Tuesday 30 August 2011

And another phone case

I eventually dropped my mobile phone just 37 times too many, so I sat down one evening and threw a case together for it (while my husband took the photos for the previous post).

2011_08_24_21_49_03It is a lot simpler than the previous two, but has the advantage of being lined with lens-friendly fabric from an old sunglasses pouch, which means the screen cleans itself every time I put it away. The button turned out to be completely off-centre, so I have since moved it and I have also remembered where I put the elastic cord so will be replacing the fastening loop with that really soon.

Apparently the other phone case just wouldn’t get out of the way, so had to be included in the photo too.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Trouser Art

2011_08_24_20_46_03_v3

So I finally got bored with just patching trousers. With some of the buttons I have just bought (for an entirely different project) I customised this pair of slightly broken jeans with a robot (in case you couldn’t tell). Much to the delight of the children.

Monday 22 August 2011

Painting and Decorating

By which I actually mean demolishing and rebuilding. Despite the children going on holiday without us, this last week hasn’t been spent in a flurry of creativity, but instead has been sheer hard slog.

While the children were away seemed a good time to decorate my son’s bedroom which was sporting a decrepit lilac carpet and pink woodchip walls.
We knew one of the walls was going to be a challenge (I accidentally poked a hole in it months ago) but it pretty much matched our worst fears.  So we stripped it back to nothing (which seemed to take forever) and then panelled it!

Bad Plaster Panelled Wall
Before
After

And then we patched other bits of wall with plaster. Filled holes. Painted. Collected the children. Painted again. Painted another colour. And Again. And then did it all again. Painted some skirting board (badly). Smudged some paint and then laid a new laminate floor.

Finally we got to put a new bed in and some other furniture and called it finished. I am very happy with the end result – and so is my little boy!
Finished Room

Saturday 20 August 2011

A Retrospective (III) – Patches

As the owner of any small boy will know holes in trousers are a given. So patches soon became part of my life. Not having any denim to match the trousers I went for the total contrast look (bright red). When I needed to patch a pair of his Daisy Patchold trousers for my daughter to wear I went a step further!  (I love bias binding!). She liked them so much her first reaction was to kiss the trousers. And equally gratifying was the fact that my MIL didn’t even realise it was a patch.

I did a similar thing in order to mend my younger sister’s favourite trousers and now my other sister has requested some for her jeans - even though she doesn’t have holes!

Friday 19 August 2011

A Retrospective (II) – Phone Cases

Phone Case1Now that I can make anything (!) it occurred to me that what my sister needed was a case for her new phone. So I knocked this up  for her birthday.
Phone Case2My husband liked it so much that he requested one for his phone. So last week I threw this together.
Very satisfying.

Thursday 18 August 2011

A Retrospective (I) - Aprons

5672342624_c8becb66ca_mI have been cross-stitching from kits on and off for years, but it feels like my sewing journey really started off again this spring. I was browsing in the charity shop with my daughters in tow when I found a yellow gingham pillow case. My 2 year old then exclaimed “oh, just what I have been looking for. It is just my colour!” (huh?), So for 25p we took it home and then I had to work out how to make an apron from it. Much internet research later I had picked up enough hints and tips to create a totally length adjustable, pretty little apron. Then I made another one for my niece; now I just need to make one for daughter No.2.
ApronsThen my 5 year old son wanted a new apron too, so I went back to one of the blogs I had seen – Mama Byrd -  and used that as the basis for  his (two) aprons – well, one always seems to be in the wash.
Peg BagWhile I had been doing all this apron research I came across a tutorial for a utility apron which looked ideal for a new peg bag (mine was nearly 20 years old and disintegrating) and created this.

Saturday 6 August 2011

Hello World

Erm.... hello?

Not entirely sure why I am here, but mostly because this way I have somewhere to blather on about all the things I am currently doing/being excited about without anyone actually having to listen. Of course, that implies I have lots of things that I am doing in order to blog about them - mostly I just have a long list of things I want to do, and an even longer list of other people's blogs to read while I procrastinate! (or "do research" as I like to call it).

Now I just need to actually tell people (like my family) that I have a blog so they can avoid me online as well as by phone.