Decoupage, cream quilt and crochet headbands

Hasn't it turned rather chilly. Have you had snow? We had a little bit Friday but not much. I think after the balmy spring like days prior to the cold snap, it came as a bit of a body shock! Scarfs/hat/gloves have all had a dust down in preperation for the next cold outing.

I had a mishap with the cross stitch project I was working on. I was pretty grrrrr with it, I can tell you. Such a simple pattern which I kept going wrong on and then the colour ran when I wetted it, which didn't happen to the other pieces. So am back to where I was last week as I made it again but was the wrong shade. I am Determined (with a capitol D) to get it finished and properly.

Anyway on a crafty forum I frequent, there is a lady that does fab decoupage with napkins. It looked easy enough so had to have a go myself. Well it wasn't lol. It gets very flimsy when you put glue on it. You can get a nice assortement of different napkins on Ebay. They are 3 ply and you have to take the two white tissues off which leaves you with the 1ply tissue so it's very thin and delicate to work with. (or maybe I'm just clumsy which is probably right!)
Here are the results......

Wrapped around a couple of little yoghurt pots. These are the best sides, the backs are not for showing! Need a lot more practise yet. These pots are opaque but I still needed to give them 2 coats of white paint so that the napkin pattern stays bright.

With one of my handmade paper roses.

Thought you might like to see an update on my daughters quilt that I'm making for her.

Eldest aughter wanted a cream quilt. The squares are made up from a 50p seat cover that was bought from Lidles ages ago and the sashing is from a curtain that dd gave me. With the brightly coloured quirky houses, it's coming along. Lots more to do yet....but guess what.... I got a super duper new sewing machine. Got a computer thingy on it as well, which I don't know how to work as yet, so that will be a challenge as I'm a bit of a computer numpty, but I actually managed to read the instructions to how to load up and do running stitch, all by Myself, go me!!

Another thing I would like to show and tell hasn't been made by me but one of my daughters. She has always been good at art but then decided to go all crafty on me and taught herself to crochet through youtube. This is what she made for her little nieces for the winter;

Warm headbands and little wrist warmers with small button fasteners. She has made quite a few of these for family and friends. Arn't they pretty she made the pattern and flowers up herself. Now she has got her eyes on my material to make a couple of cushions. Good job she's only visiting otherwise my stash of crafty goodies will deplete rather quickly!

Hope you like everything, don't be afraid to leave a comment whatever part of the world you live in :0)
See you next week.

This weeks linky parties are;
Sunday;
handmadeharbour.blogspot
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
navywifeypeters.blogspot.
sewmanyways.blogspot
Monday;
thededicatedhouse.
sewingbarefoot.blogspot.
Tuesday;
thediydreamer.com
Wednesday;
lavendergardencottage.blogspot.
Thursday;
www.michellestastycreations.
Friday;
frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.

Trompe l'oiel fireplace

This week I've not finished anything, although I have got a lot of half/nearly finished projects! As I was raking around in the shed I came across this tompe l'oiel (fake) fireplace that I had painted for my daughters bedroom in our old house. She wanted a focal point in her bedroom as the original fireplace had been taken out (not by us I hasten to say!) As we had some hardboard and lengths of wood in store this is what I came up with....

                                          A fireplace in front of a fireplace!

                                                      Close up

Her hobby used to be calligraphy, hence the scroll, ink and feather. One of the books says calligraphy.

                       Plants that don't need watering and ornaments that don't need dusting...win win I think! The book on the left in an 'old' 1880's reference to our area!

                              An everlasting lily and a no 'elf and saftey' candle haha

In a different light. The backboard has been painted with a tile effect with cracks and nibbles painted into the tiles. It used to have a 'hearth' made from the back of a sideboard which I painted black to look like granite. Unfortunately HH cut it up for firewood (in his defence he didn't know I still wanted it) Daughter used to put candles in the front and with some fairy lights in a bowl made it look very cosy in her bedroom. The other trompe l'oiel that I have painted since being in my little cottage is here I also have some cactus for sale that are here which you can see in the above picture on top of the mantlepiece.Just email me if interested.

On a completely different craft subject...a cross stitch picture, or the begining, it's part of a larger item. Got you interested eh? I'm aiming to finish it in the next couple of days. Unfortunately I don't have an update on the quirky quilt as it's not been touched this week.

                                           Mr and Mrs Birdie


This weeks linky parties are;
Sunday;
sewmanyways.blogspot.
flamingotoes.
iheartnaptime.
navywifeypeters.blogspot.
handmadeharbour.blogspot
Monday;
sewingbarefoot.blogspot.
watchoutmartha
thededicatedhouse
Wednesday;
lavendergardencottage.blogspot
thediydreamer.
 finecraftguild.com                        

The beginings of a 'quirky' quilt

Not much to report this week fellow bloggers as I'm away from the cottage over the weekend. But just to show I havn't been flagging in the craft side of things, here is the start of a quilt. Notice the 'quirky' houses on them!

These squares are about the same size as the cat quilt squares on my last blog, 9 of them inall. I have hand appliqued a couple of the houses the rest are pinned. It will be interesting to see how/if this turns out as I'm going to be quilting the houses and the background pieces. (This will be going to another daughter.....eventually)
I might also add some fabric painting to them, maybe. This one is not a full size quilt but to put over the sofa for chilly days/nights.

Over to this weeks linky parties;
Sunday;
sewmanyways.blogspot
handmadeharbour.blogspot.
flamingotoes.com/
iheartnaptime
navywifeypeters.blogspot.
Monday;
sewingbarefoot.blogspot.
watchoutmartha.
Tuesday;
thediydreamer.blogspot.
Wednesday;
lavendergardencottage
Thursday;
michellestastycreations
mysimplehomelife

Meowwww...cat quilt!

Welcome everybody from a bright and sunny Scotland. We have had about 4 days in a row sunshine with the odd heavy shower inbetween. Flowers are still blooming and the trees arn't shedding their leaves just yet. Maybe this was the summer we missed!!

Well, you had a peek at my quilt last week and I'm pleased to say that it is finished and on the couch.

                                            A reminder of last week....

and now on the sofa....

matches my other cushions quite well. This sofa is in the tv/sewing/computer/laze around room.

                                                 A closer look

The quilt is quite small but suitable for putting over the legs when it's chilly. Measuring approx 31"x31". I used the same zebra material for the sashing that was used in the other quilt.

As you can see they all have button eyes and applique facial features. They all look like they need feeding by their expressions! As this quilt is much smaller and was able to get under the sewing machine easily, so the quilting has been done in a random free style embroidery stitch on the machine.

                                               This is the one in the middle.

They make me smile when I look at them! I did see a quilt ages ago with some cat faces on and squirreled it away in the back of my head and then when I came to make mine I adapted it to my own needs.
To say we have eclectic tastes in our house is an understatement and everything is mixed and matched or thrown together and it seems to work in our cottage! A nice cheery red (my favourite colour) and makes to sofa look really cosy and inviting to sit on.

Another daughter wanted a quilt for her sofa so that has been started but as this is all hand appliqued might take some time!

This week linky parties are;
Sunday;
handmadeharbour
sewmanyways.blogspot
flamingotoes
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
#navywifeypeters.blogspot.
Monday
watchoutmartha.
sewingbarefoot.blogspot
 Tuesday;
thediydreamer.blogspot
Wednesday;
lavendergardencottage.
Thursday;
michellestastycreations
frommyfrontporchtoyours