claiming my blog on Bloglovin

Sorry nothing to see here just a random picture of cake as I'm claiming my blog on Bloglovin. This has been on my to do for so long now, thought I'd do it before I forget again!!

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  See you soon with a real post.

bargain bag patterns

Michelle Patterns is retiring some of her bag patterns so right now you can get 8 patterns for just $5!!! 

The patterns included are:

• Bracelet Bag
• Cross-Body Bag
• Laptop Sleeve
• Pocket Clutch
• Messenger Bag
• Fold-Over Clutch
• Zip Clutches
• Inset Zip Clutch and Pouch

That's a load of cracking patterns for a bargain price. I especially love the Cross-Body Bag and The Messenger Bag. I've made the Messenger Bag twice now and I'm just about to make another one. I borrowed the Melody Miller version I made for my daughter for a trip into Edinburgh last weekend but she wants it back so now I need to make my own.

I hope you're having a nice weekend, it's a bit dreich here today so some sewing is in order I think.

Bye for now

Caught up at last

 

I'm on a roll this week :) I've finally caught up on the Sisters' ten BOM and it feels goood! April's block is called Lady of the Lake. I had planned to use my long lost thangles to make the small HST's for these blocks but when I looked at them properly I noticed that they were for 2" units not 2.5" needed, duh!! 

Anyway not to worry, here are all the blocks so far. Now I need to make some headway on the Lucky Stars BOM, especially since May's block just popped up in my email this morning.

Bye for now

birthday time again

This weekend it was Jamie's 6th Birthday and he had several requests and included amongst the Skylander and Minecraft  pleas came one for a Ninja t-shirt and the now expected birthday t-shirt. I started making these t-shirts when he was 3 (wish I'd thought of the idea before then) and he's no idea how pleased I was to hear him request I make him one again this year. I wonder how long this will last?

I thought I'd try a new pattern this year so I gave the Dolman Top pattern by Amanda at Kitschy Coo a try and I'm thrilled that I did. I'm hoping to try out some of her kids knit fabrics soon as they're really funky and organic too. The grey and navy fabric I used for this one came from Tissu Fabrics.

The top comes together really quickly and I even tried using my overlocker/serger to apply the neck band. I've always used my sewing machine for this bit before as that's what was recommended in my usual pattern and also because I was a bit scared to use the overlocker.

Each year I have to remember how I deal with knit fabric after mostly only working with wovens the rest of the year. I'd not used a twin needle before but it's really rather good although I'm planning on getting a stretch rather than ball point version next time as I did get a few skipped stitches. In theory if you've turned up an even hem when you use the twin needle as it forms the stitch on the inside of the hem it should cover the raw edge of the fabric. It mostly did but obviously my hem wasn't totally even on the inside as I managed to miss a section. Unpicking on knit fabric is not as easy as on woven so rather than unpick I stitched and extra row.

Since I already had everything set up I thought I'd make another one and use up the last of the Ninja fabric I bought as part of a fabric co-op a few years ago. This time I used a single needle but a stretch rather than a ballpoint one and no skipped stitches at all - Yay!! 

In this version I added the neck band in the same way as the cuff bands which worked fine. It's definitely easier to apply the neck band as written in the pattern but as I only have white thread on the overlocker it does show a little at the band join at the top but that me just being a fuss pot.

I made size 5/6 and there's room to grow even with Jamie being six but not so much as too make it too big. I used my overlocker to sew the seams and my sewing machine for all the top stitching. On the sewing machine in both cases I used woolly nylon in the bobbin, poly in the needle, lengthened the straight stitch to 3.5, reduced the top tension slightly to 4 and also the presser foot tension to 3. I wound the woolly nylon on the machine rather than by hand as is often recommended and it worked just fine.

I'm now thinking I might actually tackle a knit top for myself soon as I've had the Renfrew pattern stashed for a while now - we'll see.

Anyhow enough about t-shirts and back to the birthday boy. This year was his first (and last for quite some time) big party and he had an absolute ball. A very noisy and energetic time was had by all and nobody clashed heads or received any injuries in the soft play area so it's all good.

Of course you know there's a cake picture to finish this post so here it is. For those who don't know it's a creeper cake based on the Minecraft game that my eldest plays, of course Jamie wants to be the same as big bro so I endulged him. It's not a  pretty cake but then I guess a creeper shouldn't be pretty.

As an aside Minecraft images are all pixel based so ideal for conversion into quilts...

Bye for now

more flea market fancy blocks

I'm almost caught up on the Sisters' Ten BOM, only April to do and I had to hold off on them as I needed more kona white. I am kidding myself that this quilt won't really cost me much to make as I already had the FMF stashed but of course I still need to buy background/sashing and as usual I've totally not counted in backing fabric...

Anyway here are the blocks for March made from a block called School Girl's Puzzle. I'm not really that sold on the pink fabric, a bit too sugary for me but I'm going with it anyway.



April's block is Lady of the Lake and there are loads of hsts to be made so I think I'll be trying out the Thangles that I bought ages ago from M is for Make. Lots of folks were raving about them at the time but I put them in a safe place and yes you guessed it I then couldn't find them! I discovered them again the other day so I reckon I'd better use them before they go into hiding again.

Bye for now

sewing again

Hi there folks I hope you're all doing fine. After what seems like months I'm back at the sewing machine.... yay, yay and thrice yay!! Kirstin is back to full fitness, the Easter Holidays are done and dusted, the return to 'normal' has begun.

First up this week was a present for my brother's birthday which is on Friday  He requested a slip cover for his Nexus 7 and unusually for me I had it made and posted at the beginning of the week. It should be well on the way to Shetland by now - no picture just now so as not to spoil the surprise.





I have quite a bit of catching up to do on the Block of the Month front so first up this week were the February blocks for the Sisters' Ten BOM.





I really enjoyed doing these, I knew I'd missed sewing but not just how much until I got started again on these. The novelty of the automatic thread cutter on my new-ish machine still hasn't worn off and weirdly I actually loved pinning and pressing these blocks too.

This is a quick post to get me back into the swing of things plus I've got to collect Jamie from Anchor Boys so off I dash, see you soon.

Happy sewing!

Bye for now

 

The Stitch Gathering

It's still a bit quiet here, my daughter is still not up to going back to school so we're still hunkered down at home. As yet I just can't seem to build enthusiasm for sewing just now so my poor sewing machine is feeling totally neglected.

However one announcement did get me all fired up and that's the tickets goings on sale for The Stitch Gathering Yay! This is a one day modern quilting retreat organised by Jo at My Bearpaw, there's workshops, swaps, goody bags and an after party all happening in Edinburgh. Take a look at the teachers for the workshops, you might just recognise a few.

All this and a chance to meet up with other sewing fanatics, I said 'yes please don't mind if I do' and snapped up a ticket. So are you going? I can't wait!

Bye for now