Miaou

A tired old pair of jeans …

And a charity shop dress?

Huh? Huh?

A new handbag of course!

I’ve always wanted to have a go at making a sock monkey, so when I found this great tutorial by Web Goddess I bookmarked it until I found the right moment …they are really easy to make (her instructions are brilliant!) and I made it from start to finish in about two and a half hours, which makes it a good last-minute birthday present idea to my mind.

So - here is Gerald, the sock monkey:

(rubbish pic, sorry)

Incidentally - I don’t know why he is a he. I looked at the monkey, thought “what shall I call it?” and I swear I heard it whisper “Gerald”. You would think with all that pink it would be a she, but apparently not.

He is a big hit with the girls and seems to have made himself comfortable in their bedroom:

(please ignore the yellow drawing pin on the top of the wardrobe. I didn’t put it through his paw to hold him there. Honestly.)

In other news, I took on board all your helpful comments about the bridesmaid bag and decided to have another go at making one but this time with sew-in vilene instead of the iron-on stuff. It wasn’t anything like as fiddly as I expected, and I made a bag from start to finish in one evening , so am doubly pleased with that! Here is the new improved version, and some close-ups of the stitching:

Much happier with this one!

…But the mist is rolling in from the sea, look: 

This was my mum’s birthday present. My mum’s birthday was in April. I finally got round to finishing it this week! Sorry mum, hope it was worth waiting for.

This is the other side (I think I like this side best but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity for a good blog title):

And just for good measure, here is the clover-field lining:

This teacosy started life as a rather nice wool jumper which I hot washed and subsequently welded together. Fortunatley however I managed to rescue sufficient to make a tea cosy with. Not bad for a first effort.

In other news - I sent off my giveaway bag to expatinscotland, with a few things inside for the children. I happen to know she has two daughters, so I thought they might like a bag each of their own:

These are mini mini totes - about 10cm square!

And I also made something for the baby (due in the autumn) - well I couldn’t leave him out, could I?)

Hope they get there safely.

I love this skirt. Nick handed me four shirts that he didn’t wear any more and I just couldn’t bear to part with them. The fabric was good quality and I loved the colours. So, I made a skirt! It’s really simple, just a load of triangle shapes, cut as long as the shirt would allow, with a contrast border. I took care to oversew all the seams at the back and it’s lasted really well (I made it about three years ago now).

The bottom of the skirt is full, so when I walk you get a real flash of red swirling round! I wear it with shoes in summer and boots in winter. A simple elasticated waist means it’s so easy to wear too!

Oooh, we had fun doing this I’ve never done a giveaway before!

First we wrote down all the names:

Then we had the tricky decision of who was going to do the draw. Both Caitlin and Eilish wanted to draw the winner, so a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors decided for them. Here is Eilish striking the winning rock blow to Caitlin’s scissors:

Eilish (the victor) then selected the winner from the pasta bowl:

And the winner is …

Can you read that:

expatinscotland congratulations!!

I will be emailing you shortly to find where to send your prize!

I have discovered the joy of yo yos - aren’t they great?

Not these sort (although that’s a rather nice one, isn’t it?)

These ones:

(Ooops, wonky picture).

I’m not sure what it’s going to be yet …

But I’m enjoying making them!

The children and I will be doing the draw for the Giveaway Bag later on today so do check back to see if you have won! There is still a bit of time to enter if you haven’t … just leave a comment on the bag post!

Whilst I was busy blogging Riley yesterday, Caitlin and Eilish were busy making stuff too. Eilish is really into watercolour at the moment, and painted this lovely picture of a polar bear (she used acrylic for the bear though!). I love the colours and the creamy-white of the bear. (She says it’s a baby polar bear and its mum is just off to the left )

Caitlin is going through a “making stuff” phase at the moment, and these bodyguards obviously appealed to her sense of humour! The idea is that you stand them by your door in such a way that if anyone goes in they get knocked over and the heads roll off. But how do you know which head goes with which body? If I get it wrong she will know I’ve been snooping — ahem — I mean, if one of her brothers goes in … well hey, I’ll just tell her I was collecting washing …

Firstly I want to say thank you for all the lovely comments on my previous post - it has given me so much pleasure today to read such nice things! Just a reminder for any lurkers - the draw will take place next Monday, 14th July - so plenty of time to put your comment in for a chance of winning the bag.

And now - here is something I was working on yesterday. Whilst bloghopping I came across Linaloo and her repurposing challenge. I love doing this - in fact it occurred to me that I haven’t yet blogged my Four Shirt Skirt (remind me, I will try and blog it later in the week).

Anyway, Caitlin had a favourite t-shirt. She had outgrown it, then wore it for a cat-painting workshop at the local art gallery last week. This marked the demise of the t-shirt - a great big splodge of red paint across the front, which no amount of washing could totally remove. She was very sad to see it go - so, remembering Linaloo’s challenge, I decided to repurpose it. And so that you can have a go too, I decided to make a tutorial! It’s a bit flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, but I’m pretty happy with the end result -

Introducing Riley, the Repurposed Rabbit!

So - if you would like to make one yourself - here is what to do!

Firstly - take an old, long-sleeved t-shirt. This one is age 9-10, just to give you an idea of the size.

(you can still see the red splodge on the front!)

Now cut off the arms.

At this point, if you want the right side of the t-shirt to be the right side of your rabbit, then you need to turn it inside out. I used the wrong side as the right side for my rabbit, as the stain didn’t go all the way through, so my finished rabbit is stain-free!

On the body of the t-shirt, draw a head, body and ears. I made the head 12cm in diameter, the body is approximately 16cm x 22cm, and the ears are 16cm x 5.5cm at the widest point. (However I wish I’d made the body a bit thinner, Riley looks as if he’s had a few too many carrots). Leave a good gap between each piece (unlike me) as a seam allowance.

Pin just inside the lines of each piece.

Cut them out leaving a seam allowance all round, but retain the leftover bits. (Can you tell I can’t bear to throw anything out??)

Now take one of the sleeves. This is to make the arms. Cut it off at the top to make it straight, and cut off the bottom so that the main piece is 23cm long. Don’t throw away the leftover bits!

(Yes, I know, rabbits don’t have arms. But for the sake of clarity, they do for this tute. For that matter, they don’t generally have blue and white stripes …)

Fold the sleeve so that the seam is in the centre. Pin either side of the seam.

Cut the sleeve in half along the seam.

Round off and pin the ends.

Now do the same for the legs, only cut the sleeve so it is 30cm long.

Using a fine needle and a fairly loose tension, machine sew round all your pieces, leaving gaps at the tops of the limbs, and bottoms of the head, ears and body, for turning out and stuffing.

So next … turn all your pieces the right side out and stuff ‘em! Don’t stuff the ears though.

Note the wooden spoon. I had the great idea of using it to push the stuffing down inside the limbs. It doesn’t work - the spoon just goes right through the stuffing. Don’t try it.

I’ve also stuffed my rabbit quite loosely as I wanted it to be quite floppy.

Oh yes - stuffing. In the interests of repurposing, I did not buy my toy stuffing.

This may give you a clue as to where I got it though:

OK - on with the tute:

Apologies for this next picture. You have not had too much wine. (Neither had I, but I seem to be suffering from camera shake on this shot).

Fold in the open end on one of the arms, with the seam in the centre. Slip stitch it closed. (Do you know I took about ten of these photos and every single one came out blurred. grr.) Repeat with the other arm and with each of the legs.

Take the arms, fold in half again, with the seam inside, and slip stitch along the opening.

Sew up the bottom opening on the body, then attach the arms and legs to the body. For some reason I haven’t got a photo of this!

Now take the ears, fold in the opening and pin. Secure thread firmly at one end and slip stitch to the other end. Pull up the thread so that it gathers, stitch firmly to keep the gathers in place. Repeat with the other ear.

(Don’t worry about the turquoise playdoh in the corner of the picture. This was Calum’s contribution and has nothing to do with the rabbit )

Attach the ears to the head. (I would like to say that I planned it so that the stripes lined up, but that would be a lie).

Now go and have a rummage round in your button box and find some buttons for the eyes and nose. Caitlin chose to have two buttons for each eye - I quite like the effect!

Add some mouth and whisker details with sewing or embroidery thread, securing the ends under the nose button for neatness.

Now for the tail. Take the leftover bit of sleeve from when you made the arms, and cut off the seam at the bottom and straighten up the top. My bit of sleeve is 7.5cm long.

Turn inside out and sew a running stitch round one end of the piece. (Yeuch, what happened to the table in that shot??)

Gather, stitch in place, then turn right side out and stuff. Sew a running stitch round the open top and pull tight.

Oversew the ends, then attach to your rabbit.

(yes, I know the stripes don’t match up at the back. I’m not that dedicated!)

Et Voila!!

Here is Riley posing a little self-consciously:

And here he is chilling out watching TV when he thought I wasn’t looking:

Hope you like my Riley! If you follow my tute and make one yourself then please let me know and I’ll feature it on my blog. Happy repurposing!

It’s my birthday on 8th July so I thought I would have a birthday giveaway. Caitlin pointed out that you usually receive gifts on your birthday, not give them, but hey, I’m a little unconventional

So - here is the giveaway:

It is a bag, made by my own fair hands, made of some lovely dusky pink jaquard fabric. The lining is 100% cotton and was generously donated to me by I’m a gingermonkey when she heard what I was planning! The handles are lovely tactile wooden beads, courtesy of Bags of Handles . Here is a pic of the inside (sorry about the colour - I had to use the flash so it’s altered it slightly - correct colour is in the pic above!)

So - if you would like to win this bag, just post a comment! Tell your friends too, post a link on your own blog if you like, the more the merrier! Draw will take place on Mon 14th July. If it’s very popular then I might do another one when I get to 100 posts. Thank you!

Well, there is the song, of course - that always brings a smile to my face - but here are some images that cheer me up too!

I love love love rainbow colours - the brighter the better. These pictures make my heart sing. I hope you like them too.

Giant Multi-coloured Button Necklace by Itsalovelycake

Colourful files by Marie Eve K.A.

Big-hearted Rainbow - a Beaded Suncatcher by Sneddonia

Waldorf Stars by Pictures by Ann

Rainbow Scarf by Chelly-Egg

Close-up knitting by C Gail Designs