busy-ness

I knew I'd been pretty busy recently but it was only when I checked the photos on my camera that I realised how much I had done!

First of all, I made some cloths for Emily.

I'm in the process of making some more.

As you can see from this photo, these will be well used. Peas! Yum!!

Debbie had bought a couple of quilt panels long before Emily was born and they were just sitting on the shelves in my sewing room so I quilted them on to some fleeces which I bought in Asda's last week for £3 each. Can't complain about that price!

There's one with puppies on the front ...

... with a starry fleece on the back.

The other one has owls on the front ...

... with a heart fleece on the back.

Our garden swing seat tore - Douglas was sitting on it at the time! - so I got some swing seat fabric from eBay and sewed a replacement.

I can't say it was my favourite thing to sew but it works! Much cheaper than having to buy a new swing too!

I've got a few bags and pinnies cut out for the tartan bee ...

I've also got a blouse and a pair of trousers (for myself) cut out and ready to sew.

Remember the skirts I made for Emily here? Well, needless to say, they're far too short for her now so Debbie asked me if I could lengthen them. Thankfully, the waist still fits so I didn't need to sort that too. I did the denim one today and hope to get the pink and blue ones sorted tomorrow.

And finally - a photo of Emily and me chatting on Facetime. Isn't she adorable? :o)

bindings, bibs, bags, pinnies and carrots

I didn't know what I wanted to make next so I used some oddments of fabrics to make bindings. I love having these already made when I make a quilt or anything else that needs bound. I made some straight and some on the bias. Aren't these fun?

Yet again, I'm using both the metric and imperial system of measuring! LOL

Then I decided to make Miss Emily some bibs. This one is a bit out of focus but you get the idea.

Then I took a wild notion to bind the bibs instead of sewing them right sides together and turning like I had with the one above. Remind me not to do that again - it took 3 times longer to make these ones and they're not nearly as tidy. Live and learn!

I've been thinking for a while that I could make some calico pinnies with embroideries on them for selling in the tartan bee so I worked out what I wanted to do and made a start. So far I've made 4 with plans for a few more.

I've made myself a new bag for Singers. I didn't need a new one as the one I made last year is still perfectly good but, when I saw this embroidery, I just knew I had to make it for myself!

I've also embroidered another piece of calico to turn into a shopping bag.

I hope to get it and the pinnies all finished off and listed in the shop soon.

And finally - Debbie sent me a photo today of Miss Emily having her first taste of carrots. I don't think she liked them much! LOL

a few finishes

I finished the quilt I was making. I love it!

The back is a plain navy sheet. You can just see the quilting which I did in a yellow variegated thread.

I made a couple of embroideries for Joanna.

I made a couple of wee toys for Miss Emily on the embroidery machine. They're both made using the "in the hoop" method which means that everything is done in the embroidery hoop other than the stuffing and the sewing up of the last seam. This is Bailey Bear:

This is Olly Owl:

Bailey Bear is from here - and Olly Owl is from here. GGDesigns have no idea who I am - I'm just passing on the info in case someone else wants to make them.

When we visited last week, Miss Emily was given her first taste of mashed banana.

She wasn't too sure at first but soon got the hang of it. "Did you see me Grammie? I ate some banana!"

She's also nearly got the hang of sitting up on her own. Nearly but not quite there yet. I'm sure it won't be long!

On a final note - Happy Birthday, Debbie! 37 today! How can my first born be that old??

hosting problems and some sewing

Last week Joanna sent me an e-mail asking me if I knew what was happening with Photobucket. "No", says I, "what's happening on Photobucket?". Well, apparently, this "hosting site" has decided to stop hosting photos for 3rd party sites. What that means is, if you host your photos for your blog - or website or shop - on Photobucket, they won't show up. Well, they will ... if you sign up for their Plus 500 account which will cost $400 a year. *gasp*

I have a Photobucket account - have done since back in 2004 when I started making signatures on the now defunct iVillage. When I started blogging, I knew how to use Photobucket (and HTML) so I've always written my blog posts in HTML and used Photobucket to host my photos. Now that they've changed their policy about 3rd party hosting all my photos on here will disappear. They'll be replaced with this image that you may have seen on other people's blogs.

When I realised this, I knew I had to do something about it. So, I'm in the very slow process of downloading all my blog photos from Photobucket. I've started at 2017 and am working backwards to 2008. A very slow process indeed. Then, after I've got all my blog photos on my computer, I'll have to go through all my blog posts - all 1144 of them - and change the Photobucket links to either another hosting site or just do them through Blogger. Another very slow process! *sigh*

Okay, enough of that. Let me show you what I've made recently. Let's hope I can work the blogger photo thing!

I finished the quilt top.

I started quilting it this afternoon.

I made a couple of bibs for Miss Emily.

I bought a handtowel out of Asda's for the back - cost me £3. I think I'll get 6 bibs out of the towel so that's 50p each. Add in the teeny tiny piece of fabric for the front and the popper for the neck and that's about 60p per bib. Not too shabby!

I made a fabric box.

I've filled it with my clippies.

I made a couple of lingerie bags for using in the washing machine. The ones I was using were getting a bit tatty. I made these with an odd bit of sheeting that I'd obviously used to test a blouse pattern. One bag came from the fronts and one came from the back!

Lastly, I made another couple of rompers for Miss Emily. I lengthened the body by an inch so that she, hopefully, will get some wear out of them before she grows out of them!

Well, it looks like I managed to do the blogger photo thing so, when it comes to change the photo links in those 1144 posts, I'll at least know what to do! Fun times, eh?

fancy pants and raspberries

I elasticated the fancy pants to go with Miss Emily's wee dress which I showed in my last post. I have a suspicion they might be a bit HUGE on her! Oh well, it's not like she's going to be trying to walk and her fancy pants will fall down to her knees. Well, maybe not this month anyway! LOL

I had to sort the top I made myself (also shown in my last post). It was meant to be loose fitting but I didn't think it meant quite as loose as it was. I took it in by 3½" inches through the front and back and took a wedge out of each side seam as well. It fits me so much better now.

All we need is some good weather to be able to wear it. Our summer came in May and I had high hopes that we'd get some lovely warm weather and then June happened. Cold June. Wet June. Damp June. Yuck June! I was so hopeful that July would be better but, can you believe that our central heating actually kicked on one morning last week? I kid you not. Anyone who's sick of their hot sunny weather, please send some my way! I promise to make good use of it!

Anyway, enough ranting about the weather!

I made myself a couple of new nighties. It's my usual pattern that I've made so many times, the tissue paper is disintegrating in places.

I used the leftovers to make some spotty bindings.

I've been diddling about making another quilt.

It's one of those making-it-up-as-I-go-along type quilts and I'm enjoying the process very much. It won't be long before the top is all sewn together then I need to decide what to back it with.

I started some knitting this afternoon as I was watching the tennis from Wimbledon. I'm already a good bit further on that I was when I took this photo. More on that later.

Are you wondering about the raspberries in the title? Well, Miss Emily's daddy has taught her something. Hilarious!