Wheeee! One finished Buttercup bag from Made by Rae. It took me awhile – I cut the fabric out ages ago and then failed to do anything with it/succumbed to the Sewing machine Fear – but I decided that I needed to sew it up, so I’ve been working on it slowly over the last week or so, especially when it came to the pleats, and then because I was up early today, I sat down and wrangled the last bits of sewing together etc.

The outer fabric is Tumble Roses in Tangerine (although they’re pink!) from Amy Butler’s Love range and the inner fabric is Gemstone in Sage from Dena Design’s Leanika range, both of which were fat quarters from same bundle I bought from the Fabric Loft as the one I used for the Frankenkindle.

I only made one major mistake and even that was fixable – in future, I shall remember to check which side I am putting the magnetic snap before I flatten the legs. But a little bit of wrangling with my pliers reversed that foolish mistake.

Yay!

Yesterday I bought a Kindle, which wasn’t strictly planned but serendipity has its own ways and means and had settled this for me last week. So it wasn’t like I didn’t know it was going to happen and could thus make plans.

Now, Kindles are small. Tiny, even. Lightweight and utterly terrifying to contemplate it sliding around in my handbag unprotected. Kindle covers however, have their own pitfalls, esp. the official ones, also, they’re boring. Boooorrrrriiiing!

So, here is Frankencover, my own monster which started life as Chica & Jo’s Custom cover and ended up, with a little bit of ‘oops!’/mother of invention slightly off pattern.

The main change to the pattern was that I ran out of material before I could fit the final two pieces of card in the tube, a combination of slightly suspect measuring (I don’t do imperial and there’s always the possibility of oops when converting) and not being able to sew as close to the card as I should have. So, I folded over the end of the tube/flap and hemmed it with enough space to fit some ribbon through as a decorative but also mostly functional bow. The main security is provided by the elastic, which I flipped around to the other side of the tube when I realised that I was going to have to wander into the land of necessity.

It doesn’t stand up as the Chica and Jo pattern does but it protects my Kindle and gives me something to hold while reading. There’s a couple things to fix still – I may well change the ribbon and when I do/decide to leave it, I’ll do a couple quick lines of stitches to hold the ribbon firmly in the tube and the threads need a bit of tidying up.

The card is greycard which I bought a large A5-ish sized sheet of from Cass Arts and the fabric is a fat-quarter I got in this bundle from Fabric Loft. The ribbon was leftovers from the hen party I held last year with the lovely makedomenders for my best friend.

Unfolded:

Back view:

I started 2010 with a bang. That’s the costume I made for the New Year’s party I attended. And when I say made, I mean, I sewed that skirt! Oh yes! The week before Christmas saw me back with my family, hunched over my mom’s elderly sewing machine making the occasional squawky noise and being watched by my mother. But in the end there it was, a skirt in taffeta with channels for ruching up one side with ribbon, a zip and the the most annoying to make but awesome once attached ruffle.

I also made the fascinator and the goggles I wore and my ray gun. The one I’m holding in the photo was made for me by my other half for Christmas and is amazing but not something I wanted to take out on a evening, so I spent an entertaining afternoon sticking masking tape on a water pistol and then there was fun times with spray paint. In fact, masking tape featured heavily as my goggles involved heavy amounts of it as well.

2010 is the year I do far more sewing. My sewing class starts next week and I’m rather looking forward to it. The other plan for 2010 is to knit my damn stash. I fear it slightly but there we are, it must be done. I’m going to do another post about what I have knitted in 2009, what I have to knit and what patterns I want to knit in 2010.

I’m particularly fond of the sewing themed buttons and the crayon buttons but the teeny, tiny buttons are also high up there.

The rest of my afternoon was taken up with a walk through Hyde Park, the purchasing of an ironing board (haaaaaaaa!), which required me to walk home with it clutched under one arm and then some time spent at my sewing machine, getting some more practice in, particularly in regards to seams and the straightness thereof. I have signed up for a sewing course in January, so I want to be far more comfortable with sewing by then than I am now.

Out of my practising came a useful item though. It’s a pincushion, the pattern (in so much that there is one) comes from Diana Rupp’s Sew Everything, which Jam brought me awhile ago. It’s a very helpful book and I am looking forward to making quite a few of the patterns with my shiny new pincushion by my side!

Knitting wise, I am alllllmoooost finished my Cherry (by Anna Bell), just one and bit sleeves and the ribbing to go. I have also signed up for the Knitting Goddess’ sock club after Sadie linked to it (I am so weeeaaaaak!), so I am looking forward to getting squashy parcels through the post soon.

But I leave you with something I found while sorting boxes: a blast from my crafty past.

Carefully sewn together – complete with terrible hand sewing after stuffing – at Primary school in South Africa, in Arts and Crafts. There’s a small treasure trove of this sort of stuff in boxes somewhere, from another cusion that was much beloved of my first cat to a skirt that I repeatedly sewed to myself (don’t ask) in Home Ec in Ireland.

I like this cushion still, the pattern on the material is lovely (the back is the solid sunflower material) and I have added it to the cushions on my bed.

…besides, I cannibalised two old necklaces found while doing a massive ‘sort and throw’ on three years worth of pre-university junk. :cough:

I saw so many pretty fabrics but in the end, I came out with a yard and a half each of these two:

They’re earmarked to become a needle holder for my straight needles and if there’s enough left over, I plan to make this shoulder bag.

And while my mother and I were in town, we hit the charity stores. La Mere for books, myself for yarn (‘it doesn’t count if it’s for charity.’, she says, eyeing her stash and looking shifty) and other such crafty goodies. I didn’t find any decent yarn but I did find some belt buckles for 10p each in Oxfam. Bargain!

I am considering knitting Belt du Jour from SnBN at some point in the future, so I am sure they’ll come in handy.

And in the afternoon, I was drawn back into the lure of the Bead Box of Doom so here’s the second crop of beady things:

1. 2. 3.

1. Went to my blogging partner in crime. 2. Were made for my brother’s girlfriend. 3. Made for myself.

I’ve also started my second knitting WiP, Baby’s First Tattoo. First time I’ve knitted with 4ply and oh, the tiny, tiny stitches! But it’s going nicely and I shall photograph it when it looks more impressive than six rows of Moss stitch and an inch of Stocking.