Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas, and all the best for 2016 - especially the best fabrics, tools, gadgets, inspiration and *plenty* of sewing time!!

Done in December

How many sleeps until Christmas?  Really?  It still feels like about October: partly as the weather is so mild, but also the time is going past soooo quickly!

I have managed some sewing in the last week or so:

I did some secret selvedge sewing

from this magazine

I did some machine embroidery: A friend bought three identical stockings for her three daughters - could I stitch their names on.  Its really difficult to sew onto a completed stocking, so we discussed alternatives, and name tags seemed the best alternative:

 And I made some replacement medical bags for school.  4 years ago I made these

One for each class: to keep inhalers and EpiPens in so they can be easily grabbed when needed, and can go with the class on trips etc. One bag was falling apart, and another was now too small (so many more children with inhalers) so I made a new set using Svetlana's design

Today's project is the perfect pillowcase!  I used this 'Hotdog' method yesterday, and whilst her instructions are excellent, and I ended up (will end up) with a fab pillowcase with no raw edges,

It also doesn't have that extra bit of fabric that keeps the pillow inside the pillowcase.

Sometime over night I thought of a way to combine this design with what I want - watch this space.

I also have a Christmas sack to make for a customer - better get cracking!

Fiddlesticks and Flipflops (or other F words)

Having completed my last assembly line of named zippy pouches, I thought of some more that I wanted to make

I embroidered them and then started the assembly, making sure I didn't cut off the end of the zip with the zip pull!  I actually congratulated myself on sewing up over 25 of these without messing up a zip . . .

When . . . guess what I noticed!

Frances and Lindsey's zips are on the lining not the outside!

 

and which are the first two I need to hand out? - like in about an hour?  Sigh, do you think they'll believe its a special design?

Kids' Crafty Church

It was Kids' Crafty Church today - I put the tables on the pew backs and put craft stuff on all the tables, then had a few minutes rest before the first people arrived

 

I managed to get a 'during' photo with some of the (are you sitting down?) thirty one people who came, yes, 31 - by far the best attendance, and especially just before Christmas!!!

 

I was rushing around, and didn't get many photos of the making, but did snap these two

 

 

Hope you had a good Saturday!!!

 

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Just what I needed

After a stressed few days I  met up with some old friends last night.  Four of us worked together over 20 years ago; one is now 500 miles away and we miss her, but the other 3 of us try and meet up every few months.

It was just the tonic I needed - food, plonk, chat, gossip, moans, great advice, good friends, and crafting as well

Thank you ladies!  Love you

Boxes of Bags

We have a Secret Santa arrangement at the Christmas party with my husband's family:  the names are allocated when we meet up in the summer, and we exchange gifts on Boxing Day.

However I also like to get a little something for everyone.  Usually something pretty for the girls and something silly for the boys (all the girls get the same thing and all the boys get the same thing)

This year one of the girls has asked for fine liners, so I thought I would make her a pencil case as well, but that idea grew until that became the 'all the girls' gift!  Boring blue on the outside, with their name and a zip in a bright colour

 And then a funky lining in the same bright colour

 I finished them today

and they are all boxed up ready for wrapping

But I still had some more time free, and Jackie asked me to do plenty of sewing for the two of us as she's not able to sew at the moment, so Jackie - I made a whole load more!  These are grey with red zips and red lining . . .

. . . for a whole load of colleagues at school!

I think it's safe to say I'm happy doing zips now!

Simple Subtraction

This

 

Minus this

 

Equals this!

 

 

 

 

 

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Bags, Bleugh, and Boring

I've been making some zippy bags for friends, it was fun putting bright zips and lining with black fabric

 

There is some embroidery on the bags, but it didn't photograph too well - gorgeous Jewel colours though

 

I haven't done much else either IN the sewing room, or TO the sewing room in the last week or so as I've been feeling bleugh - cough, cold, temperature, not sleeping. . . generally yuck! And when I have felt up to doing something I've been trying to reduce this pile of shirts waiting to be embroidered

 

As a final pic (hopefully not too many readers get this far) this is my hair today - tomorrow there will be less of it

 

let's hope it's successful and I don't don't spend the next year growing it out!

 

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Weigh to Go

I've been going to Slimming World for about a year, and I've lost a stone; its not a fantastic weight loss, but I was pleased with it, and it's a lovely group so I enjoy the meetings.

We do a raffle, and every week we used to flaff around looking for somewhere to put the money and the tickets, so a while ago I made two drawstring bags

My consultant's line manager saw them and asked me to make her a set too

And could I make a set of weights as well?

The idea is that if someone is despondent that they've only lost 1 or 2 pounds in a week they can pick up the appropriate bag and realise how much less they are carrying around - they add up to a stone, so I made a 1 stone bag too - and, now that I've had to carry it all to the car for the meeting,  I'm feeling much better about my weight loss, flipping heck, 14 pounds is heavy!!!!

So this week, if you'll excuse the pun (which only works in the UK), I've made pounds, I've earned pounds, and hopefully I've lost a few as well!!!

Woolly Weekend

Today I'm going to link with Janine's Wool on Sunday posts. I have finally finished my crochet fingerless gloves

But let's compare them to the ones that Jackie knitted for me

I think *one* pair can go to the homeless, and the other pair I'll carry on using in the car every morning, you don't need me to specify which pair is which do you?

Another woolly wonder - the girls pulled Alice's hood (snood? Cowl?) down yesterday, and discovered even more attention to detail - look at this fab plait,

And look how I often wear my hair!

And finally, my thermofax screen arrived yesterday, so as soon as I clear some other work (preschool uniforms, tshirt for a friend, weight bags for slimming world, two I spy quilts, etc) I want to have a play!

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Weekend, Workroom and WOW!

It's the weekend, yay!!!  I've hardly managed any midweek sewing, so hopefully the weekend will be more productive!

My new workroom is almost finished.  I still have lots of Lisa's stuff in here as she's decorating her 'new' room, so mine should get better, but here are a few photos for now.

Although the room is bigger I've got less storage as there is more low level stuff rather than to-the-ceiling stuff.  I've gone for a standing workbench so I don't need to plan in space for a chair.  I spend much of the time at school slumped at a desk, so this may improve my posture too!

 

And this (rather gorgeous) fabric arrived today, wrapped around my WOW.

Actually that's wrong, it was wrapped around my

WOW 

 No, still not right, one more try ... wrapped around my  

    

Meet Grandma Alice Fawkes!  She has been created by the amazingly talented Janine who blogs over at RainbowHare and has been entrusted to me to be loved and looked after!  Oh Janine - I do and I will!!!

Alice was blogged about here - which happened to be on Janine's Grandmother (Alice)'s birthday, and Guy Fawkes Night here in the UK, so you can see she was easy to name.

As well as being incredibly well made, she even came with a knitted cardigan and socks and hat, and a beautiful dress made of cotton with needle and thread design on it!

My photos clearly don't do her justice (I should have paid more attention to Katy's online photography lessons) but I have found some trinkets that are about her size

And I even found her a rocking chair and some EPP she can be getting on with!

Janine - you are awesome!!!!!!