This is my place to chronicle the simple pleasures of my life.....I knit, crochet and sew etc. I'm a proud Mommy, a wife and above all a soul of living light. Join me on a journey to inspiration amongst craft or life.....

Saturday, March 16, 2013

The story of a started quilt......(tutorial included)

Okay so this story starts with an thrift shop buy (well not a thrift shop exactly but Ebay which is pretty much the same thing)...I was lucky enough to win an auction of fabric remnants etc from a ladies clear out for only .99 cents....If that wasn't wow enough when it arrived at my doorstep in the huge bag of fabric was 5 long strips of joined squares - like someone had started a patchwork quilt but it was relegated to the UFO basket. As I was washing and ironing all the bits and pieces I kept thinking what I should do with them, it seemed a shame to not use them as they are and so I decided to finish that quilt.....This is a quick tutorial about how I did it so if you ever come across unfinished patchwork bits and pieces you can do the same ;)

Okay so as I said there were 5 long strips......Now they alone weren't wide enough to make a blanket so I first cut them all in half..............lucky for me the original project starter had sewn 29 squares in each strip.


Right so as you can see it still isn't that wide so I decided to place a long strip in between each patchwork square row.....lucky one of my finds the week before at my local op shop was a fabulous piece of tartan flannel.........So I did a simple job of sewing the strips to the long lengths until I had this:


It soon became even more apparent that the squares were not the same size or even the same shape as each other so next I had to work on squaring up the blanket. It was never going to be perfect but with my trusty tape measure I managed to cut it somewhat square overall :)


Then I had to fold over and sew down the edge I just cut (otherwise my other sewing would start to unravel.....


Here is the result.....


So next I cut a piece of material (in my case simple purple cotton) to size and then attached it as backing to my blanket - I didn't add any blanket wadding to mine but here is where you could insert the wadding to make a puffy blanket.


And then came the most expensive part of the blanket - the binding which I bought new as I didn't have anything else I could use instead - you could also use a wide ribbon here or even bias binding.
I first did a simple straight stitch all around (I mitered the corners) and then a decorative one beside it to finish off......


 And here it is....the finished quilt that cost me less than $10 to make and it meant that another unfinished project out there in the world had been finished, even if it wasn't done by the original starter :)
I'm pretty chuffed with how great it came out!!!!!


xxK

Sewing again.....and the best custom eva! (yarn)

More sewing projects......First are some bags for my lil handmade shop - I'm very happy with my template/design and think I might just have to upsize it to make bigger 'tote' bags as well :)



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This is a cute pillowcase dress I finished last night for my biggest princess - I think it's going to be perfect with leggings and considering it cost me all of $2 to make...yay me!!!






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This is my latest op shop haul - I adore vintage/retro fabrics and ended up spending $23 and getting this plus a pair of the cutest girly curtains for my girls!!!!!





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And I mentioned the best custom eva......I was lucky enough to win a competition held by Yarn and kisses and got the chance to have a complete custom yarn dyed! I sent along this photo from animalspot.com


and got back this gorgeous yarn......


It is simply beautiful in real life - you really need to check out Yarn and kisses shop!
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And one last thing - An easy way to deal with your elastic and recycle at the same time........use a plastic takeaway container and cut a small hole in the lid to feed your elastic through. You can then pull out and cut what you need while seeing what you have left AND keeping it all contained nicely :)





Sunday, March 10, 2013

Handmade for my lil shop!

These things are all listed for sale in my shop - These Little Wagons...

First is some cute gathered skirts - I'm so tempted to keep the owl one for my princess as it is just too cute!!!! All sized 6-12mths.


Then a cute crochet amigurumi toy raindrop, Miss Blu......she'd love a home :)
Made in organic cotton she is so soft!


 I'm also planning on listing some project bags soon too so keep an eye out :)


Personal crafts!

Okay so I have a lot of things to show you so I'll be writing a few posts today......first is a bunch of things I've made for me or the family.

Okay so since rekindling my love for my sewing machine I've been quite busy (don't tell anyone that also includes buying fabric LOL).....
First is this cute bag (It's mine, I couldn't part with it), I found this gorgeous vintage fabric on ebay and there was just enough to have two panels........I made up my own bag pattern - just measured out a simple shape which works for the outer and the lining.






This is a gathered skirt I made my lil princess......They are just so simple to whip up and comfy too, I just adore ruffles and lace and pink!!!


And then I made my hubby a new beanie for winter - it's the same pattern as mine so we can match hehe.....

I'm modeling it here 


Now this is a crocheted blanket square for a friend expecting her third baby - I made this up as I went and embellished with a lil owl.......each of her crafty friends is contributing to the blanket so it's going to be super special <3 p="">





xxxK