Ditsy Designs

Lets get cosy

Brrr...its a bit nippy this time of year, so why not add some texture and warmth to your living room by making one of these jumper cushions! They are so simple to make all you need is a cushion pad, an old jumper and maybe a scrap of fabric...

Here is what I did to make my cushion. I first cut off the arms of the jumper then cut down the side seams. With the front of the jumper I stitched a scrap of fabric into the scoop neckline so that I had a solid rectangle (As opposed to one with a scoop neckline missing from it!). Then with the back of the jumper I cut it into two pieces that were going to form a simple envelope fastening. I used the bottom of the jumper which needed no hemming to be the outer of the fastening. Then with 'right sides together' i sewed the jumper round all 4 sides and turned it the right way out via the envelope fastening...hey presto...

And not being one to waste anything I made cute sausage dogs out of the sleeves! Give it a go!

Puss

I do enjoy making a good toy! This is one I made while waiting for Felix to make an apperance...hes called puss and is made from some old curtain fabric and one of my favourite shirts that refused to fit.

 

The feet were a bit of detail on the bottom of the shirt it looks like i've spent ages sewing them on in different fabric but it was just clever cutting out! I put a bit of rice in the bottoms so they dangle satisfyingly! Here is his face close up..

 

The detail on the face was sewn in zig zag stitch, and then a couple of buttons for the eyes! If you layer smaller buttons on top of larger ones in contrasting colours it gives the toy a bit of quirky character! 
 

 

Farewell old friend

A couple of years ago I bought a 1970's Beetle, we fell in love, it was going to drive me to the church when i got married and I was going to make fabulous seat covers in floral fabric for it...alas it never got fixed up and never made it to the church on time and sat in my parents garage. But now its been sold to someone who will love it and bring it back to life, goodbye beetle xxxx

 

Let them MAKE cake!

What on earth do you make a 13 year old for their birthday? An apron? really? This was made for Jasmine, who has aspirations to own a patisserie when she grows up... very cool

This was made from a duvet cover, a pillowcase, an old tea towel, and the frill was from the bottom of a nightdress! Here is a close up of the cupcake...

The  applique cupcake was attached to the apron using bondaweb then stitched in place using a straight stich on the sewing machine.

 

Introducing...

FELIX ALEXANDER DUNHAM

 

Our baby finally arrived two weeks late on 22nd November, and as you can see he's already made himself at home! I've got various things to blog that I made before Felix came along that should keep you occupied until I feel like making again...or have the time to make again! Until then heres another picture of my lovely little boy being very cute...

Baby update

I'm now 34 weeks pregnant!! I've got 6 weeks left till my due date eek!! I have only 2 weeks left to work before I take maternity leave and I am VERY happy about this! Just thought I'd show you what ben and I have been up to in the spare room...

This is what it used to look like

This is the room now

We've painted it a gorgeous soft green colour, and have stuck to all white furniture. I still need to make lots of yummy cushions for the daybed so that me and baby have somewhere to snuggle for feeds. I've taken some shots of the various shelves...

Now all we need is the baby....watch this space! xxx 

What a rush!

2 weeks ago My friend and fellow crafty devil Lara asked if I would like to run a stall with her selling our latest creations. Now I've been meaning to try selling on a stall for a while but have always been a bit of a scardy cat..(do people really want to buy this stuff??) so I jumped at the chance, not stopping to consider that I had 2 weeks to make enough stock! DOH!

Anyway after some frantic sewing and bookbinding I finally had....not a lot! But despite the lack of time i think we managed to make a good looking stall...

 

Our stall was part of an oxfam event, 'Girls night out' and it was actually really fun! There was a clothes swap, jewellery lucky dip (very popular! I got earrings hooray!) a lovely buffet, and a raffle with some suprisingly good prizes! Having said that I came away with a notecard set that wasn't very nice and Lara won a tea light! We had slim pickings as all the good prizes had been snaffled! All good fun! And I'm sure we all managed to raise a good bit for the charity. Here are the ladies perusing the clothes swap rails

and this is my mum very pleased with her finds...

Sorry that they aren't very good pictures, I think the oxfam volunteers thought i was a bit mad taking pictures of our own stall! Hey ho...here is a closer one of the stall...

 

The gorgeous painted birds and mirrors are laras creations! Adorable! On the right hand side of the stall were my dangly birds! Take a look...

 

So there you have it mine and Lara's first stall...hopefully we'll have a place on the Saturday market soon...maybe...who knows?! xxx

Little Pip

Some time during the 3 weeks of 'resting' off work we managed to concieve our little pip! Hooray! At the moment I am now 22weeks pregnant and over half way there..EEK! Here is a catch up of its progress over the past 5 months.....

 This is the 12 week scan picture! Its so cute!

 This is me looking TIRED at 20 weeks.

 And this is the picture from the 20 week scan, baby put its arms over its head at the crutial moment! Hah camera shy already! Bit hazy but still lovely!

And there you have it...the pip so far! I don't want to bore people too much about it as this is mostly a crafty blog but I thought I'd share it with you.....

By the way we don't know whether its a girl or boy, its going to be a surprise! I'm normally impatient and rubbish at surprises but I reckon I can handle this one! xxxx

I'm BACK!!

Its been a long time since I last blogged any activity, but thats not to say nothings been happening! First of all an announcement.....I'm PREGNANT! Ben and I are expecting our first little bundle of joy at the beginning of November. Very exciting, and utterly consuming...hence the tumbleweed that has been rolling around this page of late. In the last blog I was off work for a knee injury, well, I'm well and truly back on form, and now i've got my energy back I hope to squeeze in lots of crafting and stories before the baby comes!!

A right old pickle!

I must be mad...its 8.30 in the morning and I feel the urge to blog my recent activity! I've truly got the bug!

Well my sewing space had got totally out of hand, there were half finished projects hanging off Lady Staunton (tailors dummy) and spilling out of bags, the material seemed to be breeding when I closed the door, and there was no surface space to actually do any making...DISASTER! so I've been busy sorting, streamlining and organising! Unfortunately I don't have any before shots as I was just too ashamed!

So now all thats left to do is get rid of the surplus furniture, buy new shelving units (from IKEA which Ben absolutely hates, personally I can't understand it!), give it a fresh coat of paint, and then put it back tidily so that everything has a designated home. Sounds like hard work! I can't wait, but I have to because of my rubbish knee.

I've also got big plans for the garden this year, at the moment its looking terribly sad...

 

I can't wait to get cracking on it!