ScrapHappy # April (and an unbirthday)

I had fun with scrappy fabrics for this ScrapHappy post.  My scrap bags were rather full of lots of very bright (and many floral) fabrics left over from clothes making.  I always seem to end up with lots of wierd shaped offcuts when clothes making.  The easiest thing to do was press and slice up into 2.5″ squares . . . and once that was done, I spent some very enjoyable hours piecing squares together randomly.

I could probably have continued indefinitely, and assembled enough to make a quilt top but I had placemats in mind when I began.  Quilts are pretty, but placemats are more useful (in my opinion).  The fronts are completely scrappy . . . for the binding & backing fabric however, I was stash busting with larger pieces of leftovers.

Flamingos on the back and a plain turquoise for binding.  And three very bright placemats with fabrics to remind me of past sewing projects.  There are bunnies & birds from baby quilts;  feathers, flamingos, florals, butterflies & llamas from clothes-making projects; dots & spots from patchwork projects . . . so many happy sewing memories!

Anyway . . . one of these mats, was packaged up and sent to Yvonne, as an unbirthday gift.  This one, in fact.

The other two are for the husband & myself for every day use.  Mats finished at approx 14″ x 20″ but they’ll probably shrink up a bit in the first wash.

I’m linking to a very creative group of people, organised by Kate & Gun for ScrapHappy.

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

 

ScrapHappy # March

Time to link up with the ScrapHappy gang, and get creative.

 

Kate , Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Nancy, Dawn 2, Noreen,
Bear and Carol

For this time around, I did some re-using, which I’m going to count as scraps because otherwise some stuff would have just been binned.

I recently bought myself a new iron-board cover, purple, of course.

Which left me looking at the old ironing board cover, and thinking it wasn’t being very ecological just to throw it in the bin.  It wasn’t ripped or anything. The surface just looked all brown & burned, with unsightly water-marks all over from when I’m steam-ironing.  Not the sort of thing you’d want to be ironing crisp patchwork blocks on, I think you’ll agree.

Anyhow . . . the husband had put in a request for a padded workbench mat.  Difficult to explain, but he does a fair amount of renovating old wooden things, and he therefore needed a padded mat to protect the newly renovated wood from the hard surface of his workbench.  I didn’t want to waste decent wadding on something like that, hence, the light bulb over my head and a new use found for the above.

For some reason, my Juki started playing up, as I tried to sew through 2 layers of old curtain, with the ironing board cover sandwiched between.  Ended up setting old lady Singer 99k up, to do the main assembly job, and she was thrilled to be back in active service.

This is the mat in place.  I even made use of the curtain ring bits, as a design feature, because they give extra weight to keep the flaps down, therefore to keep the mat in place.  Once that was done, I then found myself with some leftover ironing board cover.

Cut two pieces, approx 6″ x 12″ and overlocked.  Got what I needed from the old curtain.  And I made a pair of oven mitts.

I didn’t even try to make oven gloves, with thumbs.  Nor did I try to make them pretty, as you can see by visible overlocked edges  Just made these, with space to slide four fingers under, and a loop to hang.  They do the job, although you do need to wear both when getting a dish out of the oven.

And . . . couldn’t resist taking a photo to show you the final scraps that went in the bin.

ScrapHappy # February

It’s 15th of the month, time to link up with an international group of bloggers who all enjoy making use of their scraps.

Kate , Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2 and Noreen

For this time, I delved into my bag of leftover and odd ball yarns

because, when visiting my local library the other week, I was given this flyer.

Apparently, our little village (population 1600) is going to take part in a yarn bomb later on in the year.  Knitters and crocheters have been asked to make squares: 20cm x 20cm and/or 15cm x 15cm which will be sewn together to decorate some of the buildings in the village centre.  I therefore set to work, with my crochet hook and one of the charts from the Nature’s Walk CAL.

And so far, I’ve crocheted six 15cm x 15cm squares.

I also made a couple of pompoms

Templates cut from the back of a Christmas card.

to finish off a knitted doll hat.

ScrapHappy # December

After the fun I had making gift tags last time just out of a piece of pretty card . . . for this month, with Christmas in mind, I made some more tags.

A perfect project for using those small bits of aida that never seem big enough to work on a “proper” project . . . and very little thread.   I stitched lots of little squares, using patterns from the “Tiny Treasures” blackwork design by Elizabeth Almond (see link in my blog roll –  Blackwork Journey).

Each little square was then trimmed and fringed.  And, using double sided sticky tape, stuck onto card (that wasn’t strictly scraps but I had a few sheets in my stash and it was a quick mounting option).

And voilà!  37 little pretties, in festive seasonal colours that can either be hung in the tree as décorations or used a gift tags on présents!

I’m linking with a big bunch of ScrapHappy members.

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire,
Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette, Ann and Kym

ScrapHappy # November

(If you came looking for my SAL update, it’s in a post published a few hours earlier today).

I missed out on a ScrapHappy post last month, and almost missed this month too, until . . .

Doing some tidying up, I had brought some paper/cardboard scraps downstairs, all ready to throw in the recycle bin, when I had another look at one of the pieces I was about to throw away.

The card casing from a set of notecards.  I suddenly decided this print was too pretty to throw away, and that I must reuse/recycle it in some way.  So I did.

And voilà!  Twenty pretty little gift tags!

I’m linking up with Kate, Gun and a whole group of other crafters who post on 15th of each month, with their projects using scraps.

Kate, Gun , Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin and Vera

ScrapHappy #September – crafting for dolls

Linking with lots of ScrapHappy members today all links here

Kate, Gun , Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin and Vera

to show what I’ve been up to with a few scraps.  Both knitting and sewing.

One little knitted dress, using the 30g remaining of a 100g ball of Marriner Mermaid DK.  And one little cotton dress plus matching hair bow, using a pink floral fabric from my scrap bag, and 3 tiny buttons which have been i n my stash for décades.  Both outfits are for 40cm Disney Animator dolls. If you’re not squeamish about dolls, and want to see what they look like on, feel free to visit my other blog: Claire’s Collections.

 

ScrapHappy # July

15th of each month is the date I link up with Kate, Gun and a whole group of crafters (list of links further down) to make use of those scraps.  It’s been more fabric scraps for me this month, leftovers from past clothes-making projects . . . which are ideal when you have a collection of dolls that need clothing, like I do.  No photos of actual dolls in this post (so no need to shut your eyes). If you’d like to see dolls modelling the following outfits, you can find them here.

Anyway, time for photos.

A  knee-length jumpsuit in brown cotton, with very pretty floral print, plus matching head band, made for a 48cm vinyl doll.  This letfover fabric had been in my drawers since 2011, a remnant from a dress-making project for my daughter.

Another 3/4 length jumpsuit, for a 44cm vinyl doll.  This is more a polyester cotton.  Scraps found in a box I inherited from MIL several years ago.  The pattern for jumpsuit is from the July issue of “Modes & Travaux”.  Original pattern meant for quite a dumpy 40cm doll, I adapted for my slightly taller, more slender dolls.

A little dress for a 40cm vinyl doll with scraps from a tunic I made myself not long ago.  And no, it’s not pattern matched but it does fit the doll, therefore it does the job!

Here’s the list of other ScrapHappy members.

Kate, Gun , Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin and Vera

ScrapHappy # June

It’s ScrapHappy day again!  Time to link with Gun, Kate and a whole gang of other crafters (all links further down), to share what we’ve been making with scraps.

I’d had wind of a couple of births in my neighbourhood, so it seemed like a good idea to make a couple of presents to welcome new babies into the world.  Nothing elaborate. Just something soft & bright.

The teething bits are brand new but fabrics & wadding are scraps.  Lots of souvenirs of past projects in these!

Kate , Gun , Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny and Kjerstin

ScrapHappy # May

It’s 15th of the month, and time to link up with Gun and Kate for ScrapHappy fun.  I’ve not been very inventive this month, and have repeated myself, making more masks.

First photos shows you a batch of masks made with leftover fabrics – four in size L and two in size M.  Second photo isn’t strictly scraps, as I cut into something brand new for the outer fabric but lining IS scraps.  Photos taken before I threaded elastic.

The reason I’ve been making more masks (bringing my total to 37 I think) is because, since Monday 11th, confinement in France has eased slightly and non-essential shops have reopened.  However, the general public is being asked to wear a mask in shops or on public transport and we’re supposed to all be receiving a washable mask (distribution via local councils) but no idea when that will be.  I just wanted to make sure all the neighbours had at least one mask each, while waiting for the more “official” ones to arrive.

Also linking up to the other ScrapHappy members.

Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny and Kjerstin

ScrapHappy # April

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

In France, we’ve been in lockdown for the past 4 weeks, with a further 4 weeks ahead of us.  Since masks seem to be the eternal subject of discussion on the news, I made a few more to give to friends and neighbours, bringing my total production count to 25.  I didn’t take photos of all, but here are a few, making good use of fabric scraps.

One of our neighbours has also been keeping busy in his workshop . . . and made something very useful for the husband.

I’m not sure what it’s called in English (that’s what 34 years of life in France does) . . . it’s so that the husband can lay large logs across the top and then chainsaw down to size so logs will fit in our fireplace this winter.