A little dabble in stone wrapping for this week’s new craft effort.
Leather cord gives me enough play to thread over and under.
This will be an occasional play when I bring back interesting stones from the beach walk.
For the wrong shaped stones (asymmetrical or not flat enough) I played with a few stickles and a gelly pen before deciding whether to release them back into the wild.
A gift of plastic canvas sheets tested my craft creativity. I wanted to make useful things but found the material hard on my fingers so my first project – a cross stitch earring holder – is in the UFO (unfinished objects) pile. Pinterest searches yielded little until I found a fly swat idea.
An old stitch book provided patterns to cover the canvas quicker, so the handle in a Hungarian stitch variation and frame in Gobelin stitch made this a workable project. Finishing the edges with a simple wrap covers the plastic edges and provides a contrast.
Spurred on by this a pair of napkin holders made with 6 1/4” x 2” strips of plastic were soon completed in florentine stitch and used some scraps of tapestry wool left over from long completed kits.
The earring holder project is now sending me reproachful ‘looks’ so I will probably make progress on that through the year. A long way to go.
Simple upgrade: appliqué on to shabby areas on otherwise serviceable oven mittens. This keeps them looking serviceable for a bit longer.
A multi media play with acrylic paint (thinned with Liquitex), free motion sewing, appliqué fabric scraps and embroidery (lots of French knots).
Intended as a bedside table mat, I put this on quilt wadding and bound it to a corduroy backing before deciding to give it another ‘use’ as a piece of art.
(Binding not as wobbly as it looks when photographed hanging on the wall!)
Feeling virtuous as the only thing I bought for this was the Liquitex.
Following a gallery visit I decided to make some Mondrian inspired beer mats for our newly formed wine club.
Hand cut vinyl sticks well to hoarded beer mats and the best had cork stuck to the base as well.
Easy, disposable, fun.
I have gathered all my embroidery and cross stitch supplies together and realised I have a lifetime’s supply. So I was delighted to find inspiration from Mistikomakes on YouTube.
Not only did this give me lots of practice on fly stitch, chain stitch and French knots it inspired me for little makes that are satisfyingly fast to finish.
Thank you Misti Ko!
I am gradually reducing the fabric stockpile and this project must have used up oh, a millionth, in one go!
Part of a polo shirt, stained beyond use, was sandwiched between two layers of old cotton sheeting to create a new supply of reusable face wipes.
The trick for fast production is to make a large rectangle sandwich then draw on, with a frixion or erasable pencil, circles which you sew around. Then you cut around the sewn circles with pinking shears before ironing to remove the pencil marks.
Now to top up the diy facial cleanser…
Why buy when you can make? A set of bridge score cards made in Pages and some holders that are just matt laminated card with scan n cut photo corners stuck with red liner tape.
Now to work on my bidding so I can record some good scores on these!
Couldn’t find a holder for tooth picks, which arrived in a big bag, so I made one with card that was out on my desk.
A simple box of four equal scored sides plus a small scored flap for adhesive and bottom flaps also stuck with adhesive tape. Decorated with die cut ric rac strips and some stickles, this was a 5 minute project done and in use.
Maintaining this year’s resolution of luxury on a budget means, in practice, a ‘no waste’ kitchen.
Today a lone orange presented a challenge (I have jars full of dehydrated citrus slices). I found a recipe on frugal Jo’s YouTube channel for such an orphan fruit.
Chopped finely (yes including the peel) and mixed with half a cup of sugar then simmered for 20 minutes, this creates a pot of surprisingly good marmalade. A splash of whiskey takes it up a level.
Don’t be sceptical about something so easy. Absolutely worth trying.
janecrafts 