Boxybags and totes

Miss V and 5 of her friends celebrated their November/December birthdays by inviting their class to the skating rink. 

I made totes for the girls to carry their stuff

-those foxes are so cute 🦊

And I made them each a boxy bag

 Boxybag pattern by @kelbysews

Tote pattern by me

A sew-together bag Christmas present

Ever since my mom saw the sew together bag I made in early 2016  she has wished for one. So I made one for her for Christmas:

 

I love how it holds so much, and once you close it up, it's still not too big 

 She was so pleased that I finally made her one.  Now she just needs to figure out what to use it for 😉

Pattern by SewDemented

Tumbling blocks pillows - a birthday present

I have always liked the tumbling blocks pattern - also in fabric.

I had this idea of making one-color tumbling blocks pillows, that they would look good together.

So I started out with yellow

See? No Y-seams! That makes this sooooo much easier.

I finished the yellow pillow 

...and started making a green in the same way

I chose some very colorful fish-stamp fabric for the back

And there you go! 2 tumbling block/fish stamp pillows done:

They were a present for a December birthday and they were well recieved - I do think that the recipient has more than enough pillows now, so if I want a bunch of these in different colors, I may have to make them for myself :-)

Some Christmas sewing

My daughter loves unicorns. She has been looking at a unicorn quilt block pattern since forever, saying things like "ooooh look at this - but....that's too difficult for you to sew, isn't it?"

So naturally, I had to get the pattern. I did, and it sat around in my to-do list forever. Because it looked so intimidating. But I did finish this pillow for her in time for Christmas - and she loves it! 

Pattern by Robyniepatterns

My 11 year old hair stylist and an early birthday present

Next Monday is my sons 9th birthday, I made him a floor cushion - and I just couldn't wait, so I gave it to him today! 

I pieced blue strips from my bigger scraps, and quilted with a loopy pattern. The pillow is 65 cm square, so it is big enough for him to sit on, while playing games or watching tv - or building LEGOs or whatever else he does. 

My feet are in the pictures for scale - because you all know how big my feet are, right? :)

The pillow is fully lined, and with its really big zipper, it is easy to just throw this pillow case in the wash.

In other news, I really desperately needed a haircut. So I asked my daugther, if she would do it, she reluctantly agreed. Yesterday she cut 4-5 inches off the length, aaaaah. But, I really wanted bangs....so today, she cut those too. 

Yay. I am really happy with the result. And really proud of my very brave 11 year old hair stylist daugther!

Dressmaking, Part 1 (....of who knows how many!)

I have made some clothes before, but I try to stick with the not too complicated patterns. I am ok (sort of) with zippers, but no lining or stiff interface-heavy collars for me.... Oh...and buttons are not my favorite either.

Anyway...the dress. The kids have this week off, so I will be taking them on day trips - and not have much time left for my sewing project. But a little each day will make a difference. So today: tracing the pattern!

I had forgotten the crazy look of the pattern sheets in Burda magazines :-) Oh well, I got it done. The pattern is traced, cut out and ready to go! But then it was time to cook dinner, and play a board game and bed for the kiddos. So...I will make more progress tomorrow. I hope.

I dream of sewing dresses....

I love wearing dresses. Especially in summer. I haven't had much luck sewing my own - but surely, that must be possible?!

This afternoon, I bought a burda style magazine, and I took a coffee break and read it. There are so many cute dresses and skirts in this one. 

Just look at this dress on the cover. I have to give it a try! If you have a favorite dress to sew, please share :)

Pencil case presents

Miss V was going to a birthday party and asked me to sew pencil cases for her friends.

I had made 5 pencil cases for presents late last year, and one of them was to be similar to those:

The other 2 were for boys, she chose the fabrics and the zippers:

I followed a tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar, and they came together pretty quick.

The birthday was today - so these have been gifted. Now I need to work on my blocks for The Splendid Sampler. I guess I'll always be a little bit behind on that quilt :) That's ok!

Sarah Fielke BOM: Happy Days Month 1 Completed

24 stars and 1 Churn Dash block completed. I am so happy!

As you can see, my design "wall" is a piece of batting on the back of a door :-) So fitting a whole quilt on there is not possible - for that I use the floor!

I try to prep my sewing while the kids sleep (because I can do that in fromt of the tv), so I pressed and trimmed all the HSTs needed for star points, and then it was really quick to sew them all up.

The next pattern is a week away, so I have time to do some other sewing before then.

Moomin Sew Together Bag for Miss V

Miss V chose Moomin fabrics for her Sew Together Bag.

I have had this in my stash for years, and have not ever dared cut into it. But when she asked for it, I knew, that this would be the perfect use for these fabrics.

I think the hardest part of sewing these bags, is when the sidepanels have to be sewn down to the lining and the exterior panel.

Once that is done, there's only binding left to do

Miss V chose white binding, I never would have chosen white - but it really works!

I think I'll take a break from these bags now.....but, I would like one more for me......

We'll have to wait and see!

Batman/Star Wars Sew Together Bag for A

After the kids saw the Sew Together Bag I made for my hexie project, they both want one :-)

They have picked their fabrics, and today I started.

My 8yo (almost 9yo) A chose Star Wars for the lining and Batman for the exterior of his bag.

He is lucky to have a mom who loves Batman - and have hoarded all the Batman prints.

The zipper sandwich came together fine, I am always a little nervous about sewing with metal zippers. Especially when it's a tight fit like here. But everything went well :-)

After sewing the pocket linings together wrong 2-3 times (!), it was finally time to attach the side panels. It looks more and more like a bag...

I love using the binding clips to hold the side panels in place - much better than pins if you ask me!

Once the side panels are attached, the tricky part of sewing this bag is over. 

I handstitch the binding down, I prefer that to trying to machine stitch it down.

And here it is! One down, one to go.

......not counting the ones I want to make for myself. I think I need one in Batman fabrics 

(Pattern is from Sew Demented)

Sarah Fielke BOM: Happy Days

I have always wanted to do a BOM, but I have always felt too busy to have a chance to follow through to the end. Now that the kids are older, I believe I have a shot!

So when I saw, that Sarah Fielke has a 2016 BOM, I had to join!

I have chosen to make this quilt out of only solids. A black background and bright solids:

The pattern calls for quite a few of these stars, so I am trying to get a bunch of them done - plus they are so fun  to make!

Matching up colors is my favourite part:

Prepping while the kids sleep, so I am ready to sew in the morning

The first block is a Churn Dash. I have never made that block before, but I think it went ok anyway

These are the blocks I have made so far. This is really fun :-)

Happy Days!

Happy Easter

I am trying to catch up on some sewing. I made these pillows for my Dad. They are his birthday present. And to give you and idea of how late I really am, I can tell you that his birthday is in January *ahem*

I made these to match the Morris Workshop quilt I made for my parents for Christmas. Atleast that was done in time ;)

I used up every little bit of the prints to finish these, as you can see on the back

I have almost finished one bee block for Tia, and I have one more to do. Lets just say, that applique is not my favourite kind of sewing....

This block I am handsewing, and the next one will be sewn on my machine. If not Tia will not get these babies back until sometime in 2012 - and that would not be fair!
I have also almost finished a block for Lu, but I'll have to show you that when I am back in Copenhagen, I didn't take a picture of it yet.

On a different note....
Mmmmm....spring! You have to love it!

The kids and I are spending Easter in Aarhus with my parents, and we are having a wonderful time.

I had some good news at work, and what better way to celebrate it than buying a new pair of shoes?!

These will be for work too....perfect for spring if you ask me :)

To do before 2011

I am a part of the Row10 quilting bee on Flickr. I am so late finishing up my last row :(
LauraJay has been more than patient with me, and now I really need to get this done! I am not very happy with my free-piecing these days, so everything takes me a very long time :(

But yesterday, after my family left and I had cleaned our apartment a little, I sat down to sew. I wish I could tell you that it was easy-peasy - but no!
I am still not happy woith how it turns out. But now I am thinking I'll do it, and I'll do my best and then LJ will have her row - and it will "only" be 6 months late *shame*

I also want to make some fabric grocery bags before Miss V goes back to school January 3rd. We never gave her teacher a present, because Miss V had pneumonia most of December and didn't get to go to school. Boo.
Last night when the kids were having their baths I managed to cut 3 grocery bags while watching them! Yay!

Miss V has claimed one for herself (mom.....I need it when I go grocery shopping with dad!) and one for her teacher. The last one will be a special present for a friend of mine! Cutting them is the part that takes time, sewing them is much more fun.
After finishing these 2 projects, I can start looking at what I want to sew in 2011.

TGIF!!!

I have been looking forward to Friday most of this week. Not because I didn't want to go to work - I did. But because we have been making progress on some home-improvement projects that have been put off for way too long.
Remember this post about curtains? I finally did it!!

I chose a fabric (IKEA) that Charles and I would both like, and then I was able to finish this whole project in an afternoon!

I am sorry this second picture is a bit blurry, but you can still sort of see what the curtains look like. I am very happy with them :) -oh, and please excuse the messes in the pictures. I have so much cleaning up to do, it's not even funny!

I am also hoping to find time to take the kids out for a snowball-fight tomorrow. We have a lot of snow here at the moment, and they have to be given the time to enjoy it while it's here :D

Art Portfolios for the kids

Very formal name I think...nevertheless, that's what they are called :)

I used this pattern, modified it to fit colored pencils and European size paper. Little A is still very much into CARS - he has started asking me for a CARS quilt. We'll see!

I am happy with how they turned out!

I think Miss V will like the kittens. And the letters.

A commitment..

This summer we got Miss V a Nintendo DSi. There was a moment there where I was afraid I would never again play Go Fish!, puzzles or read books with her again.....not to mention see her beautiful blue eyes!
Luckily that was not the case, she loves her Nintendo and does use it a lot, but it is something she will choose to do instead of watching a movie.

So, the only rule I made was, that it could not leave the house before we had some kind of bag/case/cozy for it.

And so I made this cozy for her Nintendo. Better than having to break my own rule, huh? She likes it! Yay!

Also I have the pictures of the grocery bag I made for myself. I love this Kaffe Fassett print so much, this way I get to see it almost every day.

I also like the lining, I like stripes.Don't you like these stripes too?

I just want to make a ton of these bags, they are really fun to sew. And every afternoon when I pick up the kids, I end up carrying all their art projects, dirty clothes, jackets etc in a big lump under my arm. Now I can pull a beautiful handmade fabric bag from my shoulder bag, and carry all their stuff in style. That makes me feel very organized. Bear with me...I don't get to feel that way very often ;)

I have made a commitment to post every day from now and until the end of October - except this weekend!
So you'll get to see a lot of pictures from my everyday life, because I don't get to sew every day.