Monthy Make...January...

I have no monthly make for January as alas alack the Monthly Make It Challenge has been cancelled for 2013.

Annie at The Felt Fairy has decided not to go forward with the challenge this year and I totally support her decision...... 2012 was  a very rough year for her.

The thing is though I was keeping this blog active just for that challenge. So now I have to have a big think about whether I go forward with this blog.

I don't get a lot of visitors. Most of the activity centers around a post I did on July 24, 2011....Kanzashi In Bloom. I get an average of 15 hits a day for that alone and only that......strange.

I do have other blogs that I'm much more invested in keeping as they reflect more of what I'm about and what I get up to on a weekly basis.

I may just take a hiatus from My Tate Gallery for a bit so not to worry. I'm still around over at A Cloth Doll Maker's Diary.

Take care:)

Year In Review.....

I thought I'd review what I have made this year just for the heck of it. I never realized how much I had done.

Here in no particular chronological  order are my makes for 2012...I think I may have missed a few but whatever....I think I'm safe in saying I was productive.

Unfortunately there are a couple of largish UFO's :(

I'm joining up with The Needle and Thread Network today......I've been a bit lax in my participation recently but I intend to get with it this year.....take care:)


 

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.

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:)

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:) 

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. 

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.

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:)