NANNY CHAT Archives - Page 4 of 19

Make a Frame Tray

November 24, 2015 by Nanny Leave a Comment

Today I am going to show you another easy project using a photo frame – Make a frame tray!

When we had a disaster in our kitchen last year,which resulted in a ‘new’ kitchen, I felt I needed some colour accents in the white kitchen.

I had the tea cup herb garden

So I decided to take the red of the cup to make this tray!

What you need:

A photo frame – I used an A4 – choose a frame with a profile that suits your need. I chose this one because the high gloss finish fitted perfectly with the kitchen finish.

A roll of contact or some of your favourite fabric

Silastic sealer

What you do:

Remove the backing board from the frame and carefully remove the stand from the board.

2. Cover the board with the contact or if you use fabric, staple or glue it to the board. Replace it in the frame and secure.

3. Now I wanted to be able to clean the tray without worrying about water getting under the glass, so I asked PJ to seal it for me with Silastic Sealer. So you simply squirt it around the edge

4. Wipe it clean with a dry cloth

5. You could add handles if you wanted to – I chose not to.

6. Enjoy your new tray! This is mine in the kitchen.

There are so many lovely frames available today and you can often pick them up on sale so why not give it a try. You can make them whatever size you like and they can serve a purpose in any area such as on the dressing table or even in the bathroom and you can make them whatever colour/design you like to suit your decor. They make a great gift too!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Hair Clip Holder

November 17, 2015 by Nanny 2 Comments

Today I thought I would take a look at a gift idea using a photo frame and show you how I make a Hair Clip Holder.

What you need:

A photo frame – I use a 11” x 8″
A piece of fabric of your choice about 13″ x 10″
A piece of wadding 11″ x 8″ (or the size of your frame) – I used a polyester one to give a puffy look.
Ribbon – I use 2 strips about 13″ long
Staple gun

Let’s Craft!

1. Undo the frame and remove the glass – discard safely.

2. Take the backing board and cover with the wadding.

3. Stretch the fabric over and staple to the back of the board.

4. Stretch the ribbons across and staple at the back.

5. Replace into frame and embellish as desired.

This can now sit on a dressing table or hang on the wall!

If you hang it, you can add some small cup hooks along the bottom to hang bracelets or headbands as well!

My grand daughters loved these (so did their Mums – no more searching!) I hope you like them too. Please share a comment or photo if you could – I love to hear from you!

Until next time
Nanny xx

My First Quilt

October 29, 2015 by Nanny 2 Comments

Recently I attended my first ‘Quilter’s Zone Day’ and had a wonderful day sharing with fellow quilters from the North Coast of NSW, Australia.

We were asked to share any quilts we had that were at least 20 years old and so I took the first quilt I ever made – my first quilt. It brought back so many memories I thought I would share it with you.

In the early 1980’s I became the co-ordinator of the local Adult Education Learning Centre – a centre that serviced the surrounding rural area. I canvassed my friends, contacts etc to gauge interest areas for classes and one of the suggested areas was a quilting class.

A tutor based in the closest city agreed to travel to our little centre if I got enough interest and you guessed it – we did!

Now to keep a long story short I joined the group and made my very first quilt.

I had no

STASH

ROTARY CUTTER

QUILTING RULER

SELF HEALING MAT

LOCAL QUILTING STORE

I did have

my GEOMETRY SET from school

GRAPH PAPER

SCISSORS

SCRAPS from making my clothes

I also had a friend who had a father who was a travelling fabric sales rep. He had passed on some of the fabric samples sheets to her and she in turn, passed them on to me.

With all that I set about to make my first quilt – it was supposed to be a single bed size but my fabric constraints meant that mine became a knee rug for my Grandmother!

The ‘plains’ were gabardine scraps from my ‘work’ clothes and the ‘floral’ from the samples – look at those points!!

The yellow is more of a poplin

The backing looks like ‘drill’ and I can’t believe the quilting without a walking foot!

and look at those wide bindings! The wadding of course would have been that polyester, fluffy stuff…..

Never the less, it was much loved by my darling Grandma and it was returned to me on her passing.

and now resides permanently in my craft room, covering a table made using the base of Grandma’s old Singer – Oh how I wish I still had that!!

What memories!

Thank you for letting me share – do you still have your first quilt? I would love to see them and hear the stories that went with them!

Until next time

Nanny xx

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Set-Up

October 23, 2015 by Nanny Leave a Comment

Hi!

Today I thought I would show you some things that I will use to make my Sew Along experience more enjoyable – The Farmer’s Wife 1930s set-Up!

I would have loved to be doing my piecing on my Mum’s treadle machine, but my back condition will not allow that so I am going to use my Featherweight. Here she is, set up on a table made using the bottom of my Grandma’s treadle machine (unfortunately, at a time in its life that it needed some serious TLC, my Uncle left a window open and the weather ruined Grandma’s machine – I was able to rescue the base and it makes a lovely desk in my craft room!)

Mum’s treadley is sitting right next to us so we will all be ‘together’ – Mum was born in 1930!

I will be using my sand paper/glass paper board when I have to draw diagonals etc

My pressing board will be a real necessity

and my design board will make sure my pieces stay in the correct order as I construct the block!

Of course I need my book The Farmer’s Wife 1930’s and my computer – add to that my scissors, rotary cutter and rulers and the odd pin and I think that should get me there!

I am behind the schedule now following my Dad’s recent health issues, but will continue to plod along, be kind to myself and know that I will get there!

These are the blocks I have completed:

#12 BECKY

# 16 BONNIE

#8 AUNT

and #20 CAROLINE

I am really enjoying the process and hope that you will enjoy following along on the journey with me!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Quilt Blocks to Heal Violence

October 21, 2015 by Nanny 4 Comments

Hi!

I have joined some on-line quilters to make some Quilt Blocks to Heal Violence. This project has been organised by @Jackie Gillies as a way for quilters to show in a practical manner, that we care.

Jackie is not a blogger, but her friend Ros from Sewdelicious has posted the details here and I encourage you to pop on over, have a read and lend your support!

The block is called Tictactoe and the details of the block construction can be found at Blossom Heart Quilts – thanks Alyce.

Basically, Jackie has asked for low volume backgrounds with a bright cross.

This is the first one I tried:

It is an easy block to construct and comes together in no time at all!

I love the ‘strength’ portrayed in this block – one of the girls described it as a Stop sign – STOP the violence and a Kiss – A KISS to show we care and I love that idea.

This is my second block

I love the way the quilting community pulls together – I held a Friday night, on-line sew- in to make these and my local quilting group, the Plateau Quilters were keen to lend their support as well.

I think Jackie will be blown away by the support that will come from all over, and I am really glad to see that there is a willing group of helpers to take these blocks and transform them into quilts of love, warmth and comfort!

If you want to be involved , it’s not too late and even if you don’t have the time to sew, donations of wadding, backing and postage costs would be gratefully accepted – just follow this link or contact me.

Until next time

Nanny xx

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