Feeling blue? How about grey?

All this horrible rainy weather is the perfect excuse to stay indoors, dust off the sewing machine, and get creative. And, I have just the fabrics for you ... two new lovely designs from the Leanika collection by Dena Designs, both in bluey-grey hues which match this wintery weather perfectly. The fabric on the left is Jardin and the one on the right is Paisley and both of them are available from the Fabrication store. Happy shopping!

More new fabrics - from Art Gallery Quilts this time ...

Four new fabrics from Art Gallery Quilts arrived this week. All four coordinate beautifully together and are from the Sugar collection. I've just loaded in my shop so if you love them get in quick because quantities are limited!

Fridge magnets

I'm a bit of a hoarder. Not of everything mind you ... my house isn't full of piles of newspapers and miscellaneous stacks of crap, but I'm definitely a hoarder when it comes to fabric. I'll make something and keep every last little scrap of off-cut, thinking that maybe one day it'll come in handy. Well, for some of my scraps, that day arrived last weekend when my niece and I decided to get crafty by making some fridge magnets.

Veeky's at that great age (nearly 8) where she's into making stuff, has a good grip on how to use a pair of scissors, and can concentrate for long enough to get through a task. So, we made the most of it and made A LOT of magnets. These are really easy, you just need some fabric scraps, felt, magnets (we used self-adhesive magnetic strip that you can just cut up), a pair of pinking shears and your regular old sewing scissors. Oh, and a sewing machine of course.

I got the idea for making magnets from my friend Jo who gave Thomas some for Christmas. They were a big hit with him, so Veeky and I made him some more, plus lots for Veeky's sisters, Mum, Dad, aunty and grandparents. So why don't you give making some a go? They make a fabulous present and are a great way to get a little person you know involved in something crafty (because you can never start to young!). Plus, you can try out all those crazy stitches on your machine that you've never had a chance to use before.

p.s. sorry for the lack of posts lately ... things have been a bit hectic around here and my sewing time seems to be the first thing that goes out the window!

It's twins! Time for bibs!

My close friend very recently had twin boys and all her pain and agony at carrying them for 9 months was fully understood when they emerged at 7lb 5oz and 8lb 1oz (sorry, when it comes to babies it's pounds and ounces for me, none of this kg palava!). I know, talk about whoppers! Absolutely gorgeous whoppers though - I visited them in hospital and almost had to wipe up the drool. There's nothing quite like a new born baby ...

... Anyway, my friend's first child was rather spewy when she was tiny due to terrible reflux. Not wanting to tempt fate, but aware of the role that genes have in this sort of thing, I thought a good present for the new baby boys would be bibs, and lots of them. So, I got to making some from the David Walker fabrics in my shop. All the fabrics were from his Oh Boy! collection and the small prints worked really well.

One fat quarter made 2 bibs, so this was a great use of fabric. I then used towelling for the back and edged them in bias binding (more dramas using the awful stuff, so don't look too closely at the pics!). Then I just used domes to hold them together. Despite knowing for many months that the twins were arriving I of course left my run right to the last minute, but luckily these were quick to make and I managed to make all 6 bibs in a couple of hours. Why don't you give something like this a go?

Lilly-Dee Designs

One of my favourite things about receiving a fabric order from my shop is imagining what the fabrics are going to be used for. This is especially so when I get an order for a fat quarter bundle (a random selection of four fat quarters). Sometimes my customers write me a wee note to let me know what their favourite colour is, or more often what their least favourite colour is, but usually I have no idea so I just go about imagining what my customer might like and send them off what takes my fancy that day. I'm pretty sure I don't always get it right, but that's the fun of ordering in this lucky dip fashion. So, what do you do with your fabric? Do you turn it into clothes, cushions, bags or simply store it up for a project that will come along one day? I'd love to know.

One customer of mine who has let me know what she does with her fabric is Helen from Lilly-Dee Designs. She has a small business making gorgeous soft toys for kids, based right here in NZ, and she sent me some pictures of a couple of the toys she made using fabrics a recent order. I think you'll agree that these guys are very cute and a great gift idea. So, if you're in the market for something handmade and just perfect for a little person in your life, check out Helen's website:  http://www.lilly-deedesigns.yolasite.com/. Her prices are extremely reasonable and she makes to order. What more could you want?!

Don't forget ... Stash reHash is this Sunday!

Hi everyone, just a quick reminder that Stash reHash is on this Sunday, 18 April from 11am - 2pm. Come prepared with an empty shopping bag, lots of cash (no eftpos facilities on site sorry), an eye for a bargain and your elbows ready to give other fabricaholics a gentle nudge out of the way if they get a bit bolshy.

I'll be there with all my new fabrics, plus some treasures from Nana's stash ... get in early so you don't miss out!

Here's what else you need to know:

Sunday 18th April 2010
11am - 2pm
at the Scottish Society Hall
corner of Edgeware and Caledonian Roads
St Albans, Christchurch.

There'll be dozens of stall-holders including Arthritis NZ selling a huge variety of fabric (new, old, designer, vintage, retro and for dressmaking, crafts, interiors and upholstery), buttons, yarn, haberdashery, patterns, vintage textiles, embroidery and other craft supplies.

Oven Mitt

I made this oven mitt for my Nana. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift but it's somewhat late - hopefully she'll be forgiving over my relaxed schedule when it comes to making promised items for family! Anyway, her criteria was that the wanted a single mitt design rather than oven gloves, and she wanted it in navy. Unfortunately I didn't have any navy fabric (plus navy is rather boring don't you think?) so I've made this one in Narrow Stripe in Blue for the top and Circle Pane in Blue for the Bottom. I did use navy for the trim though, so hopefully she'll forgive me for digressing from her wishes.

I used a Cath Kidston pattern which I found on the internet here. To be honest, it's a bit hard to follow and it didn't have a scale, but I muddled through. I made my oven glove 70cm long, with the hand pockets 20cm long each and I made the whole thing 20cm wide. Using those measurements, I got away with 0.25m of each of the exterior fabrics (note - cut as a strip rather than as a fat quarter). I also used 0.25m of wool batting, 0.25m of some special heat reflective stuff (not sure exactly what it's called, but just ask at your local fabric store - I don't stock it sorry!), and about 2m of 25mm wide bias binding. The Cath Kidston pattern doesn't call for the heat reflective stuff, but I'd definitely recommend it because there's nothing worse than burning yourself on hot dishes. If you wanted to do that you wouldn't bother to wear an oven mitt now would you?!

Now, it all seemed straight forward enough, but never having worked with bias binding before (should I be admitting that?) I did find this somewhat challenging. Firstly I bought the wrong sized bias binding and had to go back and get some more as the smaller stuff just wouldn't fit over all the layers. Then, because of all the layers my machine had a bit of a hissy fit and kept choking on the bobbin. And then, to top it all off, I struggled with the very act of sewing the bias binding on using a nice straight topstitch, so it's a bit all over the place. Oh well, despite the end product being less perfect than I usually accept, it's turned out ok and will be functional enough. And, since Nana is nearly blind I don't think she'll be inspecting it for its imperfections! Thank goodness!