Handmade gifts - a catchup post

Here are a couple of handmade gifts I've made lately.  I'll be back soon with updates on clothing makes, including my sewing dare and the Cami dress, a whole lot of patterns I won from Claire and a few other things, but first up some handmade gifts

So, here we have a tissue cover with a cute little side pocket for a pen or some lipstick! This one is for another work mate.  It is made with Liberty Tresco A. I was only able to purchase a little bit of this fabric so I'm glad it worked out.  It is lined in another Liberty Virtual Light A. The fit is a bit snug because  I made up the pattern myself after the only ones I could find on the internet involved sewing the top onto the side pieces, which I find too bulky and my head was spinning after a few hard days at work so my maths struggled.  The piece at the bottom is because I cut it too short. But I'm calling it a design feature!

Next up is an ooshka babushka doll I made using Liberty scraps for a little girl turning one tomorrow.  I have spoken before of my love for the patterns of Lisa from the Red Thread.  I made a 'superman' for this house many years ago and is a great comfort to me as I lie in the kid's bed reading stories.

Lastly, to show I'm making good progress on my battle with the zipper purse, two little purses I made today. Elliot is off next week to a birtday party for twin girls, so they will get these with some little things in them.  Not sure what yet.. but something!

FINISHED! A present for a generous cook

It was the birthday of a work friend this week.  To celebrate: a morning tea, a lunch and a present. Oh, but what to get, what to get?

Well, the birthday girl is a generous cook who is well known for her care packages and her love of food.  So after a lot of deliberation, we thought what better present than a food carrier. Ok, so she usually carries her large bowls and containers in a big bag and she rarely arrives with just one, but let's just say that she just wanted to take one cake or pie or salad, well then what could be better than a food carrier. So instead of buying a present from the team I whipped one up.When searching out styles and tutorials on the internet, I found that they were mainly referred to as 'pie carriers' or 'casserole carriers' but I envision that this will be used for cakes or salads or just about anything.  There is a layer of 'insul bright' so it could keep food hot or cold. Or as someone said at work today, she could use it to carry and keep cold a 6 pack (of beer).  Well yes. She could.

The pattern is based off the tutorial from Crafty Gemini. The pattern calls to quilt batting on both sides and then sew together.  I only had enough insul brite for one layer, so I just sandwiched it between layers and stitched around then turned out the correct way.  I didn't quilt or topstitch around the side. Probably a bit of laziness and not really knowing how my walking foot works.. or maybe it was just that I prefer the look of this fabric without either! If I do this again, I might bind the edges.

I used some Nani Iro linen fabric and a heavy Japanese cotton/linen which had checks on one side and dots on the other. For this project I just used the dots. I've got a thing when I use Nani Iro fabric that I like to see the selvedge.  Its just one of those things. I also stamped a label on the front.

So the way it works is so easy. You put the bowl under the long strap and then thread through the straps through the holes et voila! A very snazzy and unusual food carrier. I love this!  It turned out better than I expected and really sturdy. It is a bit lo fi and wobbly in parts or rustic was the word used at work today. But I still love it.  It was reasonably quick and easy so it might also make the list of items for the preschool fete.

Oh I also made a little bit of birthday bunting to go with the most delicious cake from Flute.

FINISHED! Does my pompom look big in this? No but my ears do!

Ok, so the pompon is quite big and now that the beanie is made up I'm thinking that the orange might be just a bit loud for a baby.. but.. I'm hoping it will fit post that new born baby stage, when babies start to wear colour.  Let's call it a success?  Well, except for the fact that the baby might never be able to hold their head up because of the weight of the pom pom!  Should I trim it back a bit more? On Sunday night Ben and I both had the scissors out giving the pom pom a hair cut.  He kept saying: "Just make a new one, it's too big!". But I wasn't budging.  That pom pom was going onto the beanie.

On monday night I quickly made up a baby bib to put with the beanie using a pattern from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book, the very first sewing book I ever bought.  I used one of the little squares of Liberty print I received last year from my colleagues at work for my birthday.  Funnily enough I was messing around with the bib, got caught up with a bit of work and sick kids and missed my French class.  Woops!  Hopefully when my teacher gets this she will forget all about my tardiness. 

On Monday I found an invitation that had been in Elliot's bag for a few weeks to a 'Fairy and Elf" party on Saturday. So now an elf costume. One that can fit a superman costume underneath as he is pretty dirty that he can't go as a super hero.  You can tell by this photo where he is trying on the hat that he is NOT into this.  We are big fans of Tashie, so when I found this pattern I decided to do a kind of Tashie hair piece.  It took 20 mins ! Yay! It's a bit small  but once his hair is tucked in and he's dressed up he will be one cool (non Christmasy) elf.

FINISHED! All the pretty wild bush horses baby quilt

Back in 2009 I came across the work of the very talented Ann Wood and became fascinated with her cardboard horses (and then everything else she does).  On her website is the template for the horses, which includes 2 horses and a colt and their legs so when Elliot was almost one I had an idea that I would sew horses onto fabric and make a wall hanging or something with it for him.  I got quite into it on a little holiday at the coast, randomly cutting out all the little legs and bodies from scraps of fabric and sewing them onto calico.  And then I stopped. The holiday was over, I wasn't sure that I had got the colours right and cursed myself that I hadn't planned the horses better and so my semi sewn horses went into the cupboard.

 

3 years later, my brother has just had his first child, a little boy.  Now my brother and his wife are horse crazy. They live on a farm and have a lot of horses so I decided it was time to bring out the horses and finish this as a quilt for my new nephew Blake.

So here it is.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull the whole thing together but my mum suggested putting his name on it and I think it works.  Now that it's finished and backed and bound the randomness of the colours isn't such an issue.  I ummed and aahed about whether to put any stitching into the quilt but with thanks to some instagram advice from Michelle I added the stitching to help the batting stay in place and I love the overall effect of the landscape contours and my clouds.

FINISHED! A baby beanie - the last of the holiday knitting..

I went back to work yesterday after 6 weeks off.  I was full of dread but in fact it was nice to be back.  It was only day one though when the office is full of chatter and social catchups and many people including big bosses don't know yet that your are back... today will probably be different.

Just before work, I finished this wonky little baby beanie, which I started for the plane trip back. I used a combination of the bamboo wool I bought at La Droguerie.  This is SOOO soft, a bit wonky, but soft. It will be sent off to the latest little baby boy today.

I really like working on those little double pointed needles.  I really do.  But  now I have to extend myself and get some new tricks in my bag.  Socks are still on my 'to do' list!  Anyone know of a super simple 'sock-a-long'!?

My pursuit of sock knitting however might be momentarily waylaid as I spotted this pattern in the latest issue of Frankie magazine.

Clearly I'm a sucker for styling as I love this.  And it all looks completely doable.  I love the shrug but would it be a bit constrictive, like a straightjcket?  How lovely does the rolled neck jumper look for a Canberra winter.  MMmmm.. I could be tempted. 

FINISHED! semi sampler holiday scarf

Last night I finished the scarf that I have been knitting with the alpaca wool bought from La Droguerie on and off for the last two weeks.  Phew!

I mentioned that I had originally thought that I would do a bit of a sampler scarf to try out new stitches but in the end I only had courage for three basic stitches: moss, stockinette and plain knit. Where I did stockinette stitch I did 4 knit stitches at the beginning and end of each row to help the scarf with not rolling too much. It still rolls!I used 3.5 needles and cast on 43 stitches.  It is about 19cm in width when not rolled but of course the sides roll to a fraction of that.  It is about 88cm in length.

 

I also did a button hole, mainly for practice, but also as a 'design feature' so that the scarf wouldn't need to be as long and could be threaded through, with the scarf staying nicely in place.  Ben, on constant lookout for choking hazards thinks the hole and this feature is a problem.  Me, I just think the hole is badly done.  But it is there now.

It was originally made for my little one Elliot, but he thinks the Alpaca it's too itchy.

Oliver kindly 'modelled' it for a bit ....

and even wore it around outside for about 20 minutes.  I think I can call this a success.

BTW: The extremely cool tshirt Oliver is wearing is from Engram Clothing on Etsy.

FINISHED! Baby leg warmers in Bleu de Genes Bamboo

We have been lazing around on holidays, the weather has been average, so the kids have been playing with Hero Factory so I have been trying to knit. It's the right kind of holiday really, especially when visiting family. Imagine the damage I could do with all this spare time if only I had my sewing machine!  By now you must be sick of these baby leg warmers, but I have to close them off and post them as a finished present.  So here they are in all their wobbly lo-fi glory. I bought a little 'body' from Petit Bateau to go with them as they looked a bit lonely on their own as a present.
In the end I used about 50grams of the bamboo/linen wool.. so if you need to weigh your wool for this project that's how much you'll need!

Originally these were going to go to a little baby boy due in April, but I think now I'll swap this present with the beanie I made earlier in the year. Anyway, for now let's pretend it's going to the April baby.  His big sister received this quilt from us back in May 2011.  I could hardly call it a quilt because it is so simple, it is hand quilted - but only minimally.  I do love it though and the fabric is from the delightful MummySam on Spoonflower.  I love her love letter fabric.

Did anyone buy the new pattern from Colette the Laurel?  It is growing on me and now I'm hatching a little plan for a winter one to make on my return to Australia.  The sun is shining here - finally - so it might be time to get out of the apartment and walk around Strasbourg, maybe down along the river to Petite Emilienne to see what fabrics they have in store.  How cute is their little bunny bag for Easter?

Liberty scrap bookmark

First up, pop over to Tilly and the Buttons for her feature on some Mathilde Blouse makes.  I'm there and in some pretty gorgeous company!!

I have mentioned here before my absolute love for Mary Stewart and her mix of romance and crime. Back then I was reading my 5th book of hers and now, well I'm way past that with another two loaded on the kindle ready to go. Yep.  I love them. Yes, there is always a happy ending but is that so bad really?  In fact that's probably why I love them. 

I've been talking about these books to my neighbour at work and she hasn't been able to find them here and as she doesn't have a kindle I thought I'd get one for her for her birthday.

I also thought I'd make a quick little lo-fi Liberty book mark to go with it.  I wouldn't exactly call it stash busting but I did use up a tiny bit of the fabric from my Mathilde blouse (the little statues of course) and also some fabric from my little Liberty pack I got last year for my birthday.

I have read tutorials where they put cardboard in the bookmark, but this one, despite having a little bit of iron on facing is sans cardboard and pretty floppy.

I finished in record time my Marion Charlotte today so hope to post photos tomorrow as I'll definitely be wearing it to work. With Ben being awayI just need to balance the camera precariously on some garden furniture  for some self portraits..time to get a tripod perhaps!

FINISHED! A knitted (yes knitted) baby beanie

I started this beanie when we were in Thredbo a couple of weeks ago but  I undid it all on Tuesday night after realising that I probably couldn't in all conscience give the beanie as it was with all the dodgey stitches and mistakes.  I wasn't too sad pulling it apart as I was watching back to back episodes of season 1 of The Hour  late into the night and was happily knitting away.  If you haven't seen The Hour by the way, then you must - because apart from anything story related (which is brilliant) it will make you want to go out and make a Charlotte pencil skirt!)  Really!

The beanie is knitted using Felici Sport Self Striping Yarn in Dockside (which I think is being discontinued). I bought four balls of this on ebay after seeing the socks made by Jen from Grainline.  I'm not sure why I bought four given this beanie only used one but there you go.
The seam (which I'm hiding) is a little bit dodgy but.. all in all I think a pretty cute make for only my second knitting project.
Given I'm posting about this baby beanie I thought I'd pull from the archives the gift I made for the big brother of this little baby to be.  I made this quilt back in June 2010.  Looking at it now I probably could have thought a bit more about the colour placement but I had a lot of fun making this.  Funny, how these two gifts probably took about the same amount of time!

 

FINISHED! Bird Wings for Alice

I put my head down this morning and finished these bird wings for my beautiful niece Alice, for her 5th birthday.  I really hope they make her fly -  she is starting school in February!  

The pattern is based on this tutorial from Llevo el Invierno.  Eri has lots of amazing things on her blog so do check her out.
You might remember I made wings last year for another little girl, Hannah, but this time I made a few adjustments to improve the wearing (I hope).  I added a collar with velcro (rather than just ribbon) and also wrist cuffs with velcro. It's not super classy, but I hope it will help the wings stay on and also remove the choking hazard that Ben is always so worried about.

Just like last time I used some gold leatherette for the back.  I really tried hard with the sewing at first to make it look nice but then decided not to worry too much as I think the uneven-ness adds to the charm.  (I would say that !).

This would be a good project for anyone looking to stashbust!!