machine sewing – A box of allsorts

Huxterkids workshop

Life has been very busy here this month with report writing and all manner of other things that had to be done for work and I just haven’t had the time to blog very much. Hence this post about the workshop that actually happened 5 weeks ago!

Over the May half term Little Miss and I went back to England to spend some time with family. Imagine my delight then a few months ago when I saw that the lovely Sophie of Huxterkids was running a sew your own jumper workshop on the Friday, the day after my arrival back in England. For quite some time I’d been planning on getting my sewing machine back out and doing some sewing again, so this was just perfect timing. I scurried away and booked the course just as soon as I had booked the flights and checked that Mum could look after Little Miss for the day. Then I began eagerly counting down the days. Now, I truly believe I was meant to go on this course that day. A few weeks before the course, Sophie messaged me and explained that I was the only one that had booked on the course with it being on a Friday. Initially she was a little perplexed that no one else had booked on it as her courses are usually well visited. It was only then, she realised that she had actually put it on the Friday when she had meant to put it for Saturday. She then couldn’t change it to the Saturday due to other commitments. When Sophie discovered all this she apologised profusely that I would be the only one attending but she was still happy to run it as long as I didn’t feel uncomfortable being the only one there or she would happily refund me the money. To tell you the truth I jumped at the chance of one to one tuition and was so pleased I had been given the option, most companies would have cancelled due to a lack of demand and I’m so grateful that she didn’t.

On the day I set off form my parents and drove the 40 minutes to get to Sophie’s studio. The studio is in a beautiful converted barn in a courtyard of other converted barns housing small business. What a lovely setting, one I’m sure I would have appreciated a little more had it not been a gloomy, grey day and chucking down with rain!

Now, I will admit I was a little bit nervous as it had been a while since I’d touched a sewing machine and I was a little apprehensive about being the only one as I’m not generally very good at small talk and can find conversation difficult if people aren’t on the same wavelength. I really needn’t have worried! Sophie was the perfect host, made me feel totally at ease and we discovered that we had a lot to chat about through a shared love of crochet. She made me a cup of tea and I set about choosing the fabric. Little Miss and I had already had a peruse at the fabrics online(did I mention I was making the jumper for her?) and had chosen the fabric for the main body of the jumper but still needed to choose a co-ordinating fabric for the sleeves, cuffs and waistband. Once the fabric had been chosen, it was on to cutting out the pieces and beginning to assemble the jumper.

This was the bit I was nervous about, having not touched a sewing machine in 2 years. Sophie was very patient and gave me as much or as little help as I needed at each step of the way, showing me some handy hints and tips for working with stretchy fabrics and attaching the pieces together.

We stopped for a yummy ‘picnic’ type lunch, provided by Sophie, of crusty bread, olives, meat and salad and then set back to work. All that was left to do was to add the collar, cuffs and waistband and voila, the jumper was complete…

As you can see from my face, I was pretty pleased with myself…

Thankfully Little Miss loved it too and has been wearing it with pride…

All that is left to say is thankyou to Sophie for a lovely day and for giving me the confidence to get back on the sewing machine. If any of you would like to book on one of Sophie’s huxter workshops, you can find the link here or to see her fabulous range of made to order clothing, follow this link. But beware, once you have started, you may not be able to stop yourself!!

Karen x x

June project goals

Every month I consider whether to write a ‘project goals post’ as its really just a list of what I’d like to achieve and invariably I don’t complete everything on the list and other things not on the list tend to creep in too when they catch my eye. However, I have decided to keep doing it as it does help me to organise my overloaded brain and gives me a chance to organise the zillions of ideas that are tumbling around my head into some sort of order.

so, project goals for this month are…

Finish spring embroidery sampler
Make spring embroidered linen project bag
Finish crocheting ‘mystery project’
Start zenbroidery mandala
continue ‘ripple blanket’ which I just couldn’t resist starting last week…oops! this is for s present so there’ll be no pictures until its finished.
BRING THE SEWING MACHINE OUT OF RETIREMENT. Now I know I have been saying this for such a long time but since my course with Sophie of Huxter kids a couple of weeks ago with I have renewed enthusiasm and confidence. I fully intended to start today on my day off but I had reports to finish off for school 🙁 (I have cleared the desk though and there is now space for her, so it wont be long til she’s back in action …)

She’s an old bird bless her but she still does a good job. I just need to see if I can remember how to thread her up and then we’re off!

7. Sew in ends on the itty bitty squares. I think it’ll be a while before I start joining them but at least if the ends are sewn in they’re ready to go.

Right, I’m off to finish the spring sampler, happy crafting!

Karen x

May project goals

I’m all too aware that yet again I’m super late with my project goals for the month but bet late than never! In ‘normal life’ I’m actually one of these people who is always ready stupidly early for things and end up wasting so much time twiddling my thumbs waiting, so I don’t quite know why I’m always late with my blog posts. My excuse is that I’m always so busy making things that, much as I do enjoy writing my blog, I have to tear myself away from making things to write. Not a bad thing I suppose as I’ve always got something crafty to share.

anyway, here are my project goals for (what remains of) May:

Finish winter berry embroidery. This was from Winters craftpod box and although its not really the season for these colours now, I just want it finished and hung up in my craft room. This is as far as I have got currently so shouldn’t take too long to finish.

2. Start spring craftpod projects

I’m really itching to get started on these, especially the botanical sampler. Looking at some of the stitches on there brings back childhood memories of seeing my Grandma embroider tablecloths and later having a go at embroidery myself. I’m very excited about having a go at chain stitch and French knots again. I have to admit that the colours don’t really grab me so I may go a bit ‘freestyle’ with this one and substitute some of the colours for brighter ones that I already have in my sewing box.

Whilst I’m on the topic of embroidery, this week I stumbled across something called ‘zenbroidery.’ I spent hours pouring over different pictures deciding which one to order (yes, yes, I know I’ve a lot of other projects on the go, but I just had to have one!) Basically zenbroidery is a detailed picture printed onto fabric. The pictures are very similar to the adult colouring books that you get and the idea is that you ‘colour’ the picture in with thread. This is right up my alley! whilst I do have a colouring calendar and I do enjoy a bit of therapeutic colouring in, its not something I would ever frame and display, so it seems a bit of a waste of time. However, just imagine, a picture ‘coloured in’ with thread, that definitely deserves wall space! You don’t order them as a kit, as you choose your own colours and your own stitches so each one becomes an individual work of art. I cannot wait to have a go but I’m determined to be patient and finish my other embroidery projects first. Here is the one I’ve ordered….eek!

Anyway, I digress, back to the goals…

3. Sew in the ends on all 240 of these colourful itty bitty beauties…

4. Finish my mystery projects. I don’t want to say what this is going to be just yet as I’m really not sure how it will turn out but it should be finished by the end of the weekend…

As well as all the projects I have on the go, I will be flying back to England for some of half term week with little Miss. Whilst I’m back I’m very lucky to be taking part in a ‘sew your own jumper’ workshop with Sophie Bell-Carr at Huxter. If you have never seen her work, do go and have a look at her website. She makes the most amazing clothes for little people (and adults) and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to learn how to make a jumper for little Miss. Hopefully, using the sewing machine again will get me back into machine sewing and give me the kick up the backside that I need to get the bunting finished that’s all cut out and ready to be sewn see here. I will dedicate a whole blog post to the workshop once I have been and let you all know how it went.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Karen x

February projects

Ok, so we’re 9 days into February already but better late than never!

January didn’t go entirely according to plan on the crafting front see here but I did do a fair bit of crafting so I’m not too disappointed. We’re away for a week in February, so I’m going to do my best to make February’s project list achievable. (We are escaping from the cold, it was -7 here this morning and are jetting to the sunshine and spring temperatures of Fuerteventura, yippeeeeeee! Of course I will be taking my crochet hook and a small amount of wool but I shall be making the most of family time so wont be doing a lot of crocheting.)

Februarys project goals:

FINALLY get around to blowing the cobwebs off the sewing machine and sew the two sets of bunting I’ve prepared.
Finish the stripes on the bright stripes blanket (I’m pretty sure I wont have time to finish the border too but if I do then great)
have a stack of itty bitty mini squares ready to make into something delicious (I’m aiming for at least 100)
cut the fabric for 2 machine sewn tote bags.

Hopefully this is an achievable list given that February is a short month and we’re away for some of it.

I’d love to hear what your crafting goals are for February.

Karen

January projects review

So, January went by rather quickly thankfully, as it is probably my least favourite month. Weather wise this January has been pretty miserable and grey but I’m very happy to say that despite freezing cold temperatures, February is so far looking much better. Its only the 4th and already we’ve had a few mornings of blue skies. The bright blue morning skies really give me a happiness boost and as long as the sun is shining I can deal with the minus temperatures!

Anyway, enough talk about the weather and get down to Januarys project review. In a bid to contain my wandering mind a little I decided to set myself a list of (hopefully) achievable project goals at the start of each month. Januarys goals:

Finish crocheted granny squares baby blanket
Continue and hopefully finish crocheted bright stripes full size blanket.
Start a crochet poncho for Little Miss
Make my first machine sewn fabric bunting.
3x stencil/ applique bags ready for craft stall.

For the first part of January, all was going well, I was fitting in lots of crafty time and I felt as though I was on track see post here.

Alas, I have little further to report since that post. The baby blanket was finished and has been gifted. The bright stripes blanket is not as nearly finished as I’d hoped and the sewing machine has still not been touched (the desk however has been decluttered and the sewing machine is at least on top of the desk, albeit still in its case!)

I did complete a few bags and 2 sets of bunting are cut out and ready to be sewn.

The heart bunting I made a couple of months ago is now up in the craft room above where the sofa bed will go…

and for some unknown reason I have started to make some itty bitty 3 round solid granny squares…

I have really no idea why I have started making them other than I just love them. I blame Sandra of Cherry Heart as it was her Battenberg blanket post that inspired me to start making them. They just seem to fly off the hook and I find it extremely satisfying that they stack up so quickly. I’m not sure yet what I am going to make them into, it may be the poncho for little Miss that I had planned to make or it may be a bag/ bags but they are providing a welcome relief from the long stripes of the bright stripes blanket and a quick crochet fix when I haven’t got a lot of time to spare.

Karen

January so far

You can take the Brit out of Britain but you can’t take the Britain out of the Brit and so with that thought in mind I’m going to start todays post, true Brit style with a bit about the weather. What a mixed bag of weather we have had so far this January! We have had the odd sunny spell (fairly few and far between, I must say), we’ve had rain, we’ve had hail, we’ve had snow and just this last Thursday we had the mother of all storms, with winds over 100km, schools closed and trees falling left right and centre, it was a bit scary if I’m honest. Most of all though January has been grey, grey, grey and sooo dark. When its so dark outside its easy to start feeling glum but I can say thankfully that this year it has not hit me in the slightest. In fact the only thing blue around here are the shades of blue in some of the fabric and yarn I’ve been using. I’m not sure quite why, maybe its the fact that I went on the sun bed, burnt my bottom slightly and had a glow for a few days…as the glow worm song goes, its hard to be glum when the sun shines out your bum!!

Seriously though, I’m very thankful to be feeling good, whatever the reason.

I’m actually rather pleased with myself at how much I have managed to fit in this January and we’ve still got over a week left. The craft room sort has continued, the bed has gone and whilst we are planning on getting a bed settee to replace it, I’m actually enjoying having the space to spread out a bit at the moment…

At the side of the picture you can see a blanket laid out, this is the baby blanket I have been working on for a friends baby and as it has now been gifted, I can show you. Its actually the first time I have ever bothered to block a blanket as the squares had bunched up a bit. I was a bit nervous about blocking as I hadn’t done it before but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I really love this blanket, especially the way you can see the crosses in the squares when the blanket is laid out. I’m very happy to say that the recipient was very happy with it too, which is after all why I make them.

I have been having a little experiment with appliqueing and stencilling bags with the idea of selling them at a craft fairs…

I’d love to know what you think of them.

In recent months as I think I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been yearning to work with fabric and start using the sewing machine again. I have so many ideas for things Id like to make on the sewing machine but have decided to start with bunting and bags. The bunting is all cut out and ready to go…

and here is the fabric I have lined up for the bags…

I still haven’t actually got the sewing machine out yet, for some reason I’m procrastinating. Its maybe nerves as I haven’t had the machine out for 2 years and I’m a bit worried I wont remember what to do. I am determined to get it out this week though and to have finished the bunting and a couple of bags by the end of January.

I’ve started running again after just not feeling like it for the last couple of months and am pretty happy with my progress. I even forced myself to go out on my own on a particularly cold and slushy Friday morning on my day off. I’m going to have a look for some 10km races to enter and once I see how they go, I may think about another half marathon.

I’ve even managed to find some time to do a bit of colouring (see top picture). Normally I don’t really see the point of those adult colouring books as you spend so long colouring the picture but don’t actually do anything with it. As part of one of my secret Santa presents at work I was bough a mindfulness colouring calendar, so I thought I’d have a go and as the picture will be displayed for a whole month I thought it was worth giving it a go. I have to say I really enjoyed it, Little Miss was doing her colouring alongside me and it was a really nice way to spend an hour or so.

I hope your January is going well and that you too are escaping the post Christmas blues. I’d love to know what craft projects you have been getting up to.

Karen x

January projects

In a bid to assign more time to crafting and at the same time set realistic goals (with all the thousands of creative ideas going around in my head that I want to do RIGHT NOW, its definitely worth a try!), I’ve decided to start making a list at the beginning of each month of the projects I would like to do and then review the list at the end of each month to see how I got on.

Here’s what I’m planning to achieve in January:

Finish crocheted granny squares baby blanket (I’d best get a wriggle on baby is due on Saturday…eeek!)
Continue and hopefully finish crocheted bright stripes full size blanket.
Start a crochet poncho for Little Miss
Make my first machine sewn fabric bunting.
3x stencil/ applique bags ready for craft stall.

I think this sounds achievable, right off to get started on the bunting, I’m very excited!

What crafty projects do you have on the go? I’d love to hear about them.

Karen x