Creative catch-up

I haven't posted for such a long time but I'm on a roll this morning!  The last few weeks have been filled with Bethany having chicken pox, me having tonsilitus (whilst I was on holiday - how fun was that!), dieting (I've lost a stone yippee), redundancy worries blah blah blah BUT I have been working on a few crafty projects (when the going gets tough, get sewing!).

I made my daughter 3 dress to take on holiday - this is the only one she would wear.  In fact we had a spat about it which resulted in me decided never to make her any more clothes!  She told her dad "I wish mummy wouldn't make me dresses" so now I've got two dresses with no one to wear them.  Maybe I'll try putting them on Etsy.

Yo Yo T'Shirt

My sister bought herself this T'shirt and asked me if I could decorate it with some buttons or flowers to make it a little more special.  I made a bunch of little yo yo's ages ago, most of which had some green in the fabric so I thought they would look nice in a feature on the neckline.  I tried pinning them in various positions and when I was satisfied I hand stitched them on with invisible thread, then accented the centres with either buttons or beads.  Fingers crossed that my sister likes it!

Ladies Top to Girls Dress Refashion

I bought this ladies top for 50p from a car boot sale.  I knew it would be too small for me but thought I could use it to make something for Bethany.  The bright bold print would be perfect for her and she loves to help me sew.

The obvious thing was to make it into a summer dress, so after laundering, I measured her chest size, then pinned and cut along one side of the top.  I used the off-cuts to make tie straps and the flower embellishment.  The flower was created on my embroidery machine using a design from Pickle Pie Designs  Pretty cute eh?

A Throne fit for a Princess

I made this for Bethany's birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  I just used a couple of cardboard tubes (from the inside of wrapping paper rolls) and taped them onto a childs chair.  I then created the cover and embroidered the emblem to match Beth's princess dress.  All the little girls at the party wanted to try out the throne!

The Fabric Guild

To celebrate my mum's birthday on Friday we  took a drive over to The Fabric Guild in  Leicester.  It is an "American style warehouse club" not open to the general public, admission being restricted to members only (you can join during your visit, £5 for lifetime membership).  A couple of friends had recommended it to us and I think it was worth the trip.  It's humble exterior belies the host of goodies you'll find inside.  I came away with an armful of stuff including fat quarters from 60p and some Anna Griffin paper crafting embellishments for 25p!  Bethany spent ages picking out the buttons she wanted and at 40p a packet it was well worth it to keep her amused!

Ruffle Camera Strap

My second project this weekend was to make a cover for my DSLR camera strap.  I've seen lots of these in Blogland and fancied having a go at one myself.  I embroidered my name and added this as a little pocket for a spare memory card.  A pretty quick project and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Personalised Baby Blanket

I've had a busy weekend working on a couple of crafty projects.  The first one, which took took the longest was an embroidered baby blanket that a friend asked me to do for her sister.  The whole thing was a little challenging as there were a few different aspects to it.  First, I had to use my embroidery software to put together all the text.  Then came the machine embroidery and applique.  Finally I hand embroidered the edge with blanket stitch.  I hope little Benjamin likes it!