Home again.....and back to work

Well........I suppose it's back to the grind, if you can call hiding myself in my sunny sewing room, dreaming up and preparing stitching projects for my kiddos; work! Yes, it's back home again after experiencing the most pleasurable couple of weeks taking a voyeuristic journey through cyberspace, visiting many, many gorgeous blogs from all around the world, without having to move my gluteous maximus from the comfort of my rather cushy chair. If you are still in party mode and visiting, wanting to check out my li'l corner of the world, then my GYB party post is here.

Those of you who are new followers of my blog, a very warm welcome; you have truly inspired me with your own imaginative creativity! I look forward to visiting your lovely blogs over and over again and delight in all the goings on in your delightful posts.

But as with all things, parties must come to an end. The lights go out and we make our way back home to everyday normality......(not that life around here could ever be classified as normal). My head is spinning with sooooo many ideas! I do hope the arteries in my brain pan don't explode with all those imaginations!

School starts back this week after a 6 week break (can someone please tell me where that time went) and even though I should be preparing for the kiddos' lessons, I have been tarting up a few denim lovelies to flog at a market. I have had a few days grace before I put head down and derriere up and begin the begin.

But....before I could begin the process of tarting up some lovelies, I had to first visit my favourite op shop to acquire oodles of people's cast off denim garments. I need an oversupply of denim pieces as they can always be used in the kiddos' sewing lessons; and of course the children's pieces that are in great condition can be tarted up so that some other child can wear them for a while longer. I try to squeeze as many denim garments into a shopping bag as possible. The last time I bought 20 pairs of adult and kid's jeans, with a few other things thrown in for $10!! A bargain in anyone's language!

Oh and just to make you really, really pea green.....I squished these  pretties in as well!

 A gorgeous turquoise shrug, a perfectly as new, pure wool cream vest ('tis so, so soft) AND a lovely green and blue cardie with a smattering of beads and a li'l bling.....all my size! Aren't I a lucky gal, especially as I love blue and green sitting happily beside each other! Whomever said "blue and green should not be seen" really had no idea what they were talking about. Honestly, I don't think anyone has worn any of these garments; or if they have, only on the odd occasion.

Every kiddo that bursts through my bright pink door always seems to want to stitch a denim quilt...even the boys; hence my need for a constant supply of denim jeans. I cut out large 10 inch squares and my li'l prodigies stitch them together to make a quilt that they will snuggle under for a very long time. Most of the girls like to embellish their quilts with fabric flowers and butterflies to weave in and out of pockets.

But sometimes (the boys) only want to make a 'plain' quilt and in the case of Alysha, she wanted to make an "all things equestrian" quilt with her Arab filly, Courage smiling through the horseshoe. These quilts were stitched by the girls when they had only been coming to "The Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence" for a little while......they were all eight years old! I wrote about these clever girls way back when, here.

Not only do the kiddos fashion quilts from cast off jeans but I use different parts of the jeans in a plethora of projects; the pockets, the waistbands etc. Quite often I buy the jeans just because they have interesting pockets which can be used sometime in the future, down my yellow brick road of creativity.

Tarting up children denim pieces is the best fun as there are no restrictions on what I might add. A snippet of lace, a crochet flower or two, some free hand stitching.....it's carte blanche as to how I can embellish.

I have been playing with a smattering of triflings, making earth shattering decisions what to put where and on what.

This pair of jeans has oodles of patches from another pair of jeans, doilies, broderie anglaise, lace and the odd flower or two...oh...... and of course a pretty button trim. Can you feel the love??

A cute pair of Lee Cooper overalls with a pretty flower and lady bug.

Oodles of pretties on this pair of jeans.

A cute pair of denim shorts with just a few pretties added to them.

I really like this sweet little girl's vest.

With a crochet flower or two here, some lace, perhaps a snippet of a doily there, it will look oh so chic.

I carefully snipped little flowers and arranged them in a visually appealing arrangement and stitched them to the front on one side.

A pocket embellished with crochet flowers and button trim.

A pretty trim and ribbon trailing their way up one side of the vest, around the back of the neckline to the front. Oh........and of course a couple of flowers to finish the look.

I added a pretty doily at the neckline on the back.

Voila.....my new, pretty, upcycled girl's vest!

That's enough upcycling for me. That's enough of playing with crochet pretties, snippets of lace and a few triflings. There's 'work' to be done. I really, really must think about my kiddos' lessons. I really, really must put my head down and gluteous maximus up and begin lesson preparation.

I hope you have a great week, everyone! Toodles.