handmade by Mary Emmens

Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2013 – All Stars

Published on 19/05/2013 by Mary in Boys, Patchwork and Quilts. 19 Comments

I knew that Bloggers Quilt Festival was almost upon us and then a lot of blog posts appeared with lots of lovely quilts in and I realised I wasn’t prepared like I’d aimed to be.

The quilt I’m going to show you today has not appeared previously except in a sneak peek at the end of March. There is a story behind it which is not mine to share. But what I can share is my reason behind the making of this quilt.

A lovely young boy that I know has been going through an extremely tough time and things recently got a whole lot worse, I was lost for words. Tobit (my husband) was away in London for a couple of days but once he was back I told him what was going on and how I needed to make a quilt for this boy.

Sometimes there are no words, but there was a stash of fabric and the ability to sew, so I did. With every cut and stitch I thought about this boy and his family, a couple of times I thought they might think me weird for doing this but so what.

I pulled out from my stash every bit of the All Stars collection for Riley Blake that was one of my first full bundle purchases, I’ve used it in various projects but still had plenty left. In addition are a few pieces from the Wheels collection (also Riley Blake) and some charms from the Andover Dimples range:

I made a pile of 9 patch blocks, cut them up and moved them around a few (hundred) times before agreeing a layout with myself.

I was on a bit of a mission not just for the young boy but also because we had started major building work on the house and I was about to lose the dining room (also my sewing space) and the kitchen.

I didn’t want to hang about so made a scrappy (very) back with all my leftovers and a large piece of All Stars flannel for extra snuggle factor.

So with an hour to go before time was up and the dining room was sealed and off limits I got down on my hands and knees and basted this quilt.

I quilted it myself in straight lines either side of the main block lines (someone please tell me a more technical way of explaining that) and hand sewed the binding on.

There’s a label on there too, which had a message added before it was delivered:

I worried about how to deliver this quilt and how it would be received, but I needn’t have. There were tears from the mum and me and smiles and amazement from the young boy as he wrapped it round himself. I hope that it will continue to give him comfort for years to come.

Thanks for reading. I’m entering this into the Throw Quilt category as think that’s the best fit.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 45″ x 58″
Fabric: All Stars and Wheels Riley Blake, Dimples – Andover
Backing fabric: All Star Flannel and scrappy
Binding: Summersville Cross Hatch red
Quilting: Quilted by me on my machine
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Wadding 80/20
Pattern: 9 patch

And the winner is…

Published on 11/05/2013 by Mary in giveaway and Scraps. 8 Comments

First of all thanks to everyone who stopped by for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day, I was amazed at the number of you who would like to win one of my Texty Triple Zip pouches.

I have been reading through comments but I’ve not been able to respond as it’s been a difficult week here with school trips, a birthday, a life changing health diagnosis for my husband and the continuation of building chaos. I will get back to anyone who had queries or specific comments.

But without further ado the winner is:

I’ll be emailing Tammy shortly to get her mailing details and to find out if she’d like scraps in her pouch.

Sadly you can’t all be winners but you could make your own pouch using Debbie’s tutorial here.

Don’t forget there is still time to save 15% off any purchase in the shop through till tomorrow 12th May using code: SEWMAMASEW.

Keep Calm and Press On

Published on 10/05/2013 by Mary in Paper piecing. 7 Comments

(My Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is still open here – be quick)

Another month another block in the And Sew On BOM. I was expecting to find this pretty tricky but it came together fine, apart from using the wrong piece of fabric at one point but I spotted it before it was too late and replaced it:

As a little test I ask my children if they know what it is and so far they’ve guessed right every time.

Excitingly there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to building work so it may not be too long before I have a sewing space and somewhere to hang these gorgeous blocks!

As always this months pattern is available for free in Kristy’s Craftsy store, download it now.

Giveaway Day is here again

Published on 06/05/2013 by Mary in accessories and giveaway. 426 Comments

Hello and welcome to all of you lovely people visiting for the first time as part of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day and happy Monday to all my regular readers, especially if you’re in the UK where it’s a bank holiday.

I’m Mary, I live in the south west of England with 3 young children and a wonderful husband.

I love to sew and to support my sewing/fabric habit a year ago I opened an Etsy shop as an outlet for my excessive vintage sheet collection, thanks to all you who been helping me out by buying the kits and charm packs over the year! As a little extra treat on top of the giveaway, use code: SEWMAMASEW to take 15% off any purchase in the shop through till next Sunday 12th May.

Last summer I started teaching some workshops which has been great fun. One of the classes is a zip pouch workshop and earlier this year I took part in the Triple Zip Along, (yes using not one but three zips in a pouch) and made two pouches that are very similar.

I used some text print fabrics from a charm swap and I mentioned at the time that didn’t need two pouches and at some point I would give one away. Now seems as good a time as any to do just that.

I’m happy to fill the pouch with scraps too if you’re a fan of scraps!

So to be in with a chance of winning it’s simple; just leave a comment below telling me what was the last thing you sewed and who it was for.

The giveaway closes on Friday May 10th at 5pm (PST) (which I believe is midnight here in the UK, funnily enough I’ll probably be asleep so any comments left after this time will be deleted!). I will use the Random Number Generator to select the winner who will be notified by email and announced on the blog. Please ensure that I have a way of contacting you by email.

Thanks for stopping here and good luck with this and all the other giveaways listed on the Sew Mama Sew blog!

In May I will…

Published on 03/05/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes and clothing. 6 Comments

A new month and time to set myself another goal for the Lovely Year of Finishes.

I feel like I had a successful shot at sewing clothes for my children last month and think it’s about time I made some for me. So my goal is to make one item of clothing for me.

I have fabric (yes, really I do), including a stash of AMH voile which will be great for tops/dresses:

Some delicious Quilt Blocks which will my daughter is eyeing up but I fancy the green on the left for me…

The two prints below on the left I think might work well as Sorbetto tops;

I have patterns too, I just need to make a decision, which I’m not so good at. I can do the sewing part but I worry that I might not like and/or suit the finished garment. I’m even more conscious of this after seeing this photo of a Tova made by Very Kerry Berry which she wasn’t happy with and she is a bit of an expert at dressmaking so if sometimes she doesn’t get it right what hope is there for me?

Anyway I’ve written this post now so that is my motivation to decide and get sewing – wish me luck and I promise to share any clothing disasters along the way!

April projects

Published on 01/05/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, KCWC, Paper piecing and Patchwork. 10 Comments

I’ve just realised that it’s the 1st of May and therefore Fresh Sewing Day, I’m not sure how it sneaked up on me but it did!

I started the month with the And Sew On BOM, this I think is my favourite so far:

After winning the Aeroplane Bag pattern I thought I’d better get on and make it:

Kids Clothes Week was on this month, and I had a productive week along with a few mistakes:

Trousers for Mathias, shorts for the girls:

and pyjama bottoms for Bethan and Mathias:

If you’re interested in fabrics and/or pattern details see this post.

I helped out a lady in distress over missing bee blocks.

Again despite the chaos I’ve managed to get quite a lot of sewing done. Building work is nearing completion; we need doors and windows, more electrics and plumbing work, most of that will be done for us but we do need to paint the plaster work before we can put the kitchen in, I’m hoping that next month we’ll have made great progress!

Linking up with:

Not good enough

Published on 30/04/2013 by Mary in Patchwork. 9 Comments

My lovely friend Emily has been feeling a little bit sad and disappointed at the lack of commitment in one of the bees she is in. It was her month and she has not received blocks from 8 bee members. Anyway I’m not going to rant about it but what I did offer to do is make some blocks for her.

I’ve never made a churn dash block before but given the measurements I got on and made 4, it took a morning, wasn’t very taxing and was quite satisfying:

So these will be off in the post to Emily this afternoon to add to a quilt she is making for a special person in her life.

That was my good deed for the day; now you might be able to help me, I’ve just bought the Retro Flowers Quilt pattern from the The Sometimes Crafter. I wanted to join in the QAL last year but knew I didn’t have the time, but as the pattern is 50% off until May 5th (go here for details) and I bought it last week, if anyone in the UK has the acrylic templates that they have finished with and would like to sell them to me please let me know. Thanks!

KCW round up

Published on 28/04/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Girls and KCWC. 5 Comments

I had a vague intention to blog more frequently this week on my Kids Clothes Week progress, but after the fail so soon after the start I focused on sewing rather than sharing!

So here are the shorts I made, the top 2 pairs are the pairs that due to the printer scaling the pattern turned out more like a size 5 than a size 8. Fortunately for me I have 2 daughters and these do fit my younger daughter and she likes them!

The bottom 2 pairs are the size I intended them to be , they are now shoved in Bethan’s drawer waiting for the sun to shine! It is still pretty chilly here so rather than getting the girls to wear them for a photoshoot (not so great in our building site of a garden) I pegged them up. No prizes for spotting the difference between the pairs but it’s enough for me to know which pair belongs to which child when they come out of the wash!

I also made half of the Goodnight, sweetheart pjs from Sewing for Boys:

Yes I went for the easy part first, the bottoms. I have cut the pieces for the top this afternoon but not yet had time to sew it. I used some lovely soft flannel from the Children at Play line by Sarah Jane Studios.

I hesitated about what size to make these, Mathias is 3 1/2 and his height is below average for his age, but the pattern comes in a 2/3, 4/5 and 6/7. I was worried that 2/3 would be on the small side and the 4/5 would be way too big. Fortunately my sounding board (aka Tobit) suggested 2/3 would be fine and I’m so glad he did, without the cuffs turned up they fit Leah (almost 6) pretty well so with the cuffs turned up 2″ they are on the big side for Mathias!

I sewed a piece of blue ribbon in at the back of the waistband to help him know which way on they go (I opted out of the faux fly).

Bethan was very taken by the sight and feel of the flannel pj bottoms and requested I make her some! I didn’t have enough flannel in my stash to make a pair so we had a browse through the flannel section at Pink Castle Fabrics and were very tempted by most of what was on offer especially with 20% off this weekend (code EVERYTHING20). I got the feeling that Bethan wasn’t really prepared to wait a week or so for fabric to arrive and then I remembered that I had found some flannel at the car boot a year or so ago. I wasn’t expecting her to like it but she loved it, so I quickly cut out the pieces and sewed them up, probably the fastest garment I’ve ever made!

These were too long on Bethan so I turned up the cuffs 2″ and they fit better, so hopefully both pairs of pyjama bottoms will last the children a good while!

Again a piece of blue ribbon at the back.

So all in all after the near disastrous start to the week I’m really pleased with how productive I’ve been, especially with plasterers, builders, roofers and electricians working in and on the house.

It was a trying week, seriously; I got back from the school and preschool drop off on Friday morning to discover the contents of the under stairs cupboard all over the living room and the electricity turned off for almost all the morning! I’m hoping that I can get on with the other half of the pyjamas tomorrow but I’m not holding out too much hope as the electrician is due here again!

Now the only thing to decide is whether or not to go and buy some of that delicious flannel from Pink Castle Fabrics ready for next time…

I hope you’ve had a productive week whether you’ve been sewing for children or sewing for something/one else.

Linking up my Sewing for Boys project with:

Cutty, cutty

Published on 26/04/2013 by Mary in Paper piecing and projects. 5 Comments

Whoops I made this right at the beginning of the month and never got round to sharing with you.

The And Sew On BOM was this gorgeous block:

Titled: Snip it Real Good / Not for paper

I chose the pale purple solid for the handles to mimic my much loved Janome scissors that have served me so well over the years. As with most paper piecing it was fiddly but worth it!

Thanks Kristy for another great block. If you want it for free you’d better be quick, hop on over to Craftsy to download it before the end of the month.

Aeroplane Bag – finished!!

Published on 24/04/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes and projects. 12 Comments

My challenge to myself for this month was to get the pieces cut for the Aeroplane Bag. Life in this house was going to be chaotic and I really had no idea if sewing was going to be an option. I am fast discovering it is sewing that keeps me sane!

The children were on school holidays for 2 weeks, it was cold and wet for most of that time and we were without hot water and central heating for a week so things have been a little tough. Fortunately we have some wonderful friends, neighbours and family who have cooked for us and allowed us to use their facilities!

Anyway I found time to sew in the evenings and was surprised at how quick the bag came together:

Please excuse the not so great photo’s, my usual photographer was busy with plumbing pipes and knocking bricks out of the fire place! I didn’t have the time or patience to make the bag sit properly, there is a small boy just out of shot fiddling with a banana and woodlice so I had to be quick!

I used the interfacings etc that were suggested in the pattern so that I had an idea of the stiffness of the finished bag ready for next time. It has a great feel to it, sturdy but not too bulky.

The fabric has been in my stash for a while, I’m pretty sure it came from M is for Make a couple of years ago, I saw it used on someones blog used for a messenger style bag and loved it and hunted it down! It’s Trefle for Kokka other than that I don’t have any details.

I really wanted to use the trains on the track that run along the fabric on the straps but that section of fabric was not quite wide enough, so I cut what I wanted to use and stitched it onto solid purple straps, adding to the strength of the handles:

For the lining I used Alphabetty from Lucie Summers Summersville line, along with a couple of the other prints for the pockets:

I sort of made this with the thought in mind of my eldest daughter using it to take away with her on her first residential school trip in July – we shall see whether or not I can bear to let her! (And yes I am already thinking about making another)

Linking up with: