November's project

I think I will only have time for one project next month, it's a biggie! I have been wanting to make a quilt for my bed for a while now and have slowly been getting my supplies together and deciding just what I want to do. After much doodling on graph paper I have finally chosen a layout, bought in the fabrics and am all ready to go. Here is the design:



Yes, that does say the finished size will be around 100" x 100" - told you it was a biggie :) The inner diamonds ( a take on the Round the World pattern) will be made up of chocolate brown Kona cotton and a Soiree layer cake with the Soiree diamonds grouped more or less by colour. I've chosen a couple of extra prints from stash to go in with them as I need 100 finished units and the layer cake will only give me 88. The first outer border will be white Kona cotton, the second border will be pieced from a Soiree honeybun and the final border will be white Kona cotton again. I think I will piece the binding from a Soiree jelly roll and I should have something in the stash that I can piece together for the backing.



I have a feeling I may have bitten off more than I can chew....we'll see!

Raffle quilt

Almost the last post for today, promise :) The kids and I go to karate once a week and our club has a raffle once a year to raise funds for new equipment so this year I made a quilt to gift as one of the prizes. The pattern is from Fast Quilts from Fat Quarters and is the second quilt I've made from this particular book. I'm really pleased with how it came out though I think my fabric choices could have been better for some of the blocks. I need to work on looking at value, not colour :) The fabrics are from the Woodland Bloom collection, designed by Lila Tueller for Moda apart from the white which is Kona cotton.





The back uses the largest scale print I had from the collection and I love the binding, it's quite a large scale print which looks great as a binding as all you see are the fab colours, I wish I had yards and yards of it! The binding on this is machine stitched. I much prefer the look of hand stitched binding but I didn't have enough time for that.

I have three favourite blocks...



And as you can see I just stippled in the white areas and left the rest untouched. After a wash and dry it now looks wonderfully scrunched (excuse the foldline! I took it out of its bag for one final photo and didn't smooth it out properly). I hope whoever wins it likes it, it's big enough to use as a cot quilt for a toddler or a lap quilt for an adult. I'm secretly hoping I win it back ;P

Happy birthday Toddler!

Toddler turned two this month and I realised that she still didn't have her own snuggle quilt for movie time. Of course I realised this the day before her birthday didn't I? Not having much time I had to keep the design simple and just went for 6" squares in a stepping stone pattern. The fabrics are all by Amy Schimler for Kaufman (I *love* Amy's designs, I would have a bolt of everything she's ever brought out if I had the cash!) and the backing is a rosebud swirl Minky that has been laying around for a couple of years. It's roughly 36" x 48", great size for Toddler to snuggle under when we all watch a film on a Saturday evening. Boy is particularly pleased about this as she would always pinch his before getting her own :D





You would not believe just how much fluff came off of that Minky fabric as soon as the scissors came within an inch of it. I was covered, the table was covered, the floor was covered and my poor ironing board is *still* covered, I'll have to take the cover off of it and wash it a few times to get it all off I think. Have a look!







I have one more of these quilts to make, for Niece E. I am very tempted to find something else to back it with!

Toddler swap loot!!

Not my own sewing this time but still sewing and therefore bloggable :) I received my parcel from the Toddler Swap I took part in on Sewing Mamas and wanted to share it. Everything fits Toddler perfectly and is just lovely, thank you ladies!



A smocked T from ejegmama and an Insa skirt from nickb. Toddler loves Minnie :)



An Olivia dress with a ridiculously cute ruffle from mommytomaddyharley.



Gorgeous soft fleece hoodie from nickb, she wore it to the park today and was toasty warm.

Big thanks to the lady who hosted the swap and I'm really looking forward to the next one, it's so much fun when the return parcel arrives :)

Two winter coats

I've been MIA lately, sorry. Both our laptop and PC need new motherboards so I've been finding it difficult to get online much - the Hubby's phone is OK for reading the odd email but typing a blog post on it? I never realised just how fat my finger tips are! Fortunately my mother has left me her laptop for a few days while she goes down to London to visit my sisters so I am taking full advantage and have been online most of the day :D

The first project I have to show you is a pair of winter coats that I have made for Niece E and Toddler. My Princess and Monkey are pretty much set for coats this year thanks to hand me downs and the kindness of Grandma but Toddler and Niece E needed a little something to see them though to spring. Enter Ottobre (of course!) and pattern #14 from the Winter 2004 issue. The fabric has embroidered cord bonded to faux fur and it has been ageing in my stash for quite a while, I think I bought it from fabric.com two or three years ago. I had to cut Toddler's sleeves cross grain to squeeze both coats out of two yards but it looks absolutely fine so we'll call it a deliberate design feature ;P



I love the tulip shaped pockets. I lined them with quilting cotton as the fashion fabric would have been far too thick. My machine struggled to sew this in places! The hems and inside of the front facing are finished with 1" wide baby blue FOE (fold over elastic) which looks great, I'm glad I had enough left for both coats as it was so much easier to apply than bias biding would have been.



If you peep underneath that front overlap you will find the zipper. The pattern is designed for buttons and as such the overlap isn't very wide, it just covers the zipper tape and no more. After one abortive attempt at button holes though the zip was definitely the best way to go even though it's not the neatest looking finish.



Looking at the inside view, you can see that I've simply sewn the zip on along the centre front line on either side. Definitely not neat but very functional and really, who else but me (and now you ;P) knows that it wasn't intended that way?



And here are a couple of modelled shots courtesy of Toddler herself. It's a little wide on her (Ottobre's fabric was, I think, much thicker than mine so I have more ease than intended) but it leaves lots of room for layers underneath and doesn't restrict her movement at all. The hood makes a great collar when it's down and protects the back of her neck from the wind and when it's up she looks like a little pixie, it is very pointy!

And game over!

Here we are, October 1st already eh? That means the SewingMamas Stash Game is over again (well, until February anyway!). So, how did I do? I actually got quite a lot of my ToDo list finished which surprised me. I usually look at the list of things I need to do and then go and do something I want to do instead!

As well as the dress swap I was participating in I had to make some items for a toddler swap as well. I made two Hilda hooded tunics from Ottobre 06/2007 along with a fleece poncho from 03/2004 and another of the pinafore dresses from 03/2004. There is a hat made from the poncho scraps for Toddler but I haven't got a photo yet, I'll upload one later. Pics!









With all the swap items finished it was on to the ToDo list. First up, pyjamas for Monkey who has apparently grown 2" while I wasn't looking. She's now into the 110cm size, these are from 06/2009 and are a great fit on her. The trousers in particular are fab, the rise is just perfect and I don't have to shorten it.





My little sister is due with her first baby in a couple of weeks. She's expecting a little boy and wants to use cloth nappies. No problem, says I. I have a ton of nappy making supplies in my stash so I'll make them for you. Oh the joys of production line sewing! At least the end results are cute :)



They're from the Poochies pattern, size small and the huge ugly Poochies label is sewn onto the back. I always felt that putting it on the front as they ask just spoils the look of the nappy. I was surprised at how many different baby boy prints I still had, there are 16 there with two repeats for 18 nappies in total.

Along with the nappies I made her some lay in boosters, cloth wipes and a few wraps. Here they are all stacked up ready to pack and post, I think she's pretty much set now as she bought a few bits and bobs herself. I am so looking forward to big bottomed baby snuggles when he arrives!



Hmm, I should have a photo of a blue tshirt for Hubby to show you but it seems to have been deleted....perhaps he wasn't too impressed with the thought of being plastered all over the web ;P I will get another pic of it flat when it's out of the wash, it's from Jalie 2918 and fits him really nicely. Instead of that you will have to look at me in a green dress ( and I use that term loosely! Tent would be more apt) from Ottobre Woman 05/09.



Excuse the wet spots, Monkey spilled milk on me at lunch. I am going to give this pattern one more try as it is cute, especially with boots on, but I will make it a size smaller and will remember to make my usual round back adjustment. If I had remembered to do it with this version I would simply take it in as the side seams and it would be wearable but as it is the shoulder seams are sitting back about 1" from where they should be and the neckline is pulled off as a result. Must remember alterations!!!!! Never mind, it's the perfect colour for a school jumper for Princess so it will be cut up and remade. Hope hers fits better than mine :D

And that's it, my Stash Game efforts for this round. I'm off to total up my points and post my pics over at SewingMamas :)