Teddy Bear sleeping bag

Recently I had fun whipping up a quilted sleeping bag for a teddy bear, inspired by a Flossie Teacakes pattern, although I didn't buy her pattern and made it from memory, so it actually looks quite different.  I made one using scraps left over from my Vintage Improv quilt, then of course I had to make another one because I have two children and they are still learning how to share.

I like the look of curved edges but didn't want to make bias binding because it just seems like such an inefficient use of fabric, so I used cross-grain binding and I'm happy with the finish (seeing as they are just play-things for my kids).  The binding on the back of the curve has a couple of little tucks in it, which you can see below - I machine stitched the binding and had to do the curves a couple of times, so the stitching is a bit messy, but my kids don't care!

Curved binding from front

Curved binding from back showing tuck in binding

Both of these are made almost entirely from scraps, including Frankenstein batting (I cut the Kate Spain binding from yardage, otherwise everything came from scrap bins) so these are projects 30 and 31 of Scraps 101.

Loving the improv low volume background on this one

In other news, I have recently succumbed to the charms of Instagram, you can find me here - I'd love for you to come and say hello!

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday

TGIFF
Anything Goes Monday

Scrappy Pasta Necklaces: Scraps 101

Rainy day, school holiday fun.  Pasta necklaces made with fabric covered pasta - great use of fabric scraps!

• Glue fabric scrap onto pasta - we found it best to paint the glue onto the fabric then wrap the fabric onto the pasta.
• Thread pasta onto string (we used milliner's elastic). 
• Sprinkle on a bit of glitter (just because ...)

This is project 29 of Scraps 101.

Play Bank Card: Scraps 101

A pile of scraps, a plastic takeaway lid, some improv piecing and fussy cutting...

led to this play bank card.  Complete with magnetic strip and signature on the back.  The red and yellow squares are supposed to be the Mastercard logo. (Edit: the name and card number are stitched, using built-in alphabet on my machine)

I cut some plastic from a takeaway lid and sewed it inside the card to give it that bendy plastic feel.  This is project 21 of Scraps 101.

Linking up to:

Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou
Anything Goes Monday at Stitch by Stitch
Craft-O-Maniac Monday
Monday Funday at Crafting Really Awesome Free Things
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts 

Playing Postie: Scraps 101

This activity was inspired by this post from El Hada de Papel.  After seeing the envelope clutch at See Kate Sew a while ago I put the two ideas together and came up with this, a cardboard box with the flap from a baby wipes packet as a postbox and fabric envelopes and stamps:

If you have young children you can imagine how much fun they have with this.  I didn't use Kate's pattern, I made my own; and after a bit of trial and error I also constructed the envelopes differently.  The stamps are stuck on with velcro, so they can be pulled off and on, I also added names to some of the envelopes, using iron on t-shirt transfers.  This is great for using up scraps!  The envelopes and stamps are project 6 and 7 of Scraps 101.

 

Linking up to:

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story  

Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum

Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

Sewing Card-Inspired Activity

Recently I blogged that I was keen to find ways to sew with Ruby and a couple of people mentioned using sewing cards when they were young.  Instead of a sewing card, I had the idea to use a cheap canvas I had and punched a series of holes using the needle to form the outline of a house.  I grabbed some embroidery floss in a range of colours and a thick blunt needle from my craft room, not sure what type of needle it is.

Ruby really wasn't keen to use the needle so I ended up being the one to do the sewing, but she was intrigued by the needle pulling the thread through the holes and watched intently.  She selected the colours to use and was also in charge of trimming the thread.  She also suggested additional detail in the design (the door handle).  It didn't quite turn out how I hoped, in that Ruby wouldn't use the needle, but she was really interested in the activity, so we will try this again another day and perhaps she'll have a go with the needle. 

A bread bag and two paper plates

Bear in mind, of course, that plastic bags are not toys and that children should always be supervised when making things out of plastic bags.
 

WiP: Scrappy strip

More brown bag fun with Ruby.  After browsing through Crazy Mom Quilts and seeing how small some of the scraps she uses are I revisited Ruby's play fabric bin (I keep a container of scraps for Ruby's crafting).  I had some scraps that are 2 1/2 inch tall but of varying width (most between 1 and 2 inches).  We brown bagged it again and sewed them into strips. 

I love the effect gained from variation in width as well as the randomness of fabric placement, so I think I really should try some improv piecing.  I'm going to incorporate this into the back of Ruby's Granny Square Quilt, I love the idea of there being something in it that we created together.

Ruby is really enjoying this, she asks if we can sew something together and helps out by pulling scraps out of the brown bag and cutting the thread once scraps are sewn together, so I'm trying to think up other ways we can sew together - I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have for sewing with a 3 year old!

PS - there's still time to enter our current giveaway - the Sunday Funday Giveaway, open until Thursday afternoon (NZ time).

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Yellow: Party Favors

I saw this post and thought a little make-it-yourself kit would be a great idea for party favors, especially when it's popped inside a cute little yellow polka dot paper bag.  Each kit contains the clothespins and craft sticks required to make two planes.  They were a big hit!

 
If anyone is interested in purchasing peg plane kits or peg doll kits from us, please get in touch for pricing.

Rolly

This is Rolly, my pet owl.  Rolly was inspired by this post from one of my all time favourite blogs El Hada de Papel.  As you can no doubt tell, Rolly is incredibly excited - today he is a guest over at On the Windy Side, Adrianne's lovely blog.  Check it out!