SMALL STITCHED CUSHIONS.

I really loved making theses little stitchery cushions.  They were thank-you gifts that I gave to each of the ladies on my Probus club committee.  The last committee meeting for our year ( in Probus) is always a lunch and the president presents the gifts to her hard-working group of ladies.  Our club is ladies only, there are 89 of us and a fantastic group too!  It's been so much fun and very satisfying to be the president for the past year.  I am very sorry to be stepping down but hope I will be asked again some time in the future.

I like doing stitcheries because the patterns are often simple "country" themes and the colours are cheerful too.

The ladies were each really happy with their gift and now that every-one has seen them,  I might teach my craft group how to do one.

I particularly like the "blessings" message on these. I think I will have to make some extras to have at home.

CRAFTING WITH WONDERFUL FELT.

A warm welcome to two friends who have followed me from my other blog,  Drora and MiniAussie.  I hope you both enjoy visiting and perhaps learning something new along the way.

I love working with felt,  it's quite forgiving and best of all, doesn't fray!  There is a vast range of colours to choose from and the items that can be made are endless.  I usually just buy the pieces from Spotlight or Lincraft. They are about A4 size although you can buy it by the metre if you have a large project to make.

These cupcakes were made using a folded and rolled face-washer placed in a large paper cupcake. The brown check one is purchased, the other five are ones that I cut out and glued together.
The flowers were made from various petal shapes and stitched together. Some have been decorated with small beads.  I'm very happy with the holly berry one as I created it myself.  I pushed a plastic headed sewing pin through the flowers to keep them in place.  They make great gifts.

This hat pin hat was fun to make. To give you an idea of the size, it will sit on the palm of your hand.  It's filled with polyfil, trimmed with ribbon and roses ( mine are purchased ) you could decorate with anything that you wish.  I also made the beaded hat-pin.  I fondly remember my Nanna using beautiful pins to keep her hat in place.  The hat could also be used as a pin-cushion for sewing.

I love this little Christmas tree brooch.  Made with dark green felt cut out into a tree shape and beaded all over with beads and sequins.  It's filled slightly and a brooch clip added to the back.

 Two Christmas trees beaded in a "smocking" design. The dark green one is a bit hard to see. The shapes are cut out, then folded in half to resemble a long triangle, the "branches are formed by beading alternately all the way around which closes the gap. They can be made any height depending how large the shapes are cut.

I found this house pattern and decided to make it up. I'm not really happy with it, one day I might get around to making another one!

All of these felt items were made at my Probus club's craft days apart from  the house. We've made some fantastic crafts in the three years that it's been going.  There are about 16 of us although not always all there on the day. As I organise the craft days,  I'm always looking for new ideas and of course, I need to make the item at home first to see how it will work and how long it will take to make.

If you are a visitor here, please drop in to see my "miniatures" blog,

http://lifesgood-sandie.blogspot.com

Take care "till next time,

Vicki.

WOOD BURNING ITEMS.

I thought I would show you some of my pyrographed pieces.  Wood burning, or poker work as it's sometimes called,  has been around for a very long time.

 Today however, there are many wonderful tools on the market. I have an Ironcore set and a cheaper set like a soldering iron with several different shaped tips.

  The Ironcore has several wire tips that you can bend into the shaped points that you want, fine and broad tips depending on the look you're after.

These tools are electric and get very hot at the tip but the handle stays cool.  I usually like to hand colour my work but if the article is for food preparation then I don't seal with anything just wipe over with grape-seed oil.

I have no idea how the last paragraph appeared in blue.  The mysteries of Blogger!!

Until next time,  take care,

Vicki.

WELCOME TO MY FIRST POST ABOUT MY CRAFTS.

I hope you will enjoy my new blog. This is all about the various crafts that I love to make.

 I have a large collection of magazines that are an inspiration for me but they are also a bit of a trap.  New ideas, more fabric, beads, threads etc to buy and then starting the creation. Finishing it isn't always as easy though.  I keep promising that ONE DAY I will finish all these things but I will have to get up very early as it will be a very long day!