April - the month of the blouse!

April was definitely the month of the blouse for me! I started with two versions of the Gilbert blouse by Helen's closet. I've made this blouse a couple of times before so I decided it was time to use it again.

First I used a pink and white stripe which reminded me of the bags you used to get sweeties in! Fun!

And the other was a piece of fabric I picked up at the crafter's destash last year. I think it cost me £1! Not too shabby!

The next blouse I made was the Monty by Style Arc. I have made quite a lot of the Monty blouse before and I will continue to make them as they're so comfortable! This version is made from one side of a downie cover I got in Asda's sale last year. Watch out for another blouse made from the other side of the downie - coming soon!

The next blouse is from my absolute favourite blouse pattern, McCalls's 5359 - long out of print! This is a lovely polyester fabric I bought in Canada last year. The absolute best thing about this blouse is it doesn't need ironed! Another reason I keep reaching for it! LOL

The last in my April blouse collection is the Rivi blouse from Chalk and Notch. I saw someone wearing this on a youtube video and just had to search for it and then make it. I just LOVE how the pattern is cut out following the stripes on the front and back yokes. So clever! I also made my sleeves with their stripes going horizontally instead of vertically as I knew it would annoy me a lot that the stripes wouldn't match up at the shoulder seams. While I was at it, I also made the stripes on the button bands go horizontally too. The blouse is really comfy to wear and I have plans to make more of this pattern really soon.

Here's the back. Aren't those stripes fab??

Next I decided to make myself a small bag. I wanted one that pretty much only held my purse and my phone and a hanky! I have had this cross body zipped bag pattern from SewgirlintheUK in my stash for a good few years and decided it was time to try it out. I worried that the seams inside were only overlocked - ie not hidden - but then I realised the only person who would know that was me and it wasn't worth worrying about! I LOVE this wee bag and have used it a lot when I don't need to carry much stuff around.

Douglas asked me if I could cover the old stool he used in the greenhouse as it was really starting to show its age. I used an offcut of the same denim I'd used for the bag above. It worked out well!

Lastly, Jo asked me if I could make labels for her floor turtles that I made her last month. I decided to just do them on my sewing machine rather than my embroidery machine. Each one is sewn in the colour of the patchwork top of the turtle. Fun stuff!

I'll be back with more blouses in my May post. See you then! 😊

2 quilts and 4 turtles!

I made 2 quilts and 4 turtles in March. Weird, I know, but let me explain!

First I had quite a few 12½" squares in my odd blocks box so I got them out, worked out how many more I'd need to make a quilt and got to it. I used a green sheet for the sashings and binding and some yellow squares for the cornerstones. This is the resulting quilt. A real hodge podge but that makes it more interesting to me!

I didn't have enough of one fleece for the back so just joined 2 pieces of different fleeces together. It used up odd bits and is just as cosy, if not more so, than if it had only been one piece! More scraps used up - of fleece and of fabric! Yay!

Now, the story of the turtles. Jo asked me if I could make her a floor turtle. "A what", says I? Apparently, it's a circle of towelling on the bottom with either plain fabric or patchwork on the top with legs, a head and a tail. You put it on the fllor, stand on it (with one foot) and wipe up any spills or wet doggy paw prints without having to bend down. I looked at the photo of the one she showed me and decided that I could most definitely make her one. So I did! My hand is their for size reference!

Of course, one is never enough so I made another ...

... and another ...

... and another. I decided that 4 would do for now. Thankfully, Jo likes them - and uses them regularly! Yay! More scraps used up - this time of fabrics and old towels! Yay!!

Next, I decided I wanted to make another scrap quilt like the one I showed in this post. This time I used a rust sheet for the centre strip of each block and the sashings and binding. I quilted it using the QAYG (quilt as you go) method which allegedly takes less time than quilting the "normal" way but, you know, I am not convinced that's true. Anyway, no matter, the quilt turned out very well, in my humble opinion!

On the back, I used up some 8" squares I had in my stash. I didn't have enough of the rust sheet left so I used the rest of the green sheet I'd used in the first quilt for the back sashings. I love the back too!

So that's even more scraps used up and the 2 sheets I used for the sashings and lots of little bits of bump for each block's quilt sandwich. Yay!

I am delighted with all the makes most especially because I used a LOT of scraps! Still plenty more to go but that's part of the fun of my hobby! 😊

February's makes

I started the month with a quilt finish. This is the "square in a square" block which is one of my favourites to make. The centre squares of each block are 4½" squares and each finished block in the quilt measures 9½" which means it came together quite quickly.

For the backing, I joined 2 navy starry fleeces together which makes the quilt lovely and soft and cosy.

As it was coming up to Emily's 9th birthday (!!) and there would be a box winging its way to Canada, I thought I'd better get my act together and sew the mini quilts which the girls had drawn when we were visiting last July. This is Emily's drawing:

I added another row to the top and bottom to make it a square and then made it up using 2½" squares. OMG, I LOVE it!

I wrote a simple label on the back using a laundry marker.

Isla's drawing was slightly different. It started off (in the centre) as a trip around the world but I think she got bored at the idea of colouring all the squares and deviated from that plan.

I used strips instead of lots of tiny square - I would have had to use 1½" squares to get it to be the right size and that was just not going to happen. OMG, I LOVE this one too!

And the label on Isla's.

The girls have the quilts now and they love them too. Yay! There was talk that they might do some more designing. Bring it on!

what I made in January

I sewed and sewed and sewed in January but I only have one thing to show for it.

Basically, I sewed a huge amount of scraps together, added some black sashings in an unusual way, quilted it, bound it, labelled it and called it done. I've explained it in just a few words but it took me ages to sew because I had to figure out how to make it so that I could get the black bits to match up properly. I personally think it's fabulous but then I might be slightly biased! 😃

Here's the quilt:

The back is the last of the grey squiggly fleeces I bought in the Asda sale a couple of years ago. I'm sad that they're finished - I'm keeping my eyes open for more bargains like those!

I quilted this on the black sashings using the serpentine stitch on my sewing machine using a rainbow coloured thread on the top and in the bobbin. It stands out so well against the black.

The best thing about this quilt is I managed to use up a lot of scraps - but not nearly as many as I hoped I would! Even more importantly, I enjoyed myself. Isn't that why we do hobbies? If not, it should be!!

Needless to say, I'm already knee-deep in another quilt and hope to get that finished soon.