All that glitters ...

In a recent (exciting) post about odd jobs, I also mentioned giving myself a treat by making some Christmas decorations out of some supplies I'd had lying around for ages and ages.

They were inspired by seeing an episode of Kirsty's Crafty Christmas and are really quite quick and easy to make.  All you need is:
Polystyrene balls
pva glue
brush
wooden skewers and/or cocktail sticks (depending on size of ball)
glitter
bowls (to hold the glitter)
spoons (to spoon the glitter over the balls)
loose cover pins (for upholstery)
ribbons
old box

• First, use your skewers/cocktail sticks to make holes in the box ready to take the balls once they've been glued and glittered. Allow enough room between them so that the balls won't touch each other (but if you miscalculate, don't worry too much, you can always angle them away from each other)
• Next, skewer each of your balls ready to start painting the glue over them.
• Now the messy part starts.  Cover your ball with pva glue.  Try not to put too much glue around the base of the skewer or it may prove difficult to extract the skewer - but you want to ensure good coverage once the glitter goes on.
• Holding the skewer, you can now dip your sticky ball into the glitter.  I put mine in various dishes and found some worked better than others, eg ramekins were a little too small and glitter ended up going over the sides.  Round sides (eg pudding/mixing bowl) worked well as you can roll the balls in the glitter.  It is also useful to have a teaspoon to hand to spoon glitter over the bits you can't dip in or any bits that get missed.
• Once the ball is completely covered in glitter, tap the skewer against the bowl to remove any loose glitter (I think you can do this quite hard as I still 'lost' a bit of glitter later in the process) and then push the skewer into your box to let the ball dry.  This should be at least overnight.

• Next day, remove the skewered ball from the box and spray with hairspray to set the glitter.
• Now you can embellish them.  After removing the skewer I pushed a loose cover pin (almost all the way in) over the skewer hole (just to make sure it is hidden - not all were that obvious though).  I found that the pins were too long for the smallest balls, so I had to trim them before pushing them into the balls.  Then thread a ribbon through the loop and tie (again - hiding the hole and the pin in one go).  Form a loop and tie a knot or bow - et voila, a lovely, glamourous Christmas bauble.  

And what's great is that they don't cost much - I already had a supply of balls, glue, ribbon and hairspray, so I only had to fork out for the glitter and pins which came to about £8 total (the pins were the bulk of this), and I've still got loads of glitter left for other projects

Catching up on life - part 2

As promised, following my last post, I moved on to my hemming jobs and the remaining summer clothes have now finally been stored away until the better weather arrives.  But before I progress to something more adventurous, I came across some more darning jobs - yuck!

Hemmed trousers, repaired/
altered pj's and peg bag

While I was at it, I decided to repair a pair of pyjama bottoms and alter another that was a bit loose.  And hidden amongst the repair pile was a peg bag that I'd embroidered years ago, but still haven't got around to making up.  So this was the chance.  All I need now is to find a suitable wooden hanger to finish it off.  It is a shame that it is rather small, as my parents need a new one (the one I made for them donkey's years ago is literally coming apart at the seams) but there is no way all their pegs will fit in this one.  Instead I'll use this one and their current one as a pattern - one for size, the other for design and I have plenty of the pink sprig fabric left over too.

Feeling quite pleased with myself for finishing off these long awaited odd jobs, I gave myself a treat and made some Christmas decorations a la Kirsty Alsopp's Crafty Christmas.  I know it is way too early, but I was glad to have a use for the polystyrene balls I'd had hanging around for ages and something slightly different to what I'd used them for in the past.  I'll leave them to dry overnight then spray them with hairspray to fix all the glitter in place before embellishing them with ribbons for hanging.

My glitter balls as they dry

Getting some balls

I've been telling you all about the stash of craft supplies I have and that I think it is about time that some of it got used up.  Well, here is some of it!

Straw, template and cutter for making straw stars - German style

I tend to buy a lot of my 'stuff' on Ebay - there was a distinct lack of craft and haberdashery shops near me at the time.  And I admit that I've bought some bits when I've had a 'bright idea' about something and then it hasn't come to fruition (e.g. the key rings that I was going to make to sell for charity, but never found charts small enough that I liked).  Other items I've bought one or two of at somewhere like John Lewis when I've had an idea, like the polystyrene balls, and then liked the idea so much that I've bought lots (again on Ebay).  And once again, haven't actually used them all.

So, they are my next target.  I've no idea where I got the string idea from, but it is simple and effective.  Once again, they've adorned my Christmas tree and my parent's tree for years.  I do remember that I first made them when I was sharing a house in Walthamstow.  Anyway, as you can see I've added a bit of bling to the idea by using sequin string too.

I'm not sure how, but our cats got hold of one of the polystyrene balls and have been using it as a toy in our kitchen for over a year now.  As they seem to like them (they tend to make a bee-line for them on the Christmas tree) I think I'll treat them and make them their own string covered toy using jute string (again, another Ebay acquisition).  I even got adventurous and used two colours!

Light relief

A couple of weeks ago I spent most of an afternoon and early evening crawling on the living room floor between layers of the curtain I'm sewing for the living room.  The cats were quite perplexed and thought it best to steer clear!

So, as a bit of light relief from that and the Christmas madness, I've been making some Christmas decorations.

I rather like the magazine, Cross Stitcher, and although there are lots of designs I'm sure I'll never make, there are quite a few that I find quite tempting.  November's issue had a free gift - the materials to make a garland of stars/snowflakes.  In the pack were three red and white patterened card stars and three perforated card stars ready to embroider, red and white embroidery silks, red and white cord for stringing it all together and a needle.  According to the instructions, each star should take two hours to make, but I think I managed each one in a little over an hour.

Initially I intended to decorate our dresser with greenery, but as I didn't think I'd have the time to make a traditional garland, these seemed to be the perfect substitute.  However, I found some fairy lights for the dresser, so I've found somewhere else to hang these now.  They're very pretty and I really like the perforated card stars - although I tend to roll fabric around my fingers as I stitch so I had to be careful not to bend the card too much!  Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to buy more of the perforated stars, but I've found instructions how to make your own. What do you think?


I'm so pleased with them I think I may try more of their Christmas designs.  I've gone back through old issues and found the free gifts and spent my quiet time over the Christmas break making them.  My DH is a bit confused why I'm making Christmas decorations when we'll be taking the tree down soon, but I'm enjoying myself. 

There are also some pretty Scandinavian inspired decorations in the December issue that may well fit some of the Framecraft accessories I've had from years (yes, more Ebay purchases!).

Lists

It's that time of year again.  Summer holidays over and everyone thinking of the 'new year'.  A depressing thought?

Well, not for DH apparently.  He finds it quite exciting (he likes plans!).  As a result, we spent some of the bank holiday weekend planning our autumn ... and that comprised of creating a number of lists!

A list of people we want to see
A list of things we want to do
A list of jobs to organise
A list of jobs in the garden
A list of jobs in the house ...

The list of lists goes on ...

Naturally, in the middle of all these lists, there is a list of projects for me to sew (with one or two extras by me that aren't part of the above listed lists!).   So, here it is (in no particular order) for you to help keep me on track (and check up on me!):

• Tidy kitchen blinds (I know, I made these months ago and still haven't tidied the odds and ends up!)  Hooray, I finally finished them! And I've now also altered them to fit the new windows - happy me!
• Replace spare bedroom curtain linings (thoughtfully shredded by sunlight and cats) - one down, one to go!  Almost there now, just need to finish the pleating and rehang :-)
• Buy living/dining room curtain fabric (a warning - there will be miles of this when I get it as the windows are ridiculously tall) and allow some extra fabric for matching/coordinating cushions
• Make up living/dining room curtains (is there such a thing as a 'life saver' to prevent you drowning in fabric?!) - see above re cushion covers too.  Hooray - finished sewing them, just need to finish hemming them now!
• make new white blouse/tunic for self using Amy Butler Liverpool pattern (as a test piece for making a patterned one for DM and me)
• make apron for MIL from Liberty book I had for Christmas last year (in time for Christmas this year)
• Make bread basket and tea cosy for kitchen out of left over blind fabric
• Start designing anniversary sampler for DS (significant anniversary not for 23 months, so I have a little time!)
• Start designing bicentenary sampler for church (not sure I'll make it for the bicentenary, but certainly to mark it)
• Make/embroider some Christmas decorations as gifts for this Christmas (or maybe just sew some Christmas gifts)
• Order fabric for bedroom curtains (once pole is in place) and make up, also cushion for chaise longue and throw and cushion for bed
• Cover lampshade for bedroom (if we still can't find one we like and can afford!)  We found a lovely one in the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul

OK, let's be honest.  This list is likely to keep me out of mischief until well into 2013 and beyond, but we can but hope!

PS:  I'll try to remember to strike through those I manage to finish as I go along.