Peg Doll Angels

 

 

I've been making these for years as little gifts, and just about perfected it.

 

 

I've used transfers for the face, but coloured the hair with a Promarker. The wings were but out on the Sizzix, and I've used a plain cream cotton for the underskirt, with a gold, net ribbon for the dress.  I twist the gold pipe cleaner in the centre to make the halo, and wrap it around the doll's neck for the arms. I make a small cut in the folded centre of the fabric to go over the head.

Adding a gold chocolate coin as a small treat, the packaging again is a Sizzix shape.

 

 

I've made 30 of these for the children in my class.

 

Nadolig Llawen!

Patchwork on the go

Holidaying in Madrid I had prepared my hexies to take with me.

 

 

Luckily, we took a suitcase for the hold so I was able to take my needle and scissors. Previous years' holidays with just hand luggage have proved a nightmare trying to buy a sewing kit with good scissors on arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

As an early riser I was able to grab a hour or two on the tiny balcony for light, whilst everyone else slept.

 

 

 

We did it!

Happy day....

Both my daughter and myself graduated on Thursday

 

 



My daughter graduated in BA (Hons) Fashion an Design, and Myself in BA Early Years Education

Yipee!

 

Wedding Anniversary weekend in Bath, England

We have just returned from a very relaxing spa weekend in the Roman city of Bath, home to Jane Austen and the fashion museum. A beautiful place if you ever have the chance to go there.

 

Such great architecture

 

 

 

 

Someone's wedding...horse and cart

The Guildhall market

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy cake shop

 

Glasswork

 

Bath Abbey

 

The carnival was on

 

Nearly had to take these two home, so sweet

Canal cruise

 

 



 

Nice sign

 

 

 

Victorian tiles

Finally found a use for my collection of Victorian tiles....

 

 

 

 

as a splash back in the downstairs bathroom. Now to find an Art Deco mirror.

Do you spot my patchwork theme? I  know! I just can't stop...

A nod to St Francis

Make me a channel of your peace.

 

 

This simple display was made purposely with cheap materials - newspaper, hessian and white card to reflect the simplicity of St Francis' life. I chose birds as a nod to his affinity to animals. The children added to the display by placing fallen birds' nests found on the yard. The paper birds are held up with fishing wire attached to a twig.

 

Truth, hope, joy, love

 

The fan wings were made with the printed verse of Make me a channel of your peace

Fete 2015

This year, as I was in my patchwork schema, I decided to incorporate some small items into my stall. I had got a bit carried away with hexagons over the past couple of months, which I did intend to make into pot holders, but I made so many and they looked so nice that I turned it into a quilt. Having exhausted all my time into that, I realised that I did not have enough for the looming fete, so I made these...

Pot holders...

 

 

Moda 30s playtime fabric

 

 

 Assorted fabrics, including vintage

 

 I saw this leaf idea on Pinterest

 

I think selling handmade goods adds another dimension to the fete. We live in a throwaway society with so many cheap accessible goods, but most people still appreciate handmade items, harking back to an earlier time period of crafting, which is definitely dying out - I know few people (in real life, not blog land) who actually have the time or inclination to sew or create.

However, there is definitely a 'fete price' limit. Over the years I have realised that nothing really sells for more than £1, which is a bit disheartening when you've spent so much time and effort.

 

 

 

Bean bag frogs, made with a Khaki drill and Kaffe Fasset Roman Glass Green fabrics, filled with lentils to weigh them down - they feel deliciously addictive - I use these in the playground with the children - obviously my marketing tactics had worked and they sold out pretty quickly at £1.50 each.

 



 

Bean bag turtles/tortoise, more labour intensive, made with a green velvet body and again filled with lentils. The shell is a patchwork flower sewn on top of the body.

 

 

Always a good seller, and one of the most 'hit upon' items on my Pinterest is the hessian heart. These were filled with lavender. I cut the hearts out on the Sizzix and these are then very quick and easy to make. The hessian or burlap as it is called in America, is from food sacks from my husband's factory - always looking for that (cheap) recycling opportunity!



 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandmother's flower garden quilt number 3

Well I just can't stop!! The sunflower quilt is still going strong, and I've been sewing every day, but then I decided to use up some scraps and make smaller hexi's - this time with a double ring. I like the look of mixing up the colours and having the white path to bind it all together.

 

 

Baptism Card - Noah's Ark

 

 

A card, designed by me for our little grandson who is being baptised tomorrow.

 

Made with various dies and punches. (Sizzix and Hobbycraft)

 

with a matching gift tag on his gift - a silver Armenian Noah's Ark coin.

 

Pinwheel quilt in the making

and another one in the pipeline. Really should finish one project at a time.....

 

 

I've used Moda's 30s playtime fabric - a layer pack. My eldest granddaughter took a fancy to my baby quilt, so I've just changed the design.

 

Sunflower quilt - grandmother's flower garden in yellow

Yes - this one's going to take a while! I started it 2 summers ago on holiday - inspired by the sunflower fields in the Mediterranean. A lovely yellow, sunny quilt to lift the spirits. I have only had time to do it in the holidays so I've just picked it up again as I have finished studying Yeahhh!!!  (Note to self - no more studying!!) It's great therapy.

 

 

This one is for me to fit a double bed. I've made 20 yellow flowers so far, and probably need another 40 and the white daisies too.

 

 

 

 

Temporary art

 

I recently attended an art course for children - lots of inspiration for observing nature and working with natural materials - it was great. One thing I will definitely use in my role as a teaching assistant is creating collages without glue - yes it's a temporary work of art. Most children like to create pieces of art independently - and supplies are always accessible to them. However, left to their own devices they often choose not to use glue, but yards of sticky tape, hog all the best resources and be quite wasteful unsupervised. So the concept of creating a piece of art that doesn't involve glue may appeal to all.

Although they won't be able to take their artwork home with them - this can be solved by taking a photo of their work and putting it on display. This also works well with children (boys!) who like to use construction toys, such as lego and blocks. Smaller models may be kept on a shelf for a little while to admire - but eventually it has to go back in the box to be reused. A photo stays forever.

 

Which links to this:

 

 

My own little glue less (unsewn) temporary collage for my daughter's birthday. My husband had a trip to Japan, so we paid for her to accompanying him. As a textile/fashion student I hoped the trip would be inspirational to her and sent her this for her birthday.

 

Happy 21st!!



Fairytales craft

Wow - can you tell it's half term? So many blog posts. I'm going through my photos of the various things that I've made.

 

Cinderella craft

Small children have limited drawings skills - so I tend to use a lot of collage, group projects, printing, whilst still practising their cutting  skills

 

 

I drew lines onto card and then photocopied it for the children to cut into strips.

 

 

The strips were crossed at the centre and fastened with a split pin, then each end brought up to the top and fastened with another split pin.

 

 

Sizzix extras such as leaves and the horses, but the children could make their own, depending on their skills - and there you have it - Cinderella's pumpkin coach.

 

Red Riding Hood craft

 

Forever thinking outside the box - This is an Ikea tablemat.

 

I've used printing ink here, it's really messy stuff - oily, but the children love printing and are always surprised at the result.

 

It's a tree for the woods.

 

You can just about make out a wolf rubbing hiding in the corner

 

The tree print on a display - I like to decorate the background on the display paper before it goes up.

 

 



 

The wolf was collaged from newspaper

 

This huge display was made from shapes - triangles, rectangles, circles and hexagons on Granny's quilt. The children printed onto the trees with maths shapes too.

 

 

 

 

The children drew around a hoola hoop to make a large circle and then cut it out themselves.

 

 

They rubbed the paper with a crayon on a crate - again they are fascinated with rubbings and the results that this achieves

 

We printed real fruit and vegetables for Grandma's basket



 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

 

Another group project - the children were engrossed in cutting snips around pieces of paper to create the bears' fur. We had a theatre role play area with a small stage to rehearse their plays.