Last year I took part in the 12 Days of Christmas charity preemie hat challenge. This year I took part again. These are the twelve hats that I made. I chose just the one pattern and made each one in a different colour:
I made a set of nine newborn reversible crib shoes from the pattern by Peek-a-Boo Patterns:
And nine sets of preemie crochet booties:
They have all been sent to help the Australian Outback Baby Project.
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This is one of my Christmas present makes, which I can show now because it has arrived (posted in Australia Monday, arrived in England Friday – post is doing well this year!) and I gave instructions to open on arrival so it would get more use.
I made a Christmas table runner!
It is made from 4.5 inch squares using a variety of Christmassy fabrics, including some Christmas koalas and kangaroos!
I quilted it using a wiggly stippling pattern.
It’s the first time I have used free motion quilting on something I have made. I watched some of this Craftsy course to learn how to work systematically and try to get the stitches of even length. I learnt some basic stippling designs that I repeated over and over.
You can see the pattern more clearly on the back. It’s not completely even all the way across – I started at the end where it’s closer together, but for a first try I think it’s pretty good!
I bound it using red cotton and hand stitched the binding onto the back. The tutorials that say that is quick and easy lie! But is does look good once it’s finished.
I’m really pleased with my finished table runner, and it’s now sitting on my Mum’s dining table 🙂
I’m linking this project up for Sew Cute Tuesday on Blossom Heart Quilts.
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This month is month 8 of the Modern Blocks QAL!
The block this month is called Crosswalk. The tutorial for it can be found on Actually Amy’s blog.
I chose just two colours of the fabric I’m using to make this block – purple and orange, with the plain around the corners.
Here is my finished block:
All of the blocks for the QAL come from this book:
You can see all the other blocks people have made over on And Sew We Craft.
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My nephew has the last birthday in the family before Christmas, and this year I made him a bag.
I asked my sister what kind of things he was into, and one of the things on the list that came back was diggers!
This bag is made from the Fun-to-Go Tote Kids Bag pattern by Fishsticks Designs.
The digger on the front under the zip is paper pieced, and I then used yellow cotton around it to make the pieces the right side. I had some leftover digger fabric to do the band above the zip.
When it came to the back I was originally going to use the digger fabric, but when I measured it there wasn’t enough left, so I made a band across the top to match the front like this:
The handles and the lining are yellow cotton, and there is a layer of yellow fleece inside to give the bag some structure. (It didn’t need to be yellow fleece, but there was a piece the right size and it matched the lining so I thought why not!)
The zip pocket runs the entire length of the bag. The pocket is lined in grey cotton (see how all the colours from the digger are used somewhere else as well!)
I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I think it looks great 🙂
I’m linking this project up for Sew Cute Tuesday on Blossom Heart Quilts.
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I have been a member of Craftsy for a few years now. I am signed up to quite a few of their classes, and love that there’s no time limit on when I have to watch them – they’ll always be there when I have the time to learn a bit more. I’ve also recently discovered lots of lovely patterns in their pattern store, and just this week they announced international shipping on their fabric section (but I’ve been good and not looked so I’ve not yet been tempted!)
Here is a bit more information to tell you all about Craftsy. If you’re not already a member, why not head over and sign up – it’s free!
What is Craftsy?
Craftsy is a worldwide craft community offering online classes. It also has a patterns marketplace where independent designers can sell their patterns; a supplies shop with great deals on yarn, fabric, and class kits; and a projects section where members share pictures of their latest craft successes. With over two million members and counting, Craftsy has something for just about everyone, in categories ranging from quilting, sewing, knitting, painting, photography, cooking, and more.
Behind the Scenes: The Making of a Craftsy Class
Before filming even begins, hours and hours are spent determining what content will be covered in each class, and how to best teach specific techniques to the camera. Instructors work with an instructional designer to create an in-depth outline of each lesson, and decide how to best prepare props or “step-outs” that show what your project should like at different steps. Instead of a scripted class, instructors follow their outlines on camera to create an authentic and engaging teaching experience.
Most Craftsy classes are filmed in one of five Craftsy studios in Denver, CO, assuring that every part of the production process goes off without a hitch. They fly in instructors from all over the world to spend several days filming, then spend several weeks turning hours of footage into a two to three hour class experience that has been watched, rewatched, and reviewed by industry experts. The final result is an HD-quality video that takes you in-depth into specific topics in any given craft category- from cooking and fine art to sewing and knitting.
What IS the Craftsy experience?
Craftsy classes are designed to have all the benefits of an in-person class, with none of the drawbacks. Available online and on-demand, you always have world-class instructors at the tip of your fingers. You can retake the class as many times as you want, and the 30-second repeat feature allows you to watch the same section over and over again until you get every technique just right.
Watching a Craftsy class is like having a first-row seat with some of the best instructors in the world. Even better, classes have a 100% money-back guarantee.
Try online learning today with a free mini-class from Craftsy! Choose from 23 Free Craftsy Classes ranging from drawing and painting to sewing and quilting, from knitting to cake decorating and more.
I have two weeks to get all the Christmas presents made/bought and into the post!
So I made a start trying to make a zippy pencil case.
This photo makes it look really good, like it was easy!
Ha! Well it wasn’t!
The first sewing machine needle hit a metal bit and snapped.
The second sewing machine needle hit another metal zip bit and bent.
And when I’d finally sewn all the zips together and onto the backing fabric (some black cotton with multicoloured stars), I trimmed all the threads, trimmed the seams, turned it right side out, and admired my nicely lined up zips…
… and then I turned it over:
Oh bum! I’ve sewn the fabric on wrong side out 🙁
I sat and thought about how this could be saved. Having trimmed all the seams, unpicking and resewing would be just too hard. I considered sewing something over the back to cover it up, but that would just look odd.
So in the end I decided it would have to be scrapped and something else would have to take its place.
“W, I have a present for you!” – poor child gets all the cast offs not good enough for gifts and all the practice items!
He says “I love it!” – he’s easily pleased!
He likes it because it has lots of zips, and when you open it up there’s stars!
I was eager not to leave this month’s block until the last minute, and have managed to complete it early on 🙂
This month’s block is called Pogo Stick. The tutorial for it can be found over on the Sew Delicious blog.
My version is a quite colourful, with more than one fabric. I read the information about the block in the Modern Blocks book:
and in there it suggests placement for different coloured fabrics. I thought that the block would fit in better with the others I have made if it used more than one colour.
Here is my finished block:
You can see all the other blocks people have made over on And Sew We Craft.
This post contains affiliate links.
I keep seeing lots of photos around the internet of beautiful paper pieced blocks and quilts, something I’ve never tried before – so I thought it was about time I fixed that!!
I chose a digger pattern, designed by Quiet Play.
When I printed out the pattern and looked over all the tiny pieces I started to think that maybe I should have started with a slightly simpler pattern! But I watched lots of YouTube videos and read lots of instructions and decided to just jump in – it’s quite logical really, follow the numbers, and logical I can do!
It wasn’t completely smooth sailing. I sewed the wrong colour in two places and had to unpick – which with tiny little stitches is no easy feat.
But many hours later (being the slowest sew-er in the world!) it’s finished!
So here is my very first piece of paper piecing – a digger!
I’m going to use this block to make a children’s bag, hopefully next week 🙂
I’m linking up with the Paper Piecing Party over on Quiet Play.
This is the second t-shirt I started last week for Kid’s Clothes Week, but only finished the final seams today.
This one too is made from the Charlie Tee Pattern by Fishsticks Designs, and I colourblocked this one as well, but this time horizontally using red and green cotton jersey.
I think I like the look of the horizontal blocks of colour better than the vertical split on the last t-shirt.
From the back the t-shirt is plain red. I went with black for the neckband as red and green ribbing sold in my local fabric shop doesn’t match the red and green on the cotton jersey.
The sleeves and side seams were all I had left to do today, and they caused me more trouble than usual. Despite checking twice before pinning and sewing, I still managed to sew one sleeve on the wrong way round! You can’t tell now that it’s unpicked and sewn on the right way now though.
I had to bribe this little man with getting the paints out to try it on and let me take a photo! But he says this one is better than the last, so I guess that means it will most likely be chosen to wear all day tomorrow 🙂 
It’s been a big catch-up month for me this month. Instead of five letters for the Easy As ABC QAL, I’ve done twelve! But it means that I’ve now caught up and have completed all the letters from A to T 🙂
F:
G:
H:
I:
J:
L:
N:
P:
Q:
R:
S:
T:
You can see the other blocks that people have made this month over on Blossom Heart Quilts.
There’s only two more months of letters to go!