Finish a long 2020 update

So Q1 of the finish a long did not go to plan, I only finished a few projects (not even my priority ones) and started a lot more.  

So I finished my birthday stitchers swap gifts, which included a patchwork tote bag, a sewing organiser and drawstring pouch (blog post about them here).A little fabric basket and drawstring bag using leftover fabric from my meadowland quilt. The biggest finish was my cotton and steel catty corner quilt and I even made a couple of cushions to match (blog post about my quilt here).

So on to Q2... this will be a different kind of 3 months. I am doing my #100daysusingcottonandsteel challenge and also hosting a sew along, so that will take a large portion of my sewing time. 
I have allowed exceptions though, since I have a few gifts to make, maybe even a couple of other sneaky projects. I am hopefully going to make a couple of my cotton and steel finish a long projects during my 100 days too. 
With all this in mind, my list for Q2 is:

A postage stamp style quilt using 4.5” squares, I have just started cutting and I’m not sure when it will get quilted but it’s going on my list.
A hst quilt, all planned and a little cutting.
A wonderland fabric quilt, again made a little start.
A half square triangle cushion, cut and ready to get sewing. 
My unicorn retreat pouch, been cut ready to sew for a couple of years.
A pin badge banner, tote bag and a scrappy pouch, hopefully another quilt too!

Non cotton and steel projects:
Millie’s cool mat cover because she will need it as the weather gets hotter.
A bag for my nanas birthday for her knitting, has to be done by may!
A pouch as a Father’s Day... this might turn to a birthday if I don’t get it made.
My #snappyzippouch for my phone, because it’s all ready to sew and even been floating on my desk for a month.
My liberty cord and cork pouch, part way through sewing and it’s a shame to leave it much longer.
A basket for my basket.
Plus anything in my box of wips that I need to finish, previously mentioned in a blog post here!

I also am hosting a sew along for my latest sewing pattern, which is a little bit different since it’s embroidery rather than a sewing pouch etc. I will be hopefully making a couple of projects during the 6 weeks.

This list is totally unrealistic, but as long as I make an effort with my 100 day project and make a good dent in my stash as well as taking part in my sew along, I will be very happy... any other finishes are just a bonus!
Mx

My #100dayproject!

For the last few years I have joined in with an Instagram based challenge called the 100 day project. You get to choose your own project or goals and for 100 days you work on them and post daily photos. I’m never very good at the daily posting but do love a nice challenge and setting myself goals. The best thing about this is you get to pick your own project to work on.

I’m sure I have mentioned before, I’m making an all cotton and steel, EPP ice cream soda quilt. It’s a fabulous pattern and a long term project, but because I wanted a nice scrappy feel and a total celebration of cotton and steel, I needed lots of prints. So I started collecting, mostly bought as fat quarters or scrap packs, but also swapped or kindly gifted fabrics too.

My stash is now pretty huge and I feel like I need to use some of it up...well a lot actually. With that in mind I have chosen my project for this year, #100daysusingcottonandsteel ! I have a plan including a lot of things I’d like to make. Hopefully I will get them all finished, however, I doubt it given the fact I’m including a couple of quilts. Not my ice-cream soda quilt, that would be just crazy! I do plan to sew some blocks though.

I got far too excited planning my project and have already spent quite some time selecting fabrics and lots of cutting preparation. Given the fact I got distracted doing this and forgot about a couple of gifts I needed to make, I am going to set aside a couple of days off during my 100 days to make those. 

So an outline of my project :

Try and use up as much of my cotton and steel stash. Make as many projects in the 100days as I can. Try to post daily, probably in my story and completed projects on my feed. Most importantly, use my stash and have fun!

Now onto the projects I want to make :

• A postage stamp/sampler style quilt. This will hopefully be a square of every cotton and steel fabric I currently own.  I’m hoping this will be a bed sized quilt so I will try to do the top and maybe the back, but will probably send it away to be long arm quilted and doubt it will be back in time to be fully complete. (I don’t know when this will be given the strange circumstances we are currently in).
• A wonderland quilt. I don’t have enough to have a bed sized quilt but I should manage a nice lap size. I will try to quilt and bind this one myself, hopefully finished in the 100days.
• A patchwork tote bag. I have made a couple of nice tote bags lately and really want one of my own.
• A scrappy triangle patchwork cushion.
• My unicorn retreat pouch and maybe a couple of other pouches.
• A pin badge banner, just because.
• I will also do some slow stitching and work on my ice cream soda quilt blossoms!
• I’m sure a few other bits will be made along the way too, maybe even another couple of quilts... let’s see how it goes...

So let’s see what I can do over the next 100 days using cotton and steel!

Mx

Meadowland quilt

 

I wanted to share this quilt with you now that it is finally finished... it took most of 2019 to complete, but I am super proud of it!!

I decided to join the quilt-a-long on instagram for the meadowland quilt, run by the pattern designer @thencamejune. This ran from February 25th for 6 weeks to finish with the quilt top. I had bought the my minds eye for riley blake 'blush' collection with the intention of making myself a quilt to go on my bed, so this seemed like the perfect excuse to start. Although the deadlines were stressful, they did keep me motivated to stick with it and keep sewing.

 

 

The hardest thing was choosing the fabric placement to get a nice mix of colours and prints across the quilt top. It was the first time I had followed a proper pattern for a quilt so working the fabrics into the existing design was something new for me. I was originally going to just go for it and let it be random, but ended up opting for a repeat of four blocks which used all of the fabrics once.

Once happy with the design, I began making. I cut all of my pieces out and used the chain piecing method to speed up the initial sewing process. I was very cautious with the flying geese sections to ensure my fabric ran in the same directions and the points matched perfectly. I'll admit there were some tears and unpicking to shift the blocks over just a few mm's to get it right and although not perfect it's as near as is possible !!

 

 

I made the quilt top to one of the largest sizes on the pattern and when it was pieced, it was quite an impressive size. It covers a double bed easily and meant a few step ladders were needed by my helpers to get a full length photo !!

 

Given the size of the quilt, I decided to treat myself to having it long arm quilted. I pieced the pink backing fabric and sent it off to the cumbrian longarm quilter and chose a nice swirly design as I didn't want to clash with the fabrics or patchwork design. I got it back in early May, around my birthday and was super excited to see it quilted, but also daunted by the prospect of trimming and binding it.

 

 

When December came around, I was determined to get the quilt done before Christmas, so I got some help to get the binding on and sat with Christmas films to hand finish the 9m of binding.

 

 

On Christmas eve, I finally had a completed quilt. With the festivities, I didn't get around to laying it out and photographing it. I would have liked to have taken it to the coast for some pretty pictures with scenery, but instead opted for keeping it clean and showing it on the bed !!

 

 

I'm rather proud of this quilt as it's my biggest one to date and I get to keep it and enjoy it for years to come. I'm also pleased to say it's another project ticked off my finish-a-long list too.

 

Mx

Q3 & Q4 plans...

It is time to look at my finish along Q3 finishes and make my plans for Q4. Quite simply I have made some progress on projects but not actually finished anything this quarter. Technically I have finished my birthday stitchers swap gifts, but since I can’t share them yet, they don’t count! 

I have got very distracted and have started, and actually finished a few other things. I am disappointed but that’s just the way this quarter has gone and I need to forget it and move on.

Rather than my normal round up and new list, I have just added what progress (if any) I have made. Unfortunately I have to add a few more projects I have started too.
This list is still so long, I just need to face the reality I definitely won’t finish my list this year, not even half. So I have decided to prioritise some projects that need to be done and selected just a couple of wants. 

• birthday stitchers projects- all finished, just need wrapping, will show you in Q4!
• Christmas project for escape and create blog- almost finished and so excited to share
• Annie's advent
• Christmas pouch ig swap
• butterfly cross stitch- progress
• jo's gifts
• Christmas stocking SAL
• my advent
• finish my meadowland quilt- still needs binding!
• an EPP case for myself (as a pattern release too)- made progress 
• Cork and liberty pouch- progress
• car accessories/quilt- the quilt top is made!
• a heather ross quilt- did a little bit but not enough to really consider it progress.
• pin badge banner
• unicorn pouch
• green blanket 
• Christmas bunting
• Christmas cross stitch
• polar bear cushions
• liberty HST quilt
• Tasha noel seaside skirt
• adele dress
• makers mat SAL- skipping this year, hopefully next year

I have taken part in the Saturday night craft along swap for a few years now, I really don't want to miss it. I will see how things go though.
Of course I have made some more progress on my ice cream soda quilt, although im not expecting that to get finished this year at all... maybe not even next. 

 so that's it...wish me luck!

I am using the #2019falcraftylilmouse for all my finish-a-long projects, if you wish to check them out.

If you want to join in the finish-a-long please go visit the blog here. 

Mx

My birthday stitchers swap

 

This year I signed up to take part in a birthday stitcher swap, over on Instagram. I recently had my birthday and these are the wonderful gifts I received. Maria (aka @madame_tailor on Instagram) sent my gifts from Germany.

First is my main handmade gift, which is this super carry all caddy. Marie used some beautiful art gallery fabrics and rose gold hardware. It looks so pretty plus with so much space and pockets, I’m sure will be very useful for holding plenty of projects.

 

 

 

 

My second handmade gift was this mini makers station, which is designed to go over the arm of a chair. It has some great pockets on either side, a thread catcher which buttons on and a tray on top. It has magnets in the bottom of the tray and pin cushion to stop them falling off and so you can use it separately too if you wanted. Maria used some more of the sonata fabrics that coordinated with the caddy. It is backed with a really great low volume print that I love. The third handmade item is this adorable mouse toy. She has a pretty dress and a beautiful hand stitched face, even some blush.

 

 

 

Lastly is this Lola zip pouch. It matches the other 2 gifts and I think it is my favourite print from that range too. They look so lovely together, I definitely think I will have to keep them all together and be super organised. 

 

Maria also included a few other extras including a mini charm, pin cushion ring and ribbon (shown in the makers station above) some chocolates and bath soaps. Not forgetting my dog, Millie, who also got some treats and a toy... Although she was rather more interested in my mouse! 

 

 

I can’t share what gifts I have made for my partner yet, because it’s not my her birthday until later this year. I would say I don’t want to spoil the surprise, which I don’t, but I also haven’t made them yet! 

 

Mx

Liberty kantha cushion

 

I had seen the #libertysocietykanthastitchalong on Instagram last year...A chance to use some of my liberty fabric stash and try something I had never done before. Lots of beautiful projects were made last year, but I didn’t get chance to join in so I was excited to get started this time round.

I patch-worked my panel on the machine, using some of the liberty scrap packs I had bought from duck egg threads online. I then chose my batting and added a piece of white cotton, to make my quilt sandwich. I chose a few colours of #8 perle threads. It was my first time using these too, with a slight sheen, they where easy to stitch with. I used my add-a-quarter ruler to keep marking a guide line with a clover Hera marker. 

Unfortunately the quilt for nanas 80th birthday took priority, so I only got time to finish my panel while the sewalong was still running. I should have picked a smaller project but I just knew I wanted a cushion. To make up the cushion, I used a bigger piece of liberty tana lawn to coordinate with the front. Since I didn’t want to bind the cushion, I just did the turn out method, but it didn’t quite look right. I top stitched a border about 1/4” from the edge and I think this was the finishing touch it needed. 

It was quite relaxing to do the kantha stitching and gives such great texture. I also think it was quite good practice for if I wanted to do some hand quilting in the future. The liberty is so soft and the overall cushion feels very luxurious. I love it and am so pleased I took the time to make it.

This was one of my Q2 finish-a-long projects. If you want to read that list, click here!

Also if you fancy looking at some very beautiful projects similar to mine...Go to Instagram and check out #libertysocietykanthastitchalong, which was hosted by the lovely @tincatsew.

Mx

Sew 6 organisers giveaway

 

As part of the sewalong, we also held a giveaway at the end. Me and Zena sent a prize each with winners selected at random from those who joined us in the sewalong. My winner was Maja. 

We decided that since the participants had the book already,  we would use a different pattern by Aneela Hoey. I chose to make a flex frame case and hand stitch some decoration on, using the stitch & sew book.

I added a few extras to the package including some ribbon, a  notepad, pen, some little stationary bits and a handmade card. 

This was also one of my finish-a-long projects that I had on my list. you can see the original post here to find out more! 

Mx

my #sew6organizers sewalong

This year I decided to host a sewalong on instagram, with the help of a friend zena. We chose to do 6 projects each from the Aneela Hoey stitched sewing organizers book, one per month. Everyone who joined in could choose their own patterns and make any little adjustments to the projects to suit them. The idea was to share our projects and we had a little group chat for any questions or help, making the most of the lovely sewing community on Instagram.

These are the six projects I made for the sewalong: I used the distant dreams collection from dashwood studios. I split the collection into 3 mini collections and added some dashwood twist fabric, (indigo and cherry I think).

 

I kept the first project simple with a little fold up pouch. This is a great little project that doesn't require a zip. It is an simple pattern to follow and can easily be adjusted to make other sizes.

The second project was this handy needle book. I liked this pattern, although I did make a few changes to the suggested pockets used in the pattern. In the book it shows 2 different sized pockets at the back, at the front is a single pocket with the addition of a small pin cushion. I changed the back to just have the 1 large pocket and since I didn't need a pin cushion, I chose to just do one large pocket at that side too. These work out perfectly to hold all the needles I keep in packets.

 

 

 

The next project was the see-it-all pouch... this is a very useful pouch and quite simple construction although the use of binding does make it slightly harder. I used sparkle vinyl as I liked the look and fussy cut the back to ensure I had a full peacock in the centre.

The fourth project was the 2-in-1 case. I love this case and I am using it to hold all my tools. This is made in a similar way to the see-it-all with the addition of a fastening tab. I had a few options for fastenings; I did try a button first but the button hole on my singer machine was not very neat and I was struggling with placement, I also considered using a magnetic clasp, but decided against this option as they are very strong and I didn't want my tools attracting to the magnets. The best solution I found worked as a fastening was a kam snap, both simple to fit and to use.  

 

Next was the fold up sewing folio. I found this project slightly tricky, not because of construction but directions. I kept getting very confused about the direction of things, so my layout differs slightly from the one pictured in the book. It is still fuctional though and my mum has taken it to store her sewing supplies.

 

The final project was the boxy pocket pouch, I like this pouch and it is definitely bigger than I expected it to be. Since it was the last project and I had been avoiding it slightly (I'm not sure why, maybe because I didn't want the sewalong to end) to give me a little nudge, I added this to my  finish-a-long list of things to make. You can read more about that here!

 

Overall, I enjoyed hosting the sew along and would definitely do another one. It was a joy to see everyone else's projects and make some friends along the way too. If you're interested in seeing all the projects for yourself, you can visit the #sew6organizers on instagram.

Mx

#sew6organizers sewalong

For Christmas I got the wonderful stitched sewing organisers book by Aneela Hoey. I am excited to get sewing some of the projects and since the only thing that makes sewing better is doing it with friends, myself (@craftylilmouse) and Zena (@mycreativelypottylife) are hosting a sew along on Instagram. Since we are first time sew along hosts, it will be pretty simple and relaxed sew along.

The plan is to sew 6 projects from the book, one per month. If you would like to join in you can sew the same projects as us (listed below) or choose your 6 favourites to sew... we don't mind! If you want to adapt the projects to fit your needs perfectly, feel free to make small tweaks to the patterns. 

The only thing we ask is to be respectful to the lovely Aneela Hoey and do not share any of the pictures, instructions or tips in the book. 

The sew along begins in April and starts off very simple, we will be using this month to get all the prep done. Interested in joining us?choose your projects, your fabric, collect all your supplies and get cutting!!

My projects will be:

• Fold up pouch (may)
• Needle book (June)
• See-it-all pouch(July)
• Two-in-one case (august)
• Fold up sewing folio (September)
• Boxy pocket pouch (October)

The sew along will finish in November, before the christmas rush, with a little giveaway.

To join in, head over to instagram now ... don't forget to use the #sew6organizers and tag us in your pictures!

Mx