Trying to use up yarn

I've been working on this afghan for a couple of years. My aim is to use up as much wool/yarn as possible before I buy any more. It hasn't quite worked, I bought wool but it was because I'd found a cute knitted pattern for a dress and mum said she'd make it up for my 2 year old daughter. Anyway, this is the last of the aqua and one shade of maroon. I thought it was most of the black then found some more.

These 2 hats were made using a pattern I found online. They're really cute and pretty easy, it only took me a few hours to make each one. The red one was made a size bigger than the blue one but they are pretty stretchy.
Finally these are my new idea for Mother's Day. They're asking for donations at school so I made these up using stamps I bought from a place on Facebook. They are 2 year planners that cost $1 and I've covered them in scrapbook paper.

On Mother's Day

I've realised that even though I am no longer on the Parents Club I still see things and think "oh, that would be good for the Mother's Day stall". So I thought "I should share these online"... and here we are. I picked up this frame at Kmart for $1.50. There were also red ones with the Wiggles in place of Dorothy. They're plastic, but I think if you really wanted to you could paint it with an acrylic and sealer. The back comes off so I've cut some scrapbooking paper to size. There is glass in 2 of the frames, so I found some Barbie accessories and put them behind it before replacing the back. My 4 year old daughter would be most miffed if I actually sold these, but she's happy to have it in her room. For a stall you could just print out Mum verse or have more decorative paper or pictures behind the glass. If you know someone good with making miniatures that could help too. Something out of card or beads.



Often when I'm out I see cheap mugs and cups. I found these 2 at Sam's Warehouse on a clearance table, they were just 97c each. There were a number of different ones in both ranges, although only about 6 with the Dad theme. Usually these will be $2 closer to Father's Day, which is still a good price for a mug. It doesn't cost much for tea or coffee sachets, it's a good idea to include sugar as most people would use it. A bag of toffees or wrapped lollies does a few cups and you can keep the price pretty low. I've photographed these with Coffee Shots from NQR, they were only 50c a packet. You just need to check dates on foods obviously.



And finally, this is a notebook cover. You get a pack of post-it notes and use card stock to make the cover. I've decorated this one with a fabric and a paper flower attached with a brad. I've bought Target brand post-it notes for $2 for a pack of 4 x 100 sheets. I use about 50 sheets in one cover but you could use 100 if you prefer. The mini pens were $2 for 4 and I think it would be a nice cheap pack to make up. You can get other mini gel pens, but I think mostly they are similarly priced. Best of all these covers are refillable!

Been a while

Ok, so it's time I tried to keep this updated. I'll start with these mini albums we made for the Mother's Day stall at school. The kids didn't like them so I thought I'd make some up.



What's in the kits? This is an example... some paper, embellishments, lace or ribbon.



I made the top one using the kit pictured. The bottom one is another example of a kit I put together.

Long doll

Yes, this is one very, very long doll. She is 109cms, or 43 inches. The pattern says she should be 47 inches, but I made her legs shorter, I thought with her arms not so long the legs looked odd. Anyway, I made this because my craft group bought the pattern for members to try. I think 3 others made the same doll. I'm not good with faces, so forgive her if she looks a bit strange. Most of the fabric was from my grandmother (anyone would think she has too much since she keeps giving it away LOL) I did get a comment about how old the green florals must be, I think her skirt fabric is around the same. I did buy the green gingham for her legs, and the maroon. Her hair was only $2 at the local crafty shop.
Anyway, she is the first doll I've made from a pattern, and I have another now I might try next. The strange thing with this pattern is that her arms and legs aren't attached to her body, they are glued in to her sleeves and knickers (I sewed them instead)

Pram blanket

I made this last winter to carry around in the car with the pram. The pattern was in a Spotlight catalogue earlier in the year and I loved it so much I had to make one especially for my partner's brother's first baby. It was a little different to this one with all the squares blue in the centre, then rainbow, then yellow, then blue. (Didn't know whether they were having a boy or a girl) And the original size was 5 x 6 squares I think. This one fits pretty nicely in the nappy bag so I can carry it around this winter as well.

Craft Group

I go to a craft group once a week, which sometimes gives me the opportunity to make stuff I mightn't otherwise. Last term we were supposed to make bags, only I was slack and didn't want to buy pellon and lots of fabric, so I ended up making mine in the school holidays. (I ended up using calico instead of the pellon too)

I'd found the floral fabric for this bag on special at Spotlight for about $2mtr. I looked everywhere for something to match the aqua flowers with no luck - everything was too blue or too green. The plain panels were actually from an upholstery swatch my grandmother gave me years ago (she used to work in a furniture shop) I even remembered to put an inner pocket before I sewed in the lining. Because this was a first go I just used the stripy fabric I found for $1, but it looks ok as a lining.


I told mum about not being able to find the right aqua colour for the other bag, so after going through her fabric she had the exact colour I was after. I'd like to make another brown bag, but first I made this one. Mum also bought the cool ric rac because the colours went with the other bag, and the patterned fabric was from another swatch from Nanna. I love the retro 70's look of this fabric and had to use it!


And finally, I didn't make this, but the wonderful ladies that make up the craft group each made a square for this quilt and another made it up. It was given to my baby girl around her first birthday, and I just love it!

Hats

I saw a hat similar to this that had been store bought, so I decided to give making one a go.

I liked the white one so I made another for my sister which just had to be black! She went to the UK and was leaving it behind because it wouldn't be warm enough, so I added a band (you can sort of see it in the picture) but didn't get it to her before she left the country (sorry -d-)

I think I got this idea from a catalogue last year. I actually bought pure baby wool and made one for my then almost 1 year old, then I made this one for my 12 year old which is in acrylic (sadly I have lost the woollen one)