Giveaway and Obsessions

Giveaway time!  Hi to anyone visiting from
Sewmamasew's giveaway day!

Very large FQ of Michael Miller's mending Madness and a FQ of Lakehouse Dry Goods texty garden print.   Nice! So what do you have to do to win these lovelies?  Read on.

I have a very busy brain always whirring and a tendency towards obsession that I like keep in check.  Currently I am obsessed by:

1...the origins of this fabric Elsie's Kitchen by Windham, (now out of print but can be found Etsy/Ebay from time to time)

which led me to buy this hankie from ebay

and this tea towel from etsy, 1970 is my year of birth.

I do have plans for the fabric and the tea towel, they were all bargains and hopefully this print is out of my system.

2...Adele's album 21-

 this song and others had tears running down my face last Saturday making tea even though I have heard it so many times before.

3...And this advert, the music, the roller boots, the clothes, the stretchy, breath taking moves.

To enter:

Leave a comment sharing your latest obsession with me however weird and wonderful!   Please don't just put quilting or sewing, I take that as a given, but it could be your favourite fabric line.
If you follow, thankyou!  Have an extra entry.

Make sure I can get in touch with you- if you are a no reply blogger and I cannot find your email you will not be able to win!  

I won't be replying to comments as I know I will not be able to keep up but if you have a question or want to email me, click on the link under 'About me' on right.

International entries welcome.

Giveaway finishes Midnight 25th May GMT

Good luck x

Makes for Me

What do you know it, I never post pictures of myself- who like doing that?  And then two posts come along together!  I made this skirt a few weeks ago from the Amy Butler Barcelona pattern.  I just knew the shape would fit and the 4 panel raw edge effect is simple and breaks up the block of fabric on a  long A line skirt.

The linen was a lucky car boot bargain, there was just enough to make this! The lining (I know you can't see it but it is there and makes the skirt hang nicely) was a lightweight navy cotton from a charity shop and the vintage lace trim finishing the hem was another thrifty find.  I have worn this a lot.  I am technically capable of drafting my own clothes patterns- I did an HNC in fashion 10 years ago- but it is a faff, I don't have a big enough surface apart from the floor and now I have this I can trace off the pieces and make variations on a theme.  A table cloth version is next.

I have been sitting on this unbelievably lovely Yuwa kitchen print for an age, waiting for inspiration to strike.  I decided that a bag would be the best use of it-  I'll use it a lot and thus I will get to see this print frequently, it will feel like a close companion.  The print is still available at this European store.

I only had half a yard and it is a heavier weight so along with a bit of old Parker Knoll upholstery fabric, some polka dot cotton and tea dyed vintage lace it quickly came together to make a good size bag/purse- depending which side of the pond you are on.  The shape was largely based on a Pochee (Vol 9) pattern.  I don't like fussy bags and I am not keen on interfacing, this has none and is an easy user friendly shape.  I added the darted pockets which make for good storage and I always add a key fob to any bag I make.

Next time I make a bag I'll do a tutorial on the pockets, they are not hard and they are handy for storing mobile phones and granola bars.  

Another double bank holiday coming up in the UK, this is my kind of working week x

Finds

These are all recent carboot finds- I have had a good run of finds recently.  I know carboot sales might be a bit of a mystery outside of the UK- I'll try and remember to take my camera this Sunday and take some pics for you and explain how it works.

A vintage advertising tea towel for Babycham, iconic little Babycham deer-v. cute

As that is a bit of a collectable, I put that in my etsy shop- gotta fund the fabric purchases somehow!

These are two linens so lovely...

 

a little handworked sampler of stitches, such beautiful colours and work,

and a tea tray cloth with lovely machined motifs.

 

This one has a Christmas feel- with the exception of the strawberries, placemat size.

Lots of other magpies missed this one, someone was standing on it when I noticed the fantastic border.

It currently has the very important job of protecting my clear vintage box of fabrics from sunlight.

I loved this little tin- anything that nests inside anything else is appealing and these cutters are a great fit in the tin.

This Minitimer is Italian made and designed by Richard Sapper who turns out to be a very cool designer indeed (Alessi)!  It works beautifully.

And to finish, a G plan lamp table, £3 which is about $5 or 4 Euros.  IT is a bit tatty at the sides, but what a bargain.  It is undergoing restoration- that is a grand way of saying it has wood glue and a pile of books to get the edges of the veneer to stick down on the sides.  I have already waxed and polished the drawer front and it is glowing.

Half way through the working week, always a nice place to be

Wordless Wednesday- Flickr Fabric Swaps

thankyou Crystal, Lisa, Amisha, Pam and Nikki

Home

Lula is away this weekend on a school trip, last time that happened I ended up buying a whole load of sewing books to compensate.  This time more self control.  I'm having a big sort out and tidy up in preparation for opening a little Etsy shop!  I find so many vintage textile bits and pieces and I can't keep them all so this seems like a happy solution.  More news soon...

Meanwhile I am working on her quilt, started months ago (see here), when I pulled it out of the box this week I had not got as far as I had thought- a lot of sewing seems to go on in my head but not actually in real life.  I have almost finished the piecing on my trusty Featherweight.

 I do all my piecing on this machine-as the needle can't swing (no zig zag) it sews very straight and accurate small stitches.  The feedogs must grab the fabric as it never falters or eats the fabric at the beginning or end of seams.  Consequently I can do a bit of forwards/backwards at each end of the seam and everything stays tight.  I know this goes against machine patchwork convention but I prefer it.

I have another block from Ringo Pie, this time it is Corey of Little Miss Shabby see it here.  It is the most beautiful collection of baskets, so neatly pieced together and the fabric choices are to die for.

  It is always a bit strange when one of us goes away, we are a tight knit little family of  three and all very homey but she has to go into the world and have exciting independent experiences.  So I'll post a load of homey domestic vintage loveliness for you. 

 These were not thrifty purchases- which is most unlike me- but I cannot resist home and especially kitchen fabric and these were worth the spend. First two are from Donna Flower, warning, you may end up considerably poorer after visiting her website!

And these are ebay, only tiny pieces but all have great potential...

This was thrifted, in fact the man at the shop said I could have it.  It is a bit tatty but the pictures are so darn good.  1964 Woman Improve Your Home Book magazine insert with TV's Barry Bucknell.

I have many quilt wall-hanging type ideas from these pics.

Unsurprisingly, I just love this page- who wouldn't?  Brushes have never looked so good.

Enjoy your weekend x

Thank you for lovely comments yesterday, I kept busy to keep thoughts from creeping in.  In fact I didn't stop either on the machine or the computer.  This project has been in my head like a crafting ear worm - (song that you can't get out of your head to the uninitiated).  I made a half log cabin wonky pot holder for a friend who has given me so many things and is an all round lovely.  She loves cooking so I put in lots of kitchen fabrics

On an aside, I spent ages working how to cut this image out from its background and I did it- if a little raggedy, I think I should've done something else so it has no background but next time I will nail that.  It is free photoshop type software on the oddly named Gimp. I used the magnetic scissors tool with this tutorial if you want to give it a try- warning it is a bit fiddly with a mouse.  

I made the potholder by drawing it out template style on paper first and then cutting round adding on seam allowances.  

Haven't done it this way before but I liked it.  A lot of prep initially but when it comes to sewing up, it is ready in minutes and you could reuse the pieces.  A little bit of masking tape reversed in a little sausage on the back of the paper pieces stops them moving when rotary cutting.

The backing is a bit of a carboot  find that I love.  I used a square spiral with 1/2 inch apart lines and used vanishing marker.  Nice and easy to do. And I had some matching thrift found plates to match!

Pot holder was inspired by this great find.

A Swedish translation from 1978 with so many great things inside and some stranger- quilted braille anybody?  There are odd copies for sale on Amazon

I will keep coming back to this book for more it is so packed full inspiration and ideas.

Enjoy today x