Lovebirds

Well, in an unusually consistent burst of productivity I have an fact managed to complete the curtains for my girls’ bedroom – in less than a week!!

This was a real labour of love as we started with a pair of black and white Ikea Eivor curtains that I bought for a specific project a while back which didn’t come to anything, so they have been lurking in my stash ever since. However, there were a couple of problems with them as they stood….

1. They were too sheer, so needed lining.
2. They were far too long.
3. They were tab tops and needed a curtain tape header.
4. While pretty and charming they were very monochrome.

The outcome of all this was that I kept the bottom hem (it seemed like a good idea at the time), cut the tops off, and undid the side seams. This made it pretty to easy to attach a full lining, and add the gathering tape.

However the real fun was in adding a splash of colour! Piper and I worked out a colour scheme for each of the birds, and I then a spent a day colouring them in with fabric paints. And apart from dropping a pink paint brush on the fabric it all went very well. (Pink paint crisis averted by widening a branch with some black paint).


The curtains have now been hung, and Piper and Robin are delighted with their new roommates.

Now I have nothing to stop me from embracing the 20 something metres of fabric destined for my lounge and dining room windows… would that count as stashbusting? ;-)

Love

This month’s sew along challenge was to make something for someone I love. Which meant that I no longer had any reason to avoid actually making the long promised phone case for Robert’s new (well, 4 months old) phone. Robert is gratifyingly one of those people whose phone lives in its case almost all the time, so the last one was well worn (read: a bit grubby and grimy) after 2 year’s use. However as he was foolish enough to upgrade in the pre-Christmas run up he has had to wait a while for the new case…



I would also like to share just how much I LOVE my new “Wonder Clips” – they have made this job so much easier (pins and denim are never an easy combination because of the thicknesses involved). And yes, I did use them for the more than just holding my makers label in place, I just failed to photograph any other moments.
Now to bestow some love on my daughters’ curtains, oh, and perhaps my daughters too. ;-)

Up and away *

We have reached a milestone of sorts. Matthew has been invited to birthday party by a school friend for the second year in a row. Which in friendship terms is a good thing, but in present giving terms is a bit more challenging. Up until now Matthew has given his friends drawstring back packs, but Kyle already has one, so I had to think again…


This Christmas I made pencil cases for each of my children, so Robert suggested I carry that forward. However I didn’t have any stash fabric which seemed right for this project – sturdy enough for a pencil case, or boyish enough for a 7 year old boy. However, with the use of another remnant of calico, a recycled zip, my trusty fabric paints and a wooden stamp I bought at last year’s Knitting and Stitching Show I made this…


The kites on their own seemed a little random to me, so I worked in the idea of a simplistic skyline over which the kites would fly. Slightly rustic, but definitely an idea I want to take further. To make it a more complete present I have  (obviously) filled the case with pencils, and printed out  a couple of pages of the Paper City Road Trip from Made by Joel to create a whole activity set. 

*(Title courtesy of Robin who was very taken with the colourful kites and spent the morning dancing around singing “up and away”.)

Scrapbusting Slippers

This month’s theme for the scrapbusting sewalong was “itty bits”, namely lengths of fabric of less than a yard. I managed two already, despite having a really nasty cold which meant that I just wanted to be in bed and not even watching the TV, let alone sewing. I didn’t even make birthday cakes for Robert and me, I was that under the weather.
I did however make Robert’s birthday present (out of remnants of calico and some black bias binding left over from another project). For his inner (and outer) geek:
Not surprisingly he uses them to store and transport his collection of cables and his headphones that he takes to church each week.

I have also been experimenting with making slippers – I bought a pattern in the post-Christmas sales, and despite completely messing up my size selection for my first go I think they are not bad.
Apart from some of the wobbly stitching. And the fact that the fabric is a bit thin. But this will all be corrected next time around. This pair is made from a remnant of a sheet which I had already cut up for making aprons, and a pillow case.
On to February with its Love Challenge!

**** UPDATE ****
Here is another pair of slippers which just made it into January - but not gifted until February 2nd, so I had to wait to include them here. Made of some old jeans, remnant of cotton, and a drawstring bag hastily constructed from an old trouser leg.

Joining in

In an uncharacteristic turn I have signed up to join in a community activity. Admittedly this is an online community activity, not a real life one, but it is definitely pushing my comfort zone. On top of that I have committed to making  things, as per our shared monthly goals and challenges, out of some of the fabric I have stashed around the house – you know, in my sewing corner, in the stationery cupboard (yeah, I know), disguised as household linens, a box in the loft… This month’s goal is to use up some of the smaller scraps, which is going well so far.
I am also determined to actually make some clothing this year – especially as I have  a length of fabric bought specifically to make a skirt, which hasn’t happened yet. I also earmarked a couple of charity shop finds to make dresses for my daughters that really need to happen in time for this summer.
 
Watch this space…

Christmas round-up

This year I thought I might actually post about all the Christmas making I did before next Christmas rolls around and the whole thing becomes irrelevant. Not that it is terribly relevant now, as those people who received handmade gifts know what they look like and those who didn’t probably don’t care. But it makes me feel validated, and offers some kind of justification for working flat out for the last month.
There were:
Christmas-scented decorations -
Fridge Magnets -
Memo Boards -
Pencil Cases, Tea Towels, a Bow Tie, a Cushion and some Bookmarks -

	And apparently I completely failed to photograph (!) the shirt style peg bag I made. Not to mention the awesome superhero cape and mask for Super Cali (and her dad).

So... on to the next year…

Goodbye Christmas, Hello Birthdays.

Just about got all my Christmas present making done (by the skin of my teeth), so now we are back to birthday cakes.
Matthew has had a long standing request in for a robot cake; “not a cake with a robot on it, but a cake in the shape of a robot”. Got it?
So here it is – from inception – Matthew’s sketch (about 11:00 this morning) to completion at about 9:00pm.
There is nothing you cannot do with a lot of chocolate and enough silver sugar spray!