Chairs

A while ago, we bought 3 chairs on Trade Me (its like the NZ version of eBay, although why they don't just use eBay I'm not really sure). Anyway, the chairs were 8 bucks for the three. And once they were home I decided I quite liked them - except the covers. Which turned out to be (fairly) easily removable. I made new covers for one from some Bekko fabric I bought ages ago. Its not the most professional of sewing jobs, and needs a few tweaks to get them to sit right (and stay right), but I love it. It looks great in the lounge, and its a lovely, comfy chair to sit and work in. 8 dollars well spent.

Festivities

Festival of quilts haul. That, and a stack of fun. I met so many lovely people and had a great time.

Babies

They are everywhere. Everyone seems to be having them. Which is fine by me - I like mine very much, and can see no harm in there being more of these charming things around. And, I get to indulge in some baby-related sewing that really, I have no other excuse to do. How many baby quilts does my not-really-a-baby-anymore need? None. Should I really be getting on with quilting B's big-boy quilt? Sure. But in the meantime, I'm plotting and scheming some scrappy improv quilts. Here's the start of one. Its turning out ok.

B is concerned that some of the monkeys can't see. I don't think the baby will notice. I have some leave coming up with nothing scheduled to do (luxury!!) so I'm planning on getting some more of this done in March - at least before the baby I hope to give it to grows up.


These are peanut butter choc-chip cookies. They are totally delicious. Or should I say, were totally delicious. Recipe is from Brown Eyed Baker - totally recommended.

knits!

So, inspired by made by rae (hope that link works!) I've ventured into sewing with knits. I made this envelope T for F using the pattern in Growing Up Sew Liberated, from fabric bought from Ray Stitch some time ago. All I can remember is its an organic jersey. And I think it turned out ok...it fits Right Now, so I better get it on him asap.
I'm having some computer problems so its mobile-only blogging at present, so sorry about the picture quality.



ETA: right - hopefully those links are fixed now!

Big boy quilt

 Over the past few weeks, I have managed to turn this:

into this:

 A new quilt top for my big boy, who is soon to progress to a big boy bed and clearly needed a quilt for it.

Fabric is Wee Woodland by Keiki (Moda fabrics), from Fabricworm. I used this zigzag quilt tutorial as a guide. Its flannel, so its a lovely big warm thing. The plan now is to store it away until I hit the Festival of Quilts, where I can hopefully find some good backing fabric, then turn it into a useable quilt over winter. It turned out a little Christmas-ey, but otherwise I think its ok, and B likes it (for the moment), which is really the main thing.

Climbing the walls

 When we moved into our place a year ago (!), we spent considerable amounts of resources (temporal and financial) acquiring furniture that we actually liked, would remain functional after more than 6 months and look the part in this 1930's semi. We largely solved that problem. However, the blank walls were crying out for some decoration, and turns out that frames are about as expensive as furniture. So I bought a two lovely pieces of screenprinting from Helen Rawlinson on Etsy. She has lovely stuff, and works out of London. The pieces turned up so quickly, and I got some canvases and glued them on. The ABC one didn't fit a standard canvas size, so I sewed a little linen bias binding on two edges, which looks ok I think. So now the big boy's room is a bit brighter...

 and our room is a little less empty looking.

I also decided we needed a new duvet cover. I had a lovely piece of blue and white fabric in my stash, enormous and bought for a song second-hand a few years ago. But it wasn't quite enough, so I found a lovely piece of 'very vintage' Irish linen online.

 I know, it just looks like a sheet in this picture. Trust me, it is gorgeous. Cool, smooth, clearly used as it is lovely and soft. It has a hand stitched seam up the centre that is done with the most minute stitches, and the hems are so beautifully sewn, all by hand. Someone spent a lot of time on this piece of fabric. It also had a weavers mark on it:

One day I'll remember to take a picture of the finished duvet cover, but I managed to keep the centre seam and some of the hems. It had a few tiny pieces of wear, but these were easy enough to fix. I also have enough left to make some cushion/pillow covers (one day!). I love having this treasured old piece as my treasured new thing.

Zoo Pants

We've had warm weather here in the UK, which highlighted a distinct lack of suitable attire for a trip to the zoo for a friend's 2nd birthday party. However, this significant problem was soon remedied thanks to my generic (but rapidly becoming too small) pants pattern and some lovely fabric from Laurie Wisbrun Urban Circus (Giraffe's Earth and Pachyderm Dot Earth on the trim).
And yes, we saw giraffes.

Later than belated

A friend and neighbour had a lovely little girl last year. Yep. Last year. And not even at the end of last year, like I did, but in the middle of last year. Which is fine, except about 3 months before she was born I said that I would make a quilt and cushion covers for her room. Her mother had chosen some fabric and had been quoted a totally outrageous amount of money to have them made (the quilt in particular was ludicrously priced - and it wasn't even a quilt, just a single piece of fabric, front and back, with a single quilted seam about 3 inches in from the edge as a border). So I finished the quilt a month or two after she was born, and felt guilty about the delay. But then I started on the cushion covers - and got the heebie jeebies about them. The ones that I was copying (made for her first child) had a zip closure at the side seam, and piping. How hard could it be? Well, I wasn't sure and I didn't want to find out! Despite buying plenty of fabric (it is Elephant and Castle Blossom and Lafayette Peony from Designers Guild), I had a paranoia about wasting any and not making them to a professional level (like I would ever be able to!). Finally, guilt overcame my paralysing self-doubt, and I got started. This is the first one, and the second one was finished yesterday. You know what? They look great!! They aren't perfect, but they are pretty good considering my sewing skills, and they are handmade with love and care. I'm now inspired to make some for me :)

(my apologies - for some unknown reason Blogger is rotating my pictures for me today. Just tip your head to the right for the time being)

Going Dotty

I finally finished the baby quilt I started sometime towards the end of last year. The front piecing only took an afternoon, as did the back. The binding took considerably longer as I decided I wanted thick binding with mitred corners, and of course I made every mistake I could. But it was finally finished, and I quilted using my new walking foot (which is sensational, by the way).

I'm really happy with how it turned out - its a very long time since I made a quilt, and the first time to make one only on the machine. We haven't stopped using it - as a blanket, toy, playmat and draught stopper. It has polyester batting (I had a piece this size in my stash, and only smaller pieces of cotton/bamboo), which is fine for this purpose as it is nice and light and squishy.

Top: Kaffe Fasset Spots (using this pack from Cotton Patch)

Bottom: Amy Butler Full Moon Polka Dot (from various sources, but binding in Tangerine is from Emma Garry Fabrics).

Quilting: purely for my own notes, I used Presencia Thread Finca 60/3 in light grey (352).

Yes Way!

Something unbelievable happened this morning. I opened my inbox, and there was an email from Made by Rae, saying I had won the fabricworm giveaway run on her blog the other week! It is a brilliant prize - 3 yards of fabric from one of two collections - I chose some from the Beach Mod collection (including the cute Ukeleles above), and I'm so excited! Summer clothes for the boys have been playing on the edges of my mind lately (although I'm still sewing winter weight trousers), and this has just inspired me even more to get thinking of shorts, shirts and shortalls! Woo hoo! Thanks Rae and Cynthia!

Snuggypants

Speaking of sewing, I managed a little before F was born. These are some trousers for the new boy - snuggly and warm, made from a felted men's vest I got at the charity shop, using an Ottobre pattern. They were meant to have the intact bindings as cuffs, but I cut the pieces out wrongly. In the end they worked out fine though - they are a bit high-waisted, but that is useful for a cloth nappied baby in winter - everything is kept nice and warm. Also, the stripes in the gusset match at the back, but not the front. I still love them though - he feels a bit like a teddy bear in them!

Christmas cheer

The sloe gin is bottled. The gift bags have been made. The shortbread has been baked (and eaten!), and tomorrow I think we'll cut the Christmas cake. What a most excellent time of year.

I bulk bought the bags for the wedding - treat bags for our very little guests - and had some left over, so a wee scrap of ribbon and hand printed labels (not by me!) made them a bit more festive. I really love how they came out. The ribbon and labels are from Flash in the Pan - a pop-up shop in Summertown at the moment. Very much worth checking out - lovely lovely stuff in there!
The sloe gin is not destined for gift bags - it is destined for a years eeking out, its such lovely stuff. It is quite a light colour this year, I think my sloe-piercing was less than thorough. But it still tastes divine.

Believe me

Knitting! I know, incredible. This is Meret, in Lang SilkDream in charcoal (a gorgeous yarn gifted to me in a swap by the lovely Jinnee, all the way from Switzerland).


And some sewing from a few weeks (months?) ago - a skirt from an old 70's pattern and a top from a new Simplicity pattern, both in Amy Butler fabrics. Although I love the Coriander fabric of the skirt, turns out I don't wear white-based skirts much. Had you asked me this beforehand, I would have agreed, but I just didn't think. Still, it is nice. The top is huge, but I'm growing into it :)

Now I'm off to find out who turned the date stamp on the camera...

New but vintage

So as previously stated, I bought some fabric at the V&A exhibition, some of which became a dress for my niece. Some became a dress for another girl-baby-to-be:

Same pattern, this time in 'Coral' with same lining. Excellently cute pattern.

I had a day off yesterday, again with both boys busy at work/nursery, so spent the day gardening/sewing/preserving artichokes. I finished this:

which is the shirt from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing, in fabric by Michael Miller. And yes, he does now have matching shirt & shorts :) Poor child. I have to say, I didn't much enjoy sewing the shirt and it isn't especially tidy around the collar, but it does look fantastic on, especially now that summer is about again.

The first free Friday

Its a long story, but B has had two Fridays at nursery (when he is usually home with me), meaning I had two Fridays to myself! Luxurious. The first Friday, I went to the V&A quilt exhibition, which was outstanding. I got a bit teary at the Changi quilt and was wonderfully surprised to see the transportation quilt at the very end. I have seen this quilt before, and it is a wonderful record of the women transported from London to Van Diemen's Land. This quilt reminds me of how lucky I am that I can choose to move between these two places as I wish, not as someone else commands.

Anyway, I bought some of their lovely fabric at the end, some of which ended up as this:

The pattern is the Itty Bitty Baby Dress from Made by Rae. Its a great, free pattern and looks super cute. I also got the ric rac from V&A - they sell everything in their amazing shop! This is for my new niece in Western Australia - hopefully it gets to her while it still fits. Speaking of babies - we are expecting another one at the end of the year, which kind of explains the crying at the quilt exhibition and the current lack of knitting. It'll be back, I'm sure.

Long Shorts

There has been less knitting than sewing going on here lately. For example - new shorts for B. (sorry about the first pic - I guess he's just movin to fast).

Based on a pattern from Ottobre, using Michael Miller's 'Zoology' print. I think these will last for some time - the elastic is too big (based on my guesswork rather than measuring) but hangs on thanks to cloth nappies :) My guess is by next summer they'll fit as regular shorts.

Baby sewing

So it turns out that sewing for babies has all the benefits of knitting for babies (small projects, rapid satisfaction, minimal body shaping, able to indulge in all sorts of cuteness) and all the benefits of sewing (much quicker than knitting!). And thanks to Ottobre magazine I managed to finally sew something cute and wearable that fits (even over a big cloth nappy).



Pattern: Dala Hast dungarees, Spring 2009 Ottobre
Fabric: Petrol fine cord from Dots n Stripes and a little Amy Butler lovely spottiness (I think it is Full Moon dots from the Lotus collection).
I see some more of these on the horizon...! (PS check out my shoes! Yes, walking now!)

A return to sewing

Ever since I can remember I have sewn things. The first needlework/craft I did was embroidery, which my Nan taught me. I loved lasy daisies, but most of all, I loved satin stitch. It was great. My nan used to crochet lace edges to my doilies and hankies. I still have a few. But sewing was always there, and as I got to be 12 or so, I started to make my own clothes. Many of my attempts were disasterous, and there were many tantrums and fights with my mum. My memory of sewing from a pattern using a machine is that it was the hardest thing in the world to do. There was just too much to think of, and you had to be able to plan ahead, which apparently I couldn't do very well.

As I got older, I went back to making clothes a few times, mostly when money was hard to come by, and material was cheap. Some of my efforts hung around longer than others, and I still have a few pieces in my wardrobe that are efforts from when I had to do professional placements, but wasn't really earning anything.

I have recently come back to sewing, but not because I don't have any money. This time it is because I can't find the clothes that I like! I know, in this day of mounds of cheap clothes, especially in the UK, you think I would be spoiled for choice. But I am a bit fussy (me?!!!) and I just can't find simple, well made, well fitting clothes that suit me.

So I invested in some lovely cloth, hauled out the poor old uncaredfor machine, and voila!

Now, its not the best picture, I apologise. I wore it alot in Belgium, but being the one with the camera, there aren't any pics (ok, there are pics, but they are 'orrible). I will try and get some next time I wear it. Also, it has a big crease down the middle as I hadn't washed it at this stage. The brown at the bottom is the lining. I am not all that fond of the hem seam, and probably should have slip stitched the hem, but then I wouldn't have been able to wear it! As it is now finished and wearable, I can't see that situation changing. The zip is ok, not terribly tidy, but ok considering I lost my zipper foot (oops!). Anyway, I had fun, I love my new skirt, and now I have a bit more confidence to get onto the other fabric (which is even prettier I think!).

And mum - it goes great with the sandles and little sleeveless top you gave me when I was home!