Sunday 27 June 2010

Early Bird Challenge and Other Finishes

This morning started out with a big frost and we are expecting more very cold mornings this week.  The best thing is that the days are usually then nice. So, today we decided to have sausage sangers for lunch.  I love coming here for lunch, and it is so close to home.

002

This is actually our front yard.  There is a stand of big old yellow box just down from our house, so we included them in our yard and leave it all ‘au natural’.  And, of course, all trees need an old header rotting away.  We were lucky enough to find this one at a clearing sale for next to nothing years ago, and it looks the part.  You will notice that Biggles is never too far away when there is food involved.

005

It was nice enjoying our billy tea in front of the remains of the fire.

006

Now for some more finishes.

Judith challenged us as part of the Early Bird Christmas Crafting to create a gift from two fat eighths of fabric and whatever embellishments we like.  Straight away I knew what I would make, a sewing companion, like I have made a couple of times before.  But, do you think I can find the pattern.  Not on your Nellie.  The annoying thing is that I saw it just recently.  Maybe this is telling me something!

Now my mind was a blank as to what to make, so I decided to go off on a slightly different tangent and see how many mini gifts I could make from two fat eighths.  I decided to use two coordinating pretty blues.

June 2010 007

This is what I managed to get out of them.

June 2010 008 

I started off with the tissue cover in the middle.  This time, rather than use a press stud, I made a loop of hat elastic (very handy that lots of swing tags on clothes now come on hat elastic – throw nothing away) and use a pretty button.  Now that I look at it, I could have made it much prettier, but I know that for next time. It has the contrast stripe on the inside.

June 2010 009

I think I got carried away on the mini handbag lavender bags doing tiny colonial knots in single strand on the baby ric rac, but it looks super cute.

June 2010 003

Now to add buttons.  I needed a pretty pink button for one of the handbags.  I have accumulated several button jars and tins, but couldn’t find a pretty pink button.  Funnily, I seem to have hardly any pink buttons.  Also, try and find a button in all those jars and tins.  So, I decided to do something about it (and waste half the afternoon yesterday). 

June 2010 013

Now that looks better.

June 2010 015

I just have to find somewhere to put the jars.

June 2010 016

My precious buttons are still in their jars, all mixed up.

Still no pretty pink button, so as we had to duck into town to visit Mum and Dad, we called into Spotlight and bought one.  How sad is that!

Anyway, back on track.  The little note book cover was based on Bloom’s great tutorial and the little luggage tag lavender bag is just something I made up to use the remaining scraps.  I quite like the way it turned out.  I still have this much  left and I reckon I should be able to make some other little something with it. We'll see.

June 2010 011

I have a couple of other mini gifts to share as well.  A friend our ours is due to have her first baby on Christmas Eve, so I made a couple of pairs of cloth baby shoes.  They are so very cute.  Her Mum collects frogs, so they are appropriate and I just love the way the little red pair turned out.  I used a tutorial on the Michael Miller website.

June 2010 005

A few years ago I had a few girlfriends around and showed them the basics of patchwork and we all made a table runner which used quite a few techniques. From the scraps from that day I made these coasters using Tazzie Quilts tutorial for my friend Cath, as she loves the rich colours and they will match her runner she made on the day.

June 2010 006

So, here are all the mini gifts I have made for the month of June. I must say that I’m rather pleased with what I have achieved.  Judith’s challenge was just what I needed.  I don’t know who they all will go to, but they can be little stocking stuffers, or for those unexpected occasions.  Also, all the fabric is from the stash, which is a bonus.

001

I will note that a lot of these weren’t on my list in my journal and several that I did have listed haven’t been made, but that doesn’t matter.

I’m looking forward to next month’s project now.

13 comments:

Cubby House Crafts said...

Best kinda bbq to have!
I love all your finishes especially the scented handbags...so cute!
Lisa ʚϊɞ

Chookyblue...... said...

I love it when we throw some snags on our little plate we take it down the creek or over the paddocks..........where ever we want.........

and I LOVE the old header..........would love one of those in my garden.........

nice sewing.........

CurlyPops said...

It's such a great idea to have gorgeous little gifts on hand ready to go at a moments notice, and even better when they're all from the stash!

Julie said...

Off to sort my buttons.....yours look cool!

Anonymous said...

Didn't you have a productive weekend... and breakfast to boot.... Love ALL your projects and you've gone to SO much trouble to jazz them all up. Beautiful

Judith Tetley said...

Thanks for letting me know that your Mini Gifts were up on your blog. Wow! I counted 15 gorgeous creations to go in your box...well done!! Just think...that is 15 more than you had on the 30th May...lol!
Hope you enjoy next month.
Hugs..Judith
http://creativestudio10.blogspot.com

Cardygirl said...

Great post...loved the sausages...could almost smell them! You have been busy & made some great gifts...I would like to do some of those lavender handbags too...yours look great!

Joy said...

Oh wow I'm impressed!!! Those little lavender bags are so cute!!!
Hugs,
Joy :o)

sunny said...

Wow! What a great job on all the gifts! I'm amazed with what you made from two fat eighths! Can't wait to see what you make next month.

Bec said...

What a great post Janice! Love the BBQ in your front yard; also like the 'au natural' setting...glad to know that my yard isn't alone!
What fantastic gifts yuo have created with two fat eighths! You have done a fantastic job on them!
The buttons look so cool lined up in their jars.... I have ONE of those jars, almost full, so I will endeavour to sort them by colour soon - looks so good!
Love the baby shoes, so very cute!
The coasters are great, fabulous way to use up leftovers! Did your friends continue to do patchwork after their introduction???

Jewells said...

I love the cloth baby shoes, and when I saw them on Judith's blog, I clicked on them hoping to get a link to where they came from, but it didn't happen, and now I find them on your blog... thanks for the link... I am glad I have you as one of my "favouites"...cheers...Jewells

Jenny of Elefantz said...

Janice, I think winter is a *very* productive season for you!! What a gorgeous array of gifts, and I would so love to share a cuppa from the Billy with you. :-)

Marcia said...

I just started checking out other Early Bird post. You have been a busy bird! Those baby shoes are fun to make. Looking forward to checking on what you do next.