tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41003569197932496692024-03-14T15:13:00.722+00:00MiaouMiaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-3616332515589790622013-10-17T21:23:00.000+01:002013-10-17T21:23:02.124+01:00I think I must need my head examined!Buoyed up by my success with the Cath Kidston blanket, I decided to embark on another one. It's a win-win as the weather gets colder - I get to play with pretty colours, and I get to snuggle under a growing blanket on a chilly evening at the same time. Happiness!<br />
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Now, I love colour, but I really struggle with putting colours together. I know what I like, and I know what I don't like ... but somehow I can't seem to see in my mind's eye how I want it to turn out. So much so that generally speaking, I will seek out a colour palette that I like, then use that as a basis to work from, rather than trial-and-error it on my own. I'd seen a blanket where I thought the colours worked well together, and picked a selection of similar shades to make my blanket with.<br />
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I'd picked the delightful <a href="http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html" target="_blank">Ripple Pattern</a> by Lucy at <a href="http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/" target="_blank">Attic 24</a> . I've had my eye on this pattern for ages and kept imagining the deliciousness of the colours and how it would all look. So, in a lather of excitement and anticipation, I set to work.<br />
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I was reasonably happy with it at first, up to about the first pale blue repeat. Then I started to doubt myself. In went the yellow/green/yellow combo (as seen in the other blanket I liked, which I seem to have wiped from memory now ...!), and I wavered, but persevered. By the time I got to the top red repeat, I was having serious misgivings. The evening after I finished the top cream row, I took the blanket out of my project bag ... and realised that I <i>really wasn't all that excited about working on it.</i><br />
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Well, that was it - the death knell had sounded. I thought about how much work I had put into this blanket (about two weeks' worth), and realised I was considering pulling it all back, which seemed pretty insane. But then really, the alternative was that either a) I forced myself to continue on a project I had fallen out of love with and would never enjoy using, or b) I return it to the project bag, shove it to the back of my studio and leave it to linger, unloved, until it finally gets thrown out or ... pulled back for something else.<br />
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So - I went for it. Actually, the look on my family's faces was priceless - they were horrified! My daughters in particular thought I had taken leave of my senses (I kind of thought they may have a point ...). It took me most of an evening, pulling back and winding into small balls, all the yarn I had carefully crocheted over the previous two weeks.<br />
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Then I went back to my stash, and pulled out a pile of extra colours. In with cerise, dark purple, pale yellow, turquoise and white, to work alongside the original palette. I also decided the stripes were too large and "heavy" looking, and from now on I would work 1 row only of each colour. More ends to sew in afterward (I told you I needed my head examined), but a better balance, and a chance to use up some smaller balls of colour from my stash.<br />
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Deep breath, and I began again. I abandoned the idea of following someone else's colour choices, and just went for it. Considering my first experience with this blanket, this was either quite brave or potentially foolhardy, but I decided that the risk of needing to pull back a second time was worth it. I just stopped worrying about the colours, and (watch out, cliche coming) listened to my heart telling me what to go with next. I stopped thinking, and just ... felt it.<br />
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Lo and behold, it's working.<br />
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My daughters both love this version, and so do I - the cerise adds an extra zing of colour, the single row enables each colour to have its say without being "dominated" by the stronger ones, and the increased palette adds some extra happiness to the mix. The blanket is coming along a treat now and I enjoy picking it up and working on it.<br />
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I just needed to stop "thinking" and start "feeling". Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-40919485764648886272013-09-28T14:43:00.000+01:002013-09-28T14:43:07.725+01:00Inspiration from Cath KidstonThis project has been hanging around for a while and I finally got around to finishing it!Apologies for the awful lighting; it's very dark up here today but I needed a bigger space to display the finished object than I could manage in my studio with its lovely daylight lamp.<br />
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I was inspired by the colours that Cath Kidston uses in her styling. I originally started out with lemon yellow and peach in the mix too, but in the end I decided to stick with pale blue, pink, green, white and red.<br />
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I added a border of five rounds of the pale blue and a picot edging which gave the blanket slightly fluted appearance.<br />
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This blanket will be on its way to a friend next week - happy snuggling!<br />
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<br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-19119861914711368992013-09-15T09:39:00.000+01:002013-09-15T09:39:07.059+01:00A foray into crochet<br />
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I quite like crochet, but I like it on my terms, when I feel like doing it. I didn't particularly feel like crocheting this week, but I had to take four flights (I was away at a business conference) and of course, knitting needles are strictly forbidden. So what to do? I really didn't fancy a craft fasting exercise - it calms me down and allows me to relax and mull over the events of the day. So I had to chose a crochet project that was small enough to take on the plane and stimulating enough to keep my attention.<br />
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Quite by chance, the week before I went away, I came across <a href="http://sandra-cherryheart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/stripy-mitts-tutorial.html" target="_blank">this pattern</a> from the fabulous <a href="http://sandra-cherryheart.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">cherry heart</a> blog and fell in love. I answered all my needs - small amounts of yarn, quirky finished result and loads of colour - hooray! I broke out my sock leftover stash and got to work.<br />
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Once I got home from the conference, I went through my button stash and found the perfect finishing touches. The weather has turned this weekend and we are experiencing our first autumn storm, so I think they might get a fair bit of use over the next few weeks!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-33185812589863201892013-08-20T21:16:00.000+01:002013-08-20T21:16:49.208+01:00I'm a winner!I'm not a big competition enterer (is there such a word? Probably not!) - but when I saw one on <a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/" target="_blank">Planet Penny</a>'s wonderful blog to win a <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/" target="_blank">Daylight Lamp</a> I couldn't resist entering. Penny asked how a Daylight Lamp would make life easier for me - now that wasn't a hard one to answer! Up here, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurso" target="_blank">the northernmost town in mainland UK </a>, the winter nights are long and the days are short. Here's a pic from my kitchen window last winter:<br />
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You can see my lovely little studio on the left there. However it does get a tad dark and gloomy during the long winter months, so I really coveted the <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/product/daylight-table-top-lamp-white/" target="_blank">lamp</a>.<br />
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So I entered the competition, then off I went on holiday for two weeks and thought no more about it, because I never win anything. (that could be because I rarely enter anything, but let's not split hairs now...)<br />
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So imagine my amazement when I got home to find that I had WON!!! I had a lovely email from Penny and my <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/product/daylight-table-top-lamp-white/" target="_blank">Swan table lamp</a> was very speedily dispatched and arrived all the way up in the far north in very quick time. I finally got it set up and working and took some pictures this afternoon, I am so thrilled with it!<br />
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Here is the lamp in all its glory - not the best pic but I haven't found a home for it yet, so it is just lurking on top of my 1942 Singer sewing machine at present:<br />
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It has a fabulous acrylic magnifier which pops on and off the base really easily, and can be positioned wherever you want it. The light is neat and also will move wherever you need it.<br />
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And look at the difference in the photos! Without the lamp ...<br />
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And with the lamp ...<br />
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Whoo hoo!!<br />
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(The picture, by the way, is of my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/binsenkorbchen-socks" target="_blank">binsenkorbchen socks</a> that I am knitting up ... wonderful pattern creating by slipping stitches rather than stranding - really pleased with them so far!)<br />
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So a huge thank you to<a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Planet Penny</a> for running the competition, and to the random number generator for picking me as the <a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/2013/08/02/daylight-lamp-the-winner/" target="_blank">winner</a>, and to <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/" target="_blank"> Daylight Company</a> for their brilliant lamp!<br />
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Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-5804170993080081702013-07-20T22:09:00.000+01:002013-07-21T09:16:41.149+01:00Riley the repurposed Rabbit - a tutorialA few years ago I had a different blog which, for reasons beyond my untechnical brain, was compromised by computer gremlins. One of the posts I had on there was a tutorial on how to make a rabbit from an old t-shirt, a perfect way to enable a child to hang on to their favourite top long after they have outgrown it. I thought it was worth a re-share, so here it is:<br />
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Caitlin, my eldest daughter, had a favourite t-shirt. She had outgrown it, then wore
it for a cat-painting workshop at the local art gallery. This
marked the demise of the t-shirt - a great big splodge of red paint
across the front, which no amount of washing could totally remove. She
was very sad to see it go so I
decided to repurpose it. And so that you can have a go too, I decided to
make a tutorial! It’s a bit flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, but I’m
pretty happy with the end result -<br />
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Introducing Riley, the Repurposed Rabbit!</h4>
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So - if you would like to make one yourself - here is what to do!<br />
Firstly - take an old, long-sleeved t-shirt. This one is age 9-10, just to give you an idea of the size.<br />
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(you can still see the red splodge on the front!)<br />
Now cut off the arms.<br />
At this point, if you want the right side of the t-shirt to be the
right side of your rabbit, then you need to turn it inside out. I used
the wrong side as the right side for my rabbit, as the stain didn’t go
all the way through, so my finished rabbit is stain-free!<br />
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On the body of the t-shirt, draw a head, body and ears. I made the head
12cm in diameter, the body is approximately 16cm x 22cm, and the ears
are 16cm x 5.5cm at the widest point. (However I wish I’d made the body a
bit thinner, Riley looks as if he’s had a few too many carrots). Leave a
good gap between each piece (unlike me) as a seam allowance. If you are not confident on your drawing skills, you could draw them on paper first. I'm a bit gung-ho, as you can probably tell, since the body on mine is not terribly symmetrical. All adds to the charm, I say!<br />
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Taking care to go through both layers, I pinned around each of the shapes. Once I had done this I flipped the material over to check I had put each pin right through, and that the material wasn't bunched up underneath in any place.<br />
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Cut them out leaving a seam allowance all round, but retain the leftover
bits. (Can you tell I can’t bear to throw anything out??)<br />
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Now take one of the sleeves. This is to make the arms. Cut it off at
the top to make it straight, and cut off the bottom so that the main
piece is 23cm long. Don’t throw away the leftover bits!<br />
(Yes, I know, rabbits don’t have arms. But for the sake of clarity,
they do for this tute. For that matter, they don’t generally have blue
and white stripes …)<br />
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Fold the sleeve so that the seam is in the centre. Pin either side of the seam.<br />
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Cut the sleeve in half along the seam.<br />
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Round off and pin the ends.<br />
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Now do the same for the legs, only cut the sleeve so it is 30cm long.<br />
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Using a fine needle and a fairly loose tension, machine sew round all
your pieces, leaving gaps at the tops of the limbs, and bottoms of the
head, ears and body, for turning out and stuffing. <br />
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So next … turn all your pieces the right side out and stuff ‘em! Don’t stuff the ears though.</div>
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Note the wooden spoon. I had the great idea of using it to push the
stuffing down inside the limbs. It doesn’t work - the spoon just goes
right through the stuffing. Don’t try it.<br />
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I’ve also stuffed my rabbit quite loosely as I wanted it to be quite floppy.<br />
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Oh yes - stuffing. In the interests of repurposing, I did not buy my toy stuffing.<br />
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This may give you a clue as to where I got it though:<br />
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OK - on with the tute:<br />
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Apologies for this next picture. You have not had too much wine.
(Neither had I, but I seem to be suffering from camera shake on this
shot).<br />
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Fold in the open end on one of the arms, with the seam in the centre.
Slip stitch it closed. (Do you know I took about ten of these photos
and every single one came out blurred. grr.) Repeat with the other arm
and with each of the legs.<br />
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Take the arms, fold in half again, with the seam inside, and slip stitch along the opening.</div>
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Sew up the bottom opening on the body, then attach the arms and legs to the body. For some reason I haven’t got a photo of this!<br />
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Now take the ears, fold in the opening and pin. Secure thread firmly
at one end and slip stitch to the other end. Pull up the thread so that
it gathers, stitch firmly to keep the gathers in place. Repeat with the
other ear.<br />
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(Don’t worry about the turquoise playdoh in the corner of the
picture. This was Calum’s contribution and has nothing to do with the
rabbit <img alt=";-)" class="wp-smiley" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20080725063305im_/http://miaoucrafts.com/jill/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" /> )<br />
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Attach the ears to the head. (I would like to say that I planned it so that the stripes lined up, but that would be a lie).</div>
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Now go and have a rummage round in your button box and find some buttons
for the eyes and nose. Caitlin chose to have two buttons for each eye -
I quite like the effect!</div>
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Add some mouth and whisker details with sewing or embroidery thread, securing the ends under the nose button for neatness.<br />
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Now for the tail. Take the leftover bit of sleeve from when you made
the arms, and cut off the seam at the bottom and straighten up the top.
My bit of sleeve is 7.5cm long.<br />
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Turn inside out and sew a running stitch round one end of the piece.<br />
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Gather, stitch in place, then turn right side out and stuff. Sew a running stitch round the open top and pull tight.<br />
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Oversew the ends, then attach to your rabbit.<br />
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(yes, I know the stripes don’t match up at the back. I’m not <i>that</i> dedicated!)<br />
Et Voila!!<br />
Here is Riley posing a little self-consciously:<br />
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And here he is chilling out watching TV when he thought I wasn’t looking: </div>
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Hope you like my Riley! If you follow my tute and make one yourself then
please let me know and I’ll feature it on my blog. Happy repurposing!</div>
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Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-34616092086845268372013-07-14T13:24:00.000+01:002013-07-14T13:25:37.953+01:00A place to playEvery child needs a place to play .. and so does every adult! Here's my "play space", a fabulous shed in the garden. <br />
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I have a lovely old oak table for sewing on, where I keep all my bits and bobs to hand:<br />
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On the left is my trusty Singer sewing machine, on the right is my <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/putting-little-light-on-subject.html" target="_blank">upcycled lampshade</a> that I crocheted with hand-dyed silk. In front of it is a drinks mat made from sea glass I found on the beach.<br />
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The stripy thing you can see is my little <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/i-love-pinterest.html" target="_blank">desk bin</a>, for all those bits of thread and fabric snippings. I had seen something similar on <a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/2012/02/03/the-importance-of-stuff/" target="_blank">Planet Penny's website</a> and decided to have a go. My knitting needle holder originally had shortbread in it! And old spice jars make great button holders. <br />
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I made my "to do" list from a cheap photo frame with wrapping paper in it, and I use a white board pen to add things to it. I made the little birds from air-drying clay and copper wire.<br />
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I have a fabulous wee set of drawers that are full of lots of bits and bobs - sewing thread, beads, tape measures and "found" items. On the top I keep my pincushions (I have three but I don't know where the other two are at the moment!), plus some more air-drying clay sculptures (these were created by modelling around small bottles and tinfoil, wrapped up with masking tape before applying the clay).<br />
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More buttons, safety eyes and handbag clasps in another old spice jar arrangement. I cheered this one up with red paint and polka dots. I painted the picture but haven't got round to putting it up yet. The yarn is some I <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/more-adventures-this-time-in-yarn.html" target="_blank">hand-dyed myself </a>, in a lovely plate made by a ceramic artist friend of mine. The stones were painted by my eldest daughter.<br />
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My bookcase holds all sorts of treasures - my sock monkey stash, my ideas notebooks, and all my sewing and knitting inspiration books. Some are old favourites, some are new additions, all are often referred to. I used to have three times as many but I have pared them down recently. Just at the bottom of the picture you can see my Parker Knoll armchair covered in a Rainbow Granny blanket - for more pictures of it have a look <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/finished.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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My favourite item in my shed is this picture by a lovely artist friend of mine Charlie Meyer - for more of her work have a look at her regularly updated<a href="https://www.facebook.com/CharlieMeyerIllustration?fref=ts" target="_blank"> Facebook page</a> . It never fails to cheer me up!<br />
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Anything else you want to know about what you see, just ask! Do you have a place to play too?<br />
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Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-49091597415002505902013-07-09T21:00:00.000+01:002013-07-09T21:00:15.271+01:00A new bagI'm forever losing things in the bottom of my bag, it's so annoying! So when I saw <a href="http://craftsredesigned.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/hand-bag-tutorial.html" target="_blank">this tutorial</a> by Liberty at Crafts reDesigned to make a bag with lots of pockets, I just had to give it a go.<br />
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I'm very pleased with the result! The handles were a bit tricky to sew on, but my trusty 1940s singer sewing machine rose to the challenge. I used brown corduroy for the base and the handles, blue denim (the reverse side) for the middle stripe and the lining, and two fabric samples for the main exterior and the pockets. If you can get hold of fabric sample books (my local soft furnishing shop gives them away for a donation) they are a great source of cheap, excellent quality fabric that will otherwise go to waste. Upholstery fabric tends to come in pretty large pieces, about 20" square, which is perfect for making bags like this!<br />
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Here's a picture of the inside:<br />
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All my bits and pieces (purse, phone, ipod, pens, keys, sunglasses) are all tucked away in the pockets, all easily accessible and (hopefully!) easy to find!<br />
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I followed the tute pretty much to the letter, except that I added a magnetic snap closure just before I sewed the topstitch round the top of the bag.<br />
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If you fancy having a go at making one yourself, do have a look at the <a href="http://craftsredesigned.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/hand-bag-tutorial.html" target="_blank">tutorial</a> , it's really well-written with lots of clear pictures, though I think it helped that I had made a few bags before.<br />
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I'm just thrilled with the result! I'm sure I will make another version soon.Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-24868707236168410942013-07-06T11:10:00.000+01:002013-07-06T11:11:50.384+01:00Look, I knitted the world!I found this <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/globe-pillow-or-ball" target="_blank">lovely pattern via Ravelry</a> and, though I can crochet perfectly well, I much prefer to knit. So I wondered if the pattern would translate to knitting ... and bravely decided to give it a go. As knit stitches do not form a perfect "square", I was a little concerned that it might come out slightly elongated. If you've ever looked at <a href="http://www.tricksyknitter.com/pages/posts/knitting-graph-paper-404.php" target="_blank">knitting graph paper</a> you will notice that the squares are slightly wider than they are tall, so that when you create your design it comes out "square". I wasn't sure if the same thing applied to crochet ... anyway enough waffling - here's the end result:<br />
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As you can see, it worked perfectly! I was quite delighted. Here's Europe and Africa:<br />
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And look! The chart even has Antarctica on it:<br />
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If you would like to have a go at making the globe and you are not on Ravelry, visit <a href="http://crochetparfait.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/globe-pillow-or-ball-crochet-along.html" target="_blank">Crochet Parfait</a> for full and comprehensive instructions on how to crochet it.<br />
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I gave the globe to my two little boys to play with, they were delighted!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-61548786267002324762013-07-02T21:33:00.000+01:002013-07-02T21:34:58.404+01:00Handmade slippers<br />
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Despite the lack of activity on the blog, I have still been busy making.
I always wear slippers in the house, but my old slippers were in a
right state, just about ready to drop apart. Rather than part with at
least £20 for a new pair, my other half suggested I should make some
instead. So I did! I bought felting yarn (Filzit yarn, four balls),
followed the wonderful pattern by <a href="http://pilgrimpurse.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/knit-felt-slippers-for-adults.html" target="_blank">Pilgrim Purse</a> , and knitted my slippers. I felted and shaped them, stuffing them with plastic bags to keep their shape until they dried. Although you can felt in a machine, I did mine by hand so that I could ensure I got them just the right size for my feet.<br />
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Once I was happy with the shape and look of my slippers, I set about decorating them! I used my needle felting skills to add a simple colourful design.<br />
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Needle felting is quite easy to do and not too expensive to start up - have a look at <a href="http://www.gilliangladrag.co.uk/" target="_blank">Gillian Gladrag</a>'s delightful site for some great tips and starter kits.<br />
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Once I had finished my needle felting I added leather soles to the bottom of my slippers. Because however much I tell myself that I won't go outside in them, I know I'll forget ...<br />
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I used a bradawl to poke holes through the leather at even intervals, which I had marked previously with a pounce wheel. That made it much easier to attach the leather to the soles. You can see the pounce wheel in the top left of this picture.<br />
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And here are my finished slippers! They are a little bit wider than I would have liked, but it means they are nice and airy for the summer. I think I may knit woollen liners for the winter!<br />
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Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-88699733363379417842013-06-24T22:02:00.000+01:002013-06-24T22:02:18.905+01:00Altoid Tin Earring Keeper! SUCH a long time since I last posted! I've been busy doing other things for a long while - four children and a full-time job take up a lot of hours - but I just had to share this as I am so excited by what I created!<br />
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Like many people I'm sure, I love my earrings. I will often match them to my outfit (as I always say, you can take the girl out of the 80s, but not the 80s out of the girl!). I have a sweet little tin to keep them in, but I suspect you will immediately see the problem:<br />
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Yup - it can take several minutes to find a matching pair! So, I spent many an hour trawling the internet looking for a solution, and was surprised to find nothing fitted the bill. Lots of ideas on how to hang up your danglies, but nothing for studs, which comprises the majority of my collection. <br />
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Then I had an idea ...<br />
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... can you see where I'm going with this? Here's a quick preview:<br />
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Ta daa!<br />
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OK, so here's what to do:<br />
Firstly, take your altoids tin and draw round it onto the sponge:<br />
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Next, cut round your sponge. You can use a pair of fabric scissors or a scalpel (stanley knife), whatever works best for you. You may also need to cut your sponge in half if it's a big thick one. It should fit snugly in the tin, but not need "squashing" to fit it in. It should also be a little lower than the lip of the tin (note, I didn't do this and my tin won't shut with my earrings in! So learn from my mistake!)<br />
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Now take your sponge out of the tin and mark out four equally spaced lines. As you can see from the rather grubby state of my sponge I had a couple of goes at this until I was happy! My sponge is about 10cm across, and my lines are at 2, 4, 6 and 8cm.<br />
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Then, using your scissors or scalpel, cut along the lines to about HALFWAY through the sponge. Do not cut all the way through!<br />
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Next, choose your fabric. I chose one with a small subtle pattern, as I wanted my earrings to be prominent and not lost among a "busy" background. A fine cotton fabric works best; I would avoid anything very stretchy or slippery.<br />
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I cut my fabric to a generous size, about 25cm by 15cm. You need plenty of extra fabric to fit down the slits you created in the sponge.<br />
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The next bit is a little fiddly, but not as difficult as you might expect as the sponge helps to "grip" the fabric. Starting at one end, leaving enough fabric to wrap around the end of the sponge, gently push the fabric down the first slit, then continue along the sponge until all the slits are filled. If you aren't happy with it, simply pull it out and start again! You should end up with something looking a bit like this:<br />
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As you can see, I've left spare fabric at both ends to tuck round the sides.<br />
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Next, turn the whole thing over and put a generous blob of glue on each end of the sponge. Press the fabric down firmly until it sticks. (As you can see from the photo, I was rather over-generous with the glue at one side!)<br />
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Now, trim the sides down a little (if needed), leaving enough fabric to wrap around the sides and onto the base of the sponge. Add some more glue and firmly stick down the fabric, holding it in place until the glue starts to do its job. On this picture I had got one side to stick, but not the other! <br />
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It doesn't need to be really neat, just enough to hold the fabric in place. Now turn your creation over and pop it into your tin.<br />
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Looking good! You can use a cocktail stick or toothpick to neaten up the sides and get your fabric to sit just right.<br />
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Now you just need to finish off the top. If you like, you could just leave it au naturel, or you could paint it, or stick a picture on it - the choices are endless! There are lots of <a href="http://sarahsinkspot.com/blog/altered-altoid-tin-album" target="_blank">great</a> <a href="http://kbatsel.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/tutorial-altered-altoid-tin.html" target="_blank">tutorials</a> <a href="http://greenbeesbees.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/fabric-covered-altiod-tins.html" target="_blank">out</a> <a href="http://ivoryblushroses.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/beaded-collage.html" target="_blank">there</a> which can give you ideas. I decided just to add the same fabric to the lid as the inside, since my tin is just going to sit on my bedside table and not get bashed about in a bag or suitcase. So I laid my tin on my fabric and drew round it:<br />
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Then I smeared glue evenly over the lid and stuck it on:<br />
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And there we have it! The final thing to do, of course, was to add my earrings.<br />
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As you can see, I left the few dangly pairs I have in my little round tin. But now I can find all my studs at a glance. No more rooting around frantically first thing in the morning!<br /><br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-38445344365773129532012-04-27T16:50:00.000+01:002012-04-27T16:50:00.560+01:00More Adventures - this time in yarn dyeingWow, what a long time since I last posted! Apologies, life has been a little hectic around here. Crafting still going on (at a slightly reduced rate!) but back to normal after next week.<br />
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In the meantime, I finally got round to dyeing my lovely hanks of yarn I got from <a href="http://www.worldofwool.co.uk/index.php" target="_blank">World of Wool</a> . I got a gift voucher from there for my fortieth birthday last year, and promptly invested in two hanks of yarn and six wee pots of dye. However I was then too scared to use them! So this week I got together with a friend and she showed me what to do.<br />
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Firstly, we dunked the yarn (and some carded fibre to experiment with first) into a bucket filled with malt vinegar. I didn't realise you could use normal brown vinegar, I thought it had to be distilled! So that was my first surprise.<br />
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This is Bettine giving my wool and her fibre a good pummelling in the bucket. You can imagine the smell for yourself! It's not really a very social activity!<br />
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She showed me some of the yarn she had dyed herself the previous week - aren't the colours wonderful?<br />
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Unfortunately I forgot to turn the flash off so some of the colours are reflected in the lustre of the yarn but you can see what wonderful vibrant colours she got! There's a mix of painted and pan-dyed yarns there.<br />
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OK - on to our experiments. This one didn't go as expected (actually to be fair, none of them did! But that's half the fun of it!). I used cherry red, crimson and orange, but it all ended up fairly much one colour.<br />
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You can see some undyed fleece in the background there. This is the fleece all dyed and ready to go into the microwave (I put it inside a microwaveable bag first to make sure we didn't coat the inside with dye!).<br />
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The next thing we did was take the first skein of yarn and pot-dye it in two colours, fuschia and periwinkle. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the dyeing process because my hands were covered at that point! But here is the end result, with the red fleece and another piece of fleece dyed in fuschia and periwinkle, all drying on my washing line (scuse the poor photo, the light was just beginning to fade at this point)<br />
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And here's the skein all dried and ready to wind!<br />
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A lot more pink than I intended, but I was really pleased with the variation in the colour in the blue.<br />
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Naturally I wound it up and started knitting a pair of socks straightaway!<br />
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That was yesterday. Today, embolded by my success, I decided to paint my other skein (I had kept it in a bag so it was still damp with vinegar). So I laid out my yarn on bin bags and clingfilm, and started with some turquoise just dripped onto two points of the yarn:<br />
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I then took some bright yellow and dribbled that over the yarn. Then I added a wee bit of turquoise to make a lovely green, and splatted that in the spaces. I'm about half way through doing that here. <br />
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Now what I didn't anticipate was how much the colours would mix together during the setting process! Here's the yarn just after it came out of the microwave (I did it for three minutes in a 700w microwave, then did it for another minute just to make sure).<br />
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I think maybe I hadn't done it for long enough, but I was scared of burning the yarn. I took it out and rinsed it ... and all the colours began to blend! Never mind, I'm very happy with the finished result.<br />
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The turquoise is now more of an emerald green - I was aiming to have "dots" of colour when it is knitted up but I think they will in fact be wee lines of bright green - we shall see!<br />
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One thing I will say though ... I am hooked!! I can't wait to try this again!!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-80671603882162063292012-04-17T18:06:00.000+01:002012-04-17T18:10:32.555+01:00More vintage deliciousnessAt Christmas, whilst staying with my parents, my mum pulled out a huge box of fabric she had been given by my aunty when she had moved house recently. Much of the fabric had lain undisturbed in a box for the best part of forty years. Some of it was beautiful Thai silk which my dad had purchased when visiting there before he was married.<br />
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The pink colour is absolutely fabulous, it is a combination of pink and orange and shimmers in the light!</div>
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This photo doesn't do the blue justice; it has a purple shimmer running through it.<br />
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We then unpacked lots of wonderful cottons ...<br />
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And oohed and ahhed over the fabulous patterns ...<br />
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And the oh-so sixties colour combinations!<br />
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This one is particularly fantabulous, I think:<br />
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Sadly they are mostly bits left over from dressmaking, so most pieces are barely a fat-quarters-worth.<br />
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So I shall have to be very sparing in my use of them!<br />
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Which is your favourite? Do let me know!<br />
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<br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-55939118605188265302012-04-13T23:59:00.000+01:002012-04-13T23:59:07.826+01:00My first award!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you to Nina at <a href="http://youloveityoudo.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Youloveityoudo</a>, for nominating me for my first award! It is the Versatile Bloggers Award and I am really chuffed to get it. Nina is quite new to blogging but has some lovely stuff (I am particularly in love with her <a href="http://youloveityoudo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/my-first-ever-blog.html" target="_blank">VW campervan cushion</a>!)<br />
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So the rules of the VBA are that I must nominate 15 other bloggers to receive this award. In no particular order (and with apologies if you have already been nominated elsewhere!), here are my nominees:<br />
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<a href="http://pennydog.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">PennyDog</a><br />
<a href="http://hapi-ness.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hapi-Ness</a><br />
<a href="http://veryberryhandmade.co.uk/" target="_blank">veryberryhandmade</a><br />
<a href="http://driftwoodblog.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Driftwood</a><br />
<a href="http://juliacrossland.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Julia Crossland</a><br />
<a href="http://salssnippets.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sal's Snippets</a><br />
<a href="http://handknittedthings.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hand Knitted Things</a><br /><a href="http://sewrecycled.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sew Recycled</a><br />
<a href="http://mrsbobobun.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bobo Bun</a><br />
<a href="http://ginaferrari.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fan my Flame</a><br />
<a href="http://marmaladerose.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Marmalade Rose</a><br />
<a href="http://tizzycrafts.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tizzy Crafts</a><br />
<a href="http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Easy makes me happy!</a><br />
<a href="http://www.teenyweenydesign.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Teeny weeny design</a><br />
<a href="http://maximumrabbitdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Maximum Rabbit Designs</a><br />
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Some of these blogs I have visited many times, but some are new to me ... all are full of inspiring posts and insights into some crafty minds!<br />
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The next thing I have to do is tell you seven things about me:<br />
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I live in the most northerly town on the British mainland. I can see the Orkneys from here!<br />
As a child and a teenager I was an actress, appearing in several children's TV programmes, soap operas and even a pop video!<br />
I was taught to knit by my next-door neighbour's granny. She was very patient when it came to sorting out dropped stitches and too-tight tension.<br />
I have had many different jobs, including manager at Harrods in London and auxiliary coastguard.<br />
I have rather eclectic tastes in music and am a big fan of Kate Bush and Bat for Lashes. And Debussy.<br />
I have a degree in Behavioural Sciences. Not terribly relevant to crafting!<br />
I have lived in 14 different places, including an island with a population of 32.<br />
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Thank you for reading, I'm now off to add my VBA button to my blog and pass on the good news to all my nominees. Have a great weekend.Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-90603941660268141552012-04-09T21:00:00.000+01:002012-04-09T21:00:43.781+01:00Some vintage style crochet and the giveaway winner!I love crochet. Love love love it. And I really like granny squares too. So when I came across this <a href="http://appleblossomdreams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/cal-granny-rose-week-1-of-5.html" target="_blank">crochet-a-long</a> on this lovely blog <a href="http://appleblossomdreams.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">apple blossom dreams</a> I just had to join in, even though I'm a bit late to the party! Since this morning I have crocheted 13 roses (there are meant to be 12 but I lost count! But I'm thinking I might make it 16 anyway). <br />
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Apologies for the poor photos, I took them in electric light. But don't they look pretty altogether?<br />
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I've added leaves to some and cheekily crocheted the white border even
though we haven't had that part of the tutorial yet (bad me).<br />
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I'm pleased with the colourway too, I think it works really well. I will show you the finished cushion cover when it's all done! It's not too late to join in with the CAL either - just follow my link or click the button on the right and get crocheting!<br />
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And lastly, here's the winner of my wee bunny rabbit that was featured in my <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/baby-sock-rabbit-tutorial-and-giveaway.html" target="_blank">sock rabbit tutorial</a> last week. Thank you all for your comments, on here and on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miaou/164888026889061" target="_blank">facebook page</a>. We put all the names into a hat and drew out ... (drum roll) ... <a href="http://driftwoodblog.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Driftwood</a>!!! Please let me have your address and I'll put him in the post to you :o)<br />
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Now I'm off to have a look at <a href="http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/2012/04/handmade-monday-61/" target="_blank">Handmade Monday</a> to see what else crafty folk have been up to ... hope you had a lovely day today. <br />
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<br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-52982917672913564452012-04-06T11:38:00.000+01:002012-04-06T11:38:46.859+01:00Branching outI'm always keen to try my hand at new things. I am most confident when it comes to working with textiles, but somtimes I get an overwhelming urge to have a go at something different. The thing I find surprising is that I often find I don't enjoy something I thought I'd love, or I develop a new passion in an area that previously held little appeal. Has that ever happened to you?<br />
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Anyway, I thought I'd share a few projects I made in the last couple of years that I've not put on this blog before. I have a passion for recycling, and there's nothing I like more than to make something great out of things that is usually viewed as rubbish. I'm very lucky to live by the sea, and often enjoy beachcombing on a good day. As a result I have lots of boxes full of little pieces of sea-washed glass and pottery. Sea glass is beautiful - the combination of sand and rolling waves softens the edges of the broken glass and mottles the surface. Most of the pieces I find are white or various shades of green, but occasionally I find the odd little bit of blue and brown (and once a beautiful pale pink piece!). I have made a few coasters using the sea glass which I use in my studio when I'm in need of a cuppa:<br />
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Also pictured is a trivet I made from recycled t-shirt material (see <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/as-promised-recycled-rug-tutorial.html" target="_blank">my tutorial on how to make a rug </a>- it's just a smaller version of that!). The coasters are easy to do - I bought some cheap coasters, painted them white with some acrylic paint, added the glass with a little wood glue, then grouted the whole thing once the glue was dry. A couple of coats of varnish over the top ensured it was waterproof. Just make sure the pieces of glass you use are as flat as possible - sea glass usually comes from broken bottles so are often curved in shape - the smaller the pieces you use, the flatter they tend to be.<br />
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However I wanted to make something to showcase the bigger (and less flat!) pieces of glass I had collected, so I made this mirror for our bathroom:<br />
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I just love this mirror - the big piece of glass in the bottom centre fish, the different colours, the swirls - it was worthwhile. But I surprised myself by not enjoying the process of making the mosaic as much as I thought I would - I got stressed about how and where to put all the individual pieces, and worried about whether I had made the right decisions! However it hasn't put me off making them as I just love the end result. I went on to cover a large planter in bits of pottery I found on the beach too (here it is in a local gallery):<br />
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When making this one I relaxed a lot more and just shoved things on fairly randomly. You can tell! But I like the end result and so far it has survived the winter in my garden quite nicely. I attached the pieces with cement this time and used a grout suitable for outdoors. <br />
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I hope you like my forays into things other than textiles and that it encourages you to have a go at something you may not normally consider trying.<br />
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<br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-26912870893327017622012-04-03T21:47:00.000+01:002012-04-03T21:55:25.929+01:00Baby sock rabbit tutorial ... and giveaway!Easter is almost upon us, and if like me you would always rather give a handmade gift than yet more chocolate, then I have a little tutorial for you to run up a very sweet present for a child near you! All you need is a baby sock, sewing thread and stuffing, and a spare half hour. In no time at all you will have a unique gift to bring a smile to someone's face!<br />
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So - first find yourself a baby sock. Let's face it, if you have small children, you probably have a bunch of these, all missing their mate. I have a theory that all lost socks find their way to heaven, and on your arrival there you get presented with a box full of them. But that's just my warped imagination.<br />
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Turn your sock inside out. Using a biro or a felt tip, draw an outline of the ears at the top of the sock (the cuff end). Your ears should cover between a half and two-thirds of the top part of the sock. If you are using a white sock you might want to use a paler colour just in case it shows through, but it shouldn't matter too much. Leave a wee gap between the ears so that you can cut down it later.<br />
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Next, take some sewing thread and sew along the lines you just drew. I've used yellow thread so that you can see it easier, but it's better if you match it to the colour of your sock. Use a backstitch and make your stitches small and neat. If you prefer you could use a sewing machine to do this bit; handy if you decide to make a few of them at the same time.<br />
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Cut round your ears, leaving a small border round the edges. Make sure you cut almost up to, but not in to, the stitching across the bottom of the ears.<br />
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Next, cut a hole in the toe of the sock. It should be big enough for you to put the stuffing through.<br />
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Now turn your bunny the right way out and stuff it! Make sure the stuffing is evenly distributed across the ears, and resist the temptation to overstuff it. The softer and squishier they are, the more huggable they are. So my kids tell me anyway.<br />
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Sew up the bottom of your rabbit using matching thread. As you can see from my photo, I gently turned the raw edges in as I sewed for a neater finish. <br />
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Now it's time to work on the face! I just wing this bit freehand, but if you are a bit nervous about that, you could draw on the features with washable marker pen first. You could use embroidery thread or ordinary sewing thread for this bit (I used sewing thread because it's a bit finer and I like delicate features, but it can be a bit fiddly when it comes to filling in the nose). Start by sewing an upside down triangle for the nose, making the top of the triangle level with the seams on the heel of the sock. Then sew the mouth with the stitches curving upwards at the ends (otherwise you will have a sad bunny).<br />
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Next fill in the nose. As you can see from my photo, I used my thread doubled at this point to make it a bit less fiddly, but you could use embroidery thread instead if you prefer. <br />
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Now add some french knots for eyes. If you aren't giving it to a small child, you could use seed beads or little buttons for the eyes instead (see the end of the post for some rabbits with seed bead eyes). <br />
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Finally give your rabbit some whiskers. Bring your thread out at the start of the heel seam, and sew a long stitch along it. Add two more stitches either side of this one at an angle. Repeat for the other side.<br />
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And there you have it! Your own little baby sock rabbit.<br />
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You could make them in lots of different colours:<br />
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You could even make a family of them! (I made these last year - check out the seed bead eyes). For the mummy rabbit I used one of those socks with a frill round the top.<br />
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So - go and have fun making your own wee rabbits! As always, feel free to make as many little rabbits as you like for your own use or for gifts, but please do not make them to sell. If you do make them and post your results, please link back to my tutorial - and come and let me know so I can see what you made! I've also set up a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1963208@N23/" target="_blank">flickr group</a> for you to add your bunny pictures to, so we can share them all!<br />
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And finally - I did say there was a giveaway, didn't I! If you would like the little rabbit I made for the tutorial, please leave a comment on my post; if you link to my tute and giveaway on your own blog then come and post that too, it'll give you an extra entry into the giveaway! I will choose a winner at random next Monday and post the results on here.<br />
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Thank you for reading - I can't wait to see the rabbits you make!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-74309577325975175452012-03-31T16:53:00.000+01:002012-03-31T17:05:57.443+01:00Finished!At last, I have finished remaking my rainbow granny!<br />
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Originally I had decided to <a href="http://miaoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/i-love-pinterest.html" target="_blank">add another 14 squares down the sides</a> so that it was wide enough to drape properly over my chair, but when I came to look at my poor sad blanket I noticed that it had come apart in several places. So I decided to take it apart completely (you should have seen the look on everyone's faces when I started to hack into it!), reorganise the layout to add in the new squares amongst the old ones, then crochet four rounds around the edge to finish it off.<br />
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In the end I placed the squares fairly randomly, just making sure I hadn't got squares in the same colours next to each other. I'm glad I didn't overthink it actually!<br />
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And here it is in all its technicolour glory, on my Parker Knoll chair in the shed. A little ray of sunshine happiness!<br />
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Rather than sewing the squares together this time, I used a fab technique I found on <a href="http://grumpygirl.blogs.com/home/2007/08/tutorial-the-am.html" target="_blank">grumpy girl's blog</a> - it's so clearly explained that even my crochet novice brain could understand it! I'm so pleased with the result, it lies really flat and is quite unobtrusive (and neat). It's definitely stronger than just sewing the squares together too. I will definitely use this technique again, maybe in a contrasting colour next time, Here it is in close-up so you can see how cool it is!<br />
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It was a bit bright and sunshiney when I took this photo (unlike today!) , but you can see how neatly it all joins up. Thank you for visiting!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-5090560766507723892012-03-26T14:24:00.002+01:002012-03-26T20:49:24.795+01:00Easter bunniesI was thinking about Easter, and making some rabbits. So I picked up my ubiquitous sock monkey, and had a wee think about the design ... and came up with this:<br />
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Isn't he sweet? I am very pleased with the way he turned out. I will be making a few more this week, let me know if you would like one!<br />
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Have a look at <a href="http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/about-handmade-monday/" target="_blank">Handmade Monday</a> for more lovely homemade crafts :o)Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-15143520243391078862012-03-23T17:27:00.001+00:002012-03-23T20:12:06.554+00:00Happy Friday!Today the weather was gorgeous. In fact, I think it was warmer up here in Caithness than in most of the rest of the country! So this afternoon I took advantage and followed the example of <a href="http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2012/03/sea-fix.html" target="_blank">Lucy at Attic 24</a> and went for a trip down to the beach.<br />
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Unlike Lucy, I really have no excuse for finding the time to visit the seaside, as I live less than a mile away! So I parked in the town and after a quick visit to the bank, set off down to the beach.<br />
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Thurso is a lovely town - we are very fortunate to still have a lot of little independent shops here. It has real character and plenty of useful stores where you can get what you need.<br />
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This is one of my favourite gift shops in the town - there's lots of lovely bits and pieces in here. The sun was so bright at this point that I found it very hard to take a picture!<br />
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Then on down the road for my first glimpse of the sea. What wonderful colours!<br />
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It was lovely and quiet at the beach.<br />
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The beach is a mix of sand and stones. The stones are wonderful, a lovely palette of colours and different shapes, all sharing the same characteristic flat surfaces. Very nice to walk on, and to look at.<br />
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(Incidentally, I had initially uploaded this picture the wrong way up. How can you possibly tell? I hear you ask. I honestly don't know! But it looked "wrong" the other way up and "right" this way up. Logic tells me it must be something to do with the shadows but I can't see how!)<br />
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The other lovely thing about the stones is that, being flat, they make great towers:<br />
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I can never resist leaving at least one or two behind when I leave. It's the child in me.<br />
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After sitting and enjoying the sun, the sounds of the gently breaking waves, the birdsong, and the rather stiff breeze, I settled down with my ipod set to Radio 3 with the sound turned down low (so I could still hear all the above!).<br />
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(and yes, for the eagle-eyed amongst you, that is the battery indicator right down to the red, and yet it happily lasted right up until I left the beach!).<br />
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I then got out my sketchbook and did a rapid sketch of the cliffs looking towards Scrabster. The breeze was really getting up by the time I finished so I had to hold the paper still whilst I took the picture!<br />
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I was struck by the number of straight lines in the view, and decided to concentrate on emphasising those. A very rough sketch, but very pleasing to carry out. (Though next time I might take something to sit on as I was rather cold and numb round the rear end by the time I finished!). Sadly, the picture I took of the actual view I was sketching didn't come out very well, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it's a <i>very</i> accurate drawing ;-)<br />
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I was very tempted on the way back to town to have an ice-cream from the seafront cafe:<br />
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But I resisted. Maybe another day.Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-14356943414280795932012-03-20T18:26:00.000+00:002012-03-20T18:26:27.979+00:00Spring has sprung ...The grass is riz ...<br />
I wonder where dem birdies is ...<br />
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De little birdz is on de wing ...<br />
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Ain't dat absurd!<br />
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De little wings is on de bird!!<br />
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(Poem often attributed to ee cummings but it is in fact anonymous)<br />
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Sleepy birdies now for sale! If you are local to me you will find them at <a href="http://www.eyecandyboutique.co.uk/">Eye Candy</a>, if you are not local and would like one then just let me know (either leave me a comment on here, or message me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miaou/164888026889061" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and I'll get back to you straight away). The birdies on a stick are £5 each and the handbag charms are £5 also. Please note, that due to packing issues the birdies will be sent without a stick (an ordinary wooden skewer will do the trick!). They look lovely nestling amongst your plants or snuggling up in a pen pot, or even as a wee flock in a vase!<br />
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I'm thinking I might make some with wire feet that could then "roost" on a plant, or picture frame ... mmm!<br />
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More fun things tomorrow - I'm working on easter rabbits just now. <br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-27916624159272477652012-03-18T17:32:00.000+00:002012-03-18T17:32:24.960+00:00I love Pinterest!I discovered Pinterest a few months ago and it has really changed the way I research what I am going to make next. I was doing my own version of collecting on-line inspiration, but boy it was hard work, cumbersome, and often involved losing stuff! If I had a good colour printer I would probably have contemplated printing some things out, just so I could keep them!<br />
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For many years I have kept what I call "happy books" - scrapbooks filled with pictures I love or find inspiring - and I still do keep these to hand for pictures I cut from magazines or birthday cards I receive. There's still a place for the book and the paper record after all. But I find Pinterest incredibly absorbing and a great way to find inspiration whilst I have a quick cuppa tea.<br />
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It was on Pinterest that I discovered <a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/">Planet Penny</a> , a fellow crafter who is as mad about rainbows as I am. I first discovered (and fell in love with) Penny's rainbow mice:<br />
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Aren't they just gorgeous?? Penny has now <a href="http://planetpenny.co.uk/crochet-rainbow-mouse-pattern/">written a pattern</a> for these so I shall have a go at making them myself.<br />
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I also found a picture of some lovely storage jars that Penny has decorated - look:<br />
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I fell in love with the "stuff jar" and decided to do something similar to a container I use for putting in all the little bits of cotton and scraps that I always seem to accumulate (usually on my sleeves!) when I am sewing. It was plain plastic and a little boring. However it looks a bit more interesting now!<br />
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A little progress has been made on the shed. It is still in need of painting (I fear that might take a while!), but I did manage to put up some bookshelves earlier in the week. That means about half of my worktop is now clear, so I can utilise it a little better. The aim is not to just clutter it up with junk!<br />
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My current evening project is making some more granny squares for my rainbow granny that is covering my old Parker Knoll chair in my shed. This is my "sitting and knitting" chair which is ever so comfy but definitely benefits from a cheerier look! As you can see it doesn't quite cover the chair at the sides so I am in the process of adding a couple more rows down the side.<br />
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I've also been making some lovely spring goodies for sale ... watch out for a post later in the week!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-53627307096221221662012-03-13T16:16:00.001+00:002012-03-13T16:16:34.661+00:00Putting a little light on the subjectAt last, it is finished! The first of my long-term projects which I showed in close-up earlier on this month. And here it is all done:<br />
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This is not its final resting place, as it will be going out in my shed/studio when that is decorated, but I put it on my bedside table just for now so you can admire it.<br />
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There's a lot of work gone into it. Firstly I wrapped the wire frame in pale blue silk. Then I crocheted squares in the right sizes to fill the gaps, attaching them as I went along. This was perhaps a little easier than you might think, as crochet is very stretchy so I didn't have to faff about with the pattern to make it fit the shape, just stretched it into place! For the second row down, I just used a slightly larger hook and slightly thicker yarn (I've used a mixture of silk and cotton, all hand-dyed by a lovely artist friend of mine).<br />
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The third row down was the trickiest as I had to increase the square towards the bottom - however after a bit of trial and error I found it easy enough to do. <br />
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However it really looks its best when you switch it on ...<br />
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Pretty, huh?<br /><br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-13893574371862978082012-03-08T20:30:00.000+00:002012-03-08T20:39:21.019+00:00A repair with bite!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My youngest son Euan loves his combat trousers, but they had already taken a hammering by his big brother before they were passed on to him, so it wasn't long before the knee bit the dust. He really wanted to keep them though, so I promised to repair them for him. As a surprise, I turned a boring patch into a biting one!<br />
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First of all, I trimmed all the loose threads around the knee where the material had torn (actually I've just noticed that I hadn't actually done that when I took this picture! Let's just pretend I did then).<br />
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Next, I cut out the elements of the patch: a black oval shape for the mouth, two rows of sharp teeth, and a small semi-circle for the tongue.<br />
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I used felt for my shapes so that I didn't have any seams to deal with; hopefully it will stand up to a bit of wear and tear!<br />
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Next, I used dots of fabric glue to assemble all the parts of the patch before sewing it on to the trousers:<br />
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Then I attached the patch by machine using white thread. It's a bit of a faff doing it by machine, as I had to do each side separately, but I wanted to make sure it was <b>really</b> firmly attached. After machine sewing, I went round with a bit of black thread to make doubly sure the tongue and the sides of the mouth weren't going to work loose.<br />
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Result - one very happy boy!<br />
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In other exciting news - I finished my nearly-finished long-term project this afternoon! It's taken me over six months altogether and I am so delighted with it. I will post some pictures of it very soon.Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-75185381702249885892012-03-06T18:20:00.002+00:002012-03-06T18:20:54.106+00:00Three large projectsI've got three long-term projects on the go at the moment.<br />
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This one is nearly finished ...<br />
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... so you only get a wee glimpse of it before I reveal the final result! Can you guess what it is?<br />
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This one is about halfway through ...<br />
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... and I will tell you about this one! It is going to be a patchwork skirt in rainbow colours. I'm sure I will look pretty mad in it but I don't care! I love rainbows so much, it will certainly cheer me up to wear it! I have been collecting fabric for over a year now, and cutting it into 10cm squares. Each row is half as long again as the row above, so there is a bit of gentle gathering going on. The final row will contain 168 squares! I am now sewing them all together in their rows on my serger to ensure there are no fraying ends, then the fun of gathering starts! A lot more to do yet before I can reveal the finished skirt.<br />
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And this project is yet to start ...<br />
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This is my lovely studio. It is warm, it is (fairly) dry ... but it is as yet undecorated (and rather messy in this picture!). My aim is to paint it inside, and add something to the walls (probably some shelving, definitely some artwork!). There is also, at the opposite end of the shed, a lot of boxes that need storing elswhere, and once I manage to get rid of those I can get on with the decorating. I am very lucky to have this space, and really want to make the most of it!Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100356919793249669.post-10375597330460475022012-03-04T10:04:00.000+00:002012-03-04T10:04:18.072+00:00An alternative use for leftover sock yarnI love knitting socks. Once you have made your first pair I swear you become hooked. They are a lot simpler to make than it appears at first, you can have so much fun with pattern and colour, and they are so nice to wear.<br />
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However, I find I always have lots of sock yarn left over - not enough to knit into another pair of socks, but enough to make me want to do something with it. Lots of sock knitters make sock yarn blankets with their leftovers, but whilst I find them lovely to look at, I like my blankets to be big and heavy, so a blanket didn't really appeal to me. <br />
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So, I decided to make a pair of leggings with my leftovers, and I am really pleased with the final results. I like to wear them under a long sweater, or with a skirt over the top, and they are great in our cold Scottish winter weather.<br />
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I loosely followed a pattern which I found on Ravelry, called Super Easy Leggings by Phoenix Bess. And she was right, they really were super easy! They didn't even take as long as I expected to make, about two months in all. I sewed the ends in as I went along to make it a less daunting prospect!<br />
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Thank you to my very kind friend Helen who bought me the pattern!<br /><br />Miaouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880434860325055774noreply@blogger.com2