nothing like a nice warm cuppa

This weeks project was a Tea Cozy, something I didn't really need but was lots of fun to make. I followed the instructions from a book I have Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. The instructions were great, I just free handed the shape and it probably needs to be a bit wider or as some other patterns show you could have a slit for the handle. I lined it but didn't use batting.

Again my friend over at Our Ilan & Quinn, gave me a great tip for the bias finishing. I had never done anything other than store bought bias before so I thought it was going to be really time consuming but surprisingly it wasn't at all.

step 1: cut fabric strip
2: iron in half (length wise)
3: sew the 2 raw edges to the project and then fold down and around to the other side and as you will see the bias is already folded so you can hand stitch or machine stitch it. so cool.

mug rug swap

Today was a snow day, lots of snow and super cold. So after a meeting my little man and I headed home to hangout with dad who's sick on the sofa. I tend to veg if the TV is on, then I hit the choc chip stash and before you know consumed way to much. Luckily a friend provided inspiration, so with in minutes the sewing machine was set up and I was off. We made a mug rugs each to swap tomorrow. Best part of the day really, you can churn out a mug rug so quickly.. so I made two. It was nice to find a use for these little birds I printed a few months ago.

I am loving all the time at the machine

Last night hubby was busy playing video games, so I headed to the sewing room (the corner of our bedroom) with no particular project in mind. I would like to make a fabric bucket like the one at The Stitchin Chicken I just don't have any suitable fabric at the moment. So instead I made a little pouch to house the few note books that live on my kitchen counter. I didn't follow a pattern so working out the steps was part of the fun.

A shirt to a skirt

Finally I did it. Learning how to turn a large men's shirt into a skirt has been on my to do list for a while. A few nights ago when Rio had gone to bed I left Aaron to play Wii and headed for Athena's.
First of all we decided on simple is best, I cut the sleeves off the shirt and cut across the body. Then I sewed down the sides (as the shirt was a little wide) then hemmed the top and I left the original hem of the shirt for the bottom. Next the new skill, ruching which uses elastic thread, to create the waist band, so cool and easier than i thought. I reattached the pocket with a border of contrasting fabric, and there you have it my first skirt.

I enjoyed this so much I went to the Thrift store the next day to make another one, this time I took off the buttons and put a pocket on the side.

mug rugs!!

For Christmas, I scored 2 Mug Rugs.. Never heard of a Mug Rug before? neither had I. They are a fantastic idea my friend saw on an Australian craft blog, it is like a coaster for your cup of tea and big enough to put a cookie on too! So that's what everyone is getting next year for Christmas because they are so cool!
What did I get up to today, you guessed it a mug rug.
I had a piece of fabric I had painted (using a contact paper stencil) a strawberry on. Then I machine quilted it to an already quilted fabric for the backing and used a store bought bias tape (making my seems like a lot of extra work)...

A new journey

After coffee with a friend today I walked away with 2 wicked Mug Rugs, my friend made them after seeing the idea on an Ozzie craft blog. The Mug Rugs are little quilts big enough for a coffee cup and a cookie, so cool. This has given me the nudge I need to try quilting.

So here it is, my first attempt to make a quilt. First of all this is going to be no small undertaking, so I need a home for it. Next, I am going to try to use fabrics I already have, except for the base colour and the back. This also means my quilt will not be a well thought out coordinated quilt, rather a mish-mash of ideas/fabrics as are all of my projects. It's the thoughts that count right?

Textile Printing Course

Christmas has been busy of course so no time has been spent getting crafty. I had intended on learning how to turn a men's shirt into a skirt today but was really under the weather.

My friend and I are doing a textile printing course in Calgary on the 28th of January so we are starting to put together all the supplies we'll need. I have just spent some time searching the net for inspiration, now I need to sit down and do some sketching. To be prepared for the course we need to have print out of black and white designs that we'd like to work with.