Sweet Charity!

Meet little Charity!
Can you believe she is made from socks and a trimming from a charity shop item?
Well - plus a few hours of work too, of course!
Even her gorgeous, curly hair is made from recycled wool.
And yet, I think you will agree, she will make the perfect bridesmaid or party girl.

And then we have the neat little "Jozart" design for a "Hang-about"

I made this one in jazzy bright pink and black fabric with a black lining.

It has a weighted non- slip pad to balance it over the chair arm.

A great little aid for storing all those bits and bobs whilst you are crafting in front of the TV.

I shall pop them in the shop on funday Monday after we have awarded our final "Joannie" award.
Don't forget you have to be in it to win it!! Only 2 days left now!
The fab prize of mystery parcels worth a total of over £50 will go to one of our followers who has left a comment here.
So, if you want to sign up to the blog draw then pop over, become a follower and leave a comment!!
Good luck

New life for spare scarf

"Here she goes again!" I hear you shout.
Well, I am keeping up my "20 minutes of sewing a day" along with an increasing group on a popular blog - Marmaladerose
I thought it might be tricky to sew creatively every day, but so far I have not found it a problem. Maybe the snow, and keeping cosy in my little sewing room, has something to do with it.



Yesterday I surfed the net looking for ideas. Of course there are lots of fab blogs out there with folk making amazing stuff. I tend to get carried away, following link after link and delving into the most wonderful work by crafty folk all over the world!
So, when I chose my project for the afternoon, my head was full of all the lovely stuff I had been looking at.


I decided that I would upcycle a scarf and see if I could make a quick and easy bag with it.






Obviously I could have made just a plain bag but my embellishing machine was calling to me, so I was tempted to decorate the flap of the bag.
Past experience has taught me to do the tricky bits first, so I set to and embellished one end of my scarf.
The rest was simple.
I folded my scarf in half - right sides together - then
stitched down both sides and turned it right side out.


I folded the purse section up (roughly one third over the middle third leaving the flap as the last third) and pinned it ready to top stitch the seams through all thicknesses.












I had some toning fabric from which I cut a strap.
Just a little more embellishing with matching yarns teamed the strap to the bag flap.

I folded the strap in half lengthwise, right sides together, and stitched down the long side and across the one end. Then turned it rightside out and attached it to the sides of the bag.

Here is the result of my afternoon - more than 20 minutes I know - but who cares?

I suppose I could have added inside pockets, fasteners or other embellishments but for a first attempt at a scarf upcycle I was pleased with the result.

Now I shall be on the look out for scarves on my charity shop visits!