BossyOz

Trying to meet the expected requirement for gifts at the Christmas Fair, I have tried to figure out things to make that would attract buyers. Hopefully these extremely soft and cuddly long-eared rabbits made out of fleece and Thai silk dress fabric should fit the bill! I have experimented a bit with the ears; on one I stitched them "flat" and on the other one I folded them.  I'll hopefully have some time next week to make some more before the elusive deadline for submission to the fair.

Another pencil roll, this time in brushed cotton fabric with dinosaurs and an orange and red dotted lining fabric. This one, and another similar one, is most likely going to the Christmas Fair at the Swedish Church in London.

I have added some fleece hats for sale in case anyone is interested. The hats for sale are published here and they are available immediately.

I have recently joined a group of ladies creating a large hexagon quilt to be used at funeral services at the Swedish Church in London. One meet-up was on Wednesday this week and below is a picture of the quilt as it looked at the end of the session. Still LOTS left to do, but great to see it coming together!

I am in the process of making some colourful bunting / flags for the children's room. This is a great way to use lots and lots of scrap pieces of fabric, but rather slow to stitch together and then turn right sides out, press, stitch on ribbon.... Patience has never been my strong side...

When I was pregnant with DS, I hunted and hunted the high street for a maternity coat that didn't look like a tent or a baby doll dress.... or was an army coat, or cost a fortune.  There was nothing out there that I could wear over a suit to work, even less to be seen in by clients when attending external meetings. Luckily I had some old Burda magazines with maternity clothes at home, and one of them had the simple, clean design that I was after!  To make it a little bit more personal I bought red woven fabric for the outside and bright orange with red dots for the  lining .

Hmmmm, not good.... A random search on Google revealed a, for me, until now, unknown fabric shop. It is called Fabrics Galore and is located not far from Clapham Junction.  What a fantastic find!!! Sure, some of the fabrics, e.g. Liberty and Alexander Henry, are last season's lines, but that doesn't really bother me as I am always after a good deal anyway. I managed to restrain myself and only bought three different fabrics. The photo came out a bit strange; the stripy one is white and navy blue, the one with stars is navy blue and red and then finally dinosaurs on a clear blue background.

I just realised, I have completely forgotten to take photos of the progress with my Smitten look alike quilt. Sorry. 13 blocks made so far, but one has already been scrapped as it just didn't look good; and I am tempted to replace the bottom left one with another less busy one... Luckily I still have LOTS of scrap pieces of fabric! Perhaps I use them for cushion covers instead of piecing them together for a large quilt? Decisions, decisions...

A friend sent me a link to a crochet dino hat on Etsy and said her daughter would love one! As I am not really into crocheting I suggested one made out of fleece instead.  We hunted Pinterest and Etsy for ideas and came up with some alternatives.  As they are rather easy to make and look really fun, I made some extra to test out different sizes. If I hadn't had lots of material available, I probably would have measured properly and made the right size immediately...  Oh, well, perhaps more to go to the Christmas Fair . PS: To my great surprise I found that some ladies sell dino fleece hats for 25USD each!!! 

Here is a fleece jacket / coat that I made out of the vehicle fleece fabric that all boys seem to love! To make it a little more personal, it is sporting a red collar and a red zip. As it'll be used during the dark part of the year, it is also decorated with a reflexive ribbon all the way around the bottom hem, to make sure the wearer is always extra visible.

Whahoooooo, I have managed to muster some Christmas feelings and created this seasonal dribble bib for toddlers.   Most likely it'll be donated to the Christmas Fair. Unfortunately I'm not able to make it to tomorrow's sewing meet up, but I'll try to be busy at home instead!

In hindsight, it would probably have been a good idea to check the weather forecast before leaving London a week ago for the countryside.... Expecting October weather, I didn't bring any shorts for the children, only long trousers... Considering the heat wave we have; I have had to make a few shorts for the oldest to wear; the littlest one is happy in her short-sleeve bodies. For these super easy trousers I used the BURDA pattern number 9672, which also has an easy hoodie and sleeveless coat.

One of the National Trust places close to us has a second hand bookshop and I always try to have a look when we are there. This time I found some crafting / sewing related books. I actually got four books, but the fourth one is "somewhere safe"... According to the steward, they raise in the region of £250,000 every year from this second hand bookshop!!!