catch up 1

Didn't do very well with catching up did I? So over the next week or so I aim to try to catch up.

Let's start with tableware! I made this patchwork table runner and placemats a few months ago.  Our living room is blues and browns so I wanted something to dress the dining table in the same colours. I think the design came from Sew Hip magazine, but I'm not sure now  ...

They wer pretty easy to make and look pretty good.  I love the swirly chocolatey brown in there - I think all the fabrics were bought from Pumpkin Patch in Hailsham.

oops

ok, it's been way to long since I posted, so it must look like I haven't been sewing in over a year ... but I have!  Right now I'm in the middle of two projects but as one is a present you'll have to wait until it's finished ...

But unfortunately the fact that'm studying part-time as well as working meanms that as soon as I sit at the machine a wave of guilt floods over me that I should have my head buried in a book.

so there will be more sewing soon - as soon as this damn course finishes.

Than anticipation is killing you, I know!

How exciting!

Just looking back on Flickr and saw some comments on some of my photos that I had missed.  The designer of the pattern for the travel tray has included a picture of my version in her blog.

Quite chuffed about that!

The cutest thing ever!!!

So I've been wanting to make one of these since I got Small Stash Sewing.  The ohoto in the book is so cute and it is obviously one of the most popular designs from the book. A friend I knwo through guiding is having a baby in September so I thought this might be an ideal present to make for her but with a guidey twist.

It needed 5 different fabrics - I used 2 from my stash and used three guiding fabrics: the first was my old leader's shirt; the second was from my Centenary neckerchief which also handily provided me with bias binding; the third was my tartan neckerchief from the recent WAGGGS World Conference.

It was a pretty easy make and very enjoyable too.  As I cut out the feather shapes I could really see it coming together.  I'm really pleased with how it has turned out.

Charlie!

My niece is a big fan of Charlie the Unicorn, a bizarre series of cartoons about a grumpy unicorn and his psycho "friends".

When I got my Small Stash Sewing book for Christmas I saw a very cute, girly unicorn cushion and wondered if I could adapt it.





I got the template from the book and traced over it, using a still from one of the videos for reference.





I transferred this to my fabric then got embroidering. I'm a little concerned that I quite enjoyed the embroidery ... But have to look at a few more projects involving embroidery now!




All in all, a nice little project. Just have to wait and see what my niece thinks when I give it to her!

Messenger bag

Another little project from Sew Hip. I quite enjoyed this one but I did cock up some of the stitching. It is my first use of a magnetic snap and I have learnt that metal bobbins and magnetic snaps don't work well together ...

As a b'day pressie for one of my best friends I did enjoy making this and am mostly happy with the result.

Another quilt

Another baby, another gift ...

Some good friends of ours have just given birth. For a few weeks now I have been working on another circle quilt. At every turn I seemed to come up against an obstacle. I decided to make it from my stash rather than purchasing even more fabric (seriously, it's getting ridiculous now!) and that was ok. I think I could have been a big more strategic in terms of colour choice. There's a bit of clashing here but, hey, it's for a baby. Multi-colour clashing should be fine, right?




I did need to buy new fabric for the backing but managed to do the binding from existing fabric. I was quite gutted that I didn't have enough wadding to fit the quilt in one piece, but as I have sooooo much wadding knocking around I did manage to do it from two panels and I think it has worked quite well.




I was using up the excess thread I'd purchased for my fantastic bag. Unfortunately, just as I started the quilting I ran out if thread ... I headed back to John Lewis where I purchased it and they were sold out. Managed to find it online and then had to wait over a week for it ...

So it's done - finally - hoorah!