The Eternal Maker Crafts

Sunday 20 April 2008

washing line cushion...


as i'm sure you've guessed by now, me and my sewing machine have become best friends. the sad fact of it is that it's not even mine, it's on loan from my sewing machine man - i just hope no one buys it out from under me (don't you dare). I'm sure that most of the work is done by the machine and not me... it's lurvely, honestly. an old bernina, nothing fancy, just good quality basic stitching, and that's all i seem to need - a straight stitch and a zig zag. mum bought herself an electronic one at christmas and i just can't seem to get on with it. i use it a lot but i'm never completely happy with the projects i make on it. but my bernina, ooh, my bernina...
so it was on my bernina that i made this little pattern up. i bondawebbed random scraps of fabric first, and thenfree hand cut (free-cut?) (free-snip?) random clothes shapes and the wooden poles. Then ironed on and got sewing. I just did it onto a fat quarter and then trimmed to size when it came to putting the cushion together. And then - i have never done this before so thought i was pretty clever, sewed a 1/4" seam around the edge to make it sort of piped. Pretty pleased with the results I must say, looks ALMOSt professionale...
and guess what - even my grandma likes it. I don't think i've told you abut my grandma before. she is eminently practical, no nonsense, and most of all NOT crafty in the slightest. She doesn't get it. She is forever saying, but it looks messy, couldn't you have left it in one piece, it's got funny ears, I don't like this, I don't like that... but this cushion recieved the signed sealed delivered grandma seal of approval. Ah, what bliss, I bask in the glow of her approbation. And then I show her something else and it's back to square one. Oh well...

oh yeah, i meant to say, sorry the picture is so washed out, I had put the setting on the camera whilst the sky was cloudy and just as I started taking the pictures the sun started mega shining. And I didn't notice until I had put everything away and started uploading.

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Silly Bunny has been a Silly Bunny

I made melly & me's silly bunny. This has been the pattern that hasn't been selling as well as some of the others so I thought if I made it up then it might entice people more - I always like the things I can actually see rather than just a picture, so maybe other people do too!
So I was picking out all these funky fabrics, a bit of Alexander Henry Stars for one leg, an Amy butler stripe for another leg (I have a thing for long stripy socks) a moda hot pink essential dots.... and then my eye strayed to this new blue fabric we have in from Westfalenstoffe and I put back all the brights and went for this:

I have put a fabric kit for him including the pattern but not the stuffing on the website here

Monday 14 April 2008

3D Cards, dioramas, & other stuff I dont know the name of...


Just a quick post of the 3D card making demo I did last week - I meant to do it before now but as usual time literally - and I mean literally - ran away from me.
So, here is what I made - I think this type of card is called a diorama. I was waiting for these gorgeous stamps to come in from Just Johanna for the demo, I hads it all planned out in my head, but wouldn't you know it, the demo was on Saturday, the stamps arrived Monday. Grrr. But they were lovely when they did arrive, and I made the original idea anyway:

I don't emboss much, but just wanted something autumnal as the tree's branches were bare. So brown & gold, I loved how it turned out although it's a little flimsy what with me trimming SO much ( I got a little carried away, it was quite therapeutic actually!)
To take a look at the rest of Just Johanna's lovely stamps we got in, look here they are very cool.

And here are 2 others I made on the day:


the little tag slides in at the back of the card for your message. Its a mini diorama I guess...



If I made this one again I would check the size of the stamp or whatever I was using in the middle, as it looks a little bit dwarfed by the size of the rest of the card! But it was the first time I had made it, so for an experiment it's not too bad I guess.