Baby book

I have finished my first soft book. The planning and choosing of the materials was quite tedious, the actual sewing went quickly! The name is not contrasting enough, but I did not want to frog, so it remained. Otherwise I am quite happy with the result, the 10 months old hopefully will be as happy as me :)

The size is 6,5" for the coversheet and 6" for the inner sheet. For the coversheet I added the applique and stitched the 2 sides together reversed then turned them out. I did the same for the inner sheet, then did a stabilising stitch ariud the perimeter twice and also in the middle, then stitched them together. There are many different materials to stimulate the baby fingers: plush, felt, corduroy, canvas, handstitched embroidery on a cotton background.

Polka dots

I have finished this polka dot quilt for my niece, a few weeks (months?) back. She had chosen several designs, and the first I have prepared for her went finally to the teacher of my son last June. I was thinking choosing a different one, and the rainbow dots gave the idea. It has extra soft minky-like backing, which is also dotted. 

It was a very quick finish, the background is white-on-white 10"x10" blocks with an appliqued circle of 5". I sewed the rows with a half shift to give a little play to the design, and arranged the colorful dots as you can see. 27 circles all together: 8 green, 4 blue, 5 yellow, 5 pink, 5 purple.

I used 27 5"x5" charms for the dots, 30 10"x10 for the background, and 1m 1.5wide minkie for the backing. Approximately 1.5m material for the top, 1m for the back, all together 2.5m (2.5yard) fabric usage to finish.

Polka dots: 49" x 58"

Missing posts from 2018 - little present for the teachers

In June I helped my son to sew year closing gift for his teachers. Both got a similar purse, where I cut the fabric and added the zip, and my son did the finishing. The little boy bird had a strange eyes, I changed that to a nicer one, but forgot to take photos. The teacher really liked the gift, I suppose there are not too many 8 year old boys who are making such presents for them :)

Wallhanging for my niece

I was working on a wallhangigng for my niece. She is turning 17 and in between a girl and a woman, so I wanted something which is not too serious but has a twist. She wanted flying geese and some natural colors, and I added some windmills - not to waste fabric from the geese and also to link it to the bedcover she had received a few years ago, and which is made of colorful windmills. It was quite quick and I like it a lot -I hope she will like it too!

I-spy (almost) in a day

It turned out my nephew's birthday party going to be this Saturday, therefore My I-spy-quilt got a big push. I checked my colorful fabric box, I did some fussy cutting, and even some applique, because my son said our nephew loves cars so he MUST have cars on the quilt. So cars he got, and since I do not have  any fabric with cars I did some appliqued ones, and I added even a train. I really enjoyed this supersimple piecing of good quality materials. Recently I either did some skill building or used home decor fabric, so this simple quilt squares were flying through my machine. The top was ready in a day including several rounds of rearranging the pieces, and today I put on the backing and a simple stitch in the finished it in no time.
One more tick for my goals!

Whipping up extras

Apart from my original goals I had some things on my mind. 

I was going through my stash and I was decluttering all awful synthetic bits and pieces I received since I started sewing. The family knows I need practice materials so they are sending all kind of stuff - but some of them are too bad even to practice anything on them...I also rearranged my boxes separating quilting and non-quilting quality fabric, keeping only 1 box of synthetics including princess/santa materials. You know, the shiny ones all 5 years old princesses aiming for. And I finished 2 brideskirts for my nieces as well, and for thir little brother a double sided prince doublet - it took some 40 minutes to finish all! The prince material was bought some 30 years ago and I used it to cover the guest bedroom mattress when I tried my first sewing in secondary school.

During the selection phase I also took my charmpack sized whites and beiges do sew the half triangle armchair cover I was longing for. We have an awfully old, but extremely comfortable recliner, whose arms are getting into a horrenduous phase. I decided to cover it myself, and now I took the time to start it. The design and the blocks are ready, and moreover, now I can easily close the light brown/beige box, because I put together a backing from some bigger pieces as well.

The Universe is yours

One of my colleagues is expecting a baby boy and she had chosen the Universe as the theme. I made a little twist on my last universe quilt, I hope (and the baby to be) will like it!

Herbs

I have finished 2 more herbs from the Sampling of Herbs: Thyme (kakukkfű) and Oregano (szurokfű). Now all 3 are in its frame. There is a little problem with oregano, because I used a small piece of rectangular fabric, and I took the wrong dimension, so it is smaller than the frame. In the picture it is quite obvious, but fortunately in real life it much less noticable. Since all the other herbs are similarly framed I left it like that. This is going to be a long avaited present (first ones in 2011, after one in 2012 and nothing since...) for my cousin, who is quite skillful in all the crafts, so she can redesign the frame in case she does not like it.

Sampling of Herbs (Cross My Heart) - Bay

Fonal/Floss: Anchor&DMC

Anyag / Fabric: Zweigart 28 ct Antique white

An old finish - almost forgotten

I made an inventory of my quilts, and I realised there is one, what I finished a long time ago (in 2014) for our niece. I did not have photo, so I asked it quickly. It is well loved and used, best thing for a quilt, bit not for someone who wants to take photo :) I got the materials from my sister-in-law and tried to put together a girly one. It is a little pale for my taste, but my niece likes it a lot! The freemotion is only a stitch in the ditch, and even that one is a little off - it is very difficult not to slip the sides.

Quilt for Iza - own ideas

Grandpa's 93th birthday present

I really went into scrappy mode, and took all the denim/corduroy whatever pieces I cut from our trousers. Both my husband and myself are small in stature, so I always cut the too long trousers. I am kind of a collector, so I kept all the pieces to have them in case of need ( can you imagine any kind of urgent need for a 2 inches leg piece of a tweed suit? You never know...) but now I took all of my 10 years worth of treasure, added some strange material bits and pieces and I came up with a perfect present for my Grandpa.

He is turning 93 next month, and usually spends his days sitting in a comfy chair - best thing for the winter a nice warm quilt, with a very soft minky like backing. It is called baby-soft in Hungary and comes in different colors, I have chosen a masculine checkered gray for him. Since the quilt is made up of various materials, it has quite a good texture already, so I kept the quilting minimal, only one spiral to keep the layers together. I hope he will like it!

I decided to keep track of my buying and using, so September was good so far: I bought 1.3m of baby-soft for the backing, and used  1.5 worth of scraps for the top. My batting also came from 3 remainig pieces of very thin batting what I stitched together. If I will be extremely bored during the winter, I will make a full inventory of existing fabric - I will see... The thing is, that I made 3 scrappy quilts in the last couple of weeks and I can hardly see any change among my scraps, regardless the fact, that I thought I do not have too many of them...

Baby shower gift

My colleague has an adorable little girl, I made this quilt for her. The panels were in my stash and I needed only the white to add. It was a real quick finish, only a few evening worth. But I need to find some solution for the wavy binding...

Madáretetős RR keretezve /Birdhouse RR framed

Készen lett a keretezés a madáretetős naptárhoz, nagyon jól néz ki! Nem is gondoltam volna, hogy ennyit dob majd rajta, lehet, hogy mégis megtartom? Ez inkább költői kérdés, lassan elárasztanak minket a kézimunkák, a lakást mégsem szeretném a remekműveimmel kitapétázni...

A fotózást még gyakorolnom kell, valahogy sosem sikerül igazira. Majd kérek segíséget egy szakértőtől, de ötleteket bárkitől szívesen látok! Voila:

Birdhouse calendar is framed, it looks stunning! I have never thought that framing counts so much, maybe I will keep it... Maybe not, the flat will be flooded by handicraft, I should not put embroidery to every single corner... I should practice taking photos, I never satisfed with the result. I should ask some professional help, but any ideas welcomed!

Madáretetős RR (Keresztszemes Magazin) / Birdhouse RR

Fonal/Floss: Anchor & Vénusz

Anyag/Fabric: fehér aida

Keret/Framing: Cziriák tölgy színű

Sütis hölgy / Dame Gateaux

Nagyon sok Tralala mintát láttam, és sokat ki is néztem, hogy jó lenne megvarrni, de valahogy sosem kerültek eddig sorra. Azonban jött anyák napja, és édesanyámnak meglepetésül megalkottam a sütis hölgyet (Dame Gateaux). Itt is használtam a csoda Caron fonalat, de sajna amikor kiöblítettem kicsit megfolyt, és befogta az anyagot. Szomorkodtam egy kicsit, majd az mondtam, hogy ez a dizájn!

I have seen a lots of Tralala and I have chosen a few what would be nice to stitch, but somehow these projects were never realised. But Mother's Day had arrived, and I have finished Dame Gateaux for my Mum. I have used the beautiful Caron thread, but unfortunately it was bleeding a bit when I washed the piece. I was a little sad, but afterwards I have decided to have it as a special feature :)

Dame Gateaux (Tralala)

Fonal/Floss: Anchor, Caron Waterlilies

Anyag/Fabric: Rico 27ct drapp

Keret/Frame: Cziriák

2011 május elején készült el. Ready at the beginning of May, 2011

Izabella Ballerina

2 keresztlányunk van, Anna és Izabella. Izát névnapjára megleptem egy babaköszöntővé átalakított Country Cottage mintával. Remélem tetszik neki a táncoslánykák sora, én nagyon élveztem a hímzést.

I am godmother for 2 girls, for Anna and Izabella. I surprised Iza for her nameday with this specialised Country Cottage piece. I hope she likes the row of little ballerinas, I really enjoyed stitching them.

Little Ballerinas (Country Cottage Needleworks)

Fonal/Floss: Anchor

Anyag/Fabric: Rico 27 ct

Keret/Frame: Cziriák

2010 július July, 2010

Régi ajándékok / Old presents

Még mindig a 90-es években járunk... A párnák után készült néhány karácsonyi ajándék. Néhányról sikerült képet szerezni, a megajándékozottak nagy becsben tartották és megőrizték őket!

Still in the 90's... After the pillows I have prepared a few Christmas presents. I have managed to take some pictures of some, the receivers really kept them in their heart!

 Jegesmedvés szennyeszsák / Laundry sack with polar bears  

Fonal / Floss : Ki tudja... Who knows....

Anyag /Fabric: White aida

Len tányéralátétek  / Linen napkins

  Fonal / Floss : Ki tudja... Who knows....

Anyag /Fabric: 28 ct drapp len

                                        

Karácsonyi terítő - kép még hiányzik / Christmas tablecloth - picture still missing