Dyeing on jersey

It's Buy British Month on Cloth Nappy Addicts next week so I am frantically
trying to get things ready for that. Last week I did some dyeing on jersey for a change, and decided to create a less blended and more 'frilly' pattern than usual. Not the best pics as today it is dull and overcast and my husband broke the iron last week but here they are anyway. The colours are far deeper and fresher in real life, especially the first which is really aqua and mint! My camera does not like green!






Next week I'm doing some more, I'm aiming for darker and more gothic colours.

CNA Cybercraft - Baking

As well as sewing and knitting, the mums on Cloth Nappy Addicts do like to bake. So we're baking most days during this week's cybercraft.

Yesterday we did family biscuit baking with Helen. We're going to swap some of these chinese orange blossom biscuits with other children :)


Today I baked a delicious chocolate cake under Kate's guidance. This rather indulgent cake has a chocolate and whipped cream centre and chocolate and butter icing, and is topped with slivers of dark chocolate. This is my first ever big cake as usually I make buns!



We're having great fun :)

CNA CYCBERCRAFT tutorial

We're having a family cybercraft on CNA this week and I thought I'd do a simple tutorial for making a scarf from an old tee shirt. A small child's tee might make a collar whilst an xlarge adult one might wrap round twice.

Materials needed:
A tee shirt (any size, they all give different results)
A pair of scissors (preferably fabric but kitchen scissors will do)
Optional beads and ribbons etc to decorate


Cut off the hem, sleeves and neck


Trim the armholes to straighten them and then cut inch wide strips through the fabric from the top (don't cut all the way down)


Knot strips and decorate if desired


Wear


Here's another finished item from a cheap vest which has developed holes - here the strips have been cut from the bottom to retain the picture




There are lots of different way to cut up a tee shirt to make a scarf. You could cut through one side so it can be wrapped. You might spiral a cut up the tee to give a long winding length or tie ribbons onto the cuts. Experiment with different widths and length of both tee shirt and cut strips.

Experiment and have fun!

Cloth diary and notebook set

We had several Secret Santas on Cloth Nappy Addicts and I can never resist the urge to sew my pressies. I particularly enjoyed making this cloth covered diary and notebook set - the covers are removable so can be re-used and they can be stored in the matching pouch:



I've made a similar one before for a CNA craft swap, diary for mum and bag for a little girl:


And this is my favourite covered journal, sprayed with Colorwash and stamped with Jacquard Lumiere:


There's something very satifying about covered books, even my 6 year old realises this :) In his school Secret Room (a PTA event, children can purchase Christmas pressies for their loved ones at a pound a shot) he chose for me a sari covered journal and told me he chose it because I like fabric. Isn't he sweet?!

Fab giveaway

Lin from LB Crafts has a fab Tim Holtz giveaway on her blog http://yoursartfully.blogspot.com/2010/12/tim-holtz-giveaway.html

Quilting for Christmas

I promised my husband I would make some quilts for his family so have been busy the last few weeks finishing them. They are both variations of the same design but the colour schemes are very different. The first is a lovely delicate mix, not my usual style but one I'm definitely going to try again as it worked so well. The second quilt is a more neutral palette to suit the tastes of the recipients.






The other recipient is going to receive the clown quilt I blogged about a while ago.




I also made some Christmas placemats for friends.


Now, off to cover a book with some fabric for the last gift I need to make.
Merry Christmas :)

Christmas decoration swaps

We've beem having a few swaps on the forums I visit so I thought I'd just show a sample.
Decorations I made for a swap on UKStampers, including the one I sent to a Cloth Nappy Addicts swap:





The CNA swap was interesting as we had to make a quality decoration ourselves, and then let our children make some decorations. These are the lovely goodies I received: