ScrapHappy # January 2019

It’s 15th of the month . . . time to link up with Kate and Gun who organise a monthly ScrapHappy post, to encourage fellow crafters to use up those scraps!

My, very quick, project this month is really only half a scrappy project I’m afraid.  Not even sure if I’m not bending the rules a little, but hey, rules are there to be bent, aren’t they?   I found myself in need of a few cards at the start of this year.  And, since I needed to get them posted asap, I didn’t have time to do anything very elaborate.  I therefore delved into my dwindling supply of pre-cut aperture cards (that’s where I’ve bent the rules somewhat) and then had a quick rummage in my scrap fabric bags for some pretty prints.

Double sided sticky tape, wadding (from scrap bag) and a very short time later . . .

My favourites are these

I’m now going to visit other Scrappers to see what they’ve been up to.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

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ScrapHappy # December

It’s 15th of the month, time to link with Kate and Gun for the monthly ScrapHappy post!

Now, I didn’t actually do any crafting with scraps this month however I do have some photos to share with you – not of my handicrafts. 

On 12th December, the specialised centre, which my mentally handicapped niece attends, held their annual Christmas fête.  Each year, the children (ranging in age from 5 – 20) keep busy, in the run-up to Christmas, with the very dedicated staff, making lots of different things which are then sold at the fête.  Staff members always come up with wonderful ideas, recycling what they can, and then organising children into work shops, each child being given a project to work on depending on their abilities.  Stalls are always very well set out, with things like jam, tree decorations, cards, cookies etc, and this year there was quite a lot of woodwork.

Anyway, I always like to buy a few things, knowing that proceeds are for a good cause (to help subsidise outings for the children) and it means a lot to the children seeing visitors admiring and buying their handicrafts.

Here are the goodies we came home with.

A lovely shelf unit, made from pallets . . . the husband is going to bang a hook in a wall in my sewing room so I can hang this lovely piece of handicraft in there – it will be perfect for displaying some of my amigurumi.  The pallet wood was left unvarnished, so people who buy can varnish or paint if they choose to.  The husband has given my shelves a coat of linseed oil, because I like the natural colour. 

The reindeer sculpture is actually something made for 2017 – he has been put on display again this year.  Alongside, more buys for this year.  Two large flat pebbles, painted black and decorated with snowflake/star stickers . . . and (possibly my favourite) a very simple, but oh so effective, Christmas tree.  The wooden branches move freely on a vertical pivot, and can be turned to change the shape of the tree. 

I’m also linking up to other ScrapHappy members who regularly post.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

ScrapHappy # November (black & blue)

I don’t know about you lot, but I’ve managed to write myself a very long “to do” list, with lots of crafting ideas for Christmas!  Although I do buy gifts for our small family and a few friends, I also try to make a few surprises to wrap and pop under the tree each year.  So, with Christmas pressies in mind, I am busy crocheting and sewing, in my usual race against time, as I realise I should have begun earlier in the year.

Saying that, I’m on track!  And since I have been doing a few sewing/patchwork projects, I’ve made more scraps.  Which means, more fun and more ideas of things to make!

For today’s ScrapHappy I link up with Kate and Gun.  All I can show you for now is the above.  I found myself with lots of scraps of blue, black (and some grey) after quite a few F2F ladies asked for blue blocks . . . and I remembered I had some leftover fabric with a lovely large cat print on white. As you can see, I was busy trimming up some 1.5” strips to assemble into a larger piece.  I won’t show you any further progress now. It’s unlikely the recipient of this WIP gift will stop by on my blog, but I’ll be keeping the outcome of this scrappy project a secret until after the festive gift unwrapping.

I’m now going to do some blog-hopping and see what other members in the group have been doing with their scraps.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

Scraphappy # October (or will I ever grow up and take myself seriously?)

It’s 15th of the month . . . time to link up with Kate and Gun, for the monthly Scraphappy post!  An opportunity to use up some of those scraps, and for me, always a good excuse to have a bit of a laugh.  I do worry about myself sometimes.  It doesn’t take much to keep me amused, nor to make me laugh.  For this month’s scrappy project, I was totally inspired by an idea I found in a book purchased recently in Lidl.

Title translates as “sewing with scraps” – how appropriate!  And there are lots of quite novel ideas inside.

28 different projects, in fact.  There are several I do really want to try, but the one that literally grabbed me, when I opened the book was a project to make your own shoe laces. 

Now . . . after foot operation in April of this year, I had to wear clumpy post-op shoes for a while, then a pair of medical shoes, and swelling is now down enough for me to wear men’s trainers!  I’ve already got a date for operation on the other foot (23rd November) so I’ll be back to post-op shoes and medical shoes over the festive season.  And then more long months wearing men’s trainers.  And then I’ll need orthopedic insoles.    It’s somewhat depressing – not in the medical sense of the word – just very boring, having no pretty shoes that fit.  Anyway . . .

When I saw the idea in the book, I thought “What fun!” A brilliant & easy idea to liven up my boring trainers . . . and make myself smile each time I look down at my feet!  I deliberately pulled out lots of different colours from my scraps . . . if I’m making shoe laces, then I want them as bright, as zany, and as cheerful as possible!  Process was simple.  I cut my strips 1.5” wide, not bothering about getting them all the same length.  Some are only a few inches long, others much longer.  Sewed all strips together and pressed, exactly as I would if making bias binding.  Sewed all the way along, laced into my trainers, snipped to the right length and made a knot at the ends.

 

It’s pure fluke if I ended up with orange in the same position . . . I could have made matching laces, but I wanted odd laces, to go with my “odd socks” – yay!

And in case you’re wondering if I really will go out like that . . . yup, most definitely!  Jeans hide the socks, but I’m smiling inside because I know they’re there. 

Let’s now go see what other members of the Scraphappy group have found to do this month.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

ScrapHappy # September

15th of the month is the monthly link up to ScrapHappy, organised by Kate and Gun . . . to motivate us to make something using scraps.  I decided to make my September project another sewing one, after Daddy Viking commented on a pretty fish I had made, following a pattern by Lauri, in March of this year.  Viking parents have something of an “ocean” theme going on with Baby Viking, since her English grandparents bought her a colourful ocean themed activity/ playmat.

I therefore set to work, using up lots of colourful scraps, making tiny fins and scales and even cutting out felt circles to appliqué eyes (needing to make this toy baby-friendly, and not wanting to use buttons).  All was going swimingly well until I turned my fish right sides out again, to begin stuffing.

And could have kicked myself!  Can you see what I’ve done wrong?  Maybe if I show you what it’s supposed to look like?

Yup, it’s the top fin.  I’ve sewn it on back-to-front!  What an idiot, eh?  I suppose I could always pretend this is a new species of fish: one which swims in circles?

I sent a photo of failed fish to Viking Parents.  They actually think it’s cute.  They are sure Baby Viking will love it, even if it would probably get dizzy trying to swim with those fins, going round and round, looping the loop.  So I won’t be ripping it to pieces BUT I will be making another one   . . . and making sure I pay more attention to fin direction.

I’m now going to do some blog-hopping and see what other ScrapHappy people got up to.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

ScrapHappy #August (and a crochet happy dance)

I’m linking up with Kate and Gun, our two hostesses for the monthly ScrapHappy post.  Idea being to post on 15th of each month, showing a project made since last time, out of scraps.

My scrap project for this month is rather small.  In fact, it’s sort of doll-sized.

A teeny tiny apron (or pinafore, if you prefer).  Two rectangles of fabric, a bit of leftover lace, 2 odd buttons, and (not strictly scrap) a length of bright pink ribbon.

Who’s it for?  Well, I made the most of ScrapHappy to have a full-flung happy dance with a crochet project.  Do you remember the Crafter Granny I began, way back in April?  Apron is for her.  Except I didn’t bother making pockets like the other examples I’ve seen.  My granny can’t look after my scissors or tape-measure for me, but she can look after pins, bobbins, needle threader and crochet stitch markers.

She also has a little headband, made of the floral fabric, with a white lace heart attached.

This crochet pattern can be found free (in several languages) thanks to Zhaya Designs.

So a small scrap project, and a finished Granny!  I’m now linking up to other ScrapHappy people: 

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn

And hope to be back on 15th September with something else to share with you.

ScrapHappy – if the hat fits . . . (and unbirthday in July)

I’m linking up with Kate and Gun, the two ladies who organise ScrapHappy, which is a once a month post (always on 15th) to encourage us crafters to make use of our scraps.

Earlier this month, I showed you a couple of sewing projects, where I was having some trial and error with tunic sewing.  I did end up with 2 completely wearable tunics, it’s just that one of them is too big for me.

Anyway . . . whoever does clothes making knows that you always end up with a fair amount of fabric scraps (or is it just me?).  I’ll probably use some of my leftover tunic fabric for patchworking, but I was still on a roll with sewing patterns, so wanted to see if I could actually make something else out of my grey floral fabric.  And found the perfect project!

I made a baby’s sun hat!  NewLook # 6274.

Another learning curve for me . . . who’d have thought I’d be trying my hand at making a hat one day?   With the hot summer here, and 9 month old little girl just opposite, soon to be going to Corsica for the summer holidays, I decided to make and gift the hat as an un-birthday present for July.

I had asked the Mum beforehand for baby’s head measurement which corresponded perfectly to the pattern size M.  And it fits!

Hmmmm . . . little neighbour isn’t quite sure if it matches her pink PJs.

She’s not even sure you’re supposed to wear a hat when you’re almost ready for bed.

I’ll definitely be making a few more baby hats in future!

Linking up also to other crafters who regularly join in with ScrapHappy.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne,Jon,Hayley and Dawn