One Down, One To Go

A while ago I was browsing in Hobbycraft and happened to notice some Clothkits kits on sale. I was a bit disappointed they didn't have any of the skirts I really like but there were a couple of kids dresses and they were a bargain so I bought two. I decided I'd start with Erin's first because it was closer to her birthday.

One of the things I realised when I was making this is that I have been doing sooooo much quilting that dressmaking again feels odd. The seam allowance looks HUGE. I managed to put off doing the buttonholes on Monday night by helping Rachel with her needle felting but I sat down last night to do them and had to get the manual out to remind myself how to use the automatic buttonhole foot. I think I've done one buttonhole since I got my machine 5 years ago so it's no wonder I'd forgotten (that one buttonhole was about 4 and a half years ago!)

Anyway, here's the dress. All ready for her to put on this evening for her first school disco.

  

I still have to make one for Orla but I'm hoping to fit that in at home rather than at sewing class. Fingers crossed I can get it made by her birthday in August.

Tweet Tweet

I recently bought some wall art stickers for the living room. I thought they would brighten up one of the walls. It's difficult to know what else to put on the wall to be honest. It's next to the chimney so a picture tends to look out of place.

This spurred me on to finish the bird I was making to hang in my crocheted wreath. I'd cut it out and sewn it one Monday night but forgot to take the stuffing with me so had to leave stuffing and sewing up until I got home and it was one of those jobs that just got left. Anyway, it's now finished.

I also managed to finish the bunting for the kitchen yesterday (sorry, will get a pic for the next blog post as I forgot!) so that was two UFO's finished. I started the bunting at the end of October but other things kept getting in the way of finishing it. What usually happens is I think "Oh I'll take X to sewing so I can ask for help with such & such/I need to concentrate on it" and leave all the simple stuff to do at home and then just don't find the time to get all the sewing stuff out.

I also designed a robot applique block for the sampler quilt I'm making. Here it is and I'm really pleased with it!

There's still far too many UFO's for me to list but I'm hoping to get a few finished this year. I only have one item on my crochet UFO list (a cushion cover) but plenty on the sewing/quilting list.

Very Quick Post

Just realised I haven't posted for a while. Have been so busy lately.

Firstly I took part in a swap on Ravelry, where I received this wonderful batch of goodies!

Opening all these wonderful little presents revealed these:

I love the jar with the crocheted pin cushion on top. I've filled it with some toggle clasps that match the colours of the top. I'm still looking at projects for the yarn.

I forgot to update you on the sampler quilt after last month's class so I'm showing you all the blocks completed so far:

The block on the bottom right is one I've chosen myself. The quilt Sarah designed has a Frog theme but we are free to choose our own if we prefer. I originally chose my fabrics because I wanted to make something bright (the picture above doesn't do it justice!) but I hadn't planned a theme. Sarah suggested the applique block (to be made at a later date) could be a pink robot and I loved that idea. The block on the bottom right is my choice of foundation pieced block and I thought it looks a little robot/alien/techie wave-esque!

Lots Of News

Life has been pretty hectic over Christmas and New Year and I realised I was probably trying to cram too much into the little spare time I had so....I have made a decision.

As of early January I stopped being self-employed and removed everything from the Etsy shop. I've taken a while to announce it on here because there were a few other people I needed to let know before publicly announcing it.

I will still be doing the crochet & felting workshops but I'll be doing them as a volunteer. It just wasn't worthwhile doing as a business for so few days (too busy to do more) with the associated costs (business insurance, business use on car insurance, etc.) and I just haven't found the time to do any dyeing for a few months now. I didn't really want to give it up altogether because it's nice to have a day sharing my skills with other crafty people. We haven't got any family near us so no babysitting and the little breaks I get from doing workshops and classes are really nice and relaxing for me.

I'm also doing Level 3 study with the OU and have delayed one module until October when both kids will be at school full time and I'll have 5 days a week to dedicate to studying so can overlap a couple of modules. I still have one module on the go (well, technically it hasn't quite started yet but I have the books already). It's been good to get really organised and feel like everything is sorted and have plenty of time to give it my best, rather than trying to squash it into too few hours a week and doing a stressed late night to get stuff finished in time.

It also allows me time to craft so I can relax a bit. Shh, don't tell anyone but I'm making a surprise blanket for my Mum. I've made a few blankets for our house and my kids and I made one for my aunty for Christmas. My Mum keeps mentioning them so I'm making one as a surprise for her. I had planned to do 12 large squares surrounded by smaller squares (82 of them) and got them all made.

Yes, the ends need sewn in!

However I used my new hook and my tension is very different from usual so it's not quite big enough. I'm now trying to decide how to make it bigger. I have a few options:
1. Put a full round of small squares around the edge
2. Put a big border round
3. Make 3 more large squares and the necessary number of small squares to add another 'row' to the pattern.

I think I might need to lay it out before deciding.

Also, I have started going to a monthly quilting class. I've been quilting for a couple of years now but I've tended to stick to basic designs. In the class I'm going to we're making a sampler quilt and in January's class I made the first 3 blocks:

They need ironed again after being crushed in my bag!

I'm really looking forward to the next one.

In the Monday night class I go to I'm planning on making a simple skirt pattern to use with some of the bargain fabric I got at New Year. I needed some dressmaking paper so nipped into Hobbycraft at the weekend and managed to come out with 2 Cloth Kits children's dress kits as well. They were one sale at £10 each. I was planning on making one for each child when I bought them but am wondering whether to just make the largest size in both to get the most wear out of them.

So, still very busy but without much of the stress!