An Envelope for Letters

I do actually still write letters and what's more I receive them too!  Problem is, what do you do with a letter once it's read?

In my case, I store them all in here!

It's a silky spotty fabric, quilted with polyester wadding and black lining fabric.  I bound the edges with a wide white cotton bias binding.

 As you can see, my love of straight line quilting continues!

The button is an old one, I think it came from my mum's button box originally.

Angel Kit

This is actually from a while ago, but I forgot to get photos on the day (the problem of working with children, it's so easy to get caught up in their excitement).  I finally found 5 minutes to get photos though!  Please excuse the state of my house but I didn't want to wait any longer!

The dress is Simplicity 2692 and made in some cream polyester satin my mum gave me.

 As you can see I teamed it with some fairy wings (Sainsburys), some cream tights (H&M) and my wedding shoes.  I also had a beautiful tiara/hairband that I commissioned from a talented friend.

My costume was greatly admired by the children and the Christmas party was a huge success so I was really pleased!

It was a very easy sew and is lined in whatever scraps of lining I had to hand, so the inside is a bit of a mishmash.  On the plus side of things I only had to buy the zip so this really was a stash buster!

I plan to reuse this costume for any and all future Christmas parties at work!

Cushion No2. The Moda Paris Flea Market One!

This is the other cushion I have finished recently!  It was made because one of our old cushion covers got stained and needed replacing,  My beloved has asked if I'll make new covers for all the cushions now, but I think that's a job for the bottom of the list!

Isn't it pretty?  The front is patched from a charm pack of Moda's Paris Flea Market line.  I left the red ones out, but I have plans for them in something else.

 It's decorated with a floral ribbon trim and then I added a cord to the seam line.  It didn't need it, but it certainly makes it look prettier!

 The back is an envelope back and is pieced out of scrap fabric from my stash.  I did straight line quilting using my sewing machines quilt line guide.

All in all I am very pleased with this cushion, but himself seems to have claimed it for his use!

Cushion No.1 - The Cath Kidston One!

Warning - this post contains pink!

I didn't write about them at the time, but I did make some sewing New Years Resolutions.

1.  Reduce the wip pile
2. Make everything the very best I can
3. Reduce the fabric stash!

So this week I have 2 cushions to show.  Today has been a work in progress since Dec 2011 when I was given the kit as a present!

I was brand new to crochet then and my lovely lodger of the time thought this would help me hone my skills.  I eagerly set to work running up the little squares for the front, finished them all and stopped.  I think sewing of some sort happened.

It languished, unloved, for a year or so until I decided to work on the back panel.  That happened in dribs and drabs and was eventually done, but the thought of sewing it all up was far too scary!  So back into the rather pretty tin it went.

Until this New Year, when filled with zeal and a desire to finish something I pulled it off the shelf and got to work.  I stitched all the little squares together, then started going round the edges joining front and back together.

There was a short pause whilst I ordered a cushion pad off the internet and ran up a basic cover out of green satin scraps.

And then finally, in an evening I finished it!  Managing all 3 of my crafty resolutions in one.  A finished wip, using up some fabric from the stash and very definitely made to the very best of my ability!

See you on Thursday with my other new cushion!

A Small Steampunk Coat

So, remember the Mini-Rainbow Coat?  Well, in the way that babies do, Small Bean has out grown it.  But has also taken a dislike to being put in her snowsuit.  So it was clearly a good time for a new coat!

I had some green Cthulu hoodie scraps and without any real plan I started cutting and sewing.  We decided on a hood and a slightly more streamlined look.  I gave free reign to my creativity and we ended up with this!

 I feel it has a slight steampunk vibe, with it's military style buttons and little bronze butterfly applique.

I used a decorative hem stitch, mostly because I only had variegated green quilting thread to hand so I thought as it was going to be visible anyway, it might as well be pretty!

I'm well aware she doesn't need a pocket (you really need to be able to use your hands reliably before a pocket is a necessity) but it looked too sweet to leave off!

Apologies for the blurriness of this back view, Small Bean is a very wriggly child and was getting bored of Mummy and Aunty Luthaisea taking photos.

And this is the look we got that signalled her willingness to model for the day was well and truly over!

Hoodie

My beloved wanted jumpers for his birthday.  I confess I bought him two, because my knitting is just not fast enough to be a reliable present crafting skill.  But when is comes to fleece...

I have an over locker and I can run up a quick hoodie!   It has the Super-Mario mushroom to replace an earlier and much loved hoodie and was based on one of his current favourite jumpers for size.

  The hood is a bit large, but he very sweetly tells me he prefers it that way, it means he can hide better.

I'm just glad he likes it! 

Ladybird Brooch

Sometimes it's the little things!

This is a felt brooch I made from a kit I was given for Christmas!

It was very easy to assemble and I think the result is sweet.

Now I just need to find something to wear it with...

Herdy Rucksack!

For the past month or so I have had a slight keenness of knitting.  This is the end result!

This is the completed result of a kit I as given for Christmas.  It has been a real challenge for me to make.  I do not find knitting easy.  That said I have learnt 'dimple stitch' how to do mattress stitch, how to purl together throw back loops and all sorts!

Every mistake was carefully, painfully unpicked and redone.  But I'm so pleased with the rucksack I think it was worth the effort!

I thought a bag that took so long and was so hard to make deserved a special effort for the lining.  So on the lining I added a pocket with a slight bit of embroidery.

This is my sheep embroidery - it's french knots and satin stitch.  It took me a fair while to do, but, like the bag the end result is worth it.

And here's a pic of the inside.  It's not a big bag, but it fits everything I need and I love it so much!