Something Different - A Mug Rug

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well and finding somewhere to keep cool.
Today I have something different to share with you. I use to do a lot of sewing but never did any quilting, it's something I've wanted to do but when I looked at all the beautiful quilts I thought that if I started one it would be something put at the back of a cupboard not finished. Earlier in the year I found a book called Animal And Pet Mug Rugs by Amanda Weatherill, they are small quilts for putting mugs on, although I don't think I'd put a mug on it as I could see it getting stained very quickly.

I was very pleased with the result and will be making more, I've also found a book on making small art quilts, now all I have to do is find the time. The mug rug measures about 9.5" x 5", 24.5x13 cms.

Thank you for visiting my blog, you're all very welcome. xxx

In The Garden - Anything But A Card

Well another fortnight has flown by and it's time for another  Craft-Room Challenge . The theme is "In The Garden - Anything but a card" and it has been chosen by the lovely Suzanne, she would love to see your layouts, tags, altered art, boxes etc - anything you like inspired by the garden.

Our sponsors for the challenge are  Crafty Embelies . They make wonderful wooden embellishments.

The rest of the DT have made some wonderful creations and we also have a guest designer the very talented Helene, her blog is 2amscrapper, hope you all go there and say hello, too! She will be our GDT for the two next challenges.
If you are interested being our GDT, please put the "GDT" after your name when entering our challenge.
Here is my creation.

Just before last Christmas I bought a copy of the magazine Homemaker and there was a Christmas project with a dove sitting on a spool - I didn't have time to make it for Christmas so I decided to change it slightly and make it for the challenge.
I found some fabric in my stash and made the dove following the instructions in the magazine. I hand stitched it rather than use my sewing machine.
I then wrapped some lace round a wooden spool and then wrapped some wire round curling the ends.
I adhered a piece of hessian to the top of the spool and then added folded strips of fabric. I had the base already in my stash and adhered a piece of fabric to it, fraying the ends - I then adhered the spool to the base.
I made some flowers out of hessian, material and brads and attached them to the base and spool together with some flowers from my stash, the last thing I did was to adhere my dove to the top of the spool.

Here is a closer look at the base.

Material Girl

I've made this hanging for the Just For Fun  challenge, the theme this week is fabric and/or fibres. I stamped the image onto a piece of fabric and then attached it to another piece of fabric by using one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. I've had the machine for about 27 years and it doesn't get much use anymore. I attached the material to the card then wrapped some fibre round in such a way that it formed a hangy piece. Then I attached some diecut flowers and butterflies and some gems. I attached a metal tag but I'm going to remove it as I don't think it looks right. I enjoyed making this so my poor unused sewing machine may find a new lease of life.
The stamp that I used is by Paperbag Studios.
The punches that I used for the flowers and butterflies are Martha Stewart punches.
For the flourish I use a Marianne Design die.