Finished Fridays

I am catching up on my blog posts before I get too far behind so sorry this is late.

My Finished Friday for today is the blanket I had as a Work in Progress post a while ago here that I actually managed to finish. I put it on my list of things to do in my 2 weeks holiday from work so it had to be done otherwise the universe would end!

I stitched all the rows together and they actually looked really good- a few were a bit wonky here and there but on the whole it looked surprisingly good for a first attempt. In the pattern from Mollie Makes magazine they put bias binding around the edge and left the back as it was with all the seams from the squares. I didn't like that idea so on my trip to Ikea at the weekend I picked up a fleece for £1.59 in a pale blue perfect for the colours in my blanket.

When I got home I was very excited to get it finished and so pinned it all together straight away and got stuck into sewing around the edges. It was a bit tricky because the blanket was quite heavy and my sewing table isn't very long so it would slip off every now and again but the overall result is something I am very pleased with. Plus as it was a lovely sunny day I could take pictures of it in the garden!

I'm in love with it! I like the colours and the softness of the fleece on the back. Plus I like that I only had to pay £1.59 for it. They jumpers are old ones of mine and my mums that we found in the loft so cost me nothing. I am definitely going to try and upcycle some more. My brother has just thrown a load of old shirts my way so I can see a summer shirt material throw on the horizon! Plus lots of buttons for my button box!

Here is the blanket at home on the end of my bed. If I had a giant room with a reading chair in it would definitely be draped over that but until I'm a millionaire this will have to do!

I tried it out the other morning when I was a bit chilly doing some uni work. It is so soft and warm I didn't want to have to get dressed and put it down. I can't wait for winter again now so I can use it all the time.

See you next week

Xxx

Work in Progress Wednesday

Fabric letters are my Work in Progress today. I brought some papier mache letters aaaaaages ago from Hobbycraft but haven't finished them yet!

I saw on the back page of Mollie Makes (the page where someone gives you a tour of their craft room) months ago and wanted to have a go myself. They were 3 fabric covered letters which spell 'sew' which I think is perfect for what I want.

I want to create an area in my room for sewing and general crafting and want this to be part of it. So far it is just a sewing table and sewing machine given to me by my great aunt. I would like to have a pin board up so that I can have a mood board and also space to hang scissors, embroidery hoops other equipment I use all the time.

These are my letters so far:

I have wrapped strips of wadding around them to make them padded (but I remembered not to cover the bottom so they would still stand up!).

I am going to cover them in some off cuts of Cath Kidston fabric I picked up from the discount store in Bicester Village but I haven't decided which print for which letter yet!

The main reason this hasn't been finished is that I don't know how to cover the letters with the fabric- most online tutorials tell you to glue it to the back but I think this looks quite messy and as I have wadding round mine the fabric wouldn't stick very easily to it.

I want to try and sew the fabric onto the letters but not sure if I should cut out a template or simply cut as I sew, and I don't want to mess it up with the fancy fabric!

I can see this not making it to Finished Fridays blog for a long time yet!!

Xxx

Work in Progress Wednesday

Hello!

This weekend I (somehow) ended up with 4 days off in a row- AMAZING!! So I did lots of crafting of various projects- why can I never just stick to one at a time?! I finished making my friends birthday present from a previous post (the union jack bag) and almost finished a 'new home' present for a friend I am seeing on friday who has just started renting a new house. But enough about my finished projects and onto my work in progress for this week...

This week I have chosen to dedicate this post to a blanket I have been wanting to make since 15th October (I only know this because I was on the plane on the way to Spain for a girly holiday when I saw it- not strange and remember dates I see things I want to make!) The blanket is from Mollie Makes and is made from old jumpers.

Doesn't it look snug?! It's really easy to make. You just need 3 or 4 old jumpers which you cut into squares of the same size (or different sizes if you want to make more of a random patchwork one). I cut 35 squares all the same size- it is a bit tricky to cut straight as the jumpers move around and stretch a bit but I found it was OK because it looks neat again when you sew them together!

Once the squares are cut out you lay them out on the floor to work out how you would like them sewn together. I did 7 rows or 5 squares.

Next you sew the 5 squares together in each row so you end up with 7 strips squares...and that is as far as I am at the moment!! This is my pile of squares which are sitting at the end of my bed just waiting!

And below are a couple of rows laid out so you can see- I went for a random formation of the squares and just made sure I didn't have 2 the same colour next to each other.

So all I need to do is sew the strips together and put fabric binding around the edge and its finished so hopefully it will appear on a Finished Friday blog soon!

Xxx

Finished Friday 3rd February

I forgot it was Friday but luckily I finished a project this evening so panic over!

This weeks finished friday goes to a memory box that I saw in an issue of Mollie Makes a few months ago and really loved.

The idea is that you have a box with a card in for every day of the year, each day you write something on that you did. It doesn't have to be anything major could be you watched a film with friends or read a really good book or anything at all you did that day. Then you just watch your memories grow.....

Above is my memory box. I have used some old postcards to separate the months and a grape punnet to hold all the cards in until I find a box the right size.

It takes quite a while to stamp all the dates on hence it only just being finished in February. You could write the dates or print them on the computer but I liked the old feel the stamping has given to the cards.

I can't wait for a few years time to look back and be able to see what I did on this day in previous years.

Happy crafting

xxx