Archive for the 'Scraps' Category

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.

Adventures in paper piecing – part 3

Published on 10/03/2013 by Mary in Paper piecing and Scraps. 8 Comments

Last week I had time to take on the ‘And Sew On..’ block of the month, Just Spoolin’ Around. Each section came together nicely but that’s happened to me before, when I get to sewing the sections together and it’s not quite so easy…

This time I’m pleased to say it went pretty smoothy. I was delighted to pull all the fabric from my scraps boxes (which are currently stored under the bunk beds) except for the table which came from my dwindling Sherbet Pips stash (residing in a cupboard by the side of my bed).

It was fun to try and pick fabrics that look vaguely like they could be thread and I tried to go with the colour schemes that I used in January and February blocks:

The pattern is available free until the end of March in Kristy’s Craftsy shop (after that it will cost you).

Kristy also had a number of patterns that required testing and asked if I could help, I chose a retro kitchen scales block.

Again I used fabrics from my scraps bin. The pattern immediately made me think of the Sew Cherry line by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet. You may recall that last year I used a FQ bundle of this line to make 2 quilts for Siblings Together:

Believe it or not I had some pretty small scraps left and just enough dots and cherries to use for the worktop and wallpaper – I was delighted!

How neat is that? Yes I made it all myself, am I proud? yes just a bit! It was a bit fiddly, those teeny pieces at bottom of the hand dial were a bit tricky but I did it.

This pattern is not up for sale just yet but there are some other retro kitchen theme patterns available in Kristy’s Craftsy shop if you’re feeling inspired and to be honest if I can do it you can too.

February…

Published on 01/03/2013 by Mary in Boys, Commission, Dress a Girl Around the World, Paper piecing, Patchwork, Quilts and Scraps. 8 Comments Tags: amy butler, bunting commission, fresh sewing day, happy quilting, lily's quilts, quilting exeter, starburst quilt, triple zip pouch.

My oh my what a freezing cold month it has been. Despite other stuff going on here I’ve spent a fair bit of time with my sewing machine:

1. You Little Ripper!, 2. Triple zip pouches, 3. Patchwork journal cover – commission, 4. Bunting Commission

In January I did some quilt pattern testing. In February I basted, quilted and bound the quilt, not sure if I should be showing you as the patterns not been released yet, so here’s just a little peek:

I helped out at a Dress a Girl Around the World evening that a friend organised. We managed to complete 16 dresses and had a pile of others that needed finishing. I took along a couple of double sheets from my vintage stash along with a pile of pillowcases – you may well recognise some of them below:

I also did some pattern testing for Kristy at Quiet Play:

I tested the whole set of numbers and punctuation, Kristy has now released them for sale and you can purchase them here.

My major project and finish this month is this large beauty:

You can read more about it here if you’d like the detail.

Who knows what March will bring, hopefully some warmer weather! This weekend our kitchen will be taken apart, my sewing things have mostly been packed away, but I may have started another quilt!

Linking up with:

Commissions – bunting and a journal cover

Published on 18/02/2013 by Mary in birthdays, Boys, Commission, Girls, Patchwork and Scraps. 14 Comments

Don’t forget Ruby Star Wrapping giveaway still open here for UK and Ireland folks.

A quick update on some recently completed commissions:

Bunting for a boy:

using the delicious fabrics from the Mechanical Genius range by Mo Bedell:

Bunting for his sister:

using Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey

I have a bit of a thing about using tone on tone, plain or lightly patterned fabric for personalised bunting, I’ve seen some where I struggle to see the letters clearly. These were commissioned by a local friend for her to send to friends in Indonesia – hopefully they’ll be there soon.

Another journal cover, again commissioned by a local friend:

for a birthday, for a lady who likes green;

Made in the same way as this one:

With the addition of some selvedges for fun.

A little bit of subtle stitching to personalise it, I even managed to get it on the spine!

Two happy customers and some fun for me.

Linking up with:

Scrap swap

Published on 07/02/2013 by Mary in fabric, Scraps and swap. 4 Comments

A week or so ago I had a message from Ashleigh who blogs at Ickle Tomato Handmade asking if I would be interested in a scrap swap. Someone else’s scraps are always interesting so I had a sort out and sent her an envelope weighing just over 400g stuffed with this lot:

And this is what I got in the post a few days later:

I asked for any purples and oranges as my scrap boxes are low on those, I forgot about yellow but happily there were quite a few in there and I could do with some of those too:

The pieces I sent Ashleigh were generally bigger than mine but she said that anything more than 2.5″ square would be fine for the project she has in mind. I’m just hoping she’s happy with her parcel!

Not a quick birthday present

Published on 18/01/2013 by Mary in birthdays, Girls, Patchwork and Scraps. 7 Comments

There is a pile of things I’ve made over the last month or so that I’ve not written about, here is one of them:

My eldest daughter Bethan has a good friend who was celebrating her birthday, her mum appreciates and admires my work so it only seemed right that between us (Bethan and I) we made something to gift. Young girls it appears like stationery, Bethan certainly does and enjoys writing things down (I’m not sure what I’m not really supposed to look) so the plan was to make a journal cover.

Bethan told me that Louisa’s favourite colour was yellow so she pulled out the yellow scrap box and selected a pile of fabrics she liked. I suggested that we put in a little bit of grey to add a bit of interest and then I was left to sew!

(front)

I patchworked the fabrics together into the right size piece and then basted it to a piece of batting and straight line quilted it.

(back)

I used a Lecien print (Honey Tune) that I bought from the Eternal Maker at the Creative Stitches show last September, it was in the £7.50 per metre basket so I snapped it up. I love it, Bethan wasn’t so keen but as she got distracted with something else I used it anyway!

As a finishing touch Bethan stamped Louisa’s name on the front, just so there is no doubt who it belongs to.

So why was it not quick? Well by the time the fabrics were chosen, ironed, stitched together, quilted and then turned into a journal cover a few hours had gone by. But it was such a satisfying project and fun to use up some more scraps, how to bust the rest?

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:

Zakka commissions

Published on 16/12/2012 by Mary in Commission, Patchwork, Scraps and Zakka. 4 Comments

Way back in March I ran a Dress A Girl Around the World sewing evening at my friend Rachels house. In the summer her eldest daughter Mia went on a school trip to Malawi and the group took approx 250 dresses with them to distribute (not all made by us on that evening!). Mia had an amazing time and last week she and Rachel commissioned me to make some little thank you gifts for the teachers who accompanied them on the trip.

So one evening I sewed some Patchwork Pencilcases from the book Zakka Style:

They gave me suggestions of colours and styles and then said be as flexible as you like!

So I raided the scraps boxes and had fun working with their suggestions. The request was for ‘names’ to be stamped on the back:

These are not necessarily their actual names but what they were called by the children in Malawi.

This is a great pattern for using scraps and fun to personalise too. News of more finished gifts coming soon!

Pieced Scrap Border Quilt – finished

Published on 27/11/2012 by Mary in Patchwork, Quilts and Scraps. 14 Comments

A few weeks ago we had a dryish day and we went up to visit my mum and eldest brother to chop wood and stage a photo shoot with a couple of finished quilts.

They have a large and beautiful garden, great for the children to run around in and explore:

So while they did that I stood holding up the quilt:

You can read a bit more about this quilts progress here.

I bought some yardage in Randi’s sale a month or so ago with the back of this quilt in mind. It was brilliant value, working out with shipping costs at just over £3 per yard!

So I pieced together some of Lizzy House’s Outfoxed prints (bright green Jewel in Outwitted, Foliage in Outwitted, Tufts in Outwitted and Foxglove in Outwitted).

I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt and then hand-stitched it to the back, I had a it of time spare to do it and I do prefer a hand-stitched binding.

Not leaving it quite to the last minute I designed a quilt label, I had some injet cotton fabric sheets (from here) and printed onto that. I then hand wrote the details on with a permanent fabric pen.

At the weekend we went to Joanna and David’s wedding and gifted the quilt to them. They had a quick peek at it and I believe they were delighted but they have now left the country for sunnier climes so won’t be needing it just yet!

Quilt Stats:

Made for: Joanna and David
Size: 55″ x 65″
Fabric: Scraps from my own collection and others from Johanna, Cindy and Kerry. Better Value Cotton White from Seamstar. Binding – Rings in red by Khristian A. Howell from Desert Daydreams collection
Quilting: Quilted by me on my machine, stitching 1/4″ from each seam line and then a cross hatch across all the blocks.
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Wadding Natural 100% cotton with scrim
Pattern: Pieced Scrap Border Quilt by Red Pepper Quilts – tutorial here

Linking up with: