Travel tray

A quick interlude from my bigger project - more on that to follow on another occasion - I've knocked together a quick pressie for my husband's birthday next week.

Before Xmas I found a fat quarter of some Batman fabric - my hubby is a comic geek - and planned to make a pressie for him then but I just didn't find the time. Then our second wedding anniversary - cotton - came and went and as we don't "do" valentine's day we're now onto the birthday.

I have been looking for something great to do with this fat quarter and was really pleased when Sew Hip had this pattern for a collapsable travel tray in issue 27. We like our holidays so I thought this was perfect.




I used some spare red cotton as a contrast - as the pattern said to use linen I was worried that my two lighter cottons might be a bit flimsy so I put a bit of sew-in interfacing in the middle to make it a bit more stable.

This was also my opportunity to play with my new toy! On my birthday I bought a kit to do poppers and eyelets. Took me a while to work out what bit was what but got there in end.




Et voila! The finished product - packs flat but pops into a tray. Wicked!




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New project

Having spent a huge amount of money on fabric at a wonderful little shop it is time to cut it up and then stitch it up. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this quilt is deciding the order of the strips ...




I think this may be the combo but I might have to reflect on it overnight ...

Mobile blogging

Since getting my iPhone I've been a bit lax in updating thus blog. But ... I've just discovered an app which works with blogger - woo hoo!

Let's see if this works!


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one last thing ...

ok, just one more thing to get caught up.  I did a really quick little project to make a cushion cover.

My husband gave me a Barcelona hanky ages ago, after a fabulous trip to Barcelona, that I have just had knocking about the bedroom.  I was using it on my dressing table chair to make it slightly more comfortable.  So I decided to make it into a cushion cover.  My husband was throwing away an old shirt so I used the front of it with the buttons to make the back of the cushion cover, meaning that it already had a finished opening.

I simply cut round the hanky to make sure the back panel was the right size and then sewed round all four sides with rightsides together and then turned it out through the buttoned opening.

As we were also chucking away some old battered pillows that had got quite manky, I stuck them through the washing machine and then cut them up, resewing them closed to make cushion pads out of them.  So now I have some spare cusion pads - a few more cushion covers to come me thinks ...

Birthday time

I have just celebrated another birthday  I'm not one of those people who is fussed about aging (maybe that will change as I get older?) but this birthday signifies aproximately 1 year since buying my sewing machine, which is quite a landmark in itself.

So what have I achieved in the past year?

• Bunting
• 3 pigs (two types)
• 8 bags (varying types)
• 3 bears
• 5 pairs of slippers
• a needle case
• a sock monkey
• a purse
• a dress
• 3 pairs of curtains
• an Iphone cover
• a baby book
• a hat
• a skirt
• a quilt

Not bad... when you put it all together like that you realise how much you have done.

Thankfully my birthday didn't pass without further sewing-related presents:

A rotary cutter, large cutting mat and quilters ruler from my lovely husband

Small Stash Sewing book, with the most amazingly titled item - Owly McPillowpants - known to mankind.  Item from this book is the next project so  more to follow ...

Also 3 fat quarters beautifully selected by my wonderful sister.

right then ... best get on with some sewing then!

More baby gifts

sorry - have got behind again. Two more baby gifts - I'm at that age when all my friends are sprogging!  The December baby needed bunting ... or maybe more that my friend really wanted bunting  for her baby's room.  I have now discovered the best way to go fabric / project shopping - get someone else to spend their money and then hand the purchases over to me!

My friend picked out a fat quarter bundle that she liked as well as some bias binding. I cut out a huge amount of little penants and then sewed them, right sides together, so that I would have a nicely finished double sided penant.  I then spaced these along the bias binding and top stitched them into place.



I was quite pleased with the result:







My friend is pleased with them two and I think they look great in place

Another friend gave birth in January so that gave me a chance to make yet another softie ... and use up some more of the excessive amount I fleece I bought to make slippers (still got more to use though ...).  I have been loving the fact that Sew Hip magazine has been featuring a fantastic softie in each issue and this one is no different.  

Isn't he gorgeous?  Still haven't met the young lad who will be receiving this one but from the pics I've seen so far I think their gorgeousness should match!

So now I think the next babies I need to make for are July & September, so I might have a break from baby stuff and get on with some other projects ...