Summer Creations

We did quite a lot of creating during the summer holidays...

With two children with type 1 diabetes in the house, we get through a LOT of blood testing strips.  Ours come in little plastic pots, and we end up with at least 10 empty pots per month.  We decided to try decorating a few to use as containers for beads.  We hot-glued ribbon all round the sides, and made a ribbon bow with a button on the top to glue to the lid.


I made little girl a dress.

We made our first attempt at making those squiggly ribbon bows known as "korker" bows.  Little girl loved hers!

I managed to do another couple of squares for my Craftsy BOM quilt.  This is the Dresden plate block.

This is the modern Dresden plate block.  Next time I think I will do the stitching by hand, as I'm not very happy with this.

Gifts for the Teachers

It's the beginning of the summer holidays! Little girl left nursery and will be going to school in September. Boy left infant school and will be going to junior school in September. Big girl will be moving up in to year 5. Mummy had instructions to make extra-special gifts for the teachers, as little girl and boy will miss them.

We made little cosmetics cases and pencil cases using the Lined Zippered Boxy Pouch Tutorial from Projects by Jane, a cute lunch bag using Pink Penguin's Drawstring Lunch Bag Tutorial and lots of patchwork lanyards, using the tutorial from Two Peas in a Pod.

The lanyards were made with Fabric Freedom's "Notting Hill" fabrics.

Little girl signed her name on little pieces of red card. We wrote a message on the other side of the card for the teacher, and laminated it. We then punched a hole in the top and hung it on the lanyard.

The teachers all liked their gifts, and when I collected little girl from nursery, all her teachers were wearing their lanyards.

I have also been making lots of insulin pump belts to raise money for JDRF. www.facebook.com/clairespumpbelts

Diabetes Awareness Week 2012

Recent Sewing

Mostly, I have been making insulin pump belts for my children, and some to sell to raise money for JDRF, but I have sewn a few other things recently.

This is a dress I made for little girl to wear to her two diamond jubilee parties last week.  She adored it and had lots of lovely comments.  The top is a Makower cotton fabric with little crowns all over it, lined with red and white hearts fabric.  The bottom is a white cotton fabric with flags all over it.  The bodice is from my favourite pattern for little girl dresses Jocole Circle Flounce Dress, and the skirt is improvised.  The back of the bodice is fastened with red KAM snaps.

Big sister wore the Feliz dress that I made her a while ago.  She has nearly outgrown it, but still loves it.

My eldest daughter has claimed my Craftsy Block of the Month quilt as hers when I've finished it.  These are the blocks I've completed so far...

Plus this one, which I made this week, after consulting big girl about fabrics.

Another String Block

My 3-year-old saw a lovely jelly roll (roll of strips of quilting cotton) in our local fabric shop and asked whether she could have it for her quilt.  It was in her favourite colours of yellow and orange, and the fabrics were so lovely that I bought it and made her this block to start her quilt.

Another broken spider's web block

I promised my sister I'd start a quilt for her. Since I loved the broken spider's web block so much, I decided to try another one, and used some patriotic fabrics I'd been saving for jubilee year quilt blocks.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 6 - Broken Spider Web

Another one I'll definitely do again. There are all kinds of cotton fabrics in here. Some Laura Ashley print that I bought to make my (now 7-year-old) baby boy a quilt and never did. Some scraps from my daughter's school dress. Offcuts from the fabric for my mum's quilt (still in progress). Tiny blue flowery fabric from my very favourite skirt ever....... This block is full of memories.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 5 - String Block

This block looked like a lot of hard work, and I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Actually, it's one of the easier ones, and I love it! I'm seriously thinking of making a whole quilt using this method. Perfect for using up tiny scraps of your favourite fabric.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 4

I've caught up! This is block 4. Made from two Hello Kitty fabrics and a mushroom fabric that I used to make H a spiral skirt last year, plus some blue and white heart fabric that I am planning to make her another skirt from.

Photo taken before I pressed the block.

This was the skirt the Kitty and mushroom fabrics were used for.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 3

This one is made from two pink fabrics that I used for little H's "Feliz" dress a while back, and some pale green cotton from an old duvet cover.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 2

This block is made from some fabric I am saving to make a dress for F.

Craftsy Block of the Month - Block 1

I've started another quilt! I signed up for the "Block of the Month" course at Craftsy.com. Today was the first chance I had to get started, so I've only done the first January block so far. Now I need to do another three blocks by the end of February to catch up.

Here's my first block. I'm not going to buy a FQ bundle especially to make this quilt. It will be made from fabrics that I already have leftover from old projects or ready for new ones. These two fabrics are for a dress for little H.

Lots of old projects!

I haven't been able to blog much for the last 12 months or so, but I have still been sewing. Here is a little catch-up. A few of my favourite sewing projects from the last year.

T-shirts for the girls.

A large-size vest for a beautiful girl.

Leggings for H.

T-shirts for the girls.
T-shirt for my boy.

My favourite dress for little H! I covered the snaps (poppers) in fabric, so it looked a little classier.

A dress made from an old pair of maternity trousers and an old maternity top!

Quilt for my lovely gran.

A bag for a little friend's birthday. We filled it with colouring things.

A 10-foot-long Christmas banner. Made from Christmas fabrics with letters appliqued on the front.

A Swedish costume for H's "international day" at nursery.

A patchwork cushion for Gran's 90th birthday, to match her quilt.

Various insulin pump belts, including this Twilight themed one.