Monster monster who am I?

My son will be starting school again on Monday as a monster. It’s their new theme for this term apparently.  I thought I would share our crazy bright monster costume my son and I

designed because you never know…

You will need some bright socks, 3 white pompoms, green felt, white felt, threads, faux fur,  a bright jumper.

Start by cutting some small round shapes out of the white felt.Place them on the sleeve under the arm. And sew them by hand with a cross: they’re suposed to look like suction cups.

then cut some round-ish shapes out of the green felt:

place them on the front of the jumper and sew them in place with big stitches:

now cut three triangles from the white felt:

place them on the front of the hood just under the seam and sew in place:

Then with a black felt pen mark a big dot on each white pompom and sew them in place on top of the hood quite close together (mine I found are not close enough to each others…)

then if you think you can hack the faux fur (it’s a bit of a nightmare as it frays A LOT!) cut triangular shapes out of it and sew them on the back of the jumper:

now get those socks out and fill them up with plastic bags (it’s lighter than normal filling and it makes an interesting noise):

pin them in place all around the bottom of the jumper and sew them in place:

now I’ve stopped there but you can add a tail, a tongue coming out of the bottom hood, some horns next to the eyes…. it’s up to you!

So voila! a monster costume:

 

Getting ready for Halloween!

I am still alive yes and also massively busy . Which is great because it’s already mid- October ( didn’t see the time pass) and it will soon be Halloween. You can tell I’m as excited as my kids! So in that effect my eldest got thinking about a good scary costume and came up with a mummy zombie. Brilliant! easy to do, cheap, effective and will also work well for the Egyptian costume at school!  I had to think of one for myself too and came up with one costume three occasions: A witch! At school where I work we will be asked to come dress up as something that comes out at night: I’ll be a witch, we then have to dress up as our favorite book character: I’ll be the wicked witch! and I’ll be the scary witch for Halloween! done! I made a black tutu, bought some funny tights, a hat, a broom from the pound shop. Et voila!

But I thought I would share this mini tutorial with you: The mummy zombie 

You will need: a creamy top and bottom (got mine from ladies department in Primark, size 6, but couldn’t find cream leggings so he chose grey) some iron bandage looking fabric, some tea (not just for a break), an iron, and a pair of scissors:

Start by cuting some strips of your fabric. It doesn’t have to be the same size, after all it’s a messy mummy…

you then have to stain them with tea bags to make them look old and mucky, and just start aplying them wherever as it doesn’t have to be just so and neat:

iron on the fabric once you’re happy with it, do the top, bottom…

and the sleeves:

you should end up with a top looking like that:

It really doesn’t have to look neat. I’ve left a few strips hang out to make it look old.

you then move on to the trousers and I just lined the fabric in rows and ironed it on:

do the same for the other leg and you have a pair of mummy trousers:

My son didn’t have the chance to try it on yet but will post a pic soon, in the meantime it looks like this:

Add a bit of fake blood, some bandages on his head and make up, I think he’ll scare himself looking in the mirror!

In the spirit of Halloween I made a quilt that needs to be sandwiched and quilted (the design will be a spider web!)

And nothing to do with Halloween but thought I would show you anyways. I’ve told you before that I meet with my sewing friends every Tuesdays and that we decided to each make 12  12″ blocks into a quilt and join them all up to make a massive quilt to present at the Birmingham quilt show next year. We have chosen the designs, the color scheme and it’s in full beam preparations! I have bought Simply colors by V&co (<3) as we are making each block into a specific color. we’ve started with green:

moved on to blues:

and the next block (I chose the color!) will be pink! I will keep you posted on our progress but I’m really excited and I’m looking forwards to the end result.

Will come back with more Halloweeny stuff as we’ll soon decorate the house….

 

Summer fruit salad

I know summer’s over and it’s supposed to be a site about sewing but I want to share with you my special summer fruit salad.  It’s a real treat, healthy and completely scrumptious ! I make it for everyday desert but it also goes down a treat at birthday parties, BBQ parties and the rest.  It’s easy and quick too!

All you need is a melon, a pack of blueberries, a pack of strawberries, juice of one lemon and some fresh chopped mint .

just cut the melon into cubes, cut the strawberries in half and mix all the fruit together. Add the lemon juice and chopped mint. you can add a spoon of sugar if you fancy.  Et voila! Bon appetit!

I ‘ll be posting very soon about my projects and will try to squeeze in a tutorial soon!

Birmingham Quilt show or how I am now penniless

I went to the Birmingham quilt show in August with my lovely quilting friends and had an amazing time. We took the train there and stayed the day which was nice but next year we’ll probably stay the night and enjoy the show a bit longer maybe even join a lecture (let’s be crazy). My friends were showing their quilts and they just looked amazing, we took pictures of them with their proud owner, unfortunately I haven’t got a pic to show you as I didn’t bring my camera…

So as we wandered around, we discovered that 1- their quilts were the best (with a few others) 2- that colours really matter (poo-ey shades really!!!???) 3- that zebras on quilts really don’t work and 4- being an extreme feminist and a quilter doesn’t always give the best results…

So anyhow, we had a blast and a massive giggle. we also spent some time shoping meeting some lovely gals and getting poorer by the hour.

I got some grey fabric from a lovely stall but cannot remember for the life of me what their name was, when I’ll remember I’ll give you a link.

I’ll make a quilt for my newly decorated living room.

I also bought some Halloween fabric to make a quilt for the occasion. I know it’s frowned upon here (and completely forbidden in France)  but I love that holiday. And neighbors play the game in our area so that’s all very civilized. We only knock on doors that have a carved pumpkin on their door step.

I have already started a quilt and will show you the finished product soon!

I also bought some Christmas fabric to guess what, make a Christmas quilt for the holiday.

I’ve been meaning to make one for a long time but never got round to doing it. So cannot wait to get started, but need to choose a design first…

I’ve also brought a jelly roll, some backing and some fabric for the binding. I just love the design of those fabrics, shame I haven’t got a girl!!

oh I nearly forgot! I also bought a massive roll of wadding because it was a lot cheaper. A tad huge but we managed (thanks to my friends who helped).

I’m busy getting ready for my new job and getting the kids settled into a routine. I’m also busy making my Halloween quilt, a sampler quilt with my quilting ladies and doing a quick tutorial to post later in the week.

I’ve also joined an adult ballet class for beginners and cannot wait to get into that leotard!