By far the most viewed post on my blog is that for the Free Puppet Knitting Pattern links. The main purpose for my making of little hand puppets is for the OCC Christmas Shoebox appeal but they were very popular at our recent charity event too. Here are a few more links to free patterns for puppets to knit, sew or crochet that I've bookmarked:
Sheep Puppets to Knit and Crochet. Click here and search for "puppet" in the free patterns
I hope you enjoy these free pattern links as much as I have but do remember that puppets for shoeboxes sent from the UK should not contain any stuffing due to customs regulations.
.
A comprehensive list of what was likely to sell at our Macmillan Coffee Morning would have been helpful as I was relatively in the dark with this type of event. The morning has been and gone and I can report that the Novelty Doorstops very quickly sold out!!
Cupcake Doorstop
Owl Doorstop
I used/adapted this tutorial for the owl and it worked really well. Several people were disappointed to miss out so they paid and I have to make those. The knitted hand puppets also sold out and the spectacle cases (some being purchased as phone cases) were popular too. We didn't sell any of the sets of 4 quilted coasters though.
Best of all, today we have banked £904.93 which far exceeded our expectations. Lots of hard work by a few people but totally worthwhile and it couldn't have been done without the donations, cake contributions and people who came to spend some money!!!!!
Sorry that I still have trouble commenting on blogs. I have no idea what's causing it or what to do about it????
.
Next month, together with some of my husband's family, we're holding a coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Care in conjunction with their "World's Biggest Coffee Morning" event. Some of the bits I've been making for the craft table:
I'm having lots of fun making small things with not too much outlay and can't wait to see what, if anything, will be popular on the day.
Am hoping that the blogging glitch that put me off has righted itself
A couple of fish would look nice hanging from the cupboard. The tail was a bit narrow on the first practise one ............. easy to sort
As a hanging ornament I didn't really like the rounded bellies nor the closure point I'd decided on .............
Different opening for stuffing and symmetrical is better (for me!) ...........
And some fatter ones too ........
No adornment! Less is sometimes more my husband says. Yes, I know but no decoration at all??????
I still have lots of blog stuff to catch up with but in the meantime I finally finished the pink and green patchwork window blind ............. it's up and I actually love it!!!!!!!
.
It's taken me about 6 months to shorten a couple of pairs of floaty chiffon trousers for my mum. They were horrid to work with and I'm still not sure they're short enough until I see her to try them on. More recently she produced this top with weird sleeves for me to cut up and use as I please.
Instead, I've transformed it into something wearable with a simple alteration. I cut it straight down the grain from the armhole seam and across the grain for the sleeve hem. It was horrid to sew but I managed a pretty neat job on the outside.
One doesn't need to be a genius to realise that many more of this particular top would sell (to ladies of a certain age) with the plain short sleeves and they'd be cheaper to produce with a lot less fabric too. Fashion often prevails over commen sense but is this really "fashion"? In any case, perhaps my "show and tell" will encourage somebody somewhere to refashion/upcycle something that a simple alteration would make usable.
I want to create creative things but there's lots of more mundane stuff that require doing and finishing right now. Before I settled on the bedding in the previous post, I ordered this nautical set from Laura Ashley. It was absolute rubbish ......... really thin. Acceptable for quilting maybe but not a duvet cover. The co-ordinating gingham sheet was so thin I could envisage a foot going through it within a week! No problem (apart from the cost to send it back!) except that I purchased some matching (used but very good conditon) matching curtains. Ok, well I can get my money's worth out of them by cutting them up and using them for other things. This blind needs finishing (is it really a whole year since the I pieced it together?).
I was going to put the pic up again but can't save it from blogger to the laptop - something to do with Google Chrome (we use Firefox) and a script stopped working it says. Blogger just doesn't want to be my friend any more. I click on links to blogs either via google, my blog, from other blogs etc. and they flash up for a split second before reverting to a blank page. I can't comment on many blogs except, and that's only sometimes, to reply to somebody elses comment and then I can't get back to the comments to see what else has been written. Sometimes I even get the blog doesn't exist (or something to that effect) but then I can find it later ............. it is very frustrating and I really don't know how to get things back to normal ............. clearing cookies, ad and virus scans all good this end.
Going back to the Laura Ashley stuff, I cut the blackout lining from the curtains yesterday (perfect for backing the blind), put it in the washing machine on a very gentle 45min wash ............... and the backing disintegrated into bits!!! The label did say "dryclean only" (and "made in China") but I've washed this kind of stuff plenty of times before so either it's very substandard or been affected by hanging in the sun but, saying that, I've had this kind of lining in south facing windows before and it's washed no problem. There's so many blobs everywhere it looks like it's been snowing beneath the washing line!!!!!
Am now going to see if any of it is salvageable before I cut up anything else ...........
Not quite sure who won the cushion fight Diane, daughter thinks she did because a) she has two and b) her square one is much plumper! She is right about the plumpness - two cushion pads of the same size from Ikea and one is much plumper than the other ...... you can't tell when they're purchased rolled up tightly in bags ........ but the buttonholes are much nicer on the blue one now I know what I'm doing on the Juki or, more to the point, allowing the machine to do it rather than interfere because I didn't have faith that the machine would actually do it automatically so to speak lol!
.
