What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #217

Hello from a rather damp Dorset today. The school holidays are a week old now and we have been enjoying glorious sunshine for the most part. The change in the weather gives us a chance to spend some time indoors being creative.

My girl chose textiles as one of her design taster subjects last year. She went in full of enthusiasm and came out feeling very frustrated. I’m aiming to redress the balance over the next few weeks. We started with a headband cut from an old dress.

She did a great job of sewing the slightly curved seams and turning it inside out. When it came to adding the elastic we didn’t have the right width (isn’t that always the way!) so we moved onto a bit of hand sewing. She drew out a pattern onto card, before cutting the felt. Anyone recognise the Studio Ghibli character?

I made the most of having the sewing machine out, to sew up the pieces of my purse. Just the scary gluing part to do now. More on this project another day.

I’m off to Julia’s Place to link up and see what everyone has been doing this week. Care to join us?

Friday Finds ~ Easter Chicks

I found these cute little felt chicks, put together with a simple blanket stitch.

There is a printable PDF pattern available with photographs and clear instructions. Even if sewing is not your thing, it’s still worth clicking through to Myrtle & Eunice, just to see the chicks (with added legs) re-enacting Riverdance, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the Can Can. So funny.

Friday Finds ~ Play Food From Felt

A couple of weeks ago, one of the lovely ladies who comes to my craft class, was telling us all about the play food she had been making for her grandson. She had found lots of ideas and inspiration online, although no actual instructions. When I got home, I had a look around to see what I could find.

A nice variety at Lemonwood Clock, from eggs and bacon to bread slices with peanut butter and jam/jelly filling. There are two printable PDFs, giving templates for everything shown in the picture including little trees broccoli and carrots. If you want something relatively quick and simple then these are the patterns for you.

Polly at Helping Little Hands hosted a Felt Food Cook-A-Long a couple of years ago and she has over two dozen different tutorials available, many with printable patterns. These are a little more complicated than the previous ones, but well worth the effort for the finished results. Lots of the items can be mixed and matched.

This picture shows what All Twisted Up calls Infinity Bread. It can be used flat with added pizza toppings, or rolled up to make wraps and fajitas. Scroll down on the link to find some inspirational photos. Instructions to make something very similar to the Infinity bread, can be found among the tutorials on my previous link.

With a bit of imagination and some felt, of course, you could make just about any kind of food. What I like most is being able to have a variety of ‘ingredients’ which can be put together to make lots of different meals. Much more exciting than the plastic food my own children had. They often substituted lego, which they had built their own food creations from! I know they would have loved this.

{Not} Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Bunting

It’s everywhere you look at the moment and much as I love it, I thought I’d share something a little different with you this week.

A garland comprising the cutest little dolls. Made from scraps of felt and fabric they are simple enough for a child to put together, with a little help here and there.

The pattern and tutorial are available at Love Charla Anne. If you love it and plan to pin it, please be sure to visit her lovely blog and pin directly from there. Thankyou.

I’ve been missing sharing my finds with you all on a Friday, but don’t have the time at the moment to search out a set of five each week. I’ll be making this a regular Friday thing again, the compromise being just one project instead of a whole list.

There’s been a lot going on here the last couple of months and I seem to have lost my blogging habit. Hoping I’ve got it back now.

The sun is shining here and I plan to make the most of it. Have a lovely weekend.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Spring

After a little break from the Friday lists, I’m back with some Spring themed projects.

Bunny finger puppets from The Purl Bee.

Chicken juggling bags from pom pom emporium.

Linen bunnies from EAB designs.

Subway art painted Easter eggs from Lil’ Luna.

A bunny fold napkin.

I found the last one on Pinterest and sadly the link leads nowhere. However, with a bit of googling, I found some instructions here and have since discovered the photo is from Martha Stewart.

I decided to go back to using photos in my Friday Five, but I’m hoping that anyone wanting to pin any of these ideas will click through the links first. Thankyou.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ More Hearts!

Along with rainbows, stars and butterflies, I have a bit of a thing for hearts. It was difficult to pick just five last week, so here I am with the ones I left out.

A felt covered heart wreath from the idea room.

Teeny tiny crochet hearts from Attic 24.

A handwritten applique heart from Alisa Burke.

Mini heart brooches from the Purl bee.

Quick and easy paperclip hearts from How About Orange.

Next month I’ll be focussing on patchwork and quilting for my Friday favourites. Something different on that theme for each of the four weeks. I hope you’ll join me.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Hearts

With Valentines Day less than a month away there was only one theme it could be today.

An altered heart shaped box from Alisa Burke. There is room inside for your bits and bobs and the top is a pincushion. Love that doodly stitching.

A felt garland from Betz White.

 

An appliqued t-shirt from iCandy handmade. This looks like a really simple technique, yet it’s such an effective result. I’ll be trying this out for sure.

 

Heart shaped crayons from the long thread.

An appliqued cushion from Simple analogy.

Flying through today while I wait for my cookies to come out of the oven. I’ve got an old school friend calling in for lunch, on his way from Devon to London. Can’t wait.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Handmade Gifts Part 6

Anthropologie knock off Hair Clips from Emily’s Little World.

A Convertible Cowl from The Crimson Owl.

Funky Lavender Sachets from Bugs and Fishes.

Knitted Anything Animals from Petite Purls.

A Felt Laptop Cozy from Betz White.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Advent Calendars

As the title suggests, I’m showcasing a few of my favourite ‘Countdowns to Christmas’ this week.

Brown paper packages tied up with string.

 

Maya Road envelope banner.

Brown paper bags, decorated with a free printable.

Felt pockets and printable dangles.

Magnetic tokens on a tray.

I’m now thinking that I should have saved this theme for 10 Things on the 10th, as I could easily have listed double the ideas. There are so many gorgeous versions out there, I’m spoilt for choice. Now which one to make?

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Back To School

One more week of school holidays here for us and my thoughts are turning to all the things that will be needed for the start of term. The uniform has been ordered, the shoe shopping is always left for the last week and there will be a little trip into town for new pencils and pens. The latter being my favourite part, as a self confessed stationery addict.

This week I have put together a list of things I would have been very happy to have in my possession to go back to school.

A pencil case

a locker key fob

a sketch book

a note book

….and of course a bag to put it all in.