2020 calls for DOUBLE stockings!

Hanging hopefully on Jessica's wardrobe this evening are a pair of stockings that tell one of the many tales of 2020. This is a story of plans made, excitement built and then everything changing at the eleventh hour. 

Jessica and I were supposed to be in Wales with Dad for Christmas this year and so we had prepared for a double Christmas – one with Grandad and then another with Daddy. Two Christmas mornings surely must mean two stockings, right?!

I had made Jessica’s crocheted stocking for her first Christmas. I’m proud of it and I could never replace it but I do wish I’d chosen my wool to be Christmassy and that I’d actually thought about how I wanted it to look. So, one idle evening (yes, I do occasionally get one) I thought I’d break out the Christmas fabric and make a new patchwork stocking especially for this year at Grandad’s.

Fast forward to Christmas movement being restricted and Wales going back into lockdown and we’re back to a single Christmas at home but we’ve still got two stockings! We were also let loose with pompom makers this evening, so each stocking is now fully accessorised and ready for anything that the Christmas of 2020 can stuff inside!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Centenary Banner

Last summer was Woodford County High School's centenary. Despite it being a few years since I had last set foot in the place I was absolutely delighted to be called upon to add to the fabric of the school once more! The school ran a competition to select a design team of about a dozen students who designed the banner that I ultimately created. It was a lovely experience to work with the students in this way. It's so different trying to make the visions of other people happen. They had the vision and the ideas whilst my role was to guide them in what could be crafted on a fabric banner and then ultimately make it happen. 

They wanted the golden ribbon to flow from the old, traditions into the modern 21st century school that they are proud to attend. The new Maths and Science building along with the observatory where key features whilst they wanted to incorporate the House colours and the green surroundings of the school which remain incredibly important. They wanted their community to be represented by a circle of hands and mark the school being named "London State Secondary School of the Year". Finally, they wanted to include an element of recycling, requesting that I use an old school shirt as part of the top band.

Here's a closer look at some of the individual elements...

It was a complete pleasure to create and an honour to be asked to do it. Countless hours, two banners and three window seats - WCHS I think that's probably your lot!

I'm back!

It has been such a long time. Things have changed; let's face it, the world has changed. It's a challenge to fit anything in for myself around work, being Mum and other commitments but crafting remains incredibly important in my life. Fortunately, Jessica continues to share my passion so whilst I struggle to complete my own projects I get my fix sharing moments with her as she starts her creative journey through life. 

In these crazy times, with long, dark evenings ahead it feels like the right time to start sharing on here again. Like so many others, I have struggled to maintain a healthy work-life balance in 2020 and I'm desperately hoping that this additional focus will help address it. It's almost time to crack out the Christmas crafts so there will be no shortage of material to share!

For now though, here's a little glimpse at the kind of thing we've been up to recently (aside from all the mask making) ... 

We absolutely love our local pottery cafe, Blue Owl. Before starting school we used to go to a Storytime session but these days we love a Paint-at-home kit. I love being able to spend hours designing and painting my pieces. I lost count of the number of hours this pasta bowl took! 

Jessica was incredibly proud of the cushion she created for her teacher as a thank you present back in July. She enjoys using my sewing machine, making clothes for herself and blankets for her toys. Needless to say, she's a huge fan of The Great British Sewing Bee.

Crafting for her toys and imaginative play motivates Jessica to try new things and create some beautiful things. This hot glue waterfall was a quick, simple but incredibly rewarding little project earlier in the year. It is currently used in play with her Schleich animal collection.

I'm afraid she has also developed my habit of having multiple projects all on the go at the same time. We've both got cross-stitches, latch-hook cushions and diamond paintings on the go on top of patchwork, figurine painting and paint-by-number kits.

There are a few big projects that I have completed but not shared yet and I have been seeking mindfulness in drawing so there are plenty more posts in the pipeline so please, don't be a stranger. Come back and see what else we've got to show you!

Handmade PE bag

It's the first day of school, you're suddenly restricted in your choice of clothes, your book bag has been accessorised with a cat keyring from your summer holiday but it's still basically the same as the other 59 book bags that enter the building along with yours for the first time today. You like to be a little different and you definitely like everyone to know how much you love cats so what you really need is for your Mum, who is trying to come to terms with her little girl starting school today, to have made you a very special, very catty PE bag. Well, Jessica, you're in luck. I mastered eyelets and rustled up this fabulous bag just for you! 

This was a really simple sew that took well under an hour and Jessica was thrilled!

Baby Bean Bags

I really enjoy making bean bags and they're great for using up small scraps of fabric. I made these as a small gift for two very special boys who repaid me with the most beautiful smiles and cuddles when I visited! I stitch lentils into a felt pouch which then goes into another pouch of my chosen fabric. These ones were all different sizes due to the scraps being used so I added matching ribbon loops to each. Little hands love loops and this ribbon from The Works goes well with the woodland theme.

Quiet Book Part 3

... and the final set.

9. Tangram.

10. Noughts and Crosses.

11. Letters. There are 3 sets of lower case alphabets in the pouch for Jess to use to start forming words on the velcro strips.

12. Telling the time. The arms move and the numbers come off. Just don't ask why the grandfather clock has two pendulums! Oops!

Quiet Book Part 2

Here's the next batch of pages from Jessica's book...

5. Buttonhole flower garden. 

 6. Rainbow weaving.

7. Knots, bows and laces.

8. Exploring constellations. 

Quiet Book Part 1

I've been away with my head in a project for a while. I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to make Jessica a fabric activity book. I've made lots of little things for Jess over the years but nothing like this; nothing that's taken this level of planning and preparation or this much time to complete. Actually, some of the crochet blankets may have taken longer but you can do them in front of the telly with little concentration so they don't really count!

Quiet books are more traditionally for younger children than Jessica but there were plenty of things that could be adapted to suit. Her book is not necessarily finished and I may well add to it in the future but for now I am done and will post the pages of the book across 3 blog posts. They are all handmade and a little rough around the edges but Jessica loves them and that's all that matters.

Each page has eyelets and the book is threaded together through them. The front cover has a snap on it and the back cover has a flap to snap the book closed. 

So, here are the first set of pages...

1. Washing line with tiny pegs, felt clothes and a laundry basket to store them in.

2. Snap wardrobe with clothes on hooks. They can be removed and moved around. Jessica designed the clothes and requested the cape!

3. Rapunzel's tower with wool hair for plaiting and putting clips in.

4. Manicures! There are twenty velcro nails in the little pouch to create a multitude of different manicures for my hand.

Quilted Blanket

This one was my first ever patchwork blanket. I've made a couple of playmats before but never a full blown blanket. It was my first time using cotton wadding and bias binding on a large project too. I used a disappearing nine square technique for the patchwork which is created from 81 11x11cm squares. I am so thrilled with the result and Jessica is so envious that I've promised her I'll make her one too. This blanket took just over 12 hours to complete and it was worth every single second...

Twin Blankets

Having met the gorgeous and utterly enchanting twins, Alex and Josh, yesterday I can finally share the blankets that I made for them. This post is just a sneak peek; I'll post about each blanket separately during the week since I'm pretty proud of them both and I think the time and effort that each one took definitely warrants three posts in total! Keep your eyes peeled for a closer look in the next few days.

Woodland Quilted Playmat

I don't get the sewing machine out as often as I'd like these days but I love using it to make baby gifts. Here's a woodland themed patchwork playmat I finished a few weeks ago...

I used thick wadding from Dunelm and wasn't totally convinced that I could maneuver it through my machine for quilting so I decided to secure the wadding the old-fashioned way and hand-stitched some crosses in some of the patchwork joins...

The ribbon pulls can be used to attach toys to for tummy-time or just to be played with by little fingers. Here's the whole piece...

Mermaid Ragdoll

Having finished the laborious task of making our Christmas cards this morning, I ventured into the unknown this afternoon and made my first ragdoll. The pattern came from my mother-in-law's copy of Jane Bull's Crafty Dolls. It was really straightforward to follow and was fabulously easy for a beginner like me. I sewed the tail and the doll by machine inside out and stuffed the two pieces separately before sewing them together and adding all the details by hand. I can't wait to give her to Jess in the morning and find out what she's going to be called!

Owlette Costume

Jessica is a big fan of PJ masks and has been nagging me to make her an "Owlette" costume for some time. I can't be doing with trying to make exact copies of costumes and Jessica is happy to use her imagination to some extent so, for now at least, we've stuck to some superhero wings and mask...

Making these wings gave me plenty of practice with bias binding, which I haven't used a huge amount before. I attached ribbon at the top and elastic hoops for her arms so that she can run around with wings out and hands free. Jess decided how to decorate the mask, which is made of stiff felt. She chose to use feathers and glitter glue. Not an authentic Owlette mask but it's very pretty!

I could be wrong but I think she likes it...

Kat's Top for Jess

Almost the minute that Jessica and I arrived in Wales, Katryn wanted to get sewing. She's so ambitious and incredibly confident but she also likes to have me around just in case anything goes wrong. On this occasion she was determined to make a top for Jessica and she decided to make it from some off-cuts of a dress that I'd altered for her. The fabric is stretchy and difficult to handle but she coped well. Aside from the finished article being a little bit long and rather snug I think she did a lovely job. 

Simple Pinafore Dress

I won't attempt to explain how I go about making these pinafores because I don't follow a pattern and I essentially make it up as I go along but I do enjoy making them and Jess is always thrilled with the results. I fully line her dresses and use snaps on the shoulders as fastenings. 

As usual I have managed to make this significantly too big but last year's dress still fits at the moment so I should imagine that she'll still be wearing this crazy cat dress next year.

One day I will tackle a pattern and learn how to use those dreaded paper templates. One day...

Toddler skirt

Jessica chose this fabric from a lovely little shop in Wanstead and it's been sitting around waiting for me to do something with it. At a loose end last night I decided to make her a skirt so I sneaked into her bedroom, took a few measurements and then hit the sewing machine. 

This is a simple skirt made from a rectangle of fabric. Jessica's waist currently measures 20 inches so I cut a rectangle 40 inches by 12 inches plus a little extra for seaming on the length. I double folded and pressed the bottom seam before stitching. This ensured that I had no raw edges on the occasionally visible bottom seam of the skirt. At the top I made a single deep fold and secured it on the machine before feeding a 20 inch length of elastic through the length of the rectangle. I stitched the elastic at both ends of the skirt with the excess fabric ruffled in between. Finally I stitched the two short edges together to form the skirt and here it is...

I couldn't wait for the morning to see if it fitted so I sneaked back in (terrible mother!) and put it on her. Thankfully it was a good fit with plenty of room for her to grow in it too.

She doesn't look like it here but I assure you she was really excited to wear it today. She loves wearing dresses but she's only ever had a skirt once before believe it or not. I'm going to be making a whole lot more I think.

Batik Quilt

I decided to make a patchwork quilt from our batik printed pieces. It's only big enough for Jessica's toys but she is thrilled with it. This is only my second attempt at quilting and I used the offcuts of wadding from my first project, which made it slightly more challenging than it needed to be. There are four pieces inside and they don't quite cover the whole area of the quilt. 

I need to admit that I didn't measure anything and so there definitely are plenty of flaws in it but it's just for play and I'm quite proud of it. Here's a look at the unconventional quilting on the reverse and a closer look at the quilted details on some of the batik pieces.

Having said it's only big enough for her toys, here is Jessica trying it out. It seems it's just perfect to playing Sleeping Bunnies...