For sunny moments

...in spring and the rare sunny hours now when it is warm enough to sit outside with a cup of coffee.

Our old cushions were so bleached and worn out so I´ve bought this fabric at IKEA (which is now on sale on our local IKEA store) and started to sew new cushion covers. It looks clean and fresh now again! Today I´ve bought again some meters of the same fabric for the other sun deck and the balcony.

Small things

Most of the time small things are cute just because they are small. Don´t you think so?

Finally I´ve finished Felix socks. I just forgot them and when found in my knitting/crochet basket under the crochet blankets I but them back finished them in one evening. I don´t know why it always takes such impulses for me to finish something and I nearly never stick to one project from beginning to end. I´ve always have so many things going on at the same time and get distracted very fast. But most things get done (somewhen) so it is not a great problem anyway.



Gummistiefelsocken (socks to wear under his rubber boots)

Pattern: free sock pattern from www.garnstudio.com

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 twin in "Indisch Rot"...I used about 30g

Needles: 2.5mm DPN


This is a very basic sock pattern but as the ribbing goes from cuff to toe at the front it is really stretchy and good fitting on the childs foot.

Valentine day inspired I´ve sewed a little pin cushion because my old one is always too full. Sewed out of scraps, tryed a little applique with zig-zag stitch and stuffed with scraps of wool. The whole project took about 10 minutes from start to finish and is already in use.

Improvisation

and still learning how to sew things.

While browsing the net I found this page and  the tutorial to make this bag. I don´t have such pretty fabric at home, but I wanted to try it out. So I´ve searched for some fabric that is large and dense enough and cut out after my own measuments ( ..I didn´t measure at all, I´ve laid out the fabric and started cutting with the rottary cutter.)

Because I didn´t get it right the first time, I had to rip the seams open and sew all a second time but than I finally understood when to turn the bag and WHERE to sew. Sometimes I need a bit until I totally understand a pattern ;)

 tataaa...my first sling bag!


tutorial for this bag

Theoretically it is totally reversable but I´ve made the pockets only on the white side (which is the lining for me).
So the intention is to use the bag with the yellow flower side outside and the white inside.


Next time I make the sling a bit more narrow because it is a tiny bit to wide for me. But for the first time it is fine and I´m sure it will get a lot of use in summer.



Because I always wanted a roll for my knitting needles to carry them around safe I searched for some inspiration to sew a needle roll case. I´ve found some, but nothing really exactly how I wanted mine to be. On google I´ve searched for "needle case, knitting needle organizer, sewing pattern". 


I want a roll to but the most used needles and some notions I might need into, so when I go on vacation or drive somewhere I have the essentials with me. The most needles are still in the rolls and storage systems I have for them, but I like to be prepared if going away.

So after Felix was in bed I´ve started to cut and sew and came up with my own needle home for "away-from-home".

all fabrics are leftovers or little scraps I had at home

stitch markers are on a safety pin and the little sissors have a place one their own

all rolled up and ready to go

I´ve started with measuring out the hight I would need by laying a long knitting needle on the fabric. Then I´ve cutted 2 pieces of the large fabric. The hight of the pockets I measured the same way, just by laying out the needles and using the fabric double to get a bit more strenght. The ribbons and trims are just because I like them. The back ribbon that holds the roll together is double the wide of the roll plus about 20 cm (that is the lengh the ribbon had, so I could use it up). It is a good lenght because I can wind it 2 times around the packed roll.
Adding the batting was a bit tricky as I did it the first time but it worked somehow and now I have my very own needle roll.

A sunny weekend full of sewing

This weekend was wonderful warm and sunny and we got a taste of spring here.

We enjoyed the warm hours in the afternoon outside and found the first flowers of the year.








The late afternoons and evenings when the kids were playing or sleeping I´ve started to sew a little. I had the idea of a special bag in mind and until I couldn´t try it out, there was no peace for me ....

A "bag-set" for me. The large one is lined with the same fabric the little pouches are made of. One is for coins and one for make-up and small stuff to prevent from getting lost in the large bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She loves that owl print and the bag is fully reversable, so she can use it depending on her mood.

Crazy patchwork .....

or how to sew a first blanket in one afternoon.



Yesterday I had a really crazy patchwork afternoon. Some time ago I´ve bought some fabric pieces on ebay and 2 days ago the finally arrived. You remember I want to try out all that patchwork quilting stuff? So I´ve washed and dryed the fabric pieces, ironed and measured them. I´ve decided to cut them 22 x 22 cm. On my sewing machine I´ve measured 1 cm and made a line with the pencil, so that my seams would (should) be all 1 cm and the final squares 20 cm each.

the pieces layed out flat on the floor as a plan for the finished blanket

 

 

The plan was fine and I´ve started sewing 5 pieces long stripes....than sewed the stripes together (forgot to print out the above pic and was too much in my sewing fewer to look at the laptop)....

that´s how it lookes when all pieces were joined :)

Unfortunatly I had not batting. Driving to the next town was no option and waiting some days was nothing I´d like to. I wanted to make it NOW. So I´ve decided to sew a patchwork blanket instead of a quilted blanket. I had one of the cheap and thin IKEA fleece blankets here and layed the patchwork on it and the size was fine.

patchwork layed out on the fleece blanket

with small needles I´ve pinned them together

and sewed along the seams to join the two layers

I´ve cut the fleece blanke  about 4 cm from the edge and pinned it down to get a 2 cm border

Looks nice and clean

tata....the finished blanket!

It might not be the best sewed or perfect seamed patchwork blanket around but I´m so proud I´ve made it all by myself :)

A wonderful Friday to you and don´t let your creativity limit by your skills!!!

Today in my CD player

I´ve watched the DVD uncountable times and after the LP was broken I´ve bought the CD some years ago....and still from time to time I have the urge to listen to HAIR.

Let love guide you and have a wonderful day :)

A new week

and some new ideas and projects were wandering around in my mind lately. I´d love to learn how to sew a Quilt. I´ve always loved all those pretty pictures of hand made, colourful, bright, prescious Quilts. Online I´ve bought two books and in the evenings I´m now studying them.

I knew myself well and know that hand sewing a quilt is nothing for me. I´m not patient enough, don´t have so much discipline and uhhhh ohhh so many little stitches by hand!!! So machine quilting it will be for me. I found out that one should have a  special foot for the machine which I don´t have (obvious) but we will see.

I would prefer to use cotton batting, but couldn´t find any in the fabric stores I visited last week so I´ve bought a half meter of Acryl batting that the saleswoman recommended for quilting.


So taaaataaaaaaaa.....my first quilted item! A chair pad!

 I´m happy how it turned out. It is very thin and really tight quilted so that the batting doesn´t shift around inside. The quilting worked well (so far) with my regular presser foot, but this is no "free form quilting" just sewing around in circles ;)

And because it was so nice and the machine worked fine today.... A drawstring bag (from the bag book) for David and his sports stuff for school.

And because at the evenings when the little one is sleeping I can´t sew and have to do something with a bit less noise than my sewing machine, I´ve casted on for some simple socks that Felix can wear under his rubber boots. The yarn is Wollmeise twin in Indisch Rot. He chose the yarn and colour when I showed him the box with the sockyarn and asked him which one he wants for his new socks.

A wonderful day to you.