Cable ties

Back in November I had a very nice evening with a creative friend, just talking about sewing and diy and exchanging ideas. Suddenly we had the table full of stuff and tried out an idea I found on pinterest and thought this might be great little gifts for Christmas.

We made only one fish and two dogs that very evening, but I couldn't stop myself and the following weeks I started producing and testing new forms.

There are lots and lots of fishes of all kinds:

"Normal" ones, very small ones and piranhas!

I made some more dogs for the dog owners of my family and friends.

I invented a mouse pattern (this is the only shape I didn't see on pinterest before, all others I found alike in the internet)

And this are the cutest teddy bears.

If you have leather scraps this is a great project to use them! You won't stop making more and more! But it's not necessary to stop, as everybody had lots and lots of cables around, haven't you? We have one drawer looking like spaghetti salad inside. It didn't get much tidier now, as most of the cable ties I made are now with new owners.

Do you want to make some yourself? I had to invent all patterns myself, as I only found pictures on pinterest, but mostly of shops selling the cable clips, so I could get the idea, but never saw a pattern. You can download all of my patterns here:

Have fun with it!

A bientôt,
Jane

Decorated lamp

I saw a decoration like that on pinterest and think it is a charming idea. You can use a lot of little decorations that otherwise won't be used or not recognised, because you don't have enough or they didn't fit in your concept or they are just so little. 

It just had been difficult to photograph. I had to ask little son to hold a white fabric behind so it is visible on the photo.

I wish a very merry Christmas to everybody!

Joyeux Noel a tous le monde!

Jane

Stars burned on tree slices

My darling helped me to realise an idea I already had last year: He welded some branding irons. 

They can be heated by a camp-fire or a gas-torch and then pressed on a slice of wood. It's like stamping!

I had lots of fun and now there are wooden discs with stars on all around the house.

I also took all equipment to the school christmas market and let the kids decorate their discs. It took much more time to heat the irons in a camp fire as it did at home with the gas burner, but the fire gave a nicer ambiance!

A bientôt,
Jane

Lutin deco-frame before Christmas

You remember the deco-frame I made in October with dwarfs in it? Since beginning of December it is now decorated for Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all lutins near and far!

A bientôt,
Jane

Selfmade fir tree

Already last year I found a picture on pinterest of a self-made fir tree with a slight magic touch, as it's not looking natural with its bended top. This year I got loads of branches from the local recycling center, and tried out how to do a tree like that myself. Not so difficult, I managed already with the first try. Other than the ones I saw on pinterest I decided for an all natural look and decorated only with fir-cones and a wooden star.

The stars you can see below the fir are also self-made and you will see them in a post next week :-)

I love my little tree and thought others might too, so I organised crafting sessions for making fir-trees and wreaths. At two evenings in our basement several trees have been born! No one was interested in wreaths, but around a dozen little trees made the people very happy. Lot's of fun! And all trees are different!

In the end I had only fir branch leftover scraps, that partly I transformed into wreaths like those I showed in the last post. Also there had been lots of branches from a blue conifer that hadn't been very dense, so no one wanted to use them. Last weekend I took care of a friend's son and we tried together if it's possible to turn those blue branches into a tree. It worked! Friend's son and I just had different ideas on how to decorate it, so it ended a little mixed. He took it home and I have no idea how he transformed the decoration until now. Maybe I don't want to know? ;-)

A bientôt,
Jane

Wreath for entrance doors

I made lately a lot with fir sprigs. For example several wreath. Here are three of them that I decorated. Two have already found other doors to hang on, as I used them as thank-you-gifts, and one is at our front door.

A bientôt,
Jane

Feeding birds

With the kids from the crafting class I wanted to make bird feeders from flower pots filled with a mixture of seeds and fat. Of course I tried out before, to have an example to show and also for all the birdies in my garden.

The birds around are used to fat balls and a simple feeding station that I fill from autumn to late spring with seeds and nuts in a tree in our front yard.

Now they are having a second restaurant in the apple tree behind the house. (This tree is always very late in losing his leaves)

A bientôt,
Jane

New zipper solution for pouches

Look at my newest pouch! It's a toilet bag and inside and outside with wax cloth. Okay, on the outside the bottom is synthetic leather and the red braid is a cotton string, but anyway perfectly usable for wet rooms.

Those who already read other posts of me where I were talking about sewing pouches, know that I have a particular problem with the neatness of the zipper. Not sewing in the zipper - that's no problem at all - but the point where the zipper is ending in the corner of the pouch. I hate when it is clumsy or bulky or however you will call it. A few years ago I finally found a corner technique that is working for me (have a look here), but now I think this corner is even easier and hiding, or better cutting of, the ugly corner. 

In this case I used the triangles I cut off from the lining to form the bottom, but there are plenty of possibilities how to make the end-points of the zipper. The big advantage is that you have directly a handle to hold when pulling the zipper. 

Like it!

Need to make more of this ... but when???  

A bientôt,
Jane

Deco-frame with dwarfs

I am so very behind with showing the creations of this autumn! I could probably post every day something for the next week. But I won't have the time I guess. But here is a projekt I develloped for the kids crafting classes in September and October. 

We made big frames from branches (in average about 40x40cm). Mine is a bit different than thoses I made with my class. I drilled holes into the horizontal bares to fix the vertical sticks in. But this took some skilles and tool-action that I couldn't do with the children. So for them I cut slots into the bigger branches and we fixed the frame with nails and wire and covered it with cord. You will see the difference in the following pictures. I am still thinking of adding a bit of cord to my frame too, for the rustical touch. What do you think?

We made litte wooden houses and dwarfs from sticks (I call dwarfs by the french word "lutin", because I think it's prettier) . You might know those two decoration elements from several of my former projects. The house is fixed to the frame, but the lutins and all other deco pieces are having a pin beneath and they can be put in changing constellations into different holes in the lower frame bare. 

The frame can be used from both ... 

The idea is that the frames can be decorated depending on the season. So we will produce this year in the crafting classes, lots of changing seasonal decoration elements that the kids can put as they like onto their frames. Only the house and the lutins will be there the whole year.

This are some of the kids frames:

We are now allready in process of making Christmas decoration for the dwarfs homes. You will see them in december!

A bientôt,
Jane

Autumn skirt and bonnet

October started today with cloudy cold weather and light rain from time to time. Autumn started!

And I started the season where we need cosy clothes by sewing a simple jersey over-trouser-skirt and with the rest of the fabric a bonnet.

 

Fast project and I wore it directly this afternoon.

A bientôt,
Jane

Blue patchwork bags

After all kids started school beginning of the month and the moms had some hard weeks to organise life around school schedules and afternoon activities, we finally had the time last week to restart the sewing group and even got a new member. So much fun to talk sewing again!

One of the ladies wanted to try on easy patchwork, but not a whole blanket! So I proposed making only one block and integrate it into a bag or pouch. They all agreed, ouff!

Of course I have to make an example first. Somehow the outcome of my first idea are three pieces:

First I made one log-cabin block, but it was much too big to turn it into a pouch. So I made a smaller one and made this little pouch (about 19x22cm and on the base 5cm wide). There is no zip and for making it more unlikely that something fells out, I closed the opening on every side for 1,5cm. I liked the blue/bordeaux patchwork, but with the blue pouch it looked a little boring, so I added some quilted flowers.

I doubled the left over block and put it for a modern touch on a transparent bag. Had some stiff transparent material left ;-) The patchwork block is not only decoration but a pocket. The size of the bag is 38x33cm and 10cm wide. For now the side seams are still turning a bit inside, but it will change in time when using it.

And finally with the scraps of the patchwork fabrics I made a key chain.

This is a nice set and will become a Christmas present :-)

I still have some more patchwork bag ideas that I will try out. And also I'll see what the sewing-girls want to do! Curious too?

A bientôt,
Jane

Autumn flowers garden

I took a little time for sketching and made a really nice drawing with autumnal flowers. I am really happy how it turned out! 

I thought it might look nice in color too, so I scanned it and printed it and colored with color-pencils.

But in the end I think I like the black and white version better. There I really have the impression to see (with my inner eyes) the sun that is shining so much lower now and all the warm golden colors. Probably I am just not skilled enough to bring those colors on paper. If you like to try, you can download the picture here (only for non-professional use), print it and have fun coloring!

Hope you enjoy a wonderful autumn too!

A bientôt,
Jane

Twitchy bird photo-shooting

Have a look at this funny guy!

My latest crafting and the first project for art classes that started beginning of the month after the long summer break. Unfortunately we had been so busy in class that I forgot to take photos of the brothers and sisters of my new friend. 

Today I took him outside for a photo-shooting. Even with the help of younger-son it wasn't easy. Birdy is so very nervous and twitchy and always looking in other directions ... probably curious to explore his new world!

Before reaching the flower beds he also had to survive a cat attack!

What a morning, for a young bird that can't fly! 

He now is exhausted and sleeping on my desk. Finally calm ;-)

A bientôt,
Jane

Outdoor wind-light candle-holder

Just before the outdoor season ends, I finally have the time/motivation to post some pictures of a crafting project I realised in July with the kids of my crafting class: A candle-holder for wind-lights to have in the garden.

This is from a boy of my crafting class

We took little glass pots (from yoghurt) and fixed with thin wire a handle on them decorated with pearls. Those wind-lights are hanging from wooden rods as well as pearl-spirals and bands.

Photo taken during crafting class

The rods from the kids forms crosses, that are either for hanging up or with a stick to put into the garden, as not everyone has a tree or other possibility to hang up something like this.

In the garden of an other student

My one has wooden pearls because they were the only ones I had when I tried the project, but for the kids I bought plastic ones, so they last longer outside (by the way: it is really hard to find plastic pearls with a middle diameter in pretty colors). And my light pots are hanging on one single rod, as I knew already that I wanted to hang them under our balcony.

Really hard to have nice pictures in the twilight. 

I hope you too had nice evenings outside after the sun set and enjoyed the summer! Now it gets already dark much earlier and it's quite cold to stay out in the evening. We need all our garden blankets :-)

A bientôt,
Jane