Totaly fit for purpose....

Sometimes you have something in your stash that is quiet, it is just there waiting to be properly seen.

This bit of fabric arrived with other bits and pieces from my friend Nikita and I guess I did not look at it as closely as some of the others so the dog material the skinny bits were just that bit pushier and came forward for projects.

The others were waiting patiently in the bag for their moment to shine.

I was doing a bit of  random sorting, you know the kind pull out the material think oh yes I was going to make or ah I had forgotten about having that or in this case a second closer look at the detail on the design. (sorry as it was gifted scrappage I do not know the name of the design here, if anyone recognises it please provide details in the comments). 

The material

The first to catch my eye and set me thinking was the rainbow.

Rainbow

my BFF is very fond of rainbows, we would look for them on our walks or camping trips.

Perhaps something for her? That set me looking at the other motifs. I spotted one of her favourite beverages (not one of mine) but that was OK as I was thinking of a project for her.

Cup of tea

Then I saw one we do have in common and have shared on many, many an occasion, both joyful and sorrowful.  In celebration and commiseration, in this country and abroad.

But mostly just because we like to.

Hot Chocolate

Ice Cream

Another couple of our shared consumable items of interest. Yeah, ice cream. I prefer chocolate, she likes strawberry but we both agree on mint choc chip. Not sure that is the flavour represented here however it is an acceptable addition.

And cake, there has been more than a little shared cake, although the cakes being shared were not always little...the chocolate fudge cake in Dublin springs to mind.

Cake

Trips away, they get a little something to represent them too.









My friend might note that for most trips I am the one with the most luggage trying to be prepared for any contingency and weather variation.

Holidays

Although on that very first trip neither of us was prepared for the rain that came down so suddenly and so hard it bounced when it hit the ground so those drops that missed us on their way down got us on the way back up.













there are motifs for that too:

Singing in the Rain

We have sung in the rain, in the car, at the folk club and at Church and on occasion just because a conversation has managed to land on a song lyric we both know.

Our birthdays are fairly close together and before life got very busy we used to try and think of something different to do to celebrate together.

This motif reminds me of that.  Getting up at four in the morning to go on a dawn chorus walk. When we got back we sat on the couch for a moment whilst her husband (nice chap) went to make us a cup of hot chocolate and we fell asleep before the kettle boiled!

Then there are these two so perfectly fitting little images

this material had to be made into something for my friend and then more I realised it was so delightfully utterly

representative of both of us it needed to be made into something for us both.

Given the size of the bit of material there was really only one choice of what to make.

well not quite a handbag I am not quite up to a hand bag, but bags those I can manage.

gave one to my friend

with the joy of shared memories of

using this bit of material up was so much fun as it brought back so may memories.

There are other little motifs and as I see them they bring back other memories or make me think of how my friend and I are similar and also how we are different.

Sunday stitchings..Tom and

I had to do a little correction before I could start this week. Happily the five stitches on the wrong place were easy to take out and there was enough thread to sew them back in the right place.

I have been working on the Hark the Herald Angels too but I have not taken a picture of that.

Perhaps next week.

Sunday Stitchings 2020

I never did do any Christmas stitching's I just moved onto the next Tom Mouse.

Not that there is a lot of Tom as yet.

also a little update on my new embroidery project.

I had quite forgotten just how tricky metallic threads are to work with.

This is going to be interesting!

Possibly in a Chinese curse sort of way.

I can make something with that!

The title to this post is a phrase that often pops into my head and is the clarion call to many inclined to hoard and prevents items that enter my house from leaving again.

Now this is not always a good thing as often the something never occurs to me, (well not until after the item has eventually been thrown out) and sometimes it is a good thing and I can make a castle at short notice.

Sometimes the phrase strikes me in a charity shop and some odd or broken item will come home with me, the prospect of a new function before it...occasionaly the idea is immediately applied and sometimes it lingers.

This is a project that has been lingering.  Not sure what this little item is supposed to be.

set with stones on the front

A little tab on the back (sort of a clip, but not sprung) now I bought it for 50p with that "I can do..." thought in my head but with no fixed idea of the what!

I began to think that with a top of some sort perhaps it would be a neat container for my cross stitch needles.  How to get a top, a stopper.

Carve one out of wood. 

It sort of worked, and fit at first, then it shrank a little and was loose. A strip of soft leather inside the tube tightened the fit up just enough but I was not happy, it was missing something.

Wait a few weeks, or maybe more and I spotted a bent adjustable ring in the same shop.  Another 50p came out of my purse with the thought, that might go with that other thing I bought.

Of course it was round, my needle case to be was more rectangular.  But as the ring was not solid, and had been a bit squished in the first place it felt ok changing its shape further with pliers.

Out came the grinding tool to make a groove in the wooden top that the manipulated ring would slide into.

You may have noticed the red bead has come off, this is not progressing as smoothly as I had hoped at this point.

Pause!

Why?

It still felt like it was missing something. Not sure what but something.  I couldn't decide if  I should paint the wood silver or just varnish it . Whatever I decided needed to be done before the ring was glued on.

So. well it waited and waited and waited some more.

Then when the inspiration for the  Bee box struck I decided that was what was missing. Something that said me, and in this instance a bee. The same bee I was going to put on the box.  It fit nicely.

Now after my experiment with the box the question of what to do with the wood was sorted, just varnishing. 

The varnish made quite a difference to the little wooden lid.  I am quite pleased with it. Much better result than the box, must be the way different wood reacts with the varnish

So glue the bent ring to the wooden stopper and the red stone back on, oh and the blue one that fell off as well!....

and

 all finished and the something made.

Now I have to try and remember what safe place (shwoosh doors to an alternate dimension open at that phrase I am sure they do) I put my gold plated cross stitch needles that I thought would go in here!

2020 a new year and a new decade

so am I sharing a finish? no sadly I am not although 2019 did have some finishes, a few bags a few Sunday stitching projects bits and bobs here and there you can look back at the posts for 2019 to see them all.

What I am sharing is a progress image a year on from last New Years Day post I am happy with the progress made and hope to keep up the momentum this year.

However, there may be a challenge to the time spent on this particular project from another that has been waiting in the wings for a long time as my nearly-almost-started project from December 2018, has actually been started.  Material in hoop and thread in material started!

 a little detail of the progress so far as proof. 

Hoping it will not take as long to finish as it did to get to this point, or indeed as the previous one in the set took.

And which have I worked on today?

So far neither. I made a pie.

Corn beef, onion and potato and I made the pastry myself....I am not much of a cook so fingers crossed it is OK.  There were scraps left over very like when I make a quilt or perhaps to some they would be orts but as with my sewing bits....I made a little one..

It looks a bit better than the big one to be honest. Mind on occasion that happens with the crafting too, the projects made from bits have a better impact than the well planed.

After posting this I might just turn my hand to a bit of sewing but which set of angels, the two or the three will be singing Halleluiahs I have not as yet decided.

Hoping you all have a great New Year and a great new decade with lots of finishes and the only knots the ones you choose. 

A bit of scrappy Magic

that bag of interesting off cuts from Nikita is a gift that just keeps on giving and also turning into gifts as well.

A bit of sparkly material with various Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Baker again just enough to make bags.  They are slightly different sizes to allow for a wider seam allowance on the bag where the selvedge was part of the available material. 

I was pleased that there was enough that each bag had some full fairies and butterflies on each side.  

On one bag both patterned panels were the same, the other has something different on each side.  That is just the way the material worked out.  Both bags are lined.  I did consider adding button embellishments but the buttons I had in mind did not complement the design sufficiently to use.  Ah well I have them for another time.

Both bags are Christmas gifts for my wonderful pen pal, she was visiting today so I was able to give them to her she appears to be pleased with them.

My turn (pyrography)

for a little box.

This box was gifted to my by my BFF.

It is the second decorate it yourself box she has given me.  The first one, bigger and with the facility to add a material element, embroidery or cross stitch to the top is still waiting for just the right inspiration for it to hit.

This box has also been waiting, I had in my mind that I wanted there to be something on the little handle of the box, and that it should work handle up or down.  Thought about it had ideas, discarded them...then inspiration struck.

A verse from the bible, the insect that is the original meaning of my name as having access to a pyrography tool that would comfortably do what I wanted.

This is the box before varnishing..I had wondered about using some metallic pens in gold and sliver to add a little detail.  However I checked before using them and they were not comparable with the varnish (they ran) so just a straightforward varnishing job.

Found the varnishing on this a little frustrating, I was not getting the depth of shine even after several layers.

Then I had some sparkly silver nail varnish, And I wondered...abut those wings.  So I tested that with the varnish and...nope that did not work either!

Not full satisfied there was a pause................................a very long pause.

And..nothing. I have left it as is for the moment. Unusually for me I have not even added a lining, well not yet.

It may get more done to it later, it may not.

Second bag of green bits

In September I shared a bag made from the scraps left after cutting squares for some gifted-stuff.

I noted that there was still material left over.

So from that comes bag number two, a wider bag with just one strap. 

and the lining is pieced as well from left overs of other bag (for a later sharing).

The bag is different on each side, well made from bits it would be.  There was no pattern it just evolved from the available bits.

So is this all of the bits used up (apart from the squares) well no there are two small panels of sewn together bits that are left.  Not enough on their own  to make an anything but perhaps with some other scraps..there may be a third bag possible.

Advent Calendar 2019 Day 9

This year I have the ninth day of December and day nine of the Advent hop hosted by Jo over at serendipitous stitching.

As usual we share some themed stitching or crafted items and then answer a question posed by our host.

This year I had a little kit for gift tags. A set of eight little cross stitches to complete on a Christmas theme along with eight tags to pop out and stick them on.

I used them for Sunday stitching for several weeks however, with the advent in mind did not share them at the time

I was not sure about using them as gift tags.

I wondered about using them as decorations for the Christmas tree

Then I came across some little black cards in a charity shop and that settled the matter.

Cross stitches on the tags and the tags tied to the cards by the striped cord that came with the kit, so that the tag would swing.

Oh and that means the recipient can always take them off  and use as tags or make new cards of even put them on the tree!

It is a bit difficult to see on these pictures as the background is so dark.

The labels came as a sheet of the decorated card with the labels to be popped out.

That left patterned windows, frames?

If you have visited with me before then you will know I like to use stuff up.

Waste not want not and make do and mend.  I blame the Wombles and the Mice from the Marvelous Mechanical mouse organ.  So the frames, cut apart and stuck onto more little black cards were just the thing for small trees made with very small scraps and bits of thread to finally find a place.

Moving on to the question of my favorite Christmas film.  Well once I would have answered Its A Wonderful Life (which has already made an outing in the Advent this year) which I persuaded a younger friend to watch so she would understand all  the cultural references made to it in more modern American films and TV shows as she did not "do" black and white.

or perhaps The Bishops Wife with the magic tree decorating  ice skating and jolly taxi driver (which again has received a mention thus far)

or maybe some of the jolly musicals with famous songs,, which I shall not name as they have not occurred as yet and someone may be waiting to add them as their choice. I do think those amazing red Christmas dresses had something to do with my fondness for one of those films in particular.

None of those.

Perhaps if you participated in last years blog you will suspect based on my favorite Christmas song what my choice is...yes it is

 The Muppet's Christmas Carol.

I love the light hearted telling of this story. The colours, the little jokes that make me smile and that song, of course that song and the way it manages to make it feel like Christmas.

I hope you all have something that can trigger that feeling for you in this season of giving (as the song calls it) and always throughout the year.

For the rest of Advent at least we all have the hop and the potential of discovering a Christmas film we have not as yet encountered.

And to quote Tiny Tim..God bless us one and all.