Sunday 28 April 2013

Mollie Makes Rabbit

Meet Coelho......Portuguese for rabbit, pronounced Koo-elyoo....according to my travel dictionary!


On the way to Plymouth Ferry Port I thought I'd treat myself to a magazine, not having bought one for about a year. I bought Mollie Makes as there were a few projects that I thought I would make, including this Geometric Travel Case.....but in the small print it says that this pattern is actually in "Gathered by Mollie Makes", very disappointed, there were a few other pages like this too....sometimes I think there are 50 good pages, extended into a 100 page magazine.....anyway rant over and onto the wrabbit.


Being away in Libby, the camper van, I had to hand sew everything, but first I had to find some fabric as I wasn't wiling to sacrifice any of our clothes....we've not brought that many with us. In Contenente, the local supermarket, I found the perfect napkin as it had a coordinating edge to it.


So after some fiddley stitching, as the fabric frayed lots, I had all the parts, but I needed some stuffing. I managed to find a small fabric shop by the market in Silves, but they only sold stuffing in bales big enough for two pillows. After much gesturing the old lady thought I wanted a small amount for ear ache and suggested the chemist.....ahhhha....I could use cotton wool which comes in small packets....not ideal, but as this rabbit will never be washed then it doesn't matter too much. I stuffed the arms and legs before tacking them to the body piece, I think this works better than slip stitching them closed as the pattern required.


I even added the tag that was on the napkin. I didn't have any contrasting felt for the tummy, so I did a bit of chain stitch and some lazy daisies. I think she turned out quite cute, especially her lopsided ears!


The last of the mini eggs!


.....and as she was a make from a magazine, I'm linking up with Ange's Monthly Book Challenge......just in time!!



Tuesday 23 April 2013

Yarn Bombing Alamo




Having just read about yarn bombing in Mollie Makes magazine I was very surprised to see this in Portugal. As we drove down the side of the Guadiana River, the Portuguese - Spanish boarder and looked at all the allotments that had flooded, due very high rainfall and the dams had to be released, loads of destruction all the way to the coast at Villa Real de St Antonio.
The small village of Alamo was set back from the river and their sign had been beautifully "Yarn Bombed".....lovely crochet, wouldn't it be nice if every village signpost was like this?

Friday 5 April 2013

Bloglovin

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Not yet had time to work this out......



Monday 1 April 2013

Truncated Icosahedron or a Patchwork Ball!

Le Challenge - Geometrics

A truncated Icosahedron is the Archimedean solid shape that a football is based on. It has 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. Because these shapes will not tessellate on a flat surface they make up the ball.......put simply....if you lay them out on a table and try and make them fit....you can't, there will always be a gap and it is this gap that makes the patchwork curve enough to give the ball shape.


When Nat and Lucy issued the first challenge I was going to the Sewing Directory meet up in Exeter the next day. Thanks to Fi and Kerry it was a tremendous success. I hoped that Kerry would use 1 inch sided hexagons, so I quickly cut out some pentagons from an old shirt to take along too.


Kerry had precut some hexagons for us to use and also I used her Sizzix to cut a few more. I sewed the hexagons to the pentagons, making the ball shape as I went along, making sure each pentagon had 5 hexagons surrounding it.


Eventually I ended up with this.....


....and after removing the papers that were stuck down with a Sewline fabric glue pen instead of basting.....thanks for the great time saving tip Kerry!


......not quite perfectly round as it is stuffed with carrier bags and 2 e-cloths....whatever was at hand in Portugal in the van! Depending on the next Challenge I might have to cut up Tim's shirt or the tea-towel!!!
Sorry there are no links in this post, but blogging on the go. Please see my sidebar for a link to 'Le Challenge' inspiration and ideas.