A Sewing Adventure in Re-Purposing

How many of you have a few items in your house that you don't use and are getting frustrated by the space they take up?
I'm guessing everyone!!
I know I have a few.

Which recently led me to get rid of a few things in my wardrobe. A few things will be making a trip back to an Op Shop! They served their purpose but I'm not going to wear them again.
This leads me to the purpose of this post.
I've had a skirt sitting in my wardrobe for a few years that never quite fit right (on me or any other member of my family). I also had a need for a bag to put my pillow in when I go away on holidays or trips.
The skirt was the perfect size - resulting in the idea that the skirt could become a bag.

Before

After

It took a bit of unpicking - I had to remove the elastic in the waist and take out the hem.
I used a French seam for the bottom to make sure the denim wouldn't fray in the bottom seam, then sewed up the casing for a cord. I even used the gold coloured thread to match the stitching. I tried using a toggle that I had to secure the cord, but it wasn't big enough, so I popped the cord through the holes on a big button and used that instead.

It's the perfect size bag and it even has pockets (I left them as they were)!!

A Selection of Cards

A friend was asking what I'd been up to lately and I had to confess that study has taken up the bulk of my time, leaving almost no room for craft.

There were a couple of things I couldn't post about earlier because I was waiting for them to arrive (mail is very slow going to Africa).

This one headed over to Africa to my best friend!

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An engagement card! You might be able to just see all the hand drawn hearts on the background.

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My first attempt at a centre-opening card - this one was for a wedding.

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Now this one looks complicated, but it actually very simple. It's just a piece of patterned paper stuck on a card. I wrote the 'Happy Birthday' myself (as you can guess, since it's not perfectly centred)

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I've also been doing some more on African Sunset, but no pictures this time. I'm filling in some gaps and working on the ground.

I'm also planning some Christmas cards and Christmas crafts, but study is taking precedence right now with deadlines looming!

Mini for Christmas

I needed something to do while going away for a weekend recently (not that I actually did it while I was away), so I pulled out my stash of projects to complete and decided to do a mini Christmas decoration.
I like to have something new every year, although I have now exhausted my stash (unless I pull out some of the Tiny Stockings that I did a few years ago - I didn't do them all then).

So there you have it! A little bit of Christmas!

Update on African Sunset

A few people have been asking me lately how I'm going with finishing African Sunset.

So I thought it was time for me to give you an update.

I'm probably 2/3 of the way through, and I'm now doing back stitch as I go, so that I don't have to come back and do it at the end. Before I scroll over to the next section, I'm completing as much of the back stitch as I can.
I really like the elephant's wrinkles - they look so real and it's all done through slight changes in colour. Back stitch is just used to outline.

My Working Space

Have you wondered about my crafting space?
Well, if you have I'll tell you a little.
My bedroom is not just a bedroom - it is also my home office, crafting space, relaxing spot and library!
The top of my bookshelves holds DVD boxes full of stamps, ink pads, dies and a variety of other crafting paraphernalia. My desk is flanked by 2 sets of plastic drawers plus another set of plastic drawers on the other side of the room, holding embellishments, paper punches, adhesives, brads, eyelets, scrapbooking papers, ribbons, lace, templates, cardstock, beads and chalks.

That's all good, neat and tidy, but when I get crafting things start getting pulled out, and things get piled up on every available space - generally my bed!
This is what happened when I got crafting recently:

What you can't see from this photo is what my desk looked like, but I can assure you there were crafting things all over that too (I just don't want to give away the project I was working on)!
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With the school holidays I have had a bit of time to work on some sewing projects - I have actually halved my list!

• Darts in pants so that they fitted properly
• Mending
• Putting pockets into shorts that didn't have any
• Making a rag bag

The most interesting is the rag bag. I used the legs of a pair of jeans that had worn out in other areas. I cut them off, sewed them together in a tube, sewed up one end of the tube and made a casing for a draw string by opening a small section of the hem on the other end.

To make the string, I started off by finger knitting some wool, but I found it was not thick enough and likely to break. So I used the initial finger knitting and finger knitted that again to make it stronger. It was then too short, but I had more wool and tried again.

So that I got the right length, I started doing the single finger knitting, then before finishing it off, I started the double up. It worked really well because I could do more single finger knitting to make it longer until I had the right length.

It's a good feeling to finally get some things done.

Cardmaking Experiments

A card I made today.

I used embossing powder and my heat gun for the first time. It didn't quite work how I planned - the ink dried too fast.
I also made the window blinds - I stamped the window on the paper I wanted to use then cut out the bits I needed. The bottom edge was done with decorative scissors and I hand drew stitch marks at the bottom. The blind pull at the bottom is a pearl.

(This post has been scheduled for a later date so that the person receiving it doesn't have a sneak peek.)

Birthday Cards

I've had a busy afternoon and evening of card making, and here are the results:

This one combines decoupage layers with washi tape.

I tried a new technique with this one, by using blow pens.

Both are for female cousins.

This one is for one of my male cousins.
Normally when I make a card, I just put things together and see how it works out, but for this one I actually roughly sketched it first. The tent and fishing rod are stickers that I purchased so long ago that the adhesive on the back had lost it's stick, so I had to use my own. I cut around the top of each wave on the paper (very fiddly) for the wave effect. The sky was done using chalk and a dauber.

(This post will only appear after their birthdays, as I don't want them to have a sneak peek.)

Secret Projects Revealed!!

Earlier this year I mentioned that I was working on some secret projects! The time has now come for them to be revealed.
2 new babies joined our family recently, and as is my tradition I did cross stitches for each one to welcome them to the family.

The pictures below have been slightly edited. I stitched their names on each one, but for privacy, I can't reveal them here.

Each of these are from the Playtime Nursery book by Ginny Fraser. There have been a couple of alterations to the patterns so that they worked for the babies I made them for.

Bows with a Bow Maker

I recently got a free bow maker (not quite like this one) with a card making magazine. This video has given me a few ideas of what I could try!

Or you could try this (no bow maker), but it looks a bit awkward.