Wordless Wednesday

Curly Worley Wormy Keychains, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Honey Cowl

Honey Cowl, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

As I am a blogger I cannot show you my face!! My hubby has this theory that if you blog you don't show your face. Which I guess is true, I've only done it a few times and lots of the blogs I read only show partial face! Who wants to see my face?

Finally finished the Honey Cowl. Just in time for the weather to get warmer!! Notice the short sleeves. It took me ages, if I was to make it again (which is very unlikely) I'd use thicker yarn and bigger needles.

TTFN

PS. More details on the Honey Cowl here.

What's next? Hats...

I love Nikki's book. Just in case I haven't told you already! My next project out of it was the Baby Hat for Little O. Sorry photos a bit blurry, bit hard to photograph an excited 6 month old! Yes he is now 6 months, boy time flies. And doesn't the hat look lovely with bonds wondersuit?!

Baby's Hat from You Sew, Girl by Nicole Mallalieu.

I used a wool felt and some cotton robot fabric. I interfaced everything except for the lining which I used polar fleece for. When I was making it I was worried that it would be too big and he wouldn't be able to wear it this season, but it does fit perfectly.

Baby's Hat from You Sew, Girl by Nicole Mallalieu.

This was made on my new machine, as I was sewing it I kinda wished I had got a more heavy duty machine. The layers did get a bit thick in some parts but it all worked out really well, I didn't sew any fingers or break any needles so that's always a bonus!! Besides that I am happy with the Singer.

Have you made anything from Nikki's book?

TTFN

First bags now shoes

I made these ages ago and I'm only getting around to writing about them. I stumbled across a very cute kimono shoe on one of the blogs I read (sorry can't remember which one now, need to blog more often). I popped over to the website to have a peak. So then I discovered ithinksew. Very cute patterns I could buy them all but restricted myself to 3 (only made 2 so far)!! The little zipper pouch from the previous post was a free pattern when I bought 3, yay.

Pattern by ithinksew - Michi Kimono-Style Baby Booties Size 1

These are the first ones I made. I don't usually make more than one thing at a time unless I'm doing a production line, and when I do those they are usually all the same. I got myself very confused with the whole left hand right hand opposite thingy, so I sewed the wrong base on the wrong shoe, anyway lots of unpicking recutting and resewing. But they turned out ok. I am definitely going to make these again, I'll just need to be more focused.

Pattern by ithinksew - Cameron Baby Sneakers Size 3

With my second pair I decided to try a larger size, one that should fit Little O.

Pattern by ithinksew - Cameron Baby Sneakers Size 3

Well I got the left hand right hand thing ok but I had lots of trouble fitting the top to the base. So much so I was wondering for top, if the edge of the patten should be the actual sewing line. Anyone else had that problem with this shoe? I made a mistake, as you can see in the picture, I clipped the seams before turning out to see if everything sewed properly. We live and learn.

Pattern by ithinksew - Cameron Baby Sneakers Size 3

So I tried again. This time without interfacing and I sewed exactly on the patterns seam allowance. It turned out better but I still had trouble with the top fitting to the base. The width of the straps also doesn't look as wide as the photo on the pattern. Any clues anyone?

Pattern by ithinksew - Cameron Baby Sneakers Size 3. Modelled by Little O

And these are the shoes in action. They stay on and get lots of comments :-).

Addicted to making bags

I admit it I love to make bags and purses. I'm always on the lookout for patterns and tutorials. Here are some I've made lately.

Pattern by Keyka Lou - Keychain Clutch

This is the second Keychain Clutch I've made, this time at the normal size (last one was at 150%). It's very cute and just fits my mobile, but it is the wrong shape for that so its now a coin purse. I've sewn a press stud to close instead of velcro, needs a button on the front.

Pattern by Keyka Lou - Lots of Pockets Tote

This is a very cute bag, just big enough for all the essentials. Great bag to go shopping, or take to the craft show as I did. Can't buy more stuff to put in it!! All the fabric is from ikea, great for bags I've decided. Instead of using quilt batting I used some polar fleece with the lining, which gives it a nice padding but made it too think so sew over around the top so I wont be doing that again. I would interface the outside pockets but not the lining. The pockets on the front of the bag are very handy. I attached a magnetic snap to close but I think it needs to be bigger, next time.

Pattern by Keyka Lou - Pocket Clutch

This clutch is very cute. Would be great for a night out, just need to have one! Would fit my mobile and small wallet with cards and notes.

Pattern by Keyka Lou - Keychain Clutch (small is 100% and large is 150%)

Same as the one at the top just increased the pattern size for the larger one. I've made this before. The point for turning the right way round is at the base, when I make this again I will try to have the turning point at the top, it's tricky to make a nice even closing stitch at the base, especially with this type of material. I used a hammer in snap closure this time, which I had no problem with, I expected to as others have said they are tricky.

Pattern by ithinksew - Zipper Pouch

Another pattern maker I discovered is ithinksew. Very cute baby shoes, which I will save for another post. This Zipper Pouch came as a free pattern when you buy other patterns. This little pouch has the zip behind the broken needle incident. It's easy (if you can sew zips) and quick to put together. I made it for Little A's friend who turned 7 on the weekend. I will definitely be making more of these.

Box Pouch

This box pouch came about after I was looking on the net for a small square bag for little girls. There are heaps of tutorials for a box pouch (still looking for a small bag). I started with this tutorial but ended up changing the construction slightly, and put a plastic base in the bottom. I would interface it next time (thought the type of material would be strong enough) though it does stand on it's own very well. I also made this for Little A's friend.

Well that's it for the bags at the moment. I do think I'll be making these for the school fete.

More Keyka Lou pouches waiting to be sewn up

These are some more Keyka Lou pouches waiting to be sewn up. Pleated pouches in 3 sizes and more keychain clutches.

TTFN

The School Fete

...is not very far away, yikes. Better get sewing!

I've bitten the bullet with another crafty/bloggy/school mum/ ace friend and we've teamed up and become ??? Big reveal soon!! We are breaking out into the world of craft stalls by starting at our school fete. So I've been very busy coming up with stuff I could contribute to the stall. I've been trawling the net and books I have coming up with quick easy projects that of course I can sell. There are quite a few restrictions on some of the patterns I have, mostly, you can make it for personal use and gift giving only, not to sell. Well I could write a very lengthy post about that (and I have in the past) but I wont at this time. So here are a few things I have tested and will definitely make more of for the stall. Please make comments, if you think I'm nuts, that wont sell, or yeah go for it, all feedback welcome :-). If there is anything else you have seen me make in the past and think would be good, let me know.

1. Coffee cuffs, 2. Dad's Mug Rug, 3. Snail, 4. Mum's mothers day purse, 5. Kid's belt, 6. Kid's belt, 7. Keychain Clutch Large - 1, 8. Keychain Clutch - 2, 9. Pocket Clutch - 1, 10. Michi Kimono-Style Baby Booties - 1, 11. Cameron Baby Sneakers - 1, 12. Cameron Baby Sneakers - 2, 13. Lots of Pockets Tote - 1, 14. Keychain Clutch - 1, 15. Box Pouch #1, 16. Zipper Pouch #1

Credit for each of the patterns used is on each photo on my flickr page so click on the links above if you want to know what pattern I have used.

Plus I finally got all my fabric from fabricworm, all of this fabric will be made into stuff for the stall.

Can't wait to finally show off my finished items. But first, need to get on top of this housework thing!

TTFN

Skill Builder Sampler - blocks 5 and 6

I should be doing housework, I'm not, I would rather be sewing but instead I'm all rugged up in front of the computer waiting for the babe to wake up, so I thought I'd finally update you on blocks 5 and 6 of the Skill Builder Sampler.

Block 5

Even though I think there was the same amount of HST in this block as the last, I thought the trimming would never end. Hopefully I'm getting more accurate in my sewing and I wont have to do the trimming technique for much longer! The block was mostly 12 1/2" by 12 1/2". Getting better with the overall accuracy.

Block 6

This block was easy peasy lemon easy (as my son would say) and came together really quickly, a nice easy block to finish off the second month.

And because I finished on time (finally) I could enter into the draw to win a lovely pack of solids. Guess what, I won, yay. Now that doesn't happen everyday. Shows you have to be in it to win it!!

 "We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler" over at Sewn.

Skill Builder Sampler - block 4

Skill Builder Sampler - block 4, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I got a bit distracted with other stuff I'm sewing for, mainly the school fete, so the Skill Builder Sampler has been a little neglected. So this is block 4. Lots of sewing and lots of cutting/trimming. Thought the trimming was never going to end, I don't know how people make full size quits of half square triangles! I decided to iron the seams open to see how that went. I think it gave a much better appearance. The new sewing machine helped a bit with the accuracy too, my old 1/4" foot wasn't really! So that's 4 down, 32 to go.

 "We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler" over at Sewn.

My new toy

I've been too busy getting acquainted with my new toy to share anything this week. Last Thursday I got the call that my new sewing machine was ready to be picked up, dilemma do I have time to pick it up before school pickup, should I get the hubby to do it instead, hmm. Jumped in the car, picked up my mum, then went and got it. Yay. Got to school with 10mins to spare. Then I had to wait till the hubby got home before I could get it out of the box. Long couple of hours! So what is it you may ask. The Singer Confidence Quilter.

I had been lusting after the Singer Curvy for a while and just before I went to the show I thought I should check out what else Singer has. They have a machine called the Confidence which looked like it had all the same features as the Curvy, then I spotted the quilter, which, looking at the specs, all that was different was a few less stitches but it included all of the quilting stuff that I would have had to buy anyway, and it was a bit cheaper. It has 96 different stitches which is about 90 more than my old machine so I wasn't too upset with not getting an alphabet like the Curvy had. Anyway, so far so good. I'll write another post on what I think of the machine but it the mean time I will share this with you.

I broke my first needle ever, yes people. I was trying to be clever with the zipper foot and guess what, even new machines don't sew through metal!!

TTFN

Where to start

Craft show haul!, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I've been busy, of the sewing kind, and as a result haven't been blogging! So where to start? I'll start with last weekend. A close friend and I got the hubby to drop us off in the city so we could go to the Melb craft and quilt show. It was a glorious day and it felt a bit wrong going inside, but we did. It wasn't as crowded as previous years which was nice. But I would have to say, except for the stalls that I know (Kelani, Nicole Mallalieu and Amitie) everything else was a bit same same. The above was all I bought, oh and a new sewing machine! YAY sooo excited, just waiting for the shop to give me a ring so I can pick it up :-). It was my first day out without the little one so that was a bit strange, but it was nice to be out with one of my best friends again without the kids in toe.

I'm busy making stuff for my school fete at the moment and I'll be back soon with more pics. If you can't wait check out my flickr page.

TTFN.