Christmas Sewing

Today I have been using up some of my donated fabric, a friend of mine gave me a bag of fabric a while ago with offcuts in it as she knows I will use them up.  This particular piece today was the bottom piece from a curtain project I believe for her little boy.  I have already used some of the other bits and one piece was big enough to make my son a new blind for his room see it here.

I decided to make some Christmas stockings for my Etsy shop, I also added a personalised name tag. People will have to notify me of the name choice of course.  I thought it was a nice way to use up the fabric and I will also be doing a few gift ones.  I have more donated fabric in a different design, my husband said the other piece of fabric is not very Christmassy though!  It has pink and blue splodges on it, I'm sure I could make it festive with a few tree shapes or something.

Anyway here are todays makes, I enjoyed making them.

They are intended for any gender!  It always gets me how the little  boys at school think pink is just for girls and blue for boys, they are just colours and colours are for all of us I say.  I did put a boys name on this one however purely because it was a nice short name and I wasn't hand embroidering a long one that wasn't staying!

I wrote the name on in pencil then just stitched over it by hand, no specialised pen required although if you are afraid of hand stitching there are fabric pens you can buy to just write the names on.

There are now some very small bits of the star fabric left so I am wondering what tiny project I can make with those, maybe a little pencil case if I mix it with something else or a garland?  I vow to have used it by my next post.

It has  been a wet and dreary week this week, dog walking confined to the  pavement as the park is just sludge, heating turned up and feeling tired by 7.00pm.  I refuse to give in to it and stay up until my usual time as I know it is not real and just my body responding to the lack of light.   My husband has bought a stand for his bike so he can train on it when the weather is bad, it was not expensive so a good idea I think.  I do see people getting soaked as they cycle from work and I think no that is not for me, I need fine weather to get me outside on a bike.

I went to watch my friend and colleague in Shrek the musical at the Lyceum on Friday night they have been rehearsing hard for that for months, she said she will miss it now it is over and they have to audition each year to be in it.  That will be my one night out for a while now though I have to say I will not be buying a drink in the theatre again I will smuggle my own in, the prices were ridiculous and my drink wasn't even nice and to top it all you get to drink it from a plastic cup.  The last time we went for my husband's birthday  he had a bottle of water in his back pocket and they didn't check him, just my bag so note to self big pockets ;)

There has been an assortment of books started and cast aside recently, the most recent is 'Crushed' once again a book in the general section that I am sure is more for teenage girls, I got so far and could go no further.  I am at a point where there are so many books I really don't need to force myself to finish them.  I do have a bit of a problem with that and I think it started as a child, like I have failed if I don't finish it, so I am being ruthless as reading is supposed to be a pleasure not a chore.   I am currently reading 'This is Your Brain on Music' by Daniel Levitin, I've had it a few weeks and just renewed it as the other bad books have taken up too much of my time.

I'm off now to finish my jobs, ' The War of the Worlds' starts tonight so I am going to give that a go, back soon.  Take care.

Free Craft

On the run up to Christmas (there I mentioned it!) I was wondering how many of you are searching for free crafts and patterns.  There are certainly many kits and ideas available to buy but isn't that moving away from the traditional idea of a frugal crafter?  I am not saying we shouldn't buy or treat ourselves to these items but ideally it is wonderful to use what we have or make something new from old when we can.

I have had denim and fabrics passed onto me from friends, my mother in law currently has some old handbags she has held onto because she knows I will unpick the zips and hardware from them, I was even given some vinyl floor samples once 'to do something with'.

It used to be the norm to salvage things and make new and then came the fast fashion years and everyone seemed to turn away from homemade.  Things are changing and people are beginning to see the value in reusing and buying items to last, the only downside is that charity shops are not as cheap as they used to be as they have grown in popularity.  This could have a negative effect as people may be turned off from buying a used item when they can get a new one for less, just a thought.

It is wonderful to see all the colourful quilts that fellow  bloggers are making and I think that has to be one of the best uses for scrap fabrics.  The designs are unique and totally eye catching, I have only done a little quilting and patchwork myself but the results always surprise me I feel no matter what your skill level we can all do something.  Many templates are available for free, here are some of my past scrap busting projects.

This is leaf is great for scraps.

My cathedral window is a bit wonky but colourful.

These two cushions are again a great way to use up scraps, the pink one is called pin wheel and takes a bit more work but I like it and have done a couple of those.  I think with any kind of patchwork you can make something bold and different, and better than anything you would find in the shops.

I don't how many of you out there this will appeal to but it is certainly worth a look and it is the range of free printables available on Papercraft inspirations  website.  Even if you are not into papercraft yourself you may have children to keep busy on the dark nights up to Christmas.  Some of the designs I am sure would keep young people busy for a couple of sessions if you go for the more adventurous designs and there is no rush to complete them just yet.

I am going to have a go at these cute penguin cards just as soon as I have figured out what is wrong with my ink.  That is the thing I suppose you have to have a printer but you don't have to print off every element on the download, some of the shapes could be cut out of recycled card.  I just thought this was handy to share as a free resource.

Love sewing magazine also have free pattern downloads find them here if you are looking for clothes patterns, these can run to a lot of paper though so if you are brave enough just deconstruct and old garment and use that as a pattern for fit.  Things like sleeve length and overall length do not really require a pattern and once you have done  it a few times you will wonder why you ever bought patterns.

I currently have fabric for a dress and a top but I have been holding out on making them yet, they are for my winter wardrobe and I know as soon as I make things I want to wear them so it is like saving a treat.   There is also a handbag cut out with a design pinned to it on my table also part of my current slow sewing.  If I had a rush of sales in bags I would crack on but there is no need currently for any rushing.

Today I made another experimental carrot cake, it is a bit odd.  I seem to do a couple of amazing cakes followed by a slightly odd one every now and then.  Maybe it is so I don't get too complacent about gf baking, who knows?

Well that is all for now, take care and  please share any free crafting links you know of in the comments below.

August...ing

I thought I would do a post like this early on in the month instead of leaving it until the last minute so here goes.

Making mainly bags at the moment, I have decided to set a certain amount to stock on each online shop then stop, leave them on for a fixed time then if nothing is really happening after a reasonable amount of time they will be used or gifted.  Here is yesterdays bag, which is more of a revamp as I made this one a while ago but it has been improved.

Baking gluten free, vegan scones for the second time this week, I just know they would taste so much better with regular flour as the GF stuff has a certain taste to it but I have to look after my tummy.

Watching  Keeping Faith, I have pretty much binge watched this, this week and I have really enjoyed it. The scenery is lovely and I found the story very engaging even if I did wonder what the hell she was doing standing by her sad husband, if you have been watching you will understand!

Reading currently Night Road by Kristin Hannah, now I am half way through this and it is not really my thing but a friend passed it on and said it was amazing.  Well I am not feeling it and my husband keeps on saying why are you still reading that book you don't like? Well I feel I should see it through as she enjoyed it and books are a very personal thing.  Who knows the last few chapters  may blow me away, fingers crossed.

Growing  more lovely flowers in the garden, quite a few of what have come up have been a surprise as I planted some mixed colour seeds.  It would be nice if they had specified what they all were as I am now finding I like certain ones but have no idea of the names.

Enjoying the summer break but wondering why it always leaves me uncertain if I am in the right job. Maybe it is having more time to think but I am just not sure if I want to do the same thing for the rest of my working years but have no clear plan what path to take. 

Listening to  more Rich Roll podcasts, the latest one was an interview with Dan Buettner founder of Blue zones you can have a look at the website here . He has travelled the world studying the longest lived citizens of various communities and what they have in common, it is really interesting and of course a lot of common sense.  Both the website and the podcast are worth look/listen.

Wondering what to grow next in my greenhouse or garden for late summer, any tips for autumn colour as I would really love to keep the colours going for as long as possible.  Budget plants being the theme, I have no time for expensive plants that give a week of colour and then they are gone, especially with our British weather.  A week of bad weather could see us inside all week with blooms been and gone, no I want to grow or plant value giving varieties to keep the garden looking well a little longer.

That's all for now have a good weekend. 

Anglesey

Well some incredible has happened this week, we have actually been away on holiday in the UK and had sunshine almost everyday.  The only day it was overcast all day was Sunday, so we are very pleased.  More so because before we went away my husband said if we get another week of bad weather we are never booking anything again!  Oh dear, as we usually turn the weather as soon as we set off on the road.

We visited Anglesey Cemaes Bay and headed off to a different spot in the surrounding area each day.  It is beautiful and we will definitely be returning one day, we did lots of coastal walking up and down hills and saw some picturesque seaside towns.

Cemaes Bay itself is worth a visit, it is small and quiet but has everything you need, on the beach is St Patricks's bell, legend has it that St Patrick was shipwrecked at Ynys Badrig where he founded his first church and the bell has been erected in honour of that.

We had a walk up to the little church along the coastal path, it is small and well kept with information about the place inside.  It has an honesty box to support the upkeep and I think it is good that there are still places where this trust in visitors exists.  There are many places where even the toilets are locked.

This was our first day so the overcast one!

The next day we visited Breakwater country park, this was a wonderful place walks in different directions some of which were quite challenging.  There was an outdoor gallery and that was interesting to look at.

One of the views on our walk

I  took loads of these so I feel I may bore you with them, let me know if you want to see more and I will put them in another post.

We also visited Treardurr  Bay, this was much busier than where we stayed and with the baking sun you really could have been anywhere in Europe.  It has a lovely stretch of beach and was full of families enjoying the weather. 

 Amlwch was the nearest small town with a supermarket and used to be a port where copper was exported all over the world.

Beaurmaris  was beautiful with a pier and lots of pretty painted buildings, though I have to say we found that every where we went. There were certain parts of the beach where the dogs could go on so we let them have a little paddle but we are not sitting on the beach types, so not being able to access all of it was not a problem.

I don't know why but my dogs couldn't wait to get off here, it was as if they knew they were not on solid ground and no it wasn't too hot I checked with my hand.  We had plenty of rests, drinks sat under tables (the dogs not us!)  in the shade and we never stay out for a full day just a few hours here and there.

 Our house that we stayed in had a hot tub and before we left I made this bikini, the yellow straps are recycled from an old one but the rest is made from bits of scuba from a dress I made.  I just used an old bikini as a template.

Well that is all for now, my husband has more photos so I will share more in a different post if you are not already fed up of my holiday snaps. Back soon.

Inspired by Nature

Here I am with day two of world craft week and today's theme is 'Inspired by...' so I chose nature and decided to make a wreath.

 I have using recycled materials for this pretty much in the same way I made my previous crochet wreath here.  I used the plastic lid from a circular tub with a hole out, I covered it in a shredded plastic bag and then I wrapped it in hessian.  I folded the hessian under as I went along.

It is a good way to make something pretty out of leftover bits and bobs.

As you can see here it was daylight when I started this.

I had quite a lot of small bits of felt leftover from previous projects but I always keep them, just as well because they come in  handy for little flowers like these. I have only just finished this after work and making the tea so it is now 8.30.  Nothing like a challenge week to focus the creativity!  This little wreath will be a gift for my mum along with some real plants for her garden that I am going to plant for her on Friday.

There will be some serious thinking about what to make for tomorrows challenge as I have a dress to take up for a colleague after work too.  Maybe something I can do sat in a chair in the living room.

Sofa Quilt

I have to admit to being a bit of a cheat with my quilt, I didn't continue with the hexagons for the whole quilt you see.  After I had made twelve hexagon flowers and arranged them on the fabric to have a think I then cut out the rest of my hexagons in a white and pale blue stripe.  Well when I put them beside the flowers the design was almost lost, I had a bit of a rethink and decided to go with a grey spotty background and stitch the hexagon flowers to it in a uniform way.  It may not have been my original intention but I am very happy with it, all the lovely colours stand out.

It has been on the sofa a couple of days now so it is serving it's purpose and the dogs seem to like it!  I used some plain white cotton for the backing and I cut strips of the spotty fabric to bind it.  I did want a contrast but nothing I had was big enough and went with it and I didn't want to buy  binding especially.  The wadding has been sitting in my cupboard for some time, I have only hand stitched all the way through where the flowers are, I think it may need more to stop the movement so any tips would be appreciated as to designs and so on as I haven't really done many  quilts.  The only big one I made years ago was machine stitched through in diamonds, I don't really want to do that to this one.

   

We have been out walking in a another new spot today, Agden Reservoir Bradfield.  The superb weather once more put a beautiful sky over everything and we felt like the only people who knew about this one for most of the way around.  We eventually saw a couple of other people but on the whole very quiet.

The sun on the water looked very inviting (not that I would go in and you can't of course).

 The path was more rugged on this walk so maybe that was why we saw less people, it certainly wouldn't be suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet but if you want to get way from it all it is ideal.

 Here we were on the way back down the road and in the very distance we could see Dam Flask that we walked around last week.

 Back down in the village there was a game of cricket taking place.

All very English village.

Dam Flask

The weather is getting cooler but there are still plenty of days of sunshine, I am really pleased with the summer this year it is usually a bit of a wash out as soon as we break for the summer but this year has made a lovely change.  This weekend we took the dogs to Dam Flask for a walk, it was quiet with just a few dog walkers and runners about.  We have been before but started from a different point this time, we both mentioned how pretty the local village is and again were pleasantly surprised by the beauty in our city.  

 The water was quite low in places despite the fact that it has been raining this last week, I suppose it will take some time to fill what has been depleted over these  past months.

We ended the walk with a drink and some chips, it looked as though a few other people had the same idea.

 Earlier this week  I finished the book The Radium Girls, this was a really good book but very distressing. I was quite shocked that I knew nothing of this subject but I would imagine that lots of cases of profit before life get swept under the table!   The book is about the girls who worked in the workshops and factories painting the luminous dials onto clocks and watches (both domestic and for military use in the war).  This paint contained radium which the workers were told repeatedly was safe, they were even instructed to tip the brushes in their mouths to make a fine point!  The resulting health implications were horrendous.  I would recommend reading this book to honour the women who fought for their cases even as they were dying.

I have just started a little quilt for my sofa as the dogs always sit there with me and I like to have a throw of some sort for them to sit on.  The one  I am currently using just appears to attract dog hair which is not ideal, the one I am making is all cotton so it should just brush or hoover straight off, I hope!

These are the bits I have started sewing together, I am wondering whether to sew a few like this then do neutral bits in-between or just stitch them altogether as they are?  I have seen this image below and that is got me wondering about the neutral bits.

 

Drop Shoulder T-shirt (Scrap busting)

As today is my day off I had a look through my oddments of fabric to see what I could do with them.  I had seen an image of a white top the other day with broderie  anglaise at the top and I thought I should have a look how much fabric I have left that is similar.   I made a red dress a while ago  and my fingers were crossed that there was a big enough piece to do the back and front top.   There was just enough red broderie anglaise and a big enough piece of jersey for the bottom, but only just!

I cut around a t-shirt so just two pieces, and I used my overlocker today which I don't often use, actually the blades are playing up so it was more of a joining exercise using it today there didn't appear to be any trimming going on.  A blade is out of place and no amount of faffing will seem to get it cutting, new blades as well.  I need to have a bit of time looking at that tomorrow. 

Here is my quick top, I like how it has turned out.

I had to put lots of pins in the jersey when I was stitching it together, it is extremely springy, I noticed that when I made the under dress for the dress I made.

A bit more ironing required on the front I think, I quickly ran the iron over it to take these shots, the fabric had been crumpled in a drawer. (It didn't get sorted into the tidy fabric box!)

Now that top was so easy I am going to see what other combinations I can put together from leftover fabrics to make more.  A few contrasting colours might work and may have to depending on what I have left.

There has been more repotting of lettuce and Kale today, I am also a bit disappointed that the pansies and violi have taken a beating from the wind, they were doing so well.

 The greenhouse is starting to look like a jungle, here is a peek through the window...

  I don't know where the tomatoes are going to go now they will just have to grow up along the slope of the roof and down the side!    Also I  hope the winds hold off now I don't want anymore plant casualties. 

Patching Jeans

Everyone has those favourite jeans that they like to wear the most and in my husband's case they are much worn and patched.  He has other pairs we are not short of things to wear it is just that he likes the fit of this particular pair and when he bought them they already had that distressed look with a couple of strategic mock patch areas.   The trouble with that feature is it has usually been stressed during manufacturing to get it just the right shade in certain areas, these areas are then of course weak and will not last under any strain.  That is what has happened with these, this will be the third time I have patched these and today I did three areas.  It is worth doing though as once they are done and ironed the effect is only the same as on the ones you buy in the shops.

This is where the legs off old discarded pairs of jeans come in handy, they don't have to be the same colour as it is going underneath.  Sometimes I use the right side of the fabric and sometimes the reverse.   The first job is to undo the seam down the side, I find it is just so much quicker to do this than try and force a large area of leg under the machine.

 It will be a quick job to just run that back in again it is only a straight seem after all.

Next I cut the piece of scrap denim a bit bigger than the area that is damaged and pin that in  place.

I used the wrong side of this fabric as it was a bit darker.

I then make sure that the hole is together and lying flat then I stitch forwards then reverse using a straight stitch, the effect you get is random criss cross, I concentrate more on the areas where the fabric comes together but up to the edge of the patch underneath.   The threads you can see in this image are just places where I moved it back by hand to line it up again, they are trimmed off afterwards.

Then when all the patches are complete just turn it through to the wrong side and sew the seams.

This is a finished patch near the pocket, I used a light blue cotton to go with the denim but you see some jeans where a contrast has been used to make the patched area stand out.  I think I prefer it less visible. 

Does anyone else have different ways of doing this?  Do you like to see the patches or make them blend in? Let me know in the comments section, I always enjoy reading the comments.

Quick Bunting

This post is going to be not only quick bunting but a quick post, I have just sat down from being on the go all day and I want to watch the last episode  Money Heist, it has been really good, it is a Spanish drama that we have been watching on Netflix and I love world television.  There is always something different.

After tea I made up the dust sheets that are going to cover the large open cupboards at work, nothing flash just a channel and a hem, I will put net wire at the top.  I then made a bunting using some scrap fabric and a long length of ribbon I bought for this purpose, it was quite difficult trying to cut with my pinking shears as the handle has snapped!  A gift to myself needed there I think.

I just hung it there to show, I actually made two , one for each side of the room.

Hopefully it will stop the dust sheets looking so bland, the biggest job was ironing the dust sheets as they were full of wrinkles they look a lot better now and I have tried to roll and fold them.  I have a feeling the will be the same again by the time I get to work tomorrow.

So that is it for today, I'm going to have a hot drink and watch the drama, bye for now.