When is an egg cup not an egg cup?

When it is a pincushion----
Earlier in the year my daughter and I went op-shopping and among many of the bargains I found was a packet of 4 wooden egg cups---you know the ones--you paint on them or collage on them.
Well I left them by accident in my daughters car and then forgot all about them.
Several weeks ago she dropped them off to me--they had gotten lost in her car.

I asked Stephen to paint them for me (2 white,1 black and a blue one)(.

I had decided to make them into pincushions.
I made a ruffle out of some lace off the edge of an old tablecloth---

Put some wadding inside the egg cup to fill the hole a bit-then I made a pillow out of an old doyley and glued them all together.
You can see the finished one in the photo down the bottom of the post.

I was at our church op-shop and found six white ceramic egg cups for $2  so I grabbed them as well--
This one has vintage lace on it---

And the cushion is covered with a piece of a vintage doyley-----and some pink flower motifs.

Here are 4 of them finished-----------

And a close up (the centre cushion is wool fabric with hand enbroidery)

I have a few more done but I haven't photographed them--but you get the idea.

Buttons -Buttons -Buttons

Back in November last year I did a class with Karen Ruane about covered buttons and embroidering on them.
They have been lovingly stored away in a container waiting to be mounted on "something " so that I could enter them in this years Embroiderers Guild exhibition.
With said exhibition only 5 weeks away I thought it was about time I did something about it.
The first ones were mounted on an Artists box canvas 10cm x 30cm on which I have attached a piece of lace down the middle and then I pierced a hole and inserted the button hook through and anchored them at the back.
The middle one (the Dorset Button) is stitched on by hand.

A slightly different view.

Here is a close up of the bottom three.

 The second one is on a purchased frame that I got at our Church op-shop for $1

It is hard to see what the buttons really look like in this photo but if you go   here - here and here you will see the post about where I had made them.
I have one more to mount and then they will all be done.

I Can't Stop......

I am like a woman possessed, I can't stop producing stuff.
Well to be honest with you I have a few things coming up that I have to make items to sell.
Firstly is our Church fete the weekend after next and then the Guild exhibition is in the middle of October.
It is a good thing that these events didn't happen in April/May because they wouldn't have received anything from me.
Anyway I decided to show the girls at our church craft group how I make cards from recycled Christmas and birthday cards.
It is very easy and not expensive which allows the fete people to sell them for a very reasonable price.
We all know that when people go to a fete they want to get bargains so one has to make things that will sell fairly cheap.
I am not a believer that just because things are donated they should be sold for next to nothing.
I feel sorry for people who knit items for sale only to find that they are being sold for less than the wool cost them.
I once made some cakes and slices for a cake stall and the engredients cost me around $40 and I was a bit upset to see that they all sold for around $25.
Next time I just gave them the money--saved me time and electricity and they got more money.
I am now stepping off my soapbox( goodness me how did I get off on that tangent?)
So here are a few of the cards  (we made 24 all up)

I cut the pictures off old cards and then mount them onto another coloured cards stock then add them onto a card and bingo I have a new card.
Next I add an envelope and pop it in a cello bag and it is ready to go.
The ladies had a great time making them too.

Paper Arts Day

Today was the Paper Arts group day at the embroiderers Guild and we had a great day.
I haven't been to the group for ages because of my creative slump but now that things have improved I decided to go and see what they were doing.
They were making a 6" x 6" book so I joined in.
First thing I did was create some painted papers which I stuck on to some book board to form the covers.
I started with white cartridge paper

I scraped the papers with umber paint using a piece of plastic-------------------

                                       
Then I added some fawn coloured paint-I can't remember the colour name of it-which I scraped on with the plastic again---------

                                     

Next was a creamy coloured paint which was added with the plastic again----



                                    

Then I spritzed it with water and also dropped water on it-and left it for a few seconds then scraped it again which left this amazing bark looking piece of paper.


                                       

This is a close up of a corner section.



                                    


When the papers were dry I then cut them to 6" x 6" size and stuck them to the book board covers and punched the holes in the side for the bindings.



                                        

I cut the pages a bit smaller that the 6 x 6 size and punched the holes down the side of them.


                                         

Here is how I began lacing the front cover and the pages together.

The finished book (almost).

This is how the centre of the book looks opened out.

                                     

Now to add the story--whatever that may be.

Pandora's Box

On Thursday I was given  a small box approx 25cm long x 17cm wide x 4 cm deep (10" x 7"x 1.5" deep).
It was a very old box which had originally contained (as the box said) a  "Brassiere"- colour Tea Rose-size 40 and cost 11shillings and 6 pence.
Inside the box were a lot of crochet samples- very small and slightly discoloured.
They are beautiful but are firm to the touch.
There is a small ball of thread in the box as well and it has a rather course feel to it much like fine string.
This could be because of the length of time it has been hidden away in the box or maybe that was the type of thread used back in those days.
There was also about 6  instruction sheets from old doyleys with a coloured photo on it.
The brand name on most of them is Fautley's which I must admit I have never heard of before.
At a rough guess I would say that the contents are around 50/60 years old.
So here you are --take a look for yourself.
The box----

The contents-------------

The tin------------------------

Both opened------------------
 

What was inside the tin-------------------------

This was in the box- I think  it is a baby's bib-------------------

and these are the other things that were in the box----------------

The round piece is about the size of a bread and butter plate.
The beautiful little black motif is slightly damaged but it is so delicate.
I could look at these all day.

Hip Hip Hooray

Today is the 51st anniversary of my 21st birthday------

I was going to have a cake with 72 candles on it but I was afraid it would start a bushfire so I have settled for a cupcake instead.
I am going to have a relaxing day doing nothing (as usual)---going out to lunch with the no.1 man in my life to a boutique eating place--maybe I will have a nanny nap later in the afternoon---but the best thing is I won't have to cook dinner tonight--yippee.

Cards-Cards-Cards

The last few days I have been busy making cards for the Embroiderers Guild exhibition.
I recently asked people at the guild if they had any embroidery samples or little cross stitch embroideries that they didn't want if they would like to donate them to the sales table and I would make them into cards for the Guild to sell at the exhibition.
So far I have made about 40 cards.

Here are some of the samples that I received--they are not very big but I am able to use them.

And the cards that I made them into------

The small embroidery on the centre one is only an inch square.

The card below is from a small sample that a lady had used when teaching someone to do Silk Ribbon embroidery------

Then there were a lot of Hardanger samples also from the lady who was a teacher.
The cloth was the one she did all her samples on and I couldn't bring myself to throw it out so I cut out all the little sections and added them to cards.

Then there were embroideries on painted vliesofix background fabrics ---

Finally there are some embroideries depicting an Australian sunset.
One of the members painted the Aida cloth in the orange tones that depict the sunsets in the west and you can see the silhouettes of the trees and birds.
Different people have embroidered these two and that is the reason these embroideries are at different heights.

Now I have to start making my own cards to sell---it's a good thing that my Mojo has returned.