Nini Makes

Sleep-time teddies from outgrown pajamas

Tristan wouldn't give up his favourite brushed-cotton pajamas that he'd long outgrown but a hole in one knee the size of a football made me finally take the scissors to them. Though the fabric was fairly threadbare I salvaged enough to make him a soft teddy so he could still enjoy it. Gracie wanted one too and has the perfect pair of way-too-small jammies with tiny pink rosebuds I couldn't wait to use, but no, she wanted her brother's fabric, and absolutely no pink. Luckily, I was able to maneuver the pattern enough to squeeze out a second teddy.

To make them I drew a simple one-part teddy pattern, cut it out and stitched features on the pieces to keep them entirely soft. I then stitched around it and left a gap for stuffing. I stuffed the head and limbs with soft filler, made a little pouch of the filler and poured in some lavender, then tucked the pouch into the teddy's tummy. I could bearly get the gap stitched up before they were usurped for a cuddle. T & G love the lavender scent and both are snuggling with their new friends as I type.

They're so simple I thought I should share them. My children always appreciate the things we make from re-purposed materials much more than those from new materials; to them the process of transformation is a little bit magical and it is to me too!

The teddies say thank you Sonia for the nature finds they're modeling with ; )

Quick advent calendar

I'm resurrecting this advent calendar idea from a couple of years back. It was first made for a craft magazine and the editor liked colourful materials so we used Christmas themed paper. I think we'll use newspaper this year (we'll sift through our recycle pile to find some without horrible headlines.) Or we'll paint newspaper or brown craft paper for a colourful but more rustic look.

For a different magazine I made these packets and a twig tree using tracing paper, that would be fun to use for the bunting too.

We like to create little activities, riddles, or jokes instead of sweets or chocolate because we find there are already plenty of sugary goodies around every where this time of year. Making up knock-knock jokes is big with my two at the moment so I think the bunting might be stuffed with several of them.

If you're as far behind schedule as I am this year and you'd like to make advent bunting here's a handy template for you. Just trace the template on paper of your choice, fold on the dotted lines and punch holes in each one to hang. Here's what you need:

long twine to tie the bunting to • paper for folding • ribbon or string to tie the bunting to the twine • small sweets or chocolate coins and/or lots of jokes, riddles and activities

Have a great Monday everyone, I think I might spy some sun peeking out from behind a black cloud - things are looking up around here but I won't be taking my wellies off just yet.

Ship Ahoy! Father's Day Card

These are the sea-faring cards my class made for Father's Day this year. Like the tie cards, this project is one that can be enjoyed by all age ranges - and although they're all based on the same template the childrens' choice of fabrics and assorted supplies make each card very individual.

As we have a limited time frame to work on projects in the class room we kept the decorating of the ships simple. If we'd had more time we might have added little people standing on deck and strings to mimic ropes for the rigging. 

To make them you'll need these supplies:

Scraps of fabric, old lace or ribbons • cereal boxes or other card stock • white glue • scissors • brown paper (we used pieces cut from old magazines) • a twig or a stick • card stock for the folded card • corrugated cardboard or foam mounting stickers

1. Begin by tracing this template on to the back of a cereal box then cut out the three shapes. The shapes are simplified to make them easy for little hands to cut but if you have limited time like I did, pre-cut the shapes for the children.
2. Glue scraps of fabric to the sails, leave to dry then trim off any excess fabric from around the edges.
3. Glue scraps of brown paper or fabric to the boat leave to dry then trim off any excess brown paper from around the edges.
4. Cut out 6 small squares (about a cm square) of the corrugated cardboard. Glue two squares to the back of each piece of the ship. Spread them apart for balance and don't place them too near the edges.
5. Put glue on the small squares, turn the pieces of the ship over and put them into position on the card. The ship parts will now be set off of the page and allow you to glue the stick for the mast behind them. (Alternatively use foam stickers instead of cardboard squares)
6. Glue the mast on then cut out a small triangle of fabric and glue it to the top of the mast for a flag. 
7. Draw some waves for the sea and write a message inside the card.

I hope you try it out, my class really enjoyed putting these together and we'll definitely be making a few up at home for daddy and the grandpas.

Easter Past to Easter Present

When I was little Easter was just as big as Christmas and I loved the entire celebration. We had a whole host of traditions for the spring holiday.

We decorated hard-boiled eggs with the usual dye but also one raw egg that was decorated just for dad, he always cracked it open on his hairless head. Year-after-year he feigned surprise.

New Easter dresses and shiny patent shoes for my sister and I. We'd wear them to the long Easter mass where we could always count on our eldest brother Michael fainting from the heat of an over crowded church - Michael always knows how to liven things up.

Big, juicy strawberries and making Easter baskets from the strawberry containers even though we knew we'd get special big baskets from the Easter bunny.

Waking up to big baskets from the Easter bunny on Easter morning and wondering just how he could fill them using paws, certainly one needed opposable thumbs for the job. The baskets always contained a large chocolate bunny and bunny's ears would stay intact for about twenty seconds.

If we were traveling to a cousin's house we would look for the Easter bunny on the whole journey, always certain we saw his huge cotton tail disappearing behind a tree.

A big egg hunt (usually with many cousins) followed by a large meal (usually ham) and the making of many deviled eggs using the treasure acquired on the hunt.

Dad and uncles with Coors in-hand giving hints on where to look for eggs.

All-in-all, pretty fantastic.

This year I brought a couple very important traditions from the US to the UK (no not the Coors.) Good old Paas egg dye which you can't get in the UK because dying eggs is not a tradition here (I've tried natural dyes but for me they just aren't as satisfying.)

I also brought strawberry baskets. When I told my mother I'd like to take them back with me she just smiled and cleaned the baskets for me. Strawberry baskets are also not available here, instead strawberries come in big plastic containers with lids.

So this morning Tristan and Gracie got busy.

Gracie is colouring spots on an egg to resist the dye.

Here's the dye resisting.

Tristan is making a start on a basket.

We all had so much fun I can't believe it's the first year I managed to get these supplies over here. Now I'm going to have to try and find a special plate for deviled eggs, my mom used to have one, her deviled eggs are the best.

Here's her recipe:
Cut hard-boiled eggs in half lengthwise (best if you take the shells off first,) pop out the yolks and mix the yolks with some mayo a little mustard and a dash of celery salt. Scoop spoonfuls of the yolk mixture back into the egg halves then sprinkle a little paprika on each one.

Best wishes to everyone for a lovely holiday weekend. No matter how you celebrate, I hope yours is sunny!

I heart thrifting

 

The piles of thrifted fabrics, boxes of antique lace, embroidery and tins of old buttons often overwhelm my work space and spill out into the rest of the house, but I love them and use them at home and at school.

The cushion above was a Valentine gift for Gracie. A heart cut from a dyed wool, thrifted blanket and scraps cut from damaged lace. The back has a pocket for hidden treats. 

This heart below is a pressie made from a thrifted embroidered cloth. It wasn't a useful size and had a few stains so it got the chop. The other side is a modern piece of floral and old buttons.

I could spend all day, everyday poking through my boxes, cupboards and tins of found treasure to turn it into something new. Just push a little bread and tea through the door now and then and I'd be *"Happy as Larry".

It's nearly bunny time too, I have plans to use up more thrifted fabrics to make little wool lovelies - a bit like these.

* Don't know who Larry is, maybe he's related to your Uncle Bob referred to here.

Make your breakfast a hat

No, don't eat a hat, felt one for your boiled egg.

Keep your egg warm and cozy with a woolly hat. This is so simple and effective at keeping eggs snugly that if you're a boiled egg lover you'll run around cutting arms off jumpers.

Here's how:

1. Felt a 100% wool jumper or cardigan in a wash of at least 60 degrees celsius (140 F) with a small amount of laundry soap for wool washes. (I used a child's size 5 cardigan, the felted width was perfect for the cozies but an adult garment would work too, just sew all the way down to the bottom on both sides of the curve for the desired width.)

2. When it's dry, cut the sleeves off to make several cozies, or just cut a 10 cm length off the bottom. (Every other bit of the remaining cardigan will be used for more projects.)

3. Trim the end into a curve shape and machine or hand stitch along the curve to close up the top of the hat.

 

4. Turn the hat inside-out and stitch a small pom-pom to the top of the hat.

5. Turn up the bottom of the hat to make a cuff, then pop it on a perfect, four-minute boiled egg.

Adults and children alike would enjoy the simplicity of this project. A pair of these would be a sweet addition to a little Valentine breakfast tray, just remind your hubby to use them when he makes it;)

Find this and loads of other fantastic felt projects linked here at Meet-Me-At-Mikes, there's a Flickr group too!

Easiest stockings ever

There's still plenty of time before Christmas to knock out these stockings for the whole family. Using felted wool blankets makes Christmas stockings very quick to stitch up.

The beauty of felted blankets is that they're thick enough to hold a nice shape even if they're big so there's no need to line them or use interfacing.

Over the last few Christmases I've made slightly smaller versions of these with our year six class. They do a running stitch around the edges and stitch on fabric & felt scraps, ribbons and buttons. I love making these with the classes, a very unusual calm descends upon them.

This is a largish stocking that I've stuffed with chocolate - the design is quite classic as it's going to school as a raffle prize for the Christmas Fair.

These are so simple to make, here's how to make this stocking with a cuff:

Cut out two stocking shapes and two pieces for a separate cuff. The finished size of this one is about 23" top to toe (with the cuff rolled down.) The cuff piece is about 5" high by 8.5" wide.

Before sewing the two sides together decorate the front if you wish. Then stitch it together and turn it right side out.

I used a cookie cutter as a template to needle felt the gingerbread man on, then sewed on his trimmings. I also added a dyed piece of felt to the toe and heel and blanket stitched around them. Then I cut out a few holly leaves and backstitched down the centre of each and added a few beads for holly berries.

To make a cuff cut out two pieces of felted wool that extend about 5" above the stocking. Put them together and stitch down the sides (I sewed a length of bauble trim to this one.) Then sew the cuff onto the completed stocking wrong side out with the bauble trim at the top and turn the cuff down and over to the right side after it's sewn on. 

To finish, stitch a ribbon to the inside for hanging.

There are so many stocking templates out there I haven't included one here but if anyone feels another one is needed I'll knock one up (hopefully before Christmas ;) And I can sketch up the appliqued pieces too.

Sorry no images for a full how-to, no time at the moment. I'll stop rambling now, back to a very important non-Christmas related job.

Have a great weekend.

Update: In reference to Lisa's question about the dye, I've used a couple different types of dye but we really only have one easy brand to get here in the UK which is Dylon.

I stock-piled a lot of their Multi-Purpose dye a few years back and am still using that supply. They have now changed their product line and the dye that has similar instructions to the Multi-Purpose is called Dylon Fabric Dye for Hand Use. See their site for the instructions on how to use it.

I've not done a tutorial for dying blankets because Lynn has a great one which illustrates a good process to use (she used Multi-Purpose too but substitute that if it's no longer available, just check the instructions to be sure your dye works on wool.)

The season begins

Although nothing has hit these blog pages for a while, I've been busy with the upcoming Christmas issue for these pages. The upcoming issue will feature an extended craft column for making Christmas gifts with children, this image is a little preview.

Dianne and I also just completed some mosaic making sessions for Crafts at Mistletoe Cottage. Here is a finished mosaic mirror by Clare, who happened to also give birth the day after her class (three weeks early.) Congratulations Clare and Etienne!

We weren't sure how popular these mosaic classes would be but they sold out and attracted a very creative crowd -thank you to everyone who joined us. See more of what we got up to here and check out the CMC site for the dates of our upcoming Christmas sessions.

Finally a little birthday gift sachet for Cara (image of the front and back.)

September is a major birthday month for us, a whopping nine people to remember (mine included - ugh!) And Becki, I'm sooooooo sorry yours slipped on by without my giving it proper attention, actually no attention. I will make it up to you - promise!

Also, thank you for all the lovely comments about and interest in my Butterfly Kisses pattern - the response was amazing, if not surprising :)

A time for change

I've been struggling with new design elements for a while here and finally thought - what the heck, just do it. So here they are, my new header, and a tutorial page and button linked in the new left sidebar.

Not sure why I haven't changed it sooner, probably because I never feel quite satisfied that what I'm working on is finished - which is why I have many in-completed paintings littering the house.

To work on this problem I've tried to clear my workspace, starting with my fabric cupboard - now arranged in sections that make sense to me.

This is s simple pine wardrobe that I fitted with shelves for my fabric and painted F&B Old White (the photo doesn't show the colour well.) It's not a lovely old pine, it's modern and was very, very inexpensive - picked up at a local barn that sells junk.

It's not large enough to hold all my fabrics but all the fabric I use most often and like to see in front of me.

It's a start. I have a new embroidery design coming your way next week as a little gift to those who would like it. A small token to  celebrate change.

We're off to Norfolk for the weekend, visiting friends and taking the children here.

Have a good one :)

P.S. I 'm giving up on the final changes now. I've begun strongly worded communication with Typepad. Hopefully things will be figured out soon.

Edit: I've had quick responses from Typepad and they were very, very helpful in helping me sort things out! Thanks Typepad people :)

One for the dads

Make a patchwork tie card for dad or grandpa.

We made these at school this week, a nice project for little or big kids, and they look surprisingly smart - like a tie should.

This doesn't really need a "how to" but here's one anyway:

• Cut a tie shape out of card stock and glue used postage stamps onto it overlapping and going in different directions.
• Let it dry the trim any stamps that overlap the edge of the tie shape.
• Stick foam dots or squares to the back and glue it to a card. The stickers lift it off the page for a bit of 3D effect.
• If you use a dark coloured card glue a piece of light coloured paper to the inside to write a message on or write on the dark paper with metallic pens.

Variations:

• Try making a stripy tie or a polka dot tie using stamps instead of a patchwork tie.
• Also try using a different shape like a car instead of a tie.
• If you don't have stamps, squares cut from colourful magazine pages would be just as effective.
• A simple shape in collage like this would also look nice mounted in very simple box frame to make a small piece of art instead of a card.

I scored three large bags of these stamps at a boot fair a few years ago for a pound a bag. It was probably the best three pounds I've ever spent for enjoyment value. I've used them for various projects at school over the last three years. The children love sifting through them, studying the tiny artwork and arranging them in their own artwork.

Enjoy :)