Busy, busy, busy!

Hi there all,

well - the summer holidays are here and I'm about to get down to my room once again - so many things to do! First off, the boxes. I've made two more big ones since the one for my step-sister; one as a present (commissioned by my mum), and the second as a wedding gift. This one on the right was a 60th birthday present. Possibly, if you click on the picture, you will get a better view of it, of the embellishment.

For those who are interested, I use an Elna 7200. It's a great machine that gets a lot of use. I recently bought a trolley bag for it, which makes it a bit easier to take to workshops - usually I take the Elna 6005 to workshops, as it is lighter. However, it really depends on what the course is. The problem with using one machine for workshops, is that I have to re-learn how to use it.

This second box is the one I made as a wedding present - the bride kindly gave me some of the fabric from her outfit, which I incorporated into the box. She told me that the colour scheme was orange and Cadbury purple. I had great fun in buying the ribbons and some of the fabrics and other embellishments. It was great fun to try 'braiding' - creating little loops and having the ribbons go over each other. The 'quilting' featured the initials of the couple, and other freehand designs. I gave the present sometime after the wedding, as I wanted to include photos on fabric of the day; the bride kindly provided me with a disk of photos and let me pick the ones I wanted to use.

I am currently in the process of making 2 rag dolls - I still need to add faces, but the dolls themselves are done. I wasn't so happy with the hair, so added more, and now regret that decision somewhat. However, I've been playing hairdresser, and tried thinning the 'barnet' a little. I'll put pictures of the dolls on here once I've finished their clothes; as I've not made clothes before, these are proving a little tricky in places - especially as I'm starting to be possibly over ambitious, by wanting to adapt the patterns and create other clothes - longer dresses, shirts, different style skirts, different sleeves, jackets....oh - and a Mary Poppins type apron!

The final thing to show for today is a quilt - made for my cousin's second son; I've shown the quilt for his brother on the blog previously, and you can't make a quilt for one and not the other - which is why I have other quilts in preparation. I was able to deliver the quilt last weekend, and so get a cuddle with the new addition to the family.

The quilt was well received, and with lots of positive comments. I don't consider myself to be that clever with my hobby - I'm just determined, and like putting colours together, and playing with fabric and my sewing machine. This quilt is made from a panel that I had bought, and then I added co-ordinating fabrics to the sides - the co-ordinating fabrics had been a free gift from a website, and just happened to be from the same range. Perfect! I departed from the usual quilt making on this occasion, using fleece as backing instead of wadding and backing fabric. I had to wait until the baby was born to complete the quilt (actually, I didn't start it until after he was born - family and work commitments didn't allow otherwise), as the backing depended on the baby - boy or girl.

This photo on the right shows the young man in question on his quilt - the fleece is super-soft snuggly, and I'd bought it in blue and in pink. It came from a shop in Tunbridge Wells - C & H fabrics (I think) - I know the initials, as they are perfect for me - and a perfect shop for me - but not for my bank account! I've started making another baby quilt for someone at school who is pregnant (a teacher), and also have one to do for a friend who has just had a baby. I need some more fleece like this, but am not sure where I'm going to get it from - any ideas gratefully received.

As you can see, the quilt was put to use immediately, and young Austin appears to love it! Both he and his brother were lying on it on Saturday. Oh, and would you believe that he is just 7 weeks old in this picture? It's true - he had a VERY good weight at birth!

And now, it would seem that it is time for me to retire - to my sewing room that is! I've got clothes to make / finish, a couple of wall-hangings for my classroom, a quilt or two or three or four to finish, a couple of block of the months to work on, not to mention all the other projects I started a while back - they are NOT UFOs - they are WIPs - I will finish them, I just don't know when...

Do you hear that sound...can you hear it? It's getting louder and louder, calling my name...my room is missing me, so it really is time for me to be going!