Tea and Crafting - literally

I fancied making an easy ruffled scarf like the one in this tutorial on All Free Sewing  but, as it is, technically, summer, I wanted to make it in  a lighter material.

I had some (actually, quite a lot of) leftover material from a pair of 'Wilma' curtains from Ikea, but, as I never wear white (it drains me) I had to do something about the colour.

And that is where the tea comes in.  I haven't used a chemical dye since primary school, and even then the process seemed to be 'above and beyond the call of duty' - so I put the kettle on...

I took an old pot from the back of the cupboard (one that I could stain with impunity) and filled it with enough boiling water to cover the piece of material.  I then added five teabags and allowed them to brew so as much tannin, as possible, would be released.  I then dampened the material, put a couple of random knots in it, and dunked it in the water.

I kept it in for about five minutes, before rinsing it and hanging it up to dry.

Twenty minutes of sewing, the next morning, et voila!

Hijacked!!!!

There I was thinking that I would just pop along to the inaugural meeting of my local WI, have a bit of a look around and decide whether I wanted to join...

I left as vice president.

Oh boy.

That's what I get for being nosey....

HIGH TECH MEETS LOW TECH

I heard about the QR-3D project on The Make Lounge's facebook page and decided to have a go at making something.  As there were already so many cross stitch and embroidery projects on the website, I decided that I needed to do something slightly different (and, possibly more awkward!)  So I grabbed an old tablecloth....

I started by mapping 'The Grid' (there's an in-joke there, which will become clear when the link is revealed!) and gathered a hell of a lot of buttons.

Then I started sewing...

   And sewing....

And sewing...

And so, three and a half weeks, about 700 buttons and one giant leap towards arthritis later, I have a cushion fit for a pearly king!

Unsurprisingly, it does not scan (boo hoo), but here's the link which will take you to the coolest website in the world...

Click on the 'Stuff' page and while away the hours :-)

Welcome!

Welcome to Ponchos For Chickens.

If you were wondering why I appear to be making knitwear for hens, the answer can be found in this Regretsy post .

April Winchell's comment made me laugh so much that I could almost feel my ribs cracking!

I toyed with the idea of using 'shrugs' but I thought that might sound a little to existential ("He shrugs for the chickens, he sighs for the chickens....")

So, in essence, this is a blog about baking and making and I will endeavour to keep the posts regular and on topic :-)

Please stop by again soon...