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! 😊

better late than never!

I'm a bit late in getting my October makes post up but better late than never! Here's what I made:

When I made the baby quilt for Jo's neighbours, I wasn't very happy with the dinosaur. I felt it was a bit difficult to see his body details because of the fabric I'd chosen. I made another one in a plain fabric and, when I showed the abandoned one to Jo, she said she loved it. So, I framed it with an embroidery hoop and gave it to her. Can you see what I mean about the fabric? All those stars and blue spots with the lines in between them are on the fabric, not part of the dinosaur! Anyway, she now has this on her wall and is very happy with him, stars and all!

Douglas and I took a dealing with a pair of kitchen chairs and a kitchen table which I wanted to make use of in our kitchen. They had belonged to Douglas's mum and really needed updated so that's what we did. Douglas removed all the old varnish and cleaned them up and then painted them that gorgeous blue colour. I then covered the seat pads and made seat cushions to go on top all with the fabric that was left over from when I covered our dining room chairs - shown here. That is the fabric all used up so for £20, I made 8 chair pads and 5 seat cushions. Has to be the best bargain ever!!

My credit card holder finally gave up the ghost. As I'd made it in 2012, that's hardly surprising. In fact, it's amazing that it lasted that long! This is the post from way back then where I showed when I made it for the first time.

I reduced the amount of pockets as I don't carry as many cards these days. Still works beautifully!

Lastly, I made myself a new bag. This is the Bestie Bag from Blackbird Fabrics. I am so happy with it. I used the same denim I had used to make the Mia bag to take on holiday and lined it with the same fabric too. There's still some denim left and a wee bit of the lining fabric. I wonder what I'll think of to make with them next??

So, that's October's makes squeezed in just before the end of November. I wonder how long it'll take me to post my November makes??

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!

September's sewing

I started the month off by sewing a pinafore for Isla. It matches the one I made for Emily which I showed here. I again used the Bloomy pinafore pattern from Puperita.

I then sewed some tapes on to some towels for Joanna.

I made a lingerie bag for going into the washing machine. I've had this Ikea numbers fabric for a very long time - it's nearly all used up now but not quite!

I treated myself to a book about making letters from patchwork called "The Spelling Bee by Lori Holt". It wasn't cheap but I intend to make very good use of it. I practised with A, J and D but fully intend making all of them and sending them to the girls. I don't know when that will be but I'll work on it!

I decided to use up some of the square-in-a-square blocks I made back in May to make doll's quilts for the girls. These will be for part of their Christmas so have been put upstairs until I've made a few other things ready to post them.

I only had 6 ballerinas in total so embroidered two to make this second quilt - top left and bottom right. I got the embroideries here. I didn't have any of the black/pink circles fabric left so I replaced it with the pink flowery fabric. It makes the quilts the same but different - always a good thing!

I made another double wedding ring block. You might notice that there are unpicked stitches in the navy fabric at the bottom right. That's because I sewed the block together wrongly and had to take it apart! What a numpty! LOL

I made the last three blocks on the summertime quiltalong.

Practical Orchard:

4 X Variation:

Indiana Puzzle:

I decided I wasn't ready to sew these into a quilt yet so I dug put one of my patchwork books and made some more blocks.

Card Trick:

Light and Shadows:

King's Crown:

Lastly, I made a runner for the unit the television sits on.

Then I made 2 runners for the bookcase units that sit under the windows:

I backed these with Christmas fabrics so, in December, all I have to do is turn them over.

That's my sewing report for September. I've already made stuff this month but I'll save those for my October report!