Some Days are Hexagons....

Today I broke my no buying fabric ban. 

Any quilter would of. 

Today I found a treasure too wonderful to pass by.

Here it is, doesn't look that interesting does it?

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And this is what spilled out of that bag.

Piles of hexagons basted to paper. (167 of them)

Three hexagon pieced flowers

Two metal hexagon templates for cutting the papers, one small and one big.

The markings from the compass which drew the hexagons onto the metal are still there.

A small wooden cotton reel.

A rusted needle  pinned into a scrap of red velvet.

Some scraps of fabric.

And.....

A letter! See the date? 1977.

I was so excited! 

The fabrics must all be older than 1977.

I have the name of the lady these hexagons belong to.

Maybe one day I'll complete her quilt and send her a letter?

I wonder if she still lives at the address on the letter?

How did her hexagons arrive in Gladstone, South Australia?

But that's not all I'm excited about.....

See these hexagon flowers?

Notice anything a little different about them?

I think a quilter will see...

Yes, they are backed with another hand pieced flower!

I've never seen this before.

It's a Quilt as You Go method for hexagons.

Can you see how the flowers are joined?

They have a thin batting between them.

Do I dare unpick a little of that overcast stitching to find out what was used?

After each flower was made the quilt maker would of then joined all her flowers together to make a reversible quilt.

I'm planning on piecing together the paper basted hexagons and completing the flowers.

Now would any quilter really pass this treasure by??

Some days are diamonds hexagons!

Another Imke

 For the first day this year I've thought about lighting the fire.

I spent this morning between feeds and cuddles sewing.

Heather enjoys lying in the beanbag beside me as I sew and Michael plays trains.

This is another Imke from Sewing Clothes Kids Love

I used the girl's Imke pattern, with the flared and pieced sleeve and pieced body.

I didn't have enough of the pink to cut the front in one piece so added a design feature!

The pink came from Crafty Mama's shop it's a beautiful knit.

The purple with the pink dots came from the op-shop.

 

I had a little hole in the fabric so added an appliqued heart to cover it.

Another design feature.

The kids love the hoods on Imke.

 

Heather, Michael and I enjoyed a walk into town to do a little grocery shopping and stopped at the bakery for treats. 

I was very tempted to go into the newsagents next door and buy a knitting magazine. 

I didn't, I resisted the urge. 

It took a fair bit of willpower. 

Having that ticker at the top of my blog kept me from breaking my self imposed ban.

I really do have a problem with 'stuff'.

My argument has been I don't drink or smoke so I can purchase crafting 'stuff'.

I may not be addicted to drink or smokes but I do have an addiction to buying 'stuff'.

I'm drowning in all this 'stuff'. 

Having too much stifles me and my creativity.

I can never find what I want amongst it all.

Having lots of 'stuff' wouldn't be such a problem if I would place it into some order.

But where do I find the time to place it into order?

The kids are learning from me this inability to let 'stuff' go.

It's really not a blessing if it's sitting gathering dust.

I've packed up a pile of magazines and been dropping them off to others.

And they are now blessing others and blessing me too as I've had the reward of seeing someone else excited to receive them.

I was speaking to a very wise woman a long time ago.

She'd come from a larger family.

She thought we had it tougher these days.

More washing to do, as children now have cupboards full of clothes. When she was little there was only a few sets for each child. Generally play clothes, school clothes and Sunday best. She told me they didn't wash their clothes every wear, like we do now.

Children didn't have so many toys to keep tidy or care for.

Homes weren't full of every must have modern convenience. So less to clean.

We didn't have printers and piles of paperwork being sent home from schools and posted into post boxes. So less to sort out and deal with.

Books were expensive and a luxury.

Then again, if there weren't people like me buying all this 'stuff'?

Would there be more unemployment?

By not buying magazines, would we  cause the:

• newsagents to  lay off staff
• the printers to  lay of staff,
• the publishers to lay off staff,
• the transport companies to lay off staff
• the paper mills to lay off staff
• the foresters to lay off staff

Is less really more?

Imke and Insa

I've been sewing for the boys.

These tops are Imke another pattern from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

I love this book! 

What great value all those patterns plus the book. 

You couldn't buy just the patterns for that price. 

Even better is that if I wanted to I could even sell the clothes I make from this book. 

Not that I have the time to do that, with 7 children of my own to sew for.

I'm not sure what it is about IMKE that makes little boys pretend to be Ninja's wearing it.

My boys greeted their new shirts with "Cool!"

They love the hoods.

Liam does make a fierce Ninja.

I lined both the hoods as the fabric was a t-shirting and not very thick.

I got the hood fabric from the op-shops.

There are some great op-shops in my area.

The body is a knit fleece my friend Wendy and her mum gave me last time they visited.

They gave me a whole roll of it. 

It's a poly-cotton, low pil  and Australian Made.

What is it with little boys and sticks?

Even Michael wanders around with a stick.

I made Fern an Insa too this week.

I added just a little elastic to the seams of the overskirt and I'm happy with the 'look'.

I love sewing for my kids so it's great that they love to wear what I sew.

Commerically made kids clothing is cheaper so I don't save money by sewing.

But my kids are wearing something I made, something unique.

I like to think they are wearing a hug from me.

Knotted Bow Bloomer's

Madquilter's

Knotted Bow

Bloomers

Size: Adjustable by changing the elastic size.
This fitted Heather from 4 months and still fits her at 11 months.

Click HERE for the FREE PDF Pattern

 

Big enough to cover a cloth nappy.

Pretty enough to disguise a disgustable disposable nappy.

Very cheap and easy to make.

Perfect for when little girls start to crawl. 

Dresses on little ones trying to crawl is just cruel in my opinion. 

The skirt keeps getting trapped under their knees making it much harder to get moving.

You need:

50 cm of light to medium weight woven poly cotton fabric. 

I say poly-cotton because that's easier to care for than cotton. less ironing!

14 inches of 1/2 inch elastic for the waist and two 6 inch lengths of 1/4 inch elastic for the legs.

Putting the pattern together:

Download and print the pattern pieces. 

Make sure you are not scaling the pieces. 

You will need to tape together the pattern pieces, matching the V's to form X's. Except on part D to C because I stuffed up and put the V's in the wrong
When this pattern is put together you'll notice there's a gap in the middle at the bottom. I'm sure you can work out what to do ;) I  couldn't get the back to fit but was sure you were clever enough to join the dots!
I know it's not the best pattern in the world so please don't complain (you are getting it for free remember!)
InDesign is not playing nice on my computer and keeps rejecting my serial number and Pete isn't home to sort it all out for me so I had to use Word and convert that to a PDF. (Don't you love run on sentences) I'm really not that good with computers, that's why I married the computer advisor so he could do it all for me! (That's my version of my dog ate my homework!)

Cutting

I drafted this pattern to get it to fit economically on the fabric.
I get upset when I waste fabric.
Cut two pattern pieces out.

Construction

 

Sew with right sides together.

Sew the back crotch seam with a 6mm seam allowance. 

Sew the front crotch seam the same way.

Finish the seam with a zigzag stitch.

 

Create the elastic casings on the leg.

Fold fabric at hem over 6 mm then over 1cm. Sew close to the fold of the hem .

Do this for both leg casings.

Thread 6 inches of 1/4 inch elastic through the casing. 

Secure the elastic at each end with a few stitches.

 

Match the back and front crotch.

Sew with a 1/4 inch (6mm) seam and finish the seam by zigzaging.

The casing for the waist elastic is made by turning the fabric over 1/4 inch. then folding again 3/4 of an inch. Pin and press in place. 

Sew along the folded edge, leaving a 1.5 inch gap to thread the elastic through.
I like to catch a folded piece of ribbon into the center back to mark which is the back of the bloomers. Makes it much easier for Daddy's to dress their princesses.

Thread 14 inches of 1/2 inch wide elastic through the waist.
Sew the ends of the elastic together and close the casing.

Making the Bow

From the left over fabric cut two pieces for the bow.

With right sides together sew with a 1/4 inche seam, leaving a gap to turn.

Clip and trim seam and turn through the gap left.

Roll out the shape with your fingers and give it a press with the iron.
There is no need to close the turning gap as this is hidden when you tie the knot.

 

 Tie a tight knot in the center of the fabric.You'll need to do a little wiggle and jiggle to get it just so.

Then hand sew the knotted bow to your bloomers.

Isn't she the cutest baby?

Already 14 weeks and 3 days old.

Lilly's Insa

Today's sewing effort.

Another Insa skirt from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

 

Lilly came home from school crying.

The skirt brightened her up.

 

I used a corduroy print I found in an Op-shop in Pt Pirie.

The pink is a voile I bought in a Crafty Mama's special buy.

The ric-rac was bought at the Gladstone Op-shop.

I did add the elastic gathering to the outer skirt this time.

I almost unpicked it. I'm not that keen on it being in the panels

I may try it on the side seams with Fern's.

I'm really impressed with Sewing Clothes Kids Love .

The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

There are lots of tips on how to sew a quality garment and many ideas for embellishing.

I'm determined to sew, knit, crochet and weave down the stash this year.

I'm a Parent...

AND 

I DON'T WANT 

NAPLAN TESTING

I'm getting rather angry at all the politicians who keep telling me PARENTS want this test.

I'd like to see the PROOF that Parents want this test.

And viewing a website is NOT proof, that is curiosity.

  I  looked at the My Schools to see what is on there and I was totally unimpressed.

AS a PARENT I am going to refuse to send my child to school for these tests.

Naplan testing this year is from May 11th to 13th.

Insa - Sewing Clothes Kids Love

I sewed up the Insa skirt from  Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

I tried doing the gathering on the skirt  with the elastic but it didn't look right with the fabric combination so I ripped the elastic out.

The skirt does have a nice twirl to it.

The fabrics all came from the stash. 

I bought the butterflies I used in the overskirt from Spotlight last year.

And the chambray I used in the underskirt came from Spotlight about 6 years ago.

Rose is in a sling due to damaging the top of the bone in her arm.

She's in a sling for a few weeks.

Rose fell from a tree, when the branch she was swinging from broke.

She was very brave. 

An Olivia For Lilly

An Olivia For Lilly

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The last one until Heather is vocal enough to demand one.

More Crafty Mama's Store fabric. 

The butterfly print is a rib stretch.

I made Lilly the size 5/6 and it's a little big on her.

She's tiny for her age.

New bag

Vickie sent me a Random Act Of Kindness Gift.

This morning in an effort to not just add her gift to my stash.

I sat down and designed and sewed this bag.

I managed to use everything she sent me! 

Only adding some of the lace to the stash.

 

I even used a little iron on motif and some vintage buttons I've had in my stash for a very long time.

I sewed a snap as the closure and used a button for decoration.

The bag is my own design.

I made it to  use up both fat quarters and I did use up every scrap!

The outer fat quarter made the outer body, band and inner pocket

The lining fat quarter made the lining and the handles.

I used some left over fleece for the wadding.

Thank you Vickie for your gift and the inspiration to make this little bag.

Handspun, felted and knit Hat

Another hat knitted from my handspun yarn.

This one is for me.

Pete claimed the last one.

I love the texture and colour.

 

Once again I spun the wool into a single and felted it slightly for strength.

I bought the wool from The Wirrabarra Craft House.

The wool grown locally, on coated sheep by Kath Lomman at Mt Bryan here in South Australia.

Kath dyed the fleece using Earth palette dyes.

Earth Palette Dyes are also locally produced in Gladstone South Australia.

Rose's Olivia And a Random Act oF kindness

Another Olivia, this time for Rose.

The body is velour.

Sleeves, pocket and hood a rib knit all from Crafty Mama's Store.

This really is a quick and easy dress to sew up. 

The hood eliminates the need to finish the neckline, while providing a very stylish feature to the dress.

Lilly has now put a request in for a new dress.

Goodies from Vickie.

I read Vickie's Blog she lives in Humpty Doo, it really is a place, I've been there many a time.

I started reading Vickie's blog a while back, 

I love reading blogs from the Territory. Makes me feel homesick

Vickie does a monthly giveaway to one lucky reader each month who leaves a comment.

And this month it was ME!

Thank you Vickie.

Sewing with the girls

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Fern, Rose and I made up the little dolls from the Golden Hands magazine, that I made the ducks from yesterday.

It was a nice little exercise for teaching the girls to sew.

Lots of curves and pivoting, trimming and turning, stuffing and a little hand sewing.

they're interesting....

The girls are very happy with them.

 I need to have a go at drafting my own pattern for a similar doll.

I spent the afternoon sewing a school skirt for Fern.

Her old skirt was more darning than fabric.

I made this one a couple of sizes too big.

And added an adjustable waistband.

I've pulled the end out so you can see how it works.

The elastic isn't visible it's hidden in it's casing.

A tab is sewn to each end of a piece of elastic. 

A casing is added to the back waistband and the elastic is threaded through.

The skirt is adjusted by sewing the buttons on the waistband to fasten the tabs.

And I matched the check on the side seams.

I finished the skirt with a blind hem. 

I love my blind hem foot!

The skirt was started at 1pm and finished by 5.30pm and I did have a feeding break for Heather.

The fabric was $27 per meter and I used 1.5 meters.

Hopefully this will be passed down and worn by all four of the girls.