Resolved to Sew 2012

There's a fantastic giveaway - lots of suppliers have put up some really great things - being offered by Ali of Very Berry Handmade who asks us to consider our sewing resolutions for this year.   This made me realise that Doing More Stuff is really too vague and I need definite goals!

So:  this year I WILL:

• Make a quilt to cover the living room sofa using this.....

...or maybe this....

• Make a wonky star cushion cover 
• Find a suitable use for these pieces of 1950s and 60s loveliness  .....

• Hone my (basic) paper piecing skills - and I have a project in mind.  I suddenly had an idea the other night for a paper-pieced crab, I don't know why, and spent a lot of time yesterday trying to work out how I would do such a thing.  Here are my sketches. 

 I was quite taken with the way the crab makes a natural hexagon - I guess it would have to be a hexalog-c(r)abin? (groan)

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway!

It's been a long time since I have posted and I don't have anything to report on the making front.  How anyone manages to stay creative over the holidays in between all the festive cooking, and eating, and family visits and colds and snuffles I don't know!  On the other hand, I have managed to make a handful of new fabric purchases which are looking at me reproachfully and begging to be used.

I've also been catching up with other blogs and was interested in Cozy Homemaking's post about Wabi Sabi - the Japanese art of finding beauty and fascination in simple and not necessarily perfect things.  I have added the book mentioned in the post to my self-improvement pile, but when I had a look on Amazon I couldn't resist this one.


It's lovely and gets the point across!  Now I'm really inspired by this idea.   I'd love to know where other people are finding inspiration at the moment.

My main New Year's Resolution is, as usual, to Do More Stuff and of course the cooking and eating, visits, colds and sniffles are just excuses.  I've been thinking about what holds you back from being creative and come to the conclusion that there are three main things:

[adopt whiney voice]
 my quilt is going to be awful!  (cowardice and fear of failure)
which fabrics am I going to use?! (indecision)
suppose I go off this pattern half way through?!   - perhaps better expressed by my daughter as "the problem is, I like buying material, I just don't like cutting it up"! (fear of commitment)

What's going to help in the coming year is the fact that I struck very lucky and was one of the first three people to sign up for a Pay It Forward offered by Laura at Needles Pins and Baking Tins.  Of course this means that in due course I have committed to PIF to three other people, and that I'm going to have to get my creative finger out.  This is a fearsome incentive!

Happy New Year!

Festive Wishes

In my family it was a tradition to make table decorations every Christmas, the essential ingredients being red and white carnations and any bits of greenery we could salvage from round about.  Sprogs One and Two made these yesterday, after a profitable and unusually bicker-free walk along the old railway path.

Happy Christmas and a big Thank You! to all the friendly and encouraging bloggers I've had the pleasure to encounter this year.

Amy Butler Snowflakes, 2nd attempt

First thing this morning,  I had another go at the snowflakes.  This time I used button stitch round the edge instead of zigzag and, as Amy suggested, I left more of an allowance round the edge which I trimmed off afterwards.  These ones are much neater.  I also stuffed them, so didn't use a stabiliser as suggested by Katie, but I definitely would have acted on this otherwise as I'm sure this would have helped with the fraying. Thank you both for your advice!

Instead of hanging them on a cord, Sprog One thought we should turn them into a mobile, which we did using a couple of pieces of driftwood.  I just couldn't get a decent photo of the whole thing and the one I did get is slightly marred by the open bottle of wine (hic!) and attractive central heating boiler. It does look quite jolly and festive!

Advice please!

Kind people out there in the blogosphere, will someone give me some advice?!

I was looking at my fabric bits and pieces and found this remnant of Amy Butler Daisy Chain

It occurred to me that the motif is like a little snowflake (I'm really into snowflakes just now!)

So I had the idea to cut two of them out, and sew them together using a very small zigzag stitch.  I thought perhaps I could make several and hang them from some cord.

I think it's quite cute, but the stitching is a mess... It's irregular and the edges are whiskery.  Am I using the wrong stitch?  The wrong kind of foot?  Would it only be possible to do using a serger?  It was a bugger very difficult thing to sew round all the corners and I'd be so grateful for any suggestions.

Lined Drawstring Bags II

Having now had bags of practice (sorry!) I've actually managed to get another two finished today for my own children to put their Christmas present dolls' quilt sets in.

I was whizzing along feeling (over) confident until I realised that in one bag I had omitted to leave two gaps in the seams where the drawstrings should be inserted.  Luckily it did eventually occur to me that all I had to do was sew two lines round the bag as per the tutorial, with some extra backstitching as I crossed the side seams to secure them, and then very carefully cut through the seams at the point where the gaps should have been.

Again I can't recommend this tutorial highly enough - these bags are so satisfying to make and I'm already thinking about how my next ones could be embellished.