Sewing for fun!

Finally, today, after weeks of ”working” I did some sewing just for fun.  Nothing that was needed in any way, although there are a couple of things on the “to-do” list, just sewing that made me feel like it was fun again.  I spend so much time sewing for the shop, that often it’s just not any fun. 

I made a couple of cushions.  All from scraps, or orphan blocks left over from other quilts.

  After the first two I even started to get a bit daring. I practised my free-motion quilting.  I really let go and played around.  It was fun!

Feeling pretty proud of myself, I even took close up pics of each quarter…

flames, water ripples, and koru (waves)

pebbles, bricks and wavy lines

leaves, fans (bit wonky to start with) and wood grain (sort of)

random swirls, triangles and flowers

the back…

made up into the finished cushion…

To finish the day off I got my last bee block for June completed and posted away.  A spiderweb for Jess.  Fun to make, it made me want to make some more out of my selvedges   As if I have room for another half made quilt, ha.  I managed to restrain myself from starting one, for now.

PS, if you’re after cute baby shoes, the shop has quite a few pairs now.

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The Enormous Crocodile

Yay, the gorgeous handmade buttons for Cameron’s Enormous Crocodile jacket arrived in the post on Saturday morning.  I even got them sewn on before the end of the weekend.  Just in time for a polar blast to hit the country.  Good timing!!

Because of the bad weather it’s been hard to get good pics of the buttons on the jacket.  I should have taken a pic before I sewed them on, but that would have been logical.  Each button is handmade, I ordered 5 buttons, and each button was a different colour or shade, with each crocodile a different shade or colour, ranging from green to brown to cream. They are DIVINE.  If you want really special buttons go to Buttons by Benji.  Nicci is really busy with custom orders at the moment, but I have to say they are worth the wait.  Seriously.

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Easy does it….

A couple of simple, easy to make quilts.

This one, requested by a customer.  One piece front in Dino Dudes flannel, pieced back.  Nice and simple, snuggly and warm with wool batting.  I haven’t used wool batting since I made 2 quilts for the same customer last year.  I’d forgotten how nice the Hobbs wool batting is to work with.  Fantastic.  I’d use it more if I could buy it wholesale

And this one, which is a small couch quilt for a swap.  Made of a charm pack of Ready, Set, Go organic cotton, some solid cottons and backed in my leftover Riley Blake “Wheels” flannel.

It’s one of those weekends where I’m desperate to sew, I have so much work to do, but can’t seem to get any time to sit down.  Tomorrow won’t be much better.  Roll on Monday, kids at school and time to get some work done

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Freedom is mine!!

I picked up my new (2nd hand) car last Friday.  I’ve really enjoyed relaxing a bit more this week, not having to rely on public transport.  Here’s pic of my wheels, nothing flash, but nice and small and economical.

Tomorrow we can have a real sleep in. Cameron has no Kindy on Fridays, just a swimming lesson at 9.50.  The swimming lessons he’s had this term have been fantastic!  Much better than the ones he had last year.  It only took 3 lessons and he was putting his face right in the water, and after 5 lessons he can float on his back, swim across the pool with his face in the water (with a noodle to hold him up) and can dive to the bottom of the pool to pick things up.  We still have another 4 or 5 lessons before to end of term, so I had better start putting $ aside for next term.  They only do swimming at school in Summer, so I’ll keep him in lessons till then, maybe even all year.   I have to say after 3 older children I am a big fan of encouraging individual sports for Cameron.  I feel like I’ve done my time getting up on cold, miserable winter Saturday mornings to take kids to Hockey or Soccer.

Speaking of swimming, Nathan is really enjoying the swimming club I made him go to.  We have an agreement.  He goes and swims for an hour with the club (but not competitively, just for fitness) and in return gets a couple of hours Internet time.  It’s working well.  He is getting fitter and said even though it hurts at the time he feels good afterwards   I think on an average night he would swim 1000m or more.  He even asked if I could afford to send him an extra night so he does 2 nights a week, but I had to say no as the budget can’t stretch that far

Matt has a job interview next week.  Yay, fingers crossed they take him on and give him a chance.

Lilly is growing more independent each day.  Having to organise to get her self to sports while I had no car was good for her.  She’s getting good at organising weekend outings with her mates, which is really nice to see.  If she is home she’s always bored.  I am a fair bit peeved at her today though as she lost her school jersey!  She left it behind at soccer practice on Tuesday (a common occurence, sometimes she leaves 1 shoe behind) and when she went back she found the name label from it on the ground (ripped out) and the Jersey gone.  I’m so mad.  At her for leaving it behind and at the nasty little thieving shit that took it!  She was meant to go see the Dean about it today, as there is a mark on the front that won’t come off that will easily identify it as hers, but she “forgot”.  If it’s not recovered I’m going to make her wear a manky, too big 2nd hand jersey we were given and I won’t buy her the sports sweatshirt she wanted either.

I’ve been working hard, trying to get some stuff finished for a swap and some shoes made for my Felt shop, which hardly has any stock in it.  I have pics of the 2 quilts I’ve finished recently so I’ll come back later to post those.

Later.

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Sometimes…..

the mail takes forever!!!  I was part of a swap a few months ago.  Posting date was the first week of April.  I finally got my parcel on Saturday.  Yes, it was posted on time, and it was airmail.  I know it was checked over by MAF, but surely it shouldn’t have taken 2 and a half months??

In the end my parcel was totally worth waiting for.  My partner Susan completely spoilt me.  Inside the huge box was a sewing machine cover, roll up sewing kit (with thread, needles and a marking pencil inside) and cute little hedgehog pin cushion, a set of Halloween inspired FQ’s on a neat tin, some gorgeous special tea’s and a letter.  All of this was wrapped up in yet more gorgeous fabric.  Everything is so well made and just what I wanted.  I couldn’t have hoped for a better partner.  Cameron requested the skull and crossbones fabric as soon as he saw it

Thanks so much Susan.

Here’s pics of my lovely bounty

Sewing machine cover, with lovely Hexes and fantastic quilting….

My awesome roll-up sewing kit…

The fabric…

Teas…

And my cute wee hedgie pincushion (he really does look like a Hedgehog when the pins are sticking out of him)…

So worth the wait.

I have to admit to finally giving up on anything arriving for this swap, I just didn’t believe that the mail would take this long.  I’m so pleased it arrived.  I feel like I can get on with making things for other swaps now that this is finalised.  I still have to finish the handmade gift for the “Once Upon a Time” swap, I’m half done on that one.  I haven’t even started on the “I love the 80′s” swap yet, although I know what I’m going to make.

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Sweet young love…

My wee boy has a crush on a girl at Kindy.  Yesterday he came home and said “Mum, can I marry Jada for real?”  Then this morning on the way to kindy he said “When I look at Jada I get hearts in my eyes cause I really like her”.  Isn’t that so sweet??

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Lucky, lucky ME !!

A little while ago I was part of a swap on a forum.  We were to create a handmade item and a little something else. I forgot to take pics of what I sent to my partner   My partner had expressed interest in learning to crochet, so I got her the first issue of Learn to Crochet, made a WIP bag and added a whole bunch of sewing supplies.  My parcel was the last to be received in the swap, but the wait was so totally worth it

Handknitted sock s are so lovely.  I have one pair that I was gifted a while ago and because they are my favourite pair they are getting quite worn out.  I was so stoked to receive these gorgeous socks.

I can’t believe that they are mine.  I LOVE the colour and they are a perfect fit.  Thanks so much Lea

I love handmade socks so much I have a dozen or so pairs saved on my Etsy favourites so I can buy some more when I have a bit of spare cash.  I’m so jealous of anyone who can knit their own socks.

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Castle quilt finished

Yay, I managed to finish another quilt.  It took me all morning.  I don’t usually use polyester batting and I found the loft hard to work with compared to the cotton batting I usually use.  I like the finished result though…

 

It’s really hard to get good pics during Winter.  Usually its cloudy and rainy, but even on a sunny day like today it was hard finding somewhere with good light and not too many shadows.

If you know anyone who might like this quilt, it’s now in the shop.

 

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A Handmade weekend – Part 2

So day two of Handmade was very full on for me. I had four very different classes on.

First up was Cheesemaking.  We were advised we were going to make Ricotta and Haloumi.  Well we did make Ricotta, but we watched the tutor make Haloumi, which is not quite the same as making it yourself.  However is was a good class, I enjoyed learning about the process of making cheeses from home and will definitely make some myself. 

The cheesemaking class went slightly over time, so I had to rush to get to my next class.  However I needn’t have rushed as the tutor for that class was late (due to his car breaking down).

So the second class of the day was Making a wooden sorter box.  The tutor for this was really good, he explained things very well.  I was a little disappointed that the box we were making was quite small, when from the pics on the Handmade site we had the impression of something a bit larger, but considering I had to cart my box around with me for the rest of the day it was probably just as well.  The box is a simple construction, easy to put together.  The tutor did share a few expert tips that you probably wouldn’t pick up from making this from a book.  The tutor also shared with us some ideas for using the same pattern and upsizing to make things like a coffee table, bookshelves or a bedside table.  So I think this for me was quite a valuable learning experience. 

Due to class 2 starting late I had no break for lunch, just a quick jog to my next class.

Third class of the day was Preserving.  You might wonder why I took preserving, as I already make jams at home and occasionally chutney too.  But I figure you can always learn something.  So I picked up some helpful tips, some great recipes, and helped make some Feijoa and Ginger jam (which is way better than my plain stuff), some dukkha and oil and some Lemon and Ginger syrup.  Yum.

The last class of the day was Oriental Book binding.  For me this class was the biggest disappointment.  After the 3rd class I had to stop off at Te Papa to pick up my bags, which made me a few minutes late to the class.  The tutor of the class was a bit unwelcoming, but I just felt we didn’t get much out of it really.  We made one very simple book, despite the fact the class ended almost 30 minutes before it was scheduled to.  We had so much time left it would have been good to learn a more complex method or have the chance to make a second book.  Shame really.

So all in all I had a good time.  I’m hoping that Handmade will be on again next year, though I won’t try to pack quite as much in, so I will have time for lunch and a bit of window shopping.  I was a bit shattered once I got home.

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Owls and a pair of Cats

I’ve been working hard churning out cot quilts in the past week or two.  Three done so far.  One was meant to restock the Felt shop, but it’s been snapped up, so I guess I just have to work harder and make another one, or two.

All this working hard has been good for the car fund, we are not too far off being able to buy another vehicle.  I can’t wait.  Having no car is tedious.  Tonight I ran out of cooking oil, and had no way to get more as Ian was working late.  Oh well, not long now.

In other news, turns out the slightly manly looking hen is not a hen, bugger !! Anyone want a nice Barred Rock cross rooster?  There is still one ambiguous hen/rooster there, I’ll just have to wait to find out what it is.

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