Christmas

I did try to make as many gifts this year as I could, my other half pitched in and drew an amazing picture for his Dads Christmas gift as well.

For my brother I assembled a personalised first aid kit complete with Dora the Explorer plasters as he has a 2 year old daughter. For my sister-in-law I made the bag in the photo below (I didn't get it finished in time for her birthday in May). Made from Ikea fabrics with a plain black cotton lining. I filled the bag with all different pink sweets and sweets with pink packaging.

For my other-half's second eldest sister and partner I made a selection of jams using the apples and pears from the orchard behind my parents house. I wrapped one of each (apple pancake sauce, apple chilli jelly and pickled pears) in a record bowl shaped to fit the three jars in.

For there two children I made toys. For there eldest who is five I made a sock monkey which I did make in time for Christmas last year whilst we were living in France but we didn't return to England till after Christmas. I dresses the sock monkey as a pirate especially for him.

And since they had a baby in October I made a taggy blanket out of really cute owl fabric with a fleece back. To go with it I made a tiny sock monkey out of baby socks which was very cute but I forgot to take a photo of it.

For his youngest sister (still older than him he's the baby of the family) and her partner I made home flavored vodka, I decided to use retro sweets, after researching on the Internet I decided on Black Jacks for one and Fruit Salads for the other. Then I made a very flat record bowl to wrap up the two bottles in with a packet of each sweets.


And for my very good friend I made some little decrative owls out of felt. I made these from out of a magazine, I much prefer the off white and purple one, I think all the colours work really well.

Kitties

Here is Inara!!! I think she is all grown up now, she is 10 months! She was poorly in November but she is all better now, bless her! I love how her eyes are almost green, some times I think she looks a bit like an Egyptian Mau - probably only because I know there is a bit Egyptian Mau in Bengal cats.

And Flynn... he is a cutie. He looks like a full size cat but he is still small, he is 7 months now!!! He is a bit of a scaredy cat if you sneak up on him me literally jumps out of his skin today he jumped like 3 foot in the air when he got spooked! I think he scares visitors as when he gets scared it looks like they are being horrible - I have to reassure people that he's easily startled.

Free Owl Door Stop Pattern

You will need:

PDF pattern from here
2x Buttons
1x Zip
10x5cm white felt for eyes
8x4cm yellow/orange felt for beak
12x13cm fabric for belly
17x8cm felt/fleece for eye ‘mask’
33x25cm fabric for bottom and sides
60x36cm fabric for main body
60x43cm wadding or interfacing
60x43cm fabric for lining (optional)




Instructions

1. Cut out all the pieces, adding a seam allowance where required. You need from our choice of exterior fabrics: 2x main body, 2x triangles, 1 bottom rectangle (about 23x16cm), 1 belly, 1 eye ’mask’, 2x eyes and one beak, 2x eyes. Cut from wadding or interfacing 2x main body and 2x triangles. Lining (if you want) 2x main body and 2x side triangles.

2. Pin one wadding piece to one body piece – this will be the front. Appliqué the belly into position and the eyes, sew the eyes on top of the eye ‘mask’. Then attach the button eyes.

3. Sew both the sides (triangles) to the front, remembering that right sides should be facing. All the sides you want on the outside should be facing together as you sew! Then attach the back to the sides and front.

4. Repeat step three for the lining if you want.

5. Cut the bottom rectangle into two one piece smaller than the other. Attach the shorter piece to the zip first then attach the longer piece. Fold the longer piece over the zip and fold back so that you cannot see the zip but you can still get to it then sew this into place.

6. Attach all the 4 layers, lining, wadding, and main body to the bottom rectangle. I find it easier to hand baste it in to place. The bottom rectangle will be to big so trim it down to size. Then neaten off this seam, perhaps with an overlocker.

Satin Embroidered Eye Masks Trio

Aren't these great... if I do say so myself! The bit I love is the embroidery, beads and sequins, but I have to admit I am not responsible for any of that. The smart bit is the satin fabric was from a pillow slip I got in some Next sale years ago and that is why they are so pretty!

I actually used the pillowcases for a project ages ago these I made from the leftovers as I had lots leftover. But I had to be very strategic about how I cut out the embroidered parts.

These will be available in my Etsy shop bar one which is a gift!

Etsy Shop Open!

I opened my Etsy Shop today!!! I listed these Magnets for sale - I designed the packaging and absolutely love it! The second font is the same font as the text on my logo. I love making these magnets I have a set of the mushroom ones on my fridge, as it is my most favorite fabric ever!



Visit my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SewnByRosie

Button Bracelet for me

This is my first attempt at a button bracelet, I thought it looked a bit sparse.So I added a load more buttons, and while looking for more buttons I found this cute mushroom charm in my stash. I really love this little mushroom it actually came off of a pair of underwear. This bracelet is quite short due to my smallish wrists. I really like it I don't really wear jewellery but its nice to have something to show people that you like making things when your out and about.

Baby Booties Galore!!!

How sweet are all these? I'm loving making these cute little booties for new born baby's! I like going though my stash and pairing fabrics together to do the two sides to these boots. I tried putting different fabric on the bottoms of the apple print fabric ones - you can just see in the photo, and I quite like that look I'd like to try more like that!


This is the reverse side of the bright pink booties seen in the above photo. I think I prefer this side, I do love this fabric though! I think I'll try buy some more before it sells out.


These booties are made from recycled fabric, this side used to be some PJ bottoms and the other fabric was a vintage flat sheet. I love re purposing old fabric, much more environmentally sound! The only problem I have is getting my hands on it, oh, and affording it (sometimes)!

Christmas is on it's Merry Way!!!

This year I decided to have a go at making my own decorations! I saw this idea online... its just fabric strips knotted around a wire. This one is just little, I used a bit of wire and made a loop at the top for hanging it up - I have seen others use a wire coat hanger and bend it into a circle.

This second one is massive and very heavy! I used a wire wreath box frame which aren't so easy to get hold of in the UK! I had to order it from the US and the postage was more than the frame, but I think it looks quite impressive! I started using the fabric above but realised it would cost loads if I used my expensive fabric so I found an old green double flat sheet and it used the whole thing and I could have filled it out more if there had been more fabric!!!

The great thing about these are they are both sided, I'm going to hang the big one in my window so everyone can see it! I might try to find something to decorate it with, my mum suggested red berries and I was thinking a big red bow, but I'm not sure yet...

Flynn's Operations

Yes that's right it's a plural. I took him to be neutered and that night after getting him home it was obvious he needed to go back! So I'm thinking that they'll just push it all back in (that was the problem what ever they had done was coming back out the wounds as they don't stitch them up). So when the vet said I had to leave him with them again I think she wasn't sure how to judge my face, so she questioned 'if it is OK to leave him here?', well they did bodge it up the first time!

But as you can see he's all happy now, having a evening nap with his Inara! It was very stressful time he had lots of medication and eye drops and a buster collar - he hated the buster collar and he couldn't do anything with it on! He couldn't eat or drink with it on and toileting became very messy. Apart from his bottom being a bit chilly he is right as rain and beating up Inara with angst!

A Cool Bag For Day Trips

Over the summer months we went out for the day a few times and as the cheapskates we are we always tried to take a packed lunch with us (often the out of date stuff for the local shop brought the night before!). So I decided I would have a go at making a cool bag so that maybe our food would stay cooler, and this is what I came up with! I'm not a 100% happy but it should do for me.

The apple fabric is a medium weight cotton and so is the lining, the green fabric is a upholstery fabric and the handles are just some ribbon - I regret the ribbon but I didn't have anything else at hand when I made it! But what I love is that it is the right size for me and the other half, I designed it so that it fit two small bottles of water and two sandwiches and snacks for two! The other thing I'm impressed with is that I learned how to do a recessed zipper. I used Insul-bright to help the insides stay cool, but I think I was meant to put a layer of wadding in as well but I didn't realise until I had finished, amateurs mistake.

Such a shame it took me this long to get it made as now I'll have to wait until next spring to use it!

New Baby Gift

A nephew was born on the 13th October 2011, not technically mine but my boyfriend's, but every one loves to spoil a baby!!! Here is my gift to little Henry (well our gift). The bib I made from my first attempt at machine free motion quilting - I just cut out the shape and bias bound the edges. The booties I found a pattern for online, this one in fact: http://www.maked.ca which is brilliant, easy to follow.

I love the booties I wanted to keep them but my feet were too big ;) Here is a photo of them inside out as they are reversible.

And up close of the outside I chose the apple print as Henry was my boyfriend's Sister's first baby and thus the metaphorical 'apple of her eye' see I thought about that one.

Taking the Cats for Walkies

I made these a couple of weeks ago. We decided that the cats should be able to enjoy the outside too! So I was looking for ages for a pattern to make a secure harness for the kittens, I had read other cat owners say that there cat preferred the harnesses that are more like jackets as they made the cat feel more secure. But despite my best efforts I could not find a pattern, so I had decided that I would leave it for another day and just make it up my self.

But low and behold as I was looking for a pattern for a cool bag guess what I stumble upon... a harness pattern for a small dog! So thanks to Erin Erickson I didn't need to draft my own pattern, I altered this one a bit I had to take some of the width out of the back but with slight adjustment I had two functioning harnesses! Both need to be remade as there are problems with both, Flynn's is too tight around his chest now and Inara's one keeps breaking. I used poppers on the harnesses as I didn't trust Velcro, the poppers on Inara's keep ripping out of the fabric though hers has Velcro too as it was the prototype. Here's some picture, oh and I made a matching leash for Inara:


They are such different cats in their personality's, Inara loved it outside she was striding about like she owned the place, bearing in mind this was my parents garden home to two large 9 year old male cats. Flynn was terrified he panicked at every noise but after a while gained confidence from watching Inara waltz about the place, but Flynn had never been outside before, where as Inara was allowed into an outside enclosure at the breeders.

We have walked them twice so far the second time we went so we could sit in the sun as we have no garden ourselves. Flynn just tried to hide under my body when I was laying out on a blanket and Inara started on one of my mums cats. I say my mums cats, they were mine, Grey and Cream we call them - guess what colours they are! But after uni they didn't like me for abandoning them and my little brother adores cream cat, also my boyfriend did keep reminding me that they were not his cats. So that's why we decided on getting our own cats.

My First Attempt at Machine Quilting

This is my first go at machine quilting! I made up the patch work bit first and cut the back out of a plain light blue fabric and put the wadding between. I used one of those wash away markers and used it to draw on the back where I wanted to sew. Then using my brand new quilting foot for my sewing machine I attempted to use follow the lines as best I could starting in the middle. I dont think it is too bad but I did find it very difficult - but people do say it will get better with practice! I have plans for this piece as its not to sad, I even think I could use it to make a gift!?

Home is where the Xbox is cross-stitch

Now, I will let you know I am partial to a good cross-stitch pattern. I found a brilliant one here at the Domestic Scientists blog! I really, really wanted to stitch it but I didn't have a good enough reason we don't even own an Xbox! Well, so recently our two of our guy friends moved out of their parents places into a shared house with some other friends of ours... so what a great excuse to sew it as a house warming gift for a whole house of friends! I was apprehensive that three twenty three year old guys would not appreciate a framed cross-stitch... but blow me away, they loved it! I did not use the same colours from the original pattern but looked at a picture of an Xbox controller and tried my best to colour match from all the sewing threads I have, trying to use up the scrappy left over bits from other projects.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello, my name is Rosie and I am starting a blog! My main reasoning to starting a blog is to document everything I make, as I love to sew on my wonderful sewing machine! Also I am hoping that it will motivate me to get things completed, then I can brag about it! By brag I mean winge about how difficult and tedious it was!

But first meet my two furry babes

This is Flynn our ginger tabby and white little boy, he's just over 9 weeks!

And this is Inara our bengal girl, she is 5 months old!