Sophie is Finished!

The cot quilt I've been working on for my friend's baby (due next week!) is finished!

The back - Sarah inspired me to go with large quilted wiggles!

The colours look a bit washed out in these pics, but in reality they are bright and vibrant.  

This isn't a big quilt, only 38" x 40" and I only used half the Sophie Layer cake.  I hadn't enough pink for the backing, hence the strip down the middle made from the leftovers, and my leftover Kona Azure I used for the binding wasn't quite long enough either, so I added 2 strips from one of the remaining 10" squares to make it work.

All that remains is for little one to enter the world and then I can make the label and post it over to England.  Wouldn't it be funny if they called her Sophie!!

And this morning I rustled up a few more change tray sets for my Dad and Brother in Law for Christmas. 

Well the sun is shining, it's baltic outside, but warm inside - aaahhhh! 

I'm off to have a bite of lunch before deliberating over what else to make Mum for Christmas!

See ya later!

Judith xo

That's the Desk Tidied!!

As you know I've been in a quandry over what to make big bro for Christmas.  

Thanks so much for all your wonderful & creative suggestions, most of which I will mostly definitely be putting in the 'Things to Try' bank!

I was just about to go with Trudi's idea of a scarf backed with polar fleece, and start running around shops looking for soft fleece, when I had an epiphany (no, it didn't hurt)!!

I was walking round Tescos the other day when I suddenly thought of change trays/desk tidies.  Unbeknown to me, my lovely bloggy friend Helen was thinking exactly the same thing, and emailed me the same idea!!  Talk about being of one creative mind!  Brilliant!

So here they are:

Fabric - Indigo Berries from River Fabrics

They were quite difficult to photograph as the fabrics are dark and rich, but I think they will be perfect for my brother's office desk.  

I downsized the hostess box pattern (which I'm also using for my Christmas mugrug sets) twice to get a little family of desk tidies.  Isn't baby box so cute?

And if he doesn't want to use them for stationary, he can always fill them with sweets (like me, he has an incureable sweet tooth!).

After considerable tweaking, resizing, unpicking & resewing, I conquered the journal cover pattern.

This one is for my friend's daughter who loves to read and journal, and while she is v.feminine, isn't overly girly, and a little bit Gothy.  So I hope these less girly fabrics from Sophie will please (the Sophie cot quilt will be for this teenager's new little sister when she arrives!).

 

This one is for my neice, who is 13.  She likes all things girly!

The crochet hearts pattern is by Attic 24, found here.

Well that's it for today.  I'm off to make more presents!


Have a fab Saturday!


Judith xo

A day for Tea & Shortbread!

It's absolutely minging outside today!  It's so dark I haven't been able to switch the lights off yet (it's nearly 1pm!).

But I've the house to myself until 4pm so I'm a happy bunny. 

I've had loads of admin and teaching notes to do today, so not much sewing done, but I did get a few more Christmas presents finished last night.

I made another mugrug/hostess box set, which I'll show the class on Thursday night, but I'm thinking this one would be great for my mum.  

My vision for turning this into a present is to get some clear wrap and that fancy twirly ribbon stuff (you know what I mean!) and wrap up some delicious fudge or peppermint creams and set them into the box.  

Alternatively, if I see a nice mug that will go with these fabrics, I might put the fancy wrapped sweets into the mug and make it a full on gift set.

Does anyone know if Ikea sells the clear wrap?

Another finish were these cosy mittens:

These are a stocking filler for daughter no. 2.  That just leaves daugher no. 1 to make these for (daughter no. 3 mittens here), and she has already picked out her yarn so I'd better get cracking!

Some of you previously got the pattern for these from me, but I have to say that after crocheting it up several times, (before unravelling and resizing) I don't think there's any need to increase on the thumb joint half as much as it says in the pattern (except maybe for those of you who've already confessed to having shovel hands!!). I made one round of increase which is more than enough for small/standard sized hands.

And finally, another votive/tea light cover:

This one will probably be heading over to England (but without the glass jam jar inside!!).

So, the admin is all done, time for a quick lunch, before heading up to the sewing room for more present making!

Have a good 'un!

Judith xo

Christmas Gifts - Part 1

Details of my Celebration Giveaway can be found here.  Giveaway closes Monday 17th October.

There's something about Christmas time that brings out the excited inner child in us all.  

For me, I love the smells of Christmas, spicy cinnamon & orange candles, fresh pines from the tree, home baked mince pies and shortbread. Mmmmm!

So it's time for me to get ready for my Christmas classes! Folks who come along to class have already been asking me with excited anticipation 'what will we be making?'.

I have scheduled in 3 weeks this year for making Christmas Gifts.  These will be small items that are quick to make and can be varied and adapted to suit the intended recipient.  

I like to give my class a choice of what they can make, so this week I'll share with you some of the ideas I'll be teaching.

First up, a different kind of mugrug:

Last year I came across this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew for the Hostess Box.  I asked permission from the designer Jennifer Casa & Sew Mama Sew to adapt the pattern and teach it in class.  Permission was v.kindly granted and so I got to work downsizing the pattern to come up with this mini hostess box.

The box is held in place with velcro, but these wee boxes could easily be makes in themselves, filled with yummy sweets (I particularly like fudge!) and given to teachers as end of term pressies.

And the mugrug could be any design you like.  

I think kids would love these too filled with their favourite sweeties! Jxo

So there you have it!  My Christmas Gifts part 1.  Tune in tomorrow for part 2!

Have a great Wednesday!

Judith xo

Baskets & Doorstops

I've been asked to take a few more classes at Oasis Caring in Action Centre this year.  I spent an amazing 12 months with these wonderful ladies last year, and got so much satisfaction from helping women from the local community learn new sewing skills and get excited about their very own makes.

This time around, we want to encourage some of the ladies to grow in confidence and become facilitators/tutors of future Quilting classes in Oasis.  We'll be getting the ladies inspired to have an Easter sale of the items they make to help raise further funds for the Quilting Project, and will be doing some old favourites - log cabin cushions & Amy Butler Swing Bags, as well as some new cutsie projects - check out the baskets and doorstop ideas below.

There are various tutorials available for the smallest sized basket.  Check out Pink Penguin and Vlijtig for fabric basket tutorials.

I sized up the measurements for a medium sized basket and a large basket (not shown), which was a bit tricky (not being a mathematical whizz!) but I got there in the end.

These little hostess boxes are a quick and easy make, although you do need to be spot on with your measuring and cutting for these.  Check out Sew Mama Sew for a great wee tut.

Door stops need to be sturdy, so I recycled my denim scraps to make this small pyramid shaped one.  The tut for this one is found on Bake and Sew.  It's another simple project, and as it doesn't involve zippers or fiddly velcro, I'm sure the ladies at Oasis will have fun making these.  It may be small, but it still took almost 1kg of dried peas to fill it!  Small but effective!

Esther's pressie!

My friend's daughter turns 9 at the end of this month.  She lives in England so when I make her presents they always have to be things that are easily posted.  This year I decided to make her a pencil case, after my success with making them for my own daughters. 

Teamed up with cutsie bunnies and characters (& a few secret sweeties hidden inside!) I hope she'll enjoy these 'little girl' treats.  Happy birthday Esther!