New house!

Well i moved to my new house last night and i am now getting much better mobile reception for my ipad! Yay so i have no excuse to not blog more!
Well i have had a busy couple of weeks, i made 50 little reindeer decorations for a playgroup party that was held this morning, it went so well! And skylar had the best time.


My reindeer

Elf on the shelf, gingermelon style.

Well, i have recently heard of a christmas phenomenon, the Elf on a Shelf, now I am not too sure of the concept of the spying elf, but i do love the idea of the elf getting up to mischief! And being found in interesting places!

So I wanted to make my own elf, and the first thing i did was to check the Gingermelon site to see if she had something suitable, and of course she did!
so I made my own wee elf using the wonderful Gingermelon design of Evie the Elf, found Here


Now I just had to make her as soon as the pattern appeared in my inbox, She is the sweetest doll and I love that her clothes and shoes are removable so you can make her more wardrobe options. The only thing I had to change was the size of her shoes, as they didn't fit on my dolls feet very well, I must have overstuffed her feet or something! Anyway here she is, isn't she darling! Now i am so so tempted to make another one, oh alright then! Maybe a blonde one next.



And here is my blonde elf, with toadstools on her hat and dress!

For the record

Hello!! Well it is the first of November today!! Yesterday being Halloween for which Skylar and I went to a friends Halloween party! Skylar went as minnie


mouse and I put my kitty ears on. Meow.



So what do I find myself doing on this fine day?? Yep making bowls out of my mums old records!!!


Omg they are super cool and pretty easy too!! There are really good instructions to make them here: Skulls and Ponies record bowl tutorial.


Okay back to my boiling water, I have more record bowls to make, Donna summers record is up next!

Cooking up a storm

The other day I found my mum in the kitchen just about to do some baking, she doesn't enjoy baking, to her it is a chore, so I took over as I always do as I enjoy it and it was miserable and rainy and I am currently on a rather strict diet (sugar free, no less!!) anyway I thought that if I made it then I wouldnt feel like tasting it! (I went a little bit wrong there as I did cheat just a little) but here's what I made. Custard Tarts, mini pecan pies and coffee cake!

I needle you

Good Afternoon!!

I think that sewing is so much nicer when you have pretty things to help you in your activity, I love my pretty pink scissors and I could look at polka dots all day.
So Needle-books would have to be one of my most favourite things right now, practical and pretty so what more could you ask for!
Here are some I've made today:
Happy sewing!





And the inside is just as sweet!!

Felt stuffies

My Gingermelon felt brood is growing. consisting of riding hoods, owls, a fox and babushka bunny! Aren't they the sweetest?


My fox and babushka bunny, I have more of these nearly completed too. They would make just lovely Christmas tree ornaments! I am hoping to have these for sale at a craft fair soon.

Pencil cases

I just love pencil cases, this bunting one I made today, the embroidery was done on the embroidery machine then I just cut the letters into flag shapes, and appliquéd them to the front before constructing it. I love it and I think the birthday girl will too!! Omg the umbrella fabric!!!




And here is a pencil case I made for my woodland swap, another super sweet fabric!!

Little red riding hood, so sweet but so addictive.

Last week I came across Apple Basket Quilts based somewhere north of Auckland, anyway I was browsing their pattern section when I fell in love.....

Oh my goodness!! I just had to buy the pattern so just before midnight on Thursday I sent them my order and my pattern arrived on Saturday morning. wow quick service!!! So that was when my weekend got taken over by tiny Lil Hoods!! Yep it all started with Lil red, who was soon joined by Lil Green.

Then I just could not control myself!!....

Yep, I have been bitten by the Gingermelon bug. Their Etsy site has patterns available in pdf form but The hardest part is choosing what next as they are all so wonderful!
Xxx

Bits and bobs

I went to the Hamilton craft and quilt fair on Thursday, I didn't see as much as I would have liked and I didn't even get to look at the quilts on display, as I had my 3 1/2 year old with me. All she wanted to do was sit in the cafe and eat sandwiches and ask if we were going bowling yet.

But I did get a couple of things, I bought a quilt pattern for a new quilt for my princess, (no really, she thinks she is a princess!) And I got a mini ironing board, which is going to be so good for all the small projects I make!! Plus I get to make it a very pretty cover.

Every time I go to these fairs I see beautiful beaded chains to attach your scissors with I have always wanted one and this time they were selling them in kit form, complete with scissors, so of course I went for the pink/green combo, and I sat down this morning and made the chain, I forgot how much I enjoyed beading!! Isn't it the prettiest??

A bunting we will go

I love bunting!! It's so pretty and sweet plus super easy to make, there a few tutorials out there but I based mine on this One
I just made my triangles 8 x 10 inches. I made these ones for a friends daughter whose birthday is coming up, but I really should make some for Skylar, and myself of course as they looked pretty great hanging in my room!

I did her name on the front side of the bunting and a combo of hearts and stars on the other side, I also threaded the flags onto ribbon then sewed the edges down to keep them from sliding along.



I love this photo, not only is my room super tidy but you can kind of see the reverse side of the flags, and the sewing machine in the mirror. Plus my fAb wallpaper that I could only afford 2 rolls of, hence the feature wall!!

Little and quick.

My favourite things to make usually come under the category of cute and useful, they are also usually projects that are fairly quick to make and don't use too much fabric!! Well here are my top 3 quick gratification projects for this month!!
First up is a really cute felt purse in the shape of a heart, using this tutorial Heart pouch what I love about this is the minimal supplies, just bits of felt, a small zip and embroidery thread!! Plus the fact it can easily be made by hand, I just have to work on keeping my stitches neat and even, here is the heart I made



Next up is a really cute zakka inspired pencil case,(from the Japanese 'zak-ka'（雑貨）or 'many things) the tute is here Zakka case
And here is my version:

>

And third is just the sweetest needle case, I am a sucker for needle cases, and this one is just so sweet and I love the inner embellished felt pages, plus it's a good way to use some tiny scraps up!! Needle book unfortunately I didn't take a picture of my needle book before i sent it to its new owner, but i had put a bird and a toadstool on the front, it was pretty cute, however, here is a photo of the one sent to me by Whitney in U.S, I just love it!!

Child's Rapunzel costume, simplicity 2065

My Rapunzel pattern arrived in the mail yesterday and I couldn't wait to get started so had a look in my cupboard and came up with some lilac poly cotton and lilac organza! Wasn't I lucky! So I set to work and read the instructions...hmm an awful lot of fabric needed!! So I had a look on Sewing.patternreview.com
And read a few reviews, the bodice runs small apparently so I cut a size 5 for my 3 1/2 year old (I figure she will get a lot of wear out of it) I also didn't want to put in a zip so I cut my back piece on the fold, out of a pink knit that I had in my cupboard, I also cut the centre panel in the bodice out of the knit. So it be easy to pull on and off.

Now, I don't know why there are so many skirt pieces in this pattern, I only had enough fabric to cut 2 front and side panels from my poly cotton, and the same from the organza, so omitted the front skit pieces entirely, I don't even see the need for them!!
I also didn't want to do the grommets and ribbon, it just seemed way too fiddly, so I laid my trim down in a criss cross pattern and managed to sew it together neatly by French seaming as I am not lining the bodice.


I ran out of my pink trim so for the sleeves all I could find was a pink stretchy lace, Archie is helping to keep the lace flat!! ( actually he was a pain and kept on playing with it!)



I actually found the hardest bit was French seaming the sleeves and the bodice to the dress, the sleeves turned out good but when I sewed the bodice and skirt together it was a bit lumpy, from all the gathering and the organza as well.
when I get my overlocker sorted I will probably redo that bit. Anyway here is the finished dress. This picture was taken before I got to hem the bottom part, as Skylar had been waiting all day for the dress to be finished. Voila







So all in all, I didn't exactly follow the instructions, I skipped the long sleeve entirely and only used the bodice, sleeve and side/front skirt & over skirt pieces, the pattern could have been made so much simpler and easier! But my daughter loves it and I will probably struggle getting it back off her so I can sort the hem out.

Xxx

Tiered skirt pattern

I recently ordered a couple of patterns from a German based company, so yesterday decided I would make the skirt for my daughter. The pattern can be found here: Lara skirt

I definitely enjoyed making this skirt, although I probably would have been quicker if I could read German, however there is an English translation but I still had to double check more than usual, and the photographs in the tutorial that came with it definitely helped!
But the other thing is that the pattern said to cut 2 each of the front yoke and back yoke, which made no sense so I only cut one of each. I used 4 different types of corduroy as that is what I had, I think it turned out pretty cute!!



- the shambolic crafter

Super cute pillow cases

After spending all that time sorting out my scraps I then had to catch up on a swap to make a pillowcase using this tutorial: Sham tute

Well I am so glad that my scraps were organised as they needed to be to complete this project, there was so much to cut out!! Look at all those little squares, and this was not all of it!!


Putting the pinwheels together


The finished pillowcases!! I just love them and found it quite hard to send them off to my swap partner!! I would make these again as they turned out so pretty, but it was the most time consuming swap I've ever done, it took me about 4 days on and off to make them!!

I love my local sewing shop!!!

Woohoo I had a winning lotto ticket (just a small win) last week so thought I would treat myself to a new cutting ruler, so popped along to my local sewing shop in Waiuku and got my ruler, but I also saw some beautiful fabric on their bench, but as soon as I touched it, Clare, the shop assistant told me off!! Yep she had claimed a heap of beautiful sample offcuts for herself, well I still had a good rummage in the samples bin and came away with a few pretty pieces, it's a good score $5 for 6 pieces, anyway, I thought about that fabric for two days then went back to the shop this morning and had another good rummage, I paid $15, which I think is not too bad, especially when a lot of my projects recently have been small items and scrap pillow cases and I am planning on making some pencil cases too.


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Cupboard mission completed.

Well it's been a long long week of sorting through my stash, I made some tough decisions and let some of my fabric go, i took four days to complete the whole process of sorting, ironing, folding, cutting and culling, and if I wasn't dreaming about it or doing it, then I was thinking about it constantly!!! But ta da now it's complete and I can now tidy the bedrooms that i neglected while this fixation was going on.

and Then I am ready to play in the cupboard...can't wait!!


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Fashionistas and sewing cupboards.

Well, this week I have finally had enough of my terribly disorganised fabric cupboard, yep its a mess, but I got some great tips from fellow fabric hoarders and now I am really excited about getting it in control, I especially love the idea of wrapping fabric onto boards and cutting scraps into uniform pieces. So my goal this week is to get it organised, yay!

Now the other thing I wanted to mention is my daughter Skylar is not a budding fashionista, she is a full blown one, she is 3 1/2 and just loves clothes, she changes outfits up to ten times a day, knows what goes with what, refuses to wear certain dresses or skirts that aren't girly twirly enough, she even accessorises each outfit with different shoes and jewellery, she is nuts!!! I can't wait for her to have a larger room so she can have a dress up corner. I also have issues getting her into pyjamas, she will usually run off and change again, or at the least add a skirt. Anyone else have these problems???

Sale or no sale

Well I was super excited this morning as I had found an advert for one of the fabric stores and all new look patterns were $6.00 each! Bargain!!! So I happily researched my patterns and had just 5 picked out, took them to the counter, and the total was $45!!! I was like what about the sale? Sale ended today apparently and I was too late, soooo gutted as I had made a special trip there, I decided to just get 2 patterns anyway, still I am not that happy. But after lunch with my parents I went browsing around a few stores downtown and I found the cutest hair clip for my sailor inspired outfit I have been dreaming about. Isn't it cute!!!


-oh and here are the patterns I ended up with

Vintage queen

Ooh so I read in my local area newsletter that our art co-op is having their annual competition in which any media is accepted, I went one year and couldn't resist buying this weta (native nz insect) so this year I thought I would actually make something and enter!!! I have a few months but want to start thinking now! Oh and this year the theme is vintage, now what shall I make?


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Art reincarnated

Once upon a time I thought I would become an artist, so I did a couple of paintings and realised I had not the talent nor the patience for art, anyway one of my pictures was painted on a massive canvas, and even though the painting was pretty abysmal the canvas was on good shape, so I chopped it in half (okay I got my dad to chop it in half) then covered it memory board style, I am much happier with it this way! I also love the print next to it which I actually bought in Paris back when I was a traveller.

Felt food

My daughter was invited to a 3 yr old birthday party last week, and I wanted to make something for her present instead of buying a toy. So after a bit of idea searching I decided to make felt food, it all started with a sandwich, then I got a bit carried away with the online tutorials and also made a picnic basket, fruit and a bag of chips!
For the sandwich and chips I used this tute: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/03/09/felt-brown-bag-lunch-tutorial/
for the picnic bag I based it on an American girl doll picnic basket tute and just enlarged it. http://funthreads.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/tuesday-tutorial-6.html.

Mr Sticky

This afternoon I was sewing up some peasant skirts when we had a visitor to the
workroom, a rather wonderful looking stick insect.
Skylar just loved Mr Sticky! As you can tell in the photo's Skylar also loves colouring herself in, and playing with trims!!
The workroom is rather a mess too, I am putting off tidying up as my fabric is just a bit out of control, but I guess it has to happen soon!!

Montys bed

My rather large labrador Monty needed a new bed, badly, so when dad found an old duvet inner, I thought it made the perfect new bed for him, I just needed to make it a cover and fold the duvet into it. So I found some spare curtain material that was bought for $5 and I made a huge cushion cover. I appliqued the dogs from a Kath Kitson template from her book a bought a while ago, and it turned out so so so cute!
Monty loves it!

I signed up for a swap on Swap-bot for the cutest little kindle case, I don't even own a kindle but I just had to join as it was too pretty not too!
So I decided to try out the tutorial yesterday and I had so much fun choosing the fabrics, and I had the cutest orange spotty button that was a perfect fit. This is a wonderful project to use up scraps! I have already sent this one off to my aunt for her 70th birthday. the tutorial is here http://sometimescrafter.blogspot.co.nz/2009/09/tutorial-patchwork-kindle-case.html


Here is my finished kindle case front and back.