Scaps and being thrifty

 My winnings from The Sewmamasew giveaway day finally arrived on my doorstep from Oz! (they actually came last week but I have only just got round to taking some photos) From the lovely Kat at Diary of a flutter/Mamas time to create, I won

A new home for my posh new shears/scissors

This fab purse - I love it!  having NO real-life crafty friends (I do actually have RL friends, just not any crafty ones lol)
I would never receive anything like this unless I had made it myself, so I am really pleased to have won someone else's handiwork.

And all of these fabulous scraps! I was sooo happy to see at the very top of the pile this little scrap of goldfish material, the little fishy has same name as The Little Man.  My scrap collection is now growing & I would love to make a string quilt with it all but there are also lots of little projects that I also want to make.

Damn - it is scrap women - you know, what most people throw away - and you are hoarding it! USE IT!  ha ha

Whilst I am on the subject of scraps, I forgot to tell you that Dana from Drinking Fabric is hosting a very generous giveaway.  All you have to do is pass on your thrifty quilting tips and you have a chance of winning some lovely Christmas Fabric scraps.

My Tips -

buy large duvet covers for quilt backings
You can buy 2nd hand in charity shops or look in places like TK MAX for 100% cotton covers.  I have a King Size cover with 2 pillowcases that I bought for £15, the equivalent amount of fabric in meterage would be ££££££ in the UK.

I have also used flannel/brushed cotton (is there a difference?) from Fabricland at around £4 m.  I really like the feel of a flannel backing sooooo cozy!

What are your thrifty tips???

PS - I "met" Dana on MSE a forum full of money-saving advice.  Check it out yourself.  You might like to visit The Sewing Room especially.

PPS - I am still working on the applique tutorial, I will post it soon, promise!

Sewing for Boys - The Sew-a-long, Project One, The Raw-edge Tee

I was so excited when I saw the first reviews for "Sewing for Boys" by Shelly Figueroa and Laren LePage that I entered every single stop of the "Sewing for Boys Blog Tour" hosted by Sewmamasew and luckily one myself a copy from The Southern Institute Blog.

Then during my Blog-Hopping (housework delaying) I came across a year long sew-a-long being hosted at Boy, Oh, Boy, Oh, Boy so I quickly signed up.

The first months pattern is "The Ragged Edge Tee".

Charity shop T'shirts from Gap & Fat Face

My Boys are never short of T'shirts (thanks to car boots and the cheap prices of supermarket clothes) but I thought that I would have a go anyway.  I have never sewn a knit fabric so I thought that it would be a good skill builder.  I also had a tutorial for Mola or Reverse applique in a back issue of Sew Hip that I wanted to try out. After failing to find any suitable old Tees in the Hubby's wardrobe, I picked a few up in the local charity shop for only 50p each.

So I cut out pattern for age 4-5 but added the length from the size 6-7 for my tall & skinny 4 yr old. I also used the hem from the upcycled Tees at the bottom of the shirt and on the sleeves/cuffs.

I then added the applique to the front piece before sewing together the pieces following the instructions from the book. (I will do a seperate tutorial for the applique method)

The Tee went together pretty easily. However, I decided to sew the side seams inside the Tee and not on the outside as per the book.  My machine has a flat-bed and I couldnt work out how I was going to fit the sleeves under the needle to top stitch. (and I actually prefered the neater finish) I think my seam allowance was too big and I was bit worried that the tee would be too tight, but it actually fits just right.

The collar was a complete nightmare however!  I took the advice from the authors and added a bit of length to the pattern piece, but I think I could have done with an extra inch.  In the end I pulled the pattern piece really hard to stretch it then used hundreds of pins to secure it.  I ended up sticking the pins in the wrong way, so got lots of fingerpricks whilst trying to remove them whilst sewing!

I am really pleased with how it has turned out and I think it will look even better once washed & the ragged edges go all curly.  And best of all The Little Man LOVES it!!

To see more examples of garments made from "Sewing for Boys" check out the groups on Flickr - "Sewing for Boys - The Book" and "Sewing For Boys the sew along"

Happy New Year

I know, a bit late

but that is me all over lol!

I have lots of reading to do on my google reader too as I got really behind over Christmas and have yet to catch up on myself.

The Christmas season was a lot of fun but very busy for us and we have hardly eaten a thing at home because we have either been visiting friends & family or eating out (with more friends & family) ! I am desperate to shake all the extra calories out at Zumba lol!  Our decorations have now been taken down & packed away.  The boys both went back to Nursery/Preschool today and the whole festive season already feels like weeks ago!

Right the rest of this post is a bit rambling and you might want to scroll down to the next blog on your reader list lol

2011 was a good-ish year for us.  We had our fair share of flu bugs & childhood illnesses for the first part of the year but we have since all enjoyed good health (touch wood). I started a new job in January but have been out of work since the contract ended in July.  However we are lucky that our mortgage is low enough for us to be able to pay for it and the household bills on one wage.  We have also learnt to prioritise and budget. Not that we have ever been spendthrifts - DH has never owned a credit card for a start. However, being out of work has it's advantages.  I absolutely love being at home with my boys and watching them grow into their personalities (and the Little Fella certainly has lots of "personality" lol"

With moneysaving our priority this year, one of my main aims (I don't really believe in resolutions) for the next few months is to cut down on the amount of food that we throw away.  We have to separate our food waste in this area and I am always a bit disgusted that we manage to fill at least half the large bin that we are given (about half a plastic carrier bag) in a week!  Mainly it is because of my portion size.  I cook far more than required, a few extra veggies or an extra sausage.  Amounts that I find too small to freeze but get put into the fridge and forgotten about.

Top of my list however, is to spend my time more constructively.  This is the last year that both DSs will be at home as DS1 will be starting full time school in September.  I find I procrastinate all morning whilst they are at Nursery & then spend my afternoons doing all the little jobs around the house that I should be doing whilst they are at  Nursery.  So you may find that I start posting about some of the early-years activities we do.

Sewing projects

My dear Mum is 60 in May, so I really want to make her a quilt, however I am still trying to find the right pattern and fabric.

I also really ought to finish the boys quilts seeing as they have been waiting since 2010 for me to quilt them!

I am currently working on a little machine applique project that was inspired by a watercolour drawing I saw in a newspaper... pictures to come soon.

I am also about to start on a year long sew-a-long for The Sewing for Boys Book that I won a while back. The details can be found on the boyohboyohboycrafts blog. The first project is a raglan tee.  My boys do not need t'shirts, but I thought that it would be a good skill builder as I have never sewn jersey or knit fabrics before.

Happy New Year and well done if you managed to read the whole post lol.

It's Christmas Eve,

Just having a little break from the never-ending job list that I need to complete today to wish all my lovely followers/readers A Very Merry Christmas!

I managed to complete the boys backpacks, but unfortunately I wrapped them before taking any photos!

I hope you all managed to finish your Christmas makes!

Have a lovely time, will catch up in the new year!

Some more Christmas gifts...

 I finally got round to using the fantastic templates from "Freya and Fred" by Janet Clare that I bought a while ago & blogged about.  I rather enjoyed the fiddlyness (is that a word??) of cutting out the shapes & then doing the free-motion applique.  It reminded me of the little paper dolls that I would trace & cut out of Bunty magazine. (I was never allowed to cut the dolls out of the actual comic/annual)

I still need to practice my free-motion skills, as my stitches are far too small.  All the advice I read said to set stitch length to zero (including the instructions in my old Bernina manual) but I think I need to set my stitch length to 1 or 2 next time.  I used a grey guttermans top thread and white bobbin (as I only have 2 bobbins that Miss Nina will allow me to use and can not always be bothered or want to waste a ton of thread just to change colour, on this occasion both bobbins had plenty of white thread on them).  The stitching came out like pencil drawing and I am actually pretty pleased with my pretty ballerinas! Kirsty eat your heart out lol!

Anyway, the ballerinas were stitched onto some lovely ballerina fabric that I bought at The Ally Pally show last month, which I then turned into little drawstring bags using this tutorial from Kitcshycoo blog.  Although I added a front pocket and the first bag that I made seemed a bit small so I added 2 inches to all the measurements for the bigger sister.  I bought some cheap poly cotton for the lining and managed to find the EXACT shade of green cord - both from Fabricland.  The only problem I had was with the cord unravelling, so I enclosed the ends in little squares of the ballerina fabric (losing two needles in the process!)

I must have taken over 10 photos of this pair of models - they were not happy at having their photo taken whilst wearing a "girl" on their back, anyway after a sweetie (or 2) it was a (slightly) different story!

The bags are Christmas pressies for my Goddaughter and her little sister (5 and 2 yrs old)

And these are aprons that I have made for my Nieces. 

They have lots of toys & clothes so I am making them each a little baking hamper for Christmas.  The aprons I bought in the Summer at a  "strawberry fayre" in my Aunt's Wawickshire village.  They were brand new with tags, from Laura Ashley and I think cost me 50p each!! I added their names by using Word Art in MS word/office and a cursive font.  I then traced the (reversed) names onto bonda web and ironed it onto my fabric before cutting out.  The names were then free-motion appliqued onto the apron/pockets.

First Christmas 2011 make

 A new cuddly friend for dinosaur mad Little Fella.

I adapted a pattern from a back issue of sew hip magazine.  The pattern was only 2D, so the dinosaur had only 2 legs.  So I made a belly by lots of experimenting with paper and a couple of attempts later I did it!!!

I stuffed his feet, head and tail with pudding rice to give it a bit of weight.  Only once I had finished did I think about the practicalitles of a child's toy that is made from dry clean only wool tweed and stuffed with pudding rice! Hmm hopefully we won't have to cross that bridge!

 The tweed was from a charity shop - it cost the grand sum of 50p!  It feels really soft & expensive. THe other fabrics are from a couple of remnant bundles that I bought from FabricRehab a while ago. Although it works out no cheaper than buying of the bolt, they are a great idea if you do lot's of applique or like to make smaller things.  You get to own a range of desinger fabrics without having to buy large quantities.

I googled the tweed fabric and it is a very luxurious blend of wool, cashmere and angora.  I am saving the rest to make myself a bag.

Vintage Linen Quilt update

 

So this was the beginning of my little collection. I now have quite a few traycloths, napkins, tea towels & hankies (all gathered from carboots and charity shops) and have made a start on my Vintage Linen Quilt. I have steered clear of tablecloths as I didn't think that I would have the guts to chop into them!

I forget to follow the instructions so the basket caused me a few problems. I pieced it upside down and it was very fiddly to resolve!

 I currently have hundreds of tiny squares, and half square triangles that I am piecing together to make pinwheels.  I am hoping to use the pinwheels to frame some of the bigger embroidery pieces. I tend to make a couple of pinwheels in between over projects, or if I need a short break from whatever else I might be doing.  Some nights the monotony of sewing those little squares & triangles can be quite therapeutic and other times torture lol!

It is very much a long-term project!  I will need 50 something blocks if I am going to make a quilt big enough for my king-size bed!!! I will be "quilting on the go" and then joining the blocks together.  There is no way my Old Girl could cope with quilting a whole king-size quilt!!!