Category: Sewing

And we’re back

Well I had an unintended break from the internet for the past two weeks. And I wasn’t even on holidays! Long story short, we had to replace our credit card after someone stole our credit card details online, and while we were waiting for the replacement to arrive, our internet provider company tried to charge us for the monthly bill and discovered that the credit card is no longer valid, and so they disconnected us. Boohoo.

Anyway all is fixed now, but it was a very long two weeks for me 🙁 Just felt so disconnected from the outside world! And I missed reading the blogs so much! I think I even had withdrawal symptoms. Hi my name is Claudine and I’m an internetaholic. It has been twelve days since my last internet fix. Now I can’t wait to catch up with what you all have been up to.

On the positive side, while I was away from the internet I managed to do some spring cleaning and decluttering, and some knitting and sewing as well. On the sewing front, I’ve been in coasters mood lately, and managed to sew up quite a few. I’ll put these in my little shop tomorrow, if you like them!

Coasters, coasters, coasters

I also made this apron for mummy’s little helper. Annette has been very keen to ‘help’ me when I’m cooking, so I thought I’d make an apron for her so she can look the part. I think it would be good as a crafting or painting smock as well.

Apron for Annette

The pocket is made of some cute japanese fabrics that I won through Sarah London‘s giveaway. These ones feature little red riding hood and little bo peep. Thanks, Sarah, they’re SO adorable!

The flowers embroidery pattern is from a japanese book, ISBN 4834724212.

Close up

Mummy's little helper

Anyway I’m off to catch up on some blog reading. Bloglines tells me that I have 1240 unread posts! Eek! I’ll see how I go 🙂

To market, to market

Softies for market

Totes for market

Softies and tote bags for Kirribilli Markets tomorrow.

And look what Corrie brought back from Japan for me!

Some japanese craft books…

Craft books

On the left is Lotta Jansdotter’s new book, Handmade Project. In the middle is a very cute embroidery book ISBN 4834724212. And on the right is Design collection for kids ISBN 4529042049, another cute embroidery and felt book. I looooove these books!! Will post more detailed photos later when I get a chance.

And some cute japanese fabrics…

Japanese Fabrics

Thank you so much, Corrie!! You can also get these fabrics from Corrie’s new shop, www.retromummy.com, which is bringing lovely japanese fabrics, linens, tapes, craft books, etc, to Australian shores! Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff!

Anyway, hope the weather’s good for the market tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Busy busy

WIP

Production line

Sewing up some book bags / totes for a stall at Kirribilli markets this Saturday (28 July). If you happen to be in the area, come and say hi! Belinda and Jade will be minding the stall in the morning, while Corrie and I will be there in the afternoon.

The photos above were taken sometime last week, so I’ve made some progress since then. However progress has slowed somewhat since the arrival of the new Harry Potter book. I haven’t finished yet, so no spoilers here!

Knitting hasn’t been abandoned completely, because I still need my knitting. One Jaywalker sock is done, and another is on its way.

Jaywalker sock one

Giving and receiving

Back in May, I won a copy of the Silly Bunny pattern by Melly & Me, just by commenting on their blog. I was gobsmacked, as I had never won anything before. So thank you, Melly and Rosie! I thought the bunnies look cute, and I love how you can use small amounts of various fabrics (great way to use scraps!), as with many of Melly & Me’s other patterns. And now I have my own silly bunny 🙂

Silly Bunny

Silly Bunny

Then I won some yarn and DPNs from Yarn magazine‘s Winter Warm-up Competition! Thanks, Barbara! I feel very lucky indeed. The yarn is Rare Yarns ‘Rare Fire’ yarn (alpaca/mohair/merino combo). I’ll probably make these bed socks with them.

Rare Fire yarn

And earlier this month I had another meetup with Belinda and Corrie, and I also got to meet Danni from Pyglet Whispers. As usual we had a lucky dip, and I was the recipient of Belinda’s package, which contained a skein of sock yarn and the lovely birdie fabric. And Danni gave us some of her lovely handmade cards. Thanks, girls!

Goodies

For the lucky dip I made this tote bag, which went to Corrie. I think she likes it 🙂

Another tote Other side

I love that skipping girl print from Sprout Designs, and the Mollybirds print by Kristen Doran. Close up of the detail here.

Also, I made these coasters for a friend’s housewarming.

Coasters

Coasters

It’s nothing original though, I’ve seen quite a few of these lovely patchwork coasters around the blogs and I just love the little patchwork. (There’s also a tutorial here.)

Bagsket

If you remember the workbasket that I made a while back, Suzanne from foofanagle had made a tutorial describing how she made hers. I was cracking my brain about how to write the tutorial when Suzanne contacted me saying that she’d like to make a tutorial for the basket. It’s no easy task, so thank you, Suzanne! And check out the gorgeous bagskets that she made!