Men's Ties, Sphagnum Moss & Twine !!

Wednesday Greetings dear friends & readers

Our little craft group met up again on Monday at Sharlaine's Home
At our last meeting Gail tipped out a bag of men's silk ties onto the table & we were all to choose one, create something with it, & bring it to our next meeting.
I chose the Christmas Tie below .  .  .

Upon arriving home .... I did wonder what on earth possessed me to choose this one !!

I thought I might try to make a small size Christmas bag from it so I unpicked the tie & tried to frame it somewhat using matching fabrics that I already had in my stash 

I think its fair to say that at this stage above, I still really had no idea what I was doing .... but I wanted to use the point of the tie as the bottom of my bag.
I used some co-ordinating fabrics to patchwork a back for the bag & then quilted this.
 I used the plain dark blue end of the tie as a handle - the bag is fully lined with calico

In the end I was pleased with how it came together ...... I attached a cute Nikki Tervo ceramic button that said 
"I 💝Xmas"
I thought this was an ideal size to use for a Christmas Gift Bag

I attached a tin bell to the very bottom point

The ladies had all made quite different items from their Ties ... Liz had made a turtle as her tie had tiny turtles printed all over the silk, Gail had made a cute Winnie the Pooh bunting & bear from hers, Joyce had fashioned a silk flower brooch & Sharlaine had framed hers in a hoop

Some of the ladies (excluding yours truly) had made some more velvet pumpkins following on from  
our last get together

I thought they were all really beautiful but I just LoVeD Sharlaine's sewing themed pumpkin below !!

For our meeting on Monday we had decided to have a go at Kokedama 

Kokedama is a style of Japanese bonsai, where a plant's root system is simply wrapped in sphagnum moss and bound with string, transforming it into a sculptural art form. Loosely translated, 'koke' means moss and 'dama' means ball.Mar 27, 2014

Sharlaine had tried this before but none of us other ladies had.
I have to say, I really really enjoyed it & shall definately be making more! 
As we all used differing thicknesses of twine the end results were all quite different but effective!

These are our first attempts above & this is my own little cutie below .... I am hoping to make a simple string hanger for it as they look wonderful suspended.

I had a good trip down to Mum's to celebrate her 89th birthday & then the following day I took her to the crematorium where my Dad's ashes are scattered in the Garden of Remembrance

Mum & I take either silk or fresh flowers each time & it is wonderful to see the plaque & flowers are left untouched each visit.

Upon my return I had some surprise mail arrive from * here *
I found Alice Caroline fabrics on Instagram & fell in love with their gorgeous Liberty selection 
so I ordered some fat 1/4's

I have had this pattern below for many years quite some time now & hope to make Miss Maggie up with a Liberty print dress & ears.

Though Taranaki was cold & stormy while there, I have certainly returned home to much lower temperatures.

I don't want to light the fire just yet so am making do with the heater but it's pretty much "first in, most warmest" !!


I purchased a couple of Op Shop treasures while away but will save those for another day as this is rather a photo heavy post.
I shall leave you with this little collage I put together last week.
I have Sid every Thursday & Miss Pippi has informed me she dislikes Thursdays! Though she Is allowed inside, she refuses to come in while Sid is here so this is what goes on all day long .... something of a Mexican Standoff!!

A Mexican standoff is a confrontation amongst two or more parties in which no strategy exists that allows any party to achieve victory.Wikipedia

Incidently in the top photos she is sitting in my flowering window basket!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today dear friends,
I hope the rest of the week goes well for you all
I shall try to get around & visit you all at your blogs as our internet has been rather contrary again!
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x