Our Creative Spaces - Blackout

 Please excuse the pyjama bottoms!

So tomorrow it is here - the opening of the Rugby World Cup - and if you don't live in New Zealand you may not know that it is one of our biggest events ever and  will last for 6 weeks!

 Everything is going black - (Credits: Greg Page, Ruapehu Bulletin)

It has been a long and dramatic time coming, from when we lost our chance to co-host the 1993 tournament, to our Prime Minister flying to Ireland in 2005 to help with our pitch to the IRB, to Christchurch's games being moved after the devastating earthquake in February this year. It is 24 years since we hosted the first World Cup (also 24 years since we won...) which makes me feel a bit old, but it is lovely to see the little ones getting excited (see Aimee's Father's Day post here).

Rugby World Challenge on Playstation 2

Even Mr Toddler knows something is up because 'Dadda fast cars' has been replaced with 'Dadda rugby ball' (apparently after much research this one is the best game).

I had to commemorate the occasion with a little shirt for our future All Black, those of you with eagle-eyes may recognise the applique fabric as a lily pad scrap! I was so excited when I found it, I think it makes up for losing some of the cup's ornate detail in order to make a stencil shape.

This personalised shirt is for a friend's little man, how cute is the alphabet fabric? (I found it at Cushla's). See what everyone else has made this week at Our Creative Spaces.

I have written before about not dressing my daughter in black, of course now I can't find a plain black shirt to decorate for her...


Note: Obviously I can't sell cup shirts but I have a limited number of black shirts left for personalising, details here

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Cushion Swap - Done!

My first ever cushion cover has been posted today to Australia, I hope my swap buddy likes it! Her blog has a lot of rainbows, so I dug out the brightest prints I could find in my stash, and used an old upholstery fabric sample for the sunny background. After appliqueing the large hearts I noticed a small blemish in the golden fabric - one small panic attack later there is now a little pink heart (on the right) to show which way up I designed the cushion to go.

Not brave enough to try a zip, I did an envelope-type back, but did try snaps thanks to this tutorial on Make It and Love It.

There are some awesome cushion ideas at Punky and Me where everyone is posting their finished covers. My favourite so far is this one by Lola Nova.

And even MORE great ideas every Thursday at Our Creative Spaces, kindly set up for us by Kirsty at kootoyoo.com

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My Creative Space - The best robot quilt in the universe

(Ok so this is actually my mum's creative space but she doesn't blog and I did kind of help with the design...)

I am very proud to show off to this beautiful quilt my mum has just finished for my son's first birthday. It is only her second quilt and her first applique project, and I love it!

The bedroom is still in progress as we recently moved house, but will have a robot and space theme - so cute for little boys (and ties in with Dad's Star Wars memorabilia too!) When we started looking for robot and space fabrics we couldn't find anything we really liked so mum decided she would have to design her own robots, how gorgeous are they?

Towards the end of the project we found this amazing space print with tiny spaceships and spacemen (from Cushla's in Devonport), which tied the appliques and the denim borders together.

For more cool projects, check out www.kootoyoo.com each Thursday.

p.s. If you have never had a look at www.spoonflower.com, it is an amazing site where you can design your own fabric (just like last week's Project Runway!) They now have heaps of robot prints after running a contest for them, link is here

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Sewing School with Sarah Bird!

Last weekend I attended a ‘practice run’ for Sarah Bird’s ‘Sew Inspired’ summer school at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in January. Sarah is the organiser of the Devonport Craft Markets, the designer behind Cotton Kiwi and a lovely, lovely new crafty friend I’ve made this year.

It was like being in Project Runway (one of my favourite shows!) – but without the competition edge. It was just pure fun! Four of us lined up in an arts studio, with our machines, piles of gorgeous vintage fabrics, books on sewing and appliqué, patterns and accessories to drool over.

We were there to learn, and wow did we soak it up. Sarah was able to teach us several new techniques in just a few hours, and tell us which sewing book writers are the best to buy, because they explain projects in ‘sewer’s terms’ – ie in ways that are actionable and easy to understand.

She was also able to give us hint after hint of how to make your sewing special, unique and sentimental to you and your family. Hence the title, ‘Sew Inspired’.

I don’t want to give away all her hints and teaching points, because if you want to know more, you’ll need to enrol in her course in January!

But my favourite two take-outs were (out of scores of notes I took):

• Learn what your machine can do - read the manual! Then, work with its styles - don't try to do the impossible, or you will set yourself up for frustration and lose your enthusiasm.
  
• When you are building up an appliqué design, think in 3D, textural terms, layer pieces up and use different sewing stitches, not just zig zags – it will make your design look more luxe and designer.

In the space of a day, I created a fully-lined handbag using Sarah’s fabrics, and two appliquéd teatowels....I am particularly proud of my bag and my fantail teatowel.

Find out more about Sarah’s sewing school at the Corban Estate Art Centre's website, or on Sarah's blog, http://www.cottonkiwi.blogspot.com/

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My Creative Space - Cute as a button

My projects seem to be getting smaller and smaller, but I think this is as small as I can get with applique - brooches about 3.5cm wide.

I love that I can use up scraps of fabric, and that after the applique I can do the rest while I'm sitting on the sofa.

Covered buttons have always fascinated me, and that's what I wanted them to look like, so I have covered a plastic circle with some wadding and the applique, and backed it with felt and a pin. I also have my eye on some covered-button hair ties (by Songbird Designs) on FeltAid...

The third photo is another 'little' project that is coming together for the Amy Butler competition this weekend, details here if you haven't seen them already.

Check out www.kootoyoo.com every Thursday to see what hundreds of other people are up to.

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My Creative Space - For the kids

This week I have started some projects for little people in my life, each piece with a different applique.

My daughter's current #1 obsession is Heffalumps... I'm not sure how much more to add to this one, just some hair and a few more outlines or a full embroidered face.

My baby son is growing up surrounded not only by Winnie the Pooh characters, but also his father's Star Wars memorablia - I thought this would brighten up a plain sweatshirt (thanks to a lily pad offcut!).

 

The hoodie is for a third birthday this weekend - he and his dad are car crazy and have a slot-car set, so I have tried to make it look like a race.

To see what lots of other crafty people are up to this week, have a look at the My Creative Space game on kooyotoo.

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