M-A's Designs

Summer Quilts

2012-01-07T20:48:00.000+11:00

Little Lady is like me, she has to sleep under a doona regardless how hot it is at night. Unfortunately her eczema is flairing up again as a result of being too hot so I'm making a light weight quilt with cotton wadding which will hopefully be much cooler to sleep under. This is where I'm at after a week of cutting and sewing...

Little Lady chose all the fabrics. And since Little Sir is almost ready for a big boy bed, I'm making him one too.

I found the pattern here which was adapted from this Moda Bake Shop pattern and I've adapted it further to make it a double bed size quilt. It's very simple which is perfect as I need to finish these quickly and also the speed with which I'm putting these together is helping reignite my sewing passion. I'm planning on doing a very simple pieced backing with big pieces of plain coloured homespun.

And to show that I have actually finished it, here's some quick shots of Emma's quilt.
It's quilted all over with meandering loops and hearts. Still not sure how or when this will get to little Emma but at least it's finished now.

Medical bag and Tool bag

2011-12-14T15:28:00.001+11:00

When I do a big tidy of the kids toys I tend to sort them, not that the kids play with any one category of toys at a time - I've been served tea with toy screwdriver parts in toy saucepans before. So it was more for my benefit than theirs, tho they love bags of any sort, when I made a Medical Bag and a Tool Bag to put all their medical and building tools in.

I used fabric from my stash and some left over Vliesofix and made a simple tote bag to which I had raw edge appliqued a red cross and a hammer onto. I even used a french seam on the bags because I couldn't be bothered zigzagging the edges and this way they can't fray. Only took about an hour to make both and as predicted they're used for carting around toy food and books, not medical instruments or hammers and spanners. But their eyes lit up when they first saw them and they ARE being used so I can't complain.

Oh yeah, that's what I was doing...

2011-12-13T17:48:00.001+11:00

I'm a little stuck right now, unable to do anything without a little clingy shadow (Little Sir is sick) so what better time than now to update my scrapbook. I lost my sewing mojo again and I've been busy with other stuff but I have managed to still do some crafting since my last update. Finished projects include a couple of toy bags and a Banana's in Pajamas cake. My current in progress projects include the log cabin crocheted blanket, the hexagon cathedral window pillow (all hexies in place, just gotta start adding the coloured windows), Little Lady's Candied Hexagon Quilt (I blame this project for my current lack of motivation to sew - it's turned out to be way, way more work than I thought it'd be and is in NO WAY going to be finished anytime soon) and a Shelly doll from the current Australian Homespun (No. 103 Vol 12.12). I'm making Shelly with Little Lady - she has picked all the materials and helped me pin, cut and sew (by sitting on my knee at the machine, removing pins, pressing my up/down button and cutting threads). We've also stuffed her parts and now I'm "taking forreeevvveeeeerrrrr" to sew her together before we sew on her hair, make her clothes and decorate her. I've gotta take some pics and then will endeavour to post a bit more regularly. Maybe...

Hexie Windows Shaping Up

2011-08-27T12:10:00.000+10:00

It's slowly coming together. All my folded hexagons have been pressed and the centres secured and now I'm slowly sewing them together. I'm using ladder stitch as my preferred blind stitch.

To be continued...

Slight hitch

2011-08-19T11:16:00.000+10:00

So I spent last night ironing folds and it turns out that I've misjudged how thick some of my seams are which means they won't fold back on themselves to overlap the colour window insert. Duped by the thinness of my paper template. But after playing with it some more this morning, if I snip this and tuck that it still might work. I'm determined to get this. After all I've already cut the fabric so really what have I got to lose by hacking it some more?

To be continued....

New Project

2011-08-18T17:15:00.001+10:00

My sewing mojo is back thanks to a couple of recent Sit and Sew sessions with the gals at the MMQG. In particular Rachel and Bek have got me thinking about catherdal windows and while I don't want to make a whole quilt, I'd love to make a few pillows to dress up my couch. I'm not sure if a sew-along will happen just yet but I couldn't wait so when Spotlight had a 30% off storewide sale earlier this week I went to stock up on base fabric. As usual they were out of white but there was a roll of unbleached quilters homespun that had a linen-like weave which was down to $4 a metre so I picked up 3.5m, enough for 3 pillows I hope. And I've got plenty of coloured bits for the windows in my stash.

But here's the catch. I don't want to do square catherdal windows. You see, the other project I want to do is make a light summer weight quilt for each of my little monkeys to sleep under this summer and at the moment I'm thinking one of them, probably Little Lady's, will be based on the Candied Hexagon quilt like the one on the cover of Australian Quilters Companion Vol 5.2 Issue 18 (2005) which was designed by Kerry Dear. By the way, this issue is out of print and I don't have a pattern but that's nothing new.

Anyway, with hexagons in mind I want to make a hexagon catherdal window pillow. I can't find a pattern online anywhere and it's taken me 2 days but I finally figured out how to fold the hexagons and now that I've got it I don't want to stop in case I forget so I've been busy making templates...

...and cutting today.

Now I'm up to ironing and folding my hexies. It's going to have to be all hand sewn because the sides don't unfold like a traditional square but I want to hand sew the windows in anyway so whats a little more hand sewing. Famous last words no doubt!

Feminist much?

2011-08-09T13:55:00.000+10:00

I resisted, truly I did. At one point there was no way I'd buy a toy ironing board for my little girl, NO WAY! It's a job I loath and I hate the expectation that boys get tool sets and toy lawn mowers (cool stuff in my books since I love tinkering and gardening) and girls get ironing boards and cleaning trolleys (in my head complete with images of being chained to the laundry and toilet brush). It sets my teeth on edge just thinking about it. And before you jump down my throat, yes I know that you can buy all these toys for boys AND girls but as free thinking and equal as we are it is still implied and more often the norm that females do the vast majority of the washing and cleaning and cooking and other 'home duties' and such toys are targeted accordingly.

Then my sister got my nephew a toy iron which makes steam noises and a little ironing board and Little Lady and my niece just loved it and in all honesty it didn't seem so distasteful once I saw them play. I know, where were my high and mighty principles then? They were watching my baby have a ball playing with another toy which made cool noises, not learning a lesson in 'life roles'. Funny how so much continues to change after you have kids.

But being in a bit of a cash flow situation and still stubbornly adamant about NOT buying an ironing board, I did the next best thing.

I made one.

A quick search on Google found only this which is a vintage toy ironing board plan with some basic measurements for me to start with. Then I read the instructions that went with it...

"While your little girl happily joins mom in doing the family ironing..."

Ahem. Well... lets just say I would not have been popular in the 1950's. But the plans were simple and exactly what I was after... with a few adjustments from me of course.

It took me a couple of hours each day over 3 days with both kids sick and myself and Gorgeous Man sleep deprived as a result though it could easily be finished in a day if I hadn't painted it... or started it at 6pm, and easily in a lazy weekend.

Pink is apparently the flavour of the moment

And God love her she only wants to iron fabric. A future sewer/fabriholic in the making. Gotta love that!

Stained Glass Quilt Backing

2011-08-06T14:47:00.001+10:00

The MMQG had a Sit and Sew Evening recently at G.J's in Brunswick which I wrangled time away from the fam to attend. I've lost my sewing mojo recently and while I have ideas for new quilts I'd like to make, in my current frame of mind I thought an easy quick thing to sew would be a pieced backing for the pink and yellow freckled whimsy quilt which has become another UFO of late.

I had a particular fabric in mind

but didn't realise how much I would need and of course didn't have so instead I sketched out an idea that would use almost all of it with the pink and yellow fabrics from the front thrown in. And on paper it looked pretty simple.

Quickly as a side note, I haven't been to a Sit and Sew Day for a while and I'd forgotten how lovely it is to be with other wonderful, talented, sew-insane people. Sewing can be a pretty solitary hobby. My sewing habit looks like I've simply dipped my toe in while they are completely drenched in comparison and I love the inspiration it provides.

I didn't get it all sewn at the SASE as the centre took way longer than I thought to sew up with all the interlocking pieces (and I spent a lot of time chatting and laughing with Rach, Bek and Sally) so even though I didn't get home until after 11:30pm I was still buzzed to keep going and quickly sewed the rest.

Stained Glass Quilt

I think it'd make a great simple quilt front too so I'll definately be making more of these.

There's another Sit and Sew Day mid August so hopefully I'll have this basted by then so I can quilt it and maybe, just maybe it might be finished in time to give to little Emma before she graduates high school!

Long Time Coming

2011-08-04T09:56:00.004+10:00

My mum taught me to knit and crochet when I was a girl, something I will one day teach to my kids. I'm a decent knitter and thanks to the wonders of the internet I now know how to sew knitted garments together. But most of my knitting endeavors still get ripped out (my family love to tease me about how I'm unravelling it YET again) or left unfinished and stashed in the cupboard when I run out of knitting steam.

So recently while looking for something else, I stumbled on bags and bags of unfinished knitted projects which all got unravelled as I have no intention of finishing them and hopefully the yarn might have half a chance to unkink if it's stretched around in a ball. Can that happen or do I have to steam it or something to straighten the yarn again?

Anyway, I also found a bag with a whole bunch of crocheted log cabin squares which got stashed because I ran out of the wool having grossly underestimated how much I'd actually need since I wasn't following a pattern. Did I forget to mention that I started this project over 10 years ago? I'm not going to even bother trying to find wool to match now.

Little Lady is in a zone at the moment where all her dolls need naps and everyone and everything gets a blankie which not surprisingly seem to be in short supply here. And not wanting to unravel these squares I got online and found how to join the squares using a flat braid and have been happily sitting at night watching Gorgeous Man play Assassin's Creed II (that is when I haven't been hogging the Xbox myself to play it) and crocheting the squares together.

I still need to sew in all the ends and haven't decided what kind of border to put on it or even if I need a border as the flat braid leaves a small scalloped edge on the squares but it is a bit small for a lap blanket and I think a border would finish it properly. Guess I'll need more wool after all.

Pink Cardigan Finished

2011-08-03T15:16:00.000+10:00

I've finally finished the pink cardigan that I started back here. I sewed it up and blocked it before crocheting the hems (row 1: 3 dc into every stitch, row 2: 2 dc into every stitch) to give a ruffle effect. On the 2nd row I incorporated pink and clear beads spaced out every three or four stitches. Then she wanted buttons so I crocheted small chains to attach large heart shaped buttons and also to make a matching loop. I deliberately made both long so that the cardigan would close so you could see both the ruffle and the buttons. She hasn't worn it yet and I'm really hoping it won't be too small. Overall though I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Our first commission

2011-06-28T14:24:00.002+10:00

The third quilt I've been flat out making was a commissioned King Single Quilt for a gorgeous little 3 year old, Amelia. I'm slowly unveiling it over at 2 of 4 but here are some sneak peaks.

I learned so many new techniques putting this quilt together, including raw edge applique and trapunto which were inspired by the amazing work of Kelly Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now, and I've gotten so much better at controlling my free motion quilting.

This little guy is the big brother of the caterpillar I made for Little Sir's baby playgym mat and I've also made a pillowcase to match the quilt.

So far I don't have any immediate plans to begin anymore quilts (I can hear my husband sign with relief) as I'd really like to finish Little Lady's cardigan - I'm thinking of changing the edging to a ruffle rather than a picot/scallop. But right now I'm going to wrap my monkeys in beenies and coats and take advantage of the sun and head off to the park before the weather decides to turn crappy again.

Quilting designs

2011-06-16T23:39:00.000+10:00

I planned the quilting designs for the freckled whimsy quilts long before I got anywhere near quilting them. I used google images for inspiration and practiced sketching on paper first to work out how to draw them in one continuous line. Next I made templates in cardboard of the general shape and traced these onto the quilt top with the water erasable Clover pen, then basted the quilt.

On the purple and pink quilt I quilted a meandering pattern of swirls and hearts

and incorporated each design as I came to it, including a rose,

a tulip,

a handbag,

butterfly,

bumble bee,

and flower.

On the blue quilt I used a meandering pattern of loops, stars,

and occasional waves

to fill in the spaces between crabs,

octopus,

seahorses,

dolphins,

fish,

boats,

and anchors.

The finished quilts measure 1.2m x 1.5m.

For my gorgeous little niece

and my handsome little nephew.

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-06-14T12:57:00.000+10:00

I'm still recovering from a massive 2 months sewing in which I've made 3 quilts. My sisters both had theirs bubs - Tammy had a beautiful little girl and Nicole had a tiny handsome little man, and I actually managed to finish both quilts on time.

I sewed the fronts together fairly quickly and then used a blue fine tip Clover water erasable pen to mark on the designs that I wanted to incorporate into the quilting. I bought and tried many, many chalk pencils and other removable pens and markers and the Clover was by far the best. It completely dissolves in a small amount of cold water even after ironing over it which you're not supposed to do. On the blue quilt I had to use a violet marker (Sew Easy brand from Lincraft) which faded quickly so I had to redraw some designs, it took a bit more to come out and I haven't been game enough to iron over it.

Dreading the thought of having to baste them hunched over on the floor for hours on end I tried a technique I came across a while ago while trawling youtube which I conveniently bookmarked and promptly forgot about until these quilts...and am I ever kicking myself that I didn't try this sooner. It's soooo much easier than pin basting and is actually quite therapeutic tho it does take longer. The videos are long and Sharon talks quite a bit but it's well worth it as its full of tips and tricks - my fav is the quilters knot which I now use for everything. Did you know that thread had a grain?

I sourced my boards from Bunnings - they're just painted 2.7m pine boards found with the skirting boards which they kindly cut for me into a 1.1m and 1.6m length. Even tho my boards are shorter than the quilt width it still worked really well.

Here the quilt is 1.2m wide and I'm using the 1.1m boards. It took me 4 hours to baste the first one and 3 hours to baste the second which sounds like a long time but since then I've basted a king single quilt, 160cm x 210cm so almost double the size of these, in 4 hours. One of my main gripes with pin basting was the fiddling I have to do to get top and bottom smooth often involving repinning areas a few times and I absolutely hate fumbling with taking the pins out as I get to them on the machine. With thread basting I just snip the threads and pull them out as I get near them and if I accidentaly run over them they pull out easily and I don't damage anything.

Next up, the finished quilt and quilting designs.

Progress

2011-04-21T21:47:00.001+10:00

As usual I got to the ironing part and am procrastinating again but I have made some progress. How's this for chain piecing?

And that's just the blue quilt.

I have actually been busy with other things. I have taken the plunge and have started working on a handmade craft business, 2of4, with my little sis Steph. I've just finished our first commissioned item for a lady she works with, a customised craft apron with a new design on the neck band to make it even more kid friendly to use. Check it out over here. It's based on my original design for Little Lady's adjustable craft apron with a modified neck strap.

We're making our debut at a local playgroup market in June so have been sewing whenever we can to build stock for it. So far we're making adjustable craft aprons, 50's style kitchen aprons with pot holders, placemat/coaster sets, and picnic blanket/linen sets but hope to branch out into playmats, small quilts, busy books, etc...all aimed at imaginative play for kids so it's all kid sized!! We're chronicalling our journey over here so if you're interested in the birth and growth of a small homebased business, head on over and check us out.

Tip - how to keep a random pattern in order

2011-04-09T17:20:00.000+10:00

The pattern I'm currently using for the pink & purple and blue quilts is from a quilt-along hosted by KarrieLyne at Freckled Whimsy back in July last year. Its supposed to be sewn as 9-patch blocks made completely randomly - she even recommends placing all the HST blocks in one bag and the squares in another then lucky dip to make up the 9-patch blocks but if you're like me thats just not going to happen. Relinquish control to a lucky dip? Uh uh, can't do it. I like to see exactly how the whole quilt will look before I commit to sewing all those pieces together.

The problem is how to keep everything in order between laying it all out and sewing it up without dedicating floor space or wall space (OMG I so need a design wall!) to a quilt that may take anywhere from a day to a month or longer to sew up. My solution is this:

I assign each block a grid reference,

write that reference on a little dot sticker and label all the blocks.

Then I can stack up each row in order and if things get knocked over, dropped or messed up, no probs, I know exactly what needs to go next to what when I sew them up.

If I was able to sew without distraction, which is virtually impossible to do with 2 little ones, I wouldn't bother with labelling them and would just stack them up in the order that I want to sew the blocks into rows. I couldn't tell you how many times these little dots have saved my bacon when wandering little fingers have rifled through my carefully stacked blocks. I also find them really handy for quickly checking every now and again while sewing that I haven't accidentally picked up a block from the wrong pile.

I've had to wait until Little Sir sleeps before I could lay out the 2 quilts I've been working on otherwise he treats the fabric pieces like confetti, ie colourful lovelies to be thrown into the air with squeels of delight (from him) and horror (from me). Here is the layout for the pink and purple quilt

and for the blue quilt

I plan to begin sewing these tonight or tomorrow depending on how distracted Steph and I get with our brilliant plans for world domination...I mean our future financial peace of mind.

Pink and Purple and Blue

2011-04-04T17:26:00.003+10:00

I love these little stacks.

I've finally completed the rest of the blues and all HST are now trimmed and ready along with matching squares. I need 844 blocks for each quilt but I've made extra so that I can make matching change mats as well.

My future neice's quilt.

And for my future nephew.

And now for the fun part... I finally get to sew!

Two days...for this?!!

2011-04-03T00:34:00.000+11:00

I pushed through coz I know the fun part is next but damn my hand hurts.

388 7cm squares. Yep, had to trim them all. Yep, 2 days. But they look so pretty, don't they? Hopefully I'll get feeling back into my thumb tomorrow coz right now it's a phantom digit.

Got fussy with the colours so still got these to sew and trim before I can plan the layout. Less than 7 weeks until the bubs are born and lots still to do. It actually feels great to be this motivated.

Lotsa Cake - Iggle Piggle & DottyWot

2011-03-31T22:21:00.000+11:00

Birthday cakes have been an easy decision for the last 2 birthdays in our house. Little Sir had a birthday late last year and the clear winner was Iggle Piggle since he loves watching In The Night Garden and Iggle Piggle's head shape is actually quite easy to make. I used the same butter cake recipe from here and just doubled the ingredients to make a huge rectangle. I trimmed the sides and corners to create a bean shaped head and didn't fill it as it was too big to be able to slice in half and lift the top off without breaking it. I didn't want to do my usual filling of strawberry sauce and cream anyway as one little party guest was allergic to strawberries and I didn't want him to miss out. Instead I flavoured the butter cream icing with chocolate essence. The difficult part was trying to make blue butter cream icing as the only butter I could readily find is all coloured yellow. The blue wound up being kinda grey in colour and there are actually 2 shades of blue (grey) on Iggle Piggle's head but it's hard to see in the photo.

Chocolate sprinkles to colour the centre of his eyes and mouth again and some red coloured butter cream icing for his um....hair...things.

Little Lady started putting in requests for her DottyWot birthday cake about 2 months ago when the run of family birthdays began. Again I made butter cake (I think I may have overcooked it slightly as it was drier than normal) in a loaf tin and trimmed the corners a little to shape the top of her head and jaw. I also cut a wedge out for her mouth and rather than cover her with butter cream icing and have the same problems trying to create blue, I bought some ready made white icing and rolled it out to cover the cake with.

Her eyes are balls of icing and her eyelids were made by thinly rolling a small ball of icing and wrapping it over the eyeball and trimming it to cover only half of the eyeball. Her tufty flufties (the tail-like things coming out of the sides of her head which I have just realised probably should have come out of the top of her head instead) were made by rolling a flat sheet of icing around a line of short fruit stick lollies - I wanted the whole cake to be edible but was fast running out of icing so had to improvise. They were finished off with a ball of icing pinched at one end to create a funny drop shape. Originally I had the idea to use blue fairy floss for the ends of the tufty flufties but couldn't find any at the time.

Both the eyeballs and tufty flufties were attached to the head, and where needed to each other, by scoring the icing on the bits that will touch with a knife (to rough it up and give the 'glue' something to bite onto) and then painting the area with a thick sugar syrup ie, sugar with only enough water in it to dissolve it, say 3 spoons of sugar and 2 or 3 spoons of water - the microwave made this really easy as it virtually liquified the sugar crystals. You need to paint it on while its still hot as when it cools (which was surprisingly quickly - only a few minutes) it sets like hard candy, gluing the bits together.

I painted her pink rather than try to colour the icing before rolling it all out so I could get the colour right though she does look a bit streaky because of it. I simply mixed pink food dye with water and enough icing sugar to thicken it a little until I got the right intensity then painted it on with an artists brush. I have Gorgeous Man to thank for my 'action shots' - he was actually the one who thought to take pics for the blog. Thanks baby!

Gorgeous Man helped finish painting her face, tongue and tufty's and coloured in her pupils with a Sharpie pen while I got ready for the party and then I stuck her tongue and eyelashes on and she was ready!

Little Lady loved her and I was supermum again!

Long overdue

2011-03-24T16:34:00.002+11:00

My garage has been overrun with kids furniture for some time now. We bought a kids table and chairs set raw so that we could paint them in fun bright colours ourselves and were quite motivated to get the undercoat on....and then they sat there taking up prime realestate in our garage for, well for a very long time. But they're finally finished and in use!

I've also been knitting a cardigan for Little Lady from Patons "Sugar Fairies" (Book 1304).

I started knitting it on the drive to our family beachhouse back in January and only really get any done late at night when I'm too tired to sew or I want to watch TV. I'm supposed to use 4 ply baby wool but I picked up a whole bag of Moda Vera Noir (75% wool super wash, 25% polyamide) for 50c a ball so I hope it turns out OK. Google says (yep, I had to look it up) that polyamide is nylon. Of course I don't like to make things easy for myself and after starting the cardy I realised I really didn't like the purple colouring so I restarted it and looped out all the purple yarn.

I've finished knitting all the pieces and am now tying off all the ends where I joined the next stretch of pink yarn before I sew them together. Then onto crocheting the edge and adding the beads.

Charity Quilts

2011-03-22T10:29:00.001+11:00

My first time at a keyhole patterned quilt. A mix of navy, yellow, pale blue and greys, I wanted a more subdued colour palette that might suit an older quilt recipient.

I also made 2 blocks (all I had time for in the end) and sent them all off to Corrie at Retro Mummy for her Quilts for Queensland effort.

While I was going for subdued I didn't realise how washed out an overcast day can make photos look.

I'm thinking about it. In fact I've been thinking about it for a few years now. Do I have the motivation to do it tho? Creative ideas are always there, stock is there, means are there too. It's just maybe because I don't NEED to I haven't found the drive to get it going yet. Well it's in writing now so maybe this will keep it churning in my mind and have me a step closer.

Dresses For Two Little Princesses

2011-02-11T14:53:00.001+11:00

While still busy with finishing the Freckled Whimsy quilt (which I'm now going to make 2 more of for my two sisters' new bubs) and also a keyhole quilt front to send to Corrie at Retro Mummy for the Quilts for Queensland effort she's putting together (more on this in a later post), I've managed to find some time to make some more dresses.

Last time Spotlight had a pattern sale I got this

and have since made dress A in some pretty fabric that I picked up at a clearance sale at Spotlight not long after getting the pattern. Its a simple pattern which sewed up very easily and I can see would lend itself to modification will little trouble. I actually changed the way the shoulder straps fixed to the back of the bodice,

wanting to add a hidden button closure instead to make it easier to get the dress on and off.

And this is my first buttonhole!! So pleased with myself. Like many other sewing techniques it's a lot more scary as an unknown but so easy once you actually try it.

Front

(dontcha hate it when you discover a smudge on your camera lense AFTER taking all your photos)

and Back

and modeled.

I've also made a replica of the little pink dress in a smaller size for a friends daughter

which I decorated with some small roses across the bottom of the bodice.

Fingers crossed it fits as neither dress came from a formal pattern and I guessed little Nicola's measurements, making small adjustments to the pattern to fix the things that I would like to change about Little Lady's dress if I were to make it again.

My first squiggly

2011-01-17T16:26:00.000+11:00

I finished piecing this together last night:

It's the biggest quilt I've made to date and I think I did a pretty good job of it. But now I have to finish it and I've realised that I can't keep putting it off, I'm going to have to learn how to free motion quilt coz I don't think sewing in straight lines will do this quilt justice. I'm all prepared for it too so despite the fact that it was past midnight I had my first go at stippling on one of the placemats that I made for practicing on. And here's how I went...

Front. This is the placemat I liked the least so it was my first guinea pig.

Some detail. A bit choppy when changing direction but I did notice I was getting better as I went. I've learned that I can't rush through and that I have to sew at a certain speed. All the advice I've read to date says to go very, very fast, the faster the better. I found when I did my lines got more jagged and uncontrollable so I think I've found a speed where my hands and feet are on the same page, which from other bits of advice I've read is really all the speed I need.

And the back. I wound up stippling a lot smaller than I thought I would. I found it easier to control small movements so next I'm going to practice a looser stipple.

Where to begin...

2011-01-12T23:17:00.001+11:00

2010 went blindingly fast or maybe it just feels that way because the end of the year always feels like such a rush. My 2 little cheeky monkeys are growing so fast. Little Sir is walking now and babbling away trying to talk, and Little Lady is so independant, choosing her own clothes, brushing her own teeth and washing herself at bathtime. "Mummy, I do it!" They're both so clever and observant. I often wonder if I was like this at their age.

Craft-wise the end of 2010 saw me very busy sewing christmas presents. Normally I'd just buy something for my neice and nephew but this year I wanted to do something from the heart that I put love into. I made something they can use and will be able to use for a while to come yet, a craft apron, and something for them to keep, a little bunny rabbit each. I thought I had started making them too early but I'm glad I did because it took me close to a month to make them between a christening, birthday parties and life in general. The craft aprons were the same design as the one I'd made previously for Little Lady here but I made them slightly shorter and changed the way I sewed on the binding to make it look neater. At Little Lady's instructions I used a rainbow striped fabric for my niece and coloured spots on a blue background for my nephew. Of course I had to make her one too which she chose a blue "twinkle star" fabric for. Forgot to take photos tho.

I got the bunny rabbit pattern from an old Homespun magazine (No. 82 Vol 11.3). The pattern looked a lot smaller than I thought it'd be so I enlarged it 150% and made my first trial bunny (on the right) which Little Lady quickly claimed. Confident I knew what I was doing now I enlarged it to 200% and made 4 more, one for each of my monkeys and one each for my niece and nephew.

I've also started the new Emma quilt with the Freckled Whimsy design:

My trusty ironing board has now been retired as a workbench since I rearranged my sewing area. Poor sucker gets no action anymore since I still can't be bothered actually ironing anything not craft related.

No, I don't eat yoghurt while sewing but the container is handy as a tall skinny rubbish bin for threads and such. I remember thinking "I'll have this quilt finished in no time if its anything like sewing these bits together. Too easy". Famous last words coz then I got to this part...

OMG there were SO many little half triangle squares to iron open and trim down! I got about half of them done in one day and then couldn't use my arm for the next 3 days.

Here they are laid out ready for little stickers so I know what to sew to what. I messed up pattern at the bottom left corner but realised after I took this pic so it's fixed now. Haven't started sewing yet. I've been completely obsessed with watching my chrissy present to myself - Fringe seasons 1 & 2. No hurry. I've only got 2 more quilts I want to make before May (girls you know who for - I'm going to be an Aunty again...twice!! So friggen excited!!!!!) Plus the one I'd love to make for Little Lady to replace her quilt on hot nights like tonight. And a dress like the little pink one I made last year for little Nicola who will be 1 soon. And I bought some patterns to make Little Lady some more dresses - yep actually found a pattern I liked! And a dress or two for me. And....

Sewing and soil

2010-11-06T22:37:00.000+11:00

First batch finished. Little Lady is already wearing some of them and while she doesn't want to stand still for a picture she does like wearing them and they thankfully fit well.

For Little Lady:

I also made a t-shirt and pants in both the green and what looks like spotty blue but is actually little blue flowers - green set are in the wash and she's wearing the blue flowers ones right now.

For Little Sir:

My favourites are the animal ones in the middle. He's still in his all-in-ones to sleep for now so I only made him one pair of pants. Still got 9 more sets to do but they're going much quicker now.

And in the middle of all this sewing I managed to do a little gardening today. Something has decapitated virtually all my vegetable seedlings which is really disheartening since I spent a year working organic material into the soil which was a solid slab of clay and that's no exaggeration. One metre down and counting and I was still slicing clay off to get it out of the ground. One thing that has grown and not been eaten however is my grandmothers oregano. Legendary stuff this and in our family like liquid gold because it is the most pungent, flavoursome oregano plant ever. I've tried buying oregano plants in the past and they just can't compare to my Grandma's plant. She had to let her stash die off because she can't tend it anymore and now that mum has killed her plant, I'm the sole guardian of this treasure. In my house it is THE herb to use on steak, a little in scrambled eggs sprinkled with Bulgarian feta, on fried mushrooms with garlic, and in my awesome meatballs in homemade spaghetti sauce, in fact anything to do with tomatoes at all. Looks like a weed in this pic but I love it. Culinary heaven.

The Pyjama Sweat Shop

2010-11-03T12:33:00.000+11:00

It's been a steep but thankfully speedy learning curve, this sewing actual clothing thing. My babies can't wear polyester and do you know how many 100% cotton pyjamas are out there for little ones, reasonably priced ones that is? I'm a Target girl not Country Road. 10 pairs? 2 pairs? None, nadda, ziltch. I haven't been able to find any at all. Everything is a polyester blend which means my 2 monkeys will sweat and itch and break out in eczema after just one night wearing them. So I opened (temporarily) my own little sweat shop. Thankyou Spotlight for your recent sales which made it all so much cheaper. Now if I could just win that $20,000 which I have been faithfully presenting my VIP card for for years now I'd be eternally grateful. Imagine all the fabric I could buy with that!! But I digress. Pyjamas.

I couldn't find any patterns I liked online, free or otherwise, and even less when flipping thru the pattern catalogues at Spotlight (as usual- are you starting to see a pattern here? Now you know why I so egotistically called my blog/scrapbook M-A's Designs. I'm very rarely happy with other peoples designs, constantly chopping and changing, and brainstorming my own). So knocked up my own based on the kiddies t-shirts and trackies/shorts which I know a lot of other people have done so that's nothing new. I adjusted lengths, widths, sleeves, waists and necklines to give a more comfy fit for sleeping in and then spent 3 days cutting out them all out.

This and this were an enormous help for a newbie trying to figure out how to do the neckline binding and this for general sewing tips on how to sew a t-shirt. I had already read that pants are sewn front and back first then inside leg as a single seam so just winged it. Note to self: used an 80/12 jersey needle which worked really well on the knit ribbed and cotton interlock fabrics. And tho it's all knit fabric I broke out my new overlocker anyway to neaten all seams before top-stitching anything that needed hemming or reinforcing like the shoulder and crotch. I'm now onto day three of sewing them together and should have half of them finished today. In all I will have made 9 pairs of pants, 19 pairs of shorts, 10 tanks tops, and 21 t-shirts. If my models are willing to stand still for 2 seconds I'll try to post pics of some of the finished pieces once they're done.

Little Lady's Adjustable Apron

2010-10-19T12:10:00.003+11:00

My little miss loves to 'help' me in the kitchen. Washing the dishes usually involves pouring water from one cup or bowl into the next but she usually winds up absolutely soaked. Cooking means baking peanut butter biscuits or crumbing chicken and it's incredible how much flour she can embed into her clothes. Solution - an apron that will repel water and food. There are loads of patterns available but I wanted one longer and wider, particularly across the chest. Frankly I just can't leave alone when it comes to following someone elses pattern. I also wanted an apron that would grow with her so I drafted my own pattern of one that completely covers her chest and wraps around her sides with loops at the waist and very long shoulder straps to create an adjustable apron.

I used a cotton print layered under thin PCV with some double fold binding made from the same print material to hold it together and finish the edges.

I added a pocket this morning which helps hold the layers together. It looks huge on her but she's defnately covered. And she loves it.

Christchurch earthquake quilts

2010-10-12T21:23:00.000+11:00

Deb from Works in Progress is putting together a few charity quilts for some families who lost their homes in the recent Christchurch earthquake. I've been hoping that I can steal some time away to make a couple for her as when we had the Black Saturday fires back in Feb 2009 I felt quite useless that I wasn't able to offer the same help to all those people who lost everything, especially since the fires came within 30kms of my home. So here's my little contribution:

The New Emma Quilt

2010-10-03T16:16:00.001+11:00

I finished the original Emma quilt a while ago and have been working on the matching changemat which has stalled again because I'm not sure how I want to tie it up. I bound both with a crazy patch binding to match the crazy blocks. Took some time sewing the binding together before I could add it to the quilt but I'm really happy with how it ended up.

It was quilted in straight lines of alternating green and orange thread. Not so easy to see with this pic but you get the idea.

And then I decided that it was a bit too gender neutral for pretty little Emma and she's probably sitting up by now so a small floor quilt won't be as useful as it would have if I'd finished and given it to her when she was born so she could lay on it and play. And really who needs an excuse to start another quilt.

Then Kelli posted this and I fell in love with the Freckled Whimsy Charm Pack Quilt. I played around with the layout a little and came up with this

which I'm planning to do with this

It'll be my first attempt at half square triangles but KarrieLyne's instructions are really clear and easy so I'm not expecting any dramas...famous last words no doubt.

Pretty in Pink Girly Twirly Skirt

2010-09-23T22:34:00.001+10:00

Reading through some of the EB girls blogs a while back I came across this cute little girls twirly skirt made out of a massive circle of fabric and some elastic and with my limited experience sewing clothing I figured it shouldn't be too difficult to try. I used some pink star fabric that I picked up in a clearance at Big W of all places which was too light to be suitable for quilting since it was a little see-through. I measured the waist and length off an existing skirt and used it more as a guildline rather than actual measurements (read: I added an inch or 2 here and there and figured it was better to be too big than too small as I could always cut it back).

Short(ish) version, I cut the circle and folded the waistband to create a casing which I threaded elastic through, and then finished off the hem properly and tried it on the little one. She loved it and it was a little too long but I wasn't allowed to take it off at that stage to fix the length. I did notice that while it fell exactly as I wanted it still was quite see through so when I finally snaffled it back I decided to glam it up a bit by adding a ruffled layer of tulle which had it's own ruffled layer of tulle attached midway down. Then with some of the left over fabric I cut 2 long rectangles (couldn't tell you how long, just as big as I could get out of the remaining material), sewed them at both ends to create one wide tube and gathered the top of this too.

I put all three layers, (ie original skirt with the waistband unpicked, tulle, tube gathered skirt) together with another strip that would become the waistband, and sewed them all together. I then folded over the new wasteband to the right side and sewed it down and finished off the waistband by topstitching the very top. Threaded through elastic again and this is what I had....

The response...."E don't wuck it". Translated: "E don't like it" (she refers to herself in the third person and can't pronounce her name properly so E it is.) So it sat in her draw for about a week until she decided today that she just had to wear it.

Yeah, it's a little big but that's not a bad thing since she can wear it for a while yet. And the blue socks and 'stwipy leggins' apparently make the outfit. Ahh, she wucks it again and I am complete.

Bibs for self feeding

2010-09-06T17:44:00.000+10:00

Little Sir hasn’t let me feed him anything other than yogurt and cereal for a couple of months now. Very independent eater which he loves and so do I as it frees me to organise Little Lady’s meals and my own so that we can all sit down to eat together. However, the mess is quite astounding, particularly since Little Lady was such a neat self feeder by comparison. I have a mountain of teatowels that I use to tuck around his belly and over his legs to catch the worst of it but he’s loves playing peek-a-boo with them and typically has no interest in having his clothes changed after each meal. So I needed something less removable to cover him with.
I had a rough pattern that I’d taken from a similar bib I was given as a gift when Little Lady was born. The only thing I really kept was the raglan sleeves – I changed the length and width of the sleeves and body and back fastening. The first one I made was a little short (the grey on the left) so I adjusted the length and also added a second layer if flannel to the body to help protect his clothes from more liquidy foods like custards and yoghurts. Once I had the measurements correct I made 4 more in varying colours. Oh, and they’re just made of jersey as I wanted something soft with a bit of give and it was on sale at the time.

They fasten at the back with velcro and wrap slightly around his sides. How this child winds up with food in his armpits I’ll never know. Talent, I guess.

The wrists are elasticised which was a learning curve for me. Initially I was sewing the hem and threading elastic through, sewing the ends of the elastic together then sewing shut the gap in the hem but with such tiny little wrists it was a real pain and very fiddly. In the end I cut a length of elastic just long enough to wrap around his wrist and stretched it while sewing it with a zigzag stitch to the seam allowance of the cuff, then folded over the cuff hem and sewed that down before sewing the inner arm seam. Just thinking about it now tho, next time I’ll zigzag the elastic on, sew the inner arm seam then fold the cuff hem and sew, that way there is less bulk to irritate his wrists where the seams meet…. just rambling to myself.

I finished off the edges with some bias binding - my first attempt and I think I did a pretty good job.

Finished and ready for mess.

My work space

2010-09-01T12:04:00.000+10:00

Tho it may look like a squished, cramped corner of chaos, this is my little slice of sanity.

The ironing board doubles as my design table and cutting surface and my entire stash of fabric lives in a clear box on the floor behind me.

For now it'll do because the biggest advantage it has is that it's right in the middle of the action that is my kitchen/family room where my two little monkeys play. But when they're older, look out! Big plans for big renovations. Sigh. Ah, one day....

I must, I must, I must increase my.....skill

2010-08-26T20:46:00.000+10:00

Free motion quilting - I need practice. Lots of practice. My first attempt was just hideous. Lots of knots, bunching and pulling, the other side was just awful. I'm lucky I didn't break anything. So rather than waste the effort, I'm going to make something useful while I practice.

Placemats for our dinner table. I'm going to try stipling first then as I get better I'll try some free motion designs to quilt them.

Emma's Quilt...al...most...there!

2010-08-17T22:19:00.000+10:00

It's so close to being done - it's staring at me, quilted and full of pins. Course it's been like that for a week lounging over the back of my couch. I'll get there, it's just that.....well.....do you ever get that feeling once you've finished something like "Oh, it's done then. What no more? Oh, OK. Shame, I was quite enjoying it." That's how this quilt makes me feel. I've really enjoyed putting it together, I love looking at the bright colours. So here's the quilt top. I tried something different with the binding but you won't get to see it until it finishes staring at me.

Nicola's Baby Quilt - finished and delivered

2010-08-15T00:08:00.001+10:00

Lots of crafting going on at the moment. I finished Nicola's quilt a month ago and was finally able to give it to her 2 weeks ago.

With wider, shorter sleeves for the rope and bound again - just waiting for the rope.

Finished front...

...finished back...

...and tassles. They're attached by wrapping in and around the rope and looped over a colour matched button so they can come off when the quilt needs to be thrown into the washing machine.

I've also been working on Emma's baby quilt. Just need to finish binding it and then I have an idea for a matching change mat. Remaking Lincoln's quilt and the baby playmat for a venture I'm hoping to get off the ground with my sister. Knitting little slippers for Little Lady who is just chewing through them right now (my carpet is ridiculously hard on socks and slippers). Finally sewed the velcro on Little Sir's long sleeved bib which is a little short for what I had mind so more of these to come. Lots to do. Aahhh it feels good to be useful.

Nicola's Baby Quilt - almost there...

2010-07-16T13:36:00.004+10:00

This has been picked up, put down, sewn and unpicked more times that I can count and the baby it's intended for is now 5 months old. The design started out as a crazy block quilt similar to Lincoln's baby quilt then became a reversible quilt that converts into a bag, 2 elements I've never tried before. As usual I'm not following any sort of pattern so lots of improvising along the way. Enough blabbing - pic time.

The blue and pink pieces are for Nicola's quilt, the orange and green for another baby quilt next on my list of quilts to make.

This was the original layout for a rectangular quilt before I realised I had boo-boo-ed, got creative and changed things around. For some bizzare reason the blue homespun I used on these blocks wasn't the one I had originally picked out. This blue was too dark and not aqua enough to go with the backing I had chosen so at this point I put the quilt down not happy to continue with it as is. Had a chat to hubby (fabulous sounding board and my greatest supporter - I'm always amazed at how I can chat to him about a topic he has absolutely no interest in, ie quilting, and he answers and provides suggestions as though it's his passion too). So as tedious as it was the blue had to go - unpick, unpick, unpick... 31 blocks. Sigh. Cut replacement pieces and resew 31 blocks with the right blue. By this time I wasn't happy with the layout and since the baby's birth had come and gone and this gift was now going to be late I figured, what the hey, lets do something different.

A screen shot of my plan of the hexagonal quilt front. I actually used powerpoint to create the image as until recently I didn't have any drawing programs.

Piecing the blocks and sashing together. I really like the woven effect of the sashing when it's done this way and the challenge to remember what needs to be sewn to what first to achieve it. If you're not sure what I mean, have a look at the sashing on the design image above.

The back design. I had planned to use a pink and blue ballerina print as the backing but when I changed the design the quilt became wider than I was planning and I wasn't going to have enough ballerina print so the plain backing became a reversible quilt side with plain pink and blue homepsun added in. I thought of quilting this by stippling or some other free motion design but I haven't learnt how to do that yet and wanting to finish this gift, good old faithful 'in the ditch' it was. That meant fiddling around lining up the blocks on the back (which were slightly wider to account for the sashing between blocks on the front) with the blocks on the front. Here's a shot of how the back stitching came out:

I then wanted to add sleeves along each of the edges to thread a rope through so it could be gathered into a bag. Sewed them in when attaching the binding and then hand finished the binding. Threaded the rope through to find that it wouldn't gather because the sleeves were too narrow and way too long. More sighing. Unpick, unpick, unpick. And this is where I'm at now:

Lotsa pins, gotta iron and resew the much shorter sleeves, ie loops, and then reattach the binding and add the rope. BUT it is almost finished!!! Yay!!

No excuses....

2010-06-29T10:27:00.001+10:00

I have photos, I have finished projects (well one at least) and loads of UFO's, yet I don't have time to drink a cup of tea while it is still hot let alone post. Poor excuse, I know.

I have finished the booster cushion custom made to fit my dining chairs. I wanted to move Little Lady out of the high chair before Little Sir needed it so she didn't feel like she was getting booted out of her chair because of him - it became a necessity so it got done. The covers I had planned to make to slip over it are still sitting near my machine waiting to be sewn. Quick pics:

I bought some upholstery sponge from Clark Rubber and used my trusty scalpel blade from my Uni dissecting kit to cut it to shape. Like my stencil? Empty nappy boxes are used for all sorts of things in my house.

I made it from some rubber backed curtain lining I had left over from making all my drapes. I added a strap with a Velcro end and a ring for attaching to the chair to limit movement when Little Lady squirms around - the cushion that is, not Little Miss Wriggle Pants.

And fitted to the chair. Anal I know but I wanted a snug fit against the back of the chair so Little Lady could scoot right back into it and have cushion under her toosh the whole way.

I'm still quilting Nicola's quilt tho at the rate I'm going she'll get it at her 21st! Gorgeous little thing is 5 months old now and I've changed the layout and design so many times that I could have made it 3 times over by now. It's now destined to be a hexagonal double-sided quilt that gathers to form a bag.

Emma's quilt hasn't progressed past having the crazy blocks sewn. She's around 3 months old now. Slack Mary-Anne, slack!

And I've been obsessively devouring Kellie Wulfsohn's blog Don't Look Now which has inspired me to rethink my whole attitude towards quilting my quilts. She produces such delicious pieces in wonderfully vibrant colours and uses free motion quilting the way I believe it should be used - to enhance a quilt and not detract from the blocks its designed to show off. So many beautiful patchwork quilts get lost in the obsession with quilting the eyeballs out of it. Not so with Kellie's work - simply stunning! Go check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Elmo Birthday Cake

2010-04-07T12:05:00.007+10:00

My baby girl had a birthday recently and knowing that I've got lots more birthday cake making opportunities to come, I decided to do it right and find a buttercake recipe that tasted great with a wonderful soft texture yet was firm enough to hold together when I cut it to bits molding it to make car cakes or princess castles.

I found a bunch of basic buttercake recipes online and after looking through them all settled on 2 recipes which were very different and started baking.

Recipe #1
2 eggs
125g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups self-raising flour
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Recipe #2
1/2 cup custard powder
2 cups self-raising flour
2 cups caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk
250g butter, softened
4 eggs

Since I was just testing at this stage I halved all recipe ingredients and baked them in loaf tins so they would both fit in the oven at the same time on the same shelf. Experiment #1 produced 2 cakes, both very dark on the outside. Recipe #1 gave a pale yellow inside which was firm - great for cutting, slicing and dicing, in fact perfect for molding pieces into a specified shape however....tasted very bland and dry. Recipe #2 gave a beautifully moist delicious cake which was so tender and light the slice broke in half as I was cutting it - not at all ideal for shaping a cake but boy did it taste good! This cake also took 10 mins longer to bake which produced a thicker crust so not only did the recipe need tweeking but also the baking conditions. Onto experiment #2.

First adjusting the recipe. Flour and sugar were fine, custard powder made #2 taste great to it would stay, and something in the middle for the butter. Also I switched to vanilla extract for a richer flavour and reduced the oven temp to try and bake the cake without over cooking the crust so much.

Experiment #2 produced just what I was after, a moist light yummy scrummy cake that was firm enough to cut and mold in to shape. The outside was still dark and the middle of the top of the cake had a big crack in it but I knew I could fix this by adjusting the baking conditions slightly again.

I'd been baking every few days over the week leading up to the birthday party so knew that I could refridgerate the cake but I'd have to let it come to room temp before serving it otherwise it'd have a stale texture. I could also just leave it covered at room temp if baked the day before the party but then I couldn't put cream in it before icing it as the cream would go off. In the end I baked it first thing on the morning of the party and left it to cool completely while organising breakfasts, showers/baths, and food and decorations for the party. I whipped the cream for the inside of the cake and put it in the fridge to chill completely and made a strawberry sauce by chopping a punnet of strawberries and heating it on the stove with a few tablespoons of caster sugar until the strawberries melted down into a delicious thick fruity sauce. I let this cool on the stove. Then about 30 mins before the party I made the butter cream icing and put the cake together. I was still icing the cake as guests started to arrive but it was only family so noone minded. So here's my version of buttercake:

M-A's Buttercake Recipe

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup caster sugar
100g butter, softened (I took it out of the fridge the night before)
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup custard powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven (fan forced) to 170C. Grease and flour the sides and base of a cake tin then line it with baking paper.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Sift all dry ingredients straight into to the mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients. Beat on low to combine then on high for 6-7 mins (cake batter will lighten in colour and increase in volume) and then pour into the prepared baking tin (I acutally used a springform pan since I wanted really straight sides and it made it so much easier to get the cake out of the tin).
4. Put the cake into the oven and drop the temp to 160C. Bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. For a regular oven use temps 10C higher but you might need to adjust the baking time.
5. Allow it to cool completely before cutting or decorating. This cake came out perfectly cooked and with a much lighter golden crust - much more appealing if you wanted to serve the cake undecorated.

Butter Cream Icing

Beat 125g softened butter in a bowl until lighter in colour then add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 2 cups of sifted icing sugar in half a cup portions, combining each half cup before adding the next. Beat on high for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Colour as needed with food dye.

To decorate the cake:

I had made a few cupcake sized cakes as well as the big cake to use as eyes and a nose for the Elmo cake. I just cut away at them to make round eyes and a tear drop shaped nose. For the big cake, I sliced the top third of the cake off and carefully put it to the side. Then using a teaspoon and starting 1cm inside the walls of the cake, I scooped out the centre to a depth of about 1.5cm and spread the strawberry sauce over the base of the hole then filled in the hole with chilled whipped cream. I put the top third carefully back on and spread the top and sides with the butter cream icing which I'd made earlier and coloured bright red. I iced the eyes with uncoloured icing and then dusted them with icing sugar to make them really white and added a choc chip for the pupil. I also iced the nose with orange coloured butter cream icing. Using some baking paper with a semi-circle cut out of it as a template I sprinkled chocolate sprinkles in place of Elmo's mouth and then put the prepared eyes and nose in place. To finish it off I used my finger to 'fluff' up the icing to create his fur and vuala!!

Little Lady just LOVED it and on seeing it for the first time when singing Happy Birthday to her, she interrupted the singing to tell everyone "Mo! Mo!". I would have taken more pics of the inside of the cake but both kids and adults alike ate it so quickly I didn't get a chance. And it was delicious! I got loads of complements and apparently I'm now booked for my future nieces and nephews b'day parties...when my sister-in-laws get around to getting married and having kids that is. In the meantime I've got another 6 months or so before I need to start practicing Iggle Piggle for Little Sir's birthday.

Stagnant...

2010-03-14T19:28:00.000+11:00

I haven't had much of a chance to do any sort of craft work lately. Having 2 little ones is pretty full on, they rarely nap at the same time and when they do I take the opportunity to have lunch or take a shower rather than break out the sewing machine or paint brushes. Current projects that I'm in the middle of are:

Nicola's baby quilt
Emma's baby quilt
painting Little Lady's table and chairs, and toybox
make a cushion booster so Little Lady can sit at the dining table

Future projects include making washable, waterproof craft smocks or aprons for the Little Ones, making an Elmo b'day cake for Little Lady and another baby quilt for a good friend due in April.

So much to do still so this is a kick up my butt to find the time and DO something!!

Tutorial - Sewing a 3-Point Corner

2010-01-26T15:21:00.001+11:00

I'm currently making another baby quilt for a friend and I didn't realise that I'd designed a crazy block that required a 3-point corner to join 3 of the pieces together until I started cutting material. Up until now I've been careful to make sure that all pieces can be sewn together by simply adding each individual piece to the growing block with straight sewing lines - much easier to sew. The 3-point corner isn't very difficult to sew but it can be a bit fiddly. Here's how I did it:

Here are the 3 pieces that need to share a corner.

I sew 2 pieces together first and press the seam - in this case towards the blue piece as the flower piece actually forms a corner of my crazy block.

Then I sew the third (pink) piece to the flower piece, starting at the outside edge sewing towards the blue piece, taking care to stop exactly when I reach the seam joining the first 2 pieces. I sew back for a few stitches then forward again to reinforce the seam. Note: this is NOT how most would sew this. Usually it's recommended to sew from the existing seam at the middle of the 3 point corner outwards in case the sides aren't exactly the same length but whenever I try to do this I wind up fighting with my machine and saying many bad words in the process. So this works for me.

When I open up the seams you can see the junction of the 3 pieces and the remaining seam still to be sewn.

This is the fiddly bit as you may need to tug the material a little to get the 2 sides of the last seam to line up and you will also need to fold the first piece out to make sure you don't catch it in the seam about to be sewn.

Here is the last seam lined up ready to be sewn.

Again I sew from the outside towards the central corner and reinforce the end of the stitching so the corner won't gape or come loose. I don't bother reinforcing the start of the seams as with the addition of more pieces to the growing block all these ends will be incorporated into new seams preventing them from unravelling. However, if you're starting the seam from the centre of the block then obviously reinforce your stitching before sewing towards the outside and no need to reinforce the end of the seam.

Press the seams to one side - in this crazy block the flower piece is a corner, the pink piece forms part of a side and the blue piece is a centre piece so all seams are folded towards it.

The finished product - a 3-point corner.

The Playmat Part 5 - Finished!!

2010-01-03T12:45:00.003+11:00

Well it's been a very busy end to 2009 with little time for craft. I have a very good reason for downing tools - I had a baby! Now that things are settling into a bit of a routine I hope to start up again. Got some great ideas already and a few gifts to make this month. But to continue the playmat story....

All the hand sewing was done and it was time to finish off the mat with a border and a backing. Since the background to the mat was a neutral pale lemon I wanted to add some colour and after fumbling around organising and reorganising bordered cells in an excel file I came up with a triangle motif border in bright vibrant colours.

I sewed all the pieces together in colour order first for each side....

...then attached each bordered side to the mat...

...leaving the corner seams to last.

Using the same 6 colours I made a long strip of paralellograms attached to each other for the hoop covers and lined it with some thin wadding. I folded each strip in half lengthwise with right sides facing and inserted a skinny tie (made of the lemon material folded in on itself and hand sewed together - it was way to skinny to be able to use a sewing machine) at intervals along the strip. I then machine-sewed each strip to form a long skinny cylinder. Then came the fiddly part of trying to turn the cylinders inside out which turned out to be easy compared to pulling it over the half hoops as I had made the cover very snug. I hand sewed each end closed, incorporating a thicker, longer tie at each end - thankfully I was able to make these with the sewing machine so not as tedious to do.

The skinny ties are to hang toys from and the longer ties at each end of the hoop half is to attach it to the mat.

Each corner of the mat also got a longer tie which I sewed on in a box-cross pattern to secure it.

Next I cut a piece of thick wadding and some backing material made of polar fleece - both designed to provide warmth and comfort when the mat is on the floor. Each layer of the mat was sprayed with adhesive and carefully layered together - normally I would only spray one side of the material to form a temporary hold but since I wasn't going to quilt the mat, I needed a firmer more permanent hold to keep the layers together.

I used the same lemon material to create the binding and sewed it in place before trimming the mat edges, folding the binding over and hand sewing to finish it off.

Last things to add were some novelty buttons to cover the reinforced sewing on the ends of the longer ties on each corner of the mat and since I sewed through all layers of the mat, this also helps provide extra strength as the mat is stretched fairly taut when the hoops are tied on. Pictured here is the flower button - the other corners were a sun, a pig and a zebra button.

And after 3 months of scheming and sewing it's finally complete!!

Little Sir has already had a play and loves laying under all the hoops, taking random swipes at the toys tied on. I'm so pleased with how this has turned out, I just wish I had had the idea to do this with Little Lady when she was a baby. Ah well, there's still plenty of things I can make for her. Hmmm...speaking of which...

The Playmat Part 4

2009-11-07T13:18:00.001+11:00

Next up were the butterflies. I sewed the big butterfly's wings together first with batting and cellophane inside - actually it's not regular wrapping cellophane as this didn't have a satisfying crackle when played with. I used a Glad oven roasting bag which is slightly thicker, will stand up to being washed and has a lovely snap when ruffled. The wings are three dimensional so they were sewn together then attached to the butterfly body on the playmat which had 4 layers of batting under it to make it really stand out.

The little butterflies were next sewn in place similar to how the flower leaves were. They have a single layer of batting under the wings but not the body...

...which I defined using a matching embroidery floss that contrasted nicely when sewn around the wings.

A little bit of back stitchng to sew the centre of the big butterfly's wings down and the edges are free for bubs to tug on...

...and this corner is complete too.

Next up was to sew all the worm's body segments in place and this went fairly fast. When I came to the blue fur I used a tiny blanket stitch as this is the only piece that doesn't have a folded edge so I couldn't use the ladder stitch and the fur covers the stitching anyway so it can't be seen.

My worm looked a bit naked once finished...

...so he wound up with antennas and feet and morphed into a caterpillar.

Last corner was the tree. The truck and branches were ironed in place with HEATnBOND...

...and then due to the nature of the material used which had such a loose weave that frayed very easily, I used a crossed back stitch with the wrong side of the stitch facing to secure the edges. This brown material has a lovely coarse feeling to it - great for a tree trunk.

And lastly, I secured the base of the felt leaves with a double cross stitch in a matching thread which leaves them free for ruffling tiny fingers through.

So all the hand sewing is finished....

...and now it's back to the sewing machine to add a border, backing piece and cover the half-hoops.

The Playmat Part 3

2009-10-26T11:54:00.000+11:00

So to recap - I've got all the bits and pieces ready and have started sewing them in place.

The flower stems were ironed on with the HEATnBOND and then I hand sewed all the petals on using a ladder stitch (loveloveLOVE this stitch).

For embelishment, and coz I wanted a bit of texture, I then took some emdroidery floss and using a back stitch variation I added in the veins on the leaves and also a border around the stems and each leaf with a stem stitch.

For more detail on the leaf stitching see the pics below

Next the petals went on...

...stem stitch around each petal to give it definition and then the flower centres were sewn on - lots of pins, I like to know exactly where pieces will wind up...

...and stem stitch around the centres too.

Taa daa!!

I am so stoked with how this came out - love the vibrant colors and the soft puffiness of the petals. Bubs is going to love it too!

Lincoln's Quilt

2009-10-20T23:09:00.002+11:00

Friends of ours had a beautiful little boy a few months back and after finding out first hand how useful all the playmats and throw rugs that I'd been given are, I decided to make a cot sized baby quilt that can double as a floor mat for little Lincoln to lay, play on and sleep under.

For inspiration I googled quilt blocks and saw examples of crazy blocks which I thought looked great. Knowing it was for a boy, I chose colours in blues and yellows with a very pale yellow for the internal borders to set off the vibrant coloured blocks. The large external border and backing were made from a gorgeous star and moon themed material which I thought tied in perfectly for a cot quilt.

I made cardboard templates for the crazy block pieces and since I only had limited material for some of the yellows I wanted to use, I traced each piece onto the materials making sure I had equal numbers of each shape in each material, and then cut them all out by hand rather than use a rotary cutter. It took a practice go for the first block before I worked out which order to sew them in and which side to iron the seams to. The first block had to be unpicked and resewn but once it was all sorted out I was able to sew the blocks in production-line style.

Since there were so many pieces that make up the blocks, the edges weren't exactly even so I ironed the blocks, stretching some slightly where needed, to all be at least the same minimum width and height and then trimmed the edges so they were all exactly the same size - it made piecing them together with the pale yellow borders so much easier. I laid all the blocks out and spent some time reorganising them like a jigsaw puzzle so that each block was oriented differently to the ones next to them and/or had different coloured same shaped pieces within the block.

I used the same material for the wide outer border and the backing piece and the quilt was sandwiched with cotton batting inside. Then came all the pinning. I know I could use a basting spray but I like to flip the quilt a number of times when pinning to make sure that I'm not incorporating any bumps and lumps and I lift and resmooth the front and back as needed. And before you say it, yes the basting spray isn't permanent so the material can be lifted and repositioned but I don't trust it to not pull at the batting. I also prefer to machine quilt by sewing in the ditch of the blocks rather than quilting the traditional way by randomly sewing swirls all over the quilt - I don't really like messy look of traditional quilting and tumble drying then puckers it further, detracting from what I really want to show off which is the blocks. As a mum being able to throw things into the washing machine and then tumble dry is almost an essential quality in anything baby related. I also used a hidden knot to keep things nice and tidy front and back. When I get some time to take the photos I'll post a tutorial on how to do the hidden knots.

The reverse side of sewing in the ditch - you can't tell where I started and ended sewing with the hidden knots.

And I completed the quilt by machining the binding onto the front and finishing it off on the back by hand with hidden stitches. Over all it measures about 90cm x 115cm and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I had great fun making this quilt so will definately be making more with crazy blocks in the future.

The Playmat Part 2

2009-10-08T10:41:00.007+11:00

Cutting out the tree parts was fairly straight forward. I used a heavy woven jacket material with brown and black threads through it for the trunk and branches of the tree, and felt in shades of green for the leaves. I still have to iron on some HEATnBOND to the tree trunk and little squares of it onto the leaves to applique them to the mat. Here are the parts:

The butterflies were cut out of colourful quilting material. The little ones will have a little batting in the wings to create a little dimension and the big blue butterfly will have cellophane in the wings with just the body and the centre of the wings attached to the mat so bubs can play with the crinkly wings.

Since taking this photo I've finished attaching the little butterfly bodies to the wings and have cut batting for all parts that need it. These will all be hand sewn onto the mat.

I've also cut all the pieces for the flowers which will have the petals stuffed with batting for texture. The leaves will also have some batting under them and I'll hand embroider the leaf veins on. The stems will simply be appliqued on so they've since been attached to HEATnBOND too, ready for positioning onto the mat.

Everything is almost done so assembly will soon begin.

Knitting Bag

2009-10-04T23:06:00.002+11:00

My current knitting bags are whatever random cloth or plastic bags I throw my needles and wool into but it's not very organised, I'm always losing projects and finding them months or even years later, and the contents of the bags themselves are just a mess of wool tangled with needles, partially finished items, tape measures, pens, scissors, etc. Like a lot of knitters I've always got multiple projects on the go and often like to switch between projects depending on where I'm knitting, for example, on long car trips I prefer something I don't have to look at to knit with a simple pattern I can remember off by heart whereas on a lazy Saturday afternoon I like to tackle the tricker projects which require constant referral to a pattern and have more involved stitches. For a while now I've been looking for a knitting bag to keep everything together but haven't had any luck finding anything which is big enough to hold long needles or have more than one internal compartment so I can separate my various knitting projects. I couldn't even find a pattern for one - most online patterns are for tote bags - so I ended up making one instead.

I wanted it to be long, deep and have 3 compartments with internal pockets. I figured a bag 40cm long x 30cm high x 25cm deep should do the trick. Then I got a little fancy and figured I could throw in tapered sides so it didn't look so much like a giant box so it wound up being 25cm deep at the base and 20cm at the top. Two handles and an external pocket for good measure and I was ready to start drafting the pattern on my trusty roll of greaseproof paper.

As for material, I'd be a fool making this first attempt with nice expensive designer material and Spotlight had a clearance sale on so I picked up some dress material cheap - I don't remember what type, it's the kind you can make jackets and skirts from, drapes nicely but not much body to it for a bag though it does feel nice. I figured I could try to reinforce it by attaching some interfacing and incorporating some thin batting for a little body. Some pink poplin for the lining and a couple of magnetic clasps and my shopping was done...or so I thought. I miscalculated (read: didn't calculate - I guessed) how much lining material I'd need so wound up having to go back to Spotlight - hubby is convinced I did it deliberately so I could go back again and buy more stuff I don't really need but I keep telling him I have no shame and anyway I don't need a reason to shop. Woman's prerogative and all that.

So I cut all the pieces out, including batting pieces and then spent the next 2 days waiting for my back to stop hurting - heavily pregnant with related back problems and standing for hours measuring and cutting material apparently don't mix. Go figure. Anyway yesterday I started sewing it all together beginning with the outside pieces and promptly got stuck trying to figure out how to sew a square corner the inconvenient way, i.e. without simply sewing the sides together, then sew and trim the corners off thus creating a boxed corner. I instead had separate pieces for the sides, front, back and base. Sewing the front, back and base together was easy but how to sew the sides on since they shared seams with all three pieces ?? I eventually figured out that due to all the seams I'd be creating I couldn't just sew continuously and pivot at each of the corners. I'd have to sew one seam, reinforcing both ends of the seam then cut the thread and the begin again with the next side starting exactly where I'd finished the previous side only on the other side of the seam I'd just finished at. Clear as mud, right? Basically it worked and this is what the inside of the exterior looks like:

The front pocket was sewn in when I joined the front and base pieces and it shares side seams with the front and sides.

Next I sewed the handles by folding the material in half lengthwise and pressing, opening the fold and folding each half lengthwise again to meet the middle crease, press again then fold once more on the first fold line. Sew very close to the edges to close it all up and done. Then came the lining which was way more involved. I started with the internal pockets which would sit against the front and back pieces. I'd cut the material 10cm longer than the width of the bag so that I could use some elastic to gather the opening of the pockets

and pleated the bottom of the pockets.

Next I sewed together the pieces to separate the compartments and then joined them to the front and back pieces with pieces of base between each. Then using the same technique as for attaching the sides before, I attached the side segments to the lining pieces...and discovered a blunder in my measurements. I didn't make the lining sides high enough so had to improvise by adding in a piece.

See the 2 separators creating three compartments. What's the name for those anyway?

Ok, lining was done, now to put it all together. I was worried about the lining moving around too much inside the bag so I tacked the lining and exterior together at the corners which meant I couldn't simply sew the inside and outside together leaving a gap to turn the whole thing inside out. Again I did it the hard way which was to put the lining inside the bag, wrong sides facing, and fold down the top rims to enclose the raw edges before very carefully sewing them together, incorporating the handles where needed.

Interior pockets - plenty of room for bulky things

Outside pocket for books and such

The finished product

I'm pretty happy overall tho I do have 2 niggles with it. First, I can't create crisp edges as this material drapes too loosely and won't be pressed into shape. My fault for choosing an inappropriate material. Secondly, the bag is a little too soft and floppy as you can see in the pic above. I would have liked it to be stiffer and stand up on its own more. I do have some Pellon stabilizer but with this material I don't think even it would help. The pattern though is a success (except the lining sides but that's easily fixed) so I'll definitely be making more of these in more suitable material as I can think of 2 ladies (the 'Mothers') who would love one for their own various craft projects - Christmas gifts coming right up!

The Playmat Begins

2009-09-29T09:06:00.007+10:00

Been a busy month and not much of that was spent on craft, only a little knitting and some planning of different projects I hope to start before bubs is born. I've begun the baby playmat and yet again think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I've decided on sizing and drafted a design, cut my hoop in half for the overhead toy dangle framework (there's got to be an easier way to say that), and bought what I hope is all the material needed so now comes the interesting part - putting it together. I say interesting because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do all of what I have grand plans to do but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I love projects that make me think, puzzle solve and learn a new technique or two along the way.

I wanted bubs to play in a sensory playground so I've decided that in the 4 corners of the playmat to have different things to touch and play with while overhead there will be other toys to dangle and entice. For the corners I've chosen:

a big worm whose segments are made of different materials such as fur, tule and spotted puff paint

2 flowers with puffed petals

a tree with felt leaves to ruffle little fingers through

butterflies with crinkly wings

Here's a pic of the templates I've drafted for each of the bits I need. (Apologies in advance - these pics aren't the clearest as they were mostly taken at night and the lighting and focus are off - I still need more practice with my camera)

I've started work on the worm and have all the parts ready for assembly. The blue fur was easy, a simple cut, as was the green tule over some green cotton homespun. The next two segments took me two nights to complete as I hand sewed tight rows of hot pink strung sequins and of orange feathers wool onto the segments. Then I spotted yellow puff paint onto the yellow segment which gives it a nice bumpy effect. I've decided not to activate the puff paint and it feels nice as it is.

Each of the material segments ready for embelishing....

...and handsewing in the sequins to make sure none of the little suckers get loose.

Then onto the face which I forgot to buy material for so I've improvised. I wanted a pale pink cotton but the lightest I had was lolly pink then remembered that I had some sheer pale pink organza which I layered over white cotton homespun. Into an embroidery hoop and I sewed the eyes and mouth with some glossy black embroidery floss. So once they're pieced together it should look something like this.

Next step is to cut out the tree parts and the butterflies.

1st baby quilt fix

2009-09-07T20:30:00.001+10:00

My sister makes quilts and she's self-taught for the most part. I think a friend of hers may have given her a few pointers but basically she worked it out herself and makes some lovely colourful quilts. As a result when she taught me how to make quilts, I didn't learn how to finish them properly as she hates hand sewing and prefered to machine sew the binding on as tho it were bias binding. So one weekend in January 2008 we sat down and I made my first ever baby quilt with a very simple design of squares in yellows and greens.

Here's the bias binding look. Not the neatest of finishes and over time the binding tends to fold back on itself.

Recently I made another baby quilt for a friend and since it was to be a gift, decided to learn how to finish the binding on the quilt properly (I actually don't mind hand sewing). I found a number of websites with tutorials and fiddled with how wide I wanted the binding to be, learned how to mitre the corners properly and then found a video by Marci Baker which was brilliant in learning how to easily join the ends of the binding together so that the join isn't visible, or at least no more than any other join along the very long strip of binding. And it was so easy to do that I decided to replace the original binding on my first baby quilt.

I started with unpicking the original binding (tedious, tedious job), ironed out the bias binding folds along the binding strip, folded it in half and attached it to the edges of my quilt. Then sewed it on, folded the binding over the edge and hand stitched it in place. I used a ladder stitch which I found to be the easiest hidden stitch for me.

It took me most of the day, on and off, to hand stitch it in place but I wasn't in a hurry and had the little one to run around after. And it's so satisfying watching it come together so neatly. No more lazy bias binding dodgy jobs for me - this isn't difficult to do, just takes a little extra time and looks so much better, as you can see.

Kiddies Art Smock

2009-09-01T16:47:00.005+10:00

I've started sitting the little one down to try drawing (read: scribble back and forth on anything in reach) and while it all washes out of clothing, hair and skin, I was getting tired of soaking clothes each time we had a drawing session so I needed to make a smock. I had some soft demin left over from an attempt to make a baby sling (little one hated being in it so never got around to using the rest of the material) so decided to try making the art smock out of this.

I modified a pattern that I found here. The original pattern is for a size 4-7 and my little one is still a size 1 so I got out my trusty calculator and measuring the lengths, widths, etc, I resized the pattern to 82% of the original and redrew the whole thing on greaseproof paper. I didn't bother with the applique, sewed straight to the edges of all parts and didn't bother cutting nicks in the material to join the arms to the body and in the end it made no difference, the smock still came together very well without the extra fussing. I did however zigzag the edges of each piece because as soon as I cut them out they started fraying. Oh, to have an overlocker. Sigh.

Three done, one to go.

I found the corners really tricky as my machine kept eating the fabric whenever I started the next side. Here's my solution:

I used a needle and thread to hold onto the fabric (inserted needle and pulled thread only half way through then grabbed hold of all bits of thread/needle) while I sewed to the end of the current side, spun the fabric 90 degrees and started the next side. I used the thread/needle to help pull the fabric through until it cleared the presser foot and then just pulled the needle and thread the rest of the way through the fabric to remove it. Worked like a charm and saved much frustration without having to break the thread between sides or getting the fabric gobbled.

The end result:

Tried it on the little one and it fits perfectly but I'll need to make another larger one to use in the near future. Also I'll cut the back in half lengthwise to make it easier to get on and off and make it more comfortabe to wear with the extra length I want in it, so it's less dress-like and more smock-like.

And now the best part -we can start playing with more of the messier activities, like finger painting and I can't wait!

Kiddies Couch Cover

2009-08-28T15:34:00.004+10:00

Finally finished the couch cover for the little one. WAY bigger job than I thought it was going to be. I think it's taken around a month (I put it down to sew a baby quilt in the middle) and I don't know what possessed me to make it as a patchwork. Overall I'm happy with it. It's a bit puckered where the arms meet the backrest but I had no idea how to sew those weird corners and it works so who cares. I'm not likely to make another of these again, I just wanted a spare for when the little one spills things on it. And yeah I could have bought one but where's the fun in that?

Couch and cover.....

....and fitted, front.....

......and back.

Beginnings

2009-08-25T19:48:00.002+10:00

I've been thinking about doing this for a while but blogging is so common that I felt like a sheep. So why now? Motivation...for me that is. Originally I wanted to make a scrapbook of my craft things but nothing usually makes it past piles of scrap pieces of paper with lots of ideas. See, I'm the kind of person who buys all the gear, prints pics, has page layouts organised - all ready to go but can't be bothered in the end to actually sit down and put it together. How will this be any different? Well....it might not, we'll see.

So to introduce myself....I'm a SAHM with one cheeky angel and another on the way and a hubby whom I adore. In my old life I was a scientist - not sure if I'll be able to go back to that which would be a shame coz I loved my last job but I'm loving what I'm doing right now even more and I wouldn't change it for the world. And the reason for this blog - I'm into any craft that sparks my imagination. I knit, sew and stitch all the time, crochet every now and then, and even paint and woodwork on occasion. In addition, I love to garden and cook. And the common theme - creation. I love creating things with my mind and then making them with my hands.

So here I go, off to pasture. Wish me luck.

Baaaaaaa!