Back to the craft!

Thanks for bearing with me whilst I had a couple of non-crafty posts.  Things seem to have calmed down a little now, though we're waiting to see if they flare up again before the bunnies come home.  They're having a fine old time on holiday anyway, being spoilt rotten!  Mum and dad are both retired and whenever the bunnies are with them (when we go away) they seem to spend most of their time outside, talking to the bunnies.  As insomniacs, one of them can often be found in the garden in the middle of the night holding a conversation with their "grandchildren". 

So do you want to see some crafty stuff?  I made a little sewing caddy for my mother-in-law's birthday which is coming up this Saturday.

I used this tutorial on You Sew Girl. It's a good tutorial, but you definitely need a walking foot to attempt it - the last step involves sewing up 12 layers of fabric and it is not easy.  I made so many mistakes when making this.  I wanted to use this lovely sewing themed linen but only had a fat quarter.  I cut the pattern out the wrong way round as it was one of those "place on the fold" patterns and my caddy would have been very tall and thin.  I had enough fabric to start again so I managed to cut it out upside down!  I went back to the first, mis-cut piece and added a bit of the lining fabric as tabs on the edge and I think it works.  You can see on the photo above how hard it was to sew that bottom seam.

Inside is a square of felt for needles - a little flat since I ironed it - and a strip of elastic which I've sewn dividers in to hold her sewing bits and pieces in place.

Here's a picture with some pins and my scissors inside.  I bought her a pair of scissors, a pack of needles, an air-erasable pen and 3 skeins of cotton-a-broder to go in it.  She's not actually a crafter, but she has it in her.  She used to crochet and knit, I've seen her reverse knit her granddaughter's knitting project and I've never seen such speed!, and she did do some embroidery on the cushions on her sofa, so I thought I'd try to encourage her.  I've also bought her an embroidery hoop and a lovely, lovely book that I want to keep for myself to go with it.  It's this book:

And here's the sewing caddy folded up and tied.

She has got a couple more presents, I'll show them in another post as I've got a busy weekend with the mother-in-law's birthday and my brother coming down for the weekend, so I doubt I'll get any crafting done this weekend.  I'll leave you with a picture of my Big Knit crocheted hats so far.

Edited to add:  Ooh!  I've just remembered where I put the tassels!  I'd gone for a wee, must have spurred it on somehow!  Now I can't wait to get home and make sure I'm right...