Posts from — July 2009

I know it appears that I have given up sewing – and for a few weeks there, after a string of difficult projects and a dose of exhaustion I wondered myself if perhaps it was time to part ways with my sewing machine. But then one day in an attempt to clear my cutting table I sewed up a dress that had been sitting there all cut out for nearly two months. And for once everything worked and the dress came together quickly and easily and looked fantastic and WHAM – I’ve been sewing ever since

The dress was a second attempt at this one, but it turned out even smaller than the first, so I sent it to my good friend Tina to try on her beautiful two year old Indigo and take a few snaps for me. And blow me down – have a look at what she sent me back!

Believe it or not Tina is not a professional photographer but she does make beautiful clothes which if you’re lucky you can snatch up from her store. Thanks for the beautiful photos Tina – you’re a gem!

I am just putting the finishing touches on some other projects which I will share soon!

P.S. this dress is for sale here, and the fabric is for sale here

Here are some well overdue photos of the finished blanket. There was a lot of love put into this blanket. Choosing the wool – sending it out and then receiving the squares, some from people who had never knitted before, massaging each square (or rectangle!) into shape and then slowly but surely joining them together. But when it was finished it was more than just a blanket put together with love. It was beautiful

Best of all, the little person who was so very ill when the project began is doing much better. What more could we have asked for?

Thanks again to everyone who helped with this project. I think we did a great job!

P.S. – for anyone who finds this blog looking for tips on how to sew afghan squares together (the same way I trawled countless blogs looking for this very information) – after much trial and error I crocheted the squares using this method (it’s a Ravelry link so you’ll need to be a member to see it, but if you’re not a member you should go sign up right now because one day you’ll wake up and decide you simply must knit something that very day and then you’ll find that all the good patterns are on Ravelry and there’s some weird waiting list thing you need to go through before you can join and take it from me you will find this very frustrating!).

I have just finished the quilt top I promised myself I’d never make. Which I should know by now is a sign that I’ll be making one for sure. And when I got near the end of it I very nearly stumbled and fell, and in true Annabel fashion I whinged and I cursed and I promised I’d never be so stupid as to make something like this again. But then I got it finished, and I took it up to Zoe’s bed, and I saw it all spread out. And suddenly all was forgiven and forgotten.

I love this quilt top, and Zoe loves this quilt top, and it was well worth the life years lost to create it. And the best news is – I’m getting it professionally quilted, so apart from a bit of binding my work here is done. Yay!!!

For anyone who feels they might need one of these quilts in their lives I very belatedly followed the Oh Fransson quiltalong, and I added extra blocks to make this big enough to cover a single bed. You can see some other fine examples from the quiltalong on the Flickr group.

It is school holidays here, and I have been diligently finishing some of the large projects I started last term before I let myself start on any new sewing. After finishing the first of them last night (the blanket) I couldn’t help but sneak into my sewing room for 30 minutes this morning for a bit of fun.

Here is the Build-a-Bear bunny Zoe got at her last birthday party sporting her brand new veil:

Isn’t that just what any self-respecting bunny needs?

Pictures of blanket and other diligently finished projects to come.