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! 😊

sewing in Canada

You'd think, when I was on holiday, I'd get a rest from sewing. Nothing could be further from the truth! I did a ton of mending for Debbie which I didn't take photos of.

The biggest thing I mended was Emily's old rocking horse - Mayo-neighs. You would think by looking at this photo, that he looked perfectly healthy but his frame (inside) was broken and unfixable so we decided the best thing to do was to "just" take him apart and sew him up like a toy.

We had to cut his feet off to get him off the frame and we couldn't undo the fixings so had to think of how to deal with that.

We got his feet off the frame as best we could but he needed new soles so I used some blue fleece that Debbie had in her stash to make those.

I covered the holes where the handles had been with some felt.

Debbie, Emily and Isla stuffed him and I sewed him back together. I said that in 4 words but it took me a whole morning to do!

Here he is all fixed and admiring the girls' Lego boxes!

He looks fabulous now. The girls have been told he is not to be sat upon as he's not strong enough for that but he is strong enough for lots of hugs!

On my last day in Canada, I made nighties for the girls teddies - Howard and Albert.

We had a lovely holiday in Canada spending lots of fun time with Debbie and Emily and Isla. I was sad to leave them but I was also ready to come home. We flew back overnight and I didn't sleep for long on the plane - 2 hours if that! So, by the time Jo picked us up at the airport, we were fuzzy-brained and exhausted. It took a couple of days to get into our old routine again. No doubt the sewing will start up again soon - after all, I brought back a TON of fabric! LOL

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 ...

my sewing journal, a quilt and some blocks

I started the year by adding the year to the front of my sewing journal. I only used up half of the journal with last year's makes so decided, rather than starting a new notebook, I'd just keep going in this one so it needed the numbers added. Thankfully, it was easier than I expected it to be!

Next I added sashings and cornerstones to some blocks I'd made last year. These are blocks that I'd learned from a work colleague I worked with in a fabric shop a long, long time ago - actually, it was in the last century!! I had found the instructions in an old notebook and played around with them to make them bigger and I'm delighted with the results. I'd called them "Janet's cross" in that old notebook so here's the "Janet's Cross quilt". I LOVE it!!

The back is - believe it or not! - a bottle green fleece.

I spent the rest of January making some diamond scraps blocks. I had made this quilt last year and blogged about it here. I had always thought I'd make another version. This time I used yellows for the diamonds and, even though I used a ton of scraps for the strips, there are still masses left. I swear they multiply when I'm not looking!

There are 24 blocks facing left.

And 24 blocks facing right.

My next job is to join them all together into a quilt top then quilt it and bind it. That shouldn't take too long. Hopefully!

last of the year

I was busy with other things in December which didn't leave much time for sewing. Not to worry, though. I know the sewing will pick up again after the New Year.

One of the things I did do was to make new covers for our dining room chairs. I covered the seat panels and then made new covers for the cushion pads that sit on top too. The fabric I used is from a pair of curtains which were reduced in Dunelm Mill. They were originally reduced to £40 (I don't know what the full price was) but had been reduced again to £20. 6 chairs covered and 3 cushion pads made for £20? Not too shabby!

This photo only shows 3 of the 6 chairs I covered. I'm delighted with them!

I also didn't do much of the Christmas cross-stitch but here's the photo of what it looked like at the end of December. The white line under the snowmen is the halfway line so there's as much to do down below that as there is above. Surely I'll get it done by December 2024?

That's it for 2023. See you in 2024!