Felt Cupcake Toppers

Little Felt Ornaments

Alice has lost her Japanese Kokeshi Doll hair slide.  I originally made a set of three of these as Mr. Larkin's beautiful god-children are Japanese on their mother's side and celebrate Hinamatsuri, 'Doll's Festival' or 'Girl's Day', on 3 March each year.  We have searched and searched and Alice's has still not turned up, so I guess I will have to make a replacement.  In one last ditch hope, before I get started, I pulled out our box of felt cake toppers in case it had been inadvertently been tidied away there.  Alas, no luck, but as they were out I thought I would take a few photos of some of them to share with you.

The shapes were either cut by hand or with my Sizzix machine and then hand stitched and embellished. I wanted to have a 'staged' photo shoot with real cupcakes but they would never last long enough in this household!  So instead I used some vintage wooden cotton reels, they are definitely much nicer than the modern ones.

I cut the little birdies using a Quickutz die, but if you don't have a die-cutting machine simply cut a basic bird shape by hand.  The eyes are french knots, the wings are stab stitched and the edges have been blanket stitched.  I glued a little bead under each topper for a touch of bling, they really catch the light.  We use them at Easter, but they would also be super for a baby shower. 

The mini Easter egg ones are pretty cute too and with a pin on the back would be perfect as a little brooch or hair clip.

Everyone loves cup-cakes and this yummy example was also cut using a Sizzix die.  The sprinkles are tiny glass beads.

I made loads of these owls for a Halloween party, but this lonely lad is the only one left!

This bird is a little big to be a cake topper and would probably have suited being a brooch or hair barrette better!

Russian 'Matryoshka' Dolls

Felt is a great material to use as it is widely obtainable and is easy to sew as it doesn't fray.  I also like having a hand sewing project on the go as it means I can take it anywhere rather than being 'tied' to the sewing machine.  Now I better get started on Alice's Kokeshi Doll.  Watch out for the new post as soon as it's finished xx

A Quilted Cover for My Shopping Trolley!

Wheeled Shopping Trolley Tutorial

My much loved shopping trolley finally gave up its last hold on life this week.  I have sewn up the seams so many times and now even I had to admit defeat and consign it to the bin.  However, I could not bring myself to spend money on a new one when the frame was basically sound, so there was a last minute reprieve when I decided to make my own replacement cover.  

Here it is before the makeover

Not a pretty sight!

Look at it now!

Much better!

Here's how I did it...

Shopping Cart Tutorial

Supplies

I recycled as much as I could from the old trolley, salvaging the velcro and top drawstring.  The additional items I used were spray glue, waterproof lining, bias-binding, main fabric and lining fabric.

The industrial waterproof layer was actually given to me on a roll from my mother, who in turn got it from her uncle, an undertaker.  He was a true gentleman of the old school and was born in 1916, a generation who did not approve of waste.  I think he would be delighted to know we are still finding uses for his gifts! 

I then pulled the old cover apart

In theory I should have unpicked the seams carefully as I needed the pieces as a pattern for the new cover.  In reality I just cut it open - The old cover had been mended and machine darned so many times this was the only way!

Next I cut and made my new pieces

In the photo above I have already made a 'quilt sandwich' with the main fabric, waterproof liner and lining fabric.

The lining fabric was an old patchwork quilt so had wadding (batting) ready attached.  This should mean it keeps my frozen shopping cold.  You can also see from the photo that I bound the raw edge of the top flap with a jaunty yellow bias binding.

I didn't bother with a pocket in the back, as I can just chuck everything into the trolley itself.  The original pocket was on the flap which held the cover to the frame itself.  Here is the new piece sewn onto the back, I slipped it on to check the fit before sewing the whole thing together.

It fitted!  So I zoomed up and down the seams on my machine a couple of times. It was an easy project as there was very little shaping needed.  The top closure is just a drawstring which I took from the old cover.  There is also a little strap on the back, this fits over the bar on the handle and is then held to the rear panel with velcro. It prevents the whole thing from slipping down the frame. 

Check out the Granny-chic patchwork lining!

Quilted Easter Cones

Free Motion Embroidery & Raw Edge Applique

It's almost time to pack away the Easter things, so I thought I would share one more Spring post with you all before I turn my thoughts to creating Summer items.  A couple of years ago I made 25 of these cones, with 15 different designs.  Only George and Alice's remain, as all the rest were given away as presents.  However, my brother has taken some wonderful photos of the two I made for his children.  I also had a couple of photos from this year of the new cones I stitched for our god-children.

I free-motion quilted the fabric in a pattern which I think is officially  know as 'stipple or stippling'.  Surely just a posh term for random squiggles?

The designs have been applied using raw-edge applique and more free motion embroidery around the edges. 

The standard of the next three photos is not really of a very high quality, but the setting sun does at least obscure the damage caused by a certain family member who I can only presume was jealous at not receiving a cone of her own....

...bad jealous kitty!

Chocolate Crown of Thorns Tutorial

Easter Cake Decoration

Granny made us a yummy cheese cake for Good Friday and Alice and I were given the task of decorating it.  This is what we came up with;

Granny was really pleased with it, so she decided to make another two for the lunch on Easter Sunday.  It was such an easy cake topper to make, so I thought I would post a quick tutorial to share with you all.  However, we were a little short of time because everything (including the food shopping) had to be done on Easter Saturday, as on the Sunday both of our children were reading the bidding prayers.  Alice is still only at junior school and I'm not sure I would have wanted to read in a Mass with 200-300 present at such a young age.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I didn't have time to take many photos.  Fortunately, it is such an easy decoration to make that it doesn't require lots of in-depth pictures!

How to make a chocolate Crown of Thorns

Gather up what you need.  For this simple decoration, it's just three items; Greaseproof paper (parchment), chocolate sticks and chocolate glue!

We used our local supermarket's own brand of chocolate sticks, but they are basically that old throwback from the eighties 'Matchmakers'.  I know some people suggest using pretzels or bread-sticks, but these would take a lot of chocolate to cover them and involve much more mess and time.  

The first step is to draw a circle on your parchment paper, just a little smaller than the cake you wish to decorate.

You now need to melt some chocolate and using dabs of this as your 'glue' simply build up your 'sticks' into a  crown shape.  Here is our first layer;

Now continue in the same vein, breaking the odd stick into smaller pieces and placing at 'thorn-like' angles until you have something which looks like this;

Leave until set and then peel off the paper - I was surprised how 'solid' it felt.

Now place on cake;

The whole thing took less than twenty minutes, in fact producing and printing Jesus' 'Notice of Accusation' took longer.

A less religious variation would be a smaller ring with chocolate eggs in the middle as a cute Easter nest! 

Easter Chicken Bean Bag Tutorial

Cute Stitched Easter Chicks to Juggle or Chuck!

How do you fancy making some chickens for your Easter Sport's Day?

 Be careful though, they seem to breed quickly!

A friend's Mum needed some chicken bean-bags for an Easter Activity Day she runs at her local church.  Now when I say 'needed' she actually just requested square bags, but these quilted chickens are much more fun for the little ones!  If you want to make your own, just follow the step by step instructions below.

Pyramid Beanbag Tutorial

Supplies

Fabric, wadding (batting), scraps of red and yellow felt, small black buttons, dried rice or beans

Firstly mark out your rectangles onto your choice of fabric.  I made mine 12 cm by 18 cm.

As you can see in the picture, I decided to quilt my rectangles so that my finished chickens would hold their shape better.  If you prefer a quicker option, just iron some heavyweight interfacing onto the reverse of your fabric.

The next step is to attach the eyes, beak, comb and wattle.  The eyes are two small black buttons and the other features are simple shapes cut out of scraps of yellow and red felt.  One eye is hidden behind the felt pieces in the pictures.

I placed the parts by eye rather than measuring, this makes each chicken just that little bit different!

One little point to watch out for is not to catch the comb in your right hand seam when you sew the chicken up. I pinned mine out of the way to avoid the risk of this happening.  You can see what I mean more clearly in the picture below;

Once you have stitched on the eyes and are happy with the placement of your felt pieces simply fold your rectangle in half and sew along the top and right hand side.  Then turn out and use a blunt object to push out the corners.  You should now have something that looks like this;

Now here comes the clever bit.  We are going to stitch up the last seam so that the chicken becomes a lovely pyramid shape.  This 3-D shape is achieved by matching the top seam to the middle of the bottom of the chicken.  This sounds a little complicated but is very easy.  A picture speaks a thousand words so hopefully this will make it clear;

You can either then either machine stitch this seam or hand sew it.  If you are using a machine, don't forget to  leave a gap so that you can add the dried rice or beans!   

I used a machine, added the rice and then just had a small opening to slip-stitch closed.

All done!

Easter Decorations

Our Easter Preparations

Here is a sneak peek at some more of our Easter creations.  

Firstly an altered mint tin which is for a party favour.  It is painted, stamped and decoupaged.  The shapes were cut using my favourite Easter 'Quickutz' dies.  In the background you can see some decoupage eggs which started out as cheap polystyrene ones from the pound store.  I then painted them with emulsion and applied motifs cut from paper napkins/serviettes.  A bit fiddly, but the effect is brilliant, as they look like hand-painted creations!

Next is a little gift bag sewn with felt shapes cut using my trusty Sizzix machine.  I have also stitched about 15 personalised versions which you may have spotted in an earlier post.

Easter Trees

So far I have put up the trees in the family room and dining room, so now just the lounge to go!

Family room

Dining room

I made many of the hanging eggs, these ones feature free motion machine embroidery and raw edge applique;

I designed and quilted a wall hanging in matching colours, it was my first ever attempt, so don't be too critical!  

And finally some cones I made for our God-children which are waiting to be filled by the Easter Bunny!

Postscript

Easter Sunday

I didn't manage to take many pictures on the day itself - Too busy getting the table set and lunch ready for a total of 31 guests.  We normally have between 40-50, but Easter was so cold this year I felt we should have less as the weather wasn't conducive to having people sit in the garden.

 We did consider placing some of the girls around the kitchen table to give the rest of us a bit more room.  In the end we decided against it and just shifted out a couple of sofas as we felt it would be a greater act of family and community for us all to be together.

If you look carefully at the above picture you can see Mr.Larkin and bad kitty in the family room making the most of the last few minutes of quiet before the fun began!

Alice was in charge of seating and we had made some very simple place cards so that people stuck to her plan.  The cards actually looked really good, but the glitter and inking details haven't been picked up all that well by the camera. 

The outside of the house wasn't left out - I took this tree......

..and painted and decorated it.

The 'Crown of Thorns' made its debut this year.

Everyone was very well behaved and so a little guest made an appearance.  Here 'he' is in my study being got ready. One threw oneself into the role and the method acting was worthy of an Oscar.  The only down side being that all alcohol had been given up for Lent and so Mr. Bunny was a little happy from the wine at the table.  As a result almost every guest got a present and a kiss, although I'm pleased to say the Priest escaped the kissing part!

All the children and women received a 'proper' present, but the men got a bag of mixed chocolate nuts and raisins packaged with an Easter theme!

I hope you all had a very Happy Easter shared with those you love xx