Of Wings, pt ii

So we finally had occasion to wear The Wings out for the first time. Finney had a party to go to where he had to dress as his favourite animal. So we made a mask to go with them.

 

KoboGloKoboGloKoboGlo

Oh how I love my Kobo Glo. Not because it's a Kobo, in particular, but because it enables my reading addiction. I read all the time. I don't need to turn on the light. I don't need to find or bookmark a page. I don't need to get up and get another book from the bookshelf. I read and read and read. In fact, since I bought it 20 months ago I have read more than 800 hours, which is, on average, approximately an hour twenty a day. Every day. For approximately 600 days. Which is quite a lot. I have devoured books, series, all genres. I have read genres I used to scoff at: historical fiction and fantasy, for example. I have read 58 books on it. Which doesn't really sound as much as it is, when you consider that the majority of those books were longer than 900 pages (Diana Gabaldon, I'm looking at you).

I really enjoyed so many of the books and series I read - books I didn't necessarily expect to enjoy so much: The Goldfinch, The Luminaries, The Miniaturist, The Other Boelyn Girl, Outlander series, Kvothe series, Magician series, Eragon series. Some were re-reads from teenage years (LOTR, Clan of the Cave Bear), others were just refreshing reads, after a particularly long and somewhat arduous (in a good way) book (Diana Gabaldon, again, looking at you). In fact there has been only one book I didn't enjoy and didn't actually finish - the cringe-worthy and extremely poorly-written 50 Shades. Yeuuck.

So, I sewed my Kobo Glo a cover. And then I sewed one for my sister's. They have magnets in them, making them turn on and off automatically upon opening/closing. They worked out pretty well. Mine used a cover from an old hardback, which was better than the stiff card I used for my sister's.

 

Of Wings

Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE Pinterest? And did I ever tell you how much I HATE Pinterest? Oh. My. Gosh. I don't even know where to start. There is so much inspiration there, that I could pin and pin and pin all these things that I want to do and yet never ever get around to doing them, probably because I'm too busy pinning. I could dream my whole life away. And then feel so guilty that I have spent so much time looking for things to make, to do, and have never done any of them. Ok. So it's not really that bad - I have made a concentrated effort to reduce Pinterest use -put the iPad down slowly and back away- and have actually also played some things with the wee lads and made some stuff. Like these wings. Super ultra cool bird wings.

(We later made a mask to go with them, here.)

Coffeeeee

It's no secret how much I love coffee, and how, over the past five years, I have come to depend on coffee - (who would have thought those two lovely wee lads would be such terrible sleepers?). I drink flat whites. From my espresso machine with the built-in grinder. I *love* my coffee machine. No, really I do. We take it away on holiday with us!
But all that was just to set the scene, to let you know how much I value coffee. My sister-in-law drinks plunger coffee and I drew her name in the Christmas Present draw (well, that's not strictly true, my husband did, but somehow I ended up organising her present too...). So anyway, I like to give personal presents, different presents, homemade presents, ones that are difficult to put a price on.
Two days before the posting cut-off date I was still trying to come up with something for her, when it came to me in the middle of the night - she uses a tea cosy, so why not one for her French Press? And I even had some insulated batting to hand (a well-intentioned purchase which was never actually made into an oven mitt).

So here we have it, a coffee cosy!

Presents for a 3 Year Old

Can't believe my wee baby is turning 3 already! Some presents for a busy lad: a swim bag (or gumboot bag) with waterproof lining and a cape. What little boy doesn't need a cape?

 

A Real Quilt for Max

It's finished! My first ever full-sized quilt. Full of imperfections, but I love it, and I hope Max does too. I'm looking forward to giving it to him on his 5th birthday.

Now that was a journey - not at all like doing his lap quilt. It took about 7 months, 5 of which it was sitting idly while I decided what to do about the less-than-perfect stitching from my not realising that my sewing machine tension actually went higher than 5 (in my defence, the marks between the numbers abruptly stop and the wheel becomes quite stiff to turn. I thought that 5 was all it went up to). After deciding to and then working myself up to unpicking a quarter of the quilting, I plunged into it and managed to finish that and the whole thing quite quickly, well in time for his birthday.

I spent so long making the quilt top perfect - the squares were lovely and uniform, pieced in perfect straight lines, the quilt sandwich was lovely and flat and I used tons of pins, but it all turned to custard when quilting. Although it turned out much better with the tension set on 8 (not 5!), I still had troubles with uneven stitches and bunching at the ends of each square - I used a walking foot, but it was a super cheap one from a Chinese Ebay merchant, and to be honest, it didn't really look like it was doing anything, so I'm thinking the quality was a bit shonky, that and my machine is only an entry-level model, not made for such big projects (and is in desperate need of a service). The binding was an interesting affair - I have never bound anything before - I had a very limited amount of fabric left over for it, so the strips were only 2in wide - I would have preferred them to be at least 2.5in, but it worked out anyway. After reading a gazillion posts on binding, I decided to use a cross grain binding and to do the entire thing on the machine - none of this hand stitching for me - I'm far too impatient!

I'm so thankful to the person who advised that I should perhaps start with a single quilt, before throwing myself into a king!

A Cowboy Quilt

So, in my new obsession with quilting I want to do EVERYTHING! I am SOOO excited about it! I have found so many different quilts and objects I want to sew. I absolutely want to do a rag quilt for our bed and have already started on the planning, but then thought I'd better start with something a bit smaller than a king-sized quilt, and I came across some super-cute cowboy fabric at the Spotlight sale...perfect for a 4-year-old boy's single bed!

Let me share my working out, so that it might save somebody else all the calculations I made. We use the metric system in NZ, however, since many of the quilting tutorials I've been reading are written using the imperial system, I have had to work out everything in both centimetres and inches. (Oh and just for fun, choose the odd one out: Liberia, Somalia, USA, Burma (aka Myanmar). See answer below.


So I wanted to make a simple square patchwork single quilt (that's approximately a "twin" for those in the US). Our single beds measure 92cm x 188cm (36" x 74") and I chose to make a quilt 60.5" x 75" - long enough to drape at end of bed once in position below the pillow- that works out to be 11 x 14  5.5" squares. Once the 1/4 inch seam allowance is added, you need 6 inch squares -154 of them! 

 Brown polka dot squares still to be cut.

Half finished quilt top. 

I am thinking I want to bind it in the brown polka dot fabric and since I have never bound anything before, I have been watching loads of videos on cutting continuous bias binding and binding quilts. I'm still a bit nervous about it. I still also need to make a pillowcase, but don't have a lot of fabric left, so it will need to be pieced together.

But anyway, it's progressing and I'm quite excited about it.

More later!


Oh, and the odd one out of Liberia, Somalia, USA, Burma is:
Somalia - the other 3 are the only 3 countries in the world to still officially use the imperial system!

Quilting: A Change of Heart

I had NEVER been interested in quilting. For me, the word conjured up images like this:








Fussy, green, maroon and brown geometric nana-quilts.



However, recently I stumbled across the photos below and immediately fell in love with rag quilts.

http://southerncharmquilts.com

After trawling through quilts on Pinterest, I discovered that quilts can be amazingly beautiful!

Some of my favourites are:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/114724021/modern-patchwork-quilt

I'm loving the square look and I really like the yellow squares in the middle of each block to pull it all together. Great fabric from Lotta Jansdotter.

ididntsaybanana.blogspot.com

Pinwheels in super cute colours as a baby quilt. Preeeetttty.

http://www.magpiequilts.com/2012/02/chevron-quilts.html

Mmmmm...Chevrons!

I have made a few baby quilts/lap quilts, but never a full-sized one, nor one with anything other than patchwork squares. See two of my little quilts here and here.

But now, some days it seems all I do is think about quilts and quilting. Strange how this obsession snuck on me. I even have a Quilt board on Pinterest!

After first seeing the above rag quilts I decided I want to make a king-size one for our bed and spent hours calculating sizes of block and how many fabrics I'd use and how much I'd need. I ordered some spring-loaded snips, a walking foot for my machine, spent ages scrolling through pages and pages of fabrics trying to decide what to use. (I think I have found the colour story I want to use, but more about that later.)

After such a burst of enthusiasm I then stopped to think and decided, prudently, I believe, that I should start with a smaller project. I have now started a single quilt for Max's bed. More about that soon.

And now, back to my sewing machine!

Xmas is still coming!

Still working on the Calendars - realised today, with 1 day to go until they need to be hung, ready for Saturday morning, that I forgot to get stamps for the numbers.

Flashback to Kindy: cutting up potatoes to make shape stamps...

I wonder....

Yay! Saved the day. It wasn't so easy cutting them with needy child clinging to leg, but they're close enough -  they're for a 4 and a 2 year old, they won't notice.


Speaking of presents for a 4 and a 2 year old, their main presents, that I have been working on for the past few weeks, are coming along nicely.

They still need to have their bridles sewn down to stop them from sliding up the nose (see horse), I have some bells to sew on the sides, and of course, I still need to attach them to the sticks (which I won’t do until just before Xmas, as it makes them so much harder to hide!)  I'm so excited about seeing the boys' faces when they find these under the tree!


UPDATE - Here are the finished beasts on their sticks!:

 

A Birthday Present for Finn

In the mornings the boys love snuggling on the couch under blankets - we all have our own TV blankets - I made Max one last year and Andy and I have our own. Finn is now old enough to have his own, I hope they'll stop squabbling over who is using whose! This came from a super-duper easy-peasy tutorial from Cat Taylor Design. How fabulous is that navy and white shark fabric?

Pinterest + Pincushion

Have I already said how much I LOVE Pinterest? It's exactly what I've been looking for to save the amazing creations I come across on the internet and pictures of what-not, and to collect ideas and things that make me laugh.

I ADORE Pinterest. It's almost perfect. I can only think of 2 things that I would like to change: the ability to make a board private (sometimes there are things we don't all want all our family, friends and the world seeing - the sex of our impending baby, our wedding plans or the like...) and also that the pictures disappear if the original is taken down or moved. Obviously Pinterest can't actually store the gazillion amazing pictures people pin, but I worry about losing the ones I have pinned.

I have found so many great ideas to help me get organised (I love organising and being organised), lots to do or make with the boys and tons of gorgeous things to sew or create.

Here is one of the first things I made, based on an idea from a "Pin". For those not in the know, a Pin is an image that has been pinned on Pinterest. Pins are pinned onto boards, which you can organise anyway you want. My cushion is based on one from grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com

A pin cushion attached to my sewing machine. I can't tell you how much time this is going to save me. I am always leaving my pin cushion next to where I was pinning, or on the ironing board or next to the coffee machine (mmmm, coffee!).

Now I will always have one right where I need it!

A new bag

While holidaying in Australia over Christmas I bought a gorgeous new bag - Olga Berg - I am always drawn to Olga Berg bags, before I even look at the label. 

So anyway, this is me, moving on from a mummy bag - wanting a grown-up "me-bag" again. The downside of this, is that there are no compartments for nappies, wipes and the other necessary paraphenalia when one has kidlets.

So, out of necessity, I made the following "nappy clutch" and covered a Huggies wipes case to coordinate. The clutch holds 2 nappies, wipes, change mat and some nappy disposal bags. (Incidentally, after 20-something years, I am now finally over my aversion to all things yellow!)

 I am thinking these are going to make great baby shower presents! If you are wanting to cover a wipes box, I used this tutorial at this and that.

Car seat covers

I'm pretty relaxed about a lot of things - a bit of a "yeah, whatever, it'll be fine" girl. I am happy to "make do" with most things, happy to use, adapt and refashion what I already have. When it comes to car seats, however, I am not willing to give an inch. I spent a LOT of time researching our current car seats, and have just spent just as much time finding the right booster for Max. I know that rear-facing kids and harnessing them for as long as possible is the safest thing to do, so that's what I do. My husband tells me I am risk-averse - and in this case, I'd agree. 

I LOVE our car seats.  We always take them when we travel - I'm not so keen on hiring seats from a rental car company. The trouble of travelling with 2 car seats (and a stroller, suitcases and hand luggage) is, despite the obvious difficulty of wrangling so much luggage, protecting them. I had difficulty finding covers for our seats, so decided to make some, and am pretty happy with how they turned out. They are thick canvas outside with a waterproof lining and two handles on the back. They were roadtested over Christmas and held up well to the rigours of the conveyor belts and baggage handling!

A Christmas present for Max

On cold mornings Max loves snuggling on the couch under a blanket - Andy and I have our own, but Max always uses one of ours, so I thought I'd make him his own. This was actually super quick and easy to make, using this great tutorial from Cat Taylor Design. I love the Michael Miller fabric I chose, and I know Max is going to LOVE having his very own little quilt! I can't wait to give it to him at Christmas!