Happy New Year's Eve......

I thought I better end the year with a final post for 2012.

Well we made it through Christmas without much hassel. The cats were very good this year with our tree. There were are few "incidents" but they soon didn't pay any attention to the tree at all:)

Santa was very nice and brought my favourites....

I also have to show you a Monthly Make as well. They had a challenge at Cloth Doll Artistry that I  participated in. We were given a pattern with no instructions and we were to make a doll.

As usual I left it to the last moment. It was due December 20th and I some how managed to put something together the night before.  To be honest I wasn't in love with the pattern so it was hard to get motivated:(  We were to use ribbon on the doll as well and I had a ribbon flower I made a while back. So I took it apart and used the petals for her dress....

In the end I made a little shelf sitter. I gave her little boots because she looked odd with the way the foot was. I also thought the arms where out of proportion so I wangled it a bit.

......other news........well the world didn't end this month as predicted........and I got a year older.

I also had a Blogoversary......December 28, 2010 was my first post on here.  Funny that I would choose that time of year to start blogging......nothing on TV probably.


I never make any New Years resolutions because I know I will never stick to them so why bother. I like to go with the flow and see where it brings me. I always look forward to a new year...a fresh page to write on.....new adventures:) 

Having said that I want to wish you all a Happy New Years from me and mine to you and yours....

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I will raise a glass of good cheer to you all and I'll talk to you next year:)

Take care.

Christmas WW1

More Monthly Makes for November...

Since today is the last day in November I thought I'd squeak in a few more Monthly Makes. I made a couple more Christmas tree ornaments.

My version of a Blue Jay...

 and, a Chickadee...sorta...

After struggling to make patterns for the felt birds I've made so far, I then discovered Downeast Thunder Farms.

Ah well....I enjoyed the challenge but sometimes it's nice when someone does the work for you:)

I borrowed the idea for a Christmas Dove from Downeast Thunder Farm. I changed the pattern a bit by making the back wing a separate piece. Susan has a ton of bird patterns and all of them are so simple to make:)

Gingermelon Dolls has posted a free Santa pattern on her blog that is adorable....I'm definitely going to make some. 

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I have a few more felt decorations in the works which I will share next time.

Take care:)

This and that.......

Some sad news...for anyone who follows Soggibottom you will know that about six weeks ago the river near her 16th cottage overflowed it's banks and flooded her house. Well it's happened again....:( Please send her some positive thoughts as this has been a very devastating experience for them all including her adorable dog Freya and the ever stoic Frankie the cat.

Wendy over at WendyCarole's Stuff actually made a runner using the video I posted "10 Minute Table Runner". She said it was very easy to make and it looks lovely....I must make one too.

Famfa over at Jam to Maple Syrup is celebrating the one year anniversary of her move from England to Canada. She has a lovely blog where she posts about her family, their daily happenings and the changes they have experienced in their new life here in Canada.

More sad news....anyone who follows Judy's Fabrications will know that she has decided that she will be closing down her blog at the end of December. Hopefully she will change her mind because she is such a crafty lady and I think an inspiration to all of us crafty slackers. She amazes me at how much creative work she does in a week.

And, last but not least....Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends. We are celebrating it too as my great grandmother was American:)

I know pretty weak......any excuse to have turkey....LOL

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Take care:)

Morbidly Cute........Dumb Ways to Die............A Public Announcement

WIP Wednesday.....

I decided to make some Christmas ornaments that are kid friendly. My granddaughter will be 2 1/2 years old this Christmas and is at that stage when she has to touch and look at everything. Last year all the Christmas trees in the family had bare branches at the bottom.......the decorations were placed up high and away from little hands.

the little imp:)

This year I'm putting decorations at the bottom that she can touch.

I found this really adorable decoration on Pinterest from a blog called....Flamingo Toes ....a mug of cocoa with two little marshmellows floating on top......you will find the pattern and the tutorial to make it at that site.

She's very interested in watching birds at a feeder she made at playschool so I thought an English Robin would be very cute too.....I love when I get cards from Britain with those cute robins on them.

I'm not much of an artist so I looked for a simple picture that I could use as a template and I found one at rspb.org.

I did learn a few lessons making this.......the tail was too skinny so I had to reenforce it with a tiny bit of armature wire.

I glued the wing on upside down but she won't know.....sshhh:)

 Then I made a little red winter coat .....

Of course I had to make some elf's shoes from a pattern designed by Jenny at Allsorts. This is an old pattern that I've made before but this time I printed them at a much smaller size......1/4 of the original pattern size.

I still have a ton of felt so I think it'll keep me busy for a wee while. I found a few more free felt ornament patterns on the internet and once I've made some I'll post some pictures.

I'm joining up today with The Needle & Thread Network..

Take care:) 

Make the 10-Minute Tablerunner

Monthly Make for October....

I found this cute embroidery pattern on Etsy at bigBgsd called "Sewing Room".

It has all of these really sweet motifs and I used one of them to make a little something to hang on the wall of my sewing room......

I think it's pretty cute and I'm very pleased with myself for doing such a neat job.

There are 13 pages of embroidery ideas in the pattern and I was thinking of making a sewing machine cover using some of the other motifs.

Kim....the owner of the Etsy store also has a blog......big B which is of course a blog about embroidery:)

The little needle case in the first picture is a freebie pattern from Wee Folk Art. It was supposed to be a business card holder but I changed it a bit. It now opens up flat and holds all of my embroidery needles.

The pictures are not the greatest as it's a bit dark here at the moment. We are getting a lot of rain and wind today and in fact it looks like we are going to have a very wet week ahead.

I'm going to add this make to my Monthly Makes for October 2012:)

Take care. 

WIP Wednesday......

I'm painting stuff :(

My Trusty Ladder

I sometimes get sidetracked by a news article....ah well:)

I Won A Giveaway:)

I'm a bit late blogging about this as I received my giveaway prize last Thursday but I was busy messing about with other stuff.

I was the last person to enter this giveaway at So September so you can imagine my surprise when I won.

Such a generous giveaway from Corinne...........three wooden embroidery hoops, a package of Thread Heaven, "The Fine Line" water erasable pen from Dritz, a lamenated pocket guide to embroidery stitches, eight skeins of DMC floss and two pieces of linen to get me started on a project with all of these goodies.

and, a 2013 calendar for my kitchen wall.......I think it's printed on Kona cotton. It's lovely anyway and there are directions on how to mount it to hang on the wall.

Corrine is a designer of lovely unique embroidery patterns that she sells online under her business name of September House. She often has free patterns that she offers on her blog too as well as helpful hints and tutorials.

I keep on saying that I'm going to try to get better at embroidery and learn much more about it so this giveaway was perfect. 

Take a moment and go over and pay her a visit:)

Take care.

I Love This Lovely Owl:)

I've posted this before but the link went missing. So adorable:) I find this video so stress

reducing...aaaahhhh......

10 Minute Blocks & Quick Tricks

Monthly Make-It - September

I haven't done much this month as I'm working on a top secret mystery project that I can't reveal until November.

In the mean time here is a little shelf sitter doll I made for the "Halloween In July" challenge over at Cloth Doll Artistry that I'm adding into my Monthly Makes for September.....

 

If your interested you can go over and check out the rules for the Monthly Makes over at The Felt Fairy blog.

There are also Flickr groups for each month...here is the link for September:)

Also while blogging about I found a new toy to play with....

It's Play Crafts Palette Builder. You load on a photo and voila....how fun is that?

I'm off to play around with some pictures:)

Take care.

Stash Play......

I thought I'd join up today with M-R over at Quilt Matters and play with some fabric....lots of fun:)

The idea is to pick any colour palette from Design Seeds (or another palette source) that appeals and play around with the fabrics in your stash.

I chose one with colours that I don't think I would normally put together ever and I was really surprised to find that I had most of the colours in my stash.

Finding plain fabrics that matched the palette was the hardest. I came pretty close though I think I need to buy some more blues and yellows and oranges.

Kona solids

The real challenge was photographing the fabric and getting the true colour which was impossible using my wee camera. The orange is much deeper and the brown is rust...honest:) Not quite the right blue or pink either.

I was actually really surprised that I had so many prints in these colours. Specially orange and pink...my two least favourite colours:)

I don't think I would put any of these fabrics together though??

Not true colours I'm afraid...again:(

Cottons and batiks.

 
An interesting exercise and I rediscovered some bits of fabric I had forgotten about which was very nice indeed:)

Thread Painting

There was nothing on TV and I was bored so I took a look at some videos about stuff and I found this very simple demonstration on thread painting. I know it's more complex than this but for a newbie like me this seems not so intimidating as some I've seen:)



I have a very old sewing machine and it has a straight stitch and a zig zag and not much else. I was very surprised to see that they were all that the demonstrator used.

Take care:)

Monthly Make-It Challenge - August

 

I'm cutting it close this month for the Monthly Make-It Challenge. I really didn't have anything to show.

I rummaged around and found a piece of embroidery that I had done about 2 years ago. The embroidery pattern was a freebie but I can't remember the source that I got it from at the moment. If anyone recognizes it let me know.

I had a fat quarter from the Sew-Sisters Bargain Lover's Club that I really didn't think I could use for anything but it matched the embroidery perfectly. I teamed them up together and made this little tote bag last night. The embroidery was done on a piece of unbleached cotton and I lined the bag with a remnant of sheeting which is a bit lighter shade than the fabric.
                                                                   

I had some flat faceted "buttons" that I used for the eyes...sparkly:)

The finished size is about 10 1/2 in. by 13 in.

Perfect for carrying a book or a magazine:)

I'm also joining up with the Needle&Thread Network. Please come over and visit and see the work of some talented Canadians.

I usually link up my other blog A Cloth Doll Maker's Diary and it's not a WIP but today I thought I'd do something different.

Take care:)

Oddly Strange and Beautiful........

Riusuke Fukahori creates this art by painting in layer by layer with acrylics. The result is an amazing art piece that looks impressively real!

August TUSAL

It's that time again.....

 

If you want to know what a TUSAL is go to the tab on my menu bar or go and visit.....It's Daffycat:)


Here it is.......the magical and amazing ORT jar......

Take care:)

Rock.......?

For some odd reason our cat Smokey likes to hang out with the St. John's Wort bush in our garden. Usually completely under it and hidden away.

He will spend hours resting there......even when it's teeming down with rain and he's getting soaked. We have no idea why.

At first I thought he was waiting for birds at our feeder but he can't see them as he is facing towards the middle and can't possibly see a thing.  When he's not in sight and we can't find him we look there first:)

Strange cat........

Yes..... the grass is long but lovely and green now......we can't get it cut as it keeps raining which is fine as the farmers desperately need it after the drought we have had. In fact it's clouding over again and it looks like it might rain soon.

Take care:)

Free Doll Pattern.......

Colleen Babcock over at The Magic Bean is offering a free doll pattern.....it's a very sweet little doll.

Here's a bit of Colleen's description from her blog........

"step by step photo instructions not only include how to sew and make the doll's body it also includes how to make her little knickers, shoes and a completely reversible dress.    The instructions also cover some great sewing tricks like using French seams and "stitching in the ditch", so this project is also a great opportunity to improve your sewing skills."

Not only is she offering this pattern but in later weeks there will be a pattern for pajamas and slippers:) 


This is a great Christmas gift for some little girl...or big girl....that you know.

L'il More Than Your Average Rag Doll Free Pattern and Tutorial

 

July TUSAL......

Last month.....empty.

This month......

I also have a jar for the bits I snip off as I sew. I'm a bit of a neat freak when it comes to threads and bits around my sewing machine.

You'll see lots of mauve and green because I been making this......

Water Lily online class with Colleen Babcock

If you want to know what a TUSAL is go to the tab on my menu bar or go and visit.....It's Daffycat:)

Take care:)

Handmade bags with textile artist Marilyn Pipe

I thought this was pretty interesting. I'm still looking for an idea to use the bag handles I received from the Felt Fairy in January....maybe I will give this a try.....

Soggibottom Giveaway......

Made by Karina

This lovely handmade necklace is being offered by Soggibottom as a giveaway. Go over and visit and see what it's all about:)

Until July 22nd.....

Monthly Makes For July....So Far

The Felt Fairy

    


I think I have been busier this month making things than I usually am. Maybe because the weather is so hot and I'm inside trying to stay cool.

Here is a Goddess style doll.......sort of a Wild West vibe:)

Here are two Dotee dolls I made for a swap......

I made another Woodland Elf this time in blue for my sister-in-law......

And, a faux crazy quilt scrappy pillow......yesterday's experiment.

I have also been taking a five week on line class to make a doll called Water Lily. This is the last week and I'll show that finish next week:)

Take care.