Bedside lamp makeover...

 

Another wee makeover and a pretty dramatic one actually if only I had taken taken photos before I ripped the shade apart to show you....

but here is the old fabric which is terribly faded and stained and now I can't think why I put up with its sorry state for so long. It also used to have a blue fringing along the bottom edge the same shade as the braiding.

 

I used one of the unpicked segments as a pattern and used 4 different fabrics on the main shade in similar aqua colours. Above is a Michael Miller dot and an Amy Butler print.

 

And on this side a Heather Bailey print .

 

Some pretty ric-rac trim around the top or crown of the lamp.....

 

For the bottom edge I used some leftover bias binding and added the turquoise and green beading but when I put it back on the lamp base it just didn't look right... sort of like it had a crop top on.... so I added the white pompom trim which added the extra length it seemed to need. I was going to remove the beading once I'd added the pom-pom trim but have decided to leave it and it adds a bit of sparkle and did take quite a bit of time to sew on.

Now the base was originally a very dark brown so I gave it a couple of coats of white gloss spray paint which I must say looks way better than the drab dark brown.

Now I have never spray painted anything until this project and I learnt the hard way to always read directions when trying a new technique or product. It says on the side of the can to shake for a minute before spraying and because I didn't do this to begin with I was wondering why I wasn't getting good coverage. :-D

Nurturing creativity..

A few weeks back my neighbour and her friend asked whether I would be interested in making some fabric flower brooches to sell at our local Breast Cancer awareness breakfast. I, of course, didn't hesitate and agreed to make as many as I could. This was just what I needed to kick start a flicker of creativity inside me again. 

 I was given quite a bit of various types of fabrics to work with but also used some from my own stash to add different textures. None of the flowers I made actually use that much fabric but just take time to complete. Some of the bigger brooches can take up to 2-3 hours work .

 I should have really started making these brooches as soon as I was asked and I really did have every intention of doing just that. However life somehow keeps getting in the way for me at the moment and before I knew it I had exactly 1 week to make something, anything. Once I started though I kept coming up with new ideas on what I could make. Funny how being creative feeds creativity... 

The idea for these hearts came to me when I had just one day left. I have a couple of old brooches that have a safety chain attached to a pin so if the pin on the brooch itself fails and comes undone the safety chain will save it from coming off completely. I made the 'chains' on these little hearts by threading on beads and knotting every few beads. These hearts are quite tiny (the bigger heart is just 6cm) so were a little fiddly but satisfying to complete.

The breakfast itself which was held yesterday was a sold out success and a fun event to be part of. I ended up selling about 1/2 of my brooches so will put the remaining brooches in my Etsy shop if any of them take your fancy :-)

How do you feed your creativity??

Yo-yo's and yet more yo-yo's

I've finally started making some yo-yo's for Penny's 'Yo-yo along'. After finishing up my crochet blanket I needed something to keep my fingers busy at night in front of the TV as I just hate to sit and do nothing so making these yo-yo's is the perfect activity that keeps me busy but still lets me watch my favourite programmes. I've decided to do one colour group at a time so it doesn't seem such a daunting task although having a yo-yo maker certainly makes it quicker and easier. I'm up to 24 as of last night. Penny's making 1008!

And in keeping with the yo-yo theme this is a wreath I made with some of my leftover Bliss fabrics and a few yo-yo's. What do you think?

I really enjoy adding little details to my projects so I embellished the yo-yo's with a selection of buttons and sewed them on with some sparkly beads.

I also wrapped some white ric-rac around the wreath and did a simple running stitch with some pale pink perle cotton to keep it in place and a ric-rac loop for hanging embellished with some simple french knots. Pretty don't you think and its for sale in my shop here.

Caitlin's quilt revisited......for the bloggers quilt festival

Since this is one of my favourite quilts I thought I'd bring it out again and re-introduce it. Before I go on I just want to welcome anyone who is a first time visitor and I hope you enjoy what you see here and are getting inspired by all the other wonderful quilts showcased in this bloggers quilt festival.

This quilt was made for my youngest daughter Caitlin when she was about 8 years I think and she is now 11. When I asked what she wanted on her quilt she wasn't totally sure but flowers and lots of hearts are 2 things she did want. So I put my thinking cap on and decided to make a sampler type quilt and sketched a few ideas and pulled out favourite patterns  that I'd always wanted to try. I had no idea how the final layout was going to look like but just kept making blocks as the ideas emerged. I included a few of Caitlin's favourite things and also some scraps of fabrics from dresses and skirts etc.. I had made her. It took me 6 months to complete including lots of freehand handquilting of mostly swirls and of course lots of hearts. I enjoyed every moment of designing and making this quilt even the recall of my maths skills when I had to figure out the final layout of the blocks.

Here are some close-up photos of some of my favourite parts of the quilt:

A mother and baby bird with covered button detail on their feathers.......

The house block with yo-yo flowers and beaded centres. This block is taken from a Piecemakers Calender and I had always wanted to make it.

Caitlin loved the Felicity Wishes books at the time so here is Felicity and her blue bird. I added beads to her wings to give them a little sparkle.

Caitlin's friends as she likes to have a lot of friends around her.

Another bird with little stuffed hearts. She's an animal lover so birds seemed appropriate and I had always wanted to do this block which is also from a Piecemakers calender.

I think I made this block when I was trying to work out the layout and needed something to fill in a space plus I had these little flowers leftover from the other garden blocks. The green gingham fabric has served me well as it started off as a pair of dungarees then when they got too small I made it into a pinafore dress and now bits of it are gracing her quilt.

Another block from a Piecemakers calender and one that stretched my skills as I had to hand applique it and I don't really enjoy hand applique but I love how this block turned out. Lots of echo handquilting which makes these pretty butterflies puff and stand out.

At one stage of making this quilt I raided my Mother's button tin and had fun making these precious old buttons into flowers with a little beading.  And I couldn't resist adding the little beaded spider.

And finished off with the perfect coloured striped bias binding. I hope you enjoyed seeing one of my favourite quilts and don't forget you can get more quilting inspiration over here at Amy's Creative side.

In honour of Valentines Day....

This is what I've been working on every night for the last week while watching TV ( I hate to have idle hands!). I started off with a basic wooden heart purchased on a whim from Spotlight with no fixed idea how I was going to decorate it. I found some leftover red bias binding with tiny white hearts and wound it all the way around. Got out some red and white fabrics plus a little pink and started adding some yo yo flowers with buttons on one side. 

Then on the other side I made some felt beaded flowers and another with fabric, felt and a button centre.

To finish it off I made a felt heart ornament studded with beads to hang in the centre.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and it was fun to make. We don't exchange Valentines gifts anymore but when my husband packed his bag to go away this week I snuck in a little surprise present for him. Sometimes its the little gestures that mean more. What did you do for Valentines this year??

Quilt Eye Candy

On Friday my Mother and I went to the Hamilton Quilt and Craft Fair. We look forward to this annual event every year! There are lots of exhibitors showing the latest in crafting tools, techniques and of course supplies so for someone like myself it is a feast for the eyes. There are free mini workshops and craft circles plus there are displays from the local embroidery, cake icing, weaving/fibre artists, and quilting guilds. There was a beautiful display of quilts from Quilts Aotearoa 2009 hosted by the National Quilting Association of New Zealand which I've often thought of belonging to but for some reason never seem to join. This is a link to their website. I'm not sure why I haven't joined before. I used to belong to the local Quilting group but stopped going when my husband and I opened up a cafe at the same time as I fell pregnant with our eldest daughter 'Amelia'. As you can imagine things got a little busy in our house and I haven't been back since. Also most of the ladies that belonged to this group were all retired with a lot more time on their hands than I have but they did have a wealth of quilting knowledge and experience to share.

Anyhow let's get on with showing you some of the quilts that took my eye. I'm not sure what the etiquette is with regards to taking photos at these shows but there were no signs saying not to take photos and there were others taking photos so I took my cue from them.

I liked this quilt because of the beautiful rich fabrics used. The centre squares were made up of various 'oriental looking fabrics' and the 'leaves' and border from richly coloured batik fabrics. It reminded me of a quilt that is on my 'to do' list from a book called " More Quilts from "The Quiltmakers Gift".

I admired this quilts beautiful and intricate detailed machine quilting and embroidery. It must have taken hours or maybe weeks but was simply stunning.

The kaleidoscope quilt below caught my eye I think because of the simplicity of colours used. The quilting was simple but effective by enhancing the kaleidoscope effect.

This circle quilt was eye catching with the quilted circles sewn with a variety of machine embroidery stitches and again enhancing the pieced circles

This machine appliqued wall hanging was beautifully machine quilted and embroidered with the 3D flowers being fused with thin batting and hand embroidered and beaded.

There was also an exhibition put on by the "Creative Fibre Association". This rag rug was impressive with it use of very tiny scraps of fabric. Now I know what to do with all those tiny

scraps I have accumulated!

A beautifully crafted felt bowl and balls. Not sure what to call these felt spheres but they definitely caught my eye.

And last but not least this exquisite "felt/fibre sculpture of a lady and tree. I definitely could've bought her home!

Caitlin's Quilt

My busy husband is home and we have sorted the computer glitch out . So here we have my youngest daughters quilt that was meant to be ready for her 7th birthday but she got it the Christmas after her 8th birthday. Never mind it is filled with love for her, that is, I loved every stage of making this quilt. When I asked what she wanted she said hearts and I had envisaged flowers and butterflies so it's a mixture of everything she likes including an image of "Felicity" from the "Felicity wishes books" and four girlfriends in a row. I got inspiration from all sorts of places, going through my magazines and books, picking out patterns that would fit the theme and had always wanted to try. I just kept on making different blocks until I thought I had enough. The most challenging part was fitting the blocks together as they were all different sizes. It is all hand quilted with lots of hearts and also has a little embroidery, some beading and some old buttons raided from my Mums button tin. I think it took about 6-7 months to do. I love the fact that some of the fabrics are from dresses or skirts I have made her.