S10's Unbelievably Cool ManBag

S10 came searching for a morning kiss wearing his old fave jeans, which have been out on many skater-boy missions and now have knees to prove it. inspired by his sister's creative buzz, he wanted to learn to use the sewing machine.
i'm not sure what the general protocol is for this kind of thing (cos Auntie Mim taught R14 how to use The Machine), but we started with a tandem effort of S10 operating the foot pedal and moi giving the verbal instructions and feeding the fabric through the presser foot until S10 had enough know-how to do it self.
and do it self, he did:
it took all morning, and lookit the skater-boy results:
(gosh you're a GORGEOUS boy!!) meet the latest Turn Your Jeans Into A Couture MANBAG which is lined with S10's favourite summer shirt...
yeah, the inside skinside is covered in flames and dragons (at the bottom, hiding).... and even has its very own secret pocket. cos we're all about the secret pocket.

c'est fini...

oui, i've sorta finished The Ten Year Old's Crazy Quilt. i ended up totally machine quilting it, so speedy. though i had a spot of hand sewing to neaten the binding on the back of the sleeping bag. S10 excitedly took it to bed with him last night, for his first sleep as a ten year old. yippee zippee!!!!! it's got fabric from my childhood, and mum's stash, some from J11's star quilt, D18's old star sheet, (yep, we're lovin' da stars here) and some new pieces, like the *flying pigs* and some very cool motorbike material.
and it even has a *secret pocket*. perfect.
i am thinking (Vot Are You Sinking About??) we might all write our birthday speeches on the *sunshine* squares. for Sunshine S10. and i'm also gonna cut out large *felt letters* that spell his name (nope, he's not really called "S10" In Real Life lol) and applique them on all along the bottom. and maybe sew a blue/red/yellow button on in the middle of each square. or maybe at the corners: maybe S10 might like to do that?? so yes, it's a *finished WIP*...

S10 got up this morning with Daddy to watch France beat Ireland in the World Cup: oui, oui,
allez les bleus!!!
allez the quilt that's full of mamma's love.
(yeah, yeah, i know it shouldn't say "allez" for only one thing, but it rhymes)

calico quilt

i love things that have a story. i love things that have history. i love things that are refashioned.

about fifteen years ago, we came across a delightful book called calico bear. it's about a homemade teddy bear that is given to a lovely little lad. as he gets older and outgrows bedtime bears, his mummy refashions it into a quilt. years later a young lady uncovers the quilt in the attic and refashions it into a little bear for a little girl, who is actually the little-boy-grown-up's daughter.

we've read and re-read and sung this beautiful story to all the 5kiwis for years, and it's the story i think of every time i make a quilt. i'm really excited cos i've finished Mnearly6's quilt, *five* days early!!!


it has history, sleeps, and much love woven into it. it's made from something old, and something new: pieces of fabric squares from Big Brother's quilt, fabric from Bigger Brother's quilt and favourite Pooh Bear sheet that he has grown out of but cannot bear to give away, and fabric from Biggest Brother's sheet that had all but worn out too.


of course there's a *secret pocket* on the back, joined to the old sleeping bag that i slept many childhood summers in, and it has *six* buttons, one for each candle on Mnearly6's cake (his name is appliqued onto the central blue tie-dyed piece, but i've camouflaged it in case there are any weird stalkers out there in the Virtual World, so if ya wanna see it IRL, you'll have to travel to our place, k?)...


for the whole of october, Mnearly6 has been counting down the *sleeps* until his Birthday day. we're down to five: five sleeps until the long-awaited quilt will be yours, with all my love, and your brothers' love too X

butterfly kisses

woo hoo, i've finally finished
woozie's *fifteenth* birthday quilt.
it's delish and girly and packed full of love.
it even has her name on it!

(that's her butterfly blankie peeping out.)

there are four hearts on it,
for woozie's four brothers.

and fifteen buttons, for her birthday.

ribbons are arranged in fives,
for the five kiwi kids.

i've handquilted around fifteen flowers,
to keep the top half of the quilt layers
snuggled together.

and on the back, there's a secret pocket,
for treasures.

and butterflies,
to celebrate your emergence
from girlhood to womanhood.

i even went off in search of
some new fluffy sheets,
and found these, which were originally white
(but i soon fixed that),
and i've sprinkled a few flowers on the pillowcase
so that they match your decor.

and then i thought you'd like
a matching heaty-wheatie

and a cupcake pincushion,
for your own future sewing endeavours.
(ya never know, i might even be able to
squeeze an apron out of
the leftover fabric too, lol)
love you to the moon and back X

starry starry night, paint your palette blue.. and red.. and gold..

wowee zowee..
we've finished sewing J10's *star quilt*...

it's taken *four weeks* to make it..
J10 blanket-stitched around three

of the seven stars,
using some of Auntie Mim's wool;
and Mummy sewed it all up
on Uncle Art's ancient sewing machine.
It's even got a *secret pocket* in

one of the squares.
YOU ARE.. MY SHINING STAR!!!

iFull

For the past week iHave been looking and *looking* for a little *pink* iCover for my new iPod nana, I mean *nano*, to keep it in the unscratched silvery condition in which iBought it. On the way home from the fourth unsuccessful attempt iHad a flash of inspiration: iCould make my own!! All sorts of designs of *secret pockets* (one side for the iMusic, the other for the iConnections) swirled through my mind as I negotiated The Garage in search of scraps of *pink* fabric and a zip. All the zips were in hiding (iShould’ve known to stop at this point) but my Hunting And Gathering Instinct was too strong and so I resorted to unpicking the zip off an old cushion cover… and unearthed the sewing machine, rethreaded it without saying any bad words and set to work, measuring and measuring and snipping (measure twice, cut once). Ten minutes later, the machine started whirring, as in true Whiplash Tradition iSet out to sew up my iCandy. Here’s the iPocket, for the inside of the iCover.


So far, so good. iMeasured OH! *so* carefully, fitting the iPod within the layers and linings and pinky pockets, and iWas even careful to leave a wee gap at the top of the zip opening for the iCord. An hour later, after much fiddling and no pinning and no zipper foot and much more measuring, iFinally finished the last delicate seam… and turned it all right side out…. and that’s when iDiscovered…


two *whole* CENTIMETRES of seam width had miraculously disappeared… the inside pocket fits, but THE OUTSIDE IS TOO SMALL!!!
However did that happen? My iLash is masquerading as an iSore!!!!!
So it's back to the drawing board then. Or maybe the iStore...