epic fail

Image from Joshua who blogs at Molli Sparkles.

Like all Australians, I was saddened by the recent siege in Sydney where two hostages lost their lives. This event has rocked our nation. I guess it's the kind of thing that we watch on the news when it occurs in other countries, saddened but not worrying that it will happen in Australia.

Joshua, who was a fellow Rainbow Bee member a few years ago, is organising the making of quilts for the families of the hostage victims who lost their lives. He has requested 5.5" hash tag blocks made from tone on tone bright fabrics with a white background.

I think the making of quilts is a lovely way to do a little something for the families of the victims. I hope that they will feel loved and supported as they deal with the grief of their loss.

Today I sewed up my hash tag blocks according to Joshua's tutorial. 1080 blocks are needed for 6 quilts and my contribution of 5 blocks was not going to make a huge dent, but it is from lots of little things that large things come about. I was happy with my progress until I went to square up my blocks.

Disaster! They were 1/4" too small along two edges. No, no, no!

I am blaming my new sewing machine foot. Or rather, my incompetence at using my new sewing machine foot. The foot that is supposed to ensure precise 1/4" seams.

So, no blocks to be sent to Joshua yet. Not wanting to waste them I sewed them into one larger block and then put them in the orphan block box.

Sigh!

quilt as you go cushions {a finish}

Do you remember these two quilted cushion tops? They were the first items on my Finish Along list for the final quarter of the year.

 They are now finished and in use!

I gifted the one on the left to a dear friend of mine and kept the one on the right.  I was absolutely delighted when she told me she loves it. Such a good feeling!

 I used a grey fabric on the back (Flurry by Dashwood Studio) to complement the Vintage Modern fronts. I used jelly roll strips for both cushions, though next time I think I'll use up some of my stash strips and strings.

 Before making these cushions I had wanted to try the quilt-as-you-go method for quite some time. There are a lot of great tutorials online (and I have read quite a few of them!), but I chose to use Let's Eat Grandpa's tutorial for my cushions.

I enjoyed making these cushions so much that I made another using bright, rainbow colours for Jed to gift to a lady that used to teach him at church.

Bright isnt it!

I think I have a few more quilt-as-you-go cushions to make and then I would love to progress to a quilt. It's wonderful to see my creation grow with each strip that is added.

Have you tried the quilt-as-you-go method?

chewy mints pet {recycled craft}

We love to reuse things in our house, but there are also items that go straight to the recycling bin. When I found that the tin of mints that I kept in my handbag was empty I attempted to put the empty tin into the recycling bin. I was thwarted.

Eli suddenly became very attached to the tin (probably because it has a flip top lid), so we repurposed it into a fun - and very simple - container.

All we needed was the tin, some contact and electrical tape. Here's what you need to do to make one of your own (very high tech, so listen closely!!).

Wrap the tin in electrical tape.

Trim where needed (in this case, the top of the lid).

 Check that the flip top lid still works.

Cut out two eyes from the contact.

 Stick them on and add some black pupils with permanent marker.

Yes - it's upside down!

 No need to draw a mouth - just open the lid!

Note: Zoe glued on a tongue at Eli's request.

Have you ever repurposed something? What is your favourite repurposed project or item?

star wars {recycled art work}

We have two very old (from the 70's - I guess I just called myself old!!) Star Wars board games that we have only played once. As much as we love Star Wars in our house, these games just aren't very fun to play!

I decided that we either use these games or they had to go. As there was no interest in playing them I decided to repurpose one of them. Our Escape From Death Star box went to school and became part of a year 7 mathematics project. This is the board that is now homeless!

The cards that were part of this game were also repurposed into a piece of Star Wars art work for Lily's room.  We picked over all the cards and chose 18 that were in the best condition.

I used the same red-with-pink-polka-dots paper that I used for Lily's art display frame. It made a nice background against the black and white cards.

The most difficult part of this quick and simple project was deciding how to place the Star Wars cards. I was in favour of three columns of lined up cards. Lily preferred rows of alternating angled cards.

As the project was for Lily we did it her way! I like it.

Some glue and an Ikea frame and it's ready to hang on the wall.

This particular wall is a dedicated Star Wars wall!

Any ideas on how to repurpose my boxless Star Wars game board?

gift idea {melty bowl}

 It's been over a month since my last post. Not because there hasn't been anything to share, but because we have been so busy! School finished last week and making teacher gifts was one of the things that kept us busy.

Eli made some melty bowls using Ikea beads, oil spray and a Pyrex bowl. This idea is floating around Pinterest and is a quick, easy and very fun craft project.

 We sprayed the inside of the Pyrex bowl and poured some melty (perler) beads into the bottom.

 Eli pushed the melty beads up the sides so that they were in a single layer.

 We checked to make sure that the top of the beads was fairly even in height all the way around.

And then into a preheated oven (180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 10 minutes.

 When it came out it the melty beads looked fabulous!

Lots of colours and a wonderful texture.

We waited for our colourful creation to cool before taking it out of the Pyrex bowl. We had oiled it well, so it slipped out very easily.

 A bit of a wash with dish washing liquid removed the oiliness on the outside.

And it's done!

While these are obviously not recommended for use with food, they are great for storing bits and pieces like keys or other small objects.

Eli couldn't bear to part with it, so we made a few more to give away!

here's one I prepared earlier {glamping quilt}

This is a quilt that I finished last year (or was it the year before?), but have not yet shared.

I think the recent purchase of a family tent prompted me to think of this quilt. Because why camp when you can glamp?

Using a layer cake of Glamping by Mary Jane for Moda, this is a simple quilt pattern. I organized each of the 10" squares into pairs; larger scale prints were paired with a smaller scale print in a contrasting colour. And then I began chopping them up.

 I sliced up each pair with two vertical cuts and two horizontal cuts. 7 pairs ended up with a 4" square in the middle, another 7 pairs with a 4 3/4" square in the middle and the last 7 pairs with a 5 3/4" square. Then each pair played swapsies with its partner; I simply switched over the centre squares for each pair (e.g. red centre with mustard border, mustard centre with red border). I did try and keep those lovely images as whole as possible (who wants half a caravan when you can have a whole one?).

The blue border really is the same colour as the centre square of the previous photo. Truly.

 I sewed up the individual blocks, played around with the placement and then sew the blocks together for a completed top. Done! Well, not quite. It might have sat around for a while before it was quilted and bound. But we don't have to talk about that.

 I used a ticking type fabric on the back and some bright, striped binding after quilting it with large loops.

This is often how it looks when it is on the couch.

I think this is the ideal size for a lap quilt. Or a 'nap' quilt. I like small quilts (in my head a small quilt is a quilt that is not big enough to cover a single bed) to generously cover an adult body when they are sitting on the couch. This includes toes. And enough on the side that you feel well cocooned.

This is as close to a nice fence that I can get!

The weather here has been very warm as we head into summer, so while this quilt isn't being used for snuggling right now, those lovely bright colours look great draped over the arm of the couch!

cushions

 A few months ago Last year I made a cushion for a friend who was celebrating her birthday. Knowing that she liked bright colours I chose a variety of fabrics from my stash and started to improv piece them together log cabin style.

It just wasn't right. It was bright and happy, but it really didn't feel like it was right for my friend. I decided to start over with different fabrics. I added some sophistication to my fabric choices and was very pleased with the end result.

This was my friend! You may recognise the beautiful fabric on the dark purple background. I fell in love with it and used it again on this messenger bag.

I also love the fabric on the back of the cushion (and am patting myself on the back for inserting a covered zipper. I love these on cushions and always use Svetlana's fab tutorial).

The colour in these photos hasn't come up well; the zipper is hot pink - the same as the petals, leaves and stems on the fabric. Did I say how much I love this fabric?

Note to self: turn the ends of the tape label under next time!

I am getting better at remembering to put a label on hand made gifts; I sewed a simple one on using cotton tape. This looked great, but - I don't know what I was thinking - I didn't fold the ends under. It will probably fray and fall off after one wash. I have told my friend that I will happily be liable for any repairs in the near or distant future.

As to what became of my abandoned cushion cover? I backed it with some cherries ( I love cherry fabric!) and it now lives in our lounge room. Sometimes on the couch and most of the time on the floor with a four year old bottom on it.  I'm glad I abandoned my first cushion cover - it just wasn't right for the recipient and was also too big for a couch cushion (25" or 63cm), but is perfect as an imaginary sled, boat or bus for wombats.