Thursday 29 September 2011

And more sewing stuff

Yep - I seem to be on a blinkered 'Jack' track at the moment - all I can think about is what I will need when I start babysitting him (which I am soooo looking forward to by the way - can you tell! Whereas My poor daughter is dreading returning to work - she is only going back part-time but hates the thought of leaving Jack for even a few minutes so it is going to kill her yo leave him for a few whole days a week.)

I bought a second hand pushchair that I can keep here so I have made a nice warm cosytoes for it to keep Jack snug and toasty in the winter when we will walk to school and back twice a day with my eight year old Jake (Jacks uncle Jake LOL). I know just how cold it gets on those walks so I wanted to make sure Jack would enjoy them and not just freeze to death.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

More sewing...

More sewing to get ready for when I start looking after my grandson twice a week.

Changing mat that folds up nicely to put away.

Wipeable, removeable cover for the dining chair that the booster seat will strap to.

Padded insert seat for the booster chair

and here is the little cutie - gorgeous or what!




Sunday 11 September 2011

More sewing stuff for baby grandson

These are test items made up by drafting my own patterns (which I am not very good at hence the need for rough test items).

I was with my daughter last week while shopping and she was looking at buying Jack a baby sleeping bag - I was shocked at the price (£34) so I blithely said "oh don't buy any - I can make you a few of those".
Sometimes I wish I could just keep my mouth shut LOL. Anyway I grabbed some spare materials I had kicking around and run up this one to test for size. Luckily I only need to make a few minor adjustments and look for some nice soft cotton/ velour - I have to admit though that working with two layers of fabric between some wadding is not as easy as it looks (especially if you are lazy like me and don't want to bother with pinning and tacking etc.)

The bib is another test draft - I have seen some great long sleeve bibs online similar to this but they are rather expensive so I bought some bargain waterproof nylon from ebay (£2.50 a metre) and a cheap fleece blanket from Ikea (I think it was £1) and I have enough to make about 4 of these long sleeve bibs. This one fits just about right now but I will make the a bit bigger as he is growing fast!

Friday 9 September 2011

Been bitten.....by the sewing bug

Every now and then I get an urge to do loads and loads of sewing. This goes on for about 2 or 3 weeks then I start to hate the sight of my sewing machine and have to hide it away until the next time the urge strikes. Does that make me weird?

Anyway the bug struck about a week ago so i will post the things I have made so far over the next few days ;0)

As of November when my daughter goes back to work, I will be looking after my gorgeous grandson two days a week so I have started to prepare ........first thing on the list was a changing bag for me to carry all his stuff in.

And as you can see from the last picture, I am very lazy and didn't get the iron out once to press the seams or any part of the bag LOL.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Daring Cardmakers challenge - Banksy!

This is my entry for the Daring Cardmakers Challenge this week. The theme this week is 'Inspired by Banksy' - not an easy one at all but I wanted to have a go (plus it gave me the excuse to use one of my Texture Faded embossing folders.)

Thanks for looking.

x Karen

Wednesday 17 August 2011

More challenges..... White and a bit of bling!

I would like to enter this for two challenges - Simon Says Stamp and Show where the theme is bling and the Sunday Stamper where the theme is white. I hope that is acceptable :0)

It is my take on a Smash book. I really like the smash book idea but wanted to make my own version. I have added lots of stamped and pocketed pages and there are a few (cut down to fit) clear ATC pocket pages in their too. I designed some journaling labels and some small circle and square labels which I printed out on self adhesive label sheets so they will be easy to stick in and use. The journaling labels are cut out with a spellbinder die and the circle and square stickers are cut with 1" punches.

Then when my youngest son saw my 'Stuff' Smash book he asked me if he could have it - so I had to make him his own one - Jake's Top Secret Inventions. He has already written and drawn on a few pages but I can't show those as I would have to kill you LOL.

Thanks for looking.
X Karen


Tuesday 16 August 2011

Harry Potter lives at our house!

More dress up stuff. I made all this Harry Potter stuff last December for Jake as part of his Christmas present. It was worth the effort as he loves it all (especially the potion making box full of sweeties!)

The wand is made with tightly rolled cardboard, brown acrylic paint, glue gun and gold rub on paste.

The book of secrets is an Mdf box painted, stamped and embossed. The 'page' edges are gold leafed.

I made the printed badge by ironing white cotton onto freezer paper and putting it through the printer. I sealed the image by lightly covering with gloss medium. The cloak is sewn with a simple pattern I made up myself.


Thanks for looking

x Karen