Louisa's Ray of Sunshine project

 These colours were exactly what I needed during the grey days of end of winter! 

I made a little mugrug to brighten my morning cup of coffee. 

I'll think of our group every time I use this.

Then I used some of the leftovers to make a nest for Yellow Bird (made from Ruth's pattern)

Kathy's RAY OF SUNSHINE swop

 I cut the fabric contributions into strips and used them to wrap cord and stitch into a little basket. Julie's butterflies and Mary's buttons were used for final embellishments. I loved the way the pieces worked together so well to make a progression from dark to light, like a butterfly opening up into the sunshine after a dark "winter."

Mary's flower swap: textures and cards

There was no specific project that came to mind with the flowers, so I decided to scan them all and experiment with making some digital textures with the pieces that might possibly be useful in future projects. I’m not sure these will be, but it was fun to play around with them.

I had fun with the scanning part, and did some with the scanner lid open and closed, and like how bits of them are blurry. I layered them with some paint textures and sketches to see what happened.

Afterwards, I made some cards with them. Stitching and a little gluing, with a few bits of painted paper too. Have not yet found a satisfying purpose for my rolled rose, but hope to still.

Anna's Flowers Project

I'd been storing my lady stuff in an ugly plastic tub that once held some mushrooms. The brief stated that the end result needed to be beautiful and useful. I decided that my lady products don't need to be in an ugly green plastic tub! 

The lining fabric is a pink and green floral that was left over from another project. I tried to make the lining to fit over the outside but I got the measurements wrong. I chose not to remake it when I realized it didn't fit so I got some chunky cord and made a piped edge to give it some structure instead. 

Then I cut the challenge fabric into strips and sewed them together to form an outer cover.

Lastly, I hand-stitched the flowers onto the outer cover and fit both the outer and the liner onto the new box. 

I recently reorganised and labelled the cupboard under the bathroom sink. It fits perfectly!

Ruth's Flower Challenge

I have a willow basket which sits on the shelf in my craft area holding a variety of art supplies. It had a bright red and white polka dot fabric liner which clashed with the colours of the room. So I used our flowers challenge to make a new one. I've shown it from various sides because the decorations go all the way around.

KATHY'S FLOWER SWOP

My "new" gardening hat!

I have always loved flowery hats, ever since as very young kids we would get a new Easter bonnet to wear on Easter Sunday. I remember having this plastic doily thing on my head, with purple flowers on top, tying it under my chin with a ribbon, and feeling like the Queen! This new creation is a throwback to those good memories, and an attempt to keep up with Lesley's stunning wedding fascinator. . .  (", )

(It's a challenge to take a selfie of the side/back of your own head, by the way. . . !)
The hat itself  (a dollar-store version) was passed on to me by a friend. The head part fit well, but the brim was too huge and floppy for me. I suddenly realized I could just trim it to any shape I liked. In doing so, I discovered that the brim was actually in two layers, which separated when I cut the edging off. Lovely! I deliberately made the brim asymmetrical. Not only is it smaller in the back, but also one side is slightly smaller than the other.

Was great fun to play around with placement of  the bouquet.  Ruth's pretty strip of tulips was trimmed and rounded to make a single flower. Mary's variety of petals was arranged into one major spot of blue with a yellow centre. Louisa's rose was the highlight that everything else was balanced around. Judy's rose was mixed pink, cream and green, and served to tie all the other colours together. But I really needed some green leaves. Anna's fabric was perfect!

Crocheted around the edge of the brim to keep it from unravelling. The dragonfly brooch seemed to belong on the other side, searching for blossoms. . .

The only item not included in the hat bouquet was Lesley's lovely contribution from New York(!) That's because they seemed destined for something else -- little felted dresses for Melanie and Anaya. And an extra one of Judy's lovely knitted flowers finished off a felted dress for Johanna (7). These were made from wool sweaters found in a charity shop, plus a blouse for the darker dress for Joh.

Melanie (1 1/2 years old)

For Johanna age 7

Don't have a photo of Johanna in the dress, but here she is showing off her pretty toes and fingernails!

Anaya (1 year old) 

Since Lesley's flower contribution did not make it on to my special hat, I needed a substitute, so you would all be represented whenever I am out enjoying the garden, A remnant of her rusty-brown scarf contribution from Keswick a few years ago served for a little rose on the brim (in the very centre in the last hat photo above). 

Louisa's Flower Project

It's a great time to be thinking about flowers.  Everything is still very end-of-winter here, and the current world news is even gloomier!

I was able to use our Flowers project to satisfy several different requirements.

I had purchased a teapot at a yard sale and my old tea cosy was not the right size for it.  I knew what "useful" thing I could make!

My pretty new teapot looks great on the wooden trivet Jerry made.  But it needs a cosy to keep the contents warm!

 We had been talking about Colour Theory for Quilters at the Scrappy Club.  We made colour wheels.  The next month's project was to make something using colours next to each other on the colour wheel.  I chose yellow, yellow-green, green.

Fabrics selected to match colour swatches.  Who knew that "olive" is really  "dark yellow"?-- no wonder that fabric wouldn't fit when I tried to put it with greens!

I cut strips of my fabrics and made a simple tea cosy. Showed it to my group and everyone was quite impressed with my Analogous Colour Scheme.

The lining is made from the remains of a tablecloth that Mum used to put on the round wooden table in the living room.  (I think the rest of this cloth was used as the backing for a project Kathy made.)

The next month at Scrappy Club we needed a Complementary Colour Scheme.  So I tacked the bright flowers onto the tea cosy -- perfect!  It keeps the tea nice and warm, too!

My Useful Flower Tea Cosy.  That 3-D rose is not a very useful shape -- I can see it might need a few more stitches to hold it in place.