airing dirty linen

Well I had to get your attention somehow! I love a bit of old linen, but preferably not too dirty. But I have been know to gingerly pick something out of the free bin and take it home and throw it in a bucket of soaker and be thrilled when the dirt vanished.

For the two weeks of the school holidays my op shopping was severely curtailed, but I did manage a couple of quickies. Amazingly when we were in Greymouth in the first weekend of the holidays the Sally Army was having a late opening on a Saturday afternoon, and between dancing we got in and had a bit of a rummage. The find of the day was the bright checked Onehunga woollen travel rug for 10 bucks.

With school going back on Monday my ability to op shop fully has been restored. Most of what I look for is linen and haberdashery. These are the ingredients for making things for my Mahana Redlegs label, where I try to be as close to 100% upcycled as possible.

In Motueka this week I found the two large pieces of floral fabric. The top piece was $2 and the bottom was $8, which I did hesitate with, but if I average it over the two pieces I'm happy. The photo doesn't really show the amazing neon pink flowers it the second pieces. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it. There's enough to make a dress or skirt, but it'll probably end up lining my blanket bags, as it's a heavy twill.

In the Red Cross in Nelson I found this old blue cardboard box. It may have been a chocolate box once, and it used to have wee metal feet, but only one of those is still there. It was full of cottons, bias binding, needles, domes and embroidery cotton, again I hesitated at $6, but I think it was worth it. Has anyone else noticed that the prices in the oppies are getting higher and higher?

And I also scored an old cotton tea towel for $1 (that's more like it). I love these ones with the crochet edging, but after it's wash it hasn't remained whole for long. I've had fun cutting out the flowers and leaves and machine embroidering them onto my homemade wool felt to make into brooches. I'll save the crochet edging and think of something to use it for too.

Joining in with Max's Op Shop Show Off for the first time in weeks. 

making

Yesterday as the southerly storm thrashed the South Island, I stayed at home and sewed. Luckily our area was not badly affected, there were some loud thunder claps overhead, enough to make me unplug the modem to avoid the computer getting fried, but compared to other regions we escaped damage.

Daisy had the right idea and slept all day on a pile of freshly thrifted and washed woollen blankets.

Before I could get down to the business of making I had admin duties for the upcoming Mapua Makers Market that I'm organising with my friend. It's the 4th one we've organised and I wished it got easier, but alas not yet. 

By the end of the day I had seven freshly made zipper pouches/purses. I'm trying to be more efficient in my sewing, but as each piece is a one-off it's hard to get a production line going. I make according to the materials I have on hand, what inspires me, and often one thing leads onto another.

I enjoyed the free stitching, or as The Teenager said "Mum it looks like you can't sew a straight line". So now I'm ready to try this on a larger scale and make some cushions.

A couple of weeks ago I found a 95% compete tapestry of a Constable painting at the dump shop. After a warm wash and iron, I turned it into four zippered pouches. I love these so much I've kept one for myself!

All of the materials that I used to make these pouches were sourced from an op shop (or the dump shop) - the wool blanket, the fabric used for lining, the zips, the doilies and the thread. As my motto for Mahana Redlegs says "I'm upcycling as fast as I can."

Linking up with Christina's Made By Hand and Leonie's Show & Tell.

100

Life is busy, with lots of things going on. I'm off to a market on 7th July, so the kitchen table has not been seen for a few weeks! I'd read about The Hottie Project on Lisa's blog, which is all about making hot water bottle covers to keep children in Christchurch snuggly and warm this winter. Having spent about seven winters myself in Christchurch, I know it can get a bit cold, and add into the mix houses that have still not been fixed since the earthquakes, I know its a bit of a miserable time for some people. So hopefully my hottie cover will cheer someone up this winter.

I wanted to make a unisex cover, so chose a lovely soft gray jumper that I'd felted.  I'd never made a hottie cover before, but it really is quite easy with Lisa's template, or using a hottie as a guide.

We use wheat bags to warm our beds, which are heated in the microwave with a glass of water (a very important detail). No electric blankets around here! I love my wheat bags - yes I need three strategically placed about my person, and in the morning, if I haven't kicked them out, they are still warm. Here are some I made last year from a flanalette pillowcase.

When I'd finished the hottie cover there was enough left overs to make a pencil case. I've been making them like this for a year now, but felt like a change, so the rest I've made have different faces. It's more work, so I might have to put the price up slightly, it's so hard to calculate how long each one takes, I'm sure I have a very low hourly rate! 

I had to find time to finish off a small painting (A4 size) which is a donation to the Suter Art Gallery's redevelopment fundraiser. I did the background at art group, but it took me a few days to work out where to from there.  In the end I masked off the shapes and used white oilstick on the background. I've titled it "Glimpses", and have now got some other ideas for larger paintings.

There are quite a few other things going on in "life" which I'll not bore you with. Before I knew how busy this month was going to be I signed up for the 100 Days Project, where I'm doing a quick Sharpie drawing every day.  Seven days done, 93 to go! Some days I've found it easy, and others are harder, it's definitely a challenge!  Here is Day 1's drawing. If you want to check out the others take a peek here.

While on the theme of 100 - this is my 100th blog post. I've actually been putting off writing it, as thought I should make more of a song and dance about such a milestone and hold a giveaway (like proper bloggers do!). But I haven't quite got myself that organised - yet! I would like to thank my faithful followers and especially those of you who write comments. Comments are great - I appreciate them so much, if I was a better blogger I'd reply individually to you all, but I'm not, so sorry about that.

I'll leave you with a sunrise, we've been having some crackers lately, and heading towards the shortest day of the year I don't even have to get up early to appreciate them. Excuse the power lines but I was in my pjs and slippers and wasn't venturing off the deck to get the perfect shot!

winteriness finds

Yesterday we woke up to winter. Can't complain too much it was worse for those further south, it just seemed to happen quite suddenly. Its slightly strange to get used to the new view, the mountains will look different for the next 4 months (see photo at bottom of post).

At least the sun has been out, so I can take photos of my latest op shop finds.

Find of the week courtesy of the Richmond dump shop is this Kosta Boda sunflower candlestick (ID-ed thanks to Google images). I'm not a big glass collector, probably because my sister is, and I didn't want to compete with her on Trade Me auctions - back in the days when I used to bid on them. But I can still spot something half decent from a few paces,as soon as I picked this up I could feel the weight, and knew it must be something Scandi. Thankfully the "$3 lady" wasn't on duty so I got it for $2. As for the design, it's not the best -  it took me almost half an hour in the kitchen sink to scrape the wax out of all those nooks and crannies, to bring back the shine.

 I've also added to my cheese dome collection (well not quite a collection as I need one more to bestow it such a title!) The front greener version was scored at the Richmond Sally Army for $4. I need to get the beeswax onto its base to restore it. It goes well with the first one which I got back here.
 

And yes I've been adding to the vintage sheet collection. I can't go past a good one (or two) especially when they're $3 each. This is the shameful pile sitting on top my couch waiting to be put away in the stash. One of my good friends asked me what I was going to use them all for. Good question - one I haven't quite got an answer for yet, unless I suddenly take up quilting. But look!

Yes, I finally cut into a sheet, to make a skirt for the budgies cage. It doesn't quite fit, due to dodgy corners,  but hopefully it'll keep some of the seeds off the floor. Those of you who regularly read my musings (thank you precious few xx) will know that we had a budgie catastrophe a month ago. Sometimes the best way to get over such grief is to replace what you lost with some more of the same. So a couple of weeks ago we purchased two baby budgies.

Sammy and Sylvie who are much more delightful than Jackie. We can actually touch these guys without painful bites, and they can be taken from their cage for a bit of exercise around the hall.  It also made me realise that Jackie was probably not very happy being in a cage all by herself.

Linking up with Max and everyone else at the Op Shop Show Off.

Here's the rosey-tinted snowy mountain shot from our deck  (a bit of zoom required as we're not that close to the mountains!)

getting crafty

I've had a few craft projects on the go over the last week or so, and this weekend I completed a few of them. Firstly I finished a couple of small embroidery pictures I started when we went away two weeks ago. I still need to frame them in the old metal frames that I collect then they'll be ready for the market. 

I've made two scarves which I've termed the "Frogging Scarf" because you knit it then frog half of it. I'd never done this before, my good friend was showing the kids (who are learning knitting at school), as it is what her grandma taught her when she was learning to knit. It sure is a great way to get fast results.

 
 I made one for myself, in a lovely soft wool that ended up giving an ombre effect, as can be seen with the three different colours above. Please excuse the bad selfie (complete with air freshener in the background!). Next I whipped up one for Miss L out of some wool I frogged from a hat that I got at the op shop for $2.

If you want a quick project try the Frogging Scarf.  Grab some thick and soft wool and the biggest needles you have (I used 10mm). Cast on an uneven number - 17 & 19 stitches worked for the two scarves I made. Knit in garter stitch for as long as the ball lasts or you want. On the last row as you knit across drop every second stitch, then cast off into every second stitch on the cast on row to make a loop. Sew in the ends.

Then for the fun bit - where you pull and undo every second stitch, all the way down to the cast on row.  Suddenly your scarf grows and turns into a light and lacey scarf! This one grew to 112 cm from 41cm of garter stitch. This wasn't as long as I wanted, as it only gives two loops around the head, but it was as long as the ball of wool I had, and Miss L is happy!

 Friday was a  bit of a wet and miserable day so I stayed at home and made a blanket bag, which has already been "baggsed" by a friend! She actually encouraged me to buy the two doilies at an op shop earlier in the week, when I tried to protest and said I already had plenty of doilies. I thought I'd better use them, so I sewed them onto felted wool circles with embroidery floss. She chose the first one which I sewed onto dark red wool. I thought I'd taken some photos of the finished bag, but it appears not - so here are the embellishments only! If you're interested in what my blanket bags look like here's a link.

Finally I made a kitty cat pencil case. I've been meaning to get around to making a batch as I'm going to be at a market in July, and these are one of my best sellers. Plus I've just been mentioned in a online magazine called The Jam Jar, so I thought I'd better at least have one in my Felt shop!

Linking up with Creative Spaces and Show & Tell.

patched up

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post - I just wanted to share it! Last weekend we went to see my aunt and uncle who live about an hour south of us. On the way we stopped at this cute old abandoned church. On the gate there were bunches of faded artificial roses. I had to tart the photo up a bit in Pic Monkey, if you haven't tried out this online (free) photo editor do.

This is what I want to show you - my first patchwork quilt. Well I'm not sure that it really qualifies as a quilt as there is no batting or quilting. But there is plenty of patching. I've made it for Miss L as she needed another layer on her bed for winter, instead she's ended up with two layers, as I've backed it with another woollen blanket, so it's quite heavy and very warm.

 It was quite time consuming cutting out the squares of blanket. Wool is quite hard to cut as it moves around on the mat. The squares are 30x30cm, and it's 5 squares across by 6 long, which means it's not quite symmetrical for the pattern. I used five different blankets, and made sure I had enough of the bright pink left to use as the backing.

As I've never done any patchwork before I used Susie from Flowerpress' tutorial for joining the squares together. As these are blankets it made very bulky seams and corners, and I couldn't find any other similar quilts on google, so had to make the rest up! Which was to top stitch, and clip the seams where the joins are, this worked a treat and it made the quilt look much flatter.

 It was a bit tricky getting to the middle squares with my little sewing machine. While visiting my aunty I mentioned I was looking for an overlocker and ta-dah she lent me hers! I've never used one, and it needed rethreading and cleaning. The Teenager was most excited and jumped to the rescue, as he's used the same model at school. So glad he's learnt something useful in Year 8!

So with the overlocker I went right round the edge of both the patchworked and plain blanket before sewing the two together. It was a bit of a tight squeeze to as the backing blanket was slightly too small, so the blanket stitched edge needed unpicking. I gave this task to Miss L who in her exuberance with the unpicker managed to make two small gashes in the blanket! Never mind mum to the rescue, I zigzagged over the area with another piece of blanket underneath, then embroidered her name and 2013 on it. Hopefully an heirloom in the making.

 Everything I used came out of my stash, and prior to that from the op shop. I did use quite a few reels of cotton up, so there are two slightly different colours on the top stitching. So it was upcycling at it's best.
 
It's the last weekend of the school holidays I should be getting the house tidy and packing bags as we are going to Hanmer Springs tomorrow, and then on to Christchurch, to see Danny Bhoy. If you haven't seen/watched Danny check him out. We all enjoy his dvds, so the kids are a bit miffed they aren't been taken to the show. One of the kids favourites is his skit about the Fruit Police.

Before I cleared the kitchen table I whipped up a wee drawstring pouch to put my camera in with the leftover pink blanket. I even found a patch with a panda doing aerobics for the front!

I'm linking up with My Creative Space and Show & Tell (yes I'm that chuffed with finishing this project!).

sewing love

My sewing machine and I have kissed and made up. No more tension troubles, it's all just plain sailing sewing from now on ....... thanks to my best friend coming over and reading the instruction manual VERY carefully. Yes I was using the wrong bobbins, only a couple of millimetres wrong, but that's enough to make everyone jumpy and jittery and not happy. So to celebrate this wonderful new phase in our relationship, I had to sew. It took me a few moments to work out what I wanted to do, then I remembered I wanted to make zippered pouches/purses. I googled a tutorial and followed it very carefully although it all sounded terribly convoluted. Which it was, I then had to uppick what I'd done and redo it without the convoluted, clever-dick steps. And to my amazement I made something! So I quickly made two more, and then the next day I had to raid the op shops of Motueka to find more zips and I made two more.

All of the fabric is out of my large bag of assorted table linen, which I've been buying because I can't bear to leave things at the op shop. The fun bit is matching up some other interesting fabric, another napkin, sheet or pillowcase for the lining.

So I'll be making some more for the craft market in November, and have popped some into my very neglected and unloved Felt shop.

I also finished off another "End of the Line" brooch - it was a commission from the June market. I know it took me almost a month to make one tiny wee brooch!

It's the last week of term, so I think that has helped me get cracking. Because I also so did some painting! It's still a work in progress, but I can share a wee 8x8 canvas I did last week for an art gallery fundraiser. I actually found it quite hard to work on such a small scale. It's called "Atomic Flower'.

crafty pieces

It's been a bit of a funny old week, I always find it hard to keep motivated in winter. Apart from making lots of soup and doing all the things that it takes to keep this place running I don't seem to have had much "me" time. Also following the crafty production that was necessary to get ready for the Mapua Makers Market, I've gone a bit flat. I'm often like that after an art exhibition too - it seems to take me a while to get my mojo back!

So sharing a few things I made over the last couple of weeks!

trivets made from two circles of felted woolen jumpers

draught stopper made from one I found at the recycling centre which I recovered with a nice piece of woolen blanket

A pile of six wheat bags made from one flannelette pillowcase purchased from an op shop eons ago

some more doily brooches stitched onto a felted woolen jumper

my sewing table looking remarkably tidy for a change!

No wait I did make something this week - I knitted a pair of fingerless mittens - which I have yet to take a photo of, so sorry for the out of focus shot of the work in progress! The best thing about them is that I found the wool at the recycling centre and it only cost 50 cents, as it was a vest. As soon as I picked it up and felt the soft wool I knew what I'd do with it. Now I have enough wool left to make a few more pairs!!

it was the first time I'd knitted with double ended needles too - now I'm looking for more at the op shops!

I also sort of made a crocheted beanie - but really I can't take much credit as I found it lying forlornly in the free bin at the St Vinnies! So I grabbed it and took it home for a wash and discovered a wee hole in it, which I mended then sewed on a granny square which I'd brought a handful of at another op shop a few weeks ago, and voila! the perfect hat for walking on the beach with!

Well here's to next week being a bit more "productive"! I'm linking up at My Creative Space here.