My new Ipad cover

Since I've bought a keyboard to my ipad in hopes of not having to carry my laptop around anylonger (It's days are counted, and I though the poor laptop and my poor shoulders would be happier if it stays at home), i also needed a new ipad cover, big enough to fit both keyboeard and ipad. Not that big, since its a super slim keyboard (logitech, love it), but it still needs just a bit more space.

I took it as an opportunity to try a "real" quilted project for the first time. To be honest, I'm nor entierly sure about the terminology here. Are quilted always with padding? Is it otherwise patch-work? Well any how, first time using padding.

The fabrics i used are dark green cotton from my first dress (that I'm yet to post, i know..), light green from an old sheet i used to make a pair of prototype harem pants that ended up way to big, and some striped quilting cotton. Lining is plain withe cotton.

Kind of (sloppy) tutorial:

1. I made fabric strips and sewed them together
2. I added the padding and quilted it (again, im out on deep water with the terminology here)
3. added the lining right side to right side of quilted fabric and sewed addid a piece of elastic to the top for closure, and flipped so the lining ended up on the other side of the padding.
4. I folded the now long rectangular cover a bit under the middle, and left about 10 cm on one side for the flap, and top stitched around.
5. Added button.

Voilá and all that.

It was a fun project that I did from start to finish in one sitting. Just took a small break when this happend...

It's gonna come with me to Indonesia, leaving on friday, Woooo!

My new toy / Husqvarna Emerald 116

Let me introduce to you out new family member, Husqvarna Emerald 116.
(Grannys old Husqvarna zig zag, may you rest in peace).

I've been so busy fixing the bedroom re-decorations chaos, taking care of my sick husband and working since we got home for Munich,  I't wasn't until yesterday I had the opportunity to spend some time with it. It sews like a dream, compared to my old one (not a difficult feat, I'll admit). I wont give you any illusions of a review, now or later, since I'm really not in a skill position to do so. I can however say that the automatic needle threader is complete junk since it more fiddly than threading your self, and the little sharp hook breaks the thread, but I can thread my own needle, no probs.

I made a children's hat practicing sewing in streachy materials, which I have no experence with. Im having another project in mind for this fabric, but I wanted a test run first. I used this tutorial from Blomma åker vagn (varning, swedish). It was super easy, fast and fun.
(Edit: forgot to mention, the fabric is cotton/lycra from swedish fabric chain stor Ohlssons)

I also made a prototype for a baby grab ball (end result will be something like this). I have crocheted a ball like this once (not fun) which you can see on my ravelry page, it turned out way to big but thats another story. This time Im going for sewing (hopefully more fun). I like the color combination of the fabrics, but i think I need to make the "leafs" a bit longer in proportion the the width to be able to assemble it properly.

I think this marks the start of a long friendship. In my family there is a tradition of animosity rather than friendship with sewing machines, but hopefully I can break that.

Love and Stiches from me.

Latest thrift finds / Map, Tin, Cotton, Pattern

Thought I might show some finds from my lastest thrift shop rummage. Above is a framed old map over the nordic countries (with Latin names). Pretty happy about this one, since we really lack decorations for our walls, and my husband is very fond of maps. Need to hang it still, but our wall is concrete so it's easier said then done.

I also found a small baking tin with a nice triangular pattern, about 3 yards of turquoise cotton fabric for about 20 sek (3 usd) and a nice cape/coat/jacket Burda pattern (paid a measly 10 sek, 1,50 usd, for that one).

It was a good day.

A thrifty gift, home made kitchen towels.

Kitchen towel made from second hand finds, table cloth and lace.

My mother in law is a tinker of rank. She is the jedi-tinker and i am a mere padawan. For christmas we recived these home made kitchen towels, which i really like. They are made from one big second hand table cloth cut into towel size and second hand lace. I am really impressed by the application, they are sewed on by hand, hand you can just barely see the stitches from the back side if you look closely.

Sneaky invisible stitches

Quiltblocks

I didn't think quilting was for me. Then i tried making a basic sawtooth star from thought and found.

Now I own a rotary cutter...

Plan A for tonight is to try and catch some of the amazing auroras on camera. There's been a sun storm and some really big northern lights are to be expected. But due to the pesky clouds, i have to have...

a Plan B. Which is making some star quilt blocks with the help of my new rotary cutter and measuring tape in inches (converting to cm did not make wonders to the accuracy).

Thought and Found has a whole bunch of star shaped blocks i want to try out
(all pics stolen from thought and found)

The basic one

The exploding one

 

 

 

The shimmering one

50+ things to make out of recycled t-shirts

I'm a sucker for tutorial list, here is one i found today

50+ things to make out of recycled t-shirts

My favourites are:

 

 This braided super beautiful rug that I would never ever have the patience to make

Fabric bracelets

T-shirt tote bags

Some days turn out better than expected

Family health crisis seems to be averted. The best state any family member can be in is alive, that's for sure. I'm spening the week at my childhood home, with limited tinkering opportunities, but the internetz is as good for providing inspiration here as anywhere else.

Found this scarf on the blog Popetotrora, and my tinkering fingers are twitching.

Her blog post reveals that the construction wasn't a smooth ride, but I'm still willing to give it a try.

The Cross-stich Clutch

Crappy light, since daylight don't come in abundance here this time of year

Last week i bought an old, framed cross stitch at the thrift shop, since i wanted the frame. It felt wrong though, as a fellow thread-tinker, to just discard the cross stitch. So i made a clutch out of it!

I put some fabric adhesive on the back to prevent the stitches from ripping. Black cotton for edges and lining, and that's it!

Adhesive. Yes this picture is indeed very exciting.

I kind of made it up as i went, so there is probably a hundred better ways to go about putting it together, hence i will offer no tutorial. It's for your own good.