Some hand sewing

So surprisingly I've been working on some stuff lately. I know, right? :)

I finished my super secret projects, and also another one just came along as I was reading Valerie's blog, specially this blogpost. She is participating in Kat's blog drive , and while reading her blog I realized it's a great cause, and not much effort to make some blocks. So I did, and forgot to take a picture before I closed the envelope. A real bummer!

BUT... I did take some photos of the other things I've been working on! I went to house/dog/cat/guinea pig/chinchilla sit in the beginning of the month, where I had the evenings to myself alone, which I have to say was quiet nice. Literally.

I had an opportunity to listen to my book (Outlander series), and do some hand stitching without any interruptions. 

I took some 5" squares with me that I've cut previously (planning to take it with me this time). I used Sy, Elsk, Lev's very nicely written tutorial, I highly recommend it! The ornaments came out pretty good!

One takes between 30-35 minutes to make from start to finish, including sewing on the buttons and the hangers. I did the folded parts first, then sewed the buttons and hangers on all of them at the same time.

After I came back home I discovered some new episodes of  Lewis on Amazon prime, and started to watch those, and needed some sewing project at the same time. I found more tutorials to use on my Christmas Crafts Pinterest board. Specifically Katrina's tutorial which I found later via Youtube. These need some machine sewing. I varied the sizes, and made the first one out of 8" circles, then went down to 6" to see what those would look like. I found the 8" ones too big (for my tree at least), but if you usually have a floor to ceiling tree the 8" would look fine. I took a picture of the small ones in the company of the one bigger one for comparison.

Of course since the largest one was the first, I didn't realize I was supposed to use contrasting fabrics. DUH! But at the end I like the way it looks, so I just left it the way it is. 

Here is a close-up of the bigger one:

Finally I wanted to see if I can find some new card designs that I like, so I tried out Stich n sing's Somerset Star card tutorial. It's a bit tedious, but it was worth a try. All I can tell it'll be not the default Christmas card I'll make this year :) I got as far as making the star, will still have to "fix" it to the card stock I'm guessing by stitching...

Finally some Fall photos I took with my phone while walking. I love the colors!

I'll be away this weekend again, and will do some more hand sewing. Stay tuned for more photos!

'Til we blog again! :)

A birthday gift

Sally,  my very dear friend had her birthday last week.  I mentioned in my last post that I was making an apron for her. I was searching for free patterns all over google, but didn't find the type I wanted. So I went to my own apron which I got from my friends 3 years ago,  and thought I could make a pattern from that.  So I did!  It took me several trials and errors,  a few days of cursing trying to figure out what went wrong,  but at the end I did it.  She came over for tea,  and I gave it to her,  she loved it! She is the BEST person to make handmade gifts for,  she appreciates every single one of them. 

I didn't take a picture of the finished item,  but I did one of her wearing it :)

When she saw me making the sewing machine cover, she pointed out how much she loved the fabric, and the argyle patter is her favorite. So I knew it right there I wanted to make something for her birthday, and since She's cooking a lot, I thought an apron would be a good idea :)
Btw... The fabric is from Allison Rosen's (@WithinAQInch) de-stashing, and I'm in love with it. Thankfully she had 3 or 4 yards, so I still have plenty of it left :)))
Next project is super secret-y, I'm done with one, still working on the other. Will post about it when the time has come. I think I'll start my Christmas things after that, I'm gathering ideas for new Christmas cards (I always start too late, so I want to get ahead this year). I'll still have to order some laminated fabrics for the gifts I was planning to make. Wish me luck :)

'Til we blog again! :)

Some new things going on

Yes, it's me, the stranger again... I know :) But I'm not sorry. 

I'm glad to be back to sewing again, I'm planning Christmas presents in my head already. It'll be here before we know it. It always is.

In the meantime I had to get back to sewing as it's the beginning of the school year, and my friend asked me to *gasp* hem 6 pairs of pants for her son for his school uniform. Nothing fancy. It gave me an opportunity to get friendly with my sewing machine again, and also start watching the Outlander series while I was cutting/pinning/sewing.

After I was done I dug up a Youtube video I just watched a few weeks before about making a sewing machine cover. It's by Debbie Shore, link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiHSXZcItXc

I can highly recommend her videos, She is an excellent instructor and makes things seem so easy.

I changed a few things, like I didn't have foam on hand that she was using, so I used the Pellon 809 Decor Bond iron on interfacing. That was the heaviest I had on hand.

Also I made the mistake of hemming the side of the pockets instead of just leaving the raw edges and let them be sewn into the seam allowance. It was a bit more difficult to handle the sewing of the sides, but no major issues. It came out OK, I'm sure it'll be better next time in case I need another one!

The view from the top :)

Handy pockets for scissors, rotary cutters, etc.

A bonus picture of the kitty in the background :) He's on bird watch duty!

I'm working on an apron for my friend's birthday this week, I have an apron that I really like and will use that as a pattern. I've sewn the ties so far :) I will have to cut the pattern out of the fabric and get going. 

That's all for now, I'll be back to post pictures later this week!

'Til we blog again! :)