Month: February 2007

planned projects, sewing, sewing room, work in progress

Cot quilts finished – yay!

I have FINALLY completed the four cot quilts I was making from vintage chenille – I patched them together, did some applique, then backed it with flanelette and used a layer of pellon inbetween.  I am quite pleased with the finished results (and will post photos later) although I can’t claim credit for the idea – there seem to be lots of chenille patchwork quilts around on eBay at the moment, although I got the idea from the one I bought at the Daylesford market about eight years ago!  Clare really loves it, so I thought that I’d better make another for the new bub – and ended up making four!  I’ll give one to cousin Sally for her new baby girl, and will decide on which we’ll keep and which other to gift once I’ve had this one. 

 My other sewing has all been inside my head – lots of planning going on, but not much actual sewing.  I’ve also been doing lots of mental sewing room planning, as it won’t be long now until the renovations are complete and I have a huge sewing room with amazing cupboards to put everything in!  The other time-waster (is it a waste?) has been blog-surfing on the net and building up an ever-growing wishlist on Amazon for craft/sewing books.  And I’d love to figure out just how to get my hands on some of those beautiful Japanese craft and sewing books and magazines!

Off to my nephew’s birthday party now – no time to sew, let alone blog!

by thornberry
bags, children's clothing, sewing

I can do photos

Well, I think that I can!  Hopefully these are the photos of the previously-mentioned creations (and a few extras just for fun).

First some bags!

   

This Chenille Bag is made from vintage chenille (broke lots of machine needles sewing this one). 

This one was a very simple bag which I lined (no lining in the pattern) but it could have done with interlining and/or some wadding.

This bag is a surprise for my sister-in-law’s birthday so I hope she doesn’t read this blog first – it’s the first I’ve made of this type with handles.

This big bag is for me and actually does hold the myriad of items that I am likely to carry around.  It’s an Amy Butler fabric with an acrylic suiting, and is fully interfaced and lined with a Michael Miller fabric which happened to go very nicely!

 

The hobo bag is from my friend Nikki’s pattern!  You can find it on http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/.

And just for fun, some chenille cupcakes.

 

These come in a kit from the fantastic Polka Dot Chenille on Australian eBay http://stores.ebay.com.au/Polka-Dot-Chenille – Gorgeous!

I recently did quite a lot of sewing for Clare – so here are some examples!  Retro Green Outfit, since I loved the fabric, Asian Toile Dress, which she seems to particularly like and wore for her fourth birthday, and the Cherry Dress (which I really like – I’ve made a matching headband since, thanks to the instructions from Hi My Name is Heather blog, which I will link to once I work out how).  And Clare’s current favorite, the Apple Outfit.

Enjoy!

by thornberry
bags, planned projects, work in progress

Hello world!

Hi there family & friends & anyone else who could possibly be interested!

 So, here is my first blog post!  I recently discovered craft and sewing blogs (and love the way that one leads to another and another and another . . . ) so here I am finally starting my own!  I’ll try to concentrate on sewing and craft, but am likely to digress as much in writing as I do in the spoken word.

So, I still need to find out how to link to other posts and websites, but I’ll get there!  While not completely technologically inept, I’m not quite geeky enough to be good at this yet.  Another thing to learn (and another thing to waste my minimal free time on).

So, a starting point!  Since I mainly started this blog to share with the sewing and crafting communities, I’ll start with some projects I’ve been working on (or am planning t0 work on).  I’ll need to work out flickr or something like that to get the photos happening as well!

I’ve just started making bags.  First one was a chenille bag, made with gorgeous vintage chenille from Polka Dot Chenille on Australian eBay, followed by a couple of others in Amy Butler and Michael Miller fabrics.  I’ve finally found a shop nearby that sells these beautiful prints!  I can tell where my money is going to vanish to, but I’m still envious of the readily available fabrics and trims in the USA – it is so much more limited here.  I probably need to buy more online!  Lucky for me, I’ve also just become a bag tester for a friend Nikki who designs bags.  I really enjoyed the process of following a new pattern through and really concentrating so I could give good feedback.  Her shop is at http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/ if anyone is interested!

Now to get onto finishing the four (!) patchwork chenille quilts (only cot-sized) that I have recently pieced and appliqued.  I only need to sew on the batting and backing, so should have done it by now! 

I also have a tub full of other projects to do – including two aprons for daughter Clare (she’s 4), pyjamas, a blouse for me (cut out 2 years ago) and a dress for Clare.  Not to mention the embroidered dress I haven’t started, yet more bags, other crafty items, and hopefully soon more clothes for me!  Baby number 2 is due in May, so I won’t need new clothes in a hurry.

Thats probably enough for now!  I’d better go and work out what to do with photos, links, etc.  Until next time!

by thornberry