Friday finish :)

Thanks to Crazy Mom, Friday finish for me - I've been meaning to do one of these for ages, and it is only recently that the right colour combination twitched my creative fibres :)

Finished top is 80" x 56" and I love it!

And because of the diagonals, I had loads of scraps left over, sitting waiting to be played with, so I grabbed some batting and started sewing bits onto it:

Cushion should finish at about 17" square.

And lo and behold, a cushion cover! Well, the front side of a cushion cover anyway. Quite enjoyed embracing the randomness of it. Am completely loving it, and have enough to make another one :D

Work In Progress

Friday Finish - only 2 days late! :D

I know, I know, bit of a cheek really :D but I have been looking after a sick almost 6-year old, so couldn't really get anything done before now. She's a lot better, started arguing back today after a day of being sick (Friday) and a day of lying on the couch shattered (Saturday). Poor wee soul. Kids are at their most forlorn when they're ill.

Anyway.

I've been a busy bee today - the long weekend has been a fantastic aid to sewing. And the sun has meant a request for a sun hat for said almost 6 year old.
Thanks to Riley Blake and April Cobb, I have a fantastic pattern to work from. Kt chose the colours, and off I went...

First I fused interfacing to the fabric, and then cut out some shapes:

Two fabrics, as the hat is reversible. Three pieces for the brim, three for the sides and one piece for the crown from each fabric, and interfacing ironed behind each bit.

Quarter inch seams used to sew the pieces together, then topsewn with an eighth seam to secure. You can see that on the back of the red spot. Then comes the hard part - sewing the round shapes together. Not v good at this, but got better with practice - black one is better than the red one I did first :)

Spot the deliberate mistake? Yes, I had to unpin this one ... Just as well my hubby spotted this!

I put the two hat pieces together WS out and sewed them round the brim. All the curved seams and the brim were 1/2 inch, cut down to 1/4 to reduce bulk with notches cut into them to ease the curves.
Leave a 3" gap, turn right sides out, and topstitch around the edge. Et Voila!

One reversible hat. It's a teeny bit big, but better that than the alternative! Took me a few hours over the day but I am really pleased with how it turned out. I love the colours she chose too, they look amazing together. I'd like to say she gets it from me, but I reckon the wee smasher has her own style. I'd love to show you her modelling prowess but she was in a foul mood by the time I'd finished so this is the best shot I have:

 Hehehe :D

My working space - take a peek!

I thought you might like a few pics of my sewing space - and it's nice to see how it looks without a pile of fabric and various haby mess on every single surface. I've started another quilt top too (although ongoing experiments with my immune system, thanks to the scientists observing our house and throwing lovely viruses at us all the time, have rendered me useless temporarily with a bad cold). Anyway, here's the situ just now:

Down a couple of steps into the sewing room, this is the first end of the room you see. It's in the eaves at the top of the house, and I keep forgetting this and banging my head. Only been in here 5 years, you'd think I'd know by now :) The table is going to a good home tomorrow, and my plan is to get a hammock in this corner, oh yes!

This is the main working bit - can't you tell by the puddles of sweat? :) The tables are foldable ones I found on ebay, and the shelves were here when we moved in. Perfect for my books, magazines, knick-knacks. Cutting mat and sewing in an l-shape, works really well, esp with the window there. Love the view over the fields too. Physio ball is IDEAL for sewing - very comfy to sit on, much nicer than a chair.

That is the bit of the roof I always bang my head on! Can you tell why? hehe. Have only just hung up my wee wall hanging, pinboard and thread holder. Havent painted the walls yet as havent found the time or energy - lots of other stuff needing doing in the house first. Threads and sewing machine accessories in the drawers there.

This is my little fabric colleection.... Paltry compared to some, but expanding slowly but inevitably. The wee blue boxes in the corner have my coloured scraps, the larger ones have other scraps and the baskets have various fabrics and sewing bits in them. Love spending time fondling the fabrics! I use the floor as my design wall :)

This wee corner beside the steps is for my craft show goodies. Need to build up that area :) Also ideal as a stage for my daughter to play dolls on. They usually end up with bandages on - heaven knows what they get up to in her head!

I always like to see other folk's sewing space so thought you might like to see this one. While it's clean and tidy. Which it probably won't be again for a loooooooooong time!

Latest project tomorrow...

A welcome return to productivity

Thanks to Crazy Mom I have a couple of yay finishes to show you :)

The first I have already mentioned here and am chuffed to bits about it. Really couldn't have been much easier (unfortunately I never took pics of the process - my all-singing, all-dancing phone is still new and I have yet to realise I have joined the modern generation that can take pics whenever they choose)

but I can show you the finished object and describe it to you! TADA!!!

This lovely looking item was covered in a stained ratty floral horror up till yesterday. I took the old cover off, pinned it to the new fabric and cut around it, and took the old gathering string off it to use on my new cover.
I then cheerfully rolled up the old cover and binned the bugger :D
Then I double folded the edges of the new fabric, keeping the gathering string inside the fold so I could sew it into the new hem and use it to gather the new fabric.
Worked like a charm :D
Here's a close up - cant remember who the manufactures is, but isnt it sweet?

So now I have a lovely new cover - and I found an excuse to use it.

Because I have ANOTHER finish!

This wee charmer is another cushion for my cousin, knitted in Rowan Kid Classis, Rowan Tapestry and backed with the same cord fabric I used for the first one:

Finished size about 18 inches square. Second use of buttonholes, I think these are slightly better than the first ones, although again not quite in a line. Better every time though :D
The stitch pattern is from one of my stitch books, 4 rows with two slip stitch rows, and another 4 rows with the slip stitch slightly offset, giving a wave effect. I used three colours, so every 12 rows another slight change. Here's Johnny! a close-up - 

The Tapestry is variegated, so adds another dimension to the pattern. I'm v pleased with it, and also with sewing it to the backing.
I used a 1/2 " seam and a walking foot and chugged my way through. Worked out pretty well. Am liking this experimenting!

You'll get a peek at my sewing room soon :D

PS It will never again be as tidy as it is in the photos....

Irony

I've been busy in these days of radio silence. Clearing out the midden that was my sewing room, and finding some pleasant and some unpleasant surprises there, but glad to have done it. I will take some pictures of my deluxe attic pad when the light is better, and show off the new ironing board cover I made too.

I hate ironing. Surely one of the more tedious of all household chores. Standing there over a board sweating buckets and trying to find hangers to put the freshly flattened shirts on only to find them squashed into the wardrobe minutes later. All you have to show for it is a sore wrist and backache (or maybe I'm doing it wrong).

Quilting, on the other hand, requires much ironing, and I will happily spend a day running between sewing machine and iron, noting with great satisfaction the smoothed fabric and perfectly tucked away seams.

Wierd.

And while I was ironing my stash from the washing machine pile (it's only been sitting in a heap for 3 months, hardly any time at all, really) I found the perfect fabric to replace my grotty old unloved and unlovable ironing board cover. So I replaced it. Heh.

I love it; I love looking at it; it fits in perfectly with my tidy gorgeous sewing room, and it will not make ironing a shirt one iota more pleasant at all.

I am looking forward to pressing a few seams though...

Said the Traveller...

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because I have been having, of all things, a social life!
We've been to Spain for a few days, sans child (woohoo!) and had a book club/cocktail party meeting, and I've been to London for a weekend at a friend's birthday celebration.... busy, busy, busy...

Phew.

In between times I have managed some sock knitting, but because they are just bog standard ribbing, they don't look very exciting to show. Work is slowly progressing though. Quite relaxing on the train to read my kindle and knit - because the kindle sits nicely on the table and all I have to do to turn a page is wiggle my pinky :D

And no sewing. But I have found some amazing patterns, and have a couple of cushions to finish and some good ideas for them, and some gorgeous bag patterns thanks to Bending Pins.

Onwards and upwards then!

(after I clean and tidy the house, empty the washing bag, shop for groceries, dig in compost and plant some veg, chop some wood, etc etc)

:D xx