Finished for Friday!

After having missed the last two Finished for Fridays over at Lit and Laundrey, I'm pleased to announce I have 3 finishes this week!

First up, the final two appliquéd hearts have been stuffed and sewn up, these ones are orange.

Front view:

And back view:

Next up is the sewing machine cover!  It was actually pretty quick to run up, despite the problem I had with the back being upside down!  I've taken photos, but didn't think to take a photo of the lining.  The lining is a pink satin material.  I cut out two "crosses", interfaced the linen, then sewed each up along each leg to make a box.  I then stitched them together at the base, wrong sides together, leaving a very large gap for turning.  The reason I left such a big gap was that I had a feeling I'd need to tack the two pieces of material at the top to stop the lining dropping down, and I was right!  I tacked the seams together in the top corners, then top stitched around the whole base of the cover with a zig zag stitch.  And, ta da! 

And here's a peak at that lining:

It's far from perfect, but I love it!  And I think the gorgeousness of the fabric detracts from the mistakes!  My next mission is to make a matching pouch for her accessories - feet, bobbins, screw driver etc...

My final show and tell for Finished For Friday is a cheat, it's this cross stitch of Mrs Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontale and Peter which is part of My Craft Book Challenge (all of the first three are now complete!):

Why's it a cheat?  Well it's going to be a little drawstitch pouch so it's not actually finished yet...  I'm really happy with how it turned out, all that backstitch was hard work!

Oh no, I've messed up again! What makes me think I can sew??

So, there I was this morning, taking pictures of the sewing machine cover that I started sewing for my mum last night when I spotted a fundamental error.  I had a metre of this lovely linen:

(Sorry, I don't know who makes it or what it's called, I bought it from a bolt at my local Husqvarna shop and don't remember seeing a label).  I had been thinking about the pattern for days and days, I was winging it but I thought I knew what I was doing. 

Last night I promised my husband I'd only be upstairs on the machine for an hour so I got to work.  I cut the interfacing to shape (I wanted to use heavy weight, but couldn't find it anywhere.  It did of course re-appear when I'd finished cutting the medium weight interfacing!), ironed it on, cut the linen leaving a seam allowance, zigzagged all the edges to prevent it fraying prior to sewing it up tonight.  I was so proud of myself for doing it.  Then this morning, picture time, a sudden realisation hit me. 

The animals will be upside down on the back.  And sideways on the side.  Duh!  I should have cut a panel for the front/back/sides and one for the top.

Ah well.  I don't have enough of the fabric to start again and, let's face it, my mum will love it anyway!!  I'm sure all you mums out there will agree (I really, really hope so!)

I also managed to do some more stitching...

You must be able to tell what it is now!  I hope to be posting a lot over the next couple of weeks as I've got a LOT of presents to make and I'm hoping this will motivate me - actually I don't really lack motivation, so I suppose I'm hoping it speeds me up!

I hate Lycra, officially (and Blogger - leave my pictures where I put them!)

I don't have much to show you this week, I've been incredibly busy, but unfortunately not with crafty things.  My husband came home on Wednesday with some pink Lycra and some white Lycra and asked me to help whip up something for a display they were making for the business he owns.  I can't show you here on the blog what I made, but it involved sewing a very simple seam on the Lycra and adjusting it until it was in the right place to fit over a wooden base.  The pink Lycra was fine, I sewed 2 seams, and then got it right, but the white Lycra... 

It was very thin, shiny and slippery and liked to wedge itself under the needle plate, preferably making itself so stuck I had to cut it out and leave a hole...  I was cursing by this stage.  Then I finally got a seam done, and the stupid stuff had folded under itself so I'd sewn through the Lycra in 3 places.  Out came the seam ripper...  It took me 2 hours to sew a seam in one piece of Lycra, I was almost crying.  On the positive side, I learnt a very quick and easy way to rip out a zigzag seam!

I also had to do some mending.  My mum asked me to sew the hole in my dad's pocket (visible on the outside) as I had her sewing machine.  I was so impressed with myself when I did a perfect job, asked my husband to look and show me where I'd mended the trousers and he didn't know!!  Mum has now passed the clothes reparing mantle down to me - not that I want it!

I prefer making things like this:

I embroidered this bookmark using Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection (click link on my sidebar) and then sewed it to a piece of patterned fabric, turned it and top stitched.  Maybe not the neatest bookmark in the world, but I quite like it.

I embroidered this one with little bunnies from a pattern bought at The Flossbox.  It took me 3 evenings!

Sorry about the messy picture layout, but Blogger is making me lose the will to live.  I have to upload photos one at a time, then leave the post I'm writing to go elsewhere on my dashboard, then come back and I'm allowed to upload one more photo... it takes forever!  And now it wont put them where I want and seems to want to put them all at the bottom.  Grrr!

Anyway, the photos are close ups of each of the 3 bunnies, and the back.  It's a bit messy, you can see where I messed up the stitching, it's not rectangular and I did the topstitch too far from the edge/too close to the embroidery.  I did take the first bit of stitching out but it had left little holes so I had to sew in the same place.

And finally, the only other thing I've had time for this week is starting this cross stitch for my mum for Craft Book Challenge Part 1:

Do you know what it is?  I'm going to make it into a little drawstring bag I think.  I have to get cracking on presents for my mum as her birthday is just 2 weeks away now.

Hopefully I'll have hundreds of presents to show you in a couple of days!  Or maybe just one item I've half sewn/messed up!

How can you mess up a simple coaster?? Read on and I'll show you!

My birthday is coming up and my mum and dad have promised me a sewing machine.  I'd decided (after reading the comments my lovely readers sent me) to get a Husqvarna.  Ten minutes walk down the road from my house is a Husqvarna shop.  I'd never been in as I'd never wanted to buy a sewing machine.  Well!  I had been missing out, it was packed full of gorgeous fabrics including those from the likes of Tilda!  I chose the machine I wanted (an Emerald 116, or, if it's too much with me going half price, then an E20), then I set myself loose on the fabrics!!  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of my stash, but I bought a handful of fat quarters, then a metre of the most beautiful, double-width linen with "Coffee" on it (see below) and another with little animals printed on it. 

As soon as I saw the coffee fabric, I knew I'd make coasters and placemats for my brother for Christmas as this fabric is right up his street, and, after all, how hard can it be to make a coaster?  Well, I overestimated myself!!

Attempt number one:

And a close up of the awful stitching on the wonky binding:

Clearly I can't do bias binding!!  Ladies, any tips on where I went wrong??  Other than picking it up and thinking I could sew it I mean!

Attempt number two:

Hum, also somewhat wonky!  I'd used a layer of batting/wadding inside to make it thicker, but I had to iron it as the fabric was all creased after I'd finished poking and prodding it, and it flattened the wadding completely!  In the end I chose interfacing and got it right... not perfect by any means, but OK for a first third attempt.

Ta da:

A close up of one of the designs and (hang on though, I have to press publish after each photo then come back into it, what's happened to Blogger??)...

A view of all four coasters and...

A view of the set showing the back.  Comments and suggestions would be very very welcome before I try the placemats ladies!

I didn't actually do much at the weekend but I did get some more of the basket weave scarf knitted:

It's now 54cm (21 inches approx) long!  I've set myself a challenge to knit at least 20 rows per night in order to get it done soon so I can knit something a bit lot more interesting.  The colour of the photo still isn't right, it's now orange!

And finally in today's little show and tell, I started embroidering bookmarks last night.  I'm going to make a couple for each reader in my life (shockingly few people!), with a personalised embroidery on the front and back it with a lovely piece of Moda fabric from the layer cakes I splashed out on and have done nothing with but sat and admired them ever since!

This one is for my dad, he likes his real ale, the design is from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching, The Motif Collection, and would have been straightforward had the bulb on my lightbox not blown...  I should point out that only the beer glass is Aimee's design, the random little mess between the glasses is all my own work.  It's still to be stitched to it's backing of course!  That's probably be a disaster much like the coaster disaster...

Sorry, once again the photo is rubbish, I'm crap at taking pictures and I don't have the patience for it. 

I don't know when I'll next have something to show you as I have to get to work with a piece of pink Lycra and an hourglass shaped stool for one of the shops the company my husband owns is fitting out... don't ask!

Work in Progress and Craft Book Challenge Round 2

Good afternoon everyone.  I have not finished anything new for Finished by Friday, but as Libby says we can link to any post during the week, I've put my pig and bag up there. 

I still have one part of my Craft Book Challenge left to do, the cross stitch from the Classic Story Book Cross Stitch book.  I bought the relevant DMC threads, but I still haven't started it yet.  The problem is the pattern calls for 28 threads per inch linen.  I discovered (by counting!) that my linen is 32 TPI.  The idea was to make a drawstring bag and cross stitch directly onto the linen, but I'm too inexperienced to know how it will work out if I use the higher-count linen.  I have some 14 count Aida, I assume this is 28 TPI??  It seemed to be when I counted it.  Anyway, amongst all this dithering and counting, I pulled out a cross stitch kit I'd forgotten I'd bought and decided to stitch it up, then make it into a present for the mother-in-law...

So it looks like the StoryBook cross stitch will be waiting a little longer!!  I did enjoy getting projects finished from the other two books I used, so I'm continuing with the Challenge and adding another 3 books onto the list.  I don't think two of these books have made it onto the craft book list yet, in fact I have another 5 or so at home that definitely haven't.  I have to stop feeding my habit!!  I haven't chosen projects out of these yet, I'm just going to go for it.

Quilt a Gift by Barri Sue Gaudet

Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long

Bean Bag Buddies by Nicki Wheeler

I seem to have chosen 2 books of cuddly toys, but I'm sure I can find someone to gift them to, adults like toys too!

I did some more knitting last night, I only got a few rows of my basket-weave scarf done before my hands started hurting which is strange.  This will be for the father-in-law (it's actually a deep red, not orange as it looks on the photo!).  I will be ready for Christmas, I will!!

TUSAL

I signed up for the TUSAL (Totally Useless SAL) back when I started my blog, but seem to be unable to check the dates for posting - full moon I think.  Anyway, it's growing nicely:

Although totally pointless, it's a bit addictive and I love putting threads in there!!

Following my pig/bag success, I decided that last night was the night I'd finally finish my 6 sets of appliqued hearts, so I settled down to sew them up.  I finished the 10th heart, and realised I'd ran out of lavender...  so they're STILL unfinished.  Here they are - the sewn and the unsewn.

Right now I'm off to ebay to try and buy some lavender.

A pig and a bag

Well it's been a successful day, if frustrating at times!  First of all I got my patchwork piggie sewn up, I hope mum will like him:

Sorry about the pictures, I'm rubbish at photography.  He is the first item in my Craft Book Challenge!  Piggy didn't take that long, what took me most of the day was battling with my second Craft Book Challenge project, the bag from Sew! by Cath Kidstone.  What an appalling pattern!  Badly written and with just 2 diagrams!!  I figured it out and learnt to sew a button hole on the sewing machine.  I then sewed thousands of them as the bobbin kept jamming and making a right mess of the bag.  It's taken all day but it's done:

I'm off back downstairs to wait for hubby to come home with the shopping, then I'll have my tea and settle down to some nice, easy hand sewing!!

No work today!

I decided to use one of my days of annual leave today... I'm spending the day sewing!  What an indulgence...

I just wanted to post about what I made on Saturday, then I'm going to get sewing and will post again later or tomorrow.

On Saturday I had some birthday cards to make.  They were for 2 people who don't know each other so I made the cards the same, then two extras:

I also did some work on my crewel embroidery for the Weekly Stitch Along.  I don't hate it as much as I did!!

Right, I'm off to fight with my sewing pattern now.  I'm making the bag from Sew! for my Craft Book Challenge and the instructions are appalling!  I can barely understand them and so am mainly figuring it out for myself... slow going.

Help me please! Sewing machine

Another post in the same day!  I only learnt to sew on a machine a few month ago but I love it.  My wonderful mum has lent me her Brother machine to use, but wants me to choose one to be my birthday present next month.  I've started looking around but I'm confused, I don't understand it all! 

I want to have a go at free motion sewing and quilting so need a machine where the feed dogs drop, I think I'd like some decorative stitches but beyond that, I'm stumped.  Ladies, I would love your recommendations.  Can anyone help?

hats, knickers and squares

I managed to sew up some more of my underwear hearts last night, and I remembered to take a photo of the backs:

The backs don't match the fronts as I'm using a load of 5" squares I bought which I just loved but didn't know what to do with and there is only one of each pattern in each colourway.

I also finished crocheting another granny square last night.  When I'd finished it and woven in the ends, I realised I'd missed a set of trebles on the very first corner.  I had to unpick the whole round, but then I thought I'd have a go at joining the squares to avoid having to join them later (especially as I have no idea how to join them later!!), so I redid the round and attached it to another one I'd made:

 And here's another one I made earlier!

I found the tutorial for attaching them together on Flickr via someone's blog and I can't remember who it was that pointed me in that direction.  If it was you, thanks!!

Speaking of thanks, 14 followers!  Where did you all come from?  I turned round and there you are...  If I haven't already, I'll be over to check out your blogs later on.

I've been beavering away on my Big Knit hats, and even made some pompoms.  I would have liked to have made more, but with the deadline approaching, I don't think I'll have time.  Here they all are:

I really enjoyed knitting these little fellas and have loads of wool oddments left, so I'm hoping they run the scheme again next year and that I find out sooner!

And finally this week, I've finished sorting out my threads!  I needed 3 boxes in the end.  As you can see, one of them has lots of space left.  It's a good job as I just bought a load of threads to complete the Cross Stitch design I've chosen for my Craft Book Challenge!!  Notice I never did anything with the little bits of floss that didn't match a skein, I just shoved them in one of the compartments!

Lots to get done this week, and I accidentally bought another 3 books to fill me with plans and inspiration.  My task list at the moment looks like this:
 - Cut out and sew patchwork pig from patchwork I made
 - Make cushion to go with stitched angel friends
 - Cut out material for a bag, then cross stitch for my challenge
 - Make a few birthday cards
 - Finish embroidering and sewing my hearts
 - Make the bag from Sew!
 - Get started on Christmas cards
 - Carry on with the alphabet chart I've all but abandonned
 - Practice my crochet, something other than granny squares!
 - Try out the new lace knitting patterns in the book I bought - get started on the squares for a blanket
 - Work on my weekly SAL embroidery
 - Make a list of Christmas presents needed!
 - Start working on Sharon B's TAST 2010, several months late, but very excited to join in.

That should keep me busy for a while!

Countdown to Christmas - I'm such a failure!

I've joined in Cathy's Countdown to Christmas - click here for the link.  The idea is we make our Christmas presents and then show them off at the end of each month.  I'm supposed to be making my Christmas presents anyway, so this seemed the perfect motivator.  Then life got in the way.  This is all I've produced:

Two little lavender hearts with applique underwear.  AND I've forgotten to photograph the backs of them which are blue cotton print.  I'm in the process of making 6 sets of these in different colours:

As you can see, the purple ones, the pink ones (I left the bra in the lavender pot mid fill!) and the green knickers are sewn, ready to fill and seal, the green one hasn't even got to that stage and the turquoise and orange sets are still unembroidered!  I'm rubbish.  Sorry Cathy, bumper crop for November's Countdown post, I promise. 

I did manage to start on another gift (also supposed to be ready for this post!) which is from my Craft Book Challenge - the patchwork pig.  I've sewn my first two pieces of patchwork!

I'm ridiculously proud of it!  OK, it's only 20cm x 20cm and some of the seams are pretty wonky but it was quite easy and I enjoyed it and that's what counts!!  My friends and relatives WILL be getting wonky presents this year, they can like them or lump them!