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.

KCWC - day six and seven and a roundup

as suspected the weekend didn't leave a lot of time for sewing on day six and seven of kcwc.

i did manage to finish one pair of bloomers...


and get three quarters of the way through another pair.....



and i started on a baby sunsuit using this tutorial, but then realised the only poppers I had were ones which you hand sew on and I didn't think they stand up to much wear and tear, so I'll need to get to the shops before I can finish those.

so my grand total for kcwc is as follows....

3.75 pairs of bloomers
2 skirts
2 dresses (finished off)

so not a monumental amount, and not as much as i would have liked, but i always have grand plans in my head - but with only a measley 24 hours in a day there's just never enough time! (n.b. when pre-bath meltdowns are in full swing believe me i am very thankful there are only 24 hours in a day!)

but the flickr group has provided so much inspiration, and i've pulled out so  much fabric - i think kcwc might just stretch out to another week.

i'd love to make some shorts like these, using this tutorial....

and a leah tunic from this sew along...... found through here...

and a top using this as inspiration....

the week after this will be my personal - "all those little sewing projects i keep putting off week challenge"

KCWC - day four and five

day four and five saw a lot of seam ripping!

but i did finish off this pillowcase dress made from some fabric i bought yonks ago in a spotlight sale. i think i might change the tie to a ribbon as it's a bit stiff as it is. and maybe add a corsage and a ribbon trim around the bottom....



the pattern is from "making children's clothes" by emma hardy. it's supposed to have a full lining, but with it be so hot here I thought a full lining was too much, so it has a half lining. i also altered the arm holes as the ones from the pattern are HUGE! again i think H will have to wait and grow for a while before it fits her.

i also knocked up these skirts. just selvedge to selvedge, with a contrast band.



not sure how much productivity day six and seven will yield - but i do have a huge pile of fabric and millions and squillions of ideas from the flickr group, so i might do KCFC - kid's clothes fortnight challenge (does that acronym make anyone else hungry!)

anyway a spot of laundry is beckoning....

KCWC - day one, two and three

days one two and three of kids clothes week have been fairly industrious - however it has revealed to me that I am a very slow sewer!

on day one I started on this pair of bloomers from lotta jansdotter's simple sewing for baby.

the seam ripper made an appearance when i sewed the bias binding on upside down.


on day two i finished the bloomers (will have to revisit at the end of the week as the elastic in the legs is a little snug!)



and then i pulled out the pieces for this dress, cut out nearly a year ago for S, now far too small for her, but H will grow into it. re-did the pocket friend and got as far as sewing the bias binding onto the armholes.



day three saw a trip to spotlight to pick up some more elastic, trims and i might just have purchased a little more fabric! on returning home day three saw the finish of the simple dress - and i love it! i can't wait for it to fit H.



i'm really pleased with it, yes there are a few puckery bits on the bias bits around the armholes and neck, but i can look past those! i added a special little name tag and instead of using a button and ribbon look, i sewed contrasting ribbon to the neckline for the closure.



and i'm so in love with the pocket friend - i think every pocket should have one!

kids clothes week

it's kids clothes week challenge (kcwc) over on elsie marley. a week where you dedicate one hour a day to sewing for your kid(s). this is my first time to participate and I'm quite looking forward to it.





i've made a few bits of clothing for S in my time, and they're nice, but looking at all the inspiration out there for kcwc i think i need to branch out a little in the embellishment and detail - so that's my challenge to myself this week...... and maybe practicing some french seams along the way.

i think monday morning is a little late in the day to be collecting inspiration - but hey-ho - as is life!

i might make H some of these bloomers (although I don't have any vintage hankies), and also a pair from  Lotta Jansdotter's Sewing for Baby

and not that she actually where's anything on her feet (it's ALWAYS hot here) i might whip up a pair of these booties.

maybe another one of these skirts from oliver and s

this looks like a pretty sweet little top

and this is just the cutest little dress

right now to start gathering fabrics and i might find a few unfinished projects along the way!!

My (messy) Creative space......

my creative space this week is extremely messy!


but mess is GOOD - in my book it means productivity (well that's what I tell myself!)

.....there's a little baby quilt being quilted (it will be a tad late to it's baby recipient)....


....the single girl quilt top and backing waiting to be marked, basted and quilted....


....and my baby girl's quilt finally finished, washed and out to dry....