Toucan box

I read about the Toucan box a while ago, when I joined the subscription club at the fabulous Seamstar.  At the time, I didn't pursue it, as the information says that it's suitable for children aged 3-8, and so I thought it would be too young for Ava and Asher.

However, a friend posted a link recently to get a free box, so, always keen to get something for nothing, I signed up.  I thought that the box might languish, ignored, for the duration, but because of the rather fetching packaging, it looked incredibly exciting, and was ripped open as soon as they were home from school.  Silence descended for a good hour or so.  I think this is the benefit of ordering it for older children - they can do it all without any adult help whatsoever (and they are old enough to tidy away afterwards!) They emerged from the dining room with these little chaps:

They then proceeded to play with them for an hour (you can race them up the window on their ribbons, which was really pretty fun to do).

When I said that the box was a freebie, and we'd probably not get it again, there were cries and wails of consternation. I relented, as they knew I would, because, as always, I'm a sucker for anything deemed educational.  The next box contained all we needed to make a treasure map and parrot, which Asher did, only complaining that he hates colouring in (there was a bit of colouring on the parrot, which was fine because I did it!)

We have changed our order to get a larger box once a month, so that there are materials for both children.  They have been warned that once it stops being opened, it stops being ordered, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon.

If you'd like to try a free box yourself, this link should allow you to. Happy crafting!

Picture for the porch

Usually, I like to follow instructions. I am not very good at creativity, and like a nice pattern to follow. I like to know that someone who has better spatial awareness and awareness of colour has mapped it all out for me.

However, I was inspired by an Ikea box frame, an old toy and some childhood writing paper. We were clearing out the last of the boxes of my husband's old things from his Mum and Dad's house, and we came across a rather lovely plastic moneybox in the shape of a post box from Germany.  We kept it, and it ended up on the "shelf of stuff that doesn't really have a home" in the conservatory.  Quite what's going to become of this shelf when we demolish the conservatory, I don't know.

Anyway, as we were sorting stationery the other day, I found some hedgehog writing paper which looked retro, as they say, and wasn't mine.  MrM got quite animated about how much he had loved the paper as a child.  It too, apparently, had been bought on a holiday in Germany.

We happened to have an Ikea box frame lying about, which was meant to be framing a birthday card for Asher's room, but it was too deep for the purpose.  I decided to have a go at making a picture for our porch with it, along with the hedgehog writing paper.

I must say, for someone born without an artistic bone in her body, I quite like the result!

Owl cushion

Poor MrM.  Not only did his favourite wool sweater get attacked by evil moths, but his wife decided to make it into a whimsical owl cushion, useful only for getting in the way when you want to have a nice sit down.  It is quite cute though.

Please excuse the creme egg wrapper shrapnel in the foreground, unnoticed until I uploaded the photo.  There may have been a small amount of wanton, unbridled creme egg consumption going on over the course of this weekend.
Anyway, the jumper was found on Thursday in holes.  A shame, since it was rather a nice jumper.  However, never one to eschew an opportunity to have a look at Pinterest, I searched for recycled woollen sweater craft.  Several very lovely things appeared, including a completely awesome cuddly peanut.  However, a rather sweet, very plain owl caught my fancy, so I based my own creation very loosely on that.

First of all, I washed the jumper at 90 degrees.  It came out tightly felted, and the size of a jumper for a small boy. I drew the outline of an owl.  Let's pretend I meant for it to come out "primitive", as they say.  It was strangely satisfying cutting through the felted wool.  It's very thick, and doesn't fray at all, so made a good, clean cut.

I used felt for the eyes, beak, wings and feathers.  I added a few scraps of Annali fabric which I had left over after cutting the many, many hexagons for my quilt-in-progress.

We have named the owl Olwyn, and she is going to live in one of the armchairs we have acquired from Great Grandpa for the new house. Well, she'll live there until someone chucks her off so they can sit down, which seems to me to be the fate of all cushions...

Easter bunnies

This month's Seamstar kit contained the materials to make three little Easter bunnies. I decided to make one each for the children to keep in their smalls drawer. This kit was a very good one for me, since it forced me to use my sewing machine, which I am a bit scared of.

I think it's partly because it's so very loud.  Also, looking at the manual, there are so many, many things that could potentially go wrong with it. So many sharp, loud moving things that could go horribly wrong at any time. 

However, something going wrong with it is probably preferable to leaving it gathering dust for a decade, sneaking glances at it every now and again, in case it is plotting to kill me in my sleep.

Turns out the machine is not that evil after all. It's actually quite helpful and handy.  And a darn sight quicker than sewing by hand.

The first step was to machine "draw" the outline of the bunnies onto white felt, as though they had been roughly scribbled.  "Don't try to be too neat" said the instructions.  Not a problem.  Then, I sewed the ear sections on. A few short sentences, and yet it took quite some time! Not the actual sewing, but working out how to thread the machine, and draw up the bobbin thread. The first time took over an hour, the second under ten minutes.  I am hoping to get it down still further next time.

Last night I sewed tails, a small carrot and a name on each bunny's back.

Tonight I machined them together and stuffed them with lavender. They are small, and have numerous mistakes, but I am rather fond of them.

 

Patchwork quilting for the lazy and chronically unco-ordinated with a Big Shot, paper pieces and glue

I absolutely adore patchwork quilts.  I almost booked to look around a totally inappropriate house in our recent house search because in the estate agents photographs, all of the beds had lovely patchwork quilts on them.  Presumably, they would not have been included in the sale :D

Anyway, although I love patchwork quilts, I have an uneasy relationship with cutting stuff out.  I am absolutely, chronically dreadful at it. I remember one parents evening a teacher said "I despair of ever being able to teach that girl to use a pair of scissors". They just don't seem to like me.

Patchwork quilting requires not only a great deal of cutting out, but a great deal of *accurate* cutting out.  Game over. Inaccurate pieces makes for a very frustrating sewing experience.

Step in the Sizzix Big Shot The Big Shot is a die cutting machine.  Basically, it is a roller set on a platform.  You buy foam with an inset of a very sharp blade arranged in a shape (a die). You then put your die and fabric (or paper, or various other materials) between the cutting pads and roll it through the rolly bit (I realise this is a very technical description, and I apologise).  For my birthday, I received a Big Shot, a hexagon die to cut fabric, and a voucher to buy some fabric (I chose a rather lovely bundle of seven fat quarters from Annali).  Armed with these, plus some pre-cut hexagons, 1/4" each side smaller than the die, and some Sewline fabric glue, I set out to start my very first patchwork quilt.

The technique is called English paper piecing.  Basically, after cutting a bijillion or so little hexagons out (which took next to no time at all with my wonderful super cutting machine), you are ready to begin.  One paper hexagon nestles on a fabric one.  You glue each seam down and then simply whip stitch the seams together. In one day I have produced this:

 

 

So many beauteous hexagons.  Actually, not all that many really, but I don't mind, as they are like doing a big, fun, really easy jigsaw puzzle :)

 

From the back they look like this:

 

 

You simply remove the paper pieces once the hexagon is fully surrounded. All the joy of patchwork quilting, and hardly any of the dreaded cutting out.



I thought this was going to be quick and easy...

 

The Seamstar craft kit for February was some particularly lovely spring bunting.  Luckily for me, my daughter's name is palindromic in shape, so the fussy bit of ironing on letters in reverse was stress-free, and the bunting was relatively simple to make (although it did take a little longer than the "leisurely afternoon" I was promised.

Here's her bunting.  As you can see - each end has a nice simple heart with a word and a little button sewn on for good measure.

"I want bunting too for my new room!" says Asher.  Since we are not moving for a little while, I think this is certainly within the realms of possibility.  "And I want robots at each end!"  OK, no problem.  Hmmm. Not only is his name an irritating two whole letters longer than Ava's, it's even palindromic.  I consider just doing an A in the middle of two robots.  Apparently this is not acceptable.  So tonight I finished robot no.1. The enjoyment of his creation was hampered quite significantly by the knowledge that I have to make another, identical one before I can get on with sewing the flags up.

Easter Wreath

I was going to start putting pictures of stuff I make on my usual blog, but realised that making stuff doesn't really tie in with reading books.  I mean, I can *sort* of knit and read on my kindle, but not particularly effectively, and only really, really easy patterns. So, I decided to start another blog, about my craft creations.

Yep, my life really is that rock n roll - not only do I love reading, I also love knitting, cross-stitch and sewing.  It's pretty edgy, but I like to take risks.

I am totally rubbish at sticking to just one project at a time. Yesterday evening, I was working on my latest kit from Seamstar. I am a member of their craft club, which means they send me a rather lovely kit each month to make something fabulous.  This month the kit is based around felt flowers in Spring colours.  I happen to have acquired a willow wreath type affair from my mother-in-law, and so decided I would use that as a base for my creations. 

I was originally planning to just add a few felt flowers, and be done with it, but last night I found myself knitting a cover for a polystyrene Easter egg that I just happened to have lying around.  Then, in true gilding of lily style, I added a bit of felt, ribbon, and a button for good measure.  Because who doesn't want a nice pink button on their wool and polystyrene Easter egg? The wool is 4 ply and from Five Moons, and the colour is Acid Drop. The pattern can be found here and the eggs which fit the egg shell (so to speak) can be ordered in packs of 10 from Baker Ross.

The kids and I are planning to do a few more felt flowers and leaves and then add them all over the weekend.  But here it is so far.