It's a Creative World

Teddy Time!

I love Traditional Teddy Bears and I love anything miniature so when I spotted these gorgeous kits by Emily Farmer on Etsy I was so stoked!!  I was even happier when my darling hubby bought me a kit for Christmas!!

The kits are gorgeous and include EVERYTHING you need except thread and filling- so you are ready to go straight out the bag!

I love the traditional styling of Emily's bears and her kits make up beautifully, the fabric is a non-fray type which makes the stitching up part much easier! 

Emily is also available via email for tips and any questions you may have, which is great if you are a newbie!

The kits are small and can be fiddly but if you are a neat stitcher and have made some toys before you won't have any problems with these kits.

Here are my Teddies so far:

Scooter on the left with the trousers is 3.25 inches tall and his lil bear friend in front is a tiny 1.5 inches short! The larger white and peach bears are 3.25 inches in height!

Here's my latest bear based on Scooter but in a soft blue rayon fabric:

I've been making them as pressies for my family as they are so cute- you don't realise how small they are until you hold one in your hand!

I'm currently working on this cutie:

As you can see I'm building a little collection but at least they don't take up much room!

Emily's kits are available from her Etsy Store, her online store EmilyFarmer.com and in the UK from Emmary Bears.

Happy Crafting!

love,

GlitteryKatie XxxX

Scrapbooking with a sketch... My process....

 

Hello... Mandy here.

I  haven't done much scrapbooking in ages and I've missed it!  I decided to kick-start my scrapping mojo with a sketch.  Shimelle is doing a weekly sketch and I joined in with this one.  Something I always love is an insight into how other people create (I'm nosey like that).  I like a peek at the process other folks go through on their way to making something like a scrapbook layout..... so, (I'm hoping there's other nosey folks like me out there) here's a bit of a peek into the process I went through in making this layout.

 

Shimelle's sketch...
 

The first thing I did was look on my PC hardrive for two portrait-orientated photos that I wanted to scrap.  I do not scrap in order, put no pressure on myself to 'keep-up' and although I have 4 children I've rarely scrapped a Birthday.  I chose these photos of Husb and I when we recently visited 'THE PUBLIC'  Art Gallery in West Bromwich.  I had taken tons of photos in the Gallery but for this LO needed to focus on one aspect of the visit.   Well, my favourite part of the Art Gallery was the 'Yarn Storming'  and bunting we saw there and that's what I decided the LO was going to be about.

I printed the photos at home, both on the same sheet of A4 glossy printer paper, with a 4mm (ish) white border around both.  I do this a lot when printing at home because I hate matting photos and avoid it if I can help it. 

Next, I take a good look at my photos.  I look at the colours and shapes in the photos and very importantly the 'feel' or the 'atmosphere' of the photos.  I know I've got on a pillar-box red coat on and that screams out as the colour to choose, BUT the LO was going to be about the knitted artwork I was looking at so pink and orange were my colours of choice.  These photos had a 'creative' vibe and the day had been a child-free outing for us and had been a laugh so I also wanted the LO to be light-hearted and fun.  With this in mind, I started rummaging around in my stash, yanking out stuff which fitted this brief (ish).  There's also a strong horizontal stripe on the knitting so I was keeping my eyes open for stripes.  Bunting-related stash was the other thing I fell upon and pulled out. I try not to pull out way too much because it can get overwhelming and give me a mind-freeze and I don't get anything done and just fiddle-about and move stuff about too much.  AND I have to put it all away too.

Here's what I pulled out... Some older stash by 'Love elsie' called 'ZOE', the Basic Grey 'Green at Heart' Collection, Sassafras 'Mix Flag Banners' , October Afternoon 'Fly a Kite' journal cards, lace and some of my own embellies like crochet flowers, crochet trim and hand-sewn felt circles.

 

Next I went through the collections and chose the patterned papers I thought would work best to meet the brief and what I was trying to 'say' on the LO. 

  

 I laid papers under the photos and placed embellies next to the PP and photos and decided what I liked.

 

At this stage I am open to getting something else out if I think it would be totally brilliant but other than that I go with what's already out and don't let myself take too long.  When I was a new scrapper (way back in 2005) I could spend d-a-y-s on this.  But I simply don't let myself.   The pink circles below were a crochet experiment which I really love but the photos had no circles in them only rectangles, stripes, triangles in the bunting and diagonal lines.  Although the crochet embellie was the right colour and was 'fun' it was the wrong shape so I didn't go with that idea.

 

I love the 'elsie' epoxy stickers and took a few minutes to try out the epoxies over the top of some different crochet flowers I was considering using, but again I didn't spend too long on this. 

 

Next I make the decision on what PP to use.  I always remind myself that there are probably several good choices but NOW is the time to choose.  I went with 'elsie' horizontal stripes, BG orange with spirals and BG pink with white flowers. 

 

I consulted the sketch and made decisions on the width and length to cut the PP, then cut and glued it down...

 

I went for pink above orange PP because of the knitting in the photo.  This sort of detail is not essential but I enjoy it!  By this time I'd mentally chosen the embellies I wanted to use and the journalling card.  It's only now in the process that I turn my attention to the title.  I mulled over title ideas as I went along with this LO.  Sometimes I have a title before I start but not this time.  I decided 'gallery faves' was a fun way to say what the LO was about.  Then I go to my box of title letters (read 'Thickers' here) with some raw chipboard in there too.  I picked 3 choices and went with white foam 'Diaquiri' font.  I always stick my title letters onto a see-through ruler and hold it over the LO in different places before I stick the letters down.  I like to position the title carefully.

 

The sketch has a large circle on it which I decided would be one of my large crochet flowers.  I attatched the flower and crochet trim with staples and glue dots. There wasn't much journalling needed but I cut out the pink/white logo  words 'THE PUBLIC'  from a brochure I brought home and glued it to the journalling card. 

 

At this stage I take a good look at the LO and am looking for balance or anything obvious that's missing. I added an epoxy to the centre of the crochet flower and I decided I needed to put a bit of an 'orange something' at the top left of the LO.  I have a McGill File tab 3" punch that I like to use...

  

Time to sew!  I totally LOVE stitching on my pages and have to restrain myself.  I don't worry about perfect lines etc and prefer it a bit messy.

 

Looking at the LO now (below) I can see that there's an epoxy sticker on the flower, an epoxy on the file tab and there should really be another one somewhere else on the LO.... BUT IT'S OK  :) 

 

Well done if you've read all the way to the end!   I hope you've enjoyed a peek into the process I went through in making this LO from Shimelle's fab sketch.

Mandy

Baby Patchwork Ribbon Blankie

Hi, this is Mandy here...

When I last saw my baby nephew, I got chatting to my sister-in-law about making him a Ribbon Blankie (or Taggie Blanket).  Here's what I made ...

 

It's about 11" across.  I do want to credit 'Melissa Sews' blog as I read her excellent tutorial.  My Ribbon Blankie has a patchwork top, very simply made with 2" strips of brightly coloured fabric (photographed on my blue spotty ironing board)...

 

I trimmed the patchwork to a 9" square, then rummaged through my ribbon stash for a variety of ribbons (different colours, textures, patterns and widths) which I cut into 4" lengths...

 

 I folded the ribbons and pinned them onto contrasting colours on the patchwork, spacing them out...

 

I used my machine to sew around the edge twice...

 

I deliberately had the ribbons hang over the edge so I could make sure they were sewn really, really firmly, so even if the ribbon frays it won't come loose (baby safety)...

 

I cut a piece of blue fleece, just 0.25" bigger than the patchwork top.  Then I made a sandwich with the fleece and patchwork top, right-sides together, ribbons on the inside.  It's important to leave a 4" gap so the blankie can be turned around the right way.  Again I sewed around twice.

 

Once the rightway out, I pinned around the blankie, ready to sew one last time...

 

Machine sewn all around, and hand sewn across the gap...


 

The back is soft fleece...

 

I'll be posting this little Ribbon Blankie off to my sister-in-law, brother and their happy, gorgeous baby...

 

Thanks for looking!

Mandy

COUNTRY HEART STRINGS

Hello, Eleanor here, and with a week till Valentine's Day, you've got time to make a special garland / tie for a gift / table decoration, or even an accessory for a winter bush ;).

I started with a moda jelly roll, a couple of years ago, and although it was depleted a little by various projects, such as notebook covers and bookmarks, there was still enough remaining over the weekend to make a pretty, romantic string of hearts.

I chose all the strips (precut 2.5 inches wide) which had some beige or red in, and cut a few 6 inch lengths of each. I folded each of these in half right sides OUT, making 2.5 by 3 inch rectangles, and pinned on a paper heart, from a template here. OK so I know hearts are easy to draw for yourself, but it's only kind to use ones others have prepared for you, don't you agree?

I cut out the hearts and replaced the pin in the 2 layers (still right sides OUT) to keep them together whilst I sewed them, with a simple country sort of running stitch. I then raided the button box for toning buttons, using them to join the hearts. After I had draped the garland on the bush outside:

I brought it in and tried it on an old cupboard:

But this is where I like it best:

I think I'll make a special meal for my boys next Monday evening, and dress the table with my heartstrings.

How will you show your love this Valentine's Day?

xxx

Using a 'Layer Cake' to make a Lap Quilt...

Hi, this is Mandy,

I posted in January about a lap quilt I made my niece using a 'Jelly Roll' of fabric strips.  Well, I thought I'd share about the lap quilt I made my other niece, this time using a 'Layer Cake' of fabric.

Here's my dd holding up the finished lap quilt...

 

The pattern is free from Quiltville and is called 'Scrappy Mountain Majesties' . 

So, what is a 'Layer Cake'?  It's a cute name for a pile of 10" x 10" squares of fabric... 

 

The number you get depends on the manufacturer and mine was 40 co-ordinated squares in the Basic Grey fabric 'Fruitcake' by Moda. There are other cute piles out there like 'Charm Packs' which is a pile of 5" squares.  So, please refer to the original link if you want to make the quilt yourself, but here's what I did.  Firstly I separated the 10" squares into 'dark' and 'light', then pinned them (right-side together) into pairs with a light square on top of a dark square.  I drew a feint line down the diagonal of the light square of each pinned pair....

 

Then, stitch down either side of the line being careful to keep a 0.25" distance from the line...

 

 Then iron the squares and cut up the line so you get 2 triangles...

 

Open out the triangles into squares and press the seam to the dark side.  Lay the squares on top of each other as shown...

 

Being careful not to move the squares, cut four strips (do the centre cut first and work outwards)...

 

Re-arrange the strips and stitch them together again to get these panels...

 

Six panels sewn together makes the patchwork piece below (needs a border still)...

 

Here's the patchwork with the border...

 
 

Basting the lap quilt comes next.  Lay the backing fabric right side down onto the floor, slowly lower the filling (batting/wadding) and the quilt top last...

 

I hold all the layers together with a tag tool but some folks use safety pins or large tacking stitches.  My youngest ds likes to help with this stage...

 

Now it's time to quilt the layers together... 

 

Once quilted, trim the layers and bind.  I used red fabric to bind this lap quilt.  It helps to position a table (or ironing board) next to the sewing table...

 

This quilt came together fairly quickly because the fabric was already in 10" squares as a Layer Cake.  It was a really fun pattern to make and I'd recommend it. 

 

Happy quilting!

Mandy.

 

Green and Black

Hello, Eleanor here, with a skirt in need of cheering up! 

I bought a lovely Next black linen skirt from an op shop for £1. It was too long, but with what I had in mind, that didn't matter.

First I shortened it, both at the hem and at the waist, to just below knee length, then I rootled about in my ribbon box and found almost a whole reel of green silk ribbon. I wanted something similar to a Boden skirt I saw a while back, so I pinned on the ribbon, tacked it and then hand-stitched it in place.

 

It's meant to be 'here and there', honest!

So now, here I am:

and there's a surprise at the back (and yes, I've remembered how linen creases so easily, but hey, never mind, these little strips of organza ribbon sparkle and make me smile):

 

That's all from me, till next time.

xx

A Scrapbooking Series

Hiya Claireliz here

I've got a scrapbook project to share with you today, the idea struck me after something a friend of mine said to me last year, I'd made a layout about my love of knitting & called it Knitting Addict...

 

Jenny just happened to say she would like to see more of "the Addicted Series" and so the light bulb switched on & I started making lists of all the things I'm addicted too, the first on the list being chocolate :D

I started making a layout about my addiction to notebooks, but it just didn't look right so I decided to change the photo of notebooks to a photo of my large collection of vampire books & it came together really easily after that...

 

I made a scroll shaped layout by using a 2 templates that fit inside one another (I made these by drawing around a piece of die cut paper then drawing a smaller version of that shape to fit inside) I've also done two rows of stitching, one around the inside paper & one around the cardstock, I always handstitch if I'm sewing on a layout, mainly because it takes too long to get out the sewing machine & set it up, I prefer to use backstitch & make the holes first with a needle to make it easier.

The photos & strip of paper running across the page are attached with 3d foam pads, 247 of them to be precise lol, as are the journaling strips & bats, the bats were cut using a Sizzix die & have gems for eyes. The little badge says "What' the story?" & the journaling reads: I've loved stories about vampires & witches since I was a kid, I'm really glad I've never grown out of them.

Why don't you have a go at scrapping the things you can't live without or your guilty pleasures?

If you do be sure to let us know as we'd love to see what you've been creating.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, its always much appreciated.

Hope to see you soon & take care

Cxx

Lap Quilt

 
 Hi, this is Mandy with my first post of 2011, about a quilt I made before Christmas. 

It's a lap quilt & was a special Christmas present for my niece (held up below by my dd)...

 

It's made with a Moda Jelly Roll of fabric called 'Fruitcake' by Basic Grey.  I got mine online (posted from the UK) here.  A Jelly Roll is a pre-cut roll of about 40 strips 2.5" wide...

 

I searched online for Jelly Roll Patterns and came up with this pattern here   (scroll down to Jelly Roll 2.5" strips) to find 'Breaking Waves' pdf Pattern put together by the Cozy Quilt site.  I  downloaded the free pdf pattern, printed it out and found the instructions VERY clear with good diagrams. 

Aswell as the Jelly Roll, I bought the cotton padding which is sometimes called 'wadding' or 'batting' i.e. the filling for the quilt.  I used 100% natural cotton which is more expensive and tricky to use than stuff with a polyester mix, but because it was a present I decided on that. I didn't even buy the border fabric or the backing fabric until the patchwork top was finished, so I could measure it and see what colour would look best.

The first step was sorting and laying out the strips.  Please check the free pdf pattern   for the detailed explanation about the colours of the strips if you intend to make this quilt. 

 

Then I sewed the strips into groups of 3 as the pattern explained, then pressed the seams.  It is WELL WORTH THE TIME TAKEN TO IRON THE SEAMS for the stressy frustration you'll save yourself later on.  Trust me, I KNOW :)      The clever part of this pattern comes next.  You lay a 3-strip piece on top of another 3-strip piece as directed and sew down both edges to make a TUBE!!

 

After ironing the tube you cut right-angled triangles, cutting through both layers of the tube...

 

...all the way along the tube...

 

Then when you open up the triangle it makes a square with light and dark fabric pieces...

 

 These need to be pressed and put into a pile with the darks and lights lying the same way...

 

Then lay out the squares until you're happy with the design...

 

I sewed the squares together and added a 2.5" red fabric border all the way around the patchwork top.  The photo below shows the diagonal join I used on the border.  Once stitched it was folded back and ironed.

 

When the patchwork top is completed it's time to 'baste' the quilt.  I laid the green backing fabric right side down onto the carpet, then slowly and carefully laid the wadding (filling) onto the backing fabric without creasing either of them.  This is a two person job. Then the patchwork top is added, right side up.  I gently smoothed out the top, but NOT pulling it, just smooothing from the centre outwards.  My ds likes to help with the basting because I use a Microstitch basting gun tool to hold all the layers together.  Some people use safety pins or big tacking stitches but the tag tool works for us.

 

I always baste on the thick rug in my lounge.  At the end I just pull the quilt up and pick off any odd bits of rug stuck to the back of the quilt.  Don't trim the excess wadding or backing fabric until after the quilting.

I chose to 'stitch-in-the-ditch' on this quilt, see this You Tube clip by Serena Smith.   I just use my normal sewing machine foot.  Under my right hand you can see the quilt is rolled up to help it pass through the sewing machine.  I use cheap rubbery gardening gloves from the poundshop as my quilting gloves.  Once I got used to them I found them essential for quilting as they grip really well.  I have done some free motion quilting on another quilt in the past, in a 'bubbles' pattern like this You Tube clip by Pat Sloan.  It really needed the grippy gloves! 

 

After the quilting was finished, I trimmed the quilt and added a dark blue binding all the way around.  One of my favourite quilting sites is Quiltville.  I consulted the advice here for their quilt binding tutorial.  It was really helpful.  I learned how to prepare the binding and do the corners...

 

On the photo below you can see that the blue binding has been started about 6" or so down from the corner...

 

 I learnt (from the Quiltville tutorial) how to finish the binding and join it together neatly...

 

 

 

 

All that was left to do was finish the binding, turn it and hand stitch around the binding on the back of the quilt.  I made a square of fabric dedication to my niece and dated it, sewing it onto the back of the quilt with a little heart shaped button.  My niece and sister-in-law were especially delighted on Christmas day.

 

I made a different quilt for my other niece, mainly using a 'Layer cake' of BG Fruitcake fabric and with what was left over have nearly finished a lap quilt for our family too. 

Time for a break from quilting and some crochet I think,

Mandy

 

Christmas Tradition

I wanted to share a family tradition with you.

My mother-in-law made stockings for all her children when they were born.

When I was engaged I was given a stocking and when our daughter was born she made one for her too.

 

 

They record events in our lives as well as having Christmas decorations.   There isn't much room on my husbands now so I just add the year.

To make one cut two stocking shapes from felt and a strip to make a gusset, then sew them together. 

You can decorate them to suit you. 

 

Don't forget to embroider Thank you somewhere so Santa knows you appreciate your presents.

 

Lynne x

Lacy velvet cuff

Hello, Eleanor here.  I've had a sort through my bag o bits, and found a velvet remnant, lace, sheer ribbon, beads, and some gold butterflies, so a quick rummage through the button box and I'm all set to make a Christmas party accessory.

Step by step in photos:

 

 

Next I stitched a wavy line, anchoring some gold butterflies along the way.

I had some sheer cream ribbon with fine gold threads in it:

Now to find the perfect little black dress.

Bye for now.

x