Children’s Pencil Cases

For Christmas I made my nieces and nephew pencil cases for their presents.

Two of them I made the same as the one that went wrong, but these ones turned out well!

The first was made with pink and purple zips with pink cotton for the back:

The second I made with a rainbow of zips:

I used this pretty multi-coloured chevron cotton for the back of it:

I filled each one with some stationery items I thought the girls would like:

My nephew is a superhero fan, so for him I made this superhero pencil case:

I hope they like them!

Charity Baby Items

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.

 

This post contains affiliate links.

Christmas Table Runner

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.

Online Quilting Class

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.
Sew Cute Tuesday

 

 

This post contains affiliate links.

Modern QAL – December Block

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.

 

This post contains affiliate links.

Digger Bag

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.
Sew Cute Tuesday

Christmas Stars

Habitual Homebody

 

This month’s crochet-along was stars, and Alycia wrote a great photo tutorial on how to make them.

I thought they’d make a great Christmas decoration, and made a set of 8 stars. They were very quick and easy. I made the whole thing in an evening. I chose red and green to make the stars so they’re nice and Christmassy, and a yellowy gold colour for the string to hold them all together, which is just a string of chain stitches that are slip stitched through the top of each star. When I had finished making my stars they were very curly, so I knew I would need to do something to them to keep them straight. I pinned them wrong side up to the ironing board and painted them with a water/pva glue mixture several times.

This morning they were dry and I unpinned them to find nice straight stars 🙂 The glue dries clear (although you can’t see it anyway as it’s on the back) and they’re nice and solid so they won’t curl again. The also have a bit more weight to them now which I think makes them hang nicely. Pretty Christmassy stars 🙂And since it’s 1st December, they’ll be joined later today by the Christmas tree!

What is Craftsy?

This is an affiliate post.

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.

Craftsy Logo

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.

The Christmas present that wasn’t to be!

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!

Baby Rainbow Hat

 I can cross one present off my Christmas list!

This rainbow hat will be for my youngest niece. The pattern is one I found on Etsy. It’s called Tutti Frutti designed by The Hat And I. I made the 6-12 month size.

It is a striped corkscrew hat – it is topped with a corkscrew of each colour stripe, giving it a pom pom effect. I hope she likes it 🙂

 

 

I’m linking up with Sew Cute on Blossom Heart Quilts:

Sew Cute Tuesday