the rest of December

I know it's not quite over yet but I thought I'd post the other things I've made this month - and last - so that I can start the New Year with a clean slate. There's actually not that much to show but, like every other person, I've been a bit busy with Christmas prep! LOL

First of all, I made Jo's diary cover. I make one each year for her and she seems to appreciate them so I suspect I'll keep doing that! For this year's one - actually, it's next year's! - I used calico for the outer fabric, the pockets and the lining. I used my embroidery machine to embroider a J on the outside and the year - here's where I got that.

This is the diary cover flat:

The inside showing the pocket flaps:

The front when the cover is closed:

The back when the cover is closed:

As you can see, I used a piece of elastic to close it this year - MUCH easier than faffing about with buttons or magnetic catches etc etc. The elastic also holds the pages at the one you're working on. I will definitely use this method of closing the covers in the future!

Next I made a Christmas stocking for a wee baby boy. I'd made him a quilt earlier this year which is being well-used so I thought a Christmas stocking would be a nice thing to make. I made it double sided so he can hang it whichever way he wants! I bet it'll be filled with lots of stocking fillers!

I put his name on one side:

And this is the other side:

I then made myself another Archer shirt. I LOVE this pattern so much. According to my notes on the pattern envelope, this is the 11th one I've made! And I have one more cut out and another ready to be cut out. Goodness me! I've definitely had my money's worth out of it!

So that's December done. No doubt I'll be back next year showing off all the things I've been making. In the meantime ...

things I made in November

I started the month with some quilt blocks. I can't remember where I saw these blocks as they've been in my "inspirations" folder on my computer for a very long time. The name I have for what will be the completed quilt is "squares and chains" but that didn't lead me anywhere when I tried to find out a source. Oh well, here are the blocks:

I haven't joined these together yet - I suspect that will be a January make.

I then made Douglas some pjs. He needed some new ones so I used up some of the tartan from my stash to make these for him.

They're already in the rotation and, more importantly, the ones that needed replaced have been taken out of said rotation!

Then I went on a dolls' clothes making binge! First of all a cardigan:

I tried it on Grace. She loves it!

I made another one exactly the same. I haven't shown it because, honestly, it is exactly the same!!

Next I made a couple of dresses out of old shirts of mine. The shirts had seen better days but still had enough decent fabric to make dolls' clothes so that's what I did. The fronts:

The backs:

Yet again, Grace loved them!

Then I wanted to make an easier dress - sewing dolls' clothes can be very finicky! I couldn't find a pattern in my stash that I wanted to use so I made one up myself. I am so very proud of these!

Grace tried them on. They don't quite sit right at her neck because I left her top on and it had a rose in the front which made the dress stick out a bit. Still, Grace loved them!

Next, Debbie asked me if I had a pattern for trousers for dolls. I didn't but I did have a shorts pattern so I lengthened that to what I thought would fit Grace then tried it out. It worked beautifully! (You can see the rose I talked about in this photo!)

Of course, I had to make 2 pairs of those!

Next I made Christmas ornaments for the girls. This has become a bit of a tradition now and that's fine by me! These are the bejewelled heart ornaments from Embroidery Library.

I always put their names on the back so they know which is which!

I watched a youtube video of how to make Christmas tree shaped napkins and wanted to have a go. I'd tried a couple of years ago using a different tutorial and they were not good but I thought these ones might work and they did.

I had to make another 2 so Douglas, Joanna and I could all have one on Christmas Day.

There is another thing I made in November but that's a Christmas gift so will have to wait to be shown later.

Normally, all of these dolls' clothes and the ornaments would have winged their way over the pond to Emily and Isla but Canada Post, in all its wisdom (!!!) decided to go on strike. So our girls won't have all the little bits and pieces I've picked up through the year for their Christmas. It's so disappointing. I sent Debbie money so she could get things from us but it's not the same. Thanks Canada Post!! How selfish could you be?

Oh, and I *think* I might have solved the problem I was having with the comments on here. Blogger, for some reason, wasn't sending me notification of comments so, unless I came on here and looked, I never knew if anyone had commented. Apologies again to anyone who wondered why I was ignoring them! Anyway, fingers crossed that's sorted now. I suppose I'll find out!

I hope to get back with my December makes before the end of the year. I doubt that'll be before Christmas so let me wish anyone who's reading a very merry Christmas. I hope Santa is good to you!

October's makes

I spent most of October helping Joanna move house but I did manage to get this quilt made too. It's a pattern for a donut quilt. Doughnut?? Anyway, I wanted to make it with Christmas fabrics so I added a bow to the top of the "donuts" and called them Christmas wreaths. I am more than delighted with the results!

As I forgot to take photos of the individual wreath blocks, I took photos of each "quarter" of the quilt:

Here it is in full:

Tilly wanted to join in the fun! 🐶 💕

I used grey fleece on the back.

And the obligatory label made on my embroidery machine.

I LOVE it!

Mmmmm, I just spotted that the label says it was finished in September! Actually, that makes more sense because, as I was helping Joanna move, I hardly even set foot in the sewing room, far less made a quilt!! 😳

I also finished a couple of cardigans for Emily and Isla. They seemed to take me ages to do but, in truth, Emily's sat half done for months and, once I finished hers, Isla's was much quicker!

They look a bit big but that's not a bad thing really. It just means they'll last them more than one winter! These will head off to Canada in the next few weeks along with some small Christmas gifts and their traditional Christmas tree ornaments made by me. I haven't even thought about those yet so I need to get going! I can tell it's going to be a busy November!

September's sewings

Crumbs, it's nearly the end of October and I haven't shown what I made in September yet. Time flies when you're having fun, apparently!

Without further ado, here's what I sewed.

First of all, I made a few more blocks which are 12½" square which will be 12" square when sewn into a quilt.

Those three have been put away with the other 12½" squares I made earlier in the year to be made up into a quilt when there are enough of them!

The next block is the first of 20 I made for a quilt. I made the 19 others too but, for some reason, I didn't photograph them! I'll show the finished quilt in the October post.

The other thing I sewed was a fleece waistcoat. This is only for wearing in the house when it gets a bit chilly. This will keep me cosy enough.

As you can see, I used up lots of bits of fleece to make this.

The front:

The back:

The insides:

I love it! It's so colourful and cosy! And it has pockets!!! 🤣

I'll be back soon showing off the October makes.

a whole quilt made from scraps

I spent some time at the beginning of the month (August) going through all of my boxes of scraps and cutting them into usable sizes.

For me, my most usable sizes are 2½" squares:

3½" squares:

4½" squares:

and 8" squares:

After doing that, I used some of what was left to make blocks for another scrap quilt.

I used leftover bits of sheeting on the back as a stablising fabric - last time I made this quilt, I used paper but I wanted to use up the sheeting so that's what I used.

There are 49 blocks altogether. I know there are more than 49 in the photos above - I must have taken duplicates photos of some of them! Oops!

I then used scraps of fleece on the backs and joined them using my QAYG (quilt as you go) method. This is the resulting quilt. I LOVE it!!

Using scraps of fleece for each block makes the back really interesting. I didn't pay any attention to where the 7 yellow ones went and I'm perfectly happy with the way they've worked themselves in.

I made a label on my embroidery machine using the same yellow fabric I had used for the sashings on the front and the binding.

All in all, I'm just so happy with this quilt. Everything I used came from my scrap boxes of fabrics and fleece and the green stripe I used for the sashings on the back was leftover fabric from the green stripey blouse I made earlier in the summer.

You would think that I'd managed to empty all my scrap boxes. Nope. There are still loads left but that's the nature of sewing. You always end up with scraps. Using them to make other things is just the best feeling! 😀