Christmas is coming. . .

I've been doing a bit of prep. I love this butterfly fabric. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

This Liberty fabric is so luxurious, I hope there is enough left to make a bag. Just a small everyday tote would be perfect. The piping on this cushion was a challenge. A piping foot might be on the wishlist this year.

And I have had a little play with an embroidery design. I bought it last year but never made it what with one thing and another. I rather like the little chap. I'll try him on some felt next. Maybe in red.

Oh and I almost forgot my snowman. He's clearly having a lot of fun out in the snow. You can't see but under my fingers is a hole for threading ribbon. Again I might pop him on some felt next time.

That's all this week. What have you been up to?

I've got my eye on you

I decided to try my hand at something new and made this little fabric tray. A treasure tray made with eye fabric and some plain black for the backing. I loved it and apparently so did my friend who asked me if she could have it. So off it went. And I tried a bigger size. I think I actually prefer the smaller size but the elephants are fun too. 

Also with a plain black backing. Ideal for oddments that have no home.

I also made this cute apron for my sons school fete. And followed it up with some scrap busting fabric bookmarks. 

I really enjoyed making these again for the school fete. I hope people like them as much as I liked making them.

So what have you all been up to?

A quick hello and some memory covers.

I have been absent for a while, though still popping by other blogs but with my husband away and what feels like a million things to do on the never ending job list I've not had much time to think.

However I thought I would pop on and share a picture I took tonight of 15 memory cushion covers I made for a friend from her late step mothers clothes. It was a bit of a challenge and there were times I wondered what possessed me to offer to do it but finishing up tonight it wasn't so bad.

She has seen a picture and is coming to collect them over the weekend. They are for the grand children and brothers and sisters of her step mother.

I was a little hesitant when I realised it was all t.shirt fabric, but a week and a half later I decided t.shirting isn't so bad. And even my machine didn't get in too much of a tizz.

I have found myself offering to do a shift at preschool tomorrow as one of the staff is ill and they need another body to keep it open for the day. (Small village preschool). So I am off to get a good night sleep before the onslaught but I promise to try and be less slack with my next post. 

A real quilt.

While in the past I have made lots of patchwork and backed it with fleece or soft fabric for blankets for my family or friends and I have even sewn a few 'quilts' with batting but just backed them and turned them right way out like a cushion cover with a bit of top stitching to close the gap I have never actually quilted before. Until now.

On Monday I had the crazy idea it would be good to sew a quilt for my father who has been a bit under the weather and needing to rest. I thought a lap quilt for the living room would be a nice gift to take home when we visit later today. I found a picture on Pinterest that I quite liked, raided the stash with the help of my three year old and cut 5" squares until the sight of my rotary cutter made me shudder. The white was no problem as I could just cut strips and then cut them up. After that to my daughters confusion I cut all the squares into triangles and proceeded to sew them back together again. And press all the seams. When the little people were in bed I laid them all out on the floor to make my design and carefully pinned them row by row in neat piles to tackle later. I managed to get all the rows sewn and the seams pressed and then three of the rows attached by the end of the first day. On Tuesday I completed sewing the rows then I had a date with my eight year old to spend his birthday money so I had to take a break. After our successful escapade I added a surround to the top and pressed it all. I found a piece of fabric big enough to back it and my batting and discovered my batting was three inches too small. Hubby insisted I didn't botch it by sewing an extra cut off on and took me over to Hobbycraft to get some new batting. We left with some FQ's my five year old bought for me, some play doh my oldest the eight year old bought for his sister and a glitter pen on top of the batting. Not too bad for a quick trip out, we also drove around looking for grey grout for my kitchen floor only to find it had been discontinued and our floor will be two shades of grout.

I spent what felt like forever pinning the three layers together and trying to ensure both sides were fairly smooth, the only place big enough while renovating was our bed so it wasn't perfect but I managed. So glad I always keep safety pins. ;) I wish I had taken a photo at this point but I didn't.

After putting the small people to bed I dug out the walking foot I had been gifted and started to play. Wow I can see why people use long arm quilting machines. My little Brother has guts and it managed but it was a tight squeeze at times. By the time I had finished I had gone off the idea of adding my own bias and luckily had some wide ish in my drawer, (it was getting late and I needed to get it finished) which I was able to use on this occasion. I had meant to make a label and I forgot. It is full of little flaws but it's my first attempt and I am pretty pleased with it.

Quick refashion on a stay at home day.

If you have young children of your own you will be all to aware that it's the holidays. After a day out at friends yesterday we had a stay at home day today. I had mountains of washing, some washing up and mountains of clothes to put away so we needed a day to catch up, not to mention the ironing. . . 

I grabbed a bit of time this afternoon to refashion a Good Deed dress made with some fabric from our trip last year, the bodice was getting too small but the skirt looked new still. Rather than adding another skirt to the mass of skirts already in her possession I decided to turn it into a loose tunic for the summer heat we have been having. I am well aware that in doing this I am probably cursing us to a month of rain but you can't blame a girl for trying right?!

Rather than unpick the bodice as I had also top stitched and sewn on ribbon as an afterthought I cut the skirt as close to the bodice as possible. I then cut two J shapes on either side of the top of the skirt. I used the cover stitch foot and hemmed the top of the back and front then I switched out to my normal foot and did a rolled hem along the new armholes. Finally I sewed a channel along the back and front top to thread my ribbon ties. As an after thought I stitched my ties not just in the middle to stop them slipping out but also at both ends as the width was a little too much to just scrunch when tying up the ribbons. I have found it can unscrunch in wear and then there would be far too much across the top in this case. If I had been making from scratch I would have made it slightly a..line but the idea was to make it as quick and easy as possible with the least sewing as it will probably only last until the end of summer anyway.

It doesn't look fantastic on a hanger but it didn't look too bad on when she tried it briefly in between wrecking her brothers room and trying to see how easy it would be to bounce through the ceiling. Only six weeks to go hey!

Happy holidays everyone.

Monday Madness

It's getting towards the end of term and everyday seems busy and full of things to do. We had a very busy weekend with a party for our soon to be 8 year old and his friends at an outdoor Forest School center. It was in the words of the children EPIC. Then we had three of them sleepover so six children in the house and bed time was ongoing. I think I gave up at about 11.45 and there were still odd mumbles from the boys room. Then we had a gathering to go to on Sunday afternoon which with our sleepy children went surprisingly well. I also managed to squeeze in an MRI on Saturday.

I have been busy with leaving gifts and cards the last few days so I thought I would share a few of my latest makes with you today.

A puppy bandanna for a friend who was entering a show. They came second!

A birthday present ordered by son for a friend.

This was for a friends son. Lining up the tartan was fun. I really like this little fellow.

A thank you gift for an above and beyond pastoral carer at the school.

A retirement card and bracelet for sons reception teacher.

A retirement card and partly done hoop frame for the receptionist at school.

I am about to back the second hoop. The first I had to ad lib a bit as the fabric wasn't quite the right size so I glued it in place. This one has enough fabric to try and finish it properly. I hope it works.

I have done the preschool drop and collect and popped to HobbyCraft for a hoop. I would rather have bought an old one but I need it for tomorrow so I didn't have time to do a charity shop hunt.

The weather is beautiful on this side of the country today. Lets hope summer is finally here.

Enjoy your week.

A home coming and some new embroidery machine projects.

We are a family again. After several weeks of being in Kenya Daddy is back and the children are loving having him home. It has been rather noisy I have to say but noisy happy children are 100 times better than noisy unhappy children.

No 1 son made a banner for the door. The door desperately need sanding and re varnishing but that's another post I think. Renovation never ends.

I have recently rediscovered the joy of the embroidery function on my machine. I have been having a bit of a play. It started when I saw someones 5x7 Three Wishes by Titania Creations and commented on it. I only have a 4x4 hoop and was a little disappointed but by that evening there was a 4x4 download on the freebie page. It's a lovely website with some beautiful patterns if you have an embroidery machine I highly recommend popping over for a look. Here is my practice piece, it stitches out really well.

This was just a trial on an old pillowcase but I think it's headed for a cushion or possibly a bag.

The dandelion is the symbol of the military child so this one is particularly poignant.

After getting my embroidery juices flowing again I went on the hunt for some more patterns to play with. Here are the results of a few evenings playing about.

This elephant was a freebie from Ann the Gran. I posted his progress on my personal Facebook page and my friends were going mad for him. He became this cushion, I thought the fabric was quite complimentary to the stitching. I love him and he has already marched off to live at a friends house.

These bunnies I actually bought from an American site, it was probably EmbLibrary but it might not have been. I should really have made a note of it. This picture does not do them justice at all. They stitch out very well but the silvery grey thread is impossible to photograph, I paired it up with this beautiful sparkly star fabric which is also very hard to photograph well and a friend of mine has requested it for her daughter who is bunny mad.

I have also been playing with some cows but that's another blog post and hopefully one I will get finished and sharing with you very soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.