Easy As ABC QAL: K, M and O

Easy As ABC QAL

I’m taking part in the Easy As ABC Quilt Along, making five letters a month so that by Christmas I’ll have a finished alphabet quilt.

Except that I’m a bit behind because we went away, so I’ve finished A-E, missed all of August and have just done K, M and O of September’s blocks. October will be a big catch-up month!

I’m sticking with red and blue as my background colours, with different ‘boy’ fabrics for the letters.

K: M: I’m quite proud of this one, I think it looks pretty good 🙂 O:

You can see the other blocks that people have made over on Blossom Heart Quilts.

Superhero Doll Carrier

How do superheros carry their toys around?

Why in a superhero back carrier of course!

Hopeful Threads

I’m taking part in the September Sew Along with Create H.O.P.E Designs.

CHD sells a wide selection of patterns for $5 each, with all money raised going to charity.

I chose the AVIVI Doll carrier pattern, as W had commented not so long ago about wanting a piggyback carrier just like the one Mummy uses for him (I have an Ergo).

He has been wearing his superhero t-shirts and capes as often as he can recently, and playing with the superhero toy I made him for Christmas, so a superhero carrier was just the thing he needed!

The front of the carrier is made from the same superhero flannel as his doll is made from … … and the inside is leftover black drill from his suit jacket and trousers. There is a heart shaped harness on the inside to hold the toy in. The straps are elastic with velcro to fasten them. Superhero doll has already been for a trip out in his new carrier, and I’m told he really enjoyed it!

There was even a piggyback on a piggyback 🙂

 

Wedding Suit Jacket and Trousers

I didn’t get a chance to share the photos of the rest of the wedding outfit I made before we went on our travels, mainly because I didn’t finish all the final touches like hemming the sleeves until after we left!

The jacket is made from red and black drill fabric using the Peek-a-Boo patterns Little Gentleman’s Suit Jacket pattern. I’m not sure whether I have a strangely proportioned child, or American children are just much bigger, but following the measurement table I made a size 2 and crossed my fingers the table was correct. It was! The most time consuming part of making it was the welt pockets. I may have huffed and grumbled making them, but they do look very good once they’re done!DSCF2124 The trousers are made from the same black drill, and although you can’t see them in this photo, the pockets are made from the same red as the jacket lining. They too were from another Peek-a-Boo Patterns patten, called the Little Gentleman’s Pants.

Of course we had to have a trying on session to check that everything fit!

Looking cute in trousers, waistcoat and tie: Don’t I look smart: This is my ‘cool dude’ pose! (these were taken before the sleeves were hemmed):

He looked very smart. We’re looking forward to seeing the photos the photographer took on the day 🙂

 

 

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Modern QAL – September Block

I’m a bit behind as we’ve been away, and haven’t completed August’s block yet, so I think October will be catch-up month!

This month’s block is called Escalator. All of the blocks are taken from this book:

 

I think it’s a pretty looking block and it was quite easy to make. I chose pink, yellow, green and blue to make it in this month.

Here is my finished block:

I’m linking up over on And Sew We Craft. You can see the other blocks that people have entered there too 🙂

 

 

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My first t-shirt!

I have always avoided sewing t-shirts in the past, and generally avoided the section of the fabric shop containing ‘knits’ because knits are stretchy, and stretchy equals hard to sew!

However, I figured it was about time I gave it a go, and it was so much easier than I had expected I’m planning on making several more, ready for the summer! I sewed this t-shirt in a yellow fabric that I think was called cotton jersey, with green ribbing around the neckline. The colours were more a coincidence of colours the shop had in stock that looked nice together rather than a deliberate combination – I wasn’t intentionally making it in Australian colours or the colours of Norwich Football Club!

The pattern is the Charlie Tee by Fishsticks Designs. It was very simple to follow. I used the size 5 as we often have a problem with t-shirts being too small to pull over the head, and although is might be a touch long, it will definately last him all summer! I used my new twin needle to sew most of the hems and seams. It makes a double line of straight stitches on the front with a zigzag on the back which allows the material to stretch without the stitches breaking.  My ribbon label in the back is a little bit wonky – it must have got pulled to one side as I was sewing the neckline! But it does its job of showing which way it needs to be put on.

And this little man seems happy with it! He’s actually worn it a lot since I made it. He likes Mummy-made clothes 🙂

Coming next week …

Coming next week…

http://thesoutherninstitute.com

 

For one week only, twenty-six pattern designers will be joining together to combine their best PDF sewing patterns (valued together at over $200.00) and selling them to you for the incredible price of $29.95! That’s over 80% off of the combined retail value!

Grab the bundle when it goes on sale next week and you’ll be all set to sew for school and the coming holiday season! You’ll have to wait until next week to see which patterns are included in this fall’s bundle, but I can tell you right now that you won’t be disappointed!

See you Monday!
8am US EST
1pm UK
10pm AEST

 

Wedding Hearts Blanket

We’ve been away for almost a month, travelling to the other side of the world to my brother’s wedding. Now we’re back I can share the wedding present I made.

 

About 18 months ago I trawled Ravelry and bought the pattern.

I took a trip to Spotlight and picked out a whole range of colours in their 8-ply pure wool.

And then (very) slowly I made square after square until I had 63 of them.

And then the joining began, until finally, with 3 days to spare before the wedding, it was finished! I don’t really do random, so the colours run in diagonal stripes! On the square in the bottom right I sewed their names and the wedding date.

One finished blanket 🙂

Easy As ABC QAL: A-E

Easy As ABC QAL

I’m taking part in the Easy As ABC Quilt Along, making five letters a month so that by Christmas I’ll have a finished alphabet quilt.

I have lots of boyish fabric, so I’ve chosen to use that, with an alternating background of red and blue to make my quilt, rather than the rainbow theme that I know lots of other people are following. Some blocks are going to have larger patches of letter than others, so I just need to arrange them as we go so the fabric with the larger prints fall on these letters.

This month we made the letters A-E.

 

A: B: C: D: E:

Altogether these five will make up the first row 🙂

You can see the letters that other people have made over on Blossom Heart Quilts. And since it’s August tomorrow, I guess it won’t be very long before I’ll be starting on F-J!

Modern QAL – July Block

This month’s block for the Mondern Blocks Quilt A Long looked a bit more difficult than the last one, and I have put off doing it for a while. But with only a few days left of the month I couldn’t leave it much longer!

I needn’t have worried. It looks harder with the diagonal lines, but in fact it was very simple, and now it’s finished it looks very pretty.

All of the blocks are taken from this book:

This month’s block is called Megan’s Star and the tutorial for it can be found on the blog Samelia’s Mum. You can see all the other blocks people have made and linked up over on And Sew We Craft.

Here is my block 🙂

 

 

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