Sewing for Juno & Sadie

Greetings lovely friends & readers

 Welcome to Spring - you old favorite of mine 🤎

And we have definitely been having Spring Weather here this past week - four seasons in one day - classic Spring weather.

 Last Sunday marked the two year anniversary since Mum passed away & I gathered together all her favorites ... Orchids, daffodils, lavender scented candles, & played her favorite songs all day.  I still find it hard to believe she is no longer here. 

I have finished some Christmas Gift Sewing for my Step Grand-daughters, Sadie & Juno.  I have crossed out "the C word" so you don't all yell at me that "it's far too early yet Julie, to mention that word!!"  😉

I purchased this book for Sadie & then remembered the doll set I made for my friend Jane back in * this post * in 2019..  I asked Jane if she still had the pattern & she very kindly posted it to me.  It is Goldilocks & the three bears by Two Brown Birds designs.

The doll was tricky to make, the bears were simple.  I ended up remaking the dolls legs longer as they were so short they barely peeked out from her dress.  I didn't want to shorten the dress as it needed room for the pocket.  

I'm pleased I lengthened the legs as she looks much more in proportion now.  The small & the medium bears both fit in the pocket. 

I decided Sadie needed a drawstring bag to keep the set in so I sewed this lined bag using fabrics already in my stash.  This entire set was made using fabrics I had - the only item I needed to purchase was the maroon drawstring cord for the bag.  

Sadie is now 3 - I am hoping she gets lots of pleasure playing with her set.

Juno is now nearly 6 ... I purchased this fairy from a local friend who makes dolls & sells online under the name 

Little Haboo.  I like to support small business's & I thought this wee fairy was adorable with her glittery wand.  The fairy Princess book kept to the theme.

The fairy came with her own box, beautifully decorated, & a mattress, but I made the wee quilt as I knew Juno would want to tuck her fairy in.

Here is the gorgeous box the fairy came in.

 I felt Juno needed her own drawstring bag to keep her set in as well - once again sewn using fabrics already in my stash.

If Juno doesn't like her Fairy doll then I know a rather-grown-up-65-year-old-"girl"  who would be more than happy to play with it 😉

My friend Jane had given me this cross stitch about 10 years ago now, it had been attached to some calico but was very worn.  Although I'd used it in displays, I'd never made it up in to anything.  I unpicked the calico & gently washed the cross stitch piece.

Using some coordinating Tilda Fabrics from my stash I bordered & backed the piece & then filled it with crushed walnut shells. It looks so pretty sitting in one of my displays. 

I have had much unwanted help & supervision this past week, as I work on crafty pursuits.  Miss Pip very kindly oversaw the painting of some containers during the week ... then Little One kindly sat & pressed the piece of fabric I was trying to sewing 😐. I do not know how I manage without their help sometimes (!!) 😉

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead dear friends - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other.

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

The Sewing Room Wall Quilt ♥️

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Remember at the beginning of the month where I wrote about my thrifted shelf to raise my Goldfish Plant up off the floor?

 Well for the first time ever my plant has decided to flower ... so I can only imagine it's feeling a lot more relaxed now it can't be bothered by furry paws 🐱(not the ginger one either !!)

Yesterday was Daffodil Day here in New Zealand, which is a huge fundraiser for the Cancer Society.  

My dear friend Shirley & I decided to drive over to the other side of the city & visit the Daffodil Farm.  This was our car after our visit, top left (luckily I bought a bucket of water along) ... & these were my purchases top right.  Two huge vases full for only $20.00. 

 I just adore them & they make me feel that spring is not too far away.  (I always put them out of reach of my furry family members as I realise they are toxic to them)

Then on Wednesday when I did my big monthly grocery shop I couldn't resist this pot of mini daffy's just at the entrance to the supermarket.  I've planted them in a thrifted tureen & they look wonderful on my deck table.  

My dear friend Jennifer of elefantz designs has retired from blogging after 17 years.  We all miss her immensely, but are pleased she has listened to her heart & is taking a well earned rest & devoting her energy to other areas of her life.  

She has shared so very much with us out here in blogland over nearly 2 decades  - more free patterns, tutorials, & blocks of the month than I could ever count, innumerable scriptures ... whenever I would see her post pop up on my Reading List, I would always feel like putting the kettle on, it was like sharing a cuppa with a dear friend reading Jennifer's posts.  She is deeply missed indeed.

At the start of this year Jennifer began a free block of the month called The Sewing Room - you can still access these free patterns * Here *.  

I decided I'd quite like to stitch along with this so I began my blocks &, as is usual with me, I promptly fell behind.  Recently I managed to finish all 6 blocks & decided to assemble my wall quilt.  Jennifer was using a gorgeous Tanya Whelan range of fabrics for hers but I decided to use up some of my Tilda scraps as I have so many 😉  I think herein lies my first mistake, as I just grabbed scraps from a variety of ranges & nothing really co-ordinated.  

Once I'd finished the applique & stitchery work I added the borders around my blocks.  My original plan was to mount the blocks on the damask tablecloth that I was using as a background for my stitchery blocks - one of Mum's old & very thin tablecloths.  I pinned my blocks onto the cloth to see how they looked & didn't like it at all.  Many messages went back & forth to my dearest friend Leeanne while I picked her quilty brain.  Add some colour she suggested.  Deciding not to use the damask cloth I chose a good quality low volume cotton for my strips & broke it up with 1 inch squares, then I tried a scrappy border around this.  You can see top right I've only done 2 borders while I walked past it for a day or 2 deciding whether I liked it or not (more messages to Leeanne).  Yes - I liked it (I think 😵)  

So I finished the scrappy border all around it.

The back of the quilt showing the E2E sewing themed design

Luckily, right around this time, I was able to meet up with Leeanne & took along the wall hanging top to discuss further.  I asked her whether she thought it would suit being quilted using a sewing themed E2E design & she took it home & sent me some samples.  The one I chose is called "Sewing 2" & I absolutely adore it.  Leeanne was able to reduce it in size so the pattern didn't disappear completely off the wall-hanging.  You can read her post about it 

* here * & she has much better photos than mine are.  Honestly her magic touch just brings quilts to life so much!

 

Jennifer has composed her wall quilt using the 6 stitchery blocks along with 30 other fussy cut blocks, so hers measures 32.5 x 54.5.  As I have such limited wall space in my sewing room due to one entire wall being shelved, a double wardrobe & a large window, I didn't have this kind of wall space available.  I only used the stitchery blocks & borders in my wall quilt.  Mine measured 22 x 24 inches. 

Jennifer shared patterns for 8 different models of Sewing Machines in this block & mine was the same as hers, a Janome.  💓

I am SO so happy with my wall quilt & it looks perfect hanging beside Emily, my Sewing Doll.

  It's also away from the window somewhat, as things fade a great deal in this room which gets good light & sun.  

The wire hanger was already in my stash & fit the wall quilt perfectly.  Once I'd sewn the binding on I hand sewed a scrappy hanging sleeve on.    

Thank you so very much dearest Jennifer for all that you shared with us over the many years.  I am wondering if any of You made "The Sewing Room Wall Quilt" ... please leave me a comment if you did as I imagine Jennifer's designs hanging in all our creative spaces 💗 

It's a grey cold Waikato day here today, with brief 5 minute periods of sun followed by rain & a chill wind.  Miss Pip has informed me she is not receiving any visitors today & has tucked herself into a little nest on the dining room couch.  I wish I could join her 😉

Have a lovely weekend dear friends & thank you, as always, for your welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

Shirley's Order - & Other Completions

 Greetings lovely friends & readers

My flowers this post are two of my orchids that are currently flowering happily - my indoor moth orchid & my outdoor plant, both in full bloom. 

My dear friend Shirley has just returned from a wonderful 6 week trip to Europe with her son & family.  Before she left she asked me if I could please finish some items for her while she was away.  

First up was Miss Maggie Rabbit.  I'd made my own version of Miss Maggie in * this post * back in 2019.   Shirley had sewn her rabbit & dressed her, but needed me to knit the cape, embroider the face, stitch the felt boots & add some embellishments.  

Shirley had sewn the rabbit's whiskers but wasn't happy with how the fine Perle thread was "flopping", so Miss Maggie underwent some cosmetic surgery whereby I applied watered down PVA glue to her whiskers & let them dry really well.  This made them stand out & gave her more character.

The felt boots were all handstitched & I added stuffing to the toes to make them sit well.  The pattern was included to knit her cape & Shirley had chosen a gorgeous yarn for this.  

I finished her a couple of weeks into Shirley's trip & she was able to sit on a shelf in my sewing room where I could enjoy her until Shirley arrived home.  I added ribbons & crochet flowers to her cape & ears.  I really love this pattern & I especially loved the Liberty fabric that Shirley used for her rabbits dress. 

The second item Shirley asked me to complete was this Angel.  You may remember back in * this post * last November where I made my own Christmas Angel.  Shirley & I had been shopping together & both chose the same fabrics for our Angels.  This one had only been cut out so needed quite a bit more work than Miss Maggie Rabbit.  Shirley was delighted with both her items & can now enjoy them in her Home.  

I am still trying to work my way through my kitsets & get a few more done.  This cross stitch kitset was purchased at the Quilt Symposium last October & I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to cross-stitch the small tree sampler.  How wrong I was !!   I had such difficulty seeing the tiny linen squares & after 3 attempts & 3 unpicks I gave up, as I was damaging the Linen.  

I still really wanted to make up the tree so I decided to hand draw a simple alphabet sampler onto the linen with Frixion Pen & then embroider this. 

Once I was happy with it I cut out a triangle shape & stuffed it really well.  I cut a piece off my gnarly old Plum tree branch for the tree trunk, glued this in & then poked my tree into a vintage cotton spool.   

I have a good stash of these vintage spools & I loved that this one still had the label on top & it was red/green colours.  I was going to wind some green thread around it but decided to use some vintage music paper instead.  

I realise it's far too soon to be thinking about Christmas but it was just a case of the next easy kitset to get completed.  This has been tucked away with other decorations for now. 

Another simple kitset that I thought would not be too labour intensive was this scissor keep from Sew Sweet Violet.  This was purchased when she closed her online store & she no longer does YouTube videos (sadly) but does do the paid Patreon Channel.  This was in Liberty fabrics & came complete with the Merchant & Mills scissors. 

I planted out my sweet pea seedling pots this week so thought I'd better get on & make some more as I have other seeds I wish to grow next month.  As I've mentioned before, the cutting out takes longer than the sewing up - I made another 15 (one is missing!! I blame that littlest cat !!) 

Thank you all for your lovely comments in my last post regarding my crazy-cat-carry-on ... 

I thought I should let you know that Blackie has moved on from the clothes dryer & is now sleeping in the bottom of the craft cupboard, Little One is camped out, right outside the door, waiting for Blackie to exit  .. & Madam Pip is down in the hospital corner, but No - she's not unwell, just living the life-of-luxury catching the sun's rays.  

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend dear friends,

Thank you as always, for your welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

A Creative Weekend . . . . . . (& Crazy Cat Antics)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

No flowers to show this week - but remember the wool blanket seedling pots I made back in * this post* ? ??

Well Houston, we have lift off !!!! 👏

I have had them down the end of my Lounge in the hospital corner, & they've done so well .. I will now move them out to my Hothouse for awhile before planting.  I'm keen to sew up some more seedling pots. 

The Mr was away all weekend riding Moto X so I had some time to myself to do creative pursuits.    I'd pruned my final rose bushes, fed them all with sheep pellets, & saved some nice big fat rosehips for potpourri.  

A week ago I'd picked some of my lovely flowering manuka as it was looking so pretty. I hung 2 bunches up to air dry.

 Here is how it dried friends 😞  So disappointing - the flowers just disappeared.  I've tossed this lot out now & may try again - I'm wondering if I needed to give it a drink first?  If you have any suggestions please leave me a comment as the flowers were the prettiest part of it I thought, but they just shriveled up.

I gave my sewing room a good clean before messing it up again.  I found this small shelf in my stash so I hung it on the wall so I could move all my little collections up off my desk. 

I think it looks so sweet with lots of my special things on display.

Remember the thrifted rabbit eggcup that I made into a pincushion in * this post *.   I'd wanted some rabbit themed pins but could not find any anywhere so I ordered these bunny brooch pins from Temu, cut the backs off & hot glued flower head pins to their backs.  I think they turned out wonderful.

I finished an order for some Herbal Mothball sachets & decided to make myself some as I had plenty of mixture remaining.

  The recipe is at the bottom of * this older post * should you wish to make some.  I washed all my project bags & tucked fresh sachets into any of them that store yarn or wool felt. 

My friend Gail had given me this thrifted hook so I gave it a coat of chalkpaint & some leftover transfer scraps.  

I'm really pleased with how it turned out & it's perfect on my sewing room wardrobe for holding larger project bags. 

While I had the cream chalk paint out I decided to give this old suitcase a freshen up.  This took 3 coats to get a good coverage, a sand & distress & again, some leftover transfers applied to it.  A good wax & it was done - ideal for storing projects & UFO's in.

I always like to think that you can have things that are useful but they can still be pleasing to the eye at the same time

💜

And it only took 2 minutes to fill it with an unfinished project !!

The Mr always says to me "you don't have to be crazy to live in this house, but it sure does help"

Yep that's Me - A lifetime Member (!!)

Honestly friends - these cats of mine, you would surely think there were NO comfy sleeping spots in the entire house - whereas yesterday I counted 6 including beds, banana boxes & rugs folded up just especially for them.

For the last 3 nights Blackie has taken up residence in the clothes dryer in my laundry.  The Mr said to me "you'll have to put a blanket in there for him" - I said No!  I'm not encouraging him to sleep in there.  Last night I took the right-hand pic - The Mr had folded up an old towel & placed in there for His Royal Highness. 

The night before he took up residence in there, he slept in the bathtub for 3 nights.  Cold & hard & uncomfortable ??  

I have 2 litter boxes that I bring in at nights.  Yes these are filled with fresh dirt ..... my cats were once wild, it's no good giving them fancy lavender scented kitty-litter, they don't know what that's for so they have dirt!  Well Madam Pip decided to sleep in the dirt box (!!) Why - I have no idea ?? 

Oh & where is Little One I hear you ask ??  Probably tucked up on my bed ??

No - he slept in the middle of a table display where there was barely room but someone (The Mr) moved my vignette to the side for him 🙄& tried to put a soft towel down!!!   So you see dear friends - if you live here long enough - you too might just go a teeny bit mad!!!

Thank you for staying through this lengthy post - I just had to share the cat antics as I know a lot of you follow especially for the furry family,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week dear friends,

With much love & friendship to you all,