Taking a Basket-Case to the Rodeo...

So, the big blue plastic laundry basket had to go... I'd picked up a Lloyd Loom basket a few years ago, slapped a new top on it and forgotten it could do the job perfectly until this weekend. This is a perfect afternoon project requiring little skill and the pleasure of thwacking stuff with a hammer.

A patriotic yet weary box.

I always take furniture on a night out...

First, gather all the stuff that you need and bung it on a clean surface -this saves buggering about running to the garage/shed for pliers etc. Tools I find essential are a smallish hammer (less damage in the long run) an industrial stapler and staples, a good pair of sturdy pliers, scissors, upholstery tacks and fabric big enough to cover the top. Other oddments are ace for applique on the top -I had some leather scraps I bought in a big bag from a bookbinder for £20 about 10 years ago. A leather needle is great, especially if you are using oilcloth (that plastic-ey tablecloth stuff).

I'd love to be a dentist...

Carefully take off the old cover, then draw around the shape leaving an extra cm margin (better to trim excess than wonder how to make more fabric out of thin air). Make sure that if it has a specific design, it's the right way up on the finished lid, and the most interesting part of the print is where you want it...This isn't always in the most logical place!! Cut out the new fabric and add a bit of applique detail if desired (I always like adding stuff, makes it interesting).

The tricky bit is to get the fabric onto the lid without making it look like a complete mess. I'm no upholsterer (which is very obvious when you look at it) but a bit of common sense means your finished effort is at least passable.

I know my limits and accept battered fingers.

Start at the back,  right in the middle. Add your first tack, then a couple spaced evenly either side. Then flip to the front, grab the stapler and pulling the fabric taut (but not enough to make it look like a poor 1970's face-lift) staple on the underside. Work round the lid, spaced at about hours on the clock and staple under. Trim the excess. (You will have to accept some 'pleating' where the fabric gathers over a curved lid, especially with a thicker or plactic-coated cloth. Try pulling a couple of ways before you are happy to staple)...

Now get hammer happy and thwack the rest of the tacks in on the outer rim, evenly spaced. Add a sombrero and some old Wrangler boots and you're good to go...Who needs therapy when you have a hammer?

Three camels, a pirate and and a pink tractor...

 

Sometimes you bump into the unexpected. At the Young Farmers Essex Show (I know, more muddy than crafty), I met three lovely racing camels. Not the most normal thing to see in an Essex field, and it being Essex there are usually plenty of options in that department...The camels themselves were very chilled -not a hint of spitting- but what really caught my eye were the multi-coloured tassels on their bridles. Really rich, deep tones, much like a blanket I've been working on for about 4 months.

My crotchet blanket uses up all the odds-and-sods of wool that aren't really big enough to do anything substantial with but not too small to consign to flower making. I'm also having a bit of a tidy up and have refused to buy any more wool until the little bits are even littler! About the size of a buggy blanket or childs throw it would be perfect to chuck in the car for later nights at friends, lifting a sleepy baby late into the car. Worked in trebles straight across in brights, interworked with greys and browns in double to break up the chaos! The edging is also a treble, worked with the extra stitches at the corners so it sits flat.

I also noticed the same tones on the merry-go-round, and loved the look of the lettering. A few close up's later I'm thinking printing the signage off on photo transfer paper and putting onto calico, or even putting into a cross-stitch design. All ideas welcome!

And lastly, to the tractor and the pirate. The lovely pink tractor is used to raise money for Breast Cancer Research -and rightly too. If farmer wants a wife, then farmers wife comes with lovely boobs that need looking after, and if a pink tractor helps, then so be it! And the pirate flag was rustled up in felt and ribbon, stuck into my little boys room late at night, and in the morning he was convinced that they had been and visited...Not bad after the camel racing!

Flotilla-the-bun...

The cheap shot at humour is needed to make up for the icing on my cakes. It would be fair to say that is was more Black Hawk Down than Hummingbird Bakery, but hopefully you get the idea. Whilst my Dad has one ticket to sail in the Jubilee Flotilla, the rest of us are going to have to make do with inflating the dingy usually reserved for grey days at Cromer in July and sitting in the middle of the living room pretending to paddle said dingy.




To add to the sense of perspective provided by hundreds of boats on the TV that day, I've made some sails on cocktail sticks to put into fairy cakes -an edible boat race! simply cut small triangles of felt (like the baby bunting) and stitch two together, making sure it's neat on both sides. When finished, wriggle in a cocktail stick and place into cake. It's important you don't fully secure the stick in so you can swap it for a clean one on the next batch of cakes. If you get really carried away, I'd pay to see a full on fondant-clipper with rigging!

Red, White and Moo...

Jubilee Baby-Bunting

Jumping on the Royalist band-wagon, I used up some tiny red, white and blue felt scraps cut into triangles (the weren't perfect, measuring requires patience), added buttons from my jam-jar and threaded onto some sturdy blue thread. A little over and hour and a metre of thread later, I have a pretty string of miniature bunting. It made it's way onto my shiny red telephone, crept over the Sweet Williams on the dresser and finally stopped atop the glass dresser doors. Perfect on white roses, cake stands and maybe and iced fruit cake for the holiday weekend. Happy.