If you like the travel tissue cover you’ll love this

I know I am not the only one out there who has become addicted to making the covers for travel tissues. Today I was looking at my pinterest board and noticed a similar but different version of the idea. Instead of travel tissue covers this is a holder for carrier bags that you can keep in your handbag. The original post suggests it can also be used for nappy sacks and I guess you could also use it for dog poop bags too.

You begin with 4 circles of 5 inches. Iron 2 of them in half, wrong sides together. Place the 2 whole circles wrong sides together.

Place the 2 semi circles on top of the circles and sew around the whole circle. Trim around the seam with pinking shears to make the seams nice and flat when you turn the pouch the right side out.

Turn the pouch the right side out and top stitch around the circle. Voila your pouch is done!

 

I think there is chance that these could become almost as addictive as the tissue cover. Let me know if you have a go at making one too.

A happy way to spend a few hours

So, the other day I was wondering what to do to take my mind off food!-see previous post.  I went to rummage in my fabric stash- wow that sounds really impressive, actually its a couple of carrier bags shoved in my craft cupboard. I had every intention of finding some material to cut out a new frock or skirt however when I got the fabric out I was uninspired.

With food still on my mind the macaroon coin purse I had pinned on my pinterest board popped into my head, okay my brain works in peculiar ways. You can find the original on my pinterest board www.pinterest.com/stitchnmusic/craft-ideas/ So I thought this would be the ideal way to spend some time engaging my thoughts on something other than food.

I followed the tutorial on the website and the purse goes together really easily. I did make a couple of mistakes. Firstly I used ordinary thread to gather up the fabric and the zip. Of course this snapped so I had to restitch it in a thicker, stronger thread- I used top stitch thread. Secondly I didn’t read the tutorial about how to shorten a zip to 5″ but just hacked away on my own. Perhaps I should give it a read and see if the end result comes out a bit less bulky.

This is the finished article. As you can see there was a bit of a lumpy bit where the zip joined.

This is the inside. Quite what you keep in the purse I am not sure, like it says on the tin it is a coin purse, so I  guess it would be good for kids to take dinner money in to school or something like that where you only need a few coins.

Anyway I enjoyed making it as it is not something I would usually do. (For those of you out there addicted to making the travel tissue covers, I also made one of those to match the purse. Is that sad or not, I can’t quite decide?!!)

For me however the best bit of these purses however is that they are CALORIE FREE!

How to treat myself?

Anyone who knows me knows of my never ending battle to lose weight – 10 years on and I still haven’t lost the baby weight from my youngest son! Today I faced my biggest fear, stood on the scales and found that my weight loss has today crossed the 2 stone mark-fantastic but now how shall I celebrate? The problem is that my favourite way to celebrate anything is to eat. If I’m honest I would really like to reach for the nearest packet of pringles and scoff the lot but then my 2 stone loss will be a short lived memory. I have ordered some supplies from the internet to make a couple of things from my pinterest boards but they have not arrived yet. I desperately need something to do to take my mind off celebrating my weight loss by eating.

Instead I have decided to hunt out some fabric I bought on my last trip to India and see if I can’t cut out a new frock or skirt for myself. By the time I have decided which fabric to use and which pattern to make up, it will hopefully be nearly tea time!

 

Almost a Bubble Cushion

Last time I wrote I had been playing with my fluffy puff quilting contraption. As I didn’t have any material in the house I decided to make a new cushion for the sofa in the study as I had an offcut left from the curtains. It meant I didn’t have enough to do the whole cushion in bubbles though.

 

I am quite happy that it has turned out OK and I like the way the puffs go with the dots on the fabric.

 

I even braved my fear of buttonholes and did a button through back to keep the reverse tidy. What is it about buttonholes that make me fear them?  I have no idea. I think I always worry that I will cut them and wreck whatever I have spent hours trying to put together.

 

Well I am pleased that now I have got the puffy quilty things out of my system for a while I’ll be able to get on and finish some of my many other craft projects that I have already got started, not to mention trying to figure out what I will do for the next pinterest challenge as I would like to make something a bit more time consuming this next time around. I am really enjoying looking at what everyone else has made it is so inspiring. So much to do and so little time.

Bubble Wrap Cushions Part Two

Yesterday I wrote about trying out my new gadget. I had got one fluffy puff made before real life interrupted and I had to go and take my music lessons, cook tea, supervise homework etc. Once all that was done and the total male population of my household were safely slumped in front of the football I had time to play about a little bit more and make a couple more puffs. I was desperate to see what they would look like when there was a few of them sewn together. So here they are (bear in mind I was just practicing with scraps of fabric), just like bubble wrap in fabric, I love it!

 

 

I am quite pleased with how they have turned out, especially as a first attempt. I have already got a project planned to use them, I just need to find the correct fabric now.

Bubble Wrap Cushions!

I love bubble wrap, I can sit for ages popping all the little puffs of plastic.

I also admit I am a gadget fan. I recently bought myself a little gadget that makes quilted puffs. Brilliant, stitch them together and they look just like bubble wrap. Until now I haven’t had time to give it a try. Today however I am stuck at home as my husband has had to go to work in my car, his won’t go up our hill in this snow and ice. So I have had the ideal excuse to get out my new toy and see if I can make a puff myself.

The kit is made by Clover and looks like this:

Sadly as I couldn’t get out to my fabric shop I have had to have a play using a few odd scraps. So I cut out the 2 squares in fabric and draw round the inside of the smaller one too.

Next you halve the material on the large square, right sides together and slide down the yellow clips and fasten them on opposite sides.

You then turn the fabric and do the same on the opposite sides.

The top part of the material is now pleated and will be the same size as the smaller square. Match these up and sew around the square leaving a small opening. If you machine stitch you have to use a zipper foot.

Turn the puff inside out so that the right side of the material is showing.

Lightly stuff your puff and stitch up.

I think this first attempt has turned out quite well even if I do say so myself. I am now contemplating a patchwork cushion incorporating a few of these. In fact I think I could become seriously addicted to these and they may find their way all around my house.  Watch this space!

February Pinterest Challenge

As I am new to pinterest and have been busily pinning all sorts of fab things to my pinterest boards I was spoilt for choice as to what to make for this first pinterest challenge.

Should I bake something? except all the things I have pinned are not compatible with the ongoing never ending weight loss campaign! It didn’t seem much point to bake something if I can’t blog about how it tasted. I didn’t feel inspired to do anything from my gardening board either, probably just as well. You wouldn’t be able to see it today as the garden is under a fair good coating of snow at the moment.

In the end as I was having so much trouble picking something, I decided that I should perhaps make the very first thing I pinned onto my board. So here it is. It is a fabric cover for a packet of travel tissues. In view of the fact that just about everyone I know seems to have a cold at the moment I have made loads of these as little presents to cheer folks up a bit.

(Original picture from pinterest board)

Sewing has always been one of my many crafty loves so I thought I would stick with that for my first attempt in the challenge.

Here are some of my makes:

 Number One off the production line!

I really loved the gingham look, this one went to a friend whose favourite colour is red.

Then I just got carried away, I admit it.

I think to date I have made 11 in total. As the biggest piece of fabric you need is 5 1/2″ by 7 1/2″ you can make a really pretty and practical gift from practically nothing.

If you have the odd scrap or two left lying around I would really recommend you having a go. The tutorial is very easy to follow, even if you haven’t done much sewing before. I just hope our colds don’t catch you all up aswell!

The Hills are alive with the sound of music!

I was ironing- not something I do very often, there are more important things in life than ironing in my humble opinion! some of the dresses I have made for dress a girl when I noticed I was humming songs from the Sound of Music. I love all musicals and this is one of my favourite oldies. Then I realised the frocks were made from an old curtain a friend gave me from her little girls bedroom.

 

I am hoping that tomorrow the hills around us will be covered with snow so that we can go out sledging. The snow is forecast to arrive in the next hour or so. I am about now to start knitting myself some woolly socks which I know won’t be ready until after the cold weather has passed but I am going to enjoy the challenge of doing them. I have never done knitting on 4 needles so I will have to see how that goes. Will let you know my progress soon.

Dress A Girl Around The World

While I am still struggling for things to write I thought I would say how pleased I am that today I managed to make 7 dresses for the Dress a Girl around the World campaign.

As mum to three boys I am really enjoying making these dresses as it gives me the excuse to make some girlie things instead of washing dirty football kits! I have lots of friends rooting out fabric for me so that I can make some more. If you haven’t heard of this before have a look at http://sewscrumtious.blospot.com for Louise’s fantastic blog about the brilliant work she is doing and instructions on how to make dresses yourself. I am well and truly hooked on making them now.

First blog-what am I doing?

I have decided to start this blog to drag myself into the 21st century. Quite what I am going to blog about is beyond me yet but hopefully inspiration will strike eventually. I will hopefully be able to share some of my crafty makes here in the future. In the mean time I will be taking part in the pinterest challenge so if I can work out how to upload photos hopefully there will be something to look at soon!