Made It challenge – WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!

*walks nervously up to the podium in my Dior gown and matching shoes, envelope in hand…..*

(just for the record, the only thing Charlize and I have in common is that we are both South African 🙂 )

*clears throat, ahem*

“Firstly, I would like say a huge thank you to all the AMAZING and TALENTED ladies that entered this inaugural monthly ‘Made It’ challenge. This just wouldn’t have been possible without you *massive applause* …….You guys ROCK – big time – and have kept us all entertained and inspired with your dazzling creations….*more applause*…”

*waits patiently for the applause to settle down*

And the winner is………

 *hush comes over the audience, you can hear a pin drop*

“IT’S CARLY FROM HAPPYLITTLEKIWI for her DIY Lantern Strings!!!!!!!”

*crowd erupts!!!!!!!!*

CONGRATULATIONS CARLY!!! We all loved your lanterns – gorgeous!

Your prize will be sent to you shortly (will post pics tomorrow)

Thank you too, for everyone who voted! You can check it out by clicking the link below

********Made It challenge voting results********

Carly, you are the proud new bearer of the HOSTess crown!

Watch out for news for the August Made It challenge!

 

 

Advertisement

Made It challenge – it’s VOTING TIME!!!!

A MASSIVE, HUGE, GIGANTIC THANK YOU to all who entered (and almost entered, hee hee) the Made It challenge !!!

The creativity and inspiration has been fantastic – you guys are amazingly talented and it’s been so fun much sharing your creations.

Now for the best part – GO AND VOTE VOTE VOTE – remember, voting is for fun, encouragement and acknowledgement only and the winner will be picked randomly on the 31st July (so you have a few day to vote – share this with your friends too 🙂

I will announce the winner and next host on Tuesday, YAY!

Click on Froggy to vote

I am already working on my next entry, wooohoooo!!!

 

Made It challenge – Gorgeous String Lanterns

Thank you to the lovely Carly from Happy Little Kiwi for your entry into the Made It challenge!

These home-made string lanterns are so beautiful and so simple to make – (well, she makes it look so easy)!

You can view Carly’s post on how she made them here 

Stunning!

There is still time for you to enter so click on FROGGY below to add your LINK!

Click on Froggy to see all our entries SO FAR!!!!

 

Alyce’s entry-Upcycled Momma T’s to Baby T’s…WITH PATTERN!

Thank you Alyce for your entry into the Made It challenge!

Alyce is a friend of mine  (you may see her crocheting up a storm in a previous post HINT, she is the one with the preggie belly 🙂 ) and seeing as though she doesn’t have her own blog (yet) I am posting her entry below on her behalf.

HEYYYYY???? HOW AMAZING ARE THESE!!!

These deliciously cute and trendy little baby T’s are made up from Alyce’s old T’shirts – cut up and sewn perfectly back together for her little Nunu.

******HERE IS THE PATTERN AS PROMISED*******

You will need:

existing garments that you would like to copy; good fabric  scissors, a ruler, something curvy (if not a ruler, then some bowls / other curvy things); a pencil; some paper (old wrapping paper, newspaper, brown paper…), elastic for waistband of pants, overlocker (or sewing machine), thread etc…

Lay the different garments onto the paper. Trace the outline,  then tidy up using rulers and curvy things.

You will be working with stretchy fabric, which is very forgiving, but try to be as tidy / accurate as possible.

Remember to add extra around your pattern pieces for seam allowance.

 

This is what my hat pattern looks like…

This is what my t-shirt pattern looks like…

This is what my pants pattern looks like…

Place pattern pieces onto old garments that you want to upcycle.

TIP: try to use as many “features” from the old garment as possible. eg. hems / interesting seams (as long as they are soft), prints etc

In this example I am using the hem from the old t-shirt as well as the neck trim (see pics below

Here are all the pattern pieces cut out.

 

Attach the neck trim from the original t-shirt to the new neckline. (or leave the neck raw, that’s also fine…)

 

Place the pattern pieces both with right side up – overlap the back over the front – match at the notch.

 

Position the sleeve using the notch as a guide. Then attach with overlocker / sewing machine

 

Once sleeves are in, lay garment right sides together and close side seam / underarm seam

 

Trim threads and turn right side out and ….

TA DAAAA!

For pants – cut out pattern pieces

Lay right sides together and close outside seams

Attach the cuffs, close the inside seam

Attach elastic and turn over to the inside and stitch down

Trim threads and turn right side out and ….

TA DAAAA! Another baby outfit made from my old clothes 🙂

Ingenious – that’s Momma Love for you!

 

HURRY!!! 4 more days ’til the “Made It” challenge link closes and voting begins!!

(deep gulp of air) breathe……

It’s only because I am the first host of the Made It challenge that I managed to submit my offering with loads of time to spare – I would look like a bit of an idiot if I didn’t.  Because if you are anything like the real me, you are thinking “pffft, I will have PAAAHlenty time to get my entry in…I have the whole month, easy-peasy, take my sweet time”. Am I right?

Well, now may just be the time to start panicking slightly – or at least get a little sweaty worry about when you are going to do it.

BUUUUUT, before you start scrambling, let me remind you just HOW EASY IT IS TO ENTER!!!

1. MAKE SOMETHING (anything) and the great news is that most of you have already  made some AWESOME, EXQUISITE things (I read your blogs so I know!)
2. Simply copy the link and ADD IT TO THE REST OF THE ENTRIES…here or simply click on FROGGY below
3. THAT’S IT.!!! YOU ARE DONE How easy was that?!!!!                                     Click on FROGGY to submit you link!!!!!!

   Remember, the randomly chosen winner will receive not only this prize (with a mystery prize thrown in, wink wink)…..

(Our little giveaway includes 3 balls of wool from Vinnis Colours-1 x 100% Bamboo,1 x 100% Cotton, 1 x 70%Cotton/30%Bamboo blend, 12 x funky buttons and 1 x Surprise)

…they will also be the bearer of the Hostess Crown as host for the month of August – when we get to do this all over again! (psst, I will make sure that the new host has everything that is needed, so nothing to worry about)

Be a part of the fun and share your craftiness with the rest of us!

..

Made It challenge – J.G Burdette’s Lady’s Winter Cloche

A huge thank you to J.G Burdette from byhookorbypen for your entry into the Made It challenge….

For those of you who have never “met” this wonderful lady, J.G has another beautiful blog,  A Map Of Time, A Trip Into The Past which is an absolute treat to read and one of my personal favourites (I’m sure many of you will agree).

You are all going to fall in love with this stylish lady’s cloche hat – I for one am keen to attempt to make one!

You can view her post with the pattern here

Click on Froggy to see all our entries SO FAR!!!!

Come on, it’s not too late!!!

Crochet 101 and a bit of new crochet LINGO

After being asked a good few times, “please teach me how to crochet” by a few of our friends,  Vicky and I decided to host a mini crochet lesson for a few lovely ladies. I’m not sure who was more nervous – us or them – but I know I was scared senseless for a number of reasons:

• neither of us have ever taught anyone to crochet before
• I learned to crochet when I was, like 9! Everything else I learned from a book.
• I’m not even sure I know where that dreaded last stitch of a row is…
• my first “teaching” experience was with my eldest daughter when she was 5 – it was her turn to bring cake to school for “Baker Day” so we made cupcakes together. It ended…..well, let’s just say that I think I may have been the one acting like a 5 year old *ashamed face*
• I knew that the toughest challenge was going to be teaching them how to hold the yarn and needle correctly
• and THE WORST FEAR BY FAR – we had a left-handed trainee student…eeeekkkk!!!!

(this is my good friend Liz, who picked it up in minutes – future crochet addict in the making)

Luckily for us, we needn’t have worried because these girls were super fast and enthusiastic learners! The morning disappeared in a flash with the satisfied looks of accomplishment on face after face…ahhhhh, love it!

(Sandi and Sabine….Sandi is the proud owner of the wonky scarf which will feature below, and Sabine who can crochet beautifully but needed to learn new stitches)

Mind you, the morning did have its fair share of awkward moments that we chalked up to “new-Crochet-speak”  Here are a few terms and explanations that you are welcome to add to your repertoire;

* Loosen Up did not mean “chill out Liz”. It means loosen the way you are holding your hooks and yarn…

* Get a Grip certainly did not mean that anyone was loosing their mind with frustration and needed to snap out of it – it just meant that holding the hook firmly would make life a whole lot easier

* Get Your Wool On – no, not a hip and trendy way of saying “sista, you gotta just crochet it up, girl” – It was just a reminder that your yarn had to stay wrapped carefully around your pinky, under your ring finger, over your middle…..arggg, you know what I mean!

* Where is the hole??? – I can’t find the next hole!!!!!……er, um, you can work this one out!

(This is Anthea on the left – a laugh a minute and the morning’s entertainment, – love this chick! And, ahem, my Super Lovely Cuzzy Lynda who, you may notice, doesn’t have any form of crochet in her hands…hmmmmm)

 (this is me, sitting on the table, teaching Christine, Miss Left-Handed!)

(this is Vicky, her Mum, and her beautiful boys  🙂  )

(and this is beautiful Alyce, – not sure why she came to a beginners class seeing as though she had the most gorgeous nearly-finished baby blanket in her bag for her eminent baba!)

One thing is for sure – we all had fun and I have a sneaky suspicion that there are going to be a few more of these mini sessions in the very near future.

Watch this space 🙂

And, as promised...the Wonky Scarf by Sandi….I think it’s pure perfection actually, don’t you?!!!

Made It challenge – Nice piece of work!

Not just a nice piece of work – it’s made by Jill from Nice Piece of Work!

Look what our fellow Capetonian (eek, so excited) whipped up for us all to be inspired by:

 A beautiful knitted bag which has inspired (once again) to give knitting another go!

You can view her post here

What makes it even better is that is Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday today!!!

What an incredible man – Happy Birthday Madiba xxx

Click on Froggy to see all our entries SO FAR!!!!

Come on, it’s not too late!!!

Made It challenge – D’artagnan never looked so HANDSOME!

And you will agree with me as soon as you see Trish from Made By Patch‘s entry into the Made It Challenge!

Here is her little Big J… ahem, sorry,… I meant Musketeer looking very smart indeed!

http://madebypatch.wordpress.com

You can also go HERE to view this one, and all the entries submitted so far!!!

Well done Mom! Very well researched and pulled off perfectly!

Good Luck!!

Made It challenge – Rainbow Junkie “rose” to as promised!!!

Thank you for entering!

How on earth did you whip these up in 10 mins!?! (well, it seemed like 10 mins especially as you only just got the wool – I’m impressed)

Here is Rainbow Junkie’s entry of a beautiful knitted hat and scarf (the stitch looks amazing) into the Made It challenge – with a great tutorial that even I could possibly have a go at!!!

http://rainbowjunkiecorner.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/hat-and-scarf-revealed/

OR go to HERE to view all the entries so far!!!

Our challenge board is looking a bit fuller don’t ya think!!!!