Fiona Marie's Thread

Crafty stuff...

Recently I have stitched a couple of stuffies from Melly & Me's pattern Stuffie Play. I have two more to make to complete the set and thought I would make up a simple drawstring bag for their home before giving away to a friend expecting in a couple of months. I used colouring pencils to add some subtle colour to the designs.

On the shop front I have new pattern releases from Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly - Yes, the Blueberry Girls have arrived in full bloom... and don't forget to have a look at her other new pattern Fun Girls Quilt.

Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse has produced two new little stitchery wall hangings featuring hand painted buttons from Theodora Cleave. These are compact little projects that fit easily in your handbag so you can slip in a few stitches while waiting on children at netball practice, guitar lessons, drama class, etc. Natalie has included the design screen printed on calico as well, so you don't even need to trace.

I am now stocking the Hatched & Patched range of Quick & Easy wool pin cushion patterns. There are five different animals to choose from. I can't decide whether I will be making Larry the Lamb or Gilroy the Goose first.

I had fun stitching up a couple of Chubby Birds, a new Creative Card quick & easy project from Australian designer Ric-Rac...

...and I am working on a few smaller projects with an Oriental theme to show you next.

I hope you found time for yourself on Mother's Day and got in a little bit of stitching.

Fiona Marie x 

Keyka Lou pattern sale...

These gorgeous PDF patterns are now on sale for $US5. Click through using the link in the right hand side bar to visit the Keyka Lou pattern page.

I made up the pocket clutch that I have showed you before and was really impressed with the detailed and easy to follow instructions, and all Michelle's little hints and tips she shares to give the projects a really professional finish.

I couldn't resist and have just bought the pleated pouch pattern to make up.

Fiona Marie x.

Bunny love...

There have been so many Bunny tutorials and Easter Rabbit pictures flying around the internet over the past few weeks (much to the delight of Jessica) that I feel like a high country farmer - overwhelmed by the little rascals. HOWEVER, that isn't going to stop me sharing my our stylised version. I recently made a number of these up for Jane Shand, the designer for Jane Henry Merino, who had bits of beautiful ultrafine Merino woven wool fabric that needed to be put to good use.

These little bunnies can be used to sit on top of an Easter egg as an Easter gift, or make a few to sit on a shelf. You could also add stitched eyes and a nose, and a small pom pom or yo-yo for a tail and turn it into a children's hand puppet. Download Bunny Silhouette Pattern. I have also posted a photo tutorial to help guide you.

Whatever you decide to do, if you manage to spend a little time crafting these holidays, especially if it's with someone a lot younger than yourself, you will be doing yourself and the younger generation a great service.

Happy Easter!

Fiona Marie x

Pocket clutch...

I made this cute little pocket clutch purse from a downloadable KeyKa Lou pattern which I purchased online. I have come across these designs umpteen times on other crafty sewing blogs and finally decided to take the plunge and try one out for myself. Yes! The  patterns are easy to follow and I really loved the tips helping to give a more professional look to the finished product. You can even use these patterns to make up and sell online, or through shops and craft fairs, as long as you credit the design back to Keyka Lou in any written descriptions.

The clutch has two pockets inside and a magnetic closure. I added the cute little silk/cotton fabric rose to the front. This purse will be just the thing for the fancy dinner I've been invited to next month, it's the perfect size for my phone, credit card, and car keys. Now I want to make a rustic everyday version and use one of my vintage embroidered covered buttons on the front. That's as soon as someone tells me where my time has gone?

Click on the picture below to view patterns in the Keyka Lou range.

Have a great day! Fiona x. 

Kids' crafternoon felting...

 

I love squeezing time into my busy schedule to get crafty with my eleven year old daughter Jessica. She is always looking for something to do and I have found it pays to have crafting inspiration easily accessible because deciding what to do, and finding the right supplies, is often the most time consuming part of the creative process. So I was delighted to receive a copy of the Kids' crafternoon felting book. The minute Jessica laid eyes on it she got excited - but unfortunately I had  a little too much to do at the time and promised her we would get to it during the holidays. 

Well that wasn't nearly good enough for a keen crafty girl and to my delight she took charge of the situation herself, went off and found my box of felt bits and pieces, along will some embroidery cotton, ribbon  and glue and proceeded to produce some very cute bookmarks, and quirky pencil toppers called Eraser Heads. 

I loved the fact she could do these independently. Later on during the holidays we did have a couple of book inspired crafting sessions. This first one involved making our own piece of felt using wool roving.

 This was great fun involving a lot of water, liquid soap, bubblewrap and elbow grease. We were making thin pieces of felt to create wrist cuffs but got addicted to the felt making process and started adding pieces of cotton and wool and anything else that was on hand, and making different shapes and sizes... Jess also made little felt balls for the Magic Balls and Sweet Felt Acorn projects.

The next session we had was making up little Plush Pins. Mine is the rain drop and Jessica stitched the Rain Cloud.

 

We still have plenty of untapped inspiration waiting for us in the pages of this book and it will be a while yet before it finds it's way into the bookcase permanently. I definitely want to have a play with the Zombie Critter Charms pattern - maybe one day when Jess is at School...

There are a few more photos in the Kids crafternoon felting photo album.

 

 

More information:

Title: Kids' crafternoon felting - 25 projects for a crafty afternoon

Edited by Kathleen Ricketson

This is a spiral bound hardcover book with 127 pages including detailed instructions to create 25 projects as well as a section on Tools and Materials, and Basic Techniques. It has a pocket of paper templates that are FULL-SIZED. Yay! No enlarging on the photocopier.

You can purchase it from your local bookseller, online at Fishpond (currently on sale at NZ$27.99 plus free shipping in NZ), or through Amazon. I have placed links on the middle column to take you through to the correct pages. 

ISBN:9781742700441 

Fiona and Jess xx

Fabric, scissors, thread...

I find it good for the soul to glance back over my shoulder every so often and appreciate some of the creations born out of my love for craft.

Starting in the top left hand corner and moving across left to right:

Top Row

Teana Purse designed by Bronwyn Hayes. Pattern and purse frame available from fionamarie.com.

Crochet square blanket is a work in progress, also in this photo is Jessica's strip pieced scrap quilt. Read more about this here and here.

Paper pieced hexagon pin cushion with a delightful little strawberry for your needles. This was a little project I created from the hexagon paper pieces available at fionamarie.com. I needed to cut down the side papers into rectangles. The strawberry was made with guidance from Martha's Stewart's Strawberry Pin Cushion tutorial.

Middle Row

My Quilted Coin Purse kitset made using fabric from Australian designers Umbrella Prints. These kits including pattern, fabric, pellon and purse frame are available for NZ$15.00 by emailing me at info@fionamarie.com. Additional purse frames are available for NZ$6.00.

Pear Pin Cushion is again one of my designs. It has been made using stamped fabric and will be the subject of a workshop I am teaching at the Handmade Festival in Wellington on the 2nd and 3rd of June 2012.

My gorgeous sock monkey's that my stitching buddy Karen showed Jessica and I how to make at our weekly meeting. Surf the internet to find a sock monkey pattern. 

Bottom Row

The World as it should be needle case from the book of the same name by Anni Downs of Hatched & Patched. This book is available from fionamarie.com.

I use my Hexagon purse all the time. This lovely little purse was designed by The Birdhouse and includes easy paper piecing and an easy zip insertion. Pattern and paper pieces are available at fionamarie.com.

...and last but not least my latest obsession yo-yo making - more on this soon.

Fiona x