And Sew On - May BOM

Where did May go? Seems like only yesterday I was posting my April block!

As usual I waited til the last minute to start and finish my block for Quiet Plays BOM. This one is called Keep Calm and Press on and I found it came together quite easily. Of course I made mistakes as normal, On the first section I sewed the wrong line about 3 times and was rather close to having a tantrum!

Apart from the seam ripper getting a lot of use, I'm rather keen on this one. My last couple of blocks have been a bit plain and boring, so I wanted to put a bit of colour into this one! Don't think I'd have this wallpaper in my house though. I was a bit worried the red iron wouldn't stand out enough against the background, but I think it's turned out really well!

Great block thanks Kristy, can't wait for June's block!

Vintage style 60's mod toddler dress

I'm rather proud of myself! I've made my first dress for my daughter! Sure I've made T-shirts (neckline way too big) and refashioned a couple of skirts (Bit too short or they fall down easily) but this was my first attempt to make a dress.

I was inspired by this dress from doublestitching. Unfortunately I didn't have any fabric quite as funky as hers, but I remembered I had a rather psychedelic skirt that I bought at a car boot. I mistakenly thought it might look quite good on me. However it might make a great dress for her!

I used the tutorial from doublestitching, but decided not to make a collar as I didn't have enough fabric. I found some buttons the perfect colour and it was finished.

Of course its not perfect, it took much longer than I expected, the stitching isn't great, so don't look too closely and it's rather too large for her, but at least she'll be able to fit into it for a while! Despite these issues, I was really proud when I put it on her, although she didn't pay any attention to the dress and just carried on creating havoc. Never mind!

I 'm going to keep an eye out for some 60's style fabric to make another dress.

Note to self: must remember to take pictures before someone gets their sticky paws on it!

I am linking this up to We did it Wednesday on So Much Ado

Snip it real good - BOM for April

I finished just in time! 

This is my completed square for Quiet Play's 'And Sew On' paper pieced block for April. It doesn't come out well, but the background fabric is green, not grey. 

The block came together well and I'm happy with it, but I was slightly restricted by my scraps. I only had dark grey left for the scissor blades, but I would have liked to make those and lighter grey and then made the handles a darker colour. 

It was a good design and I think adding the loose thread really finishes it off nicely. I might go back and add some loose threads to my March block when I get a chance. 

I can't wait to see what the next design is and luckily I don't have long to wait! 

Paper piecing addict - My first design!

I'm hurrying to finish my And Sew On April block at the moment, but just wanted to show you a couple of paper pieced blocks I made for the craft club I attend. We're currently making a sensory patchwork blanket for the library where we hold our meetings and it was decided we would do blocks based around the seasons.

This is my winter block, thank you to 3and3quarters for helping me decide to make a paper pieced wonky log cabin block! Don't you just love the little penguin? It took me longer to decide on fabrics than actually sew it together. I enjoy paper piecing, especially when it's all on 1 sheet of paper!

This is my spring block. I decided to make a picture block of a bunny, but had an image in my head and couldn't find a pattern to match it, so I made my own! It took ages to work it out on paper and it's not perfect, but I'm really pleased with the outcome and I think I'll try and design some other blocks in the future. I used a slightly stretchy furry fabric for his tail and stuffed it so it would be nice for the children to feel. I also used a ribbon to create a bow. You can't see very clearly, but he has little stiched whiskers. Now I have the design, I might have to make it again for my daughter, she seemed to quite like stroking his tail!

I got lots of nice comments from the other members, but most didn't seem to understand why I prefer spending time sewing it to the paper than having to cut out exact shapes before sewing. I think I have to work on converting them to paper piecing!

Hopefully I'll post my completed 'Snip it real good' block over the next couple of days.

Happy paper piecing!

And Sew On - My March Block

It's been a busy month so far, but I've managed to squeeze in making my block of the month for the lovely project over on Quietplay.

Looking back on it, I think my bobbin colours look a bit too subdued compared to my other two blocks. I think I was more focused on finding fabrics that had an interesting thread type pattern, rather than thinking about what colours they were!

A few of my lines didn't match up and don't look too closely at the gingham pattern, but overall, I'm quite pleased with it.

Hopefully, I'll have a bit more time spare in April, so I won't have to rush that block! Not that I'm making excuses honest!

I'm looking forward to the next challenging block and I love keeping an eye on the other finished designs to see what colour and pattern choices they made. It makes me feel better to read that most of them have some issues like me!

Thanks again to Quietplay.

For the love of frog........

You may remember this time last year, I blogged about my frog birthday present and card for my husband. Well, it's that time again and I decided the theme would be....... FROGS! Original I know! I've made him a quilted applique wall hanging, and appliqued t-shirt and of course a frog card.

The box of frogs isn't quite as wonky in real life honest! 

Here's a close up of the writing and the cheeky little frog.

This is the t-shirt. I'm not sure if this frog has an attitude problem or if it's just rather confused! 

I quite like this shocked, rather squashed looking felt frog card. It looks like he's thinking 'HOW OLD??!!!!'

Hopefully my husband will like them! I'd better get planning next years froggy presents now!

What do you think?

I've linked up to We Did Wednesday

You Little Ripper (and why I shouldn't craft into the small hours)

I finally got around to making my February block for Quiet Plays 'And Sew On' block of the month project!

It was more complicated than the first block, but I really enjoyed it and didn't want to stop last night, although it was after midnight. Finally I finished and went to trim off some extra material, somehow managing to cut into one of the pieces instead. There were some swear words involved! (excuse the blurry photo, I was a bit mad!)

If it was for anyone else, I probably would've unpicked the block to correct the fault. But, since it's just going on my wall, I patched it up at the back with some Bondaweb. When I see the imperfections, it will make me smile and remind me that crafting until the early hours is not a good idea, especially when I'm not getting much sleep anyway thanks to a teething toddler. 

After my accident I decided it might be a good ideas not to square up the edges just yet in case I do anything else to it!

Apart from the cut, and some of the pieces not quite lining up, I'm really pleased with my effort. I can't wait until March!