Comfy Cat Cushion

The recent cushion-making spree was actually started by this:

No, my cat Skittles is not that good with her paws. But she took possession of the cushion you see underneath her there in her box - and thus forced me to come up with alternative cushion covers for the sitting room.

But this is the starting point: For aaaaages I had been hanging on to what used to be one of my favourite summer tops. It's an Empire line knitted top from H&M that I loved to bits - literally, because eventually it had small little holes right across the belly and became unwearable. But I always liked the material and left it sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe for an alternative use.

Then at the weekend I finally set to sewing a cushion cover from it. I simply cut the top of the shirt off and then cut straight up the bottom of the fabric.

I sewed it with an overlapping back for easy removal. The A-line dimension proved to be difficult to deal with - the resulting cushion was a bit wonky. I put the cushion aside - and Skittles immediately took up residence on the cushion and claimed it to herself.

Ah well, she deserves to be comfy, too. 

Happy end. She got a comfy cushion, and I moved on to sew my six small Oriental cushion covers. 

Oriental Bling

So this is how I spent my Sunday afternoon:

No, not lounging on the sofa in front of a cozy fire. I was a busy bee and sewed the cushions that are just visible there on the couch. This had been made necessary by the fact that my previous cushion project had become not only threadbare but cat-flea infested. Arrrrgh. So out with the old and in with the new.

On my post-Christmas shopping spree last year I snapped up six Ikea cushions at € 0.50 each. They are 35 x 35 cm in size, and since I had six of them, they called for a coordinated effort. Ahem.

A look in my much ignored fabric stash brought out a large piece of fabric that a friend had brought back from China for me. I cut the fabric to size, ironed it and then set to it with my sewing machine. Incidentally I found the reverse of the fabric nicer and more fitting with the rather orangy red of my sofa, so I made four of them and two of the actual fabric front. The cushion case is removable, so it can be thrown in the wash if the cats get too familiar with them, again.





With my recent Ikea bargain - the golden tray table - it looks as if I have a bit of an Oriental thing going on in my drawing room now:

I think this calls for a pillow fight, actually...

Best,

Linking to: Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage

She Chokes

A great day, just the way I like Sundays. I spent all day crafting. Well, that's after I got out of bed at about 11 am... *theshame*. But then it was all systems go with MDF, a circular saw and paint, as well as a sewing machine and some fancy fabric. Project MDF is not ready yet and Project Sew needs to have photos imported. But since I am impatient to get stuff out here, I'll post Project Choke. Forgive me for the bad quality pictures - the next post will be nicer to look at (because it won't feature me in it!!!)

My beadbox, as I noticed today, is littered with lots of beaded half-domes. They are the residue of a craft project I went crazy on almost three years ago. (My, is it already that long ago? I would've thought it was only last year...) You can read about that here. And here. Eh, and here. Anyway, I don't like loose ends and I wondered what I could use them for. Since I didn't have any tulle to make more of these corsage flowers, I had to think of something else.

A choker, she choked. Indeed. Should I ever be invited to a Baroque-themed costume party, I am ready.

I had a bit of ribbon left hat I used for this little project. Also, I needed some velcro and the bead dome.

I basically stuck my velcro onto the ribbon after determining, how long the choker needed to be to fit snugly round my neck.

I quickly sewed over the velcro to keep it in place. Then I hand-sewed the bead dome onto the ribbon.













That's it. The photos aren't great, sorry, I was using my iPhone and I might try and take some better shots of it if I have time. Also, I didn't stage myself very well in this - wearing my usual fleece top instead of dressing up appropriately. But there you have it, I am too impatient to re-do the whole shoot now.

Linking to: Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

Happy New Year

Flowers in September? Well, that's what you saw until now on this blog. And all of that in the middle of January. I may have completely ignored Christmas 2012 in my blogging life (at least in *this* blogging life) but intend to be back in business in 2013. So this is for you:

By all intents and purposes Craft-Werk seemed to have gone into hibernation. And yes, for the last while I haven't done much but get my equilibrium back after the disconcerting end of my student life. Then I got very busy with my professional life - both old (in journalism) and new (in photography) and that sucked all my creative energy. (Yes, I know you have heard that before *sighs*). But then January comes along and somehow in deepest darkest winter there is always this creative volcano that keeps prodding from beneath the surface. With college out of the way for good, there is no reason not to let it erupt.

So I got crafty after New Year's. What really brings it out is my Protestant frugality. But of course I will only admit to contemporary goody-two-shoes mentality aka environmentally mindedness *coughs*. Because the New Year's display above came from this:

A heap of waste paper from the Christmas crackers at my lovely sister-in-law's Chrimbo dinner. They were just too nice to throw away, I loved its sparkly design and I knew I could do something with it.

And so I got the old trusty scissors out, printed myself some nice alphabet templates and cut away...

The whole arrangement now sits in the drawing room, where before the Christmas tree took up space and then left a rather big gap. (For a previous Christmas cracker project, check out my "Birds of Bling" post from last January) It's all a bit bling, silver glitter on twigs and all, but at least the geometrical vase keeps it all a bit grounded - an Ikea bargain, btw, at € 2, bought in the January sales.

So there we are. Back in business with crafting. I have a few ideas up my sleeves, involving...

• MDF
• loooooads of tennis balls
• and some white tulle

Not in the same project, though... But watch this space.

Happy new year, crafty friends!

Last Attempt at Flowers

Right, the summer is nearly over. As usual I find it hard to accept that. I am fighting it tooth and nail. And just to spite the outdoors which is now beginning to deprive me of fresh flowers, I am bringing the flowers inside.

It all started here. One of those flower garlands. One of my nieces had played a little bit to roughly with it and the string broke. So I decided to take the whole thing apart and use it differently. After all, poor Claus (the rocking horse) was beginning to feel a bit confused, sporting a pink flower garland, anyway...


Essentially I picked the whole thing apart. You are left then with pieces of flimsy fabric, cut into a vague flower shape. I simply just stuck these shapes onto the branches in my vase. The hole in the middle where the string had run through, was handy for pushing the flowers onto the branches. And now the branches have miraculously flowered in mid-September, much to the surprise of my niece.

Yes, it is Tack City. But I like a bit of colour every once in a while. And for a free and easy bit of decoration this was actually fun...

There are a few bits of fabric flowers left over on the string. I already have a cunning idea up my sleeve how that could be used up. Stay tuned...

Best,

The Season of Fruitful Mellowness

It is upon us, that season of fruitful mellowness. In more than one sense. I am free. I have finished my college degree (admittedly already several months ago - but as is usual, I stepped right from the high of finishing three years of college into a depression over the purpose-less future of my now degree-decorated life). So my life is now mellow again and I can return to my second favourite past-time: crafting.

And with the season that is in it, my first project revolved around the fruitfulness of autumn. Yes, it is foraging time again. And after shamefully missing blackberry season last year and having to resort to shop-bought berries for my raspberry jelly 2011, I was adamant I was going to pick some blackberries this year and make that jelly truly my own.

And so I did - I went blackberrying yesterday, up the back of Bray Head on a narrow country lane. The blackberries were not all ripe yet, and you had to look hard to find them. Some even grew in the grass at the bottom of the hedgerow. And the bushes certainly resisted me - in concert with the nettles they seem to team up with. My poor hand bears the reminders of nettlesting and bramblescratch. In the end we came away with what turned into nearly two and a half litres of blackberry juice. 

(If you want instructions on how to make jelly, check this post from last year.)
Much to my delight, the jelly set beautifully. I came away with six and a half jars of what I call "really fruity" blackberry jelly. This is jelly that is made with jam sugar that uses twice as much juice for the amount of sugar that is usually recommended. The result is a slightly less overly sweet, but much more intensely fruity jelly. (Unfortunately I yet have to find a jam sugar brand that produces this kind of sugar in Ireland. I actually imported the jam sugar from Germany this summer. Over there it goes by the name of "2:1".) A second batch of jelly had to be made with the remainder of normal jam sugar - i.e. you use as much sugar (in weight) as fruit juice to make it. This is my so-called "really sweet" jelly, a stash of only three jars.

But as usual I cannot get the ultimate satisfaction for a job well done unless even the details are right. In this case the jars needed labels - because they had to be distinguishable for the two types I made. And I couldn't rest until I had designed my own little label to my own specifications. Such fun to play around...

Now, with the labels stuck on, I am really happy with my jelly. Can't wait to taste it. (Feel free to copy the image and edit it for your own use. Just by cutting out my name and the month you could re-use it for your own purpose.)

Best,

Wake up to Yellow

You haven't asked for it, but you are gonna get this anyway - an insight into my bathroom. Incidentally it is trend city: dark gray and bright yellow accents seem to be en vogue. (Just put "gray and yellow" into Google and see what comes up.) Alright, I admit - gray was actually my better half's idea. I was not so enamoured with the colour of rainclouds. But true to form and nickname, I came up with the bursts of yellow and together the combination really rocks. So follow me on a quick tour of my bathroom.

Now, just to give you a bit of context: The house I live in is over 200 years old. Hence it would not have had a bathroom/toilet originally. The bathroom was tacked onto the house about 110 years ago, I reckon. It sits on top of a three-storey extension at the back of our house. The sanitaryware is original!

And it has a funny little dome that illuminates it from above (just about visible in the image above).

This is what it looks like when you look up - the dome is a octagon shape.

(I need to do something about that awful light fitting. I know *sighs*) Above the sink you can see my lovely soap holder. I can tell you, I had *some* fun with that implement when I tried to get it onto a plane in my handluggage...

 The security guys had never seen a thing like that before and were very suspicious. Apparently it is a 1950s design from France, available at manufactum. The walls of the bathroom are wood panelled and painted in this luscious (!) dark gray that makes the yellow stand out even more. Here we have a detail of the sink with my toiletries in the background (actually: some lemon soap bought in Sweny's Chemist on Bloomsday!!! Once a James Joyce-fan, always a James Joyce-fan...)

Let's slowly turn to the left from the sink to the bathtub. It's an old tub - but unfortunately not remotely ornate, therefore encased in panels, too. It had to be re-enameled a few years ago as the water seeping from the original taps leaves brown stains on the enamel. As you can see I placed one of my new yellow prints by dimple prints which I found through one of my regular blog reads, Tatertots and Jello, above the tub.

On the windowsill I have a little nod to the sea - a collection of shells, starfish and those simple birds. Love them.

Oh, and the ducks. They are an ongoing collection. The biggest of them came courtesy of my previous employer, the other two were found in the sea!!!

Turn a bit more and you see the other end of the bath. I put the other print there - it's my favourite one "you are my sunshine" and I placed it there so that you can see it as soon as you enter the bathroom (the door is to the right of the sink). With the light streaming in, it reflects in the glass of the frame, so you can't see it properly. (Check yesterday's post for a couple of close-ups!)

I wish I had a before-photo of the bathroom, but unfortunately it was never up to much, hence I never documented it on film or digitally...

Last little turn now, and we will arrive in the final corner of the bathroom...

Here I have quite sneakily left out the towel warmer in the corner beside the cupboard. The brown cupboard is actually a bedside table which stores towels. Beside it is the towel warmer - a nasty 1980s design that is a disgusting beige colour. Spray job? Maybe! The in-built cupboard is courtesy of the better half and houses swimming togs, soaps and assorted bits and bobs. On the shelves are our toothbrushes and some of the most-frequently used creams. Oh, and a picture that used to hang on the bathroom wall - it's an old soap advert from an antique magazine from roughly 1913. "Erasmic Soap" - first time I saw the ad, I misread the ...-asmic bit *oooops*...

Anyway, that's the downstairs bathroom. It mainly gets used by guests these days because our bedrooms are a floor and a half up from this bathroom and therefore we eventually built a new showerroom upstairs. I have to say that the fresh colour scheme of the downstairs bathroom almost entices me to walk those two flights of stairs and come down there to use it... Nah, just kidding.

So, there we are. Hope you liked the little tour of the little bathroom.

Best,

Good Morning, Sunshine!

The other day I saw this really cute print on etsy. It really spoke to me - not just because it was yellow, but because it said "Good morning, sunshine" - and sunshine used to be my nickname, years ago... It would be the perfect picture to wake up to or to be greeted with in the bathroom when I get up to do my early morning shift. And it got me going...

Sorry, boys, I have to release you and wipe you down!

There is actually a yellow zone in my house. It's the downstairs bathroom. It has a few splashes of yellow here and there but it needed some more. And when I came across some free printable yellows courtesy of dimple prints via Tatertots and Jello, I got the kick up my backside to finally do something about my yellow love.  I scoured our "frame cabinet" - a cupboard in our sitting room which is full of old frames with some unnamed ancestors in it. And I found two nice frames. But *eeeeek*, look at the state of them:

That's already better, isn't it? No idea who the ancient tottie is - the family had four daughters, so he's not one of "ours"... I had to dismantle the frames to wipe them down - and of course I cut myself in the process. That's one thing I hate about the old stuff in the house: I am always slightly suspicious of the dust of the centuries that covers everything in here. If I vanish from the blog, you'll know that my right middle finger has turned gangrenous *ggg*

It also turned out that the frame on the right was actually not grey but green. Oooops, doesn't quite go with my colour scheme, but well...

Anyhow, I stuck the sunny prints into the frames and *boom* instant lift!

Curious what the rest of the room looks like??? I'll give you a look tomorrow!

Best,

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Everything's going to be green today! And since I have taken leave of absence from Facebook, I am communicating to all my friends all over the world via the blog - have a great day, Irish or not.

Smile if you like the Irish!

The leprechauns were pretty active around here. When we sat down to breakfast, they had turned our milk green.

And guess what, that made our customary bowl of Weetabix green, too. (Hm, not sure if I really like the look of this...)

Sure, even the little buns came out green from the oven...

The plan today is to go down to Dame St and watch the parade. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of this - mainly because the streets will be so crowded that with my height of a mere 1,68 m I will really only be watching the backs of other people's heads. I usually bring a stepladder along - but my kids will be sharing that with their friends while good old Mama has to stay at ground level. *boohoo* I suspect I'd have a better view of the parade on TV...

Happy Paddy's Day!

Best,

Felt Flower

The momentum was kept up today with not one but three crafty things I did. It's already late now and tomorrow is Paddy's Day, so I won't have time to write up all three, but I'll show you todays favourite piece of creativity - a felt flower.

The inspiration for this easy flower pin came from pinterest - or actually a craft blog called Homemaker in Heels. I saw the flower there and decided on a whim that I should try it out. And I did and was lucky at first go. Goes to show how easy this project really is!!!

Here's what you need: A strip of felt, scissors, a glue gun and a brooch pin.









 




Cut off a piece of felt, about 12" long and 4" wide. Never mind whether it is ironed or not - it won't make any difference to the outcome of the project.










Fold the strip in half.















Sew down the length of the strip and then cut the felt almost down to the seam.













Roll up the length of felt. Secure the last bit with a drop of hot glue.












Now fix the flower by putting hot glue all into the rolled up middle of the flower. Before the glue has hardened, bunch a bit of felt into the middle there to fill it in a little.











Cut a bit of felt and cover the bunched up back of the flower with it. Hot glue a brooch needle onto the back and tidy up all the glue strings.













Presto!

































Look how extraordinarily pleased I am with my flower pin. I am grinning like a gingerbread horse (sorry, direct translation from German - but you get the picture... I am happy as Larry, pleased as Peter and delighted as Delilah...) You can almost hear me say tadahhhhhhhhh...











 Anyhow - if you are looking for a simple flower brooch to update an outfit, to prettify a hat or to bump up a bag, this is the project to do as you will more than likely have all ingredients at home. I think I will make many more of these - as pressies for friends, mums and goodie bag contents for the next girly birthday party. It even looks good in my tin of shamrock, planted just in time for Paddy's Day.

Best,

Linking this to:

Tickled Pink @ 504 Main
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous