Alana's cot bumper set

So Lewis asked me to make something for Alana’s cot to stop her bumping her head when she goes to bed and this is what I came up with.

It took me much longer to make than I expected, but here are the end results.  It may need some tweaking later on, but I think its fine.

Alana certainly seemed to like the bows (which I tried to make sure I sewed on securely in case she picked them off and put them in her mouth).

On each section the centre square has a little animal on. This is the little puppy

Here is the sheep

The fill-in squares

Lastly the lovely bunny.

All the sections have been topstitched using a double needle to create a nice edge.

I decided to not use pink bows so that this can be used should they have any more children and one happens to be a boy.

Vogue 8539 and Sausages

So this is my first weekend that I have been able to do anything because I have had a two week work trip and only one day per weekend to do anything.

I flew in from The Hague on the 11^th  February and then my lovely Mike took me to London to see Wicked for a valentines treat (a truly funny show worth seeing) and then on Sunday 13^th February, I was heading for London Heathrow airport to fly to Houston.

My friend/colleague Ann is also a keen sewer and I asked her to take me to Jo-ann’s in Sugarland TX.  Well call me lucky, and as one of my British sewing friends said “what is it with you and international bargains” – this particular branch was moving to a new location and as such they had reduced all their patterns to $1.99 each so of course, despite having more patterns than I have time to sew, I had to buy some more.  One of the most annoying things was seeing patterns that I had only just recently purchased for only a fraction of the cost.  I addition to the patterns I also managed to purchase some lovely buttons and bead trims that were reduced by 75%.  Sadly we probably missed out on all the better stuff because the shop was almost empty, but I still managed to buy 12 patterns so I was happy.

Yesterday my new gadget arrived – a mincing machine/sausage maker.  I love sausages, and sausage and mash is a favourite for everyone in the house, but unfortunately the ingredients for sausages are less than healthy.  I spent a little while surfing the web on how to make sausages and came up with video instructions http://www.5min.com/Video/Breakfast-Sausage-101841658  to make a breakfast sausage,  and more surfing for supplies for the casings and the crumb that goes into the sausages (you need this to keep the meat moist).

I ground my meat (turkey and pork) and (turkey and beef steak) and made 3 different types of sausages:- Turkey, Pork with caramelised red onion and fresh thyme; turkey, pork with fresh sage and leeks, and lastly beef & turkey with garlic and BBQ seasoning.  I have tasted each of them and they are great – so much nicer than the shop bought ones and of course so much more healthy because of the low fat content.  I have popped them into packs of 6, vacuum packed them and put them in the freezer yummy, roll on next week for a sausage and mash evening with lovely red onion gravy.  

Mike went off to Plymouth to see his eldest son today, and like a good partner I sent him off with sandwiches made with home made bread and home made sausages – if I start making my own butter hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  well perhaps not.

So having done my shopping, and cooking projects, now to sewing for this weekend.

A little while ago I made some embroidered squares to make into a quilt (or something ) for our beautiful little Alana.  Today her dad Lewis asked me to make her a “bumper set” for her cot – so I have decided to use these square to make it – she will have rabbits, sheep, ducks etc on each of the squares (picture to follow) each with a tone on tone embroidery (all white).

My other project is to finish a jacket I cut out last night V8680 which I am going to make in a double sided quilted fabric (pink and orange). Sadly the picture does not look as good as the version I saw in my Sew Today magazine"

Well best get going.

A camisole to go with my suit

Having been in the Hague for 3 days for work I flew home last night with a list of chores to do.

I had nearly finished my suit, with just the bottom hem and the sleeve hem to complete, which once fed and watered I did last night.

It was my intention to sew a camisole which would be reversible, i.e blue background with green flowers or green background with blue flowers, however I underestimated the amount of fabric I had, so I will not have enough to fully line another jacket and make another camisole – hmmmmmmmmmmmm  yes I know I am stupid – just looked a lot when I first started cutting out.

 Still I have rattled on enough:- here are the finished pictures – will post one of me in it when my darling Mike gets back from the USA this morning.

forgot to press the sleeves and could have done with an extra inch on the pants but not a bad attempt.

McCalls 5481jacket

Palmer Pletch 5481 Jacket

This is the front view showing the neckline and you can just see my beautiful blue and green silk lining poking through.  I have also lined the pockets with this too to add a touch of luxury.

The Back is made up of 4 panels - narrow at the top and then spreading at the bottom which I think give a lovely view to the back.

 

Here is the suit nearly finished all but the hem on the jacket bottom and the sleeves - I worked on this from Saturday night through to Sunday night and by 11pm I was just too tired and didn't want to make silly mistakes.

Unfortunately I give myself silly short timescale to finishes quite big projects.  I wanted to complete this to wear to a meeting at work on Monday, but I now need to finish it so I can wear it in Houston next week when I am presenting on a course.

This is a better view of the lining.  The silk came from Vietnam and was around £2 per metre and I guess I used just over a metre for this.

It is my intention to make a reversible camisole top to wear under the suit.  Because the silk is equally as lovely the other way round - if I self line the camisole top so one way round its blue with green flowers and then the reverse is green with blue flowers, when I make my next jacket in the green fabric I purchased I will line it with the green side up.

This is my first attempt at copying the tailoring techniques that I learned on my course so took time to bind the arm holes.

 I have worked out that by the time I sew up my camisole top, and my skirt with the fabric left over from the suiting material the 4 piece suite will have cost me less than £10 including zippers and thread.  

So just on the jacket and the pants I have included belt loops, flap pockets, double welt pockets, and tailoring in my jakcet. 

When I was in my meeting on Monday one of my work colleagues came and sat next to me.  She always wears the most wonderful expensive suits - I found myslef not listening to the subject being discussed but scrutinising her jacket, the placement of the pockets, the lining, the button holes etc so that I could incorporate them into my next project .......... there is no hope for me.