy), a homemade Banana & White Chocolate Chip Muffin (thanks Mum) and rather crumpled table cloth (hand embroidered by either my Aunt or my Nan...it could have done with an iron....but I just couldn't waste time ironing!) and my colourful Stylecraft Special Double Knit bag inspired by this from, yes, you've guessed it!  Lovely Lucy at Attic24.

Here it is open and ready for action.....

I used the pattern sizing I had remembered from the magazine I read and used 17 chain to start, 16 for the foundation row and 1 for turning.  Also that I would use a Half Treble (UK term) stitch for a fairly quick but nice thick finish.

Then I cast on in the orange and randomly worked my way through the colours crocheting anything from 1-5 rows of each.  I finished in turquoise and left the ball of yarn attached ready for the next bit!

I can't say how long the finished piece should be as I just kept going and measured it up against the hanger.  Size depends on your yarn, tension, hook size, hanger size......!

When I'd finished it looked like this......

And outside Flossie-van looked like this.....!

Too little light to carry on, so I went back indoors, to bed, to return to my hanger another day!

When I did return it was to.......

 ....sew in all the ends......next time I shall do larger stripes (fewer ends to darn!) and see if I can find a way to crochet over the ends with the next row to save myself this rather tedious but necessary job. 

Don't forget....don't cut off your ball of yarn and sew that in!

Next, I slip stitched about 7 stitches to the centre of the short side, folded it in half and crocheted the two sides together through the loops (through the two loops, yarn round, pull back through the 2 loops (2 loops on your hook), yarn round and back through the 2 loops on your hook, then same through the next pair of loops)

I chose to crochet together as I don't like sewing up and it is a prettier and neater edge!

Like this......

I found some wadding (left over from my Mini Quilt projects, cut it roughly to size and using an ordinary needle and thread (and not very prettily as it won't be seen) oversewed the two open edges of the wadding together to cover the hanger like this.........

I passed the hanger hook through the centre (of the long and short sides) through the nearest gap in the crochet and slid the padded hanger into the end that had been crocheted together like this..........

I then carried on joining the two sides with my simple but pretty crochet edge.

At the other end, finish by pulling the yarn through your last loop and darning in the end!

And that's it really.

So are you ready for the BIG REVEAL?

Beachcomber Clothes Hanger...........

Ta-DaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!....

I really love it!  Soooo pleased with the result that I can't explain how smile-y it makes me to look at it.  I hope sharing this with me will make you smile too.

I am happy to pop up a tutorial on how to do any part of this process, just let me know.

I already have plans for one in a range of blues and greens for 'Boys' and pinks and purples for 'Girls'....I put it like that as these are adult hangers not childrens!

Got a quick post for you next time, so I'll see you for that very soon.

Nora xx

Bump Bags and Other Things

I suspect the title should read 'Other Things and Bump Bags' because I'm going to whizz through the other things first....but it just didn't seem right!

Do you remember the last post about us having a 'Busy Time'?  Well, this is an expansion on some of the family bits and a more in depth look at Bump Bags.

Ready.....

Here is a snapshot of our little Olympian and her torch.....

It was for her sports day at pre-school, we had a wonderful morning and the weather wasn't sunny (when was it last?) but the rain held off until the end.

The team colours were taken from the Olympic Flag and each team represented a continent and country (for example the yellow ring was China from Asia) and the children wore a yellow t-shirt. Tiddly Toes Team, dressed in white  to represent the white of the flag itself and participated for Peace...how lovely.

On to the bag repair (along with 2 reinforced school skirts)......

With a denim needle in the sewing machine I threaded the machine with thicker thread (on a green spool).....

Perfect for the job!

The lovely friends who are now back in Australia, the rose which is still upright but slightly rain battered, the wonderful shoes from Next and the coffee and sticky bun don't really need any more explanation other than to say they are all wonderful!!!

The Yarn-y projects and 2 of the fabric projects I'll explain another day!

So, for now....onto Bump Bags....that was this shot.....

They started life as fabric donations from a kids club parent of this spotty fabric......

We use the bags at kids club for bumps and bruises, they're great, they can either go in the freezer or microwave.  For hygiene purposes they need to be wiped off after every use with anti-bacterial spray or wipes, but with a woven sort of surface (which when I touch it feels like fingernails on a blackboard...y'know what I mean?), cleaning these things is unpleasant. 

I imagine that they also don't feel very nice on your skin (poor kids!)

Plus they do look a bit clinical and frightening....... 

So the idea of some washable, bright, fun bags to pop them in for use seemed a great idea!

I started off by laying the bags on double fabric and on the sides that there were no folds cutting the fabric 1cm larger than the bag. 

Where the opening was going to be I turned the fabric over and 'hemmed'........

For neatness I then turned it again and 'hemmed'. 

So the top edge of my bags looked like this.......

Take two of your top hemmed sides........

....and making sure the top meets neatly pin all round........ 

Sew this, remembering your seam allowance and at the ends (start and finish), go backwards and forwards to reinforce.  You can do this in one round of sewing by sewing to within 1cm of the first corner and leaving the needle in the fabric, release the foot and turn the bag  a quarter (90 degrees) turn, foot down and carry on.

Turn right side out.

Here's the open end once the bag is all sewn up.....

When you need to use it simply slip your hot/ice bag inside.......

Now that looks more welcoming and friendly and can be slipped off and washed easily.......

They take about 10 minutes to whip up, so I've made some for Tiddly Toes Pre-School and Playschool as well as for our kids club.....look.....

Ta-Dah.............. 

Aren't they colourful and lovely......that would surely help to cheer up any bump or bruise!

Apart from sharing some more makes very soon I also have exciting news to share!  Teehee...tease aren't I?

See you all soon.... xxx

Nora

A busy time....

..and that is an understatement!!

BUT...what a wonderful Busy Time it was!

In the last week we've had friends from Australia stay 2 separate nights, Olympic Torch Creating, Sports Day watching, Fabric-y Craft, Repairing, Yarn-y Craft, Flower Appreciation, Shoe Shopping, Bread Baking, Cat Madness and Caravan-love!

I can't reveal all but here are a few photos to tease you until I can settle down to a fairly sizeable (or numerous!) blog(s!)...

Creative Torch-iness..........

Fabric-iness.......

A spot of repairing.......

Watching a future Olympian compete in her first ever Sports Day......

Yarn-iness.....

Bread-Baking.......

Fabric-iness.....

Shoe Shopping!.......

Australian Friends........

Alexander Rose appreciation.......

Relaxing with a spicy bun and coffee........

More Fabric-iness...........

More Yarn-iness (in the caravan!)........

And last but by no means least......the Mad Cat......who now has his own Facebook account!  His first 'Friend'? A dog!

Sanity is not to be found in this Home.....WELCOME!

I shall return shortly with an explanation of some of these snaps...until then, Happy Doing!

Nora xx