Wednesday 18 June 2014

UFO Invasion

I have been invaded by UFOs.  Not the alien sort but the crafty sort (i.e. UnFinished Objects).  Lately I decided to try to sort them out and to finish or recycle at least some of them.  Today I have decided to make a list as it often helps to see it in black and white.

 
This is not actually as bad as I thought, although these are only the ones that spring to mind or I have easy access to, I have already remembered about another one that should be on the list.  Some of these UFOs go back around 20 years when I was at university!
 
My problem is that I love planning and starting projects and then often for one reason or another I lay them aside; maybe I reach a tricky part, or tidy the project away and it never comes out again or I get carried away with the next exciting project.

 
The first one I have tackled was the mouse from Mollie Makes magazine, issue eleven.


I love how cute these little mice are and started it in January while the weather was bad, I cut it out and then made the limbs but laid it aside as it was quite fiddly.  One rainy afternoon a few weeks ago I decided to go ahead and finish it.  I made the body out of scraps of linen I had leftover from lightshades my Dad and I made for the local church hall last year and it was stuffed with washed wool from our own sheep.  The beads and thread were already in my stash so there wasn't any outlay for this project, just time.


It was a lot more fiddly than I thought and all I can say is that I was very grateful for my jewellery pliers to turn the limbs.

 
 

The little jumper was made using the lambwool I use for my scarves.  It is a light laceweight yarn and using 2.5mm needles the jumper was made using the same techniques as I would make a full sized jumper (knitted in the round) and the arm holes were made with tiny steeks.



 The jeans were made using the pattern in the magazine, the instructions are fairly limited but I have made trousers before so could figure out how to piece the pattern pieces together.  They were very wide at the top so I put a bit of elastic to give them an elasticated waist.  If I was to make them again I would add another couple of cm to the length as they really are long shorts.

 
 
He seems to have been well received and has been Christened "Moosee-E" (don't ask me why).  When asked when Mammy and Baby mice would be coming I had to say I didn't think they would be!

 
 
I am a big fan of Lotta Jansdotter's work, and bought some Bella fabric last summer to make two cushions for the conservatory.  I bought plain white cotton for the cushion backs, One, because I hate it if I am using patterned fabric and I can't get the patterns to meet and Two, because I could then get two cushions out of just a half metre of fabric.
 
 
They were for the conservatory but are currently in the sitting room.  I think they will probably just move around.


I made a simple envelope back so there were no fiddly zips or buttonholes to work with. 


Two done, a few more to go!

Finally, I have lately become a convert to Instagram, if you fancy having a look at my pictures I am donnasmithdesigns.

Just another thing to distract me from those UFOs!