Summer Holiday - Day 5, 6 & 7!

At kids club the children get me (real name Karen!) and Crafty Friend (Carol!) muddled up, so for a joke, she had these t-shirts printed.

We know some of the children can't read...but the ones who can thought it was hilarious and insisted on this photo!

Work became one VERY long day of cleaning (9 hours!!), clearing out the academic year, we reorganised the room too.....gets the kids thinking about where they can find things when they come back and they remember better then if we were to tell them!

The next day we undertook all the preparing for the next year!  Still not finished to be honest!

The in-laws came down for a short stay and during a trip into town, I managed to get this shot of my beautiful Teenage Daughter...she'll hate me for this!

On Sunday, I decided to get my head into a different space.  Having ordered some new jeans from H&M, who thankfully sell jeans by the waist and leg measurements, I can get a pair that actually fit without a gaping hole in the small of my back to fill with shopping!!

Hence my lovely old pair (that I had worn through at the knee!) became my cut-offs for playing and gardening!

I cut the jeans across the knee, just above the hole.  I chose some nice bright fabric and sliced it across the width at a 2" depth and ran it through my clover bias binding gadget to produce a nice binding...pinned it on like this..........

I whizzed round the binding with my sewing machine and then flipped the binding over and hand stitched it to the inside......

And ta-dah!...cut-offs!

I've left them long so that as they wear, I can just cut them shorter and shorter!

So , that was those few days.....the next week went in a whirlwind...so I'm not sure how much of that I can really show you in photos!

But after that we made some trips...those I will share!

Back soon!

Love 

Nora

xxxx

Using Freezer Paper to Print Your Own Labels...Ta-Dah!

It's taken me a while to get to this with a lot of mistakes and accidental discoveries along the way, but finally, I think, I have it!

I like making personalised gifts, so to be able to print my own labels and photos would be great.

I have purchased ready prepared fabric for printing on, but found it SO expensive, then through a mix of experimenting and getting it mostly wrong a lot of the time, I had a lightbulb moment that was confirmed during a foray on Pinterest where I found articles about exactly this!

This is a Ta-Dah technique rather than a Ta-Dah item!

I bought some white 100% cotton fabric.  It's not the thickest in the world, but it will work.  It is 150cm wide and I bought 30cm which is the height of a piece of A4 paper, this should give me around 7 A4 sheets at 21p each!

Slightly better value than this which I had previously purchased from Panduro Hobby at £19.90 for 5 sheets!

In addition I used Reynolds Freezer Paper from Amazon which I picked up for £5.76 (free P&P!), so at 12.1m, this equates to around 10p per A4 sheet of my printable fabric 'paper'......

I only needed my iron to attach the 2!  I took apiece of printer paper for a size guage and once I had ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper to my cotton, cut a rough A4 size.

I then went to my cutting mat and using my largest ruler and trusty rotary cutter, still keeping the printer paper as a guide, cut my bonded fabric and freezer paper to A4 size.

Here it is......

So that I knew which way to load my paper, I printed my labels onto plain paper having first marked it with a cross for orientation.....

When it emerged, the cross was on the back, so this told me that I would have to load my paper fabric side down, freezer paper uppermost.

Which I did and then pressed print!

This is what came out................

PERFECT!

Using my mat, ruler and rotary cutter, I cut my labels to size...........

And here is the finished label, ready to be sewn onto Little Lady's quilt!

All 31 pence of it!  (In fact cheaper as I could have got 4 labels out of one piece of A4!)

I have used this technique to print more labels which I shall be sharing with you shortly.

Hope this proves useful, any questions then please ask!

See you soon,

Nora

xxxx

Pointe Shoe Tips - A Tutorial (of sorts)

Waaaaaaay back here in July 2013, I had a fantastic trip to London to buy my first ever Pointe Shoes...happy-skippy-smiley...or what!!

They were absolutely gorgeous and although I danced on them a couple of times, it was a matter of urgency to get some tips on....you can imagine satin on wooden floors!

Having scoured the internet, I couldn't find any I liked and sadly no tutorials either...so....I decided to go with the flow and make it up as I went along!  Most unlike me who needs a pattern for everything!

I decided to use embroidery floss, this one to be exact......

and a 2.5mm crochet hook.

In true 'ME'-style, I was so intent on getting the correct shape for my shoe that I forgot to write down the numbers of stitches...but apart from the chain and joining with a slip stitch, my only other stitch was a Treble (UK terms) for the main tip and Double (UK terms) for the flap to the sole....all will become clearer....! 

It looks like I've chained 7.  4 to work in and a chain of 3 to lift me from the chain to working the trebles.

It looks like I've worked my 3 ch and 3 more trebles into that forst stitch, then a treble in the next 2 stitches.

On this photo (above) I have definitely worked the 3ch and 3 tr into the 4th chain from the end, 1tr into the next 2 chains and in the chain next to the tail, 7tr, then 1tr in the other side of the middle 2 chains and 3tr onto the end joining my 3ch with a slip stitch.

I've then come up to the next layer or round by ch3, 1tr into each stitch EXCEPT on that very middle stitch at each end where (to keep it flat) it looks like I've worked 3tr.

This picture is quite clear so use that as a guide for shape and numbers of stitches.  I've finished that round by slip stitching into the top of my 3ch.

That is the main part of the tip covered and you may wish to stop there, however I now need to work a small 'flap' piece to go under the tip towards the sole of my shoe, like this.....

Here is where I made a single chain to lift me up to the next layer and it looks like I've them made 8 doubles.  Make as many as you need to keep your work flat and give you a nice gentle shape from the tip up onto the flap.  I then turned my work and worked doubles back along that row.  Like this....

I then sewed my tail back along through the doubles to secure it.

Then I used some PVA glue to stick the tip in place on my shoe and hand stitched it into place around the edge with my thread doubled.  Just sew until you feel it is secure.

Sorry about the quality of this picture, but as you can see the top of my shoe or upper, is not covered at all by the tip.  It also looks neat and I can say functions beautifully!  I feel very secure en pointe and I think it finished the shoe to perfection.

Every little girls dream...her most perfect pointe shoes.

I hope that helps someone, sorry there is no pattern as such, but if you do have a question, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you,

take care

Nora

xxx

Cushion Finish Up!

Back here during my bedroom declutter, I told you about some unfinished projects ........timeframe? Oh....about 10 years ago!!!

One of them was a shaggy cushion made on HUGE needles whilst watching my daughter's swimming lessons.

I decided to get a cushion pad and finish it off.

The cushion pad arrived together with its twin (for another project!), additional yarn for my Granny Poncho and some yarn to finish a round crochet cushion...only problem....the later is the wrong make of yarn!!

I took a look at my fluff and decided that as it couldn't be sewn I would use my mistaken purchase to crochet it closed.

Good thinking batman!

I made a round of double crochet (single crochet to my US friends) and once I'd gone round once I then began a shell edge.

The basic pattern for this (in UK terms) is to make 5 trebles into one stitch, miss a stitch and slip stitch into the next, miss a stitch and make 5 trebles into the next stitch ,miss a stitch, slipstitch into the next, miss a stitch, 5 trebles.....you see the pattern.  Then you simply continue the miss, slip stitch, miss, 5 trebles pattern along the straight edges.

I managed to somehow get the corners just right, you might have to miss 2 stitches or not miss any in order to get to the corner.  Once there the corners are 9 trebles to get 3/4 of a circle, like this.......

...then miss a stitch, slipstitch into the next, miss a stitch, 5 trebles into the next...yep, that pattern again!

So, once I'd finished the crochet and the 20 questions from teenage daughter about it's history, she remembered that this was the fluff I was knitting whilst chatting to her Grandpa (who has since, sadly, passed away).  So she requested to give the cushion a new home and it now has pride of place on her bed...under Grandpa's watchful eye in the photograph above.

A reminder of happy days.

Want to see the finished article?

Here goes......Ta-daaah!

So glad to have caught up with you on that one....I will be back soon with a quilt update (after Teenage Daughters Sweet 16 Birthday on Thursday!)

Until then,

take care

Nora

xxxx

Good-bye Pre-school Days

Yes, I can't believe it...BUT....Tiddly Toes has finished her pre-schools ready to start school in September!

It has arrived so quickly.

One minute I was shocked to be pregnant at 42!  The next she's going to school.

Thanks goodness for the blog and all that it records and also that it forces me to take photographs (whether they make it here or not!), so I have recorded daily life anyway.

We didn't want to buy in presents for the wonderful 'teachers' at her pre-school and playgroup, so we decided to make lavender bags and cards.

My Crafty Friend had bought me some cup cake stamps a while ago and those together with some free papers from Simply Homemade magazine, a punch and some card blanks.........

 

led to some sticking for Tiddly Toes......

 

With a bit of guidance she produced these..................

 

 

However, it was Mummy's job to produce Strawberries from some Strawberry fabric left over from her t-shirt dress.

 

I used a cookie cutter (again from Crafty Friend) to make a card template for cutting like this......

 

I very simply used embroidery floss to make a running stitch around the heart shape about 5mm in from the edge..........

 

Before I got to the end I stuffed lightly and popped in a coupe of teaspoons of dried lavender.

 

I used a star shape to cut felt into the strawberry tops and placed the ribbon for hanging between the dip in the heart and strawberry top and just went back and forth through all the layers to secure it.

 

And here are the first batch..................  ta-dah!

 

I went on to make another 7!

 

Tiddly Toes had a great response from the teachers... it was clearly a welcome alternative to the much appreciated smellies, chocolates and plants!

 

I realised as I was writing this up that I haven't even told you about the Strawberry Dress properly.....or my other trip to London for a once in a lifetime purchase that I thought I would never be good enough to buy!

 

More of those in the next couple of days as I catch up on stuff that has fallen by the wayside whilst lovely MIL has been here.

 

Until then....see ya!

 

Nora

xxxx

Rice bag

Ages ago I made myself a rice bag for a troublesome shoulder that was disturbing my sleep. It's one of those ones that you pop in the microwave to heat and it lasts a good 1-2 hours. It moulds perfectly around shoulders and necks in a way that a hot water bottle simply can't.

As my Teenage Daughter suffered with neck and shoulder ache due to a curvature of the spine, I found my rice bag missing...well, I found my rice bag in her room!

I had a bit of a sort out which I told you about here and found a rice bag outer that I had cut out, but that was it. I don't use any specific measurements, I've made a hand warmer size and plan to make a bigger one before the winter for my feet!

I decided to quickly sew it together by sewing the 2 long sides and then finish the opening by turning and sewing and turning and sewing again.

 

  Turn it through to the correct side and push the corners out with something blunt.

 

I also make an inner that contains the rice, being removable, it means you can wash the outer cover. I used muslin for my liner and roughly cut a rectangle slightly smaller then the outer bag. It was folded at the side so I stitched bottom, side and along the top just a short way to allow myself room to fill with rice.

 

I turned it the right way round, filled about half way with rice, folded the un-sewn top in and ran a stitch across it.

 

Popped it inside the outer and..... TA-daaah!....

 

 

If you want a closure (my own does but this one for Teenage Daughter doesn't) you could use velcro or make a button-hole and add a button, totally down to what you want to do to it and how fancy you want to get! Have fun!

 

 

Whilst I was making this, I realised how safe this is for children...no leaking or burst hot water bottles....so my brain is ticking with Rice Mice that you can take to bed and cuddle! Wouldn't that make a lovely, cuddly, warm toy friend to take to bed?

I'll keep working on that one and catch up with you soon.

Until then, take care,
love Nora
xxxx

Tie-backs...what more can I say!

It was so hot today, no air, no breeze.... don't get me wrong! It beats the rain by miles! BUT, it was too hot to do anything outside...SO....I decided a clear up of my side of the bedroom (my sewing table!) was long overdue!

Polish in hand I cleared the decks and the dust! Oh! It was shameful!

The plus side was that I found a tissue holder my daughter had started but not got to the end of, a cut out and pinned rice bag, the t-shirt and material to make another one of these for my God-Daughter (aka Tiny Angel)......

 

AND finally (not started at all) the old tie-backs for the newly decorated Tiny Angel bedroom which I shall use as the templates for new ones made from the remains of the sheet left over from the bunting (also completed the other night!)

 

It has been all go here! I wanted to walk you through my tie-back journey....never made these before!

I started by using the old tiebacks to draw around, I drew closed to the edge so that when I cut I added extra for the seam allowance, I could also have drawn it with a seam allowance, either way works.

 

 I then cut out my template.........

 

 

 ....laid it on the fabric, pinned it and cut! I did the same with some wadding to add a bit of umpf to the thin fabric. So that's 4 cut in main fabric and 2 in wadding.

 

 

 

I then took the remaining bias binding left over from the bunting and cut 4, 12cm lengths......

 

 

which I folded in half and stitched like this....

 

(sorry it's sideways...couldn't get the wotsit to twist it round for you!  But you get it...right?)

 

Here we are..........

 

I laid the binding loops on the correct side of the fabric each end of 2 of the main fabric pieces, pinned them and sewed across the ends just to hold them in place.

 

THEN, lay down the wadding, on top of that a piece of the fabric correct way up and one correct side down, make sure that just one of those has the binding loops.

 

Pin and sew all round except for a section about 10cm long (for turning). You might want to go back and forth to reinforce the stitching either side of the opening.

 

 

Iron the fabric side and iron back the opening so the when it is turned the right side round it will be easier to sew the opening closed. Turn the correct way round and use something blunt to push the corners out, iron again. Sew the opening closed with small slip stitches. Repeat with the other pieces and there are your 2 tiebacks.

 

I managed to place my templates so that the fairies were flying across the tie-backs and also so the my slip stitches, although neat, were placed on the section which will be behind the curtains.

 

So want to see?  OK then....

 

TA-dahh.........!

 
I hope Tiny Angel and her Mummy like them...I'm hoping they'll send me a photo of them so that I can share with you, until then...see ya!
Love
Nora
xxxx