Christmas is nearly here!

Whoa, last post was the 9Th of December. Naughty me, but as i'm sure you can imagine, December is a busy crafting month. I had most of my presents done by the start of this month, but there's always a couple you forget, or have to re-do as you decided to keep them, or fleece trousers to make as this snow WON'T GO AWAY.... So before the big day arrives, I though I'd round up what I've been doing with myself the last few weeks.

I've been thinking and working a lot on my new business plan. It seems to be coming together nicely, but I'm taking my time. One of the ideas I'm toying with is mobile phone/mp3 covers.


Sorry about the bad photo's. Again. I have a new camera, but I'll come to that in a bit. This is the case I'm using for my phone, it's not quite as refined as the finals will be, but overall, I'm liking it. It's the same style as Papa Jones' Spongebob one.



Here it is with my Ipod in.




I made this one for my Mum. She likes elephants. It's also lined with red denim. Yum.


I got a new phone this month too, I purposely picked one with a decent camera (it ain't pretty) but I liked the idea of having one less device to carry around. Here's a pic taken with it of the Thundercats throw and pillow I made for my friend Pricey which he has yet to pick up. I might stick it on Ebay if he's not quick.



Here's another idea I'm playing around with to sell.

Its a PVC lined everything bag. I'm using this one at the mo for holding nappies and snacks for Ruby. It fits in my bag lovely, and keeps the stuff together! It would also be a really good sized makeup bag, or great for packed lunches as the inside is wipeable. Much better than a Saino's carrier bag.

It holds three nappies perfectly, with plenty of space for two Pepperami mini's and a Babybell, the current snacks of choice.


Momentous happening this month too, Ruby's had her big bed (Yay!) so I wanted to make her a special blanket. I fancied patchwork, but didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted to use for the entire blanket, so appliqued the patchwork onto two layers of fleece with a layer of wadding in the middle.

It's so cosy, and makes a great play mat too.


Patchwork close up. I love the guitar fabric, but have now used every scrap. Sniff.


Over Christmas, I'll get pictures of everyone with their handmade gifts, so expect a MEGA January post!

Merry Christmas everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh, the Excitement

I went to Asda today and bought this:


"Why the heckaroo would a svelte (ahem) young lady buy such a humongous shirt?" you might ask? Well, to turn it into this:



I LOVE IT. Holy Mackerel. I will now be buying XXXL tshirts wherever I can find them. I'm so excited, I want to get changed into it RIGHT NOW.

OK, overuse of capitals over. I also made this for Papa Jones:


Whenever he has a new mobile, I make him a new case for it. I got sick of doing boooring black ones, so asked him " Does it have to be black?" he replied "I don't care as long as it protects the phone."So this baby has Spongebob on the outside and Batman on the inside. Oh yeah.

By the way, people keep asking me if I'm losing weight, or watching what I eat. Well I do watch the cake/rocky road/ pie go into my mouth I suppose. Just shows what properly fitted clothes can do.

Good Sewing, Bad, Terrible, Awful Photography

Today and yesterday, I've been on a clothes making frenzy. I've made a fab Thundercats skirt and two, yes TWO dresses! Unfortunately, the pictures I've taken of them are absolutely awful. Don't believe me? Take a gander at these babies:

My Thundercats skirt, made from a pillowcase. It's an awesome skirt, honest!

The back:

Obscenely out of focus.




My purple jersey dress. Papa Jones took this for me, I asked him to cut my head off and just photograph the dress, but I think he ignored me which explains the stupid face I'm pulling. There's also a random stain on the front, which I cant seem to find in real life.



Dear god what an unflattering angle. This dress does have two frickin sweeeet things going for it though; it has motorbikes all over it and it's the first time I've attempted sleeves! And they worked! That was a pretty darn exciting moment for me. I've always been scared of sleeves. Not in general, not like they were going to come alive and strangle me in the night or anything. Just making them.

I made the pattern for these two dresses by putting a tshirt and skirt that fit me well onto some paper and drawing round them, and it works really well for my weird body shape. I think the neckline needs some work though.

I'm going to wear this dress out this weekend, but jazzed up like this:


Holy mackerel.

It says a lot that these were the best of the photo's.

Yay Geekcrafts

I'm so excited!I was contacted today by Shayne from geekcrafts and Dinohorsie is going to be on the website! Yay!

I LOVE geekcrafts, you should go and have a look at the awesome stuff they have there!

Busy, busy, busy...

I haven't posted for a while, but that's because I've been sewing my buttski off! We've been a bit poorly in the Jones household, so after The Rubes has retired to bed, I've been snuggling on the sofa in my PJ's with Lost and some hand stitching. Heaven. This afternoon my parents were kind enough to babysit, so I've been up in the attic, working my way through my 'To sew' list. This is what my week has brought:

Matching Pirate skirts for Ruby and I made form fleece. So cosy! Thanks to Kegga for this idea. I've got lots of fleece, so will be making many more.


A fleece dress for Ruby.


A skirt for Ruby made from and old jumper. I left the ribbing at the top, zigzagged elastic for the waistband, and zizagged the bottom too to give that rufflyness.



Pink cord edged in some random stuff I got in a huge bag of lace and ribbon from a carboot sale for a fiver. That was a good day. Elasticated waist again.


Herb. He was supposed to be a Christmas present for my friend Richard, but I'm going to give him to Ruby instead as I want him to live at our house! I'm not even going to wait until Christmas.

And finally...


DINOHORSIE! Ever since she was really little, Ruby has called Dinosaurs, Dinohorsies. I wondered what a dinohorsie would look like... I was going to give him a mane and all sorts, but the fabric was enough on its own. That hair got frickin everywhere though.

Graaawwrr

I made this for Ruby on Saturday night. I was supposed to be going out for dinner, but didn't in the end and actually had a pretty darn good evening, sewing and watching a LOT of Lost. I couldn't be bothered going upstairs to the attic for my sewing machine, so hand stitched it all and gave myself a migraine! I could barely see putting the eye's on the hat. When I got up the next morning, I realised i'd sewn them on upside down, so had to do them again anyway. I was determined to get it done ready for Sunday at Nanna and Grandad's though.

You can't really see, but there are teeth on the fastener of the hat too. Hehe.

Essentials

I still haven't made the amendments to the skirt tutorial, but I'm working on it. Today though, I found another reason why it's great being able to sew. When you need something, you can just make it!

Ruby's at the age now, where I don't need to lug around a huge bag of stuff for her. A couple of nappy's and some baby wipes and we're good to go. A pack of baby wipes though, is about half the size of my handbag. And it ain't pretty. Throw in some nappies and there's hardly room for my Ipod let alone anything else. So I made this:



Big enough to hold three nappies, and a wodge of wipes, but about the size of the original bag of wipes! And a whole lot prettier.

Skirt Tut success! Well Almost...

The skirt tutorial has been tested and I am proud to say it works! Woo hoo! It needs some minor amendments, but when that's done, I will post it up here. I saw the finished article, made by my sister-in-law today, and it is fabulous. The fabric she chose is gorgeous, I'll post a pic as soon as I get one. That is one of the greatest things about making your own clothes, being able to chose any fabric you like. The weirder/cheesier the better. Which leads me to:



You may recognise this fabric, most people do. In your aunty's house? Or Grandparents? I just love it and snap it up whenever I see it, usually in charity shops.


I have it in pink and purple, and in both bedding and curtain materials. This skirt is made from the curtain, as is my knitting bag and needle roll. I made a dress out of the pink sheeting, but it was too small. Gorgeous though. It had a yellow zip. Sigh. The pillow cases on my bed are the pink too.

As well as making this skirt yesterday, in half an hour I might add, I finally got round to making some bedding for Ruby's bed. I've been wanting to get her a quilt for her cot, but they are ridiculously expensive, considering they are half the size of a normal quilt. So I bought a 4.5 tog single one for £8, and cut it on half. Now she has one for chilly nights, and I can double it up for super dooper chilly nights.

The cot size duvet covers were equally expensive, so I took a double quilt, folded it in half and measured the smaller quilt onto it, poppers still at the top. I now have two matching quilt covers, with poppers, a pillow case and some left overs for probably about a £1. Would it be wrong to make her a matching nightie?


Oh look, there's some pink too! I may be obsessed.

Skirt Tutorial

I've just spent the last two hours writing a tutorial to make the A line skirt, but I've decided to hold off posting it for now. I think I'll get someone to try it for me first. What if it's too wordy? It makes no sense? Doesn't work? It's only the second one I've ever written.

Anyhoo, until it has been tried by my carefully selected cross-market focus group (my sister-in-law) here's some pics of the newest one I 've made for inspiration.





Isn't that great fabric? I now have a skirt and dress in it, and Ruby has a quilt. Only scraps left now though. I wonder how far I can make it go?..

All Quiet on the Sock Monkey Front

Last night was sock monkey night, but due to circumstances beyond anyones control we were down to two, but we still had a great time. Claire finished her monkey and I finished Sarah's for her, she's not very well so I'm going to deliver it to her tomorrow. We also started our Christmas decorations!




They're mainly made form felt, and are so quick and easy to make, which is nice after the month it's taken to get the Sock Monkey's done. I'm looking forward to doing more next week when hopefully the gang will be back together Pink Ladies stylee.


Whilst I was waiting for the girls to arrive, I got excited about a pattern I'd seen in a sewing book called "Yeah, I made it Myself" and thought I'd start it. I finished it before I went to bed, and here it is!


Isn't it a fab colour? You'll have to excuse my random arm position, I was trying to hold my cardi out of the way. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. It's a little big, and the fabric is a tad scratchy, but it has darts! And a zip! And two rows of pink stitching on the hem (which you can't see).
I do love an A line skirt, it's an "I can do anything you throw at me " kind of skirt. For example, today I have shopped, done the washing and fixed my chicken run in mine. The best bit about it though? It took but one little hour.


Tonight I will be making another.

I am a Technological Genius.

OK, not quite, but I did work out how to get the photo's from my phone! Well, it was more luck than anything else, but the result its the same. So here's a few pics!



Meet the Flubly! It's a microwaveable rice heating bag, you use it like a hot water bottle, and may be one of the most amazing things I have ever made. No exaggeration. Stick it in the micro for a minute and a half and it stays warm for an hour and a half! Have I posted about this before? I don't even care. It's THAT good.

It has a 100% cotton inner bag, and a cover you can throw in the washing machine if you need to. Mine needs washing already as it's covered in chocolate thanks to its new owner.



I've been busy, busy with Christmas presents, one of which I've decided to keep for myself! It's the slippers I made for my Mum. There's a reason though, one was a bit wonky. Honest. I just realised though, the pic is on my normal camera, which I'm not talking to at the moment. I actually hate it. I'm going to start using my Dad's old one, but it takes about 19 batteries.

Sock monkey night tonight too, woohoo! The little critters should be finished this eve, so onto Christmas Decoration night. I m made a few prototypes yesterday and they're looking pretty darn cute if I say so myself! Pics coming tomorrow. If I can persuade Norway to lend me their power supply to get my camera going.

In other news... progress is happening in the Home Craft Business. Watch this space...

Until then...

I still can't work out how to get the photo's from my phone. Grr. But I have made lots of new things. Yay! Unfortunately, they're all Christmas gifts, five made to be exact (I was on a roll yesterday), but I can't put them up until they've been given! So until I make more things for myself, or the Christmas decorations get done, here's a couple of Sock Monkeys to keep you going.



Lyssa Sock Monkey, a present for another one year old. Also being ignored.


Currently unnamed Sock Monkey, hopefully to sell.

Back to the Christmas present making! This one's a goody...

Naughty

I've neglected my blog a little this week, and my excuses are as follows:

1. I've been trying to finish some Chrsitmas presents off. I've done one.
2. There's a new boy distracting me.
3. Ruby has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease!

The first two reasons are nice, I don't mind being distracted by sewing and boys, but Ruby being poorly has not been fun. At first I thought it was chicken pox, but soon found out it was Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. She's fine now in herself, just the spots in the afformentioned places, but the hardest thing for the both of us at the moment is that it's contagious! So we're banned from public places. It's not very contagious to adults, so have been visiting the grand parents, but jeepers, cabin fever is setting in like crazy. There have also been a few early morning issues, and tiredness + boredom = Naughty Daughter + Grumpy Mummy.

Anyhoo, onto the crafts. I have managed to squeeze a few things in though, I've discovered the joy of microwave rice heat bags! Literally take 15 mins to make, microwave them for a minute and a half and it stays warm of an hour and a half! Great to take to bed on these chilly nights. I have taken photo's but unfortunately I cant work out how to get the photo's from my phone onto my new computer yet, and the batteries are dead in my camera. Grr.

Tonight should have been Sock Monkey night too, but postponing until next week. We'll hopefully be starting Christmas Decoration night too! As long as I can get out of the house to buy supplies...

Time for more Sock Monkeys!

We had another Sock Money night yesterday, it's so much fun.We ate pink birthday cake, drank tea and watched Pretty Woman. Oh, and did some sewing.

Here's how we're coming on:


I think they're looking pretty darn good!

Here are a couple more I've done recently but haven't been able to put up as they've been gifts. They have now been received and are hopefully enjoying their forever homes!


Katy Sockmonkey, the first with clothes! A very fetching, if slightly saucy black lacy skirt. Apparently she's been very naught in her new home, scratching her bum and sniffing it. Tut.



Lottie Sockmonkey. So far completely ignored by her1yr old receiver, but I think she's a grower.


I really need to work on my photography...

Ta Dah!

After about a year of trying and making probably six or seven dresses, none of which have fit, I have finally done it! I've finally made an easy peasy aline dress pattern!

I've tried so many different ways, patterns from books, proper patterns, going from my measurement and making it up, but none have worked so far. I seem to be patternly challenged. I never picked the right size, no matter how carefully I'd think I'd worked it out. They either wouldn't go over my boobs, or be so big I couldnt even take them in.

After all this, I have finally done it. It's a very basic shape, is only two peices, and takes about an hour to make! I'm going to have them in every fabric I can find. It also only has a small slit at the top back, and a button to fasten, the same way I make my daughters dresses.

Here it is!



It doesn't look much here, and it's not a slinky, figure hugging number, but I was looking for something I could throw on with leggings and go about my daily business of mothering and making, but still feel pretty. I didn't want to worry about "holding it in" all the time. You ladies know what I mean.

Add a belt and some skinny, skinny jeans though and...



Voila! I love it so much. I need to go make another.