Archive of ‘Boys Gifts’ category
Congratulations to Amy C who won the Celebration Paper Pieced Pattern giveaway! Yay Amy! I’ve sent you an email. Thanks to everyone for entering. The patterns are available for purchase in Kristy’s Craftsy store
I will have two more giveaways to celebrate this month with the next being announced tomorrow. For the third giveaway I’m thinking of making something. Is that something that appeals or would you prefer something that you can use like fabric or notions or patterns?
![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/9467545533_3ba85972b7_z.jpg)
But moving onto this week’s makes so far ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
You may remember that two of my babies have birthday’s this month. My second child will turn five tomorrow (seriously, I can’t believe I have been a parent for nearly 7 years!) and after a busy morning at the aquarium the boys headed to a friend’s house for a play so I could get busy. I’ve made big progress on the Princess Quilt but I decided that Mr (almost) 5 needed a Mummy made gift so I cut into my precious superhero fabric ![;)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Superhero cushion front
I can’t wait to give this to Mr 5 tomorrow, we have given most of his friends similar cushions and I think he is going to love having his own
The back is a mix of scraps (including from my original superhero print) and Essex linen blend. I felt in the mood to FMQ so I stitched out his name in Aurifil 12wt and then played with swirls around his name. I even included a subtle message ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Superhero cushion back
It’s hard to read, but it says, “Happy 5th Birthday, love always, Mummy”.
“Happy 5th birthday. Love always, Mummy”
I’m not one to get super personal online but I did a little questionnaire with the birthday boy just before bedtime this evening and I thought it would be cute to share his final answer. He is such a sweetie!
Me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Mr 5: “An inventor who makes potions and helps people if they’re crying because someone did something to them”.
Miss (almost) 3 answered “cheese” to this question!!! Too cute. Much cuter than the haircut she gave herself yesterday… Yes, you can see that on instagram *sigh*
I’m linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday at Better Off Thread.
![](http://betteroffthread.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/sewcutelarge.jpg)
Pirate cushion
My most recent finishes are of the small variety. Cushions for birthday gifts. I love to make them and they are always well received ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Cushion for the adorable Victoire
Ironically after two and a half years in Noumea, just last weekend I connected with some local crafty types. Rue Bon is a lovely sewing blog by a mother at the same school as my middle child. Fancy that! I am totally inspired by her liberty tunic. It’s put me in the mind to sew a few more items for myself… I love that we weren’t the only family giving a handmade gift last weekend, yay for handmade!
Pirate pillow
Whilst I am not over the finish line for my daughter’s Princess Quilt yet, I did finish the top this morning. I LOVE this quilt top! I love everything about it. I love those low value borders, the fun curve, how the colours tie in but don’t overpower the centre. It is not an easy quilt to photograph though, I’ve fiddled with the photos to try and show you what it really looks like, but you might have to trust me, it is lovely in real life ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Princess Quilt top
I love the floating squares (some Liberty in there too!), I have no idea how I’m going to quilt this one but there is so much room for fun!
Pieced Princess Quilt
I’m a 2″ short on my backing fabric (a gorgeous AMH flannelette that I used recently for a cot quilt). The top measures in at a whopping 100″ x 70″. It’s meant to be twin/single size and I was aiming for closer to 90″ in length. But at least it will cover the pillow and drape nicely over the end of the bed. My daughter turns three in a week so I’m hoping to baste this beauty tonight and get some quilting in over the weekend. Wish me luck!!
Curvy pieced border
I’m linking up with TGIFF over at Amy’s Crafty Shenanigans.
![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-OY3a_N2KxI0/UGpO-s7LVwI/AAAAAAAACwE/EpSYVY17B9M/s800/tgiff-button-blog.jpg)
![pillowcases folded](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5347/9100871614_82b494b828.jpg) |
The boys chose the prints for their own pillowcases. |
We are coming to the end of two weeks of school holidays and the kids and I are EXHAUSTED! We have had three days of back to back playdates with some of our favourite friends. Tonight the kids were asleep at 7pm, usually we eat at 7pm! (one of the few French habits that we’ve adopted.) I’ve still been struggling with this sinus/cough/headcold and was very happy to visit the Doctor this week and find out that I don’t have pneumonia (pretty much a year ago to date I ended up in hospital with pneumonia in an eerily similar scenario). My energy levels are suffering, and instead of feeling guilty about my lack of blogging I’m allowing myself a little slack. School goes back next week so hopefully I will have more time and energy for blogging then.
![pillowcase cars](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2827/9098638897_3d91b85244.jpg) |
Mr 4 went with Cars (I love how bright the colours are) |
Today I delivered a recent finish to my lovely Irish friend (her gorgeous accent just adds to her charm, really, I love me an Irish accent!). Unfortunately we only tend to catch up during school breaks and six weeks ago she had asked that I make pillowcases for her boys. I pulled out all of my prints that I thought they would like and they selected their favourites, Mr 4 was somewhat perplexed that he wasn’t going home with his pillowcase there and then. LOL Today I dropped them over and the boys love them. Her Mr 4 literally went straight to his room to put his new pillowcase on his bed. Apparently he had been asking about it daily (I’m glad I had them ready!!).
![pillowcase robots](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5535/9098637689_120a31706f.jpg) |
Mr 6 went for the awesome organic robots |
I gave both pillowcases the same trim (Kona lagoon) so that they are kind of a pair when/if the boys share a room. Pillowcases are so fun for young kids but they do eat into the fabric stash! I only have scraps of these prints left now. Time to go shopping… Would you be at all surprised if I said I already had?
![pillowcases applique](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5523/9100873518_7ec17ca97d.jpg) |
Appliqued backs in bright colours that compliment the prints on the front |
Whilst the pillowcases are a small finish I have a more significant finish coming up soon. Tuesday is my day on the Kate Spain blog hop so if you’d like to see my most recent quilt finish please pop back then. Here’s a sneak peak to tempt you ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![Kate Spain hop quilt in progress](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/9098639641_992ec19df9.jpg) |
Kate Spain wonky star quilt in progress. I can’t wait to show you the finished quilt! |
I’m linking up with TGIFF over at Thirteen in 13.
![hotel](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8266/8643378375_35bc028d5a.jpg) |
Hotel garden |
We’re currently in the middle of two weeks of school holidays, Mr Husband took the first week off and we headed to the small hamlet of Sarraméa in the hills for two nights. We had a great time and the hotel was right near a horse ranch so my city kids had a lot of fun checking out the horses.
The hotel had wifi but there was no reception and I intentionally did not get the password for the wifi. Since being sick with pneumonia last July I really struggled with energy levels. Although I only spent 4 days in hospital it took me four months to recover. Then in December I had a thyroid episode which took another 4 months to recover from. The chronic fatigue I suffered during those months saw me spending hours at a time just laying on the bed unable to summon the energy to get up. I didn;t have the energy to be a good parent. I yelled a lot, I cooked the quickest and easiest meals I could manage and I pretty much stopped participating in any activities that occurred outside of the house.
![countryside](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8385/8643379939_97c8cf8914.jpg) |
“hiking” family style LOL |
It is so amazingly wonderful to have my energy back that I am really just focusing on being with my family, on being an active and engaged parent. So it was great to completely disconnect from social media. A good friend of mine said to me a couple of years ago, “I always wanted to be an active Mum, the Mum that gets in the pool with the kids rather than sits on the side watching them swim.” I feel like I’m finally at that point again. That I can race the boys down a path, jump in a freezing pool with them, take them for a ‘hike’ and get down on the floor and play lego and Hello Kitty.
![racing](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8114/8643376235_1bfece2fa0.jpg) |
Racing Mr 4 whilst Mr 6 photographs us
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It’s great!
Having said all of that, I am hoping to get my craft on today
A girl does need some ‘me time’ and for me that means sewing and quilting. I kind of have too many projects to choose from so I will just quickly show you an order I finished earlier in the week ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![pillowcase collage text](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8644473378_690ccc0cdb.jpg) |
Pillowcase |
![chequebook collage text](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8105/8644474466_9da77620ca.jpg) |
Chequebook cover (I LOVE this one!) |
Do you ever struggle to be the parent/person you want to be? How do you find the right balance? Any tips? ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![photography](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8099/8644473144_297520f7b3.jpg) |
Mr 4 enjoys taking photos with the iPod |
Bon weekend!
Here I was thinking I could wait until Friday to share this finish with you and link up to TGIFF… No way, I finished last night, I photographed it this morning, I don’t have it in me to wait four days! (I also sneak peeks at gifts, scoff chocolate in one sitting and generally have very little self control when it comes to fun stuff.)
This quilt is a gift for a special baby boy. I wanted a quilt that was boyish, babyish, didn’t have too strong a palate (I don’t know what the nursery decor looks like so hopefully it will fit) and that would be suitable for winter.
I fussy cut the robots from a lovely organic Robert Kaufman print I bought a while back. I selected coordinating prints from my stash, many of which come from my monthly Pink Castle subscription. I’m not normally one for sashing, but I wanted a touch of tradition, plus it’s a good place to have some FMQ fun. Then I trimmed the blocks to 6.5″ unfinished and added 2″ sashing and 3″ border. The finished quilt is about 50″ x 50″ after being washed.
I love FMQ and I went to town on this baby. I did a kind of swirly triple loop in the sashing using 40wt Aurifil (I like the quilting to show), I eased this into the border by having a narrow strip of pebbling also in 40wt. I was thinking of circuit boards when I was quilting the geometric pattern in the border. I love how it stands out in the blue (Aurifil 50wt 1128) but doesn’t overpower the quilt.
![robot quilting prewash](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8372/8567822874_3580062535.jpg) |
This photo is pre-wash but shows the quilting quite well |
For a change I did a little hand quilting (and it didn’t slow me down! Woohoo!). I used some lovely variegated Aurifil thread in 12wt (4664, 3920, 3770), it is so easy to stitch with and as much as I didn’t want to do the dirty on my beloved threads I knew this quilt needed some orange and green stitching too so I dug into my DMC floss. I like the end result but I prefer to hand quilt with Aurifil 12wt, the floss separates occasionally and a few times I got that kind of scratching noise as I was stitching. Hard to explain but I remember it from my days of cross stitch too.
I pieced together a super soft flannel print for the back that I think is just perfect for a winter baby boy. It is seriously soft and I love the weight it has added to the quilt
![robot quilt back](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8567826534_53bcefdf89.jpg) |
Quilt back |
This is my first time quilting with flannel and it was great. It seemed to move very easily while I was free motion quilting. I was really worried about it fraying so I zigzagged the edge of the quilt (I was too lazy to get out my overlocker/serger, but would have used that otherwise). I just made sure the zigzag was less that 1/4″ wide so it didn’t peek through the binding.
![robot quilt zigzag edges](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8388/8567853154_dd06c0a403.jpg) |
Zigzagged edges to prevent fraying |
As always I machine sewed on the binding, I’m getting quite good at it now, I follow the Red Pepper binding tutorial and cut my binding to 2.25″. I don’t use pins, just a small bulldog clip on each corner. I do iron the absolute heck out of it and then sew it down with a quilting glove on my left hand to help move the quilt along and my right hand bare holding the binding in place. I also use my left forearm and elbow to keep the quilt moving otherwise I find the stitches slip onto the binding. It’s a very natural position even though it sounds awkward.
I love colour in a Nursery but I also like them to be restful so I went with Kona Steel for the binding with a little splash of colour.
I love this quilt and I cannot wait to send it off! I hope Mummy, Daddy and baby love it too ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Details:
50″ x 50″ (it shrank about 2″ in both directions even after pre washing the flannelette)
100% Bamboo wadding
Mix of quilting cottons, organic cottons and flannette
Machine quilted by me on my Bernina 440QE using 40 and 50wt Aurifil threads
Hand quilted without losing my mind in Aurifil 12wt and DMC floss by me
This week I am going to admit having three quilts in progress, usually I like to focus on my current obsession and pretend that I don’t have a stack of UFOs ![;)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Yesterday I spent some time pulling fabric for a baby girl quilt. I felt the need to get all pink following a few days work on a baby boy quilt. Plus I have this idea that at some stage I am going to get organised and open an esty store. You need stock for that, right?
![;)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Last night I cut a stack of different width strips from these prints thinking I’d got it right.
This morning I threw them up on the design wall (fancy name for flannel sheet) to see how fabulous this quilt was going to look. Um, no. It just wasn’t right, no matter how much I wished it was, it wasn’t. So I pulled out all of the yellow and that helped but still it wasn’t there. I remember some yardage I had that has a similar palate so I pinned it to the design wall and removed a few blues and tried out a few more pinks.
I think I have it right this time. Alyce suggested that I keep the navy and I feel the same way, but I’m not convinced, so I’m going to play with the pinks and then throw the navy back in to see if it works. But I’m not going to force myself to keep it there. Time will tell.
![not sure about the butterflies](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8512/8554122704_ddc2d04fcf.jpg) |
I’m not sure about the butterflies… |
Did I mention that I was working on a baby boy quilt? This one is for someone SUPER special who I don’t think reads this blog, so I think I’m safe to share
![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Over the weekend I put together the quilt top. I spent way too much time unpicking. I hadn’t perfectly trimmed all of those 6″ blocks and I wanted this to be perfect so there was nothing but to grit my teeth and get it done. I’m glad I did though, I think it’s lovely.
After the back and forth with the baby girl quilt today I decided to show some follow through and baste the baby boy quilt. I had the perfect print for the backing, a super snuggling flannelette cloud print. My pregnant friend mentioned something about snuggling her winter baby and this fabric is super cuddly. It was a rather warm exercise as it is well over 30 degrees Celsius here today!
Determined to follow through I had this baby basted by school pick up time.
I’m feeling good about it and plan to spend tonight thinking about quilting and then start tomorrow. At this stage I’m thinking some hand quilting around the robots and FMQ in the sashing. But I’d love any suggestions you
My last work in progress that I am going to admit to this week is Mr 6′s rainbow I Spy quilt. Gosh I love that quilt but honestly, hand stitching slows me down (don’t bring up the fact that I just said I plan to hand quilt the Robot quilt…). To get myself motivated I trimmed up the quilt and bound it this week. I’m hoping I can force myself to hand stitch the last of the words in front of the TV during the evenings. Keep in mind that to sit under a quilt I need to turn the air conditioning on (even at 9pm).
Do you have lots of works in progress this week? Or to you do what i do and pretend there is only one? LOL I’m linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced. Please feel free to pop back this Sunday to link up when I’m hosting Sunday Stash
Today marks the end of an era. It is the last day of the school year here and Mr 6 will be moving from Maternelle (pre-school) to CP (Primary School). Mr 4 will also be leaving our Maternelle and moving to a school with smaller classes. I am an emotional wreck today. We started at our Maternelle nearly two years ago, Mr 6 (then 4) walked in on the first day of school, the only kid in the school who didn’t speak a word of French. We had a tough first year. Like heart breaking tough. For months he would cling to the car door crying in the morning when we arrived at school. It was awful.
Not only could Mr 6 not speak French, he didn’t know anyone’s names because it was all a blur of words and he couldn’t differentiate a name from vocabularly that he was yet to learn. He didn’t know what was cool and what wasn’t so he couldn’t even try to blend in let alone fit in. It was tough. On all of us.
At the end of the first school year Mr 6 was much happier. He spoke French fluently and had made some firm friends in his class. This year marked Mr 6′s second year at the school and Mr 4 joined the school in the youngest class, Section des Petites. We were blessed with an AMAZING Maitresse (teacher) for Mr 6. She is kind, gentle, patient. She is obviously passionate about teaching and knows each child in her class and has a meaningful relationship with them. With this teacher Mr 6 has gone from being OK at school to LOVING school. Along with the standard curriculum our Maitresse has introduced the children to Yoga and Meditation, the classroom is full of inspiring images, classical artwork, letters, words and numbers. A boring classroom was transformed into a fantastic learning space. What a great place to spend five days a week!
![school all festive](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8271190756_1f6ca78499.jpg)
In addition to a wonderful teacher, the school is lucky enough to have a visionary Director. He knows all of the children by name and always has a minute to chat to parents. I feel that he kept an extra eye out for Mr 6 during his difficult first year and I am very, very grateful for that. Under his direction the teachers worked secretly for four months this year on fantasy displays which were then placed in each of the class windows transforming the school into a magical fairytown for the inagural Christmas Soirée.
I can’t explain how amazed we were, but it was truly magical with all of the children and teachers (and many parents) dressed as traditional fairytale characters. There were jugglers and performers, storytellers, an enchanted cave, a secret fairy garden, roving singers and lights galore.
We are very sad to be leaving the school. It is great that we are moving on, that both Mr 4 and Mr 6 have aquired fluent French, made great friends and had some fantastic teachers. But saying farewell to the school is very emotional. So of course, I had to make some very special gifts for the people who made our time at the school so special.
You may remember the iPad pouches I made for Mr 6′s Maitresse
and Mr 4′s Maitresse.
This morning I sent Mr 6 to school with a small gift for each child in his class (only two other children will go to the same school as him next year). The girls all got two hair ties and a clip made using some favourite scraps.
The boys all received a monogrammed key chain using this fun tutorial. I couldn’t find my pinking shears, so I reduced the stitch length to about 1.2 and just left the edge smooth. I don’t think they’ll fray too much. I’m hoping they might use them on their school bags next year and remember their Australian friend.
Yesterday afternoon I finally had time to get started on the gift for the Director. Without much time I still wanted to give him something handmade and meaningful (we only decided on Tuesday to move Mr 4 to another school, so I did think I had another year to make a big gift for the Director). Around 2pm I started a circle of flying geese using this free template. I had the top pieced almost finished by school pick up, let’s say the kids got to watch a little more TV than usual yesterday afternoon…
I started to panic as the sun began to drop in the sky.
![setting sun](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8499/8271190328_d11ea404c0.jpg) |
Moment of panic as sun starts to set… |
As the sun was setting I was madly hand stitching ”From little things BIG things grow”. It is a line from a Paul Kelly song that any Australian would know and most love. It is actually a protest song, but I think it is fitting for a Director as our little kids have grown so much under his care.
![Director's mini stitch in progress](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8270128657_dd7eba65fe.jpg) |
This is where I was up to when the sun started to set… eek! |
You can listen to Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody and John Butler preform it here and you can read more about the song here Please enjoy the song for what it is, there are a few contentious comments below the clip on youtube, please ignore them, I’m not trying to get political, this is a song that most Australians love and know, I’m just trying to share the inspiration for my mini quilt ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I finished up the mini at about 11pm last night. I LOVE it. I hope he does too
It measures about 15″ square and uses a mix a Essex linen and favourite scraps. Although I was rather time poor I had great fun with the quilting! It is machine straight line quilted in Aurifil 50wt 2605 with a little 40wt 2024 (the white machine quilting). I broke out my new verigated 12wt Aurifil (4660 and 4662) which was a pleasure to hand stitch with.
I actually attached the binding the wrong way LOL It was late and I was desperate to get it finished and get to bed. I should have sewn it to the front first and then was going to do the Red Pepper Quilts method of machine stitching in the ditch so that it is invisible on the front. But I needed to keep going and get to bed so I selected a thread that blended into the binding and I neatly machine stitched it in place. And guess what? I love the way it looks! Yippee!
I always love to see the back of quilts and the quilting on this mini was a lot of fun, so here you go ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![Director's mini back 2](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8271191046_e19c9ab6e1.jpg) |
A heart to hide them names But we basically thanked Mr Director for providing a
wonderful school and community. |
I have a few last Christmas gifts to sew that will be quick and then back to Mr 6′s Rainbow I Spy quilt. Hopefully it will be done in time for Christmas. I’m thinking I will pebble quilt in the sashing and hand quilt the borders in rainbow threads. I’m quite excited about it ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I’m linking up to TGIFF over at Quilt Matters and for the first time with Crazy Mom Quilts.
I have a gorgeous friend who has ordered a few things from me recently. She is a great customer, the type who says, “Could you please make me a pillowcase with helicopters and airplanes, I know it will be great so do whatever you want.” I think my best work comes through when I’m given free reign on a project because I am making something that I have envisaged and loving every minute. Anyway, enough waffling
I just wanted to share a few recent items that I completed for her but have held off sharing as they were gifts ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
This helicopter and airplane themed pillowcase was a birthday gift for a two year old boy who LOVES helicopters! I had a lot of fun making this one and I would have loved to have kept it for one of my boys
Both Mum and the birthday boy loved it which made parting with it a little easier ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![Helicopter PP block](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8031/8028121026_a55cf8ae6c.jpg)
I used Quiet Play’s paper pieced helicopter pattern, you can find it here. It was really easy and straight forward, I bought a few of her patterns so will definitely be making some more. This is a great PP pattern for a beginner, not at all fiddly in terms of paper piecing
If you’re considering giving paper piecing a go, I would recommend giving this one a go. I used quilting cottons for the top, a layer of flannelette and then a quilting cotton on the back of the paper pieced square. I FMQ the sky and then echoed the main pieces of the helicopter in matching thread. I wanted the helicopter to really stand out but keep it simple. To keep the straight line quilting very close to the edges I used my walking foot with the edge guide thingy (you know the one, looks like an invisible hem foot) and moved my needle to the side. I’s a great way to achieve really accurate echo stitching ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![pillowcase bacl](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8312/8028120076_c363504a1f.jpg)
I made a nice simple back for the pillowcase so that it will be nice and soft to sleep on. I love this fabric, it is destined to be part of a quilt for Mr 5.5 ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I made this cushion cover a little while ago for a newborn baby. It has to be one of the sweetest things I’ve made!
![fairy cushion front](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/8028149016_f69ea7e1d9.jpg)
Lots of hand stitching including the baby girl’s name in the bunting. I really love this one. The fairy is the same as the one I made for my little girl but this time the fairy is sending out her blessings to the baby
![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I have to say that projects like this one make me very grateful for my machine’s blanket stitch! Some of those appliqued sections are very small (can you see the ankle poking out there?) and even though it requires a lot of concentration doing it on the machine it is much faster than hand sewing blanket stitch.
I wanted the cushion to be double sided so I put an invisible zipper in the side seam and did a fun patchwork back incorporating the colour scheme from the front.
I doubted myself on this cushion cover half way through but was really happy with the result. I knew what I wanted to do but all of the hand stitched flowers were done free hand without drawing up a design first. I used a combination of DMC and perlé 8 threads and I think it has come together beautifully. The verigated pink perlé 8 has been so versatile and I will need to buy some more soon.
An ongoing issue I have is managing my time for paid projects. I really like to put a lot of work into the things I make but at the end of the day I need to think about how much customers are willing spend. After spending so much time on the front of this cushion cover I decided to put together a very simple back with a snap closure ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I had so much fun making the cushion covers and pillowcase but it was even nicer to hear how much the new parents and birthday boy love them. It is both satisfying and energizing. I know I like the things I make, but it is always reassuring to hear that I’m not the only one! LOL
I’m linking up with TGIFF over at Quiet Play.
Last night we had two lovely friends stay for a sleep over. I’m somewhat (!) lacking in sleep today, but we had so much fun. Nothing like complete kid chaos to make everyone happy
Either side of the sleepover I managed to get a little sewing in. A gift for one of the guests to celebrate his sixth birthday ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-89nHHFaXhDk/UF7Yb1VwrOI/AAAAAAAADBY/ovZLR-LgAik/s320/pillowcase+back.jpg) |
The birthday boy’s name starts with an “M”
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Pillowcases are one of my favourite handmade gifts for boys. Both of my boys sleep with Spiderman pillowcases that I made them for Christmas last year. They love them and it reminds me of the Disneyland Parade pillowcase that I had when I was little
I also managed to fit in a trio of skirts (I forgot to take a photo of the first one before it went to it’s new home).
These were fun to make and a pleasant break from quilting and patchwork. These photos are a good example of colour not showing true in photos. The middle tier of the second skirt is a deep pink, not the red that shows. I have photographed this fabric a number of times and have never managed to capture the true colour.
I also got busy while the sun was still in all her glory today and played around with some fat quarters. I received a few new additions to the stash this week including this gorgeous selection. I had been toying around with the idea of the blogger bundles/stacks currently available at a few online stores. In the end I purchased Dancing with Hazel by Rachel (Imagine Gnats) from Pink Castle Fabrics thinking it looked rather nice. Oh my goodness! It is absolutely stunning in real life and I am so glad that I purchased it!
I dug into my stash to add some yellow to the pinks and oranges. I wanted to lighten it up a bit but not go for lots of white. I’m thinking the bright yellow microdots (top left) would make a good binding and the top left grey linen/cotton blend might be a nice solid to throw around. Then again, I might change my mind completely after some sleep LOL
So tonight in my sleep deprived state I’m contemplating twin sized quilt patterns that utilise fat quarters. I played around with some graph paper and came up with one design that mixes square inside square with solid squares but I am not at all confident in my mathematical abilities so I’m thinking I might just purchase a pattern and make my life easy. Please feel free to make any suggestions
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I’m envisaging a simple design that will feature the colours and prints. I also like the idea of something quick to work on until my white homespun arrives so I can finish off my I Spy quilt
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Don’t you just want to dive in and play? |
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash at Finding Fifth.
We are at the end of the first week of the May school holidays. I have been squeezing in a little sewing each afternoon during “quiet time” (read: Little Miss naps and the boys watch TV) and a little in the evenings. I’m hoping to get a few gifts in the post tomorrow, but we’ll see. I have finished this lovely little Mug Rug that is for a lovely lady. Ssshhh, don’t tell her, it’s a surprise!
I’m in a couple of swaps at the moment so I started a Pinterest “swaps/small gifts” board and I just couldn’t resist this wonderful mug rug that I spotted. I was enjoying hand quilting but I didn’t want to fill the whole space. I actually wanted a white background but a white mug rug seems completely impractical to me; it’ll have tea stains in two seconds! Plus I just received a heap of black homespun from The Oz Material Girls, so I had some handy ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
My other finish for the week (so far! I’m hoping to have a few more before the week is out) was the name plaque for my gorgeous nephew. I gave you a sneak peak here and I still won’t reveal the whole thing as his Mummy pops in from time to time and I don’t want to completely spoil the surprise ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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It’s always nice to have a nice backside ;P |
Another of my favourite little people turned two this week and I’m putting together a gorgeous pinafore for her. The first time round it was a little short so I’ve made two
Just need to finish off the hems and sew on some buttons tonight. I then have to figure out if to send the pinafore or the smock… Both are too cute for words! I’ll share the pattern source for these in another post, let’s just say that I love sewing from Ottobre ![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
The postie made a delivery this week which was nice! Well, two in fact. The first was a book that I saw reviewed somewhere in blogland and had to have.
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Nice Cover! |
I’ve only had a skim read so far but this page is so pretty that I had to share. I love learning about colour.
My second package from the postie is a little more mundane but I am equally as excited!
How comfy does that thimble look??? Sadly I forgot about it when I was hand-quilting yesterday, but I’ll try it out soon. I’m also super excited to be sharpening some of my old blunt rotary blades that I’ve kept for using with paper. Here’s hoping this little gadget actually works! I like to think that I’m an experienced and knowledgeable sew-er. I know that I still have a lot to learn
Recently I learnt that there are machine quilting needles! I always change needles depending on my fabric weight (and I use a lot of interfacing) but I was previously oblivious to machine quilting needles so now I have some to add to my collection. How many needles does one need??
Has anyone else had any exciting mail this week? Or been sewing gifts? I’m getting a bit ambitious and considering making cards to go with the gifts I’ve made… That might delay the post somewhat!