Snapshot Sunday- Despterate times...

Whats a girl to do when she has put her machine in for a service but desperately wants to turn these lovely 'La Petite Ecole' charm squares from Moda into a table runner?

Why you pull out your back up (no-quilting) machine and stick a couple of layers of masking tape to the sewing deck exactly 1/4" away from the needle.

This allows you to butt your fabric up against the masking tape and the seam allowance is 1/4". Its just like magic! Forty minutes later the table runner top is complete (3 x 9 layout of charm squares) and the remaining charms have been turned into binding.

Last minute sewing for an 8th birthday.

Matilda's 'handmade' request for her birthday was a t-shirt just like Charlie wears. If you are not familiar which Charlie, he is the super-special brother to Lola on the childrens TV animation 'Charlie and Lola'. As you can see from the pic above, Charlies t-shirt is pretty straight forward. Its a raglan top with his name appliqued on the front. The colours used in the t-shirt change from episode to episode, which is fortunate as I had to stash bust for this project.

Normally I pace myself pretty well with handmade presents and never feel stressed or rushed when making them. But for some reason, this time, I found myself 24 hours out from Matilda's birthday without having even thought about the t-shirt and had a really busy day ahead with no sewing time. YIKES! I quickly pulled out my this neato book of boys basics (which as I picked up in a sale for $1! Bargain!), which had just the right raglan t-shirt. And I knew I had already traced it out in a size 8.

The next morning, in between making lunches and getting the kids ready for school I managed to get the letters of Matilda name sorted out. I decided to go rainbow colours rather than plain black- just because I wanted to add some pink in, but didnt have enough of it left to do all the letters.

Then during the day I cut out the t-shirt and attached the letters. There arent any more step-by step pics because when I finally got a moment to sew (about 7.30pm) I just went flat tack to get it done.

And here is Matilda modelling the t-shirt this morning. Happy Birthday Matilda!

I could tell you that Matilda is channeling her inner-Charlie with the wacky hair- but truth be told Matilda is quite partial to the 'birds nest' do. Now I must be off as Matilda is requesting I take her to a park so she can scoot around on her new powerwing.

Baby Jogger City Select pram and Tin Whistle liners

I get a lot of enquiries about the Babyjogger City Select pram. For those that have moved beyond the baby days this is set to become the THE pram to own. Its a 4 wheeled pram that can accommodate 1 or 2 seats, or bassinets, or car seats (SnS Unity for Aussie parents)... or any combination of these that meets your needs. Its ideal for families with twins, or a singleton and later on a sibling. But where it pips other convertible single/double prams (like the phil and teds) is that the seats can face in either direction (towards mum or to the world) and both children ride in comfortable full-sized seats. Its also relatively light weight, and its narrow to, being an 'inline' pram.

The pram has been available for over 12 months now, and I have been making and selling City Select pram liners for about 6 months. The new 2011 model, with a few changes, is about to be released in Australia and so I have revamped my design so that my liner will fit either model.

Here are some pics of my new design being modelled in the new 2011 seat unit.
The only difference between the 2010 and 2011 seat is that the seat pad (the bit your child's bum sits on) is 1" deeper in the 2011 model. All the harness holes in my liner will line up properly in both models, its just that in the in the 2010 model the liner will sit longer in the foot well . The footrest is adjustable in length anyway, so I was never going to be able to come up with a design that would always cover all of the foot rest in all of the possible lengths it could sit at.

I include StayUp designs in all my liners- this is one of the reasons my liners are more expensive than other ones you find for sale. In the City Select pram the StayUp design takes the form of elastic loops positioned to line up with some metal studs in the seat fabric. Simply unsnap the studs, slide fold the elastic around it and then snap the seat fabric back onto the frame of the pram.

This pic shows the silhouette of my new 2010/2011 City Select design. Compared to the old design its less hour-glass shaped and, not quite so wide at the head wings. It fits the shape of the City Select seat better.

So, if you've stumbled here from google and want a liner, how do you get one? Well I have a store! Its here. At the moment I don't have any of the new 2010/2011 liners for sale. But I do have the 2010 liners ON SALE for $75 for a matched pair. Considering my liners are normally $60 each that is quite a discount. I also sell a Universal liner- that fits many prams- so check those out too!

I do offer custom orders, and when I am ready for some new orders I will sell them via the store. I do not take names on a waiting list so please don't ask me. I find it hard to disappoint people and then I get stressed at how many orders I have. It also means I spend less time sewing stock for the store!

Tin whistle Feb 2011

Custom order- Dandy Damask Baby Jogger City Select liners

Reverse side of above.

Custom order- Dandy Damask /red polkadot City Select liners

Customer order- City Select liners (unmatched but complimentary by request)

Reverse of above liners.

Yay some dungarees. Denim with retro syrawberries and then pink cord with Hopscotch girls.

Gosh that doesnt look like a lot to show for myself does it? Should I mention here that custom orders take AGES... there are lots of emails to a fro for a while, then I usually have to order in the fabric. The sewing part is usually the quickest bit!

February also saw the conclusion of my relationship with Red Feathers and a Hula skirt. This store had been selling my clothes on commission for about 18 months. The girls at the store decided it was time to turn their attention to other projects and closed their shop down. I went and collected my remaining stock and received my last payment. Most of the remaning clothes are boys shorts, which I will probably just keep for George. Selling on commission via a 'proper' store was a good experience, even if it just helped get my name out there and made me feel somewhat more legitimate (anyone can start an online store after all!), but I dont think I will actively search out another store. I am thinking of trying out more Perth-based markets though.

Snapshot Sunday- Works in progress

I've got a few things on the go at the moment, so I thought I would do an update post on them.

First up is the hexagon quilt. I am currently sewing together hexagon block number 2 (of 15).

I picked up this neat vintage coffee table off Ebay and its now become my unofficial hexagon station.

Poor old Summer Soiree quilt is gathering dust in the corner of the sewing room. I have hand quilted around 2 of the main blocks. I think there are 15 blocks all together. I am waiting for the weather to cool down a bit more before take it up again.

And what I am working on today. I always have around half a dozen tin whistle items on the go- either a custom order or stock for the shop . This one is destined to become a surf-themed pram liner blanket set. Speaking of the shop- I have recently updated my pram liner for the Baby Jogger City Select pram so my old style will be going on sale.

Snapshot Sunday- wee tiny bit obsessed

Oops I have managed to make 50 hexagons since my last post and have started joining them together.
I am finding it very therapuetic, and its such a easy trasportable project. Hexagons at the park anyone?
I'm confident that I am not going to like the look of a whole quilt make just with hexagons, especially using such bright fabrics. So I have pretty much decided that I am going to sew 22 hexagons together like the above photo and then slice them down into a 12.5" block. Then when I have 15 of those I will sash them all with (probably) with a 4 or 5" strips solid grey- kona ash I think. That will give me a generous lap quilt that is ~50"x85" and I think the sashing in a solid colour will really set off the hexagons. By the way I didnt think up that idea, it was suggested in the Sometimes Crafter tutorial I sourced my printable hexagons from. She even has a pic of a 12" hexagon block sashed in white and it looks fab.
By my calculations I have 330 hexagons to make- 50 done... so 280 to go. Here are a few of my favourites so far:

Saggy baggy elephant

Flower (forget the fabric line... so far this quilt is 100% scrap bin fabric)

Monkeys-- anna marie horner I think.

Little babushka girls. This fabric is YEARS old, no idea where I got it from originally.

yeah yeah I know...

I'm a sheep. Baaaaaa. But a scrappy hexagon quilt (or cushion depending on how quickly I lose interest) would look so good on my couch!

Mine a pretty big 2" hexagons. For a whole quilt the bigger ones will look better, plus it comes together quicker right? There are heaps of tutes on the net. I'm using this oneone. Only because its the one that came up when I googled '2" printable hexagons". Although I do like her idea using squares of fabric for the piecing and not cutting them down to hexagons.
So I went though my entire scrap stash and cut the bigger pieces into 4.5" charms.

Here is my new 'hexagon box'. Its going to live by the couch so I can do them while I watch TV.

Miss Eleven

Phew, she liked it!

Lucky girl

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a Queensland flood auction that was held by Sara over at willow and moo. I won a gorgeous hand crafted notebook cover along with a key fob. I REALLY wanted to keep the notbook cover for myself... but decided to satisfy myself with the fob and give the notbook to Elizabeth, who turns 11 in a few days.

Despite knowing Sara for a long time and always reading every post she puts up on her blog I am afraid I cant give you the proper background for her gorgeous embroideries... they are european and she buys in the designs, but has to create them herself on her sewing machine. It involves lots of thread changes, which is enough to scare me off ever doing machine embroidery!

Because Sara is such an old friend she offered (or maybe I asked) if she would create an embroidery for me that I could applique onto a t-shirt I was planning for Elizabeths birthday. I gave her the colour scheme I was thinking of using and mentioned that Elizabeth liked 'hippy peace" things and this is what Sara created for me.

And here is what I made with it. I used Stella knits, as they are just such good quality and the colours are so vibrant.

This is the pattern I used for the t-shirt- MaCalls 5422. I've made this up a a couple of months agos and while liked the overall pattern I made a few modifications this time.

Nothing drastic, I just changed the neckline... a higher round neck, instead of a deep V, so the applique could sit centre front.

And I added the binding in a different (simpler) way.

Snapshot sunday--- Dresses and other bits

I am sorry for being a bit quiet in here. Blogging is fun, but sometimes the stuff that goes on behind it just seems a bit tedious dont you think? You know the placing of your items in a nice light and photographing them, uploading to computer, resizing, cataloging etc. So yep I just had a little holiday from that for a week. I somtimes have to wonder (and marvel) at bloggers who also have a photography hobby in addition to their craft one, because they must take ever so much more time with their 'shoots' than I do. Although I guess if you enjoy photography as a hobby then

its not a chore to take your crafty items and model on location somewhere for the photo shoot.

Anyway... musings over. The above dresses were supposed to be my "snapshot sunday" post from last week. They were an order for the good friend of my good friend. She requested two Eric Carle dresses for her grand daughters. It was nice to create some "Eric Carle" dresses again. I havent done it for ages!

And today I dabbled with some harness covers to match my Babyjogger City Select pram liners. They could have been a lot simpler (ie a rectangle of fabric that velcros or snaps shut around the harness strap) , but I wanted them to look and work like the ones that come with the pram so I ended up with a rounded off and more complicated design. I also wanted them to be revesible like my liners. I am not sure that they will be a regular item as I think I would need to charge more than they are 'worth' to cover the fabric and time that goes into them.