hanging things

Since Emily loves her mobile that Joanna made her so much - see here for that post - Debbie decided she wanted to make her something similar that she could look at during the day - not just at changing time. She asked me what we could use as hanging things and I said to leave it with me.

This is what I came up with. They're all made on my embroidery machine as what's called "in the hoop" designs - in other words, the whole thing is made in the hoop of the embroidery machine with only a little finishing off by hand (or, in my case, by sewing machine).

I started off with a piggy. I seem to have not taken a photo of the piggy so I've used a photo from Joanna's camera - Tilly shows the scale of this one!

Then I made a horse: (as always, my fingers are there to show the scale)

And a hen:

Then I deviated from the farm theme and made a fish:

A starfish:

A seahorse:

A turtle:

And an octopus:

Then Joanna pointed out that if there was a farm theme - think Old MacDonald - there had to be a cow and a sheep. So ... a cow:

And a sheep:

They're all now waiting for Emily's next visit to Grammie and Papa's house on Saturday. Can't wait! I'm sure she'll love looking at them - although *nothing* could ever beat the mobile that Joanna made.

All the designs I used above came from emblibrary.com - they have no idea who I am, I receive nothing from them for linking to their site. I just put it out there for anyone reading this who's interested.

various sewn projects and baby belly laughs

A bit of a mixed post today. Let's start with a needlecase I made for myself.

Here's the inside:

Then I decided I "needed" to make a couple of pincushions to match. Using hedgehog fabric for pincushions - and a needlecase - just seems quite appropriate, don't you think?

Next I used my ex-Maths teacher skills to make a cube. Funny how the template for making a cube came flooding back to me without too much thought. Some things are wedged in my brain forever, it seems!

I used 6 of the gazillions of 4½" squares I cut out recently.

I quilted each side first then joined them and lightly stuffed the cube.

Emily's quite fond of it! It's not as big as it looks - it finished at just under 4" per side.

It's been quite a while since I played with my embroidery machine so I decided it was about time to remedy that. As always, my fingers are there to show the scale.

I really enjoyed playing with the embroidery machine again. I need to do it more often!

The turtle, pig, zebra and tiger all came from emblibrary.com and the stag's head came from planetapplique.com. Neither of those are affiliate links - I just put them there in case anyone's interested!

Now, this is the best bit of this post. Emily and I were playing at the weekend and the belly laughs that came from her - and from me!! - were hilarious. Joanna caught us on her phone. So. Much. Fun!

some skirts

I've been busy making skirts for a couple of young ladies recently. First, Debbie asked me how easy it would be for me to make some skirts for Emily. "Easy peasy" says I. I asked her to measure the one skirt that Emily had and I'd take it from there.

I made her a denim skirt with a broderie anglaise lace trim:

A red stripey cotton skirt with ricrac trim:

A bright pink needlecord with a fancy ribbon trim:

A royal blue needlecord with another fancy ribbon trim.

I *knew* there was a reason I've been hanging on to all those ribbon trims for years - decades if the truth were told! I remember saying once before on here that my Grandad used to say that, if you kept a thing for 7 years, you'd find a use for it. I suspect I flitted most of these trims when we moved up to Inverness in 1989 - and back down when we moved here in 2000! I know my Grandad would be proud of me! :oD

Debbie sent me a photo of Emily wearing her new denim skirt - how gorgeous does she look?

The other young lady getting skirts was Joanna. Not nearly as fancy as Emily's skirts but she likes them - thankfully!

One in the Lindsay tartan:

And one in a grey stripe - the stripe is hardly visible in real life, never mind in photos!

I used some bias binding I'd made (a few years ago) instead of the skirt facings and also put it around the inside of the hem.

I suppose Joanna's skirts are quite fancy then - on the inside! :oD