Getting there

Last week I was determined to go to Ikea to buy an Expedit shelf.  Col was picking up the kids last week which is unusual these days.  Carseats, kids, long boxes just don't work together.

The shelves sat in the hallway with their friend the Hills Hoist (in a box) until the weekend when Col put them together for me.  I then unpacked my crates and shifted fabric from other parts of the house to do this...

Fabrics are sorted by type and and then by colour.  It's so good to be able to see everything in one place.  And having a system means everything has a home.

Now to figure out a better method for storing my embroidery threads.

And the Farbenmix pattern winner is...

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 47 Result: 23 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Ok, as I was trying to remember what I did before to have a picture of the result from random.org, I navigated away from that page.  I did however copy the results.  Not pretty, but hey it's a randomly picked winner...

Tin Can Daisy

I'll email Lisa in the morning to let her know that you'll be stopping by and to send me the bill.    

 

Rainbow Imke

Ages ago a friend asked me to make a top for her daughter.  A few weeks back we finally sat down to discuss what they wanted.  I was told a t-shirt type top with a pointy hood.  The hood and sleeves rainbow.  And dangling bits from the hood.  The body purple.

The top is the IMKE pattern from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  I chose this pattern because it went up to a size 11/12, had a pointy hood, and the newer Imke pattern is slimmer cut than the original.   I still added a bit of the length to the body and sleeves as per my client's measurements.

In order to do a shirt like this one, the pieces are dyed before construction.  Each sleeve is rainbow dyed as was the hood.  For the dangling pieces I cut 6 circles of knit which I dyed the basic 6 rainbow colours.  I then cut the circles into spirals.  Took each cut sprial and folded it in half and inserted it into the hood.  I'd left the pieces long so that they could be cut shorter if desired.  I love the effect, but I have to admit that dyeing before construction has its challenges like severely curled edges!

I'm a Farbenmix Fanatic

You know this though, don't you?

This unassuming accordion file holds my collection

So what's in there?

Amelie
Anna
Antonella
Antonia
Bandito
Bea
Bjarne
Cara
Djorte
El Porto
Elodie
Enna
Eva
Falda
Feliz
Flora
Hannah
Henrika
Hermosa
Hilde
Imke
Insa
Jade
Jule
Kim
Laguna
Langeness
Lilly
Lisa
Lisa-Marie
Lisann
Lore
Lunada
Madita
Marieke
Mika
Muriel
Oda
Olivia
Oona
Paula
Quiala
Quiara
Qumaira
Redondo
Roberta
Roxy
Sasha
Solana
SommerLiebe (ebook)
Tamara Totebag (ebook)
Tini
Tuolumne
Uljana
Undine
Valeska
Venice
Vicki
Vida
Wanda
Weeke
Xenia
Yasmina
Zilli
Zoe
Zucka
Zuma
Zwergenverpackung

I don't have everything because I won't buy a pattern unless I think I will make it (ETA I have not made every single one, but have every intention of getting around to it!).  Some I've made lots like Olivia, Antonia, Redondo, Quiara, Imke, Jule.  And there are some that I've only made once or twice, but will definitely make again.   Looking through this list, I'm seeing patterns and fabric ideas are popping into my head.

So I want to share the Farbenmix love.  I'm giving away one Farbenmix (including Studio Tantrum) pattern of your choice from Crafty Mamas.  I think Lisa has one of the best selections of Farbenmix outside of Germany, so I'm sure you can find something that you'd like.   I'm happy to shout postage to anywhere in the world.

Giveaway closes midnight Saturday, August 28.   Just leave a comment for a chance to win.  I'll post the winner on Sunday the 29th if I am not awake late on Saturday evening.  I'm usually awake that late unless I've had a few glasses of wine with dinner!

Rockin' Robots

Originally I was going to make this top for Will.  It's been a while since Will has had something made for him.  When I was showing Will the fabric, Mollie piped up that she wanted one too. 

The pattern is Farbenmix Hilde.   I really like Hilde.  The cut of the top is quite straight, so it works well for boys or girls.  It also has lots of potential for mixing up fabrics.  

The main fabric is "vintage" robot knit from Sewzanne's Fabrics.  I've also used Stella cotton/spandex knit in Indigo and blood red. 

I used my coverstitch machine to do topstitching.  It was a bit tricky to get it just right since the right side of the fabric was facing down.  Overall I was happy with the results.

The kids are excited to have matching shirts.  Mollie wants to wear her new shirt to school on Monday.

Share your Crafty Passion Swap

Over on Crafty Mamas our July swap was about sharing our crafty passion.  The recipient of my crafty creations was Carolyn.   It was good having Carolyn because I know her, but I will say she didn't make it easy on me.  I asked her if she wanted me to make something specific for her, and she said surprise me!

So if you hang about here enough, you know my crafty passions/interests are sewing, dyeing, embroidery usually with a Euro influenced style.

I made two things...

a strip pieced rainbow covered journal with Luzia Pimpinella's Love Bus.

(the journal in this photo is another one I made at the same time)

I also made two "plain" rainbow covered journals to donate to the school craft stall.

I then made a bunting from Luzia Pimpinella's Love my Sweet Home embroidery set.   I used some Farmers Market fabric because I like it, and I know Carolyn likes it!

It was really hard to get a good photo of the whole bunting.

Check out those pompoms!  

Fun stuff

This pompom trim arrived in my mail last week.  It had/has a purpose.  Not all of it at once, but bits and pieces here and there.  Unfortunately I can't show you just yet as it was used on something I made for a craft swap.  I am hoping that my items arrive soon because I'd like to share. 

This week I am doing some dyeing.  Some for me and some for school.  The dyeing for school I am finding a bit daunting.  I am dyeing a 10m x 280cm piece of fabric into rainbow stripe.  Working with such a big piece of fabric is stressing me because I don't want to mess it up.  It's not mine.  I guess worst case scenario, I grab my roll of poplin and dye that up if I stuff up!   Our school fair is coming up on September 4th.

And I thought I would mention that I have a few rainbow redondo skirts available (2 in size 5/6 and one size 7/8).  I also have some rainbow sleeve Antonia tops  (one in each size 3/4 - orange front, 7/8 - green front, 9/10 - purple front).  The links in the photos are tops that I've previously made.  The newer ones have a bit more colour.  I haven't managed to take photos for Etsy, but I am happy to take photos or measurements for anyone interested.  You can contact me via my email address in my profile. 

Warm weekend cooking

I always love the slower pace on weekend mornings.  No rushing around to get ready for school.  This means I can cook something like crepes or popovers or try a new recipe.  The apple and pear pikelets in July's delicious had caught my eye a few weeks back,

so I thought I would make them.  (if you click on the photo it will take you to Flickr and you can read the recipe if you view the full size photo).

We made just apple pikelets because I didn't have any pear.

They were a hit with a family.  I think we might need to make a double batch next time.

I also made this cake Sunday night.  Easy peasy, delicious and it freezes well. 

Yesterday's mistake

is today's design feature.

As you can see, the birds on the fence are sewn onto the top as a patch.  I had embroidered a top front, but the fence was ever so slightly askew.  So I cut the embroidery off of that piece of fabric and cut a new shirt front.  I prefer this version instead of what I had orginally planned.  Nicole of Jang Design does this frequently on the tops that she makes.  I love the effect of highlighting the embroidery.

 

These tops are for my friend's daughter.  My friend came over and picked the colour of the body of each shirt.  She also really liked the red/white polka dots.  She left the rest to me. 

Light blue top

pattern:  Farbenmix Hilde

fabric:  Stella in ecology, Hilco's prillie knit, and a touch of Stella in lime.

Pink top

pattern:  Farbenmix Antonia

fabric: Stella in girl pink, Hilco pink rayure, Stenzo estio lindo, pink/pink strip campan for the neck

Next up in the sewing queue...rainbow redondos, so if you've been waiting, they are coming...really they are!   Which reminds me, I should take a photo of some of the rainbow sleeve Antonias that I made last week.

Happiness is a twirly whirly Feliz

Mollie's best friend turned 7 last week.  I was going to make her a top, but then decided to make Moo and B matching dresses.  The fabric is the same, but different colourways.   I made a similar dress a while back.  I have always wanted to make Moo a dress like that one.

Moo's dress has the green front with red sides.  B's dress is blue with pink sides.

blue dress

blue dress' back

green dress

green dress back

Twirling!!!

If you are thinking of making a Feliz, but are unsure, you should look at Trillium Design's Feliz Sew Along.  I was going to show you how I did the ruffles, but Caroline has done them in a similar way.