Julehjerte

taadaa, here's my new little felt brooch - the WIP from this week's creative space photos.



It's a braided heart - a very Christmassy symbol in Scandinavia - which makes it the perfect accessory to wear to the Scandinavian Australian Association's Christmas Bazaar!!

The Christmas Bazaar is being held tomorrow (Sunday 29 November) from 2-5pm at the ACT ATSI Cultural Centre on Lady Denman Drive, and entry is with a gold coin donation.

There is going to be all sorts of Scandinavian Christmassy food, decoration and crafty goodies - I can't wait for a little taste of Scandinavian Jul!

For more details click on over here =)

xo

My Creative Space

My creative space this week is my lovely little sewing kit, which started as a handy portable pack to bring along to Brown Owls, and has been carried along and added to for each meeting.


Cute, non? It came in a show bag I got at the Canberra Show back in March.
Let's look inside!


Eeek lots of stuff fits in there!
How about I unpack a bit?


Taadaaa!
Lots of goodies!

In the top half - last week's Brown Owls sewing project, two mint tins (one is full of buttons!), bottle top pin cushions and another in progress, and some cookie cutters I use as templates (the round one is perfect for the top of those teeny pin cushions)

And the bottom - scissors, embroidery thread, brooch backs, quick unpick (not quite worn out!), tape measure and pencils.
Ooh, and tonight's little work in progress! =)

I've popped the photo up on flickr with notes here, if you'd like a closer look =)

xo

For more creative spaces, head over to Kirsty's!

My Creative Space

The black and white spots in the background of last week's creative space have moved to the foreground:



Another gored skirt - this time with 8 panels!



That other skirt is currently under deconstruction! I don't think anything else I have made has ever given my quick unpick this kind of workout!

More creative spaces here!

xo

top choc!

It has been hot here! Hot hot hot!
And with the sizzling weather coinciding with the launch of a bunch of new channels on the tele chez kuka, I just couldn't resist trying to recreate the classic cinema treat - the choctop! =)



I wasn't sure it could be done, but I think these babies worked out pretty well... here's how: =)

First I scooped some nice round scoops of ice cream (mmm cookie n cream!) onto the flat-bottomed cones, and popped them into sandwich bags and back into the freezer to harden up. (this ice cream didn't freeze as hard as I would like - next time I'll try choose something that freezes really hard)
I managed to get mine to stand up inside a lunchbox in the freezer so they'd stay nice and round and pretty =)



After a few hours I pulled them out of the freezer spooned cooled melted chocolate over the top and added a chocolate button. I might try adding a leetle bit of butter to the chocolate to make it runnier (see, it's a bit lumpy bumpy).Then back into the freezer!



and...enjoy! =)

Can't wait to make a few batches of these with my homemade ice cream!

xo

cursed?

I'm pretty much finished with my pockety skirt - all but the hemming - and look!



Too big!! =(

Usually it wouldn't matter - i would just wear it a bit lower on my hips instead of waist, but if it looks odd if the pockets sit too low.
Plus, it is big enough to take off without unzipping!

So, what to do?
I think I'll try to take it in a bit at the sides - but I'm worried about losing the pockets if I take too much that way.
If that doesn't work I might try to take some off the back at each side, and make the front smaller by adding another pleat at the middle of the front.

What a pain! =(

But, still, I'm totally keen to give it another try - and I'll definitely be cutting the smaller size this time!

xo

My Creative Space

You may have noticed already: around here this week it's sewing sewing sewing



Under my presser foot today is that skirt.
And behind the machine, all cut out, ready and waiting, another gory skirt: black and white and polka dotty.

I'm home all day tomorrow - we have someone coming to fix some tiles in our bathroom - so I'm hoping to get at least one done for wearing on the weekend =)

See more creative spaces at Kirsty's!

xo

quick! unpick!

I hate to admit it, but I'm not having much luck with the pockety skirt this time round =(

I sewed up the test version in calico in just one night, but now that I'm making the 'real' version I have spent so much time unpicking seams!



I was planning on trimming the pocket in black, but it looked quite bulky - and now I'm not sure whether trimming the pockets might not be very flattering anyway. Maybe I'd be better off leaving them as is?
It's the yellow and black one in the main picture here (and there's a pretty good pic here too) - any advice/opinions?

xo

Sew Something in November

Autum is hosting 'Sew Something in November' at her blog Creative Little Daisy.



It doesn't matter what you sew - whether you're a newbie and a bit scared of sewing, or an old hand out of the groove - the idea is just to dust off your machine and get sewing!

I'll be sewing along - I'm really excited about finishing up something I started quite a while ago.

xo

So You Think You're Crafty

Have you checked out So You Think You're Crafty? yet??



It's a contest - you know, like the other SYTYC(D): 10 crafty bloggers going head-to-head for the title of craftiest craft blogger - Missy describes it best on the website
Here’s how it works: Every week there will be a new theme. The featured crafters will submit their best craft that uses that theme. Then it’s up to you to chose the best one! Each weeks winning craft will be posted as a tutorial to give us a chance to try our hand at it. However, the crafter with the least votes will be “sent home.”

I think its such a clever, fun idea!

The theme for the first week is 'harvest' and there are some really cute entries - so hard to decide which to vote for! =)

Voting finishes TODAY (well, Friday night US time), so hop over quick like a bunny and give your fave a vote!!

My creative space

After the success of my projects earlier this week (yes, I managed to tidy up last week's space JUST enough to get some sewing done!) I have sewing on the brain.


I think my next project will be re-purposing a few pairs of old jeans.

Lots more creative spaces at Kirsty's!

xo

a bit gory

I gave you a little peek yesterday, but I'm so pleased with my new pony skirt that its back today with some details! =)

The fabric is dark blue homespun which I picked up on sale last weekend, with just exactly this sort of practising sewing kind of project in mind.

It is a gored skirt, which means it is made up of a bunch of trapezoidy shapes - 9 in this case. I didn't use a pattern - I just based the width, angle and length of the trapezoids on one of my very favourite skirts.

There are heaps of good tutorials online about how to make your own gored skirt, based on your own measurements.



Like the teeny skirt yesterday, the stencil came from stencilry, and was painted using freezer paper (have I mentioned how LOVE freezer paper?)



I'm especially pleased with how well the zipper turned out. And look - there's facing! With more ponies! The fabric is left over from the pony dress I made a few years ago! =)

With summer well on the way I can't wait to whip up a couple more of these babies - and depending on the fabric they can be super casual for the weekend or smart enough for work! =)

xo

Horsing around

Today, being the first Tuesday of November, saw the running of the Melbourne Cup: the race that stops the nation - and an excellent excuse for some horsey themed baking and craftiness!

Like these cookies.
I picked up the cute pony cookie cutter at Style Emporium on the weekend, and decided to make a cinnamony golden syrupy sort of biscuit. Which would have been a good plan except it was a self-raising flour based recipe - so my ponies went a bit puffy and some of the detail was lost, so I also made a batch of a shortbready kind of biscuit too.
These were both pretty delish, but I am still on the hunt for the perfect recipe for a good cookie cutter (and not Christmas) biscuit.

***

When I showed my very messy creative space last week I said I was planning to have a clean up over the weekend so I would have the space to use it.
Well, it isn't exactly perfectly organised, but it is improved, and is tidy enough that I managed to whip up this little pony skirt



I used some left over cotton I had in the stash, and simply seamed up the back, added some bias tape around the bottom hem, and sewed a casing at the top for elastic. I used freezer paper to stencil the pony (stencil from here), and, once that was dry, popped in the elastic. It was super quick, and really cute, and is big enough to grow a bit with its wearer.

Of course, I don't believe that the kids should have all the fun, so there was some grown-up sewing and stencilling last night too =)



xo