White Christmas button book swap

I took part in the Button Floozie (a blog all about buttons) White Christmas button book swap. It was the first swap of theirs that I had done and the first one based around buttons. You had to give at least 30 buttons to your swap partner and these were to be presented in a book. You could make any kind of book you liked, out of paper or fabric, but as I hadn't made a fabric book before, and my partner didn't mind, I had a go at one of those.

Here's what I made.

The front and back cover had some batting on the inside to make it a little thicker, the other pages were two sides of fabric sewn together. Most of the decoration, which included lace, printed images and embroidery, was sewn onto each of the two sides of a page before they were joined together. Where the buttons have been sewn directly onto the book, I added each one separately, either by tying on or sewing on, so they could be used if my partner wanted to, without all of the buttons on a page falling out. I added extra buttons by putting them onto cards depicting old sewing machine adverts and on a couple of Christmas tags. I also included some cards of vintage button adverts.

I loved making this fabric book, I hope to have a go at another one soon.

My next post will be about the book I received.

TTFN
Louise.

Gingerbreadman mug rug swap

Most of the swaps I'm currently involved in have something to do with Christmas, however, this one was to do with gingerbreadmen and mug rugs, and was a secret swap too.

In case you don't know, a mug rug is a coaster, usually made from patchwork, that is large enough to have your mug of steaming beverage and either a biscuit or cake. Personally, I think they were started by patchworkers who wanted something small to do, not that I mind, any patchwork is okay with me. 

As well as making a mug rug, you had to enclose your favourite biscuit recipe and a cookie cutter.

This is what I sent to my swap partner.

I had made the cross-stitch of the gingerbreadman years ago, and I thought that the red, white and blue theme of it would make it even more perfect for my partner as she is American. I only tied the buttons on (you can see these on the photo of the back of the rug) so that they could be taken off, if my partner wanted to if it was washed.

As it is close to Christmas, I added a Christmas decoration to my parcel too.

The cookie cutters are cupcake shaped.

 
I made a little booklet to hold the recipe and I also added vintage gingerbread biscuit adverts to the booklet.

This is what I received from my swap partner. As well as the mug rug, recipe and cutter, my partner also included a gingerbreadman decoration.

The plush fabric she used on the back is so soft! My partner is obviously much more talented at patchwork than I am as you can see from the left-hand side of the rug, I couldn't have attempted those triangles, and sewn on a machine too! I also didn't manage the bias binding edge, though I did try!

All a I need now is the cup of coffee and a nice chocolate biscuit!

TTFN
Louise

Doodle, Gather, Create - part 3

In my last Doodle, gather, create post, I'd pinpricked the oblongs leading off the holes on the current top (there's going to be another sheet of paper on the top of this one) sheet of paper. This sheet is now finished. I used the red and blue, and the petal and circle shapes of the bottom sheet and also added a few french knots, bullion loops and straight stitches. The top sheet of paper shows how the design in the bottom sheet can be reinterpreted, which is the reason behind creating these design sheets in the first place. In the future this design sheet (when it's finished, plus the other two I'll be creating for this course) will help inspire new pieces, both on paper and fabric.

As I'm in the process of creating items for the fair I'm doing on Saturday (see my last post for details), it'll be a few days before I can do any more work on this design sheet and start the other two. Therefore, my next Doodle, gather, create post will be at the start of December (December! where has the year gone?).

TTFN
Louise