Decoration fail!

imageribbon strips sewed on to felt cut in the shape of bells …

I sandwiched a loop of elastic between two pieces of felt (scan n cut not happy about cutting felt in a freezer paper sandwich)

i glued one pair of bells together then hot glued lengths of ribbon across the front and back of the shape, to cover the edge some ric rac was glued around the side

Not happy with that I tried sewing rather than gluing, still not looking good enough for use, oh well, an experiment!

Plastic bag holder

imagea quick sew to tidy up all those stray bags that still come back from shopping expeditions

a fat quarter or 18x 22 inch rectangle of material

8 inches of elastic , 1/2 inch wide is fine

8 inches of tape or ribbon

fold over 1 inch on a short end of the rectangle, which we will now call the bottom, and fold it over again then press and straight stitch at least 1/2 inch away from the top fold so you have made a casing for the elastic

fold over 1/2 inch once on the top edge of the fabric, fold again and press then stitch that so you have a neat hem at the open top where you will add bags in

fix a large safety pin to one end of the elastic and thread it through the casing, when it emerges pin the ends of the elastic together to form a circle

with right side of the fabric on the inside, fold the sides are together and seam from top to bottom to make a tube. While doing the seam make sure you sew the elastic ends  together maybe back stitching over the elastic for security

Fold the tape in half and stitch in place near the top of the side seam to make a loop for hanging

trim loose threads and excess seam maybe using pinking shears for neatness, turn right sides out and stuff with all those loose bags

 

 

Bookmark bonanza

imageMethod one:  I cut  a length of tape slightly longer than a hardback book, fixed on a ribbon clamp at either end with jewellry pliers and decorated one end with  home made tassels made from embroidery thread.

I dug out some charms from the jewellry ‘bits box’  which I attached to the other clamps with jump rings. Made 3!

method 2: A simple ribbon book mark will be less robust but just as easy using clamps and tassels at both ends.

Method 3: two matching pieces of fabric were ironed to heat and bond then to the middle of the hessian piece. I sewed a decorative stitch around the fabric to halt the hessian fraying too much, then frayed the bottom up to the stitching to make a fringe.  A ribbon clamp and cord tassel at the top finished this. However the back isn’t so pretty so this isn’t a success.

Kitchen stitchery

imageA set of fat quarters are going to provide inspiration for a ‘suite’ of kitchen kit. First off this hot pad with insulbright heatproof wadding and an extra layer of batting sandwiched between two contrasting fabrics.

Cut bottom fabric 3 inches wider and longer than the top piece so you can fold this over rather than bias bind the raw edges, cut insulbright and optional batting to same size as top piece

stick the insult right and batting between the two fabrics with removable fabric spray (stick and spray) with the bottom fabric  – face down -aligned so there is a 1.5 inch border showing all the way round

quilt the pieces together. I stitched a rectangke 1 inch and 2 inches in from the edge all  around

Fold and press the 1.5 inch frameof fabric in half so there is now .75 inch frame showing all around. Fold this over to the top fabric as though it was bias binding  and pin or clip it in place.  At the corner fold the fabric as though doing hospital corners on a bed , although you can trim away some of the bulk as you fold and pin each corner to mimic a mitred corner

top stitch around the edge to secure the frame in place

now shall I do mug rugs or coaster to go with this?

Christmas pennant wreath

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A hoop ( I used the inner of a 9 inch plastic embroidery hoop), six and a half sheets of paper from the Papermania ‘At Christmas’ pack, a trimmer and scissors, paper glue and hot glue, 24 inches of cord to hang the finished article, some embellishments and it is done. Takes an hour of so with trimming and snipping.

Trim the paper into 1.5 inch strips the length of the page so you end up with 30 strips. fold each strip in half around the frame with the ends matching and glue firmly all the way from end to the hoop. when dry cut fish tails in each strip.

Tie the cord in a loop and hot glue it to form a hanger and line for a central message,

Cut strips of paper (1 inch x 4 inches) and fold and stick the same way to make mini pennants to bear a message or pictures in the centre. I stuck on letters to make ‘merry’.

Embellish with ornaments of your choice,

So easy but I made a  video tutorial …

chinese style plum sauce

imageIngredients

  • 10 medium plums
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1/2 onion finely chopped
  • 1 dessert spoon ginger, powdered or fresh
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce, I used white vinegar and soy dipping sauce instead
  • 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce, mine was a hot version

Cooking Directions

  1. remove stones from plums.
  2. Mix plums in a saucepan with  the other ingredients
  3. Heat on medium for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Blend well with an stick blender and add water to thin if desired.
  5. Store in jar in the fridge                                                                                                                    version inspired by ‘eat richly even when you’re broke’, food.com, epicurious and others

Sparkly shoes

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A commission! Well a favour actually. And it has renewed my enthusiasm in blinging up everything. A bit nerve wracking to wave the hot fix tool so closely over new shoes but nothing burnt this time.. Plus I had to double triple check the L and R were on the correct shoes!

Peg bag

imageAn old tablecloth remnant has become useful again

wooden coat hanger (we didn’t have any children’s hangers so Edward cut an old padded hanger down by about an inch each end

Materials- water resistant outer fabricwide as the hanger plus seam and about twice as long, lining same size

method; draw around the hanger on to reverse of fabric to create a pattern for the back and extend the sides down to make a square ish shape , cut a half inch outside the line for a seam allowance

lay the remaining outer fabric on top and cut a top front panel and bottom front panel to match. I used the tablecloth binding as the mouth of  the bag but otherwise would have added a half inch to the bottom of the top panel and top of the bottom panel for a seam allowance

cut lining fabric to match each of the three pieces

blanket stitch about one inch in the centre of the back and top pieces where the hanger will go through

place front panel lining and outers right sides together and seam where the mouth of the bag will be ie top of the bottom and bottom of the top, flip out and press lightly

place back panel lining face down, back panel outer on it face up, front panels face down  with partially fixed lining on top- clip in place and seam from edge of blanket stitched top all the way round back to the other side of the top

turn, wriggle the hanger in place and decorate with ribbon to finish