filling in the blanks and other things

Happy New Year! I'm not sure it's going to be much better than last year but, at least there's a vaccine now which gives us hope for better days. Soon. Fingers crossed! 🤞

Time to fill in the "blanks" which I had made before Christmas but couldn't show on here as the recipients read my blog.

First of all, Joanna asked me if I could make a round patchwork mat to fit a basket she was giving Debbie for her Christmas. We discussed measurements and fabric choices and this is what I came up with.

Front:

And back:

Thankfully, both girls loved it so we were all happy!

Next I made a cover for Joanna's diary. This is something I do every year and sometimes struggle to get the size right. This year I bought the same kind of diary as I had used a couple of years ago when the cover fit well. I used those measurements again and, yes, it fitted beautifully. I hope I remember to do that next year!

This is the front:

And this is the back:

A few days before Christmas, Debbie said to me " Mum, you know what I don't have? Christmas oven gloves!". Needless to say, that was remedied very easily!

After Christmas, Debbie asked me if I'd make a few pencil cases and pouches for Emily's new felt pens and other wee things. I first of all made a prototype of a pencils pencil case. I wasn't entirely happy with it - I know! I am way too critical of my own work! It wasn't a problem, though, as Joanna kindly offered to take it off my hands! 🤣

I re-made it changing a few things here and there. I am much happier with this version.

Then I made another 3 which I hope will store all sorts of wee things for the wee girlies!

This next one is the last of the fabric I got from Jo's blog giveaway. Thanks again, Jo.

The best thing about all of these pencil cases is that they're all made from scraps. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have reduced said scraps! Honestly, when I'm not paying attention, I'm positive that fabric scraps breed! 🤣

Take care out there. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

lots of stuffs!

I thought I'd better write a blog post but didn't think I'd have much to show. How wrong was I? I'll show you!

First of all, I made a couple of dressing gowns for Emily and Isla for Christmas. (I'm showing them on here because neither Emily nor Isla read my blog! 🤣) This one is Emily's:

And this one is Isla's.

As I was cutting them out, I remembered when my girls were wee, I would usually make their dollies a similar garment with the leftover pieces. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of either of the fleeces to make a dolly dressing gown but I had some fleece in my stash that I used instead. Grace kindly offered to model them.

Then it was back to making more Christmas stockings for the tartan bee. These all sold within days of me listing them.

I've now closed the tartan bee for a well-earned break over Christmas and New Year.

Next I made Molly and Tilly - my girls' dogs - each a monster for their Christmas. (I'm showing them on here because neither Molly nor Tilly read my blog! 🤣)

My original idea was to do these on my embroidery machine but, when I printed out the template, it was barely bigger than my hand which I felt would be too small so I needed a change of plan. I enlarged the template on the printer, cut out pieces of fleece and then just cut out bits of felt for the eyes and mouth, sewed them on, sewed the fleece bits together leaving a gap for stuffing, stuffed them, sewed the gap shut and called them done. To be honest, they could have been bigger but the dogs will love them and probably have them covered in spit within minutes of opening them!

On one of the many days I walked to the post office with Christmas stockings to post, I took photos of skeins of geese flying south for the winter. The noise was amazing!

When I got home, I showed Douglas the photos and he said he'd been talking to an old man when he was out for a walk who said that, when there are so many birds like that, it means we'd be in for snow. I just rolled my eyes thinking "yeah right!". Well, turns out the old man was right as this was what we woke up to the next day!

On that same walk, I passed these lovely beasts. I so wanted to stroke them but didn't think it would be wise considering the top wire of the inner fence between us is electrified!

And finally, I dug out an old image I made way back in my signature making days. I still love it as much as I did back then!

Please be safe! See you in 2021!

mostly stockings ... and blanks

I've been really busy lately trying to keep up with the sales of the Christmas stockings in the tartan bee. The following three photos were taken on the 9th, 12th and 13th of November.

After I made those batches, I had to make some more tartan bee labels. I get 32 out of a page and I printed off 4 pages so that's 128 labels made. They take quite a while to make but hopefully that'll keep me going for a while!

I had to let down a couple of Emily's pinafore dresses last week. She's growing like a weed!! The corduroy one - which I didn't take a photo of for some reason - left no mark where the hem had been but the denim one left a definite white line. I decided to use one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to disguise the line.

Talking of taking quite a while - it took a good half hour to sew those bees around the pinafore! But well worth it, methinks!

I then made her a plastic pinny to wear when she's doing glueies. Debbie always loved making glueies when she was wee - looks like she's passed that love on to Emily! Anyway, this pinny will at least keep her clothes clean - if she remembers to roll up her sleeves!

I've made a couple of "blanks" for Christmas so can't show those yet. I've got photos of them so will try to remember to show them after they've been given and received.

Then it was back to more stocking sewing. These photos are dated for yesterday and today which must mean I haven't photographed all the stockings I've made as there's no way I had a 15 day break from sewing stockings. No way at all!

It feels like as soon as I load more stockings into the tartan bee, they sell. Not a bad "problem" to have! It's a good job I enjoy making Christmas stockings! LOL 🎄🎅🏻

nighties, bags, pants, tops and skirts

A couple of my nighties quite literally fell apart recently. No shame to them as they're in constant rotation! I made myself a couple of new ones to replace them.

As you can see from this next one, I just used bias binding and ribbon that I had in my stash. I don't care that the bias is navy blue and that the ribbon is purple! LOL

Debbie asked me if I'd make a pair of pants for one of Isla's dollies who was embarrassingly naked under her skirts. Job done!

Debbie also asked me to make some drawstring bags to hold some of the girls' toys. I decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to use the fat quarter I won from Jo in her blog anniversary giveaway. It's the perfect fabric for a bag that will get a lot of use. Thanks again, Jo!

Then I made another using (almost) the last of the lilac Winnie the Pooh fabric. Emily wanted to fill this one with picnic stuff as it's the fabric I used on the back of the picnic quilt I'd made for her birthday.

And another 2 using fabric left over after making cushions years ago. Goodness me, I just checked the date on that post and it's from July 2014!!

Next I made Emily and Isla each a top. Fronts:

Backs:

And next I *squeeeeeezed* a couple of skirts for them out of scraps of denim. It took some judicious cutting but I got them done. They both fit the girls beautifully so another job well done!

I need to try and get some more patchwork Christmas stockings made this week as the tartan bee sales have really picked up recently. Yay!!

Adjustments, frugal sewing etc.

I had some adjustments to make to the pinafore dresses I'd made for both Emily and Isla which I showed last time.

Isla's (the blue denim) needed the straps shortened by about 4" - which to me seems very odd because, according to her health visitor, she's in the top 98 percentile for height! Emily tried her pink pinafore on and, no kidding, within 20 minutes of her putting it on, one of the dungaree clips fell to bits. I was sooo annoyed - with the dungaree clips, not with Emily!

I took both pinafores home, shortened Isla's straps and made buttonholes and attached buttons to Emily's. I contacted Amazon about the (useless) dungaree clips and, thankfully, got a full refund along with a label to attach to the parcel to send them back. No postage to pay so yay!

I then made each of the girls a top with some spotty fabric I had had left from a top I made myself earlier in the year. It's amazing how you can jiggle things around to make two wee tops out of practically no fabric!

This is the one for Emily - front:

and back:

And this is Isla's one - front:

and back:

I debated with myself about putting that bottom button on and decided I would but it really doesn't need it so, next time I make the top, I'll leave that bottom button off.

I then made them both an overdress - again with bits of fabric that had been left after me making something for myself! Talk about being frugal!

This is Emily's:

And this is Isla's:

I made another couple of project bags for the tartan bee. I am really pleased with both of them!

This is what I'm working on right now. It's a 9-patch-and-hearts quilt. This is only a small sample of the blocks - there are 121 of them altogether so it'll take me a wee while to sew them together but it's looking good so far! Even if I do say so myself! LOL

Now let me show you a couple of photos of my wee girlies. Isla is a cuddler and, oh my goodness, I love it. You might notice she's got her new top on!

In this one, Emily has an ipad in front of her and we're all watching something funny on it.

Good times!