Inspiration Challenge ~ What we made in September & new challenge for October

The theme for September’s Inspiration Challenge was bears – based on this cute image of 3 antique bears. We were challenged to make anything inspired by this theme and Abakhan Fabrics were kind enough to sponsor the challenge with a prize of this cute floral sewing kit:

1. I made this teddy bear for my nephew’s Christening gift earlier in the month, so my part of the challenge was all finished by mid-September, which makes a change because I’m usually finishing something off at the last minute! I shared my progress in this blog post during the month, and here’s a photo of the finished teddy below. My nephew nearly didn’t get him as a gift because, by the time I’d finished stitching the bear together, I’d loved it so much that I didn’t want to give it away! But I thought of my one-year-old nephew and godchild and realised that he’s love it as much as I did as her grew older (it’s not for playing with right now, because of the small parts!) so I packed teddy up in a straw-lined box and handed him over. I was very careful not to name it, because then I’d get even more attached!

1. Katy from Etsy store Ella Betsy Boo turned her hand to cross-stitching and created this cute little bear motif. She sent me a sneaky-peek preview of her project during September and here is a photo of the framed finished artwork. I am always so impressed with cross-stitch because it’s such a time-consuming craft, that takes a lot of patience and you only really see the result at the end. I’ve often wanted to have a go at cross-stitching, but I’ve not yet taken the time to learn how to do it, and even if I did I think I would lose heart half-way through! So a great crafty make from Katy this month – well done 🙂

1. Jenna from glamourous new blog Glitter Daze spent her weekend crafting this amazing sparkly bear. She found a pattern online from howjoyful.com and it had full ‘how-to’ instruction, so Jenna was confident that she’d be able to stitch herself a ‘mascot’ for Glitter Daze using sparkly sequin fabric from Abakhan in Preston. She’s tells me that after a false-start she’s picked up her sewing needle again and is half-way through her glittery little bear. Here’s what she’s come up with so far:

1. Lucy from the inspirational LucyLovesYa blog created this sleeping bag for a child’s teddy bear. She quilted this cute patterned fabric ready for teddy to take a cosy nap inside its very own sleeping bag:

1. Artist Andy sent me this photo of an old favourite teddy bear that he took with his old 35mm camera. I really like the expression on the bear’s face and the grainy nature of the ‘real film’ image works well with the old bear subject matter. Check out his art and photography blog.

There can only be one winner of this gorgeous floral sewing kit from Abakhan fabrics, and I’ve added everyone’s projects into the random number generator at Random.org and here is the winning number: Congratulations to project number 3 Jenna who will receive her special sewing treat soon! Maybe it’ll help you to finish off your Glitter Daze mascot Jenna 🙂

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for – the new theme for October is… APPLES!

After a quick online chat with one of the lovely inspiration challenge contributors, we came up with the theme of apples for October. I’ve been apple picking this week (along with blackberries etc) and seeing as they are in season right now, I think it would be great to use the humble apple as the starting point for October’s Inspiration Challenge. I’m guessing that we might get a few recipes this month, but the apple shape could be used as a motif for a sewing project, painted onto a craft item, or maybe you could even make a “apple” iphone cover with anything on it! 

This month it’s just for  fun to see what we come up with – absolutely ANYONE can join in and it’s not based on ability or about creating the best craft – it’s just a starting point to get the creative (apple) juices flowing! Please email photos of your makes to me [email protected] before the end of October and I will share everyone’s projects and include links back to your blogs or websites at the start of November – have fun with whatever you decide to make!

Suggestions for next month’s creative challenge would be greatly appreciated so please email or tweet me @Cassiefairy with you suggestions 🙂

 Inspiration Challenge articles:

• See all Inspiration Challenge articles (cassiefairy.com)
• What we made in August and new theme for September (cassiefairy.com)
• My beach hut cushion + the Inspiration Challenge (cassiefairy.com)
• A special prize from Joanie’s Gifts for July’s Inspiration Challenge (cassiefairy.com)
• A beach hut inspired story by author Amanda Addison (cassiefairy.com)
• Inspiration Challenge ~ a fabulous prize for September! (cassiefairy.com)