on the 5th day of joyfulness...

dottie angel shared with me

a merry little mobile of glee

(skill level : easy peasy)

yes indeedy, we are back to dingly dangly again today! this is easy peasy and i think most suited to dingly dangling any little happy things, does not have to be just for the joyful season, no indeedy, afterwards you may swap out your gleeful dingly danglies and add some other pretties. a merry mobile for all seasons and one most suited for 'small beings' to make, how spiffy!

ingredients:

* two sticks, twigs, or bamboo canes of equal length

* twine, string or yarn

* strips of fabrics to your liking

* crochet cotton and hook

(or just yarn or string to make the hanging part)

* thread and needle

* mod podge (not necessary)

* a button or two (if you so wish)

* dingly danglies from your box of glee

recipe:

1: take your two sticks and holding them in a cross shape, wrap with your yarn or string several times to secure. once again, channeling your inner boy scout might come in handy here. once secure and not wibbly wobbly, tie off your string and cut.

2: wrap the crossed twigs with your strips of fabric, you could use different colours, use a bit of mod podge to keep in place or use a needle and thread just to secure ends.

3: next you can either use lengths of yarn or string, or you may wish to crochet a chain for the hangy part. you will require two equal length strings a bit longer than the length of your sticks, be sure to leave extra either end for tying. when you have tied your strings to the ends of your sticks, (crossing them over in the middle), you will need another length to tie at the crossover part, keeping it altogether nicely, which will become the bit you hang your merry mobile from. you may wish to stitch a button or two on, if so, then do so

4: hang your merry looking 'sticks and string' up at a convenient level for 'blinging'. rustle around in your gleeful box and start attaching little strings to your sweeties and tie onto your mobile sticks. once again we must think about balance here so it all stays nice and level. i have made mine very symmetrical to challenge  myself, for usually i am quite higgedly piggedly with my placement of things, however you are welcome to be higgedly piggedly and i do think you could even be quite 'clustery' as well.

5: find a suitable place for your merry little mobile of glee, i went for above the table for when the light next to it is switched on, the glee of my little merry mobile becomes most sparkly and this year, i am really liking a touch of sparkle mixed in with the joyfulness

you will need paint at the ready for joyful day number 6 tomorrow ~ Tif

on the 4th day of joyfulness...

dottie angel shared with me

a perfectly patched and pieced pillow-cover

(skill level : medium peasy 

but could be easy peasy if you go for the tres basic version)

i do like myself a new pillow cover however its an odd thing, cos here they call it a pillow and over the pond a cushion, i have often found this particular difference in our language a tricky one, do i say pillow or do i say cushion? for the purpose of today though, we will have to go with pillow because it goes nicely with 'perfectly patched and pieced' and i do like a bit of 'nicely'.

envelope back pillow-covers are by far the easiest way of making a cover i believe and if you make it out of one long piece of patched fabric, even more so. you could make this little 'how-to' even more easy peasy, by using one fabric, forgetting about the buttons and loops and literally cut to shape, sew up two sides and voila! it also might be a little noticeable that i have not used obvious 'gleeful' colours, for the very reason i wished to enjoy my new pillow-cover for longer than a few weeks. you could however choose some smashing gleeful fabrics and even go so far as to applique a bit of 'JOY' across the front. i shall leave that entirely up to you.

and just a note, i work in inches, i know that is not the norm for most, so just do what you need to do in cms and ignore my inches.

ingredients:

* fabrics of spiffiness, 

my fabrics are a mixture of a vintage table runner, a bottom i chopped of an old ikea blind i had customized once, a lovely bit of liberty (red floral) from my fabby friend Rachelle, of which has been the bases for all my gleeful fabric choices this year, a rather nice laura ashley number and a rather nice black floral one with  a spriggy design which reminds me of the frocks i wore in the early 80's. recently i have been attracted to fabrics with black backgrounds and as these are thin on the ground in the vintage department i have gone shopping here

* one pillow insert (cushion pad) of the size you wish to make

* a trusty machine and thread

* a trusty iron and board

* a button or two

* pins and scissors

* something to make little button loops with

* piece of paper and pencil for scribbling notes if need be

recipe:

1. measure your pillow insert, you will need to make a piece of fabric which measures the same height as your pillow, plus 1 inch for seam allowance and then a bit more than 2 and a half times the width of your pillow. write down your measurements less you forget. this is where you can just cut one large piece of fabric or gather together a few favorites and start cutting strips of different widths and stitch together. be sure to press the seams nicely.

you may also wish to have a little think about the position of your fabrics as to when they are wrapped around your pillow insert, basically thinking about where the blocks of fabrics will lay, for want of a better way of saying it.

2. when you have made the correct sized rectangle of fabric for your pillow insert, press and fold in the two short ends and pin. stitch in place with your trusty sewing machine. if you are wishing to add buttons to your finished cover, now is a grand time to add loops. cut the correct length of your loopy bit to fit your button, pin and stitch in place as you hem the shorter ends

3. lay your fabric right side facing up. take one end and fold towards the center of your rectangle, going past the center point. if you have loops, you will need to fold this piece inwards first. then bring over the other end and fold on top. with a tape measure you will need to check you have the exact width of your pillow insert. if it is too small or too wide, then readjust your fabric accordingly. if happy, then pin in place along the top and bottom raw edges and stitch leaving an half inch seam allowance. you may wish to go back over the raw edges with zig zag stitch, but you do not have to.

4. carefully snip your corners before turning right sides out. press with your trusty iron and then attach your button or buttons in the right place for your loops

5. place your pillow insert in your new perfectly 'patched and pieced' pillow-cover and do a bit of plumping

6. find a most fitting place for it to feel at home, make a cup of tea, find another seat opposite your spiffy pillow, sit down and admire your bit of handcrafted goodness

inspiration:

my lovely bit of liberty red floral fabric from my fabby friend Rachelle and a desire to use it in a pillow cover

she is thinking thursday would be a jolly good day for day 5 of joyfulness ~ Tif

on the 3rd day of joyfulness...

dottie angel shared with me

a jumbly bumbly cluster of glee

(skill level : easy peasy with a hint of lemon squeezy)

yes indeedy, another easy peasy one, after all it is the beginning of the week and we would not wish to over do things. as the gleeful season descends upon our nests, i do think hanging little clusters in a jumbly bumbly manner can be most enjoyable. favourite old ornaments from times gone by, mixed in with new ones and a dash of eclecticness in the way of a little happy forsaken soul or two may be just the thing to cheer one up.

this little cluster is called a 'jumbly bumbly' one because quite frankly that is what it is. yes, it is nothing more than a 'jumbly bumbly of things' hung on strings, which in turn has made me joyful.

ingredients:

* ornaments, forsaken little souls, knick knacks, 

(anything you can string and dingle dangle in a jumbly bumbly sort of way)

* yarn, crochet cotton, bakers twine, any thread to dingle dangle things from, 

(but does need to have a little strength to it)

* scissors

* needle

* crochet hook

* button

* cup hook 

recipe:

1. lay out your little collection of goodies and start tying long strings on them.

2. holding one ornament and its string in  your hand, start adding others to your cluster, making sure they lay nicely on top of each other, when you have a nice bunch hanging together and all gaps appear to have been filled in. take all the strings you hold in your hand and knot them together at the top.

3. using more of your string and tucking in the ends at the top, wrap around to keep in place. use your needle and thread to secure your stringy knot and then snip the tail end of your string, carefully avoiding any other strings in the process.

4. i used Mr Hook to crochet a chain, this is not necessary but does give a bit of strength to the whole thing. figure out how long you require your cluster of jumbly bumbly to hang and make a string befitting to that length (remember it is likely to stretch a little, once the chained string takes the weight of the cluster). again use your needle threaded onto one end to attach it securely to your cluster or you could just do some nifty knotting using your boy scout skills.

5. with needle and string, add a button, i also added a felted snowflake, you could add more than one button or indeed go totally joyful and add a bow! gosh yes, some folks do like bows this time of year and this maybe just the moment to introduce one.

6. screw a cup hook into the ceiling (can you tell i live in the US where the ceilings are easy to make a hole in!) if a hole in your ceiling is a no-no then may i suggest dingly dangling your cluster from a little door knob on a cupboard

7. as always, step back and admire your joyful efforts and then wonder to yourself if a 'jumbly bumbly cluster' made on a larger scale, might look rather spiffy and joyful hanging on the front door instead of the usual wreath this gleeful season.

day 4 of joyfulness tomorrow ~ Tif