Christmas Shoebox Time

Our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child 2013 have now been dropped off so will soon be on their way to bring a little joy to a child in another land.  It's quite amazing what we can achieve with very little money by looking for bargains all year and making some nice things.

Some boxes we've completed this year: 

Girl 5-9.  The most expensive thing in this box is the plasticine which was still less than £1.  I always feel guilty making boxes for this age group as they receive far more than any other but we've had some things a while which didn't really fit into the older or younger categories so 5-9 girl it is.

A jigsaw puzzle (made up and laid on the bottom of the box in 2 sections with a cut out of the picture for maximum use of space), plain paper, A5 hardback notebook, A5 colouring book, A5 dot to dot book, mini colouring book with stickers, more stickers, fairy wings craft kit (removed from box with instructions cut out), plasticine, pencils, colouring pencils, crayons, sharpener, eraser, novelty dog eraser, alphabet and number stencil, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, 3 cards of hair accessories, pony bead bracelet kit, min baby born doll, skipping rope, barbie with knitted outfit, spare knitted outfit for Barbie, knitted hat, knitted puppet and a home sewn pencil case.  This box is 33cm x 15cm, a little longer than the recommended 30cm but not as wide with just a little space left for some sweets:
 

Another girl 5-9.  I made a ladybird purse (holding some hair bits) and pencil case for a little bit of continuation with the ladybird pencil topper, stitched some hair scrunchies and knitted the hat and barbie outfits:

Boy 2-4 with a little fish print lined drawstring bag to hold the puzzle (currently flat in the bottom of the box) or crayons or even the small toys or toiletries:
 

Another boy 2-4.  This box is larger than the previous one but they both contain a similar number of items just on a smaller scale:
 

Girl 2-4.  The doll was £3 in a 70% off sale, much more than we'd normally spend on a single item but irresistable at that price and compensated with a number of handmade things.  Knitted hat and mittens, a set of knitted dolls clothes, knitted puppet, stitched lined drawstring bag and hair scrunchies.

Making little fun things and browsing for bargains all year that we'd otherwise have no use for gives us immense pleasure knowing that they'll bring a little joy elsewhere in the world.

Christmas Shoeboxes

This is probably one of our favourite shoeboxes and for a boy 10-14

For this box I made the Dennis the Menace hand puppet, matching hat, Desparate Dan pencil case, beaded bracelet and a small lined drawstring pouch to store the marbles in.  The majority of the items in the box have been bought at reduced prices as and when we've seen them ......... the Chelsea FC bag was free with items purchased from the megastore, football stickers free with the newspaper and the small magnifying glass from a Christmas cracker!  Hidden is also a bar of soap, compass set, notebook and sheets of plain paper.

Shirts

 So many ups and downs this year but the latest project has been fun!  

"Can you make me a sh*t shirt mum?"  "Well actually you can make us all one if you want for our boys weekend".  Here's a few of them:

 McCalls 8409

 

 McCalls 7720

 McCalls 7720

 

McCalls 7720

I hardly do any dressmaking but the eyes aren't so good for embroidery these days so I may be doing a bit more .............. I'm rather pleased with these :)

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I've used McCalls 8409 before ............ it comes up big, very big!  However, the collar sizes are pretty normal for the pattern size ................. small is a 15" collar but the chest measurement of the shirt is 49" .......... not exactly proportionate!

The Palmer Pletsch 7720 2 hour shirt is a much better fit for the smaller sizes though I'm not keen on the lack of front band.  If I were to make more I might think about drafting one.  I used the two piece collar.  I couldn't envisage me ever finishing one of these in two hours but I do prefer a nice finish (French seams etc.).

Romany Quilt

 A mini quilt actually just big enough for a baby in a car seat or buggy inspired by the rich reds of an old painted vardo.  Quite randomly patched from an assortment of "red" squares ......... a little darker and richer than showing on my screen here and I actually really like it!  I can just envisage some small space in a wagon storing these small jewels of fabric until there were enough to create something useful yet beautiful ............ the meandering lines of the free motion quiting fit nicely too.

Is there really a distinction between excited and terrified?  Local artists of any media have been invited to submit work for consideration for an exhibition later this year ............ I have expressed an interest!  Haven't even got the form yet but the thought of a portfolio seems somewhat terrifying.  I'm not sure that it should be but it is.  I should know how to put some stuff together, perhaps 10 things but what?  First I need to sort out or borrow a decent camera to get some better pics and sure once I get started it will start flowing together.  Then there's preparing a design or two and I keep changing my mind about that.  I did really want to do something more creative this year but didn't really have a reason until now and feel a bit lonesome and lost now I've said I will!
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I Spy Quilt

Another I Spy quilt finished.  Black isn't something I would normally choose for the border but it was hard finding something to work with this one ................

 

 

  

I don't yet have enough different squares for another on but there's plenty of UFOs and other "must do things" to be getting on with.  

The knitting bucket looks better with the handle shortened a bit .........

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Yarn Stuff

It will be much easier to do a bit of knitting or crochet in those spare moments now I've made myself a bag ............. no more hunting out needles/hooks and carrier bags full of yarn I'll have it all to hand.  The handle's too long (I was worried about getting "into" the bag if it was too short but it will be ok) so I'll be unpicking that and then this will be nice enough to leave out and I'll know for next time.  The machine (Juki Exceed) was playing up a bit with wonky stitching until I remembered that I'd altered a dial by mistake (instead of a lever) when setting up for free motion the last time it was out so it's fine now.
 

I've had this "Desparate Dan" fabric for a while (ebay bargain) without really knowing what to do with it so am pleased with the pencil case to go with the "Dennis the Menace" (or my interpretation of lol) puppet and other bits for a shoebox later on in the year.

Just a few more knitted puppets that I finished last year ........................

Thankyou bois-fleurie and Puppet Lady for your lovely comments about the lampshade, I'm really looking forward to seeing them all soon.  Bois-Fleurie I'm so sorry that I can't comment on your blog ........... every time I fill the box in it reverts back to an empty box.  The painting's you've been doing are beautiful ......... such pretty colours!

Crochet Lampshade

Purl Queens (organiser of the display of poppies all the way down the Road of Remembrance) is co-ordinating the decoration of 60 lampshades to be hung from the trees as part of Cheriton Lights Festival to be held over two nights next month.  I asked for a lampshade.  Duly collected the shape was a bit daunting but with just a little bit of thinking ..........

My forays into crochet are very few and far between but with plenty of different yarns I soon got to work.  Exciting stuff!!

Initially I thought about covering the shade with fabric but learnt (it was a learning curve having taken about two hours to work out how to double crochet over parts of the actual frame lol) how to crochet over the whole thing thus providing a background for the smaller elements:
 

I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the shades displayed!
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Free Puppet Patterns

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:

 Piglet Puppet Knitting Pattern

  

   People Puppets Knitting Pattern

 

 Sheep Puppets to Knit and Crochet.  Click here and search for "puppet" in the free patterns

 

 Crochet Frog, Pig and Bear Puppets (pdf)

 

 Cat and Bear Crochet Puppet or Mittens (pdf)

 

Puppets or Wash Mittens Sewing Pattern and Tutorial

Animal Puppet Sewing Patterns

Bugs Puppet Sewing Patterns

Old MacDonald Farm Animal Puppet Sewing Patterns

Zoo Animal Puppet Sewing 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.
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Novelty Doorstops!!!

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????
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Sewing Pattern Review ........... Simplicity 2708 YoYo Toys

Try Again .................

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 Plethora of Fabric Fish

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??????

Patchwork blind no. 2

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!!!!!!!

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I Do Not Do Alterations

 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!

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