Free hand machine embroidery doorstop

This week I have been making a doorstop for my pal as a house warming present. I got the idea from a Poppy Treffry book called 'free and easy stitch style.' http://www.poppytreffry.co.uk/shop-by-category/making/
I would thoroughly recommend the book but in case you're feeling really adventurous, here's a basic outline of what I did.

Products used;
60cm x 20cm base fabric (seaside spot by Clark and clark)
2x 15cm x 15cm square or fabric for top and base
20cm x 7.5cm strip of fabric for the handle
Various scraps of haberdashery fabric for your applique. Mine included Cath Kidston pale blue stars, Cath Kidston floral,  more Clark and Clark, some bits and pieces I received in a starter kit from Poppy Treffry and a whole host of anonymous scraps!
Strong cotton thread in various colours (mine was Cath Kidston)

You will also need a sewing machine with the feed dogs lowered, covered or removed.

Choose a length of fabric to be your main background 20cm x 60cm. Fold it in half and in half again then open out to reveal four sections. Choose a design for each section, select fabrics and cut them out laying them on the base as you go.

Cut down the fold marks of your base fabric separating it in to four sections. Using the freehand machine embroidery technique, applique your design to the base fabric. 

In true Poppy Treffry style, I use my lovely old singer for the free machining. I had my husband remove the feed dogs altogether from it as this is pretty much all I use it for, but you can just lower them or cover them in order to move your fabric about freely.

Once your applique is complete, place the fabric right sides together and stitch down the edges to create a sort of inside out box. Leave about a centimetre at the top and bottom to make it easier to attach the base and  'lid' to your box.

You'll notice from the picture that I have switched to a more modern sewing machine. This isn't necessary but it is quicker!

Make a handle for your doorstop. Cut a strip of fabric 7.5cm x 20cm. Fold a little hem in on the ends, then fold in half lengthways . Press to make a fold mark then open out again.

Fold the outer edges in to meet in the middle, then fold the whole thing in half lengthways again to encase all the raw edges. Stitch around all four edges of your handle.

Attach the handle securely to a square of 15 cm x 15cm fabric that will form the top of the doorstop.

With right sides still facing, stitch the base fabric on to the bottom of the doorstop,  and stitch three sides of the top fabric to the top of the doorstop. (handle facing in) 

Now turn the whole thing the right way around and check that you are happy so far. ( I discovered a small hole on one of the corners of mine which I was able to rectify at this point before it was too late!)

Place a plastic bag with no holes inside your doorstop.(A sandwich bag or pedal bin liner work well) Fill with sand or rice and seal. Stitch closed the final edge of the doorstop. I did this by hand as it is now quite tricky to get under the machine.

 

Place your finished doorstop in situ or wrap and give to a friend as a charming house warming present!

I hope you have enjoyed this s tutorial, if you have any comments or questions please feel free to post them below - I'd love to hear what you think.

Cardio Christmas Card

Here's a last minute post for Sunday night. I made this with cardio stamps and versa colour inks, with a little stickles for added sparkle of course!

Let it snow!

Good Morning!
I think I might be beginning to get the hang of this blogging lark. Having started to look around a bit more, I realise how many fabulous blogs there are out there. I seem to have been drawn to a lot of the card making and paper crafting blogs such as the craft barn http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.co.uk and more recently discovered, Sir stamp a lots blog http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk. I also love having a mosy through all the things on http://mariannescraftroom.blogspot.co.uk. There are so many fun challenges out there to get your teeth in to- links to a couple more of my new favourites at the bottom of the page. I think what has got me most though is what a lovely community it is to be becoming a part of. People are so encouraging and friendly to one another- it really has been a blessing. Anyway, before I get too carried away in the sentiment of it all, here's a card I've put together this week. Hope you like it!

I die cut a couple of snow flakes and placed them strategically on the card whilst I inked the edges of them in versa colour Atlantic.  Effectively this turned them in to a mask for the background. I pulled the ink out around them to create the stenciled effect.

Once done , I repositioned them on the card and stuck them down. I stamped on the Christmas sentiment from cardio in versa colour indigo. 

Finally to add a bit of texture I raided my ribbon box and tied a couple of lengths of fluffy and sparkly ribbon down the side before dotting the snowflakes with frosted lace sickles glitter.

I'd like to enter this in to the following challenges; crafty ribbons, Christmas,  no red and green

http://craftyribbonschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/challenge-128.html?m=

country view, add texture

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/october-32-add-some-texture.html?m=1

It's Christmas! Well, nearly...

I am a self confessed Christmas- aholic. I love it! It is my desire to hold on to the excitement I felt as a child each year around when Christmas approaches. If you get going early enough I think you can prolong the enjoyment, and prevent the stress (well, some of it!)
This week I have been making a Christmas mobile. I picked up the bits and pieces I needed for this from the Pinflair stand at Westpoint ICHF show last weekend. It is pretty straight forward to do and I am hoping will make a nice gift for someone this year.

In my mobile 'kit' (which I purchased for £10) was a piece of panelled Christmas fabric, thick card squares and hanger arms, ribbon, and book binding glue. 

I cut each picture panel out from the fabric, glued it to the front of a cardboard square, wrapped it round and glued the edges down. Then I did the same with the hanger arms. N.b. You need two of each picture and four hanger arms so that you can sandwich them together with the ribbon in between.

To get a neat wrap around on the hanger arms, it is worth snipping the fabric at intervals of about 1cm.

Next I laid out all the panels so I could see how I wanted them, and then cut ribbon to the right lengths, including one piece for a hanging loop at the top.

Using a little more book binding glue I stuck the ribbon to the hanger arm and stuck the back panel to it.

I then sandwiched the front panel on top and let it dry.

All that remained was to slot the arms together and the mobile was complete. One thing ready for Christmas and it's only just October :)

Hot and sweet pickled figs

I make no claim that this is a tried and tested recipe, or indeed that it even works! The following is an experimental attempt to recreate some most delicious pickled figs I had not so long ago. They had chilli with them, and yet were still sweet, hence the title. Ive just finished jarring these so I shallnt be able to tell you what they're like for a while yet, but if you have an abundance of fresh figs and fancy joining in my experiment, please let me know how you get on.

Recipe

1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsps chilli flakes
700ml white wine vinegar
100g granulated sugar
1 split vanilla pod
12 fresh figs

In a medium saucepan toast the spices, minus the chilli flakes, until starting to smell aromatic. Add the chilli flakes and toast for a moment more.

Pour in the white wine vinegar, vanilla pod and sugar, and warm slowly until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a very gentle simmer.

Slice each fig in half and carefully pack in to hot, sterilised jars, cut side facing out if possible. Pour over the pickling liquor and seal up the jars.

Simples! I plan to wait at least two weeks before I try them, but longer may allow the flavours to mature better.

P.s. If you're not sure about how to sterilise jars, take a look at my August post 'feeling plummy.'

Crafty individuals stamp tapestry scenes

This week I have been experimenting with a bit of flat stamping with inks. I love how easy it is to be creative with the tapestry style 'build your own picture' stamps. For each of the cards below I have inked backgrounds using versa colour and distress inks (applied with my favourite dry baby wipe!) and then stamped the foreground however pleased me.

This one was made using the CI build a meadow set. When I finished I added a few highlights with the gelly roll white pen though these don't show up too much in the picture.

To  create the line of blue and white on this one I simply masked off the top with a piece of white paper whilst I inked the rest of the background. The stamps are a new set from rubber stamp tapestry ideal for men's cards!

To really bring them out, the fairy and toadstools are the only thing stamped in black embossing ink and embossed with glitter.  This is the same build a meadow set in the background but I have used Lindsay mason fairy stamps. 

I plan to pop these on to this weeks craft Barn challenge and see how I get on! 

http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/weekly-challenge.html

Animal magic - The Craft Barn Challenge

I've been a quiet watcher of the Craft Barn blog for a while now, but I couldn't resist their weekly challenge of 'animals' this week. I'm constantly making cards with an animal theme so I thought I would submit this one made with the hobby art owl stamp set.

To make this card;

Stamp the owl on to a patterned paper of your choice. Cut it out and add highlights to it with a white gelly roll pen. Set aside until later.

Cut out a circle using a fiskars large punch and stick it to your card where you want the moon to be, using some low tack tape.

Use clear versa ink on the little star stamp and stamp in the background. Emboss with a blue glittery embossing powder and colour the centre with a lilac promarker.

Use versa colour ink pads in a mix of blues and lilacs to create clouds, leaving some whiter areas for effect. Remove the circle mask and ink a cloud or two across the moon if so desired.

Stamp the branches and hanging hearts in black. Colour with promarkers and add stickles glitter to the hearts. Stamp your message in the lower right corner.

Use silver liquid pearls to add a few spots in the background.

Add your owl back in, in front of the moon, fixing it with 3d mount foam pads.

Mount your image on a dark colour and then on to a white card. You will notice I have left lower aligned the mounting to mirror the whites in the owl's eyes.

Sit back and admire your work!