Elegant Bottle Ladies Set of THREE Stylish Wine Bottle Outfits

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Artist and crafter, Bottle Dress Cloak and Hat Set of 3, Bottle Dress Outfits, Bottle Ladies, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Cotton Fabric Bottle Outifts, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Decorative Table Wear, Dress up you bottle, Elegant Bottle Table Wear, Fun Quirky Gift Ideas, Fun with fabrics, Lace and Ribbon Trims, Quirky Bottle Dresses, Wine Bottle Wear, Wooden flower buttons

Presenting, from left to right,  Miss Rose,  Fraulein Weiss and Mademoiselle Rouge 

A fun way to spend an afternoon! A Simple yet elegant way to dress up a 70cl wine bottle!! Made from a few off cuts of cotton fabrics, bits of lace and ribbon trims with a few little wooden flower buttons to finish.Each outfit has a full length dress with attached fully lined shawl/cloak and a coordinating bottle top hat 🙂

A little rearrangement on the ‘bottlewalk’

Imagine having a little picnic and whipping out your wine already dressed for the occasion 😉 Or hosting a dinner party and having these three lovelies decorate your table! A perfect quirky gift idea ( set of 3 )  perhaps…or, a great talking point for a drinks party?!

Packaged and ready for a new exciting party home

Right!! Off to tidy my table in readiness for a new week of making   🙂

 

A Little commission ~ Super soft cotton flannel appliquéd monkeys on a quilt

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Art, Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Arty, Ccotton flannel monkeys, Commissioned patchwork, Cotton fabrics, Cotton handmade quilt, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Creative patchwork and applique, Cute unique Quirky designs and ideas, Designer Patchwork Quilt, Fun with fabrics, Hand quilted patchwork, Little Monkey Quilt

Where on earth does time go….???? ……..Even on a very grey day, this little patchwork and applique quilt certainly brightens up the garden !

Since last posting, just what have I been up to???? Well, lots of things ~ plus, a few out of the norm activities too….my world has been somewhat shaken and stirred of late ;-/ in between many new crafty creations!!

Around Ester time, I was dragged (kicking and screaming onto an aeroplane after 15 years of avoidance… on the grounds of health and safety,  lol – much better to have your feet on land than the base of an aeroplane I think..but, in necessity and eagerness to meet lovely new in-laws in Serbia  (after the marriage of our daughter to our new son-in law) it was a must 😉 Meeting our new extended family was wonderful! Though, having flown back into the UK in the wake of storm Katie, flying is definitely not on my agenda again any time soon! The plane seemingly hit a thousand and one ”potholes” on it’s roller-coaster style approach in the sky, as we circled the London Eye at least seven times waiting to land!! Very scary, even for seasoned travellers ;-/

Just before leaving for the trip, I was commissioned to do a little lap sized handmade cotton quilt for the grandson of a special, dear friend in the US 🙂 My lovely friend Jackie! She asked if I could make a patchwork quilt for her little grandson?? YAY.. Of course! I was super excited!!!!! Especially having  been given free reign once again by Jackie, to create something unique. My only brief for the project …’Monkeys’ !!! I could choose all the fabrics, colours and design…WOW!!! Where should I start??

Pencil and paper at the ready, I sketched out some cheeky little monkeys. I wanted to make sure the background design was very simple so the blanket could grow with the little guy it was intended for, maybe even passed down to future generations !!

Finally, I went for a large geometric pin-wheel/triangle background to represent the jungle in different shades of green cotton fabrics, along with creating some large cotton fabric ‘jungle leaves’ which I appliquéd around the monkeys . Adding some more primary colours, bright red and blue borders, I think, made it feel more masculine too. The little monkeys are all made from super soft cotton flannel and backed with 100% super soft cotton too! In fact, All the applique pieces have been cotton backed, turned and then hand stitched into place, so, they will never fray! Following the jungle theme I added in a little cotton parrot and a couple of cute, crazy looking frogs 😉 A quilt designed and made to last!

A little close up of the hand-stitched parrot, monkey and a cute, crazy frog, ironed folded and  packaged ready for shipping.

I know Grandma (Jackie) and mum are super happy with it…YAY! A little snippet from Jackie’s e-mail after receiving her parcel…

{Hi Caren,

The quilt was delivered safely and I couldn’t be more pleased! It looks even better than the photo you sent.

 As soon as I can I will write a review in etsy. 

Again, thank you for the quilt! I hope you have a great week. 

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon. xx  }

Thank You so much Jackie!! It was a lovely little project and very exciting to be given another commission by you  (though always a little scary to have free reign) I’m so glad you love the finished quilt!!) I know you will see this post at some point ;-)It was my absolute pleasure to create another unique little art quilt for you and your little grandson!

Maybe in the future as Jackie’s little grandson gets older, he will give each of the little monkeys a name 🙂 Meanwhile, I hope he has many, many happy little naps and sweet dreams under the colourful quilt 🙂

Cute quirky Cushion covers From…..Patchwork Pooch….to a ‘Knitting Chicken’ !

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Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Bored moment, Buttons, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creation, Creative crafting, Cute Quirky Patchwork, Cute teddy cushion, Feature cushions, Fun throw pillows, Fun with fabrics, Handmade cushion covers, Knitting chicken cushion, Quilting and applique, Super cute Dog cushion

My Super cute applique felt patchwork dog design throw pillow/Cushion cover.
Finished yesterday, though, after adding a few more quirky items – In plenty of time for Christmas..;-) – to my Etsy shop, I’ve only just gotten around to posting!…After spending much of the day out in the garden, What a beautiful day it’s been, a mixture of monstrously dark threatening clouds and masses of sunshine at the same time with not a drop of rain!! 🙂

Super cute dog square from a section of preprinted fabric was again the inspiration to create a centre feature panel for the strikingly colourful cushion.

My fabric and felt version of the small printed square is approximately 10.5 inches and the red floral fabric from my stash was as close a match as I could find to the little square version, though I think it worked out well 😉 A couple of felt flowers with button centres and a little hand stem stitching before quilting over the whole panel to finish. 

Another cute little cushion creation with Bears and bees!

And…not forgetting the quirky ‘knitting chicken’ cushion cover wearing her brass ring specs!! 😀

After another busy day – there’s never a bored moment!! – I need to try and organise my random creative ideas into some kind of order…or who knows what jumbled creation might pop up next 😉

Large Christmas Stocking – Crazy patchwork style

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Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas patchwork, Christmas Stocking, Colourful, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creations, Crazy Patchwork Stocking, Creative crafting, Fun with fabrics, Patchwork and hand quilting, Seasonal decorations

Finished at last! After much searching…….eventually, I found my WIP, hidden – where else of course….in a giant box of buttons!!!!? This was the piece I was working on before I turned into a ‘cleaning monster’ (cleaning also included hiding carefully placing last minute projects out of sight – to achieve an apparently craft free household) due, to visiting In Laws to be!
A great weekend was had by all, even the weather played nicely allowing our guests to enjoy our garden too 🙂
Anyway, back to the above, I thought I had better commence with a few little seasonal things for my Etsy shop, being that, in crafting terms, Christmas is ‘just around the corner’. Taking some of my Christmas fabric offcuts, I decided to crate a crazy patchwork, luxury padded and hand quilted Stocking hand bound in coordinating cotton fabric with a hand twisted bow detail to finish. Large enough to stuff with lots of little gifts for some lucky person…As long as they’ve been good all year – of course??! 😉

Take a bag of new, mixed fabric offcuts, set aside some ‘crazy’ patchwork time, trim to required shape, quilt front and back, add binding and a hand twisted bow…….et voilà…A Christmas Stocking 😀

Beautiful Minimalistic Patchwork

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A perfect gift, abstract, Artist and crafter, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Coordinated cotton fabrics, Cotton fabric, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Fun with fabrics, Hand quilted creations, Original, Patchwork and hand quilting, Patchwork creations, Patchwork throw blanket, Pin wheel lap quilt, Red and black cotton fabric quilt, Simple beautiful patchwork designs, Triangular patterned handmade quilt

Pin-wheel lap quilt
A strikingly simplistic, but altogether beautiful, simple piece of fabric art! Chose a couple of coordinating fabrics, make a few squares, chop them up, and sew back together…add lots of hand quilting….and… a sight to behold! This worked even better than I had imagined 😉

Enjoying it’s final wash, and blowing in the Spring breeze, my little make of the week! A whopping 13 hours a day for seven days…Yep, that’s 91 hours of loving labour!!!!!! … has gone into producing this stunning little lap quilt – SO, I would say the price is a steal in labour costs alone!!! Trying to show, that patchwork doesn’t have to involve thousands of colours and stupendous patterns to be beautiful 🙂 !

Pin-wheel fabrics close up!
Just two fabrics have been chosen to complete this little masterpiece….well actually, three if you want to include the cream cotton backing! It is one hundred percent cotton through and through, as it had a pure cotton wadding layer too, which means it can be ironed after washing – perfect!!

…..Did I mention…it has ALL BEEN HAND QUILTED TOO!!! 😀

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/carenscanvasandcraft

Two by two!

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Art, Artist, Artistic moment, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Cotton, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creation, Custom cot quilts, Cute fun nursery gifts, Fabric creations, Handmade creations, Jemima Puddle Duck, Patchwork quilt designs, Peter rabbit

Deja vu on a mega scale!!! I soooooo wanted to finish ALL my little gifts before the happy arrival – and I DID!! 🙂 Exactly 3 & 1/2 weeks saw the creations of two cot quilts, 2 cot tidies, 2 lots of bunting and an extra request from my mum as a special gift! And I have been prompted by Sarah       (the expectant and very happy mother to be – to do a little post!) With literally only a matter of days, at most a couple of weeks to go!!

I’m happy to report that I’ve not been kidnapped by aliens!….. and I’m still on this planet…even though I’ve been missing for a short while…….as you’ll see during the post…I’ve been a little preoccupied of late for a multiple couple of good reasons :-D!

And so the first one was finished!!!…I had to prepare myself, for every time I made one, with love, care and plenty of attention to detail….a second was to be just as well and carefully completed! I drew and separately constructed every little piece of applique on all the items. My mind was always on the attention to detail and safety – every thread was double knotted at the beginning and end and every fabric was painstakingly turned back on the quilts, and, treble stitched into place – leaving no doubt that anything could ever fray, or indeed, ever become loose! With two special little additions on their way, nothing could ever be left to chance!! Absolutely everything on the quilts is made from cotton, including the wadding so that care and cleaning, and of course steam ironing to kill germs is always possible! All fabrics have been  pre-washed (for shrinkage and dye removal) which should mean that nothing, or very little, will effect or change their condition in the future years. Maybe they might even become little heirlooms 😉 What else have I been up to ???…Well……….Sarah had a couple of other ideas for her nursery — but I must point out that she wanted a complete surprise as to all the things I was making — I did ask if she wanted to check out the fabrics before I started……..BUT , ”No!” was her response….” I trust you completely,and I like surprises ;-D!!” OMG… no pressure then????!! Our Nephew, Richard and Sarah, his wife, had a very definite desire to do their nursery in a Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck theme( even though they don’t know the gender of their babies) though whilst popular in the eighties, they couldn’t source new of what they wanted now! – So, I offered to try and create something for them as a gift!

To give you some idea of how many (and how tiny my hand stitches are) I placed a little pin for scale!

A little close up of the cot tidy applique – everything drawn, cut and placed by hand before hand stitching in place….Jemima looks so cute, even though she is only half the size of my hand overall on the little pockets…definitely worth all the effort  🙂

Some of Sarah’s wish list………… Bunting! Cot tidies! (What on earth are they???? – some investigation later and my own take on them – of course produced………….

Cot tidies x 2! With coordinating straps to firmly and safely attach to the end of the cots. You might have guessed by now, that Sarah Has planned an apple green nursery (even though I’ve thrown in a PEA GREEN accent colour!)  I did warn her about my ”strange choice’ ..but I’ll let you know what she really thinks! Oh My! I do hope she like it!!

A surprise gift! A Peter Rabbit doorstop mini Dumpy! I even managed to tailor a fully lined jacket from my own pattern design!

”Yay! my ears are amazing and I have carrots too”………OMG as soon as my fingers recover, I’m ready to start more new wonderful things! 🙂

‘Flying Goosey’ Quilt Number 2 – proving a point to myself…that I’m not getting slow in my old age (Not that old really) !!!

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Applique, Applique hearts, Art, Artist and crafter, Artistic, Artistic moments, Arty, Bed topper, Black red cream patchwork, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Cotton fabrics, Cotton wadding for a traditional feel, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Creative patchwork and applique, Elegantly designed patchwork quilts, Fun creations, Fun with fabric, Hand quilting, Lap quil, Lovingly handmade patchwork and crafts, Modern patchwork, Original, Original art, Patchwork, Patchwork and applique, Patchwork and quilting, Patchwork quilts, Patchwork throw, Printed cotton materials, Quality handmade items, Quirky, Something from nothing, Stylish quilt, Stylish quilt designs, Traditional quilts with new design, Unique, Unique creations, Warm and cosy quilts

In well under two weeks I have a result! From the humble beginnings of four cotton fabrics which I selected – to a finished little beauty! Lovingly hand crafted and hand quilted with ever so many stitches it could never, ever, EVER fall apart 🙂

My newest creation! Flying Geese and appliquéd hearts lap quilt number 2 actually finished yesterday, but my camera broke down – and here’s me thinking it’s the quilt design that is jinxed !!!  Maybe it’s just me…..!

My four chosen cotton print fabrics….after lots of hunting through mountains of materials at the fabric shop I eventually chose these four to go together. Tasteful, Simple, Rich, Stylish and Elegant! As soon as I had them in my arms all together, I could already see how the new quilt would look in my mind’s eye! The only thing delaying me from starting, was some good old fashioned hand washing of the fabrics to rid them of any excess dyes! No sooner dry and ironed…..let chopping, piecing and quilting begin 😉

I always think it is a good idea to make another ‘Goosey” quilt until I reach 5/31 geese border strips…then I sigh my way through the next 26….knowing, it WILL be worth all the effort – at the same time trying not to think of all the hand quilting to come ;-/ !!!!

A little hand sewn label, to let generations hence, (should it EVER become an Heirloom piece 😉 ) know who and where it was made! A little touch I probably should have already been adding to my lovingly hand-crafted quilts…better late than never though ! As a seller on Etsy I have become aware of just how many vintage quilts there are, and, it’s important to new makers like myself, and a must, to let people/buyers know that they are NEWLY made rather than vintage…..though, I hope and feel my own designs show a contemporary style anyway! As much as I love patch working I do feel sometimes people just add too much (colour/mix of fabric designs/ confusion etc,etc (this is my opinion only-others may feel differently and we should all have our say, I think), I do like some structure to what I design and make, though others may too have other tastes, which is of course absolutely fine too! Whilst I realise in the olden days, Patchwork items were made out of what was available and maybe in short supply, it is now a luxury to go and buy new fabrics to create such items today. Though it is my belief that by buying only small quantities of each fabric I am still forcing myself to create something out of very little – even if it is all new material!

I look out proudly at my latest achievement as it gently blows in the wind after its final wash before going off to my Etsy shop! I do hope it can eventually make someone happy…..and of course warm and cosy! 🙂 I certainly sewed many, many hours during its creation (on average, I reckon I work for 2 pence per hour including material costs!!!!! Minimum wage would make it only available to the Billionaires of the world – I’m not sure they shop on Etsy?!?) and incorporated lots of sweet dreams into it too! – they are include free of course!!!  😉

Springtime inspired Handmade patchwork and quilted button flower tote/bag

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Art, Artistic moment, Arty, Button flower border bag, Buttons, Caren's canvas and craft, Colourful springtime tote, Cotton fabrics, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Designer tote, Fabric handmade bag, Handmade and designed patchwork bag, Handmade creations, Multi-pocket feature design, My Etsy Shop, One off designs, Original, Original craftwork, Patchwork quilted tote, Quality hand-crafted items, Springtime, Springtime inspired, Unique creations, Unique ideas

Springtime patchwork bag design available on my Etsy shop for a limited time!

One burst of sunshine was all it took! I was inspired to create something which just shouted Springtime! and here it is.

Based on a similar theme from one of my designs (the last one was Autumn/Harvest colour themed with rich warm colours!) this goes to a new level of fresh, bold and vibrant = Spring!!! Well it does in my book anyway 🙂

The colours I chose for this new little tote, you may have guessed, are based around Springtime bright blue skies, fresh tender foliage, colourful crocuses and delicate cowslips (Primula flowers) in grassy meadows. The fabric Used for the straps/handles just had it all,it was up to me to source the other fabrics to coordinate.

I had a wonderful time rummaging around my favourite fabric shop, making my mum dizzy, as I flitted from stacks of fabric to mountains of material. Eventually, armed with just what I wanted, as I could already see the finished piece in my head, I had small amounts of each one cut by the shop assistant.

Much sorting, measuring , cutting and assembling resulted in two little patchwork panels, both with a plain cream border in the centre. perfect for adding one of my button flower borders. Into my buttons I dove, routing around until I came up with the perfect combination of little buttons. After stem stitching a grass line I added the stems and then buttons., now to hand quilt over the entire two panels. As ever I like to add a little extra to my creative pieces, this one got a coordinating button flower border on the front of the internal multi-pocket too. Things should be just as special on the inside as on the out! Even though most won’t know its there, the new owner will! 🙂

After a final frenzy of assembling the straps and the magnetic clasp flap were all put in place, it really did turn out like I had imagined – Springtime!

Enjoy the rest of the images 🙂

Back of springtime bag design

Springtime bag inside multi-pocket

Inside multipocket springtime bag

 

 

Framed fabric art Collage – Sheep knitting

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Applique, Art, Art and craft, Art collage with fabric, Artistic moment, Arty, Caren's creative canvas and craft, Cotton fabrics, Craft, Crafted by hand, Crafty creation, Creative crafting, Cute crazy ideas, Dyed fleece, Embroidery threads, Fabric pictures, Framed fabric art picture, Green, Green environment, Green pattern fabric, Green sheep, Handmade designed ideas, Handmade original ideas, Handmade pictures, heep in the countryside, Imagination, Knitting on toothpicks, New, New craft ideas, Origiinal ideas, Original, Patchwork, Quirky designs, s, Scrap craft ideas, Sheep dip, Sheep in the countryside, Sheep knitting picture, Toothpicks, Unique creations, Weird and wonderful art

Sheep knitting
Framed fabric art collage

This little picture has been made from a selection of different fabrics to create a cute quirky scene. whilst I have machine stitched the background fabrics together, all the little applique pieces after that have been hand drawn, cut then stitched in place. The sheep sitting on the fence is one of my own drawings and though I may do a similar scene no two are ever completely alike, making them a unique piece of art!

If its been made by me at Caren’s creative canvas and craft there is only ever one like it in existence. If you find there isn’t something you want on my Etsy shop, please feel to contact me about a new creation idea! Items seem to ”fly off the shelves” sometimes before I even get to show what I have made, as in this case, which I don’t mind at all, but if you feel you might have missed out on something, a request can always see another unique similar creation happen!!

For fun I knitted some embroidery thread on two tooth picks to give the impression that the sheep is knitting from the wool of the smaller green sheep in the dye dip tub. For the effects of fencing I used small strips cut from a tapestry backing and stitched them in place too. Some simple embroidered grasses and flowers to decorate the foreground, with the final finishing touch of placing it on a felt backing and bordering it with cream cotton and then quilting the sky fabric to create texture on the plain fabric!

Photographed again without glass for added detail without reflections then safely mounted and glass replaced.

Now back to that ever growing pile of fabric……

Handmade and quilted Giant Christmas Stockings

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Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas decorations, Christmas stockings, Colourful creation, Cotton fabrics, Creative crafting, Giant Christmas stockings, Patchwork and quilting, Traditional stockings

Handmade and quilted Giant Christmas Stockings

Having got rid of the need to make any more gingerbread guy themed crafty creations. I set about with this pair of giant Christmas stockings, after cutting out all the fabric ready for construction and adding a layer of synthetic wadding, I was ready to start hand quilting over the entire front and back of each one. I added a coordinating cotton fabric hanging loop and hand twisted a cord bow for each front centre.

Showing the reverse side of hand quilting

All they need now is a new owner to fill them year after year, OR, better still, get someone you love to fill them for YOU!  🙂