Sock wreath

I can't claim credit at all for this, but on tootling round the internet, as you do, I found the instructions for making a sock wreath.
Sock wreath
I'm sure that orkneyflowers at The Wind and the Wellies would have many stripey socks that could be put to good use.

I'm thinking that it could make a Christmas wreath.  Green, red, various strips etc.  So off to the Pound Shop I'll go and see what I can salvage.

Still been making things!

I haven't posted for ages, but I've made all sorts of different things, mainly just as trial runs.

But I'm attempting to keep more of a record, especially as I give most things away.

So here are a few of the things I've been up to recently.

Lots of little felt makes, including this cupcake

And these...

I started to make a skirt...then abandoned it

But it was finished eventually!

This scrap of patchwork

Became a tea cosy for the lovely Fay at Wind and the Wellies (also on Facebook )

I also, finally, made the cushion cover that I won in a giveaway from Seamstar

Remember the cute elephant fabric?   

Well it became a quilt for a work colleague going on maternity leave.

And she's recently posted a photo of the new baby in his pram covered with the quilt. It's nice to see something being used.

So here's the cushion, in pride of place on an antique chair.

Final photo is a coaster, out of the teapot fabric. I made a few of these and Cheri at Cwtchcorner uses hers for her work mug.

Teapots and elephants

Sometimes it just has to be done. 

Despite having a fabric stash that would keep most people happy for a while, I was tempted by this

when in Abakhan on Sunday. Who can resist a fabric covered I teapots?

Now I really went to get some fabric to finish a cot quilt, so no idea how it found its way into my basket.  But if I was buying the teapots,  I needed a contrast colour, so I then bought this

and have made a couple of these, one of which I gave to a friend earlier.

I've also been making a cot quilt, which was the original reason for my visit. I needed something to break up the green and ended up with some lemon cotton, although still jot sure how it's going to fit in with the elephants.

But how cute are they?

And there's more!

This time last year, give or take a day or two, I remember writing about my little jasmine, that had finally decided to flower.

Well after another year of neglect, it has done it again, and WOW!

I can't say the same for the rest of it, but I've the beginning of a pink

..and a tomato!

Vintage inspired blouse

Although I've altered a few things to fit, and have made a couple of tops, they've been simple vest tops to wear with suit jackets, and I was inspired by Beth at Liverpool Sewing Club to look at bluegingerdoll.

The patterns are easy for beginners, although some knowledge is needed if you have to make adjustments, but there are very good instructions and some sew-a-longs on the blog.

I was inspired by this material that I'd spotted in a shop in Wadebridge

Having purchased the pattern, the next thing to do was put it together. This is something like a giant jigsaw puzzle!

The finished blouse

Finished off with some covered buttons

I had to fiddle about with the facing and the darts a bit - my plus size shape is difficult to cater for - but I'm quite pleased with the understitching on the facing. I've never tried it before, and it gave a really neat finish.

A bit of practice before playing with my parcel

Having won a prize draw, for the first time ever, I waited for my parcel to arrive from Seamstar

Little box, small enough to go through the letter box

How cute is that?

(It didn't really come with a pack of needles, I couldn't find a marker pen to blank out my address)

Opened the parcel, and all this amazing stuff was packed into the little box

And there was my cushion making kit.
Full contents are:-
6 charm squares
wadding and calico - for the lining
Linen - for the squares and the backing
invisible zip
piping
bias binding
instruction card

But...before I started I remembered that my cutting isn't that accurate.  So, first things first, new blade in the rotary cutter and some practising on cheap fabric.

Wow! Such a difference, and so much easier.

Ready to go!
One of the good things about modern machines, and I've no idea why this is, is that you can sew off the edge of the fabric. Not like my ancient Singer where you have to sew on fabric or risk breaking it forever.

Which means you can put the pieces together and feed them into the machine one after the other.  The end result is ...

A string of joined together squares which then get joined together to make something else.  The hard part is matching the corners. Of course, if you've cut accurately, and your seams are all the same, this isn't a problem.......but this is the real world, and even the best get it wrong occasionally ;/

The instructions say to sew in rows, but I think its easier to sew in blocks and then join strips to the block, it helps accuracy, especially for someone like me who's a bit haphazard (after all I only found out from watching the Sewing Bee that you should iron as you go along!)

Some fairly accurately cut squares and matched up corners.

Better than my later attempt at half square triangles. In my defence I normally hand stitch patchwork pieces if they're small, and have never really worked out accurate 1/4 inch seams on my sewing machine. For squares, it doesn't really matter, so long as all the seams are the same, but a fraction out on triangles makes all the difference.

At least it was some cheap fabric purchased from EBay for precisely this purpose.

More practice required.

100 Happy Days Week 2

Well, there've been a few days without an actual tagged post, but I've taken the photo, or remembered to make a note of something, so I'm considering that to be a plus.

Day 8

Some Ebay bargains - a Martha Stewart punch and some new mirror card, to bring that extra something to my crafting.  A happy afternoon sat crafting with a glass of wine in hand.

Day 9

Sunday was such a lovely day and I was pottering round my little yard, when I looked up and saw this growing out of the wall.  I had no idea what it was, but I'm reliably informed that its a foxglove.

Day 10

Well actually, it was late on Sunday, but I only found out on Monday...

I got a tweet saying I'd won a giveaway on Instagram  thanks to following a few links in blogs , in particular thanks to Sarah at Sew Little to Say and her pointer to @fairyfacedesigns and I found my way to Seamstar

There was also something I couldn't take a photo of. While at Liverpool Sewing Club, there was the most AMAZING thunder storm, probably directly overhead, and I just LOVE storms!

Day 11

This is really random, I was searching for a pair of shoes under my bed, as you do, and pulled out a box of books, and found this treasure. Its got a foreword by Laura Ashley 9who passed away in 1985) , and is dated 1982.  Some of the eighties photos are worthy of keeping just for the fun!

I remember having lots of Laura Ashley fabrics around, and in fact my friend who was married in 1982 wore a Laura Ashley wedding dress.

Day 12

Service stations are normally dull places, but a visit to Warwick services was brightened up by finding flowers in the loos.

Day 13

My parcel arrived!

And here are some of the contents which became my day 14 post. I love getting parcels in the post, they're not surprises, but there's something special about opening and emptying out the contents.

Really looking forward to making my cushion