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.

Another Stepping Stones pillow

I had known for a long time that my mother in law had a big birthday coming up. But I just couldn't think of what to make her. But in my true style of just a week to go the perfect gift popped into my head and another stepping stones pillow was whipped up!

I say whipped lightly! My MIL's colour and pattern tastes are a bit different to mine which I was struggling with, so off to spotlight I went. With advise from the hubby pink and flowers had to be included, but I had the idea of sewing the boys hands on (like I did for my mum for mothers day) already and I didn't think pink hands for my boys would work!

Luckily spotlight had a fat quarter bundle with the perfect fabrics for me. I added a border to the centre square to add more pink into it. As I only ever use a small amount of batting at a time in my projects I usually buy a packet of it, but the one I usually get wasn't there so I'm testing out a different one. It's polyester not cotton, it has a much higher loft so the end result was a lot more puffy than I'm used to, I also tried quilting in the ditch but it's not for me. On a learning note, I ironed some of the seams the wrong way so the squares didn't quite match up. If I make this pillow again I might try ironing the seams flat and see what a difference that makes.

The back. Another lesson learned, make sure the material is lined up at 0 not 1 when cutting!! Luckily I had some left over to patch up, can you tell?

It's amazing how different another pattern and colour scheme makes to a project. Makes me re-think a lot of quilt patterns that I have seen but been turned off by the materials used.

As I was busy making this pillow I didn't get a chance to make the extra block for the Skill Sampler, oh well, maybe I can catch up.

TTFN

Skill Builder Sampler - block 3

Skill Builder Sampler - block 3, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I finished this a week ago and I'm only just getting to blog about it now. School holidays at the moment and computer time has been a bit non existent, you should see the count in my google reader! Though I have had some time to sew and as soon as I get some good light to photograph what I've made, then I'll be back again.

This block appeared to be so easy but ended up smaller than the other 2. I think I will be sashing each of the blocks to make them even in the end. My 1/4 inch foot just isn't so I need to be really careful. I guess that's what this skill builder is all about. I ended up doing the trim method for the HST's which I'm glad I did cos there wasn't much to trim. The next challenge is to design my own block which is going to be hard, there is only so many ways you can do it! I'm trying really hard not to go to the flickr group to see what everyone else is doing so I don't copy, don't think I'll last!

TTFN

Skill Builder Sampler - block 2

Skill Builder Sampler - block 2, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Ended up about a 1/4" short again. But at least I'm being consistent!!

Can't wait till friday for the next one. If you want to join in too just pop over to Sewn.

Skill Builder Sampler - block 1

Skill Builder Sampler - block 1, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I'm joining in on the "We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler" over at Sewn.

I cheated and used a jelly role. Don't worry I regret it, the cutting wasn't good so the patterns ended up looking wonky. I ended up just under 12 1/2" square.

Owl Softie

Owl Softie, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Note to self: Always take your camera with you or take a photo of the pressy before you rap it!! I had to get the birthday girl to open her present before we left so I could get a photo, on the hubbies iphone!

This little owl is made from one of Saffron Craig's softie panels. I personalised it by adding backstitch around the eyes and beak and added the birthday girls name.

Have a great week.

TTFN