Candy sweater for Isabel

I finished a sweater for Isabel yesterday. It had one million ends to weave in. At least it felt that way.

She got to try it on immediately and she gave it her seal of approval. She refused to take it off so I could photograf it.
It wasn't until she got ready for bed that I managed to peel it off her.

Fabric!

The glorious fabric from Fat Quarter Club arrived this week. You can see in the picture below I've already started.



I'm not sure where to begin but I was gonna try it out tonight. Unfortunatelly I got a bout of migraine when we were out for a walk this afternoon and have spent most of the evening this far trying hard to keep my dinner down.

I'll give it a go tomorrow instead. I don't want to muck it up.

Done!

Well, the bench is done!

I love my husband. He's the best.

I just told him what I wanted and he designed it. (With a little help from me).

I will take pictures once it's light out. But right now I'm just back from dinner and a movie. My bed is calling for me.

Getting started

Going to the hardware store tomorrow morning since we'll only have one child in tow (DD1 is at the inlaws).

Getting supplies to make a cutting table for my new crafts room. And also to get some storage system units to put up on the wall.
I'm planning on getting the Elfa kind like what they have at The Container Store.

I plan on storing all my fabrics and yarns in the cabinets underneath the work bench and all notions and supplies on shelves above.
The bench is going to sit on locking wheels so I can pull it away from the wall when I'm using it and push it up against the wall when I need the floor space.

One of the cabinets will house the serger if I can fit it. It might be too deep.

There is light fixtures attached to two of the cabinets. At least there used to be, and I plan to keep them attached. It could look nice to use them for mood lighting when I'm not crafting.

I also need a better ceiling light than the one I have. This one casts too many shadows.
I'm thinking flourecent light, but I hesitate. They're usually ugly. Maybe some spotlights affixed to the shelves on the wall.

I'm really excited about this. I'll have to do before and after shots of the room!

Tutorials galore

Fabric folding tutorial
Rotary cutting tutorial
Quilt basting tutorial
Quilt binding tutorial

Picnic bag

One evening last week I went to the Quilt-store across from my office for a sewing class.
We were gonna make a garden tool bag or a picnic drink bag.

Initially I was gonna chose a fabric with winebottles and wine corks to keep with the theme, but in the end I opted out on that and decided to use fabric from Sandy Gervais' latest collection Freshly Squeezed.

It made for a very summery bag I think.

The pattern was fairly simple but it had a lot of steps so I don't think I'll be making it again.
If I do there are a few things I would change about it so maybe I'll give it a go during my upcoming 5 week vacation.

Another view of the inside

Apples and Strawberries

I made another sewing bag to match the Apple bag I made a few weeks ago.
It came out a lot better than the Apple bag so I decided to take off the binding on that one and remake it right.

With cherries on top

I made this for a swap with a June-mom on Livejournal.

It's a shirt from H&M that I sewed a skirt on in an aqua fabric with red cherries and yellow flowers.
I put an elastic in the waist and a red bias tape to cover it.

I didn't have a pattern or a tutorial and ended up with a very static waistline so I hope the little recipient can use it. Sofia tried it on before we sent it and it was pretty hard to wiggle her out of it.
She's quite a lot bigger than the intended receiver.

Eager

I'm eagerly awaiting my order from FatQuarterClub. They shipped it on July 1st and the website said the delivery time was 1-3 weeks. We're halfway there.

I didn't realise until after I paid that I had chosen two charm packs with winter themed fabrics.

When I was at the quilting store last week for one of their classes I bought a fat quarter bundle (6 FQs) with summery fabrics so I'm thinking I could use that for Sofia's quilt instead.
I just need some more coordinating prints for the sashing and borders and backing.

Next week I'm on vacation and I'm thinking we'll head into the thrift store and see if they have some sheets I could use.

If not I'll just have to take the bundle out and see if I get some inspiration. Sofia has a yellow fitted sheet I may be able to use for coordinating squares. I'll have to get it out and see how well it matches the bundle fabrics.

Crafts room

My husband and I used to share a "playroom". We both had our computers there and I had room to put up my sewing machine.

Then I bought a serger and suddenly it all got a bit crowded and awkward.

So he decided we should clear out the closet right next to the playroom and house his computer and the fileserver in there and we could rename the playroom to the crafts room.

I now have the ironing board put up against one of the walls and the sewing machine and my computer up against the other wall. Which leaves plenty of room to "create".

While we cleared out the closet I took one or two turns up to the attic to put stuff into storage. There I found four old cabinets we had in the kitchen in our flat.
You know how sometimes you see stuff and other times you see them?

Well on one of the turns up there I realised they would be perfect to store fabric in. And they were almost tall enough to turn into a work bench.
So we're currently in the process of designing it to make it high enough and sturdy enough to cut fabric and keep the serger on.
I plan on occupying one of the shelves with the serger for easy access when I need it.

We'll top the cabinets with a pine board and I'll stretch some fabric across it for a splash of beauty and cover the whole thing with an acrylic sheet.

I think it will be perfect.

First post

Today I made my first purchase of quilt packs.

I got one charm pack from Me and My Sister's Smores design and one from Deb Strain's It's Snowing.

I didn't realise at the time they were both rather wintery fabric lines but it will be quite alright.

I've mapped out a first draft of a quilt for Sofia using the Smores charm pack. It will probably be a bit similar to the one I made for Isabel but that one was a bit more elaborate than this one.

If it's not too hard to make I think I'll start planning a new one for Isabel.