Craft ideas from Martha

I know I've been living under a rock (or so it would seem) but I have finally gotten around to looking at Martha Stewart's craft site and (to my surprise) there are quite a few projects that I really like!
 I say "to my surprise" in that I never followed any of Martha Stewart's TV shows and none of her books have really appealed to me. To be fair though MOST of the books that I have seen- being public library stock- have been a fair few years (or decades) old and maybe a little outdated... so perhaps something more recently published would be more up my alley? Think I need to do some inter-library loaning :)

Anyway I found the website itself to be incredibly useful and teeming with heaps of crafty ideas that I am keen to add to my forever growing to-do list. It was pretty easy to navigate my way around and from what I can see alot of the projects are from previous years magazines. Some projects have free patterns or templates to download and there is even a holiday clip art craft section with lovely fonts and images to use.

As the kids are starting to understand the concept of celebrations and holidays I have been thinking it would be nice to make them some individual Christmas items this year:

This stocking advent calendar  would  be perfect for small hands (no little doors or bits to break) and reasonably quick to whip up. However unlike the example given I would probably only put up one stocking up at a time- rather than the whole month- to stop them being raided by inquisitive toddlers. 

These Keepsake Stockings are cute and are designed to have an ornament added each year. I have already stocked up on Christmassy type fabrics but given my lack of free time (and ability to be easily distracted lol) a felt option is good to have on hand as a backup...love things that don't need seam finishing!

 This Nutcracker stocking set is lovely as well, but I think I would probably have to wait a year or so until my kids are old enough to understand the story. However I do have a friend who collects nutcrackers (yes Fleur I'm talking about you).

 If (like me) you tend to collect/hoard bits of pretty paper/card /ribbon etc for future use, and storage space is at a premium, then these Recycled Ornaments are a great way of getting rid of old Christmas cards. Like how many daggy reindeer/candles/Santa pictures (with writing on the back of) do you really need anyway?

Also here in Australia Christmas time is summer time and in Perth its usually HOT (35 degrees Celsius at least), so I think these baby bloomers would be great for the twins to run around in. Unfortunately a size isn't given but I don't think they would be super hard to grade up.

Now just to squeeze a few more hours into the week to get it all done!

Bibs applique - as promised!

Many moons ago (pre-babies) I said I would post more pics of the bibs I was appliquing. Well 14 or so months on (who knew children were so time intensive lol) here are a few:

                                                            A car for Cooper.

                                                                Hearts for Millie.

 

And a rocket with safari animal passengers for whoever is wearing it at the time!

At this stage of parenthood I cannot even imagine having the time to change threads so that everything matches perfectly but hey when you are pregnant and housebound....

The only thing I would possibly change about these (in hindsight) is to make sure that the bibs had snap closures insted of velcro. It's amazing how quickly little fingers work out how to undo velcro!

Baby bibs a go-go

Not much sewing has been going on around here. Many plans have been made and sacrificed to the gods of self-indulgent couch lazing ;)

Still desperate to do something I did manage to decorate a few bibs. Note that I did not SEW these up - they were brought! At $7 a bunch from Target they were waaaay cheaper than what it would take time wise for my poor pregnancy brain to replicate.

I decided to do some "simple" applique to make try and transform these bibs from "functional" to "cute".

Applique is much more fiddly and time intensive than I ever imagined.....

This is my first attempt, a giraffe design based on a onesie print :

I decided to colour-cordinate the thread with each fabric piece. Crazily time intensive swapping all those reels and bobbins over, but I think it does look better!

Hubby said I should sell these at a craft market - I said after a few hours working out and making the first one I don't think we would be recouping our costs or making any type of profit anytime soon.

Besides which I was kinda over it by the end of the fourth bib :)

This is my sewing desk after about 3 bibs in, note widespread mess and destruction:

If you are curious I used a really small zig-zag stitch to sew around the edges of the applique, not quite a satin stitch- maybe 0.5 SL by 1 to 1.5 SW.  Also I used the double sided iron on applique paper - wonderful stuff!

Will try and post the rest of the bib appliques up in the next few days :)