Taking leftover fabric to the next level…#6

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Artist and crafter, Buttons, Cotton and Felt, Crafting with leftever fabrics, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Cute creations, Fabric creations, Fun with fabrics, Mounted Fabric Art, Original, Quirky Collage, Sheep in boots, Unique

Okay!! Finally getting towards to end of the snippet pile of fabrics!

Just a little quickie of a make! A patchwork landscape with a little felt sheep in boots 😉 A couple of wooden flower buttons and some stitched flying birds in the sky. All felt backed and trimmed before being placed behind a little mount. Apart from the one small fabric ‘rogue bit’ for the sky, all using the same leftover fabrics, still on my mini quest! Mounted ready for framing as a quirky fabric collage ! NOW…I need to catch up with what everyone else has been up to ;-)!!!!

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Festive Fabric’Bottle Girls’

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Bottle dressed creation, Buttons, Fabric, Fabric creations, Fabric off cuts, Ribbon and Felt, Stitching Santa Gifts

Some Seasonal handmade fabric gifts to add to my Stitching Santa’s gift box

A couple more quirky fabric giveaways for the recipient of my Lovely Lady in the ‘Stitching Santa’ Swap…hosted by the lovely Sheila from Sewchet

Using Fabric off cuts, with a lovely festive feel, holly and berries, I made a pair of figure hugging outfits for the lovely… Crisp & Fruity little number as well as her Rich and Spicy friend!

Even if my lovely lady doesn’t take a tipple, I hope they will stylishly decorate her festive table, before she gives them away!

The holly fabric has been hemmed both ends, then the neck end gathered to fit. A piece of hessian has been stitched and turned, before being frayed carefully to form a little rustic shawl. A little ribbon has also been encompassed before adding a decorative pair of wooden painted flower buttons. Finally a little round of felt and matching fabric have been stitched and turned out to form a little hat/mop cap, also with matching flower button…They look quite a pair in amongst the ‘fluffy snow’;-D

You know what??? I think I am actually ready with all my bits and bobs for my Lovely Lady’s gift 🙂  I’ve purchased six items for EXACTLY £10.00, then acquired two more with free vouchers = 8 shop derived items! Then, I have made seven individually handmade items, PLUS a handmade card = 8 also! So, hopefully, the 16 little combined gifts will bring a happy smile from Stitching Santa!!

With nervous excitement all that remains is…to box, parcel and send!!

A ‘Little’ Something…I rustled up this week…

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Art, Artist and crafter, Artistic fabric designs, Buttons in crafting, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas Commissions, Christmas stockings, Crafty creations, Decorative beads, Designer moments, Fabric art, Fabric creations, Felt applique in designs, Fun with fabrics, Gigantic X-Mas Stocking, Hand Made and Quilted Christmas Stocking, Hand Quilted Cotton Creations for Christmas, Magical Christmas Memories, Patchwork and applique creations, Polar Bear Felt Applique Christmas Stocking, Unique Cute and Quirky Fabric Creations

I hope he’s been a good boy this year then??

Having been commissioned, by a family friend, as a surprise for both his son and his wife, to create another gigantic Christmas Stocking, for their second son, my brief was…”make it BIG with a Polar Bear Please!” Well, there’s no doubting it’s big…in fact VERY BIG! At approximately 37 inches tall with a 24 inch opening and foot area too, I think it fits the size part of the brief at least;-) Then to make a Polar Bear from scratch…

First draw a cute Polar Bear Shape…tick! Cut out all the separate pieces from felt…tick! Make him a ‘turned out’ hat and scarf set with a little bell…tick!…Right!!…now he has to go on a suitable background to show him off ~ it would have been a shame to have him disappear almost, against the cream cotton fabric (Head scratch moment!!!) AH HA!!! I remembered the assistant at the fabric mill showing me some narrow, glittered snowflake netting ;-D Perfect!!…quick dash to buy half a meter!! Set over an A3 sheet of navy and polar ice blue sewn together, it was just the effect I’d hoped for, and, set off the polar bear perfectly! Standing cutely against a glittering snowy backdrop, Oh, and a little crescent felt moon under the netting too ~ I almost feel like I am in the North Pole with him now LOL 😉 Having loosely assembled all the panel parts, much hand stitching ensued, to attach him over the netting, before blanket stitching the felt panel onto the outer stocking shape.

Must point out…I forgot to photo the step by step I’m explaining ;-/, as the quilting across the stocking was done afterwards, in fact all photos were done on completion

Next, twelve little hand drawn and cut felt tree shapes, then a mad rummage through my buttons, to find enough matching colour and sized buttons to stitch onto the trees, before they were also blanket stitched to the stocking, adding, as I went around, little beads to finish the tree decorations.Eventually, at the quilting stage, using a synthetic wadding this time to give a more padded feel, I also went around each tree too, which gives it a lovely raised profile from the stocking.

From drawing to completion of each little felt tree seemed to take an absolute age, with so many stitches to achieve the end result. Though, always worth the effort, to have each one as nice as the first!!! I have completely secured all buttons and beads with triple stitching and double knotting at the back as the little boy is only two this year, as he gets older and the stocking is used year on year, it will be less of a concern, though I always keep in mind safety in all my designs!

Of course, the stocking needs a back too! Simple but still, a heck of a lot of hand quilting, Each square is 2 x 2 inches which, kind of adds up, after already finishing the front quilting surface and also around each applique piece to give added structure and profile. Next…A matching tartan stocking top and tiny loop (for safety’s sake) were added and finally, after all the quilting, a cotton holly leaf print fabric to bind, which again has been hand stitched back to finish…:-D

et voilà!! I don’t think I ever did a post for the first gigantic stocking..??… well here it is!

Our friend kindly lent it to me again to take pics, I believe it has had a good few years of use already, and, hopefully many more to be enjoyed before he grows up! Isn’t that what treasured childhood memories are all about??! The magical happy childhood memories of seeing/remembering a gigantic stocking ‘filled by Santa year on year!’  😀

Sending myself ‘Skew Whiffy’…Whilst MIA for a while!!!

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Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Arty, Beautiful Gift ideas, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Designer Patchwork, Fabric creations, Handmade, Original, Patchwork, Patchwork and Quyilting, Patchwork place mats, Quirky 'Skewed' Table Mats, Skew Whiff Designs, Skewed Square Designer Mats, Table Linens

Never having been able to sew a completely straight line on a sewing machine has benefits!!! I think I have found my niche in machining life 😉 YAY!!!!                                                                My ‘Skewed’ Place Mat Sets have been sooooooo therapeutic to make over the past few weeks ~ helping take my mind off some major stresses :-)……Not to mention…at last, getting to grips with some of my Daughter’s lovely gifted to me fabrics – Double bonus – new makes without new expenses 😀

Quite a few of you will already know, that, I get an idea and run around with it until it wears me out…usually it doesn’t take long, maybe one or two (OK…maybe five or six if I’m being honest LOL…) of something, then I’m over it and move on. Though, making these little place mat sets with a ‘skewed’ design has, ironically, been a mind bending saviour! No thought, no measuring, just slash and gash some varying fabric widths and off you go…round and round (should really say..square and square!) ..add wadding, quilt, trim to size and bind – voilà!

This set of four was done to use up almost all the last of these fabrics, after the eight piece set sold overnight!

I love this colour way! We should all eat with more greens -LOL, even if that means the greens are under the plate!!!!!! I should search out some oranges and brown fabrics…as it so reminds me of the seventies somehow??!..my mum did have some eccentric wallpaper back in those days ;-/

Delving into my Daughter’s gifted fabrics once more, with the addition of a little beige gingham fabric from my own stash, gave rise to another set which can be used all year round – and – equally as a Christmas Dining set too! 🙂 Great gift ideas if you are looking for something different and unique!

Just to let you know I do live in the normal ‘un-skewed’ world at times…..I concentrated very hard to sew straight lines with some more of my daughter’s fabrics and printed squares to make a lovely set for kitchen or dining table use 🙂

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! 🙂

An early Christmas present (for this year AND THE NEXT FIVE AT LEAST!!!)

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?, Appliquéd hearts, Art, Artist and crafter, Artistic, Christmas present, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Custom orders, Fabric creations, Forget-me-not, Fun with fabrics, Hand quilted quilts, Inspred by colours, Lap quilt designer, My Etsy Shop, Original, Original designs and creations, Patchwork and quilting, Patchwork lap quilt, Request something special, What next

Finished forget-me-not quilt
OMG! How many stitches can you put into a 6′ x 4′ panel???? at least double your thought and and then add another two million!!! Then you might be half way near to the quilting in this little creation!!! I can’t put into words the joy of finishing this little piece – never has a project been on the go for so long – interrupted by day trips with family, subsequently contracting crafter’s lung (as diagnosed by Mrs.P) more trips after a successful recovery then projects for Etsy/Commissions/Life in general… eventually back to find this awaiting unfinished project in a lonely bag!!!

I won in the end! This little creation has been playing on my mind for almost two months!!! Though already, and only finished two hours ago,( I couldn’t wait for better light to take the picture…!) it has a new owner – My Dearest is snuggled beneath it as I type….:-) There could be no other owner than him, as it has little Forget-Me-Not flowers and lots of hearts in the design!

I have been promising him a larger lap quilt for ages, but always they have been spoken for, or intended for My Etsy shop. As winter is approaching, it is a great time to be making these little lap quilts, though I won’t be able to put in 13 hours of sewing each day as I have for this baby! Dark nights have me a new plan, I am about to embark on a new batch of paintings instead – Dipping a brush into paint, by candle light, is much easier than trying to thread a needle when you are past 40!

…..Oh My!… I think I hear snoring?!? Obviously it is comforting too! 🙂