Birthday Heart!

Gosh these things are fun to make!

 This is made of polyester wadding, drill cotton, poly cotton and quilting cotton with a little ribbon for extra prettiness.

Happy Birthday Trouble! 

Quick Crafting!

I finished a big project the other day (which I will show you soon, I promise) and had about two hours in which I could make something for myself.  I wasn't keen on the idea of getting a pattern out, but then I remembered I needed a new reusable shopping bag! 

It's made from left over baby cord in sea green and some poly cotton in a floral print.  I didn't use a pattern, I just made it up as I went along.

I really like how it's turned out and if I buy anything at the Knitting and Stitching Show on Saturday I'll be sure to use it there!

Baby Clothes!

So, a couple of weeks ago to of my friends welcomed a tiny wriggly bundle of a daughter into the world.  I was so pleased for them, mostly because she's a  beautiful  little one who I am looking forward to getting to know better and slightly because, well...  I've had this little outfit made for ages but I couldn't show it off until Little One had made her appearance and been presented with it!

Dinky dress!

Weeny shorts!

Tiny hat!

 I actually teamed up with a friend of mine for this outfit, but more on that in a minute.  For now, I used pale mint green cotton for the outfit, trimmed with a pale yellow slightly sparkly ribbon.  It's unlined and the elastic is encased with bias binding.   The Pattern is Simplicity 2375 and it was a joy to make!

I really enjoyed making everything, but what made this project just perfect is the fact that I was working with someone else.  And they added knitted adorableness to it!

Look at how sweet it is!  She's used a yellow suitable for babies wool and trimmed with the same ribbon and buttons as I did (we may have shopped for them together).

The idea is that the little shorts function as a nappy cover and can't actually be seen when the outfit is on, but I couldn't resist them peeking out in this photo!

 Look at that delicate lacy pattern!  One day, I will get good enough at knitting to produce things like that in a reasonable time scale.  One day...

Hand embroidered Bag

Yet another birthday gift!  Today I am showing you a small bag I made for my friend.  I used applique, hand embroidery and tried to not over embellish.

 The bag is made from and lined with cotton and the tree trunk is also cotton.  I made the dangling leaves by bondawebbing some of the red and brown cotton scraps together and machining veins on to it in leaf shapes.

 The leaves on the tree are lazy daisy stitches, one inside another in a variety of thread colours.

 The strap is adjustable (my first ever adjustable strap!) and the bag closes with a metal snap. 

Next week I hope to show off a collaborative project I worked on as a special welcome to a very young lady who has just made it into the world!

A Hanging Pocket

So, it's birthday gift time again here!  The one I'm showing you today was made for a friend who loves beading.  And hand embroidery.  And machine embroidery!  So I went searching for a gift idea to use one of the above and managed to get inspiration to combine all three!

This is a hanging pocket, to pop bits and pieces you want handy in.  I used cotton, cotton wadding and taffeta to make it, with bias binding scraps.

The embroidery and bead work was done by hand, I sketched a quick design and then let my imagination fill n the details as I stitched.  All the beads were bought in Wales on a holiday we went on together.

To make it sturdy, the back section of the pocket is quilted with a swirly machine backing.

All in all, I am quite pleased with it!  I have a little more embroidery to show off on Thursday.

Sometimes It's the Little Things...

I got bored of always losing the camera SD card adaptor.  So I made this.

It's a tiny pouch thing.  Under the lady bird is an eyelet to strengthen the fabric as it's pinned to my notice board.

It's made of tiny scraps of blue linen and took all of 15 minutes to sew.  Makes me grin every time I see it though and best of all, now I don't have to hunt for the adaptor every time I want to take photos off my camera!

Have a great weekend!

Kit Storage

So, I don't know about the rest of you, but I have way too much kit and recently it's been taking over the house.  Now the deal with my kit is that it's all supposed to be stored in the garage so clearly, something had to be done!

I picked random fabrics from my stash and ran up a lot of drawstring laundry bags.  They don't match in colour, the threads don't match and the drawstrings are not colour co-ordinated but I don't care.  They will never been seen by anyone but me (and anyone reading, but you can keep a secret, right?).

I didn't take individual photos but here they are being piled up ready for more boxes.  I acquired these boxes from the box fairy who found me on the way to the shop to buy boxes. I now have a garage with 6 or so 80 litre boxes full of kit...

Each character now has their own bag for kit so I can find each of them with ease.  The theory being I can see who I'm playing, go and collect the bag from the garage and then when the kit's been washed after the game I can just return it.

Sadly I have turfed up some more kit so I think I need more boxes...  Where do I leave offerings for the box fairy do you think?