The Four Day Sleepover

For the past few days I reverted to the roll of Kindy teacher, I guess it never leaves you. But the good part was I didn't have try to extend the children's learning. I presented then with very structured activities all off the Internet. Hmm, some may have probably frowned upon all when I was teaching, but I guess I don't have to worry about that now.

But imagine the mess, it was bad enough doing structured activities. The children extended their own learning, nothing like putting stickers on your face or drawing all over your legs with felt...Then putting on tights so your Granny wouldn't see...

A tip for you all, l never do art activities with children with out a water bowl nearby for the children to wash their hands straight away. The girls were actually were very good, they never played with the water. Which usually happens in a Kindy as soon as you turn your back....

The cat wore his jewels well...

I love the duck nose upside down, from my 'guess the noses box'.

Making paper dolls...

Re-telling the board story 'The Three Bears'.

Half Finished Happy Chibi

Where have I been? Well I haven't been blogging, I've been living...Gosh I can't believe I've said that, does that mean when I'm blogging I'm not living?

That's a good question I'll ponder on it and maybe you would like to ponder on it too...Does spending so much time on a computer stop you from living your life?

I've really had to push myself to sew, I have totally lost my sewing mojo!! I think I've lost my blogging mojo as well. Please could you both come back or I'll have nothing to write about!

Today is rather a nice day and I'm making a real effort to show you all what I've been doing sewing wise. Actually I think the real reason I'm blogging is I'm avoiding housework, I hate it.

I had to force myself to sew Miss Chibi here. She's still not finished but at least my stash is a few scraps down.

Not only do we have Happy Chibi standing there in the pic, we have Happy Catti too who is almost too fat to sit on the windowsill...

Happy Chibi doll pattern @ oneredrobin.com

Save Dollars by Make Your Own Cushion Inners

House of Pinheiro: International Craft Swap

This is my effort for the 'International Craft Swap'  featuring the colours, blue, white and red.

The wine bottle cover is over in California now, made for Kerrielee at Sew Exhausted. I used a large sized empty wine bottle (on the right in the pic) to draft my pattern from. No...I didn't drink the wine it was corked (2004) and it all went down the drain.

I was happily sewing away and I was almost finished when I decided to go outside for a 'breath of fresh air'.  I was so busy taking a photo of the wine bottle when 'someone' who was sitting outside doing school stuff nearby piped up and said, "You know that's a large wine bottle your using there". "No it isn't" I replied and then rushed off to compare the bottle to another wine bottle. Sure enough she was right!

Here was me thinking that wine bottles must be smaller overseas. Because all the wine bottle cover patterns I  found on the Internet were way too small for the size of my wine bottle. It's a long time since I've drunk wine, I have no idea about the bottle size...

I found an easy tutorial over at sewplicity and used this pattern as a guide also.  Though I have added a different style of tie for a more nautical look, and my turn over at the top is much shorter in length too.

A wine bottle cover for a big bottle of wine...
'Wear me whatever way you like'

Pinata Fun

It took the big cousin to break it, but the girls had fun trying...

Five Little Frogs

I was sewing only one frog, but a frog maker I am not! One little frog turned into five, because I sewed them way too close to the edge of the fabric.....I used quilting cotton and they all started to fray a little. But I've fixed them now with a bit of thread and some fabric glue.

Why am I making frogs? Well a little boy asked me as he wanted a frog for something.....The good thing from all my frog sewing mistakes is, he's been very playing frogs forever. It's a long weekend here so we like busy!

All of the frogs have been given names, some have paper helmets and bungee chords. He's made his frogs a pond and has added a lily pad with a bee, a flower, and some fish. But now I can hear mutterings of 'my frogs are going to need a home'. I'm over sewing frogs now I'll give him a cardboard box, boys usually love boxes....He can put his frogs in there he'll enjoy that.

If you want to make a bean-bag frog this is a very easy pattern to use......It's called The Purl Frog, and there is a good tutorial and PDF on the Purl Bee website here. Happy frog making!

The blue one was best frog. I'd had lots of practice by then.
They have black glass beads for eyes which were
 the hardest thing to sew onto the flimsy fabric

Another Fabric Flower

The process for making this fabric flower is mostly the same as my instructions for the Flower Power Tutorial. The only difference is (not counting the fabric) it is just a lesser number of petals and also a different shaped petal. You get this by folding the circle in half not quarters....

The flower ended up on a pin cushion in the
 end.....

Whoops one petal is bigger than the other.! This is
a 6 petal flower made the same way as the one
 above....This one ended up on a pin cushion
too.... 

Flower Power

Today I've been lost in the process of making a fabric flower.....I am blind to the mess I have created and all the dishes piled up waiting to go into the dishwasher. Now I'm blogging amongst my mess and mayhem...

Making A Fabric Flower:
You will need: Small scraps of fabric, Strong thread, Needle, Scissors, Pen, Iron, Buttons, A compass or a round dish, Fabric glue plus a Glue gun
Size: 10cm circle for flower
Fabric used: Cotton 100% fabric

Cut out five circles and press the fabric with an iron...

Fold the fabric circles in half and press again

 Fold the fabric halves into quarters and press. You can now sort
out the order you want your petals in be into form your flower.....

Thread a sharp needle and knot the end....
 make a running stitch for gathering the petals
   Next pull the thread to gather petals tightly...Then
 sew the first and last petals together to join the
 circle of petals 

Trace with a pen around a cotton reel onto the felt to make
a small circle. Cut the felt circle out with pinking scissors...

Glue the felt circle to the back of the flower with fabric glue...

Now chose your button for the centre.....
Which button will I chose?

I like this one....but sonehow I changed my mind!

I chose a blue button in the end...Glue your button in place
 onto the front of the flower...You can use a glue gun
here if you want. Now your flower is finished
all ready to use!

Strawberry Lunch Bag

I used the rest of my oil cloth stash to make a little lunch bag...It's kinda cute. If you google ' making a lunch bag" you will find plenty of tutorials out there to chose from. That's what I did, I looked at lots of them and then just used them as a guide...

The best strawberries I had came out of this pot...
well it's a pot within a pot. The strawberries
seemed to like it

Making a Book Bag

I'm making a book bag for school library books. This time I'm using oil cloth because it is waterproof....The blue one I didn't measure at all, I just made it into a size I thought would be okay. All the library books fit nicely into the book bag. It also fits into the school bag just fine.....So I have used the same sizing to make the pink one......

Materials I used: Oil Cloth, Bias Binding, Glue,Velcro, Bulldog Clip, Cotton

Size: 15"length, 13" across, add extra 6 1/2"s for the flap

Sewing Machine: Bernina Activa 220

Sewing Foot:  Ordinary straight sewing foot

Tip:  Use small pegs or bulldog clips to hold the oil cloth as it is slippery when sewing. Also try and match your cotton to the Velcro your using, then you don't see any wonky Velcro stitches.

The first bag I made, the fabric is oil cloth...

Measure up your bag, you can make a pattern or

just measure and mark straight onto the fabric.

Cut out the size you want, remembering to add

extra for the fold over flap. Then fold to the

 size you have decided to make

I'm using a plate to make the rounded edges,

trace round with a pen or marker of choice...

Cut around the marked edge with scissors

I'm just checking the size...I made the blue

bag without taking measurements...the pink

one is a fraction larger....

Flatten the folded edge with a plastic ruler

Sew binding across the top. To hold bag together

use bulldog clips...or pegs. I could only find one...

Better buy some more!

Then pin the binding to the side. Pin all the

way round over the flap and finishing at the

bottom of the right side. You don't need

to bind the bottom because it is folded.

I used pins and clips to hold the

oil cloth in place

Cut bias ends leaving enough bias
to turn under for finishing off

Sew the binding on with a straight stitch. I stop

stitching at the opening just before the flap.
Then I flip the bag over so I can start stitching
 again on the right side of the fold down bias.
 Keeps it all nice and tidy....you don't want
 bobbin tangles on the front of the bag

Fold the end under what ever way you like.

This is not a very good job as I can see the

 folds underneath. Oil cloth fabric is slippery

 so it's easy for the binding to move.

I needed more bulldog clips!

Cut Velcro for closures. I made it hard for myself
by doing this process at the end when the bag
was finished. Best this is sewn on in the
beginning before you sew the bias on it
 makes it easier

Because I didn't think I could sew the Velcro on
 I glued it. But not one to give up easily I did
manage to sew it on in the end....not an easy
                  task.  It's much better to do it at the
  beginning

To hide the stitches on the front I sewed a piece
 of bias to the front

All finished and ready to use...

Covering Your Cell Phone

I've come to the conclusion making small things are not my forte, too much fiddling around for my fading eyes and getting old fingers. Sewing a garment is so much easier....If you want to make a cell phone cover there is a pretty cool clear tutorial on A Pretty Cool Life  for this cell phone/i-Pod cover. It's sewn all-in-one and is just the style I've been looking for......

It's very easy to follow and here are my efforts with slight changes......I  cut the width down and added a button (a button from my younger days). I'll sew this again when I pick up some colourful fabric, this was just made from scraps I had lying around.....Next time I will have it all worked out, but for now this one does the job it protects my phone well.

The phone cover is made out of cotton. The batting inside is
 ironing board felt.......It's all I had at the time, and is perhaps a
little too thick for this project....

A Mouse in the House

This is a cute wee Xmas Mouse pin cushion, I didn't make it myself. It was bought for me at a craft fair by the wee man for Christmas........I  am sure he has taken my frog pin cushion because that now has mysteriously disappeared!

This mouse pin cushion looks very easy to make, at end there is a drawstring
which gathers the fabric together to enclose the foam cone. The drawstring
  also forms the tail which has a clear glass bead  knotted to the end of it.

The Tooth Fairy

Well perhaps not quite a tooth fairy... I got this idea for the design of a tooth fairy from another blog. It was done so well that I was sold and wanted to try and make one too. I so want to make that girly tooth fairy with it's glittery wings and it's wee tutu... But alas no, it's a boys one I need to make...so perhaps a tooth officer will suffice or a tooth sheriff, or maybe a cowboy. Trouble is I can't make my mind up, because I want to make a tooth fairy with sparkly wings...Check out the tooth fairy pillow download here. Now time to get started....