scraphappy # November

It’s time to link up with the world-wide group of Scrapsters

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy,
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

and chat about scraps.  My scrappy project for this month began as a “make do and mend” project.  Mrs Tattoo had a linen shirt (Zara, no less) that had a rip on the sleeve (possibly because she didn’t undo the button loopy thing before washing). In following photos, some are taken with flash and some without so fabric colour looks totally different. In real life it’s a sort of light denim blue.

Anyway, Mrs T asked me if I wanted the shirt to cut up for something else. I’m not a fan of sewing with linen, but I suggested I could start by saving the shirt.  Which I did (sleeves are even, I promise).

I then had two leftover bits,

which, theoretically became scraps.  Had a quick think about what to do with them and something for dolls sprang to mind . . . so that’s what I did.

Using one leftover sleeve, and both the strap bits.  A little bit of contrast embroidery along the cuff seam and a sleeve seam.  A navy blue button from my stash. And hey presto.  One made-to-measure linen dress for a 44cm Syliva Natterer doll.  And . . .

I’ve still got these scraps left.

ScrapHappy # october

It’s 15th of the month – time to link up with other “scrapsters” for ScrapHappy day!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy,
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

I decided to have a play with my ever-growing pile of 2.5″ squares. It’s been a long time since I did any patchwork, but I always have a huge pile of these small squares because I find cutting squares from scraps very therapeutic, and always love seeing the riot of colours that occurs.

As always I set to sewing squares together without any clear idea of where I was headed.  To begin with I made blocks 7 x 7 (therefore 14″ x 14″ finished size) but decided against making a square quilt . . . so I then assembled a band, two squares wide, and joined with sashing.

Then a white border, and more squares all around.

 

On measuring up, I decided to stop there, because I had a piece of (leftover) fabric in my stash, the perfect size to back if I didn’t go any bigger.

 

 

And voilà – one baby-sized quilt, that finished up at approx 44″ x 38″.  Going in the gift drawer . . . for next year.   So many scraps of loved and familiar fabrics in this piece – there are butterflies, flowers, rainbows, flamingos, dots, cats, flowers, foxes, lamas, feathers . . . each piece a memory of a past project, turned into something unique and brand new.

ScrapHappy # September

It’s been a while since I played with any scraps, but for September, I’m back to join the group

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Viv

My contribution this time has been re-purposing old Tshirts.  Those that are either too stained,  too full of holes or grown too small (or is it us who have grown too large?).  I do sacrifice the ugly ones to the rag-bag but, others, get washed, folded and kept for something else.  Well, the something else for September is doll clothes.  I’m signed up to Pixie Faire, an excellent site for doll-lovers.  Quite often, on a Friday, they send their email with a link to their “freebie Friday”. That can be a clothes making pattern and, when it’s one I fancy, I download.

This was the pattern the other week.  For 18″ AG dolls.  I don’t actually have any of these dolls, but I do have quite a few dolls of similar size.  So . . . special “stretch fabric” needle in Juki, and away I went with my old Tshirts.(doll photos follow)

I began, with an old polo shirt of the husband’s (have more than enough left to make a few more).  Allowed extra length for sleeves & body because I thought doll would need it. Turns it, he didn’t.  The raglan set-in sleeves make the sweatshirt quite roomy and therefore extended sleeves are a bit long.  Not to worry. This was my first attempt. Having fun lining up stripes on fabric, and generally getting to grips with the pattern.

Second attempt for one of my girl dolls.  I cut exactly to pattern and this one is a much better size.  Pattern had said to use sweatshirt/fleece weight fabric, I’m using Tshirt weight, so the cowl collar on this one was rather baggy and I decided it looked better turned folded in half.

And last one, because I still had some scraps of the ladybird fabric to use.

I love the pattern, and I especially loved finally finding a use for old Tshirt fabric!

ScrapHappy # June

Time to link up with fellow scrappers, for ScrapHappy day.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Viv

A day, each month, always on 15th, where we show photos of scrappy projects.  I don’t seem to have been playing much with my scraps of late, but . . . while crocheting a small project last week, I realised I am using scraps because I’m using leftovers from larger balls of yarn.

I’m making some sprites, and looking to use some of the remnants from my DK yarn stash.  Here, crocheting the body of a new Fairy Sprite, using what was left of “Duck Egg” blue (a Stylecraft Special DK).  I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough to complete the body, so I just kept crocheting, stuffing, and crossing my fingers.

As it happily turned out . . . I was able to complete the body (up to where I reattach the skin colour for neck) in Duck Egg, with approximately 30cm to spare. Phew!

ScrapHappy # April (or what the husband made)

I missed out on ScrapHappy last month and have to admit to not much crafting this month either. I’ve been rather busy with some serious decluttering, cleaning and rearranging (mainly up in the attic) and crafting has taken a back seat recently.  Not to worry . . . the husband came to my rescue.

Many hours spent up in the attic, tackling cobwebs, dust, and general chaos, including a pile of timber left behind by previous owner (at the husband’s request) because the previous owner was a retired furniture maker and had his workshop up in the attic.  I was sorting, stacking and deciding what was good to keep and what could become firewood, when I came across.

Two cabinet feet that had never been finished because wood had quite a few flaws.  Now . . . a few years ago, the husband made me a lovely yarn holder, with a larger cabinet foot found in the attic, the round foot of an old table and a broken arrow.   So, I immediately thought “more yarn holders”.  I found an old wooden spoon and a long mini trowel thingy to saw to pieces for the rod parts.  The husband took one look at the trowel thingy and declared he was going to polish it up and keep, but he was okay about sacrificing a wooden spoon.  I therfore went in search of something else . . . and found a wooden trousers hanger, with a piece of dowelling that could be used.

After sanding, staining and whatnot . . . two yarn holders. Much less elaborate than the first one the husband made, which had a rotating system in the base. These holders don’t rotate. You have to tug gently on the yarn and the ball turns around the rod.  They do the job though.  One is for Mrs Tattoo, who has taken to knitting like a fish to water in recent months. The other is a spare for yours truly, so I can keep the larger rotating one downstairs and have the non-rotating one upstairs.

Linking with other ScrapHappy members worldwide.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Viv

ScrapHappy # february

It’s 15th of the month, time to link up with

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

and show what I made with scraps. Nothing very exciting, I’m afraid.  Still enjoying playing with the 2.5″ squares I cut from leftover bits of fabric.

And two more scrappy placemats were made.

Which I posted to eldest son, aka Mr Tattoo.

ScrapHappy # January 2022

I hope to continue linking up with other ScrapHappy members throughout the coming year.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule,
Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

This first Scraphappy day of the year took me a little by surprise, I have to admit. And it’s without much imagination that I quickly sewed some 2.5″ squares together to make two blocks (for a future scrappy quilt).

The block on the right was a “what happens if I sew together scraps of the same print but in a different colourway?”  And the one on the left was more organised than my usual random colours.  Which doesn’t mean I don’t have more bright scraps to sew together, because I do !

Scraphappy # december

It’s the last scrappy link up for the year, linking with

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule,
Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Esther

and it’s the husband who’s the star of the show today.  Like Jon, of this group, the husband enjoys messing about with “men tools” and had his very own pallet gate adventure.   We didn’t have a proper gate around the net fencing on our hen coop. Just used to move part of the netting every day to nip in, but the husband decided we needed something more permanent (after 5 years of hen-keeping).

and this is what he made.  Had to buy two hinges, and fixed it to a sturdy wooden post (with net fencing being secured with blue twine to the post).

It does the job perfectly!

I, in the meantime, was busy with needle & thread, not to mention recycling some @m@zon cardboard packaging . . . and finished off a small batch of xmas decorations.

ScrapHappy # november

It’s 15th of the month, time to link up with ScrapHappy members world wide!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule,
Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Esther

For this month, I’ve been thinking ahead to Christmas.  When I stitch a large xstitch piece, I always keep the bands of aida that I trim off around the edges of a finished project before framing or finishing in any way.  Which results in me having quite a few lengths of aida that are only very narrow, and not good for much other than stitching very small projects (or bookmarks, possibly).  So for November, I am using up some of my aida scraps and getting ahead, making a few little decorations.

These bands are only approx 28 stitches across, so I found a nice little design only 20 x 20 stitches, and, while I have chosen a full skein on DMC 666 for the bright red, I’m using leftovers from my thread bags for the other colours. This design was in a freebie chart book (designs by Lucie Heaton) that came with a cross stitch magazine several moons ago.

I also had some wider strips I cut into squares.

And chose another design (by Durene Jones) from Cross Stitch Crazy issue 260.

 

ScrapHappy # october

It’s 15th of the month, the day to link up with other ScrapHappy people around the world and play around with our scraps.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule,
Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear,
Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Esther

Last month I didn’t have anything to show you except this photo

of leftover yarns and a pattern I’d found on the internet by Zhaya Designs.  The pattern is to make what Zhaya calls “smooching balls”.  I thought I’d give them a go.

Mine are still a work in progress.  I’ve made one little “fellow” but he needs to have his pink feet sewn on and then some kind of hair & facial featurees.  The second one is just a stuffed ball for the moment.  Also needs a face, legs and some kind of hair.