On saturday night I finished knitting moustaches for movember. Thanks to all who donated - I raised £170 and now have a delightful multi coloured moustache garland to g hang up for christmas (anyone who thinks that is religiously inappropriate can refer to popular portrayals of jesus and let me know whether he had facial hair or not)

On sunday I finally bound the enormous quilt. It had been in use for a couple of weeks anyway, so I’m pleased to have it finally complete.

I’ve been playing with free-motion embroidery on my new machine. It’s not easy!

Me & my new sewing machine whipped up this basic skirt a couple of weeks ago.  The fabric is wool, from a second-hand store, and cost just 50 kronor.

A couple of pairs of socks I have finished off for the girls this week.

When we first moved here, I bought a load of cotton fabric from ikea, and made cushions for our kitchen sofa. Then I decided to also make a quilt.

A freaking enormous quilt.

One has to wonder what I was thinking. I had never made a quilt before. I was heavily pregnant. Would it not have been somewhat sensible to make a baby quilt, as my first ever quilting project?

Did that thought even cross my mind?  I don’t know. I started the top, then had a baby and the project went into hibernation for 2.5 years.

Then I got my new sewing machine and decided the first thing I should do is finish this gigantic work in progress.  Last night I finished piecing the top together. It is 2.4 metres square.  Now I need a backing and some batting, and I can see whether I’m really capable of quilting this monster.

If you like Ikea fabrics, hop on over and check out another Ikea quilt-in-progress on Carina’s Craftblog.

After a long consideration, I decided recently that upgrading my sewing machine would be worthwhile. My old machine was a cheap, entry-level Brother, bought while living in london, when I was really unsure how much use it would get. It’s a bit worn out now, and I realised that a new machine would probably allow me to make better use of those few sewing hours I manage to get.

So, we stopped in at the Bernina store last week. It just so happened that the machine I wanted, the Aurora 440QE, was on sale. It seemed like fate, so on wednesday I picked up this little beauty.

Some of my favourite things so far …
* it’s quiet. You can sew and hold a conversation at the same time!
* the bobbin winder is lightning fast
* it has a knee-operated lever to lift the foot
* it’s a bernina. I have wanted to go back to a bernina ever since saying goodbye to “old faithful”, mum’s old bernina that lived with me for a few years before I left NZ
* the light is really bright – a big advantage for evening sewing in our poorly lit living room

It came with some really nifty quilting tools that I’ll hopefully put through their paces soon. Stay tuned for some new sewing projects soon!

First up was this skirt, made from a kanga I bought in Kenya about 6 years ago.  My long-time favourite skirt, one that I bought at a sample sale many years ago recently had a total zipper failure.  So I decided it was time to retire “old faithful” and replace it with something new.

Front

Back

Anneli started playing with the remnants, so I pieced the leftovers together and made her one too.

Miniature version

Then I made a couple of tunic tops for the girls.  Both are made from an old white sheet, and also make use of the same sheeting (and home-made bias binding) that I used on my coffee sack handbag.

Anneli's tunic

Frida's tunic

Then I also whipped up a little bolero cardigan for Frida, made from an old jersey wrap dress that I never wore.

Frida's cardigan

And finally, I made a portable entertainment unit for Anneli – a little binder that contains sketch pad and a pocket for crayons, pencils etc.  The outer fabric is a remnant from Ikea, and the inner fabric was a remnant of quilting cotton – both acquired by buying bags of random remnants.  As you can see, she’s been making use of it already!

This was based on a handbag I got for my birthday, that has been used and abused and has started to fall apart. In particular, where coffee sacking was used on the original bag, it was sewn into a weight-bearing seam, and the loose weave of the sack just began to give way. So in my version, I bound the sack pieces with bias binding first, then sewed it onto one solid piece of denim that actually bears the load.

The other problem with the original bag was a total lack of pockets. So I added an external coin pocket with a zip, two internal pockets, and a loop to hold my keys. So now I can actually find my phone/wallet/keys/lip balm when I want them, without dumping out the entire contents of the bag in wild frustration.

I made this using a coffee bean sack from Mauritz Kaffe (25 kronor), an old pair of maternity jeans, and an old sheet bought from a flea market in London. The pockets and zip are recycled from the jeans and I made my own bias binding from the sheet. My only problems with the construction were due to the jeans being stretch, which made it hard to get some seams nice and flat. But it feels sturdy and is big enough for all the pens, nappies, baby hats and socks, mints, receipts and old shopping lists that I am usually carrying around.

On Wednesday nights, my dear husband goes out to do his woodworking thing. I get Anneli into bed, try to convince Frida to snooze, and get out some sewing.

It is usually accompanied by cups of tea, and an episode of Project Runway. As a bonus this week, I had some leftover mini Easter eggs. Yum!