Rainy Day Singer Featherweight Makes

Hello

Rain stopped play or rather rain stopped gardening so I could play!  Yippeee a guilt free day off.

Been playing with my Featherweight

Made a sweet little needlecase for my quilting needles.  Used some of my old, probably antique mother of pearl buttons on the front.  It matches another needlecase I made a little while ago.

Then started a cot quilt but ran out of wadding so have to wait for it to be delivered.  With the left over printed fabric, I made a dear little tote bag to go with the quilt.  It should have been slightly larger but I made an error with my measurements.  Last time I made this bag, I must have used 2.5 ins squares for the nine patch but wrote down 2 ins in my notes so following the incorrect instructions made the bag smaller DOH!

Cheers
Sharon

Weekend Away - Sylko Bobbin Love

Hello

Had a weekend away, stayed at Ribblehead in the Yorkshire Dales which is famous for its viaduct.  There isn't much there building wise, apart from the pub which allows you to stay in your motorhome in the car park for free!  I like free.  We went on Thurs afternoon, I worked in the morning so it was all systems go to pack everything before we set off.  I forgot to pack my camera!  So I will have to rely on the internet for images.

http://www.thestationinn.net/



The Station is a great place to visit, super food and reasonable prices, really friendly staff, Buzz was made welcome.  It was really busy over the weekend with people walking/running the Three Peaks.  It snowed on Sat morning but it didn't stop the group of University Students staying at the bunk house, attempting the peaks, off they set at 7 a.m., 6 were still out at 8 p.m. with some completing the peaks, some having to call it a day after getting lost in the low cloud. The 6 were picked up safe and sound later in the evening.  I thought they were totally mad going out in that weather!

The advantage of staying at Ribblehead is that you can catch a train on the lovely Settle to Carlisle Railway.  We choose to visit Settle and Skipton.  I had a look around a lovely craft shop in Settle called Cottontail Crafts where I bought some fabric to make a bag.

www.cottontailcrafts.co.uk

I also bit of a look round a vintage shop and bought this jar of Sylko cotton reels, I just loved the colours.  My featherweight loves sylko thread, its sews beautifully with it.

We enjoyed our trip to Skipton and on the way back to the station I stumbled upon the most wonderful fabric shop called Fent Shop.  Unfortunately, I was very pressed for time so had a very quick look in, I will be back soon, its fabulous.  Wall to wall fabrics.  I got some Liberty fat quarters for £2 each.  Not sure what I am going to do with them.

http://www.fentshopskipton.co.uk/

Their website is in the process of being built but it does have a map to find it, it is easily missed as it is tucked away.  It looks small from the outside but is huge inside.

So a great break, it was good to get away. The Yorkshire Dales are so pretty even if the weather unsettled, we had sunshine, rain, hail, snow, more torrential rain while on the way back to the train! oh, I forgot wind!

Cheers
Sharon

Sew Tidy aka Thread Catchers

Hello

Got carried away making these.

They are called Thread Catchers but I think that Sew Tidy is a much better name for them.  They are "sew" handy.  I have two now, one next to my Singer for when I am snipping cottons ends off my sewing, note the pile of threads etc in the picture below, once over all this would have ended up on the floor as I am a rotten shot when aiming for the waste bin.  While I was on, I made a new ironing pad as my old one was getting tatty, I just loved this hedgehog material.  Its got the heat resistant wadding inside to protect the table.

My other Sew Tidy resides on the arm of my sofa in the living room, I keep my scissors, thimble, thread, reading glasses in it for when I am hand sewing, it stops me loosing stuff down the side of the sofa.  The pin cushion part is packed with organic wheat and some home grow lavender out of my garden so it smells nice.  Here it is on my Lloyd Loom Chair arm, the wheat weighs it down and keeps it stable when stabbing your pins in.

I have made a few for friends and family and they have been delighted with them so made these extra ones to go in my Folksy Shop http://folksy.com/shops/GrannysButtonBox

Cheers
Sharon

Dresden Plate Patchwork Cushion

Hello

Just a quicky.  Was up in my loft looking for a sturdy box and found a round cushion that I had put up there many moons ago.  So thought that I would give it a new cover using Dresden Plate pattern.  Decided to buy a gadget to help (I do like gadgets), an ez Dresden acrylic template from Simplicity

It's dead easy to use, just cut a strip of fabric, I used 5 ins. Then using a rotary cutter, cut the first one out, then turn the template upside down to cut the next, keep rotating it until you have the required 20 pieces to complete the circle.  Then sew in pairs using 1/4 inch seams, pairs together, fours together and then join up all the pieces to complete the circle (remember to press the seams to the dark side).  Cut out a circle of card the correct size to cover the gap in the middle, then a circle of fabric slightly larger, do running stitches around the edge of the fabric circle, lay the cardboard in the middle and pull the ends so that fabric gathers around the card, iron and take out the card.  Then slip stitch the circle in the centre of the dresden plate.

Tad daa

Cheers
Sharon

Sewing Basket Makeovers

Hello

Winters are a quiet time of the year for me, gardens are put to bed for the winter before bursting into life early spring. There are signs that they are waking up but the wet weather is putting paid to any work I could be doing.  Normally this time of the year, ice and snow keep me from trundling out!  My heart goes out to anyone who's home has been flooded.

Anyway, not much work means that I can do some crafty stuff so have revamped some sewing baskets

They are now residing in my Folksy Shop http://folksy.com/shops/GrannysButtonBox  along with a few items more.  I will try to keep my shop better stocked, was full of good intentions when I opened it but got side tracked with life!


Cheers
Sharon

9 Patch Baby Quilt with matching Tote Bag

Hello


Been busy with the featherweight, made a baby quilt using 9 patch.  Got a pack of fat quarters from Boyes, with sweet little bears on it.  There was enough fabric to make a matching tote and drawstring bags.

Hand quilted it.

All we need now is the baby, he/she is a fortnight over due!  Hurry up Amy

update its a boy on 19th February

Cheers
Sharon

Singer Foot Controls - how to keep them safe

Hello

My Singer 327 has a fixed electrical cord and foot control unlike my Featherweight which unplugs and has a special bracket in the lid of the case.

As you can see, its a bit of a pain when packing the machine in its box which just covers the machine and clips at the ends to secure, leaving the control foot and leads flapping about inside.

While browsing through sewing blogs, I found a pattern from  http://www.incolororder.com/2011/10/lined-drawstring-bag-tutorial.html  for a lovely lined drawstring bag, a light bulb moment, this would be ideal for keeping everything together. Had an afternoon free so had a play with the Singer 327, its is much quicker than the feather weight, which is wonderful when running up curtains but for the more detailed stitching the featherweight is more controllable.

Found a nifty little tool in a vintage sewing basket my elderly Aunt gave me, I thought it was for pulling ribbon so gave it a try today.

It worked a treat, loads better than faffing about with safety pins.  It will become one of my favourite sewing gadgets, better find a safe place for it, now I have found it would hate to loose it.

Going to make another couple of bags, one for the toyota foot control and another for the Singer Featherweight foot and leads for when its not packed in its box and I leave the machine out, it will keep the foot safe.

Also had a go a fixing a horse rug today with the 327, it coped quite well, used zig zag for repair the tears so I am pleased with my new old machine.

Cheers

Sharon