Home Sweet Home Sewing and Stitching Group

I mentioned recently on FB that I am taking a sewing and stitching group at my daughters school for the next 5 weeks one afternoon a weel- they do an awesome 'Adventure Time' programme where teachers and parents choose some of their favourite activities or things they are experts at and students get to choose what group they would like to join- it's a bit like what I remember of 'Clubs' when I was at primary school- I remember knitting and cooking clubs- and they are still on offer which is great but there's also movie making, computer coding, mountain bike riding, contact sports, fishing, art history, dance and more... lucky kids! So I thought I'd share a few pics of what we got up to today in my group- I called it 'Home Sweet Home' as all of our projects are going to have a little house theme (one of my favourites!). 

I brought it some hand stitching examples I have in our home- I wrote a blog post about the stitched handprints here if it appeals to you...

http://domesticblissnz.blogspot.co.nz/2011/03/my-creative-space-handprint-embroidery.html

I blogged about the babushka art here

http://domesticblissnz.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/my-creative-space-little-stitching.html

I did the washing line one and the lady in the flowers needlepoint pieces years ago, before I even got right into sewing and crafting. They are designed by Jennifer Pudney and are really easy to do as the drawings are on the fabric so its like colouring in with stitches!

http://www.jenniferpudney.com/assets/store/Needlepointpostcards.htm

My nana, Noelene stitched the beautiful alphabet sampler- she was an exceptionally good seamstress and stitcher so it's lovely to have some of her work in our home.

I brought a few books in for the girls to have a look at to get inspired and see all the cool things they can make once they get into crafting.

And my favourite thing was this booklet I put together for each of the girls. I used to have to put booklets together all the time for presentations and workshops when I was full time teaching so it was fun to use these skills again to put it together.

I googled some 'sewing fonts' and found a few cute ones to use on the cover- the font for the 'Home Sweet Home' title is this one called Fabrics 

http://www.fontspace.com/cloutierfontes/fabrics

 

I left the second page blank for them to practice some stitches on hessian and glue it into their booklet. On the opposite page I found some clip art diagrams of different stitches. Today I taught them running stitch and back stitch.

I made up a sewing themed word find on the next page- there are heaps of free word search generators around - I used this one

http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/word-search/

I found a clip art sewing machine diagram for the next page.

For the last 2 pages I wrote a list of the projects we are going to do- and then my favourite page is the last page- I stuck samples of different fabrics on the page and the girls have to find out the names of each one.

Today's project was to create a house picture using running stitch and back stitch using yarn and a tapestry needle. I gave them each a square of hessian (I sewed around each one to stop them fraying) and showed them my one I stitched last night.  I used the house from one of my favourite picture books for my stitched picture (highly recommend this lovely book which is 60 years old this year- my kids and every class I read it to love it.) 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Little-House-Virginia-Lee-Burton/9780395259382

It was really fun seeing them stitching away- lots of needles needing threading and a few fix ups but on the whole they got the hang of it pretty quickly - but they only got a little bit done of their pictures so hopefully they will bring them back next week so I can take a few pics. I sent them off with a little house cookie each. 

Next week we are making little felt house keyrings and bag charms.

Thanks for reading :) 

Megan

my creative space: two more 'busy book' pages

It was so neat to read all the lovely comments about the first few pages of my busy book the other week, thank you! I've finished a couple more pages so here are some pics.  Both of these pages were inspired by some fabric I already had- a lovely flower corduroy and a babushka print.

I've seen lots of examples of the 'button on flower' page on other busy books- such a great idea for little hands to practice their buttoning skills! For my page I appliqued on some 'grass' and stitched some flower stems and leaves, then sewed on some buttons...

...then I made some flowers out of Felt and cut the button holes. 

I used two layers of felt to make the flowers as I knew they would get plenty of wear so I wanted them to be nice and strong!

With the babushka page I wanted to do something similar to the nesting dolls idea so I decided to make little pockets on two of the babushka's so they fit inside each other from smallest to biggest. 

I also sewed on a dome to keep the babushka's on the page (and to practice using a dome too!) 

I wanted to have some threading practice in my book too so I sewed on some little rings around the babushka's and tied some cord onto one of the rings.  A little bit random but the more to do on the page the better I think!

 

I've made a page on my blog with all of my busy book pages so I'll add each new page there too. There's a link to a site I found with a list of ways to develop fine motor skills on there too :)

And Rochelle from "Through a Focussed Lenz" has come up with a great idea if you are keen to make a busy book for your little ones - a 'busy book page swap where "someone might take zips, some one clips, a person for threading etc. Each participant makes a number of pages in their "theme" and we post off to each other."She'll be posting about it soon so stay tuned!

For more creative spaces, head over to Kootoyoo here

It's my due date today but no sign of baby yet, I was overdue 8 days and 6 days with my first two so maybe 4 this time!

Megan x

my creative space: handprint embroidery

I came across this idea on this lovely blog last year and have been wanting to make our own family one for ages. I've made it as a little art work for the baby's room so when he/she is born I can add their little handprint too!
It was pretty quick to do- I drew around each of our hands on card and then cut out each outline, then I traced around each hand on the fabric using a water/fade marker pen and stitched each handprint using backstitch.

If I was doing this again though I would just trace and stitch one hand at a time- I got a bit confused with all the lines and ended up having to unpick a bit!

It only took a couple of evenings in front of the TV to stitch the handprints and the girls, especially Amelie, thought it was pretty neat when finished. Kids love drawing and seeing their handprints don't they!

And now some questions for you crafty people- I have seen lots of blogs with crochet or knitted dishcloths/wash cloths and would love to have a go at making some for the kitchen (have never used them before). Are they just like using a kitchen sponge- so you use them for wiping the bench, high chair etc?  Does anyone have any links to their own dishcloths on their blogs or know of any links to nice and easy crochet dishcloth patterns? I've searched a few but I thought I would ask here too :)

Thanks heaps, and for more creative space today visit Kootoyoo here
Megan x

My creative space: a little stitching

In my creative space today- this little art work I made last night for the wall. Made using a babushka feltie from here, some buttons and a little piece of turquoise upholstery fabric.  It was nice to do a bit of stitching again now that my craft space is back under control.

For more creative spaces, head over to Kirsty's here.
See you tomorrow with my before and after pics, hope to see some of yours too!
Megan x

felt gingerbread houses

Last Christmas I came across this gorgeous gingerbread house decoration on the cool blog How about orange.  The house was designed by the very clever crafter and author Betz White.
So this year when I signed up for the kiwi christmas ornament swap I knew what I wanted to make straight away! I bought the e-book with the pattern and instructions for the house and five other cute ornaments from here- http://shop.craftypod.com/trimmings.
The instructions were really easy to follow and although they took a little bit of time to make up they were definitely worth it (and I got quicker the more I made as you do). I made the houses slightly bigger than the pattern. One little tip - if instructions say to use craft glue don't think that PVA will do- I had a disaster with my first one trying to use PVA!!

I made up these little bags for my fellow ornament swappers.

And for my little ones I made a house each with their initial on the door and added a bit of snow and sweets to the roof.

I've received some gorgeous ornaments in the swap too so far so will share them soon :)

Megan

More christmas embroidery

Thank you for your lovely comments about my embroidered napkins- I finished the rest of them in the weekend so here they are...

I have uploaded the individual photo's to my flickr page so you can see what stitches I used. 

And if you are wanting my (very basic) pdf of the designs here's the link again

Megan ♡

my creative space: christmas embroidery

I know it's only August and you really don't want to see Christmas things already but this little project is such a nice one to do on a winters evening that I thought I'd share it now. I thought it was going to be a project that would take me quite a while but I actually did these six napkins in one evening as they really are quite quick to stitch.  I saw the idea to embroider christmas napkins on one of my favourite programmes last year, 'Kirstie's Homemade Christmas', on the Living Channel.  I love the idea of getting out the christmas napkins every year as a little tradition and my girls hopefully treasuring them one day as a sort of family heirloom.

I found the napkins in Briscoes on special for $2 each which was great- they are really good quality too. Or you could make your own or hunt for a set at an op-shop even.  I drew the designs myself after looking through my christmas crafty file, christmas craft books and looking at clipart to get ideas.
So if you would like to make your own christmas napkins here's what you need..

• white cloth napkins
• an embroidery hoop- I used a 15 cm one
• an air vanishing pen
• embroidery thread in chosen colours- I used the same 5 colours (red, pink, green, light green, yellow and  beige) for all the designs which gives a nice look of unity to the napkins.
• embroidery needle
• scissors
• christmas designs ( if you want to use mine I've made a pdf of them for you- they are pretty basic as I just drew them on paper and scanned them in as I can't draw on the computer!) 

I chose to stitch my designs in the centre top of each napkin so when they're folded the design will be at the top but you could put the design wherever you want.

Either draw the designs straight onto the napkin or trace them by putting sticking the designs on a window and tracing the design onto the napkin.

Stitch over the top of the design with your chosen threads. I used back stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch, running stitch and split stitch for my designs. There are instructions for these stitches here. The individual photo's of each design are on my flickr page. 

One issue I have is the slight mess at the back of my work so I'm going to iron a bit of interfacing over it to sort of hide it!! If you are a much neater embroiderer than me you probably won't have to though!

Some other ideas....
* these designs would be great for embroidering christmas stockings or decorations or any other christmassy things
* you could even embroider the name of each member of your family on a napkin and every year they have their own napkin- this would also make a great gift for your mother/mother in law if your whole family is going to their house for christmas!
*you could also make these for a house warming, engagement or wedding present embroidered with things like a heart, the couple's initials, a little house picture, a key,  engagement/wedding date,  a plant or flower, a cat or dog if they have pets or any other meaningful pictures for the couple.
* Other christmas motif ideas... Father Christmas, a christmas pudding, a reindeer,  a gingerbread house or gingerbread man...

This one's my favourite :)

Happy stitching!

Check out more creative spaces at Kirsty's here

Megan ♡

a box of threads and a wee mousie

I was very lucky in the weekend to be given an old box full of my Nana Noelene's embroidery threads from my Aunt. What a treasure trove of a box- I can't wait to get started on a special stitching project in honour of my nana who was an amazing seamstress. Will have to work on my skills to be up to her standard though!
Look at this lovely sampler she stitched that was in the box with the threads- wasn't she clever. I love the little rose buds down the sides.

I am going to get it framed; it will look so lovely in one of the girls bedrooms. Very sad that my nana developed debilitating arthritis- what a cruel disease for somebody who loved to sew, embroider and knit. She was a lovely lady who got so much joy from her crafts- I wish she was here today to see my fledgling crafting using her old sewing machine and her embroidery threads.

And this morning after a rough nights sleep and dealing with two little ones with tummy bugs (again!!) I received a little parcel in the mail...my gorgeous pin cushion from the Fox's Lane pin cushion swap. Great timing to cheer me up thank you so much Laurel! I love it and the little mousie is so cute too! I love the little green heart pins as well, and the chocolate is hidden away for tonight when two little children are tucked in their beds.

Megan x