KCWC - days 2-7!

welllllllllllll, i did manage to sew for an hour a day, but i don't have a lot to show for it. i went for quality over quantity and tried to focus on the details.

inspired by these gorgeous shorts, i set about making a girly pair.

lots of faffing around later et voila!



i used this tutorial on made, really good and i'll definitely be making some more, think i'll try the lined trousers next time with some old t-shirts for the lining.

things i've learned - sew pockets onto trouser panels before sewing the trousers together!

and i made harriet a matching pair.



i just traced an old pair of shorts to make a pattern, and i'm really pleased with how they turned out, i think i'll make some more adding a little bit into the bum and the rise and they'll be perfect!

i even made little name tags for them both, i just stamped onto cotton webbing using ink which once ironed will stand the up to the washing machine.





i still have lots of stuff i want to make so i think i'll continue my own personal kids clothes challenge for the next few weeks..... but first i need a week on a thai beach......

kcwc - day one from an iPad!

a rather dark picture of what I achieved on kcwc day one - two pairs of yellow gingham seersucker cut out and ready to sew - goodnight!

KCWC

not as prepared for KCWC as i'd hoped...

i had grand plans to have loads of things all cut out before the start of kcwc, and ready to sew together, resulting a very productive week.

as usual my actual output this week has fallen monumentally short of my rather optimistic predicted (hoped for) output. and i have nothing cut out, not even a list of things to make.

so here we go....

here's a little stack of some of my fabric i've pulled to work with



and i'd like to make knot shorts in yellow seersucker for S, and little shorts in yellow seersucker for H, a skirt with heart pockets in the chambray, and some sort of dress in the spot seersucker.

this funky japanese print is just calling out to be worn by cute little people!



this dress



in this strawberry print.



another dress for S and a peasant top or shorts for H in this pink gingham



and i really want to make some of these for both of them for when we will be in slightly cooler weather (wooohoo!) but i'm undecided on fabric.....

maybe this for one side...



so there we have it, a rather optimistic plan of action for kcwc! what are you planning on making?

vintage treats + KCWC

do the 80s count as vintage?!!!

my mum came to visit a few weeks ago, and brought with her a few sewing bits and bobs which she's had in her cupboard for yonks! (she's a bit of a hoarder!)

all packed up in this cool tin



filled with lace and broderie trims, some lace collars, cutout patches.....



i think some of them came from my aunt who used to be a designer, and then had her own boutique.



and these cool tapes, i remember playing with these when i was a kid, not sure what to do with them though - any ideas? especially the number one?



and she also brought these beauties



Burda magazines from 1986! two in german and one in english (at least the german should be easier to figure out than the japanese craft books!)



how cute are these two?..



nice specs!...



i actually quite like this one...



and these could be cute in some nice fabric...



kind of scary but cute too!..



i really like the boys all in one



and as it's KCWC in a few weeks I'll definitely be making use of some of these trims and patterns.... now i just need to find some leg warmers and velvet scrunchies to complete the looks!

whoooaaaaa!

didn't mean to be quite soooooo long between posts!

things have however been pretty productive around here, but as usual i forgot to take pictures!

basting is completed on the single girl quilt, that things is mahooosive, i thread basted as i'm hand quilting and safety pins just get in the way and add too much weight, but it took quite a long time to thread baste so i'm just imagining how long the hand quilting will take!





and i whipped up this little nappy carrier for my smaller bag, the tutorial is from Anna of noodlehead, and was really easy to follow, but i did unpick the whole thing and make it smaller, as I wanted something pretty small, so i made it just the right size for two nappies and a packet of wipes.



i've got a few other finished projects to show you, a few projects on the go and a HUGE list of things I need to make!

bean bag

this bean bag has been a loooooong time in the making. months and months ago i googled for a bean bag tutorial and only found this one and this one. i didn't want a round/ball type one so i made the martha stewart one, but it just wasn't right. so after many, many, many hours of filling and unfilling various shapes i finally settled on my original idea of just a big pillow shaped beanbag. and here she is!



made with some ikea canvas and anna maria horner's innocent crush which coordinated perfectly with our rug... finally finished and in use... ahhhh.

my creative space

this week i'm working on a quilt for Sophia, i've had the fabrics for two years now, so i decided it was high time for this quilt to make it to the top of the to do list. lots of far far away in pink and orange to match her bunting and canvases, and there will be a pillow to match too. just hope i don't run out of the white linen!

toyko subway map quilt

finally finished, only started it about 9 months ago!!!!


please excuse the dreadful photo i really must find a better way of photographing large quilts

but she's finished and i love her! she's awesome, thank you elizabeth for such a great pattern and quilt along.



made using lots of scraps and fabric from my stash (although an emergency trip to spotlight was called for after a complete lack of any grey in my stash was noted) and the white is an ikea sheet



i loved the quilting so much on the original quilt, i went with the same straight line quilting, although i didn't stitch in the ditch (partly because i forgot, and by the time i realised i really couldn't be a***d to go back and fill it all in!!!)

the cutting of the squares took long time, as did sewing the 1600 pieces together, but it was well worth it!

and the back is some ikea houses fabric, along with some blah blah blah fabric which i think is from timeless treasures, along with a small piece of black and grey to make it big enough.

pillow

more pretty-fying of the girls rooms, a little embroidered pillow for H to match her quilt.

just some two inch squares and a solid border around a piece of white linen, with her name embroidered in floss, just perfect for a mini ikea poang chair!




envelope back, with a little contrast binding on the opening.



i love making these and i'm just starting on one for S.

my creative space

today i will mostly be working on my tokyo subway map quilt.



i did the quiltalong on oh fransson, finished the top months and months ago, did half the quilting and then gave up as the quilting was so dreadful! i just can't seem to get the tension right, but in the end i just decided to live with it and finish it off. i think the dreadful quilting may have something to do with the thread, it's DMC hand and machine quilting thread, but i think it's too thick so i'll keep it just for hand quilting.

check out all the other creative spaces here.

purple baby quilt

here's a little quilt i finished last week, it's probably in a dark lonely sorting office now - on it's long journey to it's new baby owner in england.



it's a three improv-ed log cabins sashed in white, on a natural linen background

the gorgeous little purple flower was a japanese voile i got in spotlight which i love love love. unfortunately i haven't seen in again.



also in those little log cabins are a couple of shot cottons, some grey kei honeycomb and a little snippet of some kokka ballerinas, some kona ash and a couple of other little scraps from the scrap box



quilted with organic lines a la jacquie

i bound it with the voile which from a longevity stand point - probably not the best choice, but it's just so gorgeous and yummy i couldn't resist!



hopefully it will enjoy have a little baby girl rolling around all over it!

giveaway winner!

and the winner is..... drumroll please....

sertyan  who said...

My Favourite tutorial in blogland is Made By Rae's Itty Bitty Dress

thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway - i was blown away by the response. and i now have 421 suggestions of tutorials. i will put together a post of the most popular tutorials from the comments and any other tutorials which i haven't seen before.

i'm still waiting with baited breath to see if i've won anything from the giveaways i entered on giveaway day - but can i just say i've never won anything in a giveaway and i've entered the giveaways on three sew mama sew giveaway days now. it takes me back to my childhood when i never ever won pass the parcel - not even at my own party! but now that i've hosted a giveaway - you never know maybe karma will eventually let me win something!

small print - it's not about winning it's the taking part that counts!


 

giveaway day!

hello to everyone visiting from sew mama sew's giveaway day.

this is my little blog journalling my crafting adventures - it's still fairly new, but i have lots of great projects all waiting patiently for a little write up!

anyway... i'm giving away this fat quarter set of momo's wonderland, four fat quarters in total.



i'll select a random number on May 26th (Singapore time - so it may well still be the 25th where you are!) and i will ship internationally all you have to do  is leave me a comment telling me what your favourite tutuorial in blogland is. i have a list as long as both my arms of tutorials i want to make, and i decided recently to make an effort to actually sew some of them! so watch this space for some tutorial reviews. if you'd like to become a follower - please do, but no pressure!

japanese craft books

i can't believe i have lived virtually across the road from a japanese book shop (kinokuniya) for three years and have been coveting all the gorgeous things online made from japanese craftbooks for two years - and have never actually thought to seek out some books for myself! maybe it's the fact that all the book sections are (obviously) labelled in japanese so i would have no idea where the craft books are. but last week i decided to plump up the courage and venture into the japanese section of the book shop. it didn't take me too long to locate the craft section, but it did take me a while to chose my purchases - so many gorgeous pictures and two trips to the toilet ("mummy I need a wee" swiftly followed by "mummy I need a poopoo" the second we had returned to the shop!)

i chose these two books to adopt and bring home.

stylish clothes for girls (ISBN9784579112890)



and this one (ISBN 9784834731736) which I have no idea what it is called



both are filled with gorgeous pictures like this


and this


and i can't wait to get started making some of the projects




what a shame - i think i'll just have to buy some new fabrric to do the patterns justice!!

bloggers quilt festival

here's my entry for the bloggers quilt festival over on amy's creative side.


i started it when H was doing time (9 months gestation! actually 8 and a half!) and after deciding to add hand quilting detail with perle 8 i finally finished it a couple of weeks ago (H is six months old!), i could only manage a couple of lines at a time due to boredom and a sore finger.


the fabrics are a bit of mixture, the matryoshkas were where the whole theme started - i decided a simple strip quilt would be the best thing to show off the large scale print. and i added the michael miller dot in teal, a gingham seersucker in red, a couple of small dots i found at spotlight, and a great find from spotlight - the blue retro floral which i have since realised is almost exactly the same as a cath kidston print.

the back is a few strips of leftover scraps, dividing some off white linen and the amy butler lotus print.


and i found the perfect stripe for the binding in my stash.


amy puts in a lot of hard work to organise the festival - hop on over and take a look at all the other quilts, and checkout the sponsors.