Handmade Christmas

In an effort to make this Christmas as 'cheap' (but not nasty) as possible, I set off with my crochet hooks a couple of months ago and started to craft up some goodies for my friends and family.

Every year, Pete's family has a 'Secret Santa' list (not so secret when everyone gets a copy of the list!) that needs to be filled with monetary amounts allocated against each name. Each year, I feel like a cheapskate for not spending that full monetary amount on who I am supposed to buy for, but I have decided NOT to feel that this year, since I have basically spent next to NO money on the presents that I plan on giving out! Most have been lovingly handcrafted by my hands from my stash (I will admit to buying a couple of things when Spotlight had a sale on balls of yarn recently) or bought at an earlier stage at sales and kept in a box, just waiting for a time like this to come along.

Here is what I have managed to make so far:
A nice, soft lapghan for my Dad











Nice and easy lapghan for my niece and nephew
(Pattern can be found here)














And a little shawl for another niece (modeled by my beautiful daughter, Weez!)
(Pattern can be found here)



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A beanie and scarf set for my brother
I used a plain dark blue yarn and added white sewing thread while crocheting.













Slippers for one of my besties. I made some a little smaller for her daughter in purple and pink, but I have already wrapped them! hehe. These were so easy and quick to make! I got the pattern from a crochet mag I usually buy. More to come, since they are so easy!










I plan on getting a few more things made before Christmas. My sewing machine will be coming out and I will be whipping up a few things on that, too! Better get my butt into gear, hey? LOL

Been stuck, crafty and I have a new car!!

I was stuck for most of the week doing the books for Pete!! Moo helped me out a bit (payment, bribery and threats involved, there...hehe), so it made the job a little bit less monotonous....but BORING to the max, all the same!! Sitting on my butt doing bookwork all day is NOT my idea of fun at all!! Especially when your husband is working off paper and you are working off the computer and they dont match up and you have to wait until HE is ready to talk about it all and work things out with you!!

So, my evenings have been spent doing whatever I can without a sewing machine and making as little mess as possible in the lounge! Friday, however, I DID manage to make a trip to the local curtain/sewing shop that is closing down and get the following bargains:

A roll of quilting batting (about 2m I think) for $2.50/m

The habby items were just $1 each! Couldnt go past THEM!! That fabric was just $5/m (I think). It is a dark marron/wine colour and is just GORGEOUS! I got another piece of curtain remnant for just $2.50.....it is just PERFECT for a bag!

Sorry the quality of the photos are a little off, but I had to take them with my phone! Lucky Pete doesnt come here and visit!! He doesnt know that I went there and bought these...hehe.

Yesterday was a more productive day for sewing.....when my bloody machine was working!! I had to pull it apart and try and fix the bobbin winder (cam completely out). I found the little missing piece, then promptly lost it, again! LOL.....bloody Murphy! I swear I am gonna KILL him when I find him!! THEN I didnt put it back together properly, so I had to take it apart, again!! Bloody MURPHY!!!

But......I got in and did a few UFO's (unfinished objects) and actually completed them, so I am happy! I also started on a bag that has been sitting in my UFO drawer, cut out for AGES, so I am REALLY happy! Here they are, here:

These are just some tissue holders like the ones Moo made. They are made out of upholstery fabric samples I got off eBay recently and have turned out quite well! I still have a fair bit of these samples left, so goodness knows WHAT I am going to do with them!! LOL. Not to mention the curtain fabric sample books I got from the same sewing/curtain shop a fortnight ago!!

I also got in and completed my project for the latest SWAP over at CM (vintage theme)! So a really productive day all round (no photos of that, just yet, coz she hasnt got it)! Amazingly enough, I was able to sew with the little ones around.......mainly because Pete was here with a new car for me and he was pulling it apart, ready to fix it all up! I will post more about that tomorrow, I think!

CM Tea Towel SWAP - mine!

This is my tea towel that I made for Karma! She received it last week and says that she loves it! I am soooo glad! I had nerves about it, the whole time it was in transit...you know....as you get with all swaps!

I forgot to take an up close photo of the redwork that I did! So, I tried to cut out and enlarge the photo that I took and it didnt turn out too good, so I scrapped that idea - sorry!

Glad you like it, Lisa!

The way I made this -

Materials
1 piece of 100% cotton fabric (mine was actually an old curtain)
2 pieces of contrasting fabric (for the trim)
Thread to match the trim (or any other colour you like - I used red)
Embroidery thread for the redwork (of course, redwork does not actually have to be red - you can make it any colour you like!)
Embroidery pattern (I used 2....one for the girl and one for the flowers and bee and mixed them together)

NOTE: The embroidery is completely up to you! You can embellish the towel in any way you like - applique, embroidery, whatever tickles your fancy!

To Make
Decide what size you want your towel to be. I wanted something big, but not too big to be encumbersome (is that a word?), so I took an already used towel and measured that. Measure out your fabric and cut it to size. Remember the seam allowances! You need one on each side and one on each end!

Take your trim fabric and decide what you would like to do to it - you could just add it to the bottem of the towel, like I did, or completely encase the bottem, making the towel 3 times as thick on the end (if you get what I mean!). This is what I originally wanted to do, but forgot all about doing, so mine just got added on! You could also make it as small OR big as you would like!

After you decide this, measure and cut the trim to these measurements - make sure that it is the same width as the towel fabric and twice as long as the trim.

Fold over the seam allowances on the long side of the trim fabric, pin and iron. Then fold this whole thing in half (wrong sides facing) and iron.

Place the trim on the end/s where you decided that you would like to put it and sew a line just inside the trim edge. This can be a decorative stitch or you may decide to just straight stitch. If you straight stitch, I recommend you put two lines....just for extra stability!

Trim off the threads and hem the sides of the towel (I just folded mine and stitched with a straight stitch, but do yours whatever way you like!) and there you have it!! A blank canvas to work from! Now you can embroider, applique, paint or whatever and you have a unique, handmade gift for anyone!

AH! My first EVER sewing tutorial!! I hope that it is easy to understand! If not, feel free to leave a question in the comment area and I will try to answer it the best and most honest way I can!

FINALLY!!

I have finally finished a sewing project and can post up pictures!! The first 3 photos are of a crayon roll that I have made for a friend's daughter (the pattern is taken from here). My friend is due to have a baby very, very soon....like, she was due Monday just gone!! I havent heard anything, yet, so I am guessing she is still crossing her legs, the silly woman!! LOL. The material is from my stash. I do not know where I got the material from, originally, but the pink floral, *I think*, is from Big W and one of their remnants that I purchased AGES ago! The hearts on the outside are yo-yo hearts and I blanket stitched around the outside by hand (yep - took me ages....longer than actually making it...because of the thick layers of material!!).


These ones are a frog. I have made 2 of these, but have only stuffed one....just to see how he would go. This one is completely stuffed with poly stuffing. I might make the next one/s with the wheat that is just begging to be used.....just to make him a little more floppy. This pattern was taken from here. I used some old material of my Mum's. The top was actually a dress (I dont know whether she cut it out, ready to sew and she just didnt get to it or if she actually cut up a dress, planning on using the fabric for something else) and the bottem is from a skirt (yep...a lime/fluorescent green skirt....with a white satin lining underneath...geez my Mum had great taste!! LOL).


About the patterns:
The crayon roll is really, REALLY simple! It took me only a couple of hours to make it up......if my sewing skills were a little better, then it probably would have only taken me 1/2 as long, I reckon! The tutorial that I took it from (here) has really simple and easy to follow steps and photos......which is really good, considering my sewing abilities are not all that great, just yet!

Mr Frog turned out WAY different to the photos (go here), but I am still very happy with the way he turned out!! He only took me a couple of hours to make......again, if my sewing skills were a little better, then he would have taken me 1/2 the time.

CM Tea Towel SWAP

At the beginning of every month, there is a new SWAP beginning! Last months (October) was a Tea Towel SWAP. This tea towel could be bought and embellished or made from scratch. My SWAP partner was Karma! She made me this beautiful tea towel!

Isnt it gorgeous? "Fresh is the bloom of a bright spring day" is what she wrote on it. it is HUGE, with a chocheted top! Just perfect for hanging!

As she hasnt yet received mine, here is a sneak peak of what I made:
LMAO!! Not much of a peek, but there it is...without giving away too much of it! I made it completely from scratch. I had and old 100% cotton curtain with tab tops and cut out the tea towel from that. I put a trim on the bottem and embroidered a small design on the bottem, left hand corner. Honestly, it doesnt look like much, compared to hers! I hope she likes it!!

I had soooo much fun making hers, that I have plans on making a few more as Chrissy pressies (from the same curtain). I have also cut out a couple of other things from the same curtain, so keep your eyes peeled here for the results!!

Hmm....seems the running theme for me having a blog is to neglect it! Since I have never been one for keeping a diary (although I have had heaps, I never keep them up), this doesnt surprise me one little bit!

Lots has happened in the last couple of months, though. As you would expect, the kids have grown up sooooooo much and I just cant keep up! I have been bitten by the crafty bug and have many, many plans to make HEAPS of stuff for Chrissy pressies, this year! This will be my first handmade Christmas, so it will probably be a little interesting, to say the least!

I have also found out that I am pregnant.....again!! So excited! And, of course, we are hoping for a little girl, this time, to even out the numbers. I am due March 31st.....one day over and I could have myself an April Fool! Seems the time to have a baby, though - a couple of my friends are pregnant, too! It is a weird feeling, being preggers with friends.....I am not used to it! But, I find that I am able to keep a track of them as well as myself (one friend is due in a couple of days and I will be 1/2 way in a couple of days - weird, hey?).

Pete has started a job out at the Smelter (Alumina plant) and is doing shift work (4 days on, 4 days off). He is still running his own business, just in his days off. Yes, it is a little more stressful, but at least we dont have to rely on clients money coming in to pay the bills!

That is about it, for the moment - well, enough that I can catch this up, anyway. I will be on a little later to catch up a little more and share some photos!