LTP = long term project

Over the last few Christmases, Santa kindly gave me these Quilt Builder Card Deck boxes. They are sets of cards each with a quilt block on them in various sizes and the sizes and shapes you need to cut out to be able to make the blocks. I decided it was time to use the decks so I made a start. I've completed the first box and am about a third of the way through the second one. I'm not doing them with any goal in mind other than having a collection of blocks ready for when I get the urge to make a quilt - or 6!

Here's what I've made so far:

I plan to just keep going until I've finished at least the 3 "ordinary" boxes. I will get around to the Christmas blocks too but I might be more picky with those. We'll see.

another destash and June's sewing

Way back in May, Jo and I headed to another destash event in a nearby town. Needless to say we bought lots of stuff ... and had a great time doing it! Here are just a few pics of what I got.

A partly used - hardly used, to be honest! - jelly roll, some fat quarters, larger pieces of plain fabrics, a large piece of Christmas fabric and some ruler holders.

A few books and some fancy beads.

Lots ...

and lots ...

and lots ...

of fabrics.

Jo has just told me that there's another destash in October. I'd better get using this lot so I can justify buying more! LOL

In the sewing for June, I only made 3 things to wear. First of all another Rivi shirt as shown in the last two posts. I'll repeat myself and say I just love the way the stripes run on the front and back yokes!

Next I made a couple of tops to wear with the tiered skirts I made in April. These are both from an old pattern - probably well out of print - Simplicity 2599. Both are fabrics I bought in Canada last summer. First a cream cotton with lines of light embroidery on it.

The second one is a very lightweight dobby spot in an ivory cotton. Both are lovely to wear and are already part of my summer wardrobe.

I said that I only made 3 things to wear. I also spent a lot of time making blocks for a long term project. I'll keep those for another blog post!

May - the month of the skirt ... and other things!

I started off May by making another Rivi blouse from Chalk and Notch. This is made with the other side of the downie cover I talked about in last month's post. Don't you just love the way those stripes make the blouse so fun? I do!

Next I made a poo bag holder for Jo - or is it for Tilly?? The one she was using was looking the worse for wear so it was an easy job to make another one.

Talking of things looking the worse for wear, my two main pincushions were definitely looking tatty. I dug back through my blog and found I'd made them in 2017 so, considering they are used every single time I sew, there was definitely no shame to them! Here's what they look like now. I used some sewing fabrics and made a 4 patch for both of the tops. They are already in use!

I decided I wanted to make myself a tiered skirt but didn't have a pattern and didn't want to pay for one. Have you seen the price of sewing patterns these days? Goodness me, they're so expensive!

Anyway, I had a tiered skirt in my wardrobe that I'd bought a couple of years ago and I liked the length of it - 30" approximately. So, I decided I'd make mine with 3 tiers of 10". I did some measuring of my waist and calculated what I'd need for each tier by doing some sums. (Once a mathematician, always a mathematician!)

After a lot of gathering and stitching and elasticating of the waist, this was the result. Oh my goodness, I LOVE it!

In fact, I loved it so much, I made another one.

And then I made another one. The colour of this one is more accurate in the photo of me wearing it!

The skirts are really comfy to wear and I'm really happy with all of them. The first and the third one are made using fabrics I bought in Canada last summer and the black floral one is fabric Jo gave me for my birthday.

A month of fun sewing again for me. 😊

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! 😊