This could've been a CATastrophe!

This could have been a CATastrophe! I was all set up ready to sew our newly designed christmas decorations. I had noted that Mojo (my friends kitten) was lying on the same table that I was about to start sewing on. He's a very laid back cat and didn't seem to be at all bothered by the fact that my sewing machine was plonked in front of him. As what we were about to sew were small items, I thought Mojo could continue to lie where he was - if he wasn't bothered, then neither was I!                  

 

As soon as I started to sew though, Mojo became very interested in the fact that not only was I moving a piece of material around, it also had a bell on it! TOYS! PLAYTIME! Suddenly, this cat's paw shot through the machine and tried to grab my material. Several NO's later and much giggling (and taking of photo's!) he decided to try and climb through the machine - hilarious! Not wanting to encourage this, we pushed him back through. Then of course, Mojo the clever cat, decided to try and climb over the top of the machine instead! We discouraged that as well, so instead he decided that he might just road test the red cotton and see if it tasted of anything - chomp chomp! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

 

 

They say that curiosity killed the cat - well I'm pleased to report that on this occasion, it didn't! Mojo took himself off to lie on the sofa to recover his strength and to dream about this lovely new interactive toy his mummy had just bought him! To his delight he found the leftover wadding that we'd just been cutting out rectangles/squares out of for our christmas decorations. What better duvet than wadding! He wriggled himself under the wadding, closed his eyes and hey presto - a CATnap followed! He is sooooo cute, especially when he stretched himself out and turned upside down in his sleep! Pure CATisfaction! 

 

Drawstring pouch

Been looking after my niece for a few afternoons in the summer holidays. It was so good to see her take such delight in the contents of our sewing room! I think she thought she was in heaven when she saw our material and ribbon collection! She asked if she could make some little bags that were small enough for her to put the salt dough items she made the previous visit, into. Fortunately, she gave us a bit of advance notice, so my friend and I spent a little time yesterday making a template up and working out how best to make them. We used some old curtains and chopped them up, so as not to waste any good material! I think we ended up making about 5 prototypes, all of different sizes! The good thing about making so many of course, was that the repetition of making them burned the 'how to' into my mind - which is brilliant coz I don't have much of a memory! I did confess to my niece that we'd practised making them the day before and she was amazed that we'd done that just for her - bless! My niece did all the sewing herself, though threading the sewing machine needs some more teaching!

I explained the Frixion pen to her and I don't think she could quite believe it. I think she thought it was 'magic' that the iron made the pen's ink disappear. That was the only time she ventured near the iron, apparently she can't iron to save her life - to which of course I said that what she needed was PRACTISE! Tee-hee, don't worry auntie didn't make her do it! Last week I had my nephew for the afternoon and he ended up going home with two plasters on him, so I thought I'd better not let my niece near the iron...just in case! We managed to make three small drawstring bags (this pink one is the one we made yesterday!) and one larger bag. We think they're really cute!

One thing we did learn....when threading the ribbon through the material 'tunnel' in the top of the bag, we used a safety pin but if you pierced the ribbon just once, it would fray and the safety pin and the ribbon part company! So to counteract this, if you pierce the ribbon twice with the safety pin this tends to prevent this happening. We're always learning!

Tibetan Terrier Notebook Cover

My friend has a Tibetan Terrier whom she absolutely adores, so when it was coming up to her birthday, I decided I wanted to attempt something with a Tibetan Terrier on it. Her favourite colours are turquoise and lime green, so naturally I had to go in search of some fabric specifically for this project. Luckily we have a wonderful shop called Paulines Patchwork which sells material by the fat quarter as well as by the metre. It is so well organised in there that you have to stand and admire the array of colours before you set about finding that 'just perfect' material for the task. Not sure if I've said this before on the blog but it still remains true...it's like walking into a sweet shop without the calories! Yummy! I already have the lime green, so it was a case of finding a co-ordinating stripy material and a plain turquoise. And as usual, a rummage through the bargain section led to the purchase of a few oddments to add to my ever diversifying collection! When I leave that shop with material safely tucked up in a bag, I always feel like the cat that got the cream!

The next day I couldn't wait to get started on this new creation. We sat down and started a bit like Blue Peter...with pencils, scissors, paper and tracing paper in hand we set about creating a template for the Tibetan Terrier. The design was then drawn, reversed, onto the paper side of the bondaweb, which was then ironed onto the wrong side of the turquoise material and cut out. Meanwhile, we stitched the stripy material onto the lime green. We could have joined the two edges of the material (as in quilting) but we decided that we wanted it to feel like a quality item...no expense spared kinda thing! Then came the difficult thing....how to get the lines from the template to the material. Normally, I'd draw them on, lifting the tracing paper as I went but with this template it was proving more tricky. Then the common sense advisor (my partner in crime!) came up with the idea of using a pin to poke through the tracing paper along the lines, to leave an impression on the material - strange but it worked a treat! Then it was just a case of dot to dot! (Told you it was a Blue Peter job!)

Then it was just a matter of stitching on the lines - easy! Not! I ended up sewing most of it by turning the hand wheel round, stitch by stitch. I really wanted to free-motion it but was too scared to do it that way in case I messed it up! I will have a go at doing it on the tibetan terrier design another time when there isn't a deadline to meet! Now as for the cotton we used? We used the cotton that is multi-coloured (greens and blues as in this particular one) called Gutermann Sulky. Now we thought this would add a special touch to this pressie. In the end, we don't think it did! I think it would have looked much better had I'd stitched it in a plain colour, probably green. Unfortunately, we haven't time to make another one on this occasion, so we'll have to let it go as it is. I think maybe the multi-coloured cotton would better suit doing a close zigzag stitch, as in machine applique perhaps.

As always, we had to do one bit of unpicking! Had forgotten to account for the extra thickness that the wadding on the front and back cover adds to the overall dimensions of the removable cover. So when we tried to put the book in the cover, it didn't fit! A huge weary SIGH from both of us, especially as it was nearing 8pm at this point and we still hadn't had any tea! So near but yet so far! Got it right second time and hey presto, a pressie for my friend's birthday! Have had to delay posting this blog entry until her birthday though...just in case she reads this!

Mice! Pest control needed!

Are these cute or what?! They took ages to make as there was a lot of hand sewing involved. The mice have white cord for tails and smaller black beads for eyes and larger black beads for noses. The whiskers are made from black cotton, pulled through and tied. We made little pouches which we filled with play sand and stuffed inside the mice, to give them a little weight. Each mouse seems to have its own character but we haven't named them, in case we get too attached!