another belly cast

Another belly cast, painted pink and covered in lace. This how many women choose to have their casts finished, or along these lines. Other belly cast posts are....yet another belly cast, belly cast with hands, and belly cast.

Craft knife bias binding maker

Randomly wandering through blogs I came across someone who was showing this nifty idea. I was so taken by it I had to have a go at making one.  Take the end off an old craft knife and remove the blade. These are cheap £ shop type. I found it works best if the material is wider so that the folds overlap or at least meet in the middle. Simply cut a point on the short end of the material, fold in 3 and ease the pointed end through the slot where the knife blade would have come out and ease the fabric down the length of the blade slot and then slowly pull the material at the pointed end where the blade would have emerged. The sides should fold in along the length of the blade slot and come out folded over neatly ready for ironing flat. On the blog (or you tube even)  where I saw it originally she used a pair of hair straighteners ! The narrow knife was difficult to get the point of material through the end to start with so I made a puller with a loop of thread.
So apologies to who ever posted this originally but I do think its a great idea, well done and thank you for sharing.

printing blocks

Some time ago I spotted these 2.5 " square by 1" sample insulation bocks and realised they would be a fab resource for printing with, stacking and sculpting or simply wrapping and decorating for the Christmas tree. AND it was HUGE bag for a donation of £4 at our local Scrap Store...the taxi cost me more to get them home.... At the time I was working freelance by delivering workshops to anyone who would hire me ! I worked with babies to a 92yr old from a wide variety of walks of life. This workshop was devised for one of my client groups. A lovely "can't do owt" group who with some no nonsense, matter of fact, "just get on with it" "do this", "do that", from me produced pieces they were proud of. Often they did not even get see what it was they were going to make until we were well into the workshop ! It worked well for this particular group as they could get involved in the moment and the process and enjoy it for it's own sake reducing the pressure.

I liked to use things to hand to prove that we don't need lots of gadgets and expensive equipment to get started or to get good results. Let loose in a famous artists studio will not make them (or myself) a famous artist.....but at the "kitchen sink" they can produce things they don't expect to be able to do and be pleased with the results. Here we have a knife and fork, two drinks bottle lids and a coffee jar lid. Just for fun spot what made which  marks.

We have a shop here which sells Acrylic paint for 99p and that is what we were going to use. It's cheap and  dries quick ! Just the one colour so there was no dithering over choices

This one has a gap in the middle to cover a notebook from the £1 shop with. 

I thought we would make at least two, and a practise one which we could cut up later and swop with each other for patchwork at a later date. Introduce colour in a limited way.. Later suggest that we could photograph them all together and they would look like a quilt and get everyone a copy of the photo. Try and get somewhere where they could be displayed as a group.

Introduce the idea of embellishing with a limited palette in a simple running stitch used in a variety of ways and by stitching through a piece of old fleece gives it a primitive quilted look.Odd balls of wool and crochet cotton is available in our charity shops for very little. OK it's not C&G  but it would have been fun and an introduction to another of their creative side which they insist they haven't got.

This what I was going to do.....until life decided it was time to start a new collection.....of illnesses....one after the other....treatments producing other problems.... drugs come with inbuilt side effects........ I had to retire.....I miss working and I miss this group in particular............ I now have a large amount of blocks for printing with or turning into Christmas decorations......along with all sorts of other resources.........
I think I might.......file this pack away and rediscover it at a later date and revive the memories of all the characters I have met......

wool jumpers

whilst pottering amongst my stash I found these  mens wool jumpers I had bought from charity shops to felt in the washer.The small jumpers were the size of the one at the bottom of the pile ! The brown looks like a great colour for robins for christmastime... The tub with the jumpers in was full to the brim before felting ......now there is a bit more room in it......keeping a book of supplies......all will be well if I can keep tabs on the book....

can one have too much wool/yarn ?

part of my stash to sort and give away....

 if I dare...... 

Gearing myself up to actually do it.......

DK yarn can go to Lyn for baby vest appeal . See details and how many have been knitted so far on my friends blog liniecat blogspot.

 Novelty yarn to Scrap Store......I would have run some simple weaving workshops with them.......

Update...

The yarn to give away has been sitting there ready to go on Saturday......and I've dived back in and wound off some small balls to keep..... 

lol..... 

wine rack upcycled

wondered what I could do with other than take it to charity shop........have empty plastic bottles.....I cut the bottles using the label as a straight edge.........and filled it up with the things the children next door like to use when they come round for a craft session........felt tips, colouring pencils, scissors. rulers, coloured paper and stickyback plastic......wonder when they are next free?

This is Ellen and she enjoyed herself over a few days conceiving and constructing her T Rex during a half term holiday.