It's been a while

The last few months have been very busy for a variety of reasons, including various sewing and embroidery projects, which I'll try to catch up on in coming weeks.

My granddaughter, Emma, showed me this picture and asked if I could make this outfit for her for Book Week. The character is connected with My Little Pony, which having started life as a toy has now progressed to an animated television show and a comic book. Not really my idea of a book character but she did ask nicely and gave me lots of warning - plus it was a challenge - so what else could I do?

Here's my interpretation. Of course, Emma is normal girl shape and size - I think the girl in the picture above would have to be about 7 feet tall and thinner than Emma.

Jodie's Wedding Dress

What do you do with a wedding dress when you decide that you're not going to wear it again? My niece, Jodie, gave hers to me, saying that I could do whatever I liked with it. I decided to give some of it back to her in a different format. After much trepidation, I eventually pulled it apart and used some of the fabric, lace and beads for a crazy patchwork. I only added the stitching threads.

Denim, denim and more denim

I had some scraps of fabric left over after making denim bags and decided to use them up on a project that I've had in mind for some time. There weren't many scraps so I also pulled out my box of old jeans, which I've been collecting for at least 10 years. I have used some of them in the past for cushions and even a journal cover. But now I was ready to attempt something a bit bigger - a queen-size bed quilt.

Now, I could have cut the fabric into squares but I thought it would look good in 2.5 inch strips (I'm really good at making things difficult for myself). So I cut lots and lots and lots of strips and joined them together into a strip that was about 140 metres (over 150 yards) long. It rolled up into a very large "jelly roll". I then cut it into 50 strips, each a bit over 2 metres long, sewed them together, and quilted it with ditch stitching (it felt like wrestling a boa constrictor).

And here it is all finished:

Denim bags

I have made a lot of bags but this one, made from a sturdy denim, is the first one I've made for myself:

I lined it with some hand-dyed fabric I had in my stash and included a zip pocket on the inside:

I also made open pockets for the other side of the lining:

And I made this bag, with an external zipper pocket, from the leftover fabric:

Princesses Anna

Emma and Olivia both asked for Princess Anna (Frozen) dresses for Christmas but for various reasons (mainly my sewing machine being in the shop for repairs for 3 weeks) I didn't finish them until April.

The decoration also caused some problems. I was going to use the applique design that came with the pattern (McCall's 7000) but it was a bit a bit too big and clunky so I bought a machine embroidery design from My Sewing Art (through Etsy I think) and it stitched out beautifully. 

And, finally, here they are in their dresses - still waiting for their cloaks:

Cushion with a message

I made this cushion as a gift for someone with a quirky sense of humour. It was much appreciated.

What do you mean, Easter is almost here?

It feels like Christmas was just a few weeks ago. In any event, here are the outfits I made for my granddaughters for Christmas.

Olivia was delighted with the Elsa dress I made for her:

But Emma was not impressed with her outfit. "It's pants! What were you thinking, Grandma?" I even had to bribe her to try it on for a photograph.

So, while she was enjoying a holiday by the beach, I made a skirt to go with the outfit. And she was much happier with my second attempt.

Turquoise dress with a peacock

I was surprised when Emma asked me to make her a turquoise dress with a peacock - because her favourite colour is purple. When I asked her why she wanted this particular dress, she replied, "Because I think it would look good!"

I could't argue with that logic, so here's the turquoise dress with a peacock, plus a hat and bag:

Catching up - turtles

It's a long time since I blogged - for all the usual reasons of being busy - but I have been making things over that time. The theme for Olivia's birthday party was turtles and her favourite colour is green, so I was very pleased with the fabric I found for her birthday outfit - if you enlarge the photo, you will see that the dress and bag are covered with turtles.

This photo gives a better view of the dress: