My Threadbear Life

Friday, July 18, 2025

July Sewing (~ Part One ~) Kitsets Etc . . . . . . . .

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I have decided to split this Sewing Post into two parts as it is rather long-winded.

The first bunch of daff's & Jonquils picked earlier this week - these looked so cheerful on my kitchen bench 💛

(The marks at the top are just the velour been rubbed the wrong way, not dirt as it appears)

Using some birthday money I purchased a new sewing chair in the 50% off sales. My old one came from an Op-shop & was always uncomfortable. I adore this new pink velveteen one & - so far - no cats have discovered it (!!) 🤞

When I did my sewing room clean-out in * this post * I put aside quite a variety of kitsets that I'd either been gifted, or purchased in recent years. I wanted to get them made up & either used, or put in the gift box for someone else to enjoy. I decided to make a start on some of these.

The first one I sewed was this triangle pouch made in a sashiko design fabric, fully lined & with a cute owl zipper-pull.

The fun thing about kitsets is that everything is there, you don't have to think about what fabrics, trims etc ... you just Sew!

Choosing the simpler ones first 😉, I next made up these "Woodland Santas" hanging tree decorations. These are only the size of a pen, so not large. I thought these might be the perfect size to include in my Grandsons Advent calendar stockings.

This Snowflake Table Runner was included in a Tilda Christmas box that I purchased in 2022 from Kitty Rose Cottage. There were 6 kitsets in the box & this was my last one to be made up. I loved the fussy cut hexagon Tilda bird in the centre. I had started the English Paper Piecing on this awhile ago, put it aside & not come back to it. I am so pleased it is finished now & can be used in this years Christmas decorating.

I hand quilted mine & also added a snowflake charm to each corner as I found a packet of different snowflake charms in my stash.

When I visited my friend Claire in * this post *, & she presented me with the china bowl filled with beautiful goodies ... included was a tiny French General Charm pack. So I sewed it up into a small mat ~ this one was machine quilted ~ I just adore this fabric range. 💓

Next project (not a kitset) was a new ironing board cover. I'd purchased a generous length of Cath Kidston fabric last year to recover my board & make a new curtain for the spare bedroom. (A curtain for a shelf, not the window)

To make a new cover I simply remove the old one, take out the elastic, lay it on the floor & cut around it, sew a casing, thread with new elastic, Viola ~ Easy Peasy !

The same with making the curtain - I used the old one for a "pattern".

As you can see above, I had the usual ~~supervision~~ assistance with this project (!!) 😳

And Yes I did have to wait 'til she woke up again to continue because I am pathetic like that ! 🐈

But the new curtain turned out lovely & so fresh looking.

I had the loveliest visit from my friend Sally last weekend & she presented me with this beautiful book as a birthday gift. I absolutely adore Jessie Chorley's style & work, & this book has inspired me to do more slow stitch work.

This verse above rather sums up my sewing room currently dear friends & I have lots of "ideas lying around"

I am off to have a tidy-up but I will be back during the week with Part two.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Rope Bowls, Crafting With Sid & Little One Update

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Yesterday I picked my first vase of Daphne flowers - this brightened my day immensely, it is one of my favorite fragrances. Then this morning I noticed the first daffodil had burst into bloom in my garden - how wonderful 💛

I subscribe to crafthousemagic on YouTube and * this video * popped up a couple of months ago. It sparked my interest as I remembered I had two hanks of 7 mm cotton cording in my craft cupboard, purchased a couple of years ago now. I decided to have a go right then & there. My first bowl turned out great ...I made mine deeper than the one in the video & not as wide in the base. I cut 1 inch strips of Tilda fabrics & used these in my rows. It was a lot of fun seeing it grow & I was delighted with the shape it turned out.

I decided to fill it with some treaty bits & gift to a dear friend who was due to have a birthday early June.

Wrapped up in cellophane & ribbon it looked wonderful & my friend is finding it useful to store small fabric blocks in.

I decided to make another one for another dear friend whose birthday was early July. As my friend loves blues & taupes I used a combination of these colours for my strips. This bowl turned out great too & I did the same .. filled it with special bits & posted it off to her.

My friend has styled hers with a trailing plant in & I think it looks wonderful - I love the raw texture of the bowl paired with the natural houseplant 💚 I am keen to make more of these - they were so enjoyable.

I have had Sid odd days this week & he has also attended a school holiday sports programme. We did arts & crafts together.

Alec is no longer interested in crafting & makes this quite clear "I think I'm a bit old for that now Granny". Well, I said ~ I'm 65 & I still enjoy it!

I am saddened to feel that Sid may soon no longer enjoy this either so I make the most of it while he is still keen.

He made a robot called Bob & some other various "weapons".

I've just realised my blue bird has lost its black beak (!!)

Meanwhile Granny had watched yet-another-YouTube-video & seen how to make these sweet little origami style birds.

* Here * is the video if you are interested ~ it is only 5 minutes long. I am always on the look-out for simple creative projects that might interest my Grandsons but Sid was not keen on making these. I made mine into a mobile.

Earlier this week we popped into the Salvation Army Op-shop & Sid got a soft toy for $4, & Granny bought the sweet little rabbit egg cup for $2.50. I made it in to a pincushion with some delightful Peter Rabbit fabric in my stash. I am thinking about rubbing some dark wax over him to take the gloss off, not sure as yet 😳

This month marks 2 years since The Mr bought Little One home from the farm. As much as I would love to say otherwise, they still do not get along. This photo taken last night is about as close as it gets, & just look at that ginger girls face, she is figuring out if she has the energy to run & hiss at him or not.

Here is an example of doing as he pleases ... NO CATS ALLOWED ON THE GOOD BED QUILT!!

I love all my cats but Little One is an entirely different nature altogether. He is now a teenage boy in Cat Years & like all teenage boys, he knows everything, doesn't listen, does as he pleases, & breaks all the rules (!!)

Believe me, I should know, I have only raised boys.

I have long ago given up hope that they will all get along - it's lucky we adore them all so much that we ~~bow~~ & ~~scrape~~ to ~~them~~ accommodate their different needs 😬

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

Thursday, July 3, 2025

A Birthday & A Family Celebration

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to July - here we are in to the 7th chapter of the year already !!

It's mid winter here at the bottom of the world & there are no flowers anywhere in my garden so I did a little arrangement with a pretty cyclamen on my table, just for a splash of colour these grey days.

On the very last day of June I celebrated a sort-of-special-birthday. By that I mean I turned 65 & here in New Zealand you receive the Government Superannuation once you reach 65 years of age. I am curious if this happens in other countries too, so please leave me a comment & let me know.

My brother & sister in law travelled up to spend the weekend with us - they've not been for over 8 years now. I decided to have a family lunch on the Sunday, this way my sons & their families could attend also.

As I was seating 10 people I decided to turn my dining table sideways instead of longways. You can see above, that a certain ginger family member was none too happy about this fact & also, by the way Mum (Me) was running around, it was apparent that guests were arriving ... this always displeases Her Royal Highness (!!) 😉😾

We'd decided to have our usual pizza lunch, we all enjoy pizzas & the local shop makes such delicious ones. I made some dips & nibbles & The Mr ordered me a beautiful Carrot Cake from a new local Bakery Station Grill

Bubbles & Birthday Cake . . . . what's not to smile about ??

From left to right, the birthday girl, sister in law Leonie & daughter in laws, Sarah & Nicole.

We all had the loveliest time - it's very rare that we get together with my brother these days (apart from funerals) & it was so wonderful. Just all very casual & relaxed with plenty of food & laughter.

I was indeed spoilt & received some wonderful gifts from family & friends.

Then on Monday (my actual birthday) we had a craft get-together at Gails & she made me yet another cake & I was gifted the flowering plants above right. The stunning table runner (left) was made by my dear friend Leeanne - my photos do not do it justice, it is just the most gorgeous shade of green, heavily quilted & made from vintage dupion silk that she thrifted. 💚

It's now school holidays here in New Zealand & this week has been time spent with Alec. We went to the Minecraft Movie yesterday & I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would 😉

Today is pouring with rain & we have had 2 days of heavy rain warnings. Little One is on the good bedspread 😖 & Madam Pip is tucked up in a wee ball in the "hut" her mother made her in a corner of the couch.

(Blackie is out in the carport asleep on the ride on mower seat)

Two little verses that appealed to me on Instagram & I thought I'd share them. The first one is funny (& certainly true for this "woman of a certain age) & the second one is VeRy true.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your ever-welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Ruth's Quilt & An "Heirloom Fantasy Tales" Journal ♥️

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been a busy time lately but I promised myself I would try & do a blog post today.

I snapped the sunrise this morning as I went out to my car at 7 am to go pick Sid up, bring him back here for breakfast, then school drop off.

Last week I received some very Happy Mail in the post which did indeed cause me extreme happiness - just like the label warned!

After Retreat finished I sent my Ruth's quilt flimsy home with "Quiltmekiwi " Leeanne to be quilted on her long-arm machine. I did not expect it back quite so soon & was delighted.

This is what the quilt top looked like lying on the carpet at Retreat . . . .

And this is what it looked like once Leeanne had worked her magic on it (!!) 💗 Leeanne very kindly sewed the binding strips on, ready for me to hand sew down & this took me about 3 days as it was a long way around all the edges of that quilt (!!) To say I was ecstatic was an understatement.

The quilt was a block of the month that I purchased through Millymac Supplies. The pattern is Ruth's Quilt by Leannne Beasley of Leeanne's House. I decided to use two of Mum's vintage supper cloths to replace some of the tags - this saved me hand stitching so many & the colours in the supper cloths were a good match to the fabric range.

You could stitch the tags that were supplied in the pattern as well as make up your own & this was encouraged. I "altered" a few to suit my own taste but mainly I stuck to the pattern.

As Mum passed away during the making of this quilt I decided to give Mum her own tag & was conscious to place this in the rows for the month of August, which is when she passed away. I am so pleased I did this ... it just makes it that bit special to me. And this was a quilt very much stitched purely for myself.

I had been keeping an eye on Leeanne's blog for awhile noticing any E2E quilt designs that appealed to me & I chose Wildwood which I am thrilled with ... lots of flowers & swirly feathers which I adore. The extra wide backing fabric was also supplied by Leeanne & this is called Magnolia.

I am so grateful to Leeanne for bringing this quilt to life to me - the professional quilting just makes it so much more beautiful.

I found one of Mum's single doilies that was in a complimentary colour way & used this for my label on the back. I am SO so happy with my quilt and have yet to find just the right spot for it in my home.

The second project that I took to Retreat was this Heirloom Journal Cover "Fantasy Tales". I spent 2 days working on this at Retreat & then finished it the following week at Home.

If you click on the above pic to enlarge it you will see the price tag of $79 on this Kitset. I purchased this at my local St Johns op-shop for $12 & the kit contained everything needed to make the cover except the Journal itself. Lots of details in this project - the tiny flowers above are hand dyed silk ribbon that I frayed & then gathered into flowers with beaded stamens.

The beaded lace leaves above & the velvet strawberries were all made at Retreat. I have to be honest here & say I am not a great bead worker so most of the time I was winging it !!! The instructions were good in some areas & very poor in others ... a lot of it was guesswork.

The beaded tie closures & the bookmark above right.

Showing inside the journal & the back cover.

I am thrilled to be finished it & there will NoT be another one made by me any day soon 😉

I should mention I omitted the beaded spider that was meant to sit on the cover ... I could not understand the instructions, decided I don't particularly LiKe spiders anyway - so it could stay off.

Since my return from Retreat & unpacking all my sewing supplies, this little furry fairy has taken up residence on my sewing bench - I think she feels if she camps out on here it may prevent me from heading off to any more sewing retreats anytime soon.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week ... remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,