how the hill gets a mole

 

Do you sometimes get ideas for little reasons? In this case it all started with a nicky scrap thrown on a tee I was sewing. I only wanted to test possible colors without a particular plan. It somehow looked like a molehill, which was just too cute. Thus, I backed the nicky with a jersey scraps by sewing it right sides together and turning it over. The nicky had already the right size and form and just had to be clipped at one corner.

 

Another jersey was used for the paws and the head. Luckily, it does not fray and could be just appliqued with straight stitches: the paws on the hill and the head on the tee. Otherwise I would have zigzagged around. Now sew the pocket to the tee. For a bit more whimsy, I added a little flower ribbon at the bottom of the hill.

 

Prepare for some serious testing before you even have a chance to embroider the last details and finish the tee. But all went well and permission for finishing was granted. LOL

testing dynamic view

hmmm, I actually did like the template. On the other hand all the layout options for those gadgets at the sidebar seemed to be gone. Maybe more testing later.

to snuggle

Little M loves music - dancing and giggling and everything - and he loves to snuggle. So cute! The Snuggle Softies pattern seemed just perfect to make him a little softie with a music box inside. Wonderful clear instruction, it was a breeze to sew. The music box is sewn into the belly and is waterproof enough to hand wash the softie. I picked several velours and some jersey knit from my stash, which felt the cuddliest. The brownish grey and the orange snout where picked first and the blues made for a wonderful contrast. The scarf as suggested by the pattern with its orangeand brown is just the perfect finishing touch.

Guess which little boy was pretty pleased to say the least :) Me too. I was a fun project plus I can check one more item of my long to do list.

The sewing for boys continues with another T-shirt for little M. This time inspired by fall colors:

• grey for all the short, grey, rainy and foggy days
• still bits of blue sky here and there
• purple berries
• lots of orange, brown and red leaves

All there plus a lion for some fun since, heh, it's for a toddler. The lion is raw edge appliqued and will not fray as jersey does not. The grey jersey is a thicker quality that keeps nicely warm and the sleeves are actually repurposed including the hem and all from one of my older tees.

And looked what I've found just some days later in our kitchen (no stagging, I swear). Just the same colors. Fall is here.

sewing for boys

The last days I got a bit carried away with sewing for the kids between some stressful days. So far my boys have got some t-shirts and some pants. As I am a bit lazy typing today, I just leave you some pictures to enjoy.

 

This T-shirt for little M is hubbies favorite: Appliqued digger and stenciled "BRUMMMMM..." can't go wrong with boys.

sunday stash

crafting with kids

 

We currently enjoy some power crafting with chestnuts, leaves and what else the kids can find outside. Big J tries to stuff as many projects and figures in his half an hour concentration span, though he mainly ands up with "tigers" and hedgehogs. Mum is just good for the drilling and providing the toothpicks and some minor help. The little critter tried his luck with a little boat but overall he still is more interested in touching everything and squishing berries.

Next time we need to get some colored leaves for a garland.

fall collection for the boys

 

Grey and color, it is! Inspired by the grey cloudy days that will eventually coming soon, I am planning to use those greys as starting point to make some t-shirts and  trousers that still feel cheery and colorful. Only condition is that there has to be a bit of grey somewhere in it. There will be some fabrics added or swapped out along the way. As both are "too small" there will be some pattern tweaking necessary and some practise on my serger. Oh, well.

Already started cutting and sewing to maintain the momentum.

things, nobody did ask

• I am slightly addicted to coffee and think it works marvelous for sleeping.
• I prefer to sleep long and go to bed early (as in early in the morning). Though that never works with a job and little kids around. But a girl can dream.
• Love this time of the fall with all those colors and its freshness and occassionally fog.
• The fabric of the trouser above marks the moment where I discovered that there are indeed some pretty fabrics around and brought me back to sewing. Mainly started with stuff for the kids (as the clothes above and the trousers below) and the house.
• To compensate for my rather slow crafting some stuff as the orange shirt just gets pimped, which isn't really fast but eliminates some steps.
• There are to many projects in various stages lingering around despite any of my efforts.
• There are days I care.

What about you?

proof that I might be a nerd (or just another pillow)

Over the last weeks I pieced together some scraps that were laying around while the kids were playing in my sewing corner. Slow and steady a cuddly pillow was growing.  The front is made of cordury, jersey, nicky and some terry cloth. To make it even more comfy it has some medium loft batting. The back is just plain without quilting and has a covered zipper as closure.

 

The quilting started with some machine stippling on the cordury and some pebbles on the terry cloth. Still need to practice my free motion quilting. I went a bit crazy and added some houses with flags and a kind of giraffe-dino. The jersey was to stretchy for machine quilting on this lofty batting. Thus, some hand quilting was in order. So more houses, and of course a car ... and hopefully something like a simplified traffic light.

   

 Oh ... and the proof ... there is no better place than home ;)

 

tweet tweet

 

Wanna meet a little birdie? This little guy is made of softclay as Easter gift for my dad. It got several layers of acrylic paint: One bright green foundation and lots of layers with a dry brush.Think it turned out pretty well. The red polka dot hat will help to find it ever again in the garden LOL.

the promised bag post

I still owe you a post about the Sophia Carry All bag pattern, if I remember correctly. Well, here it comes.

As it was for a swap, I actually did two versions of the bag. One following mainly the instructions to check if it will have the right size and look for my partner and just for some practice. Never used real piping before. The first bag is the one seen here. The outside is an AMH home dec which was easy to stabilize with some low-loft, iron-on batting.The only alteration was an additional big pocket on the outside.

For the second version a bit of stash shopping was in order. I dearly miss all my trusty fabric shops back in Munich! Nevertheless, my stash is happy to get actually used LOL and there were some nice fabrics for my partner. Grey and yellow was one of here color combinations, so I picked a grey linen/cotton and added mainly yellows. This version did get a little pocket with a sandpiper peeping throuhg that is integrated in the additional outer pocket. I added some pleats - a project on itself - on the other side and changed the handles for one shoulder strap. Oh, and I almost forgot: the zipper is covered which looks just great.

The linen did get some more stabilizer, still it wasn't enough. It did look like a ugly plop of fabric after sewn together for some happy nights with my seam ripper. Oh my, there went the schedule. It still looked crap with more stabilizer. Finally, the linen was backed with some home dec and luckily my machine got through all the layers which were at times more then ten. It took so long to fix it and there was no way to get enough fabric in time for a fresh start. Hence, no time for a proper photo shooting. Still it was a lot of fun to see it all come together.

Here are my mental notes of the project:

• Nice bag that is big enough for the normal stuff carried around and a bit more. And pretty versatile depending on the fabric used. Easy adjustable, too.
• The project is suitable for anybody that is not afraid of sewing a zipper and some piping (even if it is the first time). You only should take your time and know how to sew straight or with consistent seam allowances.
• Next time making the shoulder strapes, they will be 4-8" longer. Well, they are actually long enough but I don't like the tight fit.
• Lazy as I am, I bought some piping. Works like a charm and saved me lots of my night time.
• Any fabric needs to get heavily stabilized if not a home dec fabric.
• The covered zipper looked great, so it will probably be my go to. The cover is about 1" wide and the pattern can be easily altered to integrate it . You only have to be carefull with the batting and stabilizer for the cover part.Otherwise the fabric might be difficult to handle.
• Lots of topstitching. Still could be more.
• You definitely should follow the lining instructions especially how to connect the outside and inside at the side seams!
  Someday, I might try to get the bottom stiffer and try out some nice little feet.
• Drink more coffee when sewing around midnight (or less for breaking the addiction HAHA).

Next bag project will be a shoe bag, lingerie bag and all the stuff to get into a new travel bag. That is, when I finally get around to sew it. Still need some hardware and to figure out the pattern or to get a nice one. More time would also come in handy.

If anybody wanna try, I might be willing to swap pattern (or try me.)

 Love the fishes on the inner pocket and all the sunny yellow :)

rain and chaos

It is quite cloudy and rainy at the moment and my sewing corner looks as sad as the weather outside. The kids already have got a little corner as they want to stay in my sewing corner anyway. Curious little creatures.



The ironing board has got the long needed cover, but the furniture and all the stuff has still to be organized. Currently, I am dreaming about some darker blue walls and some white painting of the furniture. What do you think? Meanwhile the kids help me spreading some color LOL

winner

Thanks for all your comments. Always love to read them! Kelly of A Plain Path has won the bag. Congrats! Just sent me your address and the bag will soon be on its way to you. If anybody is interested, there will soon be a blog post about the pattern and all the stuff.

need a bag? giveaway

Can a girl ever have enough bags? Fancy yourself a bag in lovely red and aqua? For free? Thought so LOL This one is the Sophia Carry All Bag with some changed pockets (and without the false insert bottom), which I made to test the pattern for the Goodie Bag Swap. Just reckoned it would be more fun to use some nice fabric for it and to play around a bit. The writing is some color that fluffs up when heated to create some interest. The font fits quite nice to the overall feeling of the bag. It went quite well for my first trials although not all lines are as clean as I would which them to be. Next time I need to improve my stencil for easier removal and practice will make up for the rest. Best would be to find somebody for handsewing the lining to the bag, nevertheless. Especially since I didn't find a protection for my fingers which I would enjoy so far.



Long story short if you wanna be my guinea pig so to speak you might win the bag :) You just have to say hi, might chat a bit or you could help my poor little fingers. I will draw a winner Monday, 4th July. You can only win if you I can contact you via mail either by your profile or by a mail-address in your comment.

Good luck!

back and working my way through

Hello?! Hellooo?! Anybody still here? Gee, it has been getting dusty here. Were to start? We had some trouble with getting back online after moving and some computer problems. My new work has been proven to be rather time consuming at the moment so less spare time, which I spent mainly with my family, organizational stuff and all the after moving fixing. Plus, I was mostly too exhausted to care about blogging. Or to be more precise: about sitting in front of a PC for more than mail checking. Nevermind, I am slowly coming back :)

 I finished some blocks for the Bee Modern Too and Bee Europe meanwhile.




The Giraffes were the most tricky part.

• I seriously tried paper piecing to challenge myself and created the pattern based on the inspiration painting.
• I do know by now why everybody stresses that you should mark every piece and how to put them together
• Never forget to use only the side of the linen which has no prints on it as instructed
• Take the block back and try to rip seams of a loosely woven linen and matching thread with your tiny lamp just before midnight
• Better fix the block during daylight
• Done

Angela provided some wonderful fabric and linen stripes for asteriks.



And finally, one block based on the storytellingblock that will travel back to Spain.


Still have to finish some geese where I couldn't decide on the pattern and running late and the blocks for June.

inspiration for goodie bag swap

Just packed my sewing machine, so you can see we are getting serious moving LOL Need to move quickly as I already have plans for more sewing projects. Just signed up for the goodie bag swap. This is my inspiration mosaic, did signed up for the advanced category, crazy as I am. Nothing better than a little challenge time to time. My partners mosaic is great, though detailed planning has to wait until we moved.

not much happening here

All my guys were puking the last days and especially our little one didn't like it much. Well, not that the others were very font of it either but at least the understood a bit better what was going on. Luckily, I didn't catch any stomach flue so far. Only short of sleep, coffee and places to dry all the clothes, bedding, pillows ...... Hopefully, todays evening will be spend sewing. Some deadlines approaching pretty fast. Plus I would like to finish as much projects as I can this week before moving.

Finally using my serger

For quite a long time I refused to get a serger since I was thinking it is quite some money for more or less one stitch that you can not even use for every project. Never have been sure if there is actual the need for it. On the other hand, it was rather time consuming, tedious and often frustrating to finish all seam allowances especially for jersey. I enjoyed making my kids some t-shirts but it definitely was an issue I've got more and more upset about. Thus, a serger it was. Until recently only used for some straight seams and easy fabric, I finally got myself to sew some of the t-shirts that where cutted month ago. Figured there was no need to fear them as they were supposed to get pj's or dumped depending on how bad things go.

The pattern is raglan t-shirt by ottobre using some blue owl jersey and some blue jersey for the sleeves. Every seam was basted as I was horrified by the possibility a needle could get between the knifes and I didn't dare to serge without needles nor basting. As everything came together pretty well it was worth the bit extra time. Neck and sleeves were finished with a  purple knit (a bit thicker than jersey similar to that part of sweaters around the wrist - no clue how you call this type of fabric in English. Darn!) which makes for a nice interesting, more sophisticating look. Of course J was only concentrating on the owl sticker LOL

• Most important: As usual there is nothing to fear about. I am only cursing myself when I have to dump a project. Next time it will be done better.
• Basting helped a lot to focus on serging and keeping my seam allowance fairly regular.
• Tension was good, though it can be slightly improved and the seam looked good as well (no strange loops hanging everywhere)
• Crossings with several layers of fabric are the main problem for accurate sewing as it tends to slow down the fabric transport and to shift the fabric.
• Testing some different materials and techniques for neckline etc. (my sons are my best guinea pigs) to get a feeling what works and looks best in combination with a serger.
• The seam allowance does look better and it was way more fun and relaxing then before.
• Still not sure if my twin needle ever will be loved as there are some tension issues to resolve.
• Already love my serger: no fuddling, silent and nice seams.
• Why the heck didn't I had a server for making my sons bed linen?

Unfortunately, we still need some new pj's as this one has to be worn regularly.

never leave your fabric unattended

Otherwise someone little will immediately try to get it and to hoard them for himself. Don't understand where the kids got that from.

Anyway, already planning some other projects. Helps me to stick to my WIPs and to finish them in time :)

love this design

just minimalistic and beautiful... and the chocolate isn't bad either

all about letters

Since last year, I was planning to paint some letters for our dining area and finally got around to actually doing it. Nothing about long loooong to-do-lists and procrastination. These are precut wood or MDF letters which were painted with some acrylic paint and some crackle fluid or which were covered using scrapbooking paper (first clued on, pressed and later cut out). They will go into our new kids room spelling big J's name and in our dining area for a "CAFÉ & B3ANS" (well, loosely translated).

Now back to the washing machine: Big J didn't feel well last night and a lot of clothes, bedding, pillows, stuffies and a bed cover need to be washed :) Spending the night together on the couch, luckily he already felt better and only me woke up all the time when he was turning and kicking me out of the couch. Hopefully, this night will be about sewing agrin.

WIPs

Some of my current WIPs out on my design wall (opposed to all my other WIPs stored in all those bins). The {love} letter had to be set aside as I am still waiting for the batting to arrive which seems to be on backorder. Too bad. Messes up my plans. But well, I could move on to some other things of my to-do-list.

I am improvising a bit for make mine modern. Same stupid thing, fabric still somewhere on its way. I like my wonky stripes on the grey but it still needs something to make it special. Have to think about it and see how my partner might like it.

My weirdest ideas come shortly before midnight and some speedy cutted scraps became a crappy star which would finish at 1". How the hell do you deal with those seam allowances. It gets all bulky no matter how they are pressed and it is rather difficult to press the block flat without distorting the fabric. Oh my, more midnight exercises to go.

Glad I have some of my recreation projects which are without any deadline or specific purpose. Just for the fun of it. As the log cabins for {under the sea}. Lots of greens, blues and bits of orange.

On the other hand this weekend will be challenging sewing wise. My sisters birthday wish was a cordury overall and today she comes for fitting the pattern. Furthermore, I am already changing the parts of the pattern which I do not favor. Never did any adult clothes except of some easy skirts and could get a bit nervous about it. Just a little.

winners

Thanks my dears for playing along. Katie has won the little owl and should receive a mail for her contact details soon. All the other stuffies will travel to winners in Germany.

giveaway - get it while it hoots!

Finally there is time for the little giveaway I am planning already for some weeks. Finding a new flat has proven to be quite time consuming and it's a big relief to have signed the contract. Now it is all happy planning (I want colors!) and in six weeks packing and moving. Most work will be to move and adapt our kitchen and to paint the old flat (over here, you usually have to paint your flat when moving). ehm, I am drifting away. What were we talking about? Right, a giveaway. If you like, you can win some of the softies I created together with little big J (aka my 2,5 yrs son). He already owns three of them and loves them to death. Quite to my surprise as he normally spends few minutes with any softy. Right now, there is definitely no space in his bed for more of them. Why we have so many softies anyway, you ask?

Well, once upon time little big J desparately wanted to get an owl made for a baby shower. Insistent as he was his mum offered to make an owl together for him instead. He would cut out a lot of owl shapes for the front and would receive a box of fabric and could choose which fabric to use for which owl. Time to time the would choose, sew, pin and cut together while the ironing and some fuzzy work was magically down over night. Stuffing was totally exciting and there was barely time to close for the last finishing stitches. Actually, the whole owl thing is quite fitting since a stuffed felt owl is one of my first sewing projects I can remember (someday back in elementary school).Well, his fabric box was big and full and the number of the cutted owl shapes endless so more and more owls were growing steadily...searching for a new place to live.

That is where you come in! We are looking for wonderful new homes for some owls and one little creature, where they will be loved and cuddled and everything. Each owl is made of cordury, quality quilting fabric and some bits jersey and nicky. For the little creature we repurposed a scrap of home dec which is as old as I am and that was sleeping in my scrap bin for quite some time. All are stuffed lightly using polyester stuffing. They are freshly washed - ready for cuddling or biting - which is what would happen here with them. They will all travel in fashionable coordinating bags inspired by some wonderful hobo bags I've seen online and can't find to link them *grr* though I've been to lazy to look for any instructions. Put in some diapers, changing clothes, toys and the like and you are ready to go whenever you want. Best of all, you can choose which side to wear outside according to your color mood.

For a chance to win one of our softies, leave me a comment. You only have to promise to spend some time creating/painting/reading with your kids/grandchildren/... when you win or at least to smile the whole day.

• For an additionally entry leave me a second comment with some name suggestions. Best names will a further chance to win.
• You can blog about it (I would love you to) as we could need any help to find some nice places for those sweeties. Without further entries, though.

The giveaway will be open until March 12th (here and on my German blog). Please make sure that I have a possibility to contact you (profile or comment), otherwise you can't win. Winners will be chosen randomly.