Monthly Makes for June

I had quite a busy month for makes in June, firstly there were birthday gifts for my daughters friend, the first two were commissioned by her mum.

Armed with the information of a liking for roses and the colour purple I knew exactly what fabric to use to make this make up pouch 

and drawstring washbag

The birthday girl was getting a new guitar for her birthday and when my Rachel asked me to make her friend a bag we found this amazing purple and pink guitar fabric on ebay and I made this small messenger bag.

The birthday girl loved all her presents and has had some admiring comments about her bag!

I always try to make something personalised too so using the purple rose fabric i made this lavender scented heart.

This next make isn't really a make but as it's kept me pretty busy over several evening I thought I'd mention it. A friends parents are having a wedding blessing and they find the perfect dress but the beading didn't match the wedding colours so I was asked to rebead the front band.

Here it is half way through, the original beads were blues and greens, which I removed and then using the pattern on the dress re beaded using blue and gold seed beads and blue flower sequins.

and here is a close up of the beads. I have to say initially I  thought it was going to take ages to finish but once I got into the swing of the beading it didn't take too long at all.

I've already mentioned my lovely handmade love swap that I did with Kezzie but I just thought I would show you my makes for this swap, Kezzie has a love of music and gingham and pink so I married all three together to make a little lunch/book bag.

And then using the same music fabric I made a hanging heart

and added this ribbon tape to the back

With June whizzing by my thoughts turned to end of year teachers gifts so I made up this lovely lunch bag using a rosy apple fabric teamed with a green check fabric for the base and handles. This one is still available on my facebook page if anyone is stuck for a teachers gift.

We've booked a lovely week (i hope the weather improves by then) away in the Mumbles for august and thinking of holidays and all the lovely kids fabrics I have in my workroom I decided to make up some kids wash bags, these are lined with a showerproof fabric and are just the right size for a toothbrush, flannel etc.

I seem to be making things on a them this month and one of those themes is Wimbledon, or tennis to be more precise, I've had this piece of tennis fabric in my stash for a little white and decided to make up this handbag

 

I teamed it with blue linen for the base and handles and a blue and white stripe for the lining

this is also available on my facebook page and would make a great gift for any tennis fan.

My final make of the month was a Pay It Forward, after much deliberation as to what to make I finally decided on a craft sellers apron for Claire from Beautiful Things by Claire Mackeness, using the colours and the logo on Claire's blog page.

Claire loves her new apron and is now running her part of the Pay It Forward on her blog, so if you fancy the chance of receiving a handmade gift from Claire pop over to her blog

Right that's all from me for June I hope you have all had a busy month with makes too and if not remember there's always July!!!

more February Makes

Heather over at Pink Milk has now received the travelling craft box which means I can show you what I made for her...
Heather as most of you will know loves to crochet and has been recently showing us her latest WIP, a  double crochet cushion cover, so I thought I would make her a project bag to keep her latest project in.
I found the perfect fabric with lovely bright spring colours and large flowers and this is the result....
,

please excuse the mess in the background!!!

and the mess here too!!

Because there is just too much mess in my workshop I thought I'd take some pictures outside!!!

Fresh pink marbled cotton lining.

A Big Bottom!!!

and some top-stitching to finish off.

Inside I added a large flower pincushion using a flower motif from the same fabric as the bag, a pouch filled with pretty spring coloured buttons and the obligatory chocolate...who can resist Galaxy!!!

I'm really enjoying making bags again and have been looking through my modest VAST fabric supply and  re-finding some lovely fabrics..now where did I put those scissors!!!

January Makes

Like many of you I signed up to the challenge of making a least one item a month over at Annie's blog - 

 The Felt Fairy

I wanted to use this challenge to make some things for our home as these often get put on the back burner in favour of making lovely things for other people...think typical builder, builds lovely homes for other people but can his wife get him to put up a curtain pole - can she heck!!!

So I have surprised myself this first month by not making one but two makes, alright they are identical but we can count them as two can't we??? 

And here they are -  my patchwork stripe bolster cushions for Rachel's bed.....

 

 because of the design of her bed there is always a gap when she puts the bed against the wall (she moves her furniture around quite a bit so sometimes there isn't a gap at all!!)

Clothes, books, pens, socks and much more have a tendency to fall down this gap and I have meaning to make these some bolster cushions for ages to stop this and to make the bed look more comfy. 

I used a combination of new and reclaimed fabrics so we have pieces from a charity shop skirt, a duvet, a pillowcase, and the one I love the most one of my Nan's vintage dresses.

I have to confess to finding it hard sometimes to put fabrics together like this and initially when they were cut and laid out I really wasn't sure but once I started sewing them together, I was delighted with the combination. I used my over locker for the seam as I love the neat finish it gives. 

Anyone else find sewing the pom pom trim on a bit of a nightmare, I tried to sandwich it in between the fabric so that the pom pom's were only showing but my sewing machine just didn't like it so I resorted to putting it on the outside. Any tips would be gratefully received for the next pom pom trim project...

I think I may have over stuffed the first one and might re stuff it at a later date, am I'm the only one that does just keep on stuffing, I do find it tricky to get that just plump feeling!!!

Both the cushions fit nicely along the back of the bed and even if  when Rachel decides it's time for a room shuffle then they can sit at either end of the bed too.

Rachel loves them and I think they do go rather nicely with the CK bedding....

So that's one item crossed of the Home Makes List, it's a new ironing board cover next...unless I get distracted by something else!!!

Lastly I just wanted to say another thank you Annie as the other day I received my bag handles through the post from her bag handles giveaway, I received some round handles and a funny postcard, not sure whether I am actually going to use them as bag handles yet so we shall see what my creative brain comes up with???