There is a "wurm" in the house

It is this time of the year when I am sewing like mad and trying to finish my sons birthday quilt. I did not expect him to ask me for an other one but he did. I chose the fabrics already weeks ago and had them all sorted until I run out of the white one ... just for one inch!!!! So now I am patiently waiting until more arrives. It would be boring to do nothing so I did some knitting.

I thought this one might be for myself but my little cheeky monkey took it not only for the photo shoot. I found this pattern on ravelry and as it was writen by girls knitting in Vienna and because it is calles "Wurm" I needed to make it. They are right, it is an unisex beanie and even my son would wear it .. just maybe in different colors.

I love that is has a doubled cuff which makes it so nice and cosy. I am pretty sure even if my feet are frozen on the pitch at the next ruby match at least my ears are warm. Just need to get it back from this monkey :)

Bag tester

I love testing patterns. It is a lovely way to get challenged and to learn something. I was already lucky to test the messanger bag for Katy and this time I had the chance to make my own travel bag. Did you also see so many quilter travel handmade? I was so jaleous but could never get over my fear and get started. Testing is a good way to finally just do it.

A long time ago I got myself 2m of London-Map fabric and never really found the right way to use it. I did use scraps of it but 2m is quite huge. We have a London trip planed in April so this was the oppertunity I was looking for to finally use at least half of it.

no, there is no picture without her

The pattern was straight forward and with the template how to get the most out of the fabric it was easy peasy. The only problem here is to get the supplies but it worked out fine at the end. I had to change the snaps on the front to magnetic snaps but this is just a little tiny adaption ...

There are so many pockets and I love it. There is nothing more terrible than searching in the bag. Pockets and zips, so many places to loose my stuff! Only the key can he chained in the ring ...

I love to carry the bag over my shoulder but sometimes it is handy to use handles. Now I have both and if I do not want the long strap any more, I can just unclip it.

I am so happy that I could test the pattern and make my trip to London in style. I am pretty sure I will never get lost there again :) Thank you Katy and good luck with the pattern! It was fun and I am so lucky to have my own Katy-Traveller-Bag!

Midtermbreak

Sometimes you need a break and guess what: here it is! The children are of school (but not all other activities) so there is not much time for sewing. Actually I try hard to finish the birthday quilt for my son (which I just started) but today after one block I took my girl and let her make the "City Gym Shorts" herself. I already had the fabric cut. She had to chose a second one for the binding and than we could get started. 

It did not take long until I broke the needle. Unfortunately I only had a jersey needle left but this one did fine. We need to get new ones tomorrow but today someone desided to stay on the sofa and have a good rest.

The rest came together nicely. She was so happy that she tried them on and dit not take them off again. She was asking for short pj trousers some weeks ago and it looks like we found the perfect pattern therefore.

I love the pattern. It is straight forward and easy to follow. This short was made in such a short time that she did not have time to get bored or exhaustet. Wonderful! 

Foggy Ireland

I have to say this winter was mild and nice. No frozen pipes! no closed schools! There was only one day in November, when the boys had a match, it was so foggy, it was hard to find the ball. It was strange not seing from one end of the pitch to the other but the boys had fun. Last week I went down to the beach to find this ...

On a normal day you can see over to the other side of the bay but this day you were trapped in fog. The same as today. So when we left Galway this morning to go up to Claremorris for the girls blitz we were arriving here ...

The girls had fun but I always forget how wet the ground is in these conditions. Of course my shoes were soaked in minutes but who cares! We had a great day and when we came back to Galway the sun was waiting for us :)

Birthday party again

Last week I showed you the wide open pouch for the birthday girl on Friday. Today it is all about the birthday girl on Saturday. This lady turned 8 and is in class with my little one. You know, the one who is promissing pouches to all the girls for their birthday. So I had to sit down and make an other one but to be honest, I love them. I made a flat pencil case using two economic blocks got in a swap a long time ago. This time it was about fashion: a pretty dress and nail polish! Isn't that perfect for a little lady?

For the inside I used some polka dots. I think they are always perfect. I did a little quilting on the front using a varigated pink thread. This is still one of my favorites and I just love the effect it gives.

We did not put lots of sweets inside but pencils so she can use it straight away. I was so pleased when I got the text message from her mum saying she loves it! This is the best compliment I could get!

Pouches are the best birthday gifts

It is always hard to find a present for the birthday child especially as they already have everything they want. I made a little pouch for birthday girl last week and it looks like she is happy with it. So I thought it might be a good idea to make two more. The first one for a girl getting 12 so she needs one that is slightly bigger. My son chose fabrics and style (Noodle head) and I was the lucky one putting it together.

It might have been a mistake to promise to fill this with sweets but I had to keep it. Even if I chose to make the medium size it is really huge. The tutorial was great and it was really easy sewing.

He really chose a fun fabric. For the zipper end I tried to fussy cut one of the gorgeous prints. When I was finished I realised it might have been a good idea to put a snap at the end but it was to late. I did not want to ruin the bag again as usually the snaps are not so easy to attach. Next time ... maybe!

Last I put on a charm on the zip and than I was done ready to go sweet shopping :)

Linking up with Finish it up Friday

Sewing for the boy

My son has come to an age where it is hard to find clothes that are cool but not babyish. He had a hard time finind one hoody he likes but otherwise our search to fill the cupboard is usually without success. So the next step is to make them myself. We found a pattern and were eager to start until we realised: there is no place to get farbics! I always thought that is unique to quilting fabrics but that was not true! I love to touch the fabric I buy especially on clothes but we had to order again. I only ordered a "trialfabric" as there are so many different discriptions out there that I got totally confused.

The good thing about that shop is, you can order samples (what I did) and I have to say they are fast! So my morning was blocked with printing pattern, glue the pages together and after cut them again. At lunchtime I was ready to trace the pattern on the fabric and could start sewing. The pattern was straight forward - except: I am not that into cloth sewing so if you want me to make two sides of one template please tell me to flip the it!

So I had to cut the hoody twice ;( Anyway I made it almost through before the rugby training and finished the last three seams after. Just in time before he had to go to bed to have a go! He loves it!!!! And what about me? There are several things I am not happy with: the fabric is to thin, the hoody makes waves, the pocket shows the inside fabric, ... oh I could keep going!

On the other hand he is happy with it and wears it every day! But this is exactly what I wanted isn't it? So I have to forget about the little mistakes and be happy too! His sister already asked for one too so I might go big shopping to make at least one more.