Finally named...

After canvassing opinions from various locations (mostly on the internets) I have finally settled on a name for my quilt on my bed...

Hex's...

A combination of being lazy to get my sewing machine out this past weekend and too cold to want to venture out of my warm and cosy bedroom unnecessarily, so (once again) inspired by Aneela's pictures, and the fact that I had a little pile of cut out hexagons in my sewing box (from who knows when!) I thought I'd give paper pieced hexagons a go.

Normally I HATE hand sewing. It bores me and I get frustrated over how long everything takes me to do. However, making the hex's was surprisingly relaxing, and I had quite quickly assembled a very respectable pile.


However, I then realised that maybe the sewing together of the hexagons might be less fun than the making of the hexagons, so I tried sewing a few together... and finding that just as enjoyable I added a couple more... and then a couple more, until I now have this many sewn together:


I got to this point and thought "what the hell am I going to do with these (any any subsequent) hexagons???" (well I'd thought it before this point but I had been pushing it to the back of my mind). This is a thought I'm still having, so I'd be super grateful for any suggestions...

I've started one thing, I've picked some of the green and blue ones and stitched them together and "quilted" them onto a piece of fabric (nothing between the two layers) and am planning on having them as one side of a coin purse (with dark green on the back):


But I haven't a clue what to do with the rest of them... everything I think of is either too ambitious for a hand sewing project (eg a quilt), or has a very high chance of becoming a "oh dear god, what were you thinking?" item, which I would like to avoid!

So, yeah, any suggestions?

Shopping Bag...

A little pressie I made for my Dad to make his weekly trips to the supermarket a tiny bit more interesting:

The bag was made by following this tutorial with a couple of changes:
- I didn't line it, it's made from a single layer of calico. I zigzagged around the edges to somewhat finish them.
- I made it out of one piece of fabric so there's no seam at the top of the handles (having a seam there is a bit bulky and not so comfy for carrying)
- The tongue is machine stitched onto the fabric with a straight stitch
- It doesn't have the pocket detailed in the tutorial

One UFO down...

The task I set myself this weekend was to tackle my UFO box, so settling down in front of some trashy movies this evening I set to work. Sadly, the first UFO I ran out of the right colour thread half way through working on the first one, so it's back in the box. Happily though, the second is finished and already being worn!



I introduce to you my newest pair of PJ bottoms! They are super comfy and made from the same pattern as my argyle PJ bottoms. However they do look like they're made for someone a great deal taller than my humble 5"4... I may need to re-hem them!

There's a matching PJ top still waiting to be made, rather experimentally the pattern was traced from a PJ top I own, so we'll see how that turns out!

One gal's trash...

Well you know what they say, one gal's trash is another gal's treasure!

I was walking to the lactic factory yesterday afternoon, enjoying the brief winter sunshine, and spotted the following in someones "hard rubbish":


That's right, my very own toy sewing machine! Switching it on revealed that it seemed to work (the light came on at least) and it even had it's own little reel of thread!

So, today I had a bit of a play to see if it worked...

I made a guess at how to thread it, and threaded it up with some red thread (for visibility). Which in itself was HARD! The needle was SO hard to thread!!! I also couldn't work out how it was going to work, as it has no bobbin!!! I pondered it for a few short moments and then decided to carry on so I could find out.

The batteries in it are a bit drained so when I push the little peddle it makes a bit of an effort but only gets half way through a stitch (and I don't happen to have any of the enormous size D batteries it requires lying around the house) so I moved it along by hand with the wheel-y thing on the right hand side (which I feel I should know the real name for, but I do not).

A few minutes later I had my very own little line of stitching:
Which can be made without a bobbin because it makes little loops with the thread on each stitch:
(something useful to know as you have to pull the last stitch to the back or it all come undone with the smallest little tug!)

Lastly I tried sewing a seam with the machine... there were a few missed stitches, but the biggest problem was how loose the stitches are, meaning the seam is a bit miserable to be honest!


And now I'm done playing and have no idea what to do with my new treasure other than let it be yet another thing cluttering up our house! Cute as it is, and I'm sure there's a better home for it out there somewhere. So, if anyone local has a better use for it please give me a shout, as I'd love to find it a happy (and more appropriate) home.

Hit or Miss?

I love my coffee date dress, and I was inspired by Cam557's creation to use the ruffle on a tank top. So I grabbed some green jersey I'd bought but not used and cut the pieces out... then I remembered I'd used up all my dark green thread on the dress and the project was put on hold until I had more thread.

It's been sat in my UFO box for a while now, but I picked up again on this top Wednesday night of this week and made it in an evening and wore it to work... but I still can't decide if I like it or not.

(please excuse the terrible photos, although they were taken outside in today's beautiful sun!)

I think I have to be very careful of having a ruffle like that on a top, as it feels like I'm (unnecessarily) accentuating my bust... Also the ruffle feels too big, and is definitely completely off centre.


So yeah, I can't decide if this one is a success or a failure.

However, either way I have one less UFO in my box now. Which is good as I really want to finish some stuff off before starting on anything new.

Not sewing, but just as fun!

This week I made gingerbread! It was so much fun! My housemate's joined in too, helping with the cutting, decorating and of course the eating.


The recipe I used was from exclusively food and turned out Delicious! I made a couple of changes, I didn't have any "mixed spice" so used 1sp Cinnamon and 1tsp nutmeg, and I'm not sure if "Baking Soda" and "Baking Powder" are the same or different, but I used "baking powder" as that's what we had in the cupboard.

There were of course gingerbread men with Smarties for buttons.

There were also ballerinas, pussy cats, flowers and smiley faces!

And of course, a few Australia's (courtesy of my awesome Australia shaped cookie cutter!).