Finding joy in the everyday

Kathy's quilt Finally done . . . it has been a labour of love, a special gift for a dear friend.  I have enjoyed making it, but there have been times when I doubt my abilities and thought it wasn't good enough to give someone. Some people sew with such confidents, I am not one of them.  These are Kathy's favourite colours so I am sure she will like it regardless. 

I am a fan of mug rugs: they are quick to make, fun, use up scraps of fabric, inexpensive and you can be as creative as you like. There are so many wonderful mug-rugs about, it can be hard deciding what to make!! If you are not familiar with mug-rugs, just pop onto Pinterest and have a look — there are lots and lots to look at. I find that they make great gifts as you can customise them for the person you are making it for and its easy to post long distances.  The one below is for a young lady who has just turned 11. I made one for her mother, which she uses as a place mat. This one for Miss H has been enlarged (the original pattern was quite small) to make it more suitable as a place mat. I have been wanting to learn how to do "free-motion" quilting and thought it might be good to start on something small, such as this mug-rug !! I am not great at it—but with practice I think I will improve — slowly !! *****

DISAPPEARING NINE PATCH I made it, my first quilt is completed and given to its new owner, my sister-in-law. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I could do this, but I did!!! Set your mind on something and you can achieve almost anything.  This is how it all started back in winter. It has taken me sometime to do, I didn't rush and I did have moments (or weekends) of self doubt, but I went on regardless and made it to the end.  Laying out the front to measure up the borders and sashing. All the fabric used in the main design is Japanese, I just love Japanese fabric, the colours are so beautiful and rich. Sewing on the binding Having the computer and sewing table/machine nearby is very handy. When I needed to watch a youtube clip of how to bind around corners, I could watch the clip, turn my chair and follow the instructions.  I quite enjoy hand sewing, it is relaxing and peaceful. I did this with classical music playing in th...

Its my friends birthday next week and I wanted to make her something special so I made these lavender bags for her clothing. I am really pleased with the end result and I do like the purple and green fabric.  I love handmade gifts, it shows that the giver has gone to a lot of effort to make something unique, just for you.  Once upon-a-time it was completely normal to make gifts for friends and family.  Only the rich could afford to buy and give gifts, no one else had money to waste. Women would spent their evenings sewing, knitting, embroidering, crocheting to make all sorts of wonderful things to give to others. Each piece was made with love and care. Often the items were practical such as clothing, but they also make pretty doilies, tablecloths and quilts that were then passed down the family.  Men made items out of wood - toys for the children and pretty jewellery boxes for their wives.  Even after a busy day, they still found the time to handcraft g...

Since I started sewing almost 2 years ago, I have been building my pattern collection so I have a range of different outfits I can try my hand at. With McCalls/Butterick's having a pattern sale this week, I thought I would spoil myself and buy 4 new patterns. Whilst it can be difficult to find feminine clothing in the store, there are plenty of modern patterns that are lovely and feminine and you can alter the hem length, neckline or add sleeves if you so wish.  I am still a novice at dressmaking but I am willing to trying things that perhaps are out of my comfort zone. A few months ago I lined a dress and was so pleased with the end result I will certainly do it again - in fact I surprised myself with how well it worked. Youtube is an excellent source for sewing tips and tutorials. My next sewing project will be one of the dressers below - they all look great for summer and very suitable for work. To help with my sewing and hopefully do away with the need to buy some...

I would like to introduce you to my very first guest writer - Miss Holly. Miss Holly is 10 years old and my cousin's granddaughter.  She is homeschooled along with her brother. One of her hobbies is sewing and she is very talented. I thought I would ask her to share some of her projects that she has been working on which may encourage other young women and girls to sew. As Holly says, sewing allows you to make your own clothes, but as you will see in this blog post, you can also make gifts for others too.  I hope you enjoy this blog post. HANDCRAFT SKILLS I love sewing.  I think it is an important skill for young girls to start learning at about the age of 8 (or younger if they can), and use that skill for the rest of their life.  It is important because you can’t always buy clothes that are modest or the right size.  Also, when you buy something you can’t really pick the colour of the fabric, or the print.  You can’t really pick whe...

Block one of my nine block sampler is complete - Ohio Star.  This one has been hand stitched and I am not the world's best hand sewer but nevertheless it has turned out quite well for a beginner.  Mid way through this I started to dislike the colours - until I placed the centre fabric then it all looked so much better.  I can already see one error that I need to fix. The remaining quilt will be machined sewed so it should become easier and quicker. This is such pretty fabric For those wanting to know what we have learnt in the quilting class: firstly we learnt to draft our own patterns (on large graph paper). From this we cut out the shapes to use to draw around on the fabric.  Once I have drawn around the shape, I use my 1/4 inch ruler to draw an outline. This is the line I cut.  Pencil lines on the fabric Building the pattern.  ****