Archive for the 'gifts' Category

2012: another year of sewing

Published on 31/12/2012 by Mary in Boys, clothing, gifts, Girls, Patchwork, projects, Quilts, Scraps, teaching and Zakka. 5 Comments

It’s the end of the year so I’m having a quick look back at what I’ve achieved in the last 12 months, I am pleasantly surprised!

Eight big quilts (and a few baby size), six of which I have given away! Quilts for Siblings Together was a big project in the early ‘summer’, it was a joy to sew for others and wonderful much later in the year to read Lynne’s post about the giving of the quilts. I already have plans for next year!

A selection of bags, purses and pouches that have been made, featuring heavily is the Lined Drawstring bag (pattern by Jeni), I love it.

At the beginning of the year I joined in the Sewing for Boys sew along, I guess I managed 4 months before life got in the way. But it inspired me to think about sewing for the children again, and I love the Treasure Pocket Pants pattern, making 5 pairs of those.

There was other ‘stuff’ cushion covers, zakka style sew along items, gifts and I even wrote a few tutorials, and of course the weekend away at FQ Retreat.

A big step for me this year was teaching. I’ve never done it before, but I lead a couple of evenings at a friends home sewing for Dress A Girl Around the World and Siblings Together. In July I taught my first workshop at Arrietty, teaching six ladies how to make frame purses. I’ve done a few more since then and have also taught some private one-to-one sessions. I’ve loved teaching, sharing knowledge, inspiring and giving others confidence in their abilities (and starting fabric habits in others – hahaha!).

So that’s it for today, I have vague plans for 2013 but output may well be determined by building work on our house.

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful 2013.

An empty cardboard box and a bed sheet

Published on 28/12/2012 by Mary in gifts, Scraps, thrifting and Upcycled. 7 Comments

So I’ve been absent from here for a bit, lots to catch up on but most of it can wait until I have time and peace and quiet to write.

I’ve been busy making Christmas gifts and here is one I’m quite pleased with:

Ok maybe in that picture it doesn’t look that impressive. They are marshmallow squares, a special Christmas edition with Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), loved by my children especially with edible disco shimmer on top.

The question arose as to what to give my eldest brother for Christmas, he is not the man who has everything, more the man who is satisfied with what he has. So the girls and I made some marshmallow squares and some rocky road to give to him (yes he likes cakes and biscuits).

Rather than present them in a cellophane bag or plastic tub I pulled out a box that I’d put aside for such an occasion. Using the Inside-Out Box from the Ruby Star Wrapping book as inspiration I turned the box inside out and stuck it back together. However I’m sure you’ll agree that a grey/brown cardboard box isn’t that exciting.

The other dilemma I had was that the sticky tape had been removed from it’s home and no one knew where it was (I have my suspicions). What else to do but make my own tape? I pulled out a rather delicious red and white gingham sheet and cut strips from it and then stuck these onto double sided sticky tape, creating some festive looking tape, which I then stuck to the box (and all other gifts that needed tape!):

What I particularly like about this box (Geobars) is that it has a viewing window so you can peek at what is inside! I’m now looking at every cardboard box in a different light, assessing it’s potential for a new life!

Linking up with:

A commission – quick gifts

Published on 11/12/2012 by Mary in Christmas, Commission, fabric and gifts. 8 Comments

A good friend recently (last week) commissioned me to make little gifts that she could give to her work colleagues this Christmas. Last year I made keyrings with their initials on, which she tells me they all loved and still use:

So I had a think and suggested tissue pack covers, useful all year round and they look great too:

How appropriate that now my little boy and I have stinking colds! I was trusted to make the fabric choices so had fun rifling through my stash (yes it does need a tidy).

There are a number of tutorials out there to make these (here and here) I’ve made up my own to fit the packets I use and to enclose raw edges too.

(fabrics: Fall – Summersville by Lu Summers, Sugar and Spice by Quilted Fish, Hedgehog Heaven by Michael Miller, Weekends by Erin McMorris, Charm and Belle by Amy Butler)

You don’t need much fabric for these, you could get 2 covers from a fat quarter. The print that you see at the opening to the cover is the lining fabric. You could use the same fabric inside and out but I like the ‘pop’ of something different peeping out.

Why not make a few to stuff in stockings ready for those winter colds?

Linking up with:

Ruby Star Post

Published on 02/12/2012 by Mary in creative and gifts. 3 Comments

I had a lovely package in the post last week from Amy/Sukie who blogs at ‘don’t you know who I am?‘

You may well have seen that Meloday Miller, fabric designer and illustrator has brought out a book – Ruby Star Wrapping in collaboration with Allison Tannery. Amy is hosting a Wrap-Along and had a giveaway for 5 books and I was one of the lucky winners. Not only did Amy send the book, she very kindly included a copy of Mollie Makes (that I don’t have), a children’s clothing pattern and some tailors chalk:

You can read Melody’s post about the book and see more images here.

I’ve been fairly busy since the book arrived but have sneaked half an hour with it at bedtime. I am impressed, there are stacks of projects in there for reusable gift packaging – helping us to stop wasting and start/continue reusing. So I’m hoping that in the next week or so I’ll have time to dig in and make some of the projects and maybe even get round to linking them up with the Wrap-Along. Thanks again Amy.

Come back tomorrow for your chance to win…

Deeply grey Friday and a big discount in my Etsy store…

Published on 22/11/2012 by Mary in Christmas, gifts, Upcycled and Vintage. 4 Comments

A bit of a twist maybe on the Black Friday mayhem that may or may not be taking place in the US this weekend. It’s grey here and very wet, lots of flooding near where we live but I am thankful that we are nice and dry.

It has been a little bit crazy busy round here, not just with sewing but life in general, but we’ve got a family wedding this weekend so looking forward to some fun.

In celebration of some time out, the fact that it’s nearly my birthday and for friends who’ve been celebrating thanksgiving I’m offering you a 20% discount in my Etsy shop over the weekend.

So if you need some vintage charm squares to do some sewing in the holiday season now is the time to buy,

If you need a gift for a sewing friend or relative how about a vintage sheet quilt kit?

Or if someone is new to sewing and you want to give them a simple kit, then a bunting kit might just tick that box:

If you can’t see what you’re looking for or something has sold out then please send me a message and I’ll respond on Monday. Please bear in mind that I won’t be answering messages this weekend (I don’t think there is wi-fi where we’ll be!) but all orders will be in the post by Wednesday 28th at the latest.

Use the code: DISCOUNT20 at the checkout, valid until 9pm UK time on Monday.

Oh and the wedding present quilt is finished. Here’s a quick peep from the photo shoot last Saturday:

Have a great weekend wherever you are.

Feeding the animals

Published on 05/11/2012 by Mary in Applique, birthdays, Boys, gifts and Girls. 18 Comments

You know sometimes you intend to write about something and then you don’t? Well this is one of those!

Way back in May I won a wonderful prize in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day, it was from the lovely Amy who blogs at Lots of Pink Here and has a great Etsy shop Pinked Fabrics. The prize was to choose 2 yards of fabric from her shop and a pattern. Well I ummed and ahhed over the fabric and then cheekily asked if I could have it in charm packs, Amy being the kind lady that she is said yes. The pattern was easier to choose, not fancying clothing patterns for the children I was taken by the ‘feed the animals’ coin purse.

I’m ashamed to say the charms are still in their packs awaiting the day when I find the perfect project for them.

During the summer I pulled the pattern out, traced all the pieces and then put it away again. Then in September once the children were back at school I took the opportunity to get it out again and spent a few happy hours sewing. As you can see from the pattern cover there are a number of little pieces so the cutting did seem to take forever but then the sewing of the purse was pretty quick. Yes, it took a while to choose fabric and the buttons for eyes, but once that was done…

So I made a cute cat, with a white applique nose and white stitched whiskers which you can hardly see:

This has gone off to live with my 3yr old niece who has filled it with hair clips and bands safely away from her little sister!

This gorgeous dog I made for Mathias, he was well aware that his big sisters have their own purses (none of which are as cool as this) and had been asking for a purse for a while, so this was wrapped up and given to him on his 3rd birthday last month.

Should I at this point mention that he has no money to put in it and the poor dog has been chucked in the toy cupboard…

I’m delighted with how they turned out. The pattern is by the Straight Stitch Society which is part of Oliver + S. I’ve never sewn with any of their patterns but read great things about them. This pattern is well written, I understood all of it, at no point did I make any errors or get confused (believe me that happens regularly to me). They don’t use a lot of fabric and you can customise them however you like. So yes, I would recommend it. Oh and the bonus is that if you do want to make some of these yourself you can buy a digital copy of the pattern and not have to wait for it to arrive in the post.

Next up: the monkey?

Ok I’m off to play at Emily’s, have a great day.

Another lovely mail day

Published on 26/09/2012 by Mary in gifts. 6 Comments

It’s cold and wet outside but when the postman rings the doorbell and hands over a parcel which I know will contain some loveliness I can’t help but feel my spirits lift.

I won a giveaway held by Cara over at her lovely blog Pink Stitches, this is what arrived from her yesterday:

just right for a steaming hot mug of tea on a day like today.

And this:

Such a gorgeous pin cushion. Would you believe that a year ago the only pincushion I owned was a magnetic one which wasn’t particularly attractive. I’ve made a couple for myself using the Zakka Style book and now have this lovely one, it’s stuffed but also has something in it that gives it a bit of weight. My almost 3 year old is delighted with it and spent a while taking pins out of this one:

and poking them into the ‘affle’ pincushion – hours of fun guaranteed!

Thanks very much Cara for my lovely winnings, right I must get back to tutorial writing for a new workshop. Have a good day.

July’s projects

Published on 01/08/2012 by Mary in gifts, projects and Quilts. 11 Comments

It’s the first of August, summer, the promise of long, hot days relaxing in the garden – ok maybe not but I can dream!

It is definitely time for Lily’s Quilts Fresh Sewing Day though.

I have no idea where July went, it seemed to zoom by in days of rain and exhausted children, but I do believe there was some sewing too and the sun did start to shine.

Most if not all of it was great fun, commissions, a pattern review, birthday and end of school year gifts and a sample for a quilt kit:

I also ran my first proper workshop/class, I’ve done informal sewing evenings before for charity, but this was proper paid work! It was a purse frame workshop held at Arrietty a wonderful new shop in Exeter that is running a number of sewing and non sewing workshops including a ukulele workshop! I really enjoyed doing it and all 6 students made gorgeous purses.

It’s the school summer holidays here now so it will be interesting to see if I have anything to show next month!

Go on over and check out what others have been sewing this month.

Soft books for babies – George and Grace

Published on 30/07/2012 by Mary in Babies, Boys, Commission, gifts, Girls and Upcycled. 5 Comments

A few weeks ago I had a stall at a market in a nearby village, it’s a new venture for the village and I was more than happy to support a community event. A bonus is that we have some good friends who live there, one of the families moved there after living next door to us for 5 years, so it was lovely to spend some time chatting with them!

Anyway one of my lovely friends commissioned me at the market to make 2 soft baby books, so I’ve been working on those over the last week. I really have to be in the right frame of mind to work on these, they are quite fiddly to work on but once I get going it’s good fun.

I put a request out on facebook for suggestions for some of the letters for the book, thank you for those who came up with ideas.

Here are the finished books:

Now George was a bit of a tricky name with 2 g’s and 2 e’s. But as you can see I managed.

Grace was fairly straightforward except for the fact that I much prefer working with 6 or 7 letter names – they fit well onto 8 pages and make my life easier! So to get round this little issue I put a large G on the first page and the giraffe opposite:

I went to bed last night with George finished and Grace very nearly done, so I sent my friend a message to let her know they would be completed very soon. This morning my youngest was awake and lively at 6:15 so rather than wrestle with him and try and convince him to go back to bed/sleep and risk him waking his sisters, the two of us crept downstairs. While he was quietly eating a bowl or 3 of breakfast I got on and finished off the book for Grace. It was definitely worth getting up early, but I don’t want to make a habit of it.

As the books were finished my friend came over this morning to pick them up, fortunately she was delighted with them and I was able to have a cuddle and giggle with the very gorgeous 4 month old Grace who now has a lovely book to suck and chew.

My husband is on holiday from work for 2 weeks so I may well get some extra sewing time in or I might not do any at all – watch this space.

It’s summer

Published on 23/07/2012 by Mary in gifts, Patchwork, thrifting, Upcycled and Zakka. 9 Comments

Have you entered the giveaway for a surprise pack of 2 patterns? If not head on over there now, it closes on Wednesday evening.

Hurrah the girls school finished the term on Friday so we are now on holiday, except I’m not because I still have to do everything I normally do during the day, washing, tidying, cleaning, cooking but like Bethan said ‘mummy we will be with you for 6 whole weeks’! Actually it’s 6 weeks and 3 days but who’s counting?

Ok truth is that although Tobit is at work he does lots around the house so it’s not too bad. Just don’t expect a lot from me here because the sun has come out to play at last…

But before I forget completely here’s what I made for end of year teacher gifts:

From the book Zakka Style, the Zakka style pencil case. Leah had 7 adults involved in her education this first year at school (yes there are 8 in the pictures, looks like there’s a spare one for someone!) fortunately they are quite quick and easy to make:

It was lovely to rummage through my scrap boxes for this, I used quite a bit of Sew Cherry from the little scraps I had left from the Siblings Together quilts. The linen is from a pair of 100% linen trousers I found in the charity shop, there is still plenty left.

And here are a couple that got hidden under a pile of stuff while Tobit was photographing. Bethan chose the scraps for these specifically for her teacher and teaching assistant:

(Leah is now looking over my shoulder and wants me to write ‘they are fabulous’)

On the back of each one we did some stamping:

I’m not suggesting for one minute that if it’s not got your name on it you won’t ever see it again, because even if your name is on it you still might never see it again or does that just apply to PE kit?!