KTB - Broderie top (and some extras)

Project - New Look 6392 Broderie top in size 3

Started - probably in 2007? It was part of a number of outfits I made for my niece who is now 10.
Finished - November 2014
Gifted - Christmas 2014
It is amazing what you can find when cleaning out the stash. While looking for something else I came across this pattern bundled up with the white broderie already cut up to make a size three top with the puffy sleeves.

I had started it as part of a gift for my now-10-year-old niece. The other items had been finished and gifted but for some reason I never sewed this one up.

I had some dragon and cow fabric already selected to make clothes for my 2-year-old niece and her dolly so I decided to use this pattern and finish the top as part of a set.

I packed up the lot and carted it off to quilt camp in November and had the top, cow shorts and dragon dress completed pretty quickly.
It must have been the elastic casings in the sleeves that put me off last time. I did 8 sleeve casings this time and they ended up pretty neat.

The whole reason for making the clothes was to have matching dolly clothes for the Kinder Doll I gave my niece for her first Christmas in 2012. I called her Ruby but she now goes by 'Dolly'.

Dolly already had a top made in the same white broderie fabric so the matching shorts were quick and easy. The dress took quite a bit of time because I wanted to make similar sleeves and end up with something that was close in appearance to the big dress. It was fiddly but fun.

My nieces parents skyped us on Christmas Day and saved the gift to open while we were online (which was such a thoughtful thing to do).
She put the dress on straight away, found Dolly and dressed her as well and then went and posed in front of the mirror. The rest of the clothes got modelled as well and although the size 3 was too big it was fun watching her play.

KTB - Rainbow Dropstitch Scarf

Project - Easy Dropstitch Scarf
Started - August 2013
Finished - August 2014
Gifted - September 2014

The Easy Dropstitch Scarf pattern is a free download from Ravelry.
It is an easy pattern for a beginner that gives a result that looks far more complicated than it really is, but I recommend using a thicker yarn than I did. Use something slippery for the best result.

I used Opel Sockenwolle - sock yarn and 4.5mm needles.
I picked the pattern because I wanted something easy but lacy.
I picked the yarn because it was in the stash.

The scarf took far longer to make than I ever intended partly because the yarn was so fine, partly because I kept putting it down, partly because I got sick of it half-way through.

I pulled it out again in winter and got it finished and blocked in time to send it to my sister for her birthday. She lives in the coldest place in the country so scarves don't go to waste. I did take some post-blocking photos but can't find them, so this work-in-progress shot is the best I can do.

Thank-you gifts

Back in December Jack finished his first year of school. He had a great year, and I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer in the classroom for one day a week, most of the year. We wanted to do something as a thank-you to his teachers, and as there were two part-time teachers and a teacher's aide, we needed three.

I feel pretty strongly that a thank-you gift for a teacher should come from the child, so we had a think about it and Jack wanted to make something with fabric from my stash which was fine by me. We decided on a cushion for the main teacher and pencil cases for the others (I only had one cushion insert handy).

We found some fabric dye crayons at a local craft shop and some cream fabric, jelly roll strips and a bag of bright scraps in the stash and set to work.

Artist at work

The first step was to draw on some squares of cream fabric. I taped the fabric to some cardboard to stop it shifting, wrote the names on a bit of paper for him to copy and left him to it. The names were my suggestion but Jack decided on the rest. He drew a picture of each teacher surrounded by flowers and love hearts.


I love how each teacher is drawn with a big heart taking up most of their body

 The next day Jack picked out fabrics to frame each drawing and then sat on my lap to sew them together. By this stage he was running out of steam, and a bit bored by all the pressing going on, so he picked out fabrics for the backs and found something else to do.

He was particularly adamant that the two pencil cases needed to have the spider fabrics on the back "cause that will freak them out, Mum". Charming child.



Photobombing

The pencil cases turned out much larger than intended, but that may just make them more useful? The cushion cover was all jelly roll strips, so was easy to put together. I made an envelope back with a velcro closure, and really loved the way it turned out. (Jack's Dad even liked it enough to request we make some for his family for Christmas. We made two but forgot to take photos. The picture Jack is drawing in the photo at the top of the post is one of these.)

We finished off the gifts with cards Jack made by drawing a Christmas tree on the front of a pre-cut blank card. He wrote his own message to each teacher inside the card and I so wish I had taken a picture of them to put in his scrapbook.

The only thing I purchased specifically to make these gifts was the set of fabric crayons, everything else was from the stash so they weren't expensive but there was quite a bit of time and effort from both of us to create them. The look of pride on his face when he carted them off to school was more than worth it.

Spring sewing

 Back in August I was intending to make these little zippered pouches for a spring-themed sew-along. August, September, October all came and went, but they were finally finished off in November.

Last I heard November was still in Spring, so guess it still counts :)

Perfect stash-busting sewing. The fabric was from a Spotlight quilters-cotton jelly roll out of the stash. The orange ribbon was tied around the jelly roll. The zipper was from the zipper box, and the lime green lining was a remenent from a garage sale job-lot that has been in the stash for years.

Despite the length of time it took to reach the finished project stage, these were remarkably quick, easy and satisfying to make.

Do you like the pretty calendulas from the garden? So sweet in the little brass vase picked up at the same garage sale and recently polished up during a bout of spring cleaning fever.

Here they are - two little pouches for two not-so-little birthday girls, and only a month or two late for their birthdays.

And if you look closely you can see a freshly picked cucumber snuggled into the fruit bowl.

Spring sewing, spring gardening and spring cleaning all in one post :)

Finally some sewing!

We were planning on attending a birthday party for the daughter of a friend today but woke up to the little one coughing and vommiting at 2am this morning (throat infection not gastro) so decided we should skip the party and take him to the doctors instead. Poor little mite has spent most of the day on my bed with countless dvds and lemonade iceblocks.

However, I have this little dress finished and ready to gift so it will be going in the mail instead.

I used a pattern found here http://www.ikatbag.com/2010/01/dress-for-winter-iii-very-simple-jumper.html and made it reversible, and made it totally from the stash.

One side is blue pinwale cord, trimmed with cotton lace and white flower-shaped buttons that compliment the lace.

The other is a bright quilters cotton in blue with iredescent butterflies and flowers, picked out with gold foil. I decided not to put buttons on this side because I like the way the butterflies sit on the shoulders.

This really should have taken only 1-2 hours from start to finish, but i forgot to check the overlocking thread before I started (unpicking...), broke a needle (unpicking, rethreading), had several goes at the rounded shouldertabs (more unpicking - next time I'll draw on a stitching line) and several goes at the hem (more unpicking, pressing and pinning which I should have done first time round).
Gee I'm out of practice!

I also spent ages going through the fabric stash and choosing fabrics, then going through the ribbon stash to choose trime, then going through the button stash to choose buttons. It made for a pleasant evening but dragged out the construction time.

I was planning a layered yellow ribbon/purple ribbon/green rickrack trim on the patterned side but after I had it pinned to the dress I decided it looked more like gift wrap than clothing, and I'm glad I left it off.

Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day - Bella Bear needs a hug!

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day is on May 27th and I'm joining in the fun.
Here's the link if you want to join in too: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=805

Here is the sweet little Bella, looking for a hug to call her own. She has been keeping me company in the sewing room for a while except for the times I've had to rescue her from the toy box, cot, clothes hamper or assorted other places that Jack likes to stash pilfered items.

Lately she has been a bit neglected and I think it is time she was adopted by someone with more time to share secrets with her. (Jack just saw this picture and raced down to the sewing room to find her - I think he might miss her a bit even though his own bear hug is rather large)

Bella is the third bear I've made so she is not perfect but she is very charming and has been stitched with love.
The lovely Bella is about 25cm tall. Her fur is fuzzy felt (I think polyester) in a dusky mushroom pink with a fuzzy rather than furry effect. Her filling is polyester fibre fill. Her arms, legs and neck have timber joints and are fully poseable. Her eyes are plastic safety eyes. She is safe for gentle hugs from little ones (and enjoys them very much) but I'm not sure if she will stand up very well to rough play. Her burgandy bow is a bit of ribbon used in my wedding decorations, so it brings good luck and fondest wishes with it.
If you would like to share your own secrets with Bella and think you could give her the perfect home then leave a comment here by 31st May and she could be yours.
I will draw a winner at random on June 1st, so please remeber to tell me how I can contact you. Bella wouldn't mind a plane trip and is happy to move overseas (as long as she sends a postcard home when she gets there) so international visitors are very welcome.

Yep - still alive, AND I've been sewing!!!

It's been a while since I've posted and need to do some catch up posts about our New Zealand trip, my cute swap clothes that Jack got from my swap partner and my birthday FQs from the swap I'm in (that one will have to wait till Monday because I'm not allowed to open them until then). We've all been sick and I had Jack home all week with a chest infection so there has been very little time-out over the last month.

Last weekend I forced myself to get everything done so I could sit down and sew for a few hours and I've finally got my first little bags finished. These were started as part of the EB March sewing challenge. I'd already made the big version of the bag and wanted to try some samller evening bag styles. With the help of the lovely Kate (here: http://ernstfamilylife.blogspot.com/ ) who drafted a small pattern and sent me a copy, I've made these two little bags.

I call them my Maggie-Kate bags.

Hard to get good pics of the fabric, and please excuse the background. The blue fabric was bought before Christmas to make a bag for a friend and as it never got made she may get this one. I love the button - the blues sparkle and catch the light. It was hiding down the bottom of my button stash and looked better than a covered button.

The brown is made from a fabric a saw and just had to have. it isn't quite a paisley but that's the easiest way to describe it and has a green and ochre pattern on a lovely brown background. It doesn't have shiny gold print but sort of gives the impression that it does. I've got this fabric with a burgandy toning too and can't wait to use it. It worked so well in the bag. All the girls at work loved this one - I'm tossing up about giving it away or keeping it. This one has a button covered in the same fabric.

And here's the tricky bit. Turn both bags inside out and you get a totally diferent one. The brown is on the left and the blue on the right. Both have special vintage buttons from my stash.

I've got some altered versions of these on the go. I'm trying them with heavy weight interfacing on one fabric as well as the light pellon I used on the other fabric. I'm narrowing the handle slightly. I'm going to make one without pellon and one without the pleat.

I'm also wanting to make another version of my Margaret Bag (in my January post) but add some zippered pockets to make it a bit more user-friendly. It went all around New Zealand with us and I got some lovely compliments and handed the pattern on to quite a few people. I'd also like to make a mid-size version for when I don't need to cart nappies and toys with me!

Fat quarter swaps

I've signed up for the fat quarter birthday swap at EB this year. Still a few months to go before my birthday so I'm having fun putting together packs of birthday goodies for the girls in the swap.

Here are the last two I sent off. I'm actually finding it a challenge to get it in the post on time and I've yet to get one sent out and recieved BEFORE the birthday - still 9 months of the year so i'm sure I'll manage it eventually.

I hope the girls liked their pressies!

Finished in time for Christmas!

Finished with plenty of time to spare!

This is a shopping tote I made as a Christmas gift. Well, it was originally intended as a birthday gift back in May but has been sitting in the UFO/WIP stash since mid-May. I really wanted to get it finished so made a bit of an effort and got stuck in.

Result - one very big tote bag, one very happy recipient (thankfully) and one less WIP on the to-do list (therefore room for at least four more projects....ha).

The bag is made from a panel and co-ordinating charm squares that I picked up a long time ago from may favourite ebay seller. The lining is green gingham recycled from a doona cover. There is a big pocket and a key clip on the inside and two hidden pockets on the back of the bag in among the squares. I based the design on one of our favourite green bags but it worked out slightly bigger but the recipient said it was just what she needed and started using it straight away!

Please excuse dodgy photos taken at the last minute before I wrapped it up - new years resolution is to learn a few photography skills...

My bears..

These are the bears I made for my niece and nephew.

I made the golden one first and named him Grumbles because of his grumpy looking face. He was made from a kit ('Marmalade') bought from SL years ago and put away until I gained enough confidence to start him. He was suprisingly easy but I had a lot of trouble with the nose and pulled it out several times. That's probably why he looks so grumpy! My nephew managed to pull his head off, leaving the neck joint intact. I did a repair job and think next time I will try gluing the top disc to the fabric if possible, and make sure the gathers at the neck are much tighter.

My niece selected the burgundy coloured fur from my stash for her bear and I was pleased because I loved the colour and would have picked that for her anyway. I used a pattern called 'Butterscotch and Cocoa' out of a bear-making book. I named him 'Cran-beary'. The fur was fairly lightweight and stretchy so I had to back it with interfacing so I could sew it together. This gave him a rather leaner look than I had planned but he ended up with quite a nice shape. The nose and face sculpture was much easier this time around.

Both bears have growlers in their bellies. I've had a fascination with growling bears since I was little and love the different sounds you can get. I've got several growlers still waiting for bears to bring them to life.......

Liz's bag

This is a bag I made for my sister for Christmas a while ago. I have another version in the same fabrics half made! It is based on the 'Beauty of a flower' pattern but I altered it to include hidden pockets on the outside, underneath the contrast band, but didn't take pictures of these before I gave it to her.

The contrast band has butterflies appliqued from the green fabric and small purple ribbon butterflies scattered along the length. I wanted to add some beading to them but ran out of time.

Here is close up of the stictchery I did for the front pocket. It was my first ever stitchery from one of the first craft magazines in my stash. I made it long before the bag and had it kicking around until I fell in love with the purple paisley fabric and decided they would work together. The stitchery is on calico and I tea-dyed it to match the creamy-beige in the paisley (another first) and then frayed the edges. I really like the way it turned out and my sister says she gets compliments every time she takes it into SL or another craft/fabric shop. She doesn't sew (yet) but is starting to develop a serious fabric addiction which means great pressies for me and Mum!

I also covered a diary that would fit into the front pocket of the bag in the same fabrics. Another simple pattern and a really easy project that may come in handy for future gifts. However, next time I will make sure I use the really thin pellon as the stuff I used was a bit too thick and made the cover a bit bulky.

My first post

After being inspired by many months of lurking and snooping through other peoples blogs I finally got around to creating my own!

I'm proud to call myself a quilter and sewer although my actual output is pretty low compared to the designs and ideas swirling through my head. My UFO list is getting quite long as I have a habit of jumping into a new project when I'm already half-way through something else.

I'm mum to Jack, 18 months and work full time as a QA Chemist (beverages) currently in a shift role but soon to move to a permenant Mon-Fri role. Hopefully I'll be dropping back to part-time around Easter so I can be a bit more of a mum and less of a grouch! My husband is a construction foreman. We've been married almost five years.

I live on a wonderful bit of acreage between Brissy and the Gold Coast. We have our own patch of paradise complete with dog, chooks, millions of wild birds and a mob of wallabies that visit every morning and afternoon (hence the title of my blog).


















The pic shown here is the first quilt I ever completed - as a gift for my sister-in-law. It's a pretty simple design. I bought a kit from 'Faeries in my Garden' and altered the design to fit an extra row of squares. It was supposed to have a hand embroidered border but I thought the colours and patterns were so pretty that it didn't need it. I have another version of this quilt in pinks and yellows in my UFO cupboard. I am 3/4 through the hand embroidery on it and must pull it out soon and finish it off.

The cushions were my own design, made using scraps from the quilt. It was my first attempt at satin stitch applique since year 10 home-ec! I used hand stitching to quilt the cushion fronts and was really happy with the final effect.