[Robin]

LOL, I asked for a Kitchen Elf for Christmas. Sophie’s pretty sure she won’t be able to find one and asked if there was something else I liked to have. Perhaps fabric will have to do.

[with love Heidi]

Grey Sandbox HP pants with french seams!! Although I am about to rip out one seam as I sewed right side to right side. But the seams look great on the wool I’m using. But I may have to make grey shorts as well as long wool pants in summer is not ideal!

[meleliza]

Oh, I have some fabric on my list too! That’s if I can wait until Christmas and don’t snap it all up for myself in the Black Friday sales!

I’m finally back at the sewing machine this weekend! Though I’m really behind in housework, I managed to cut out and prep the dress I wanted to make two weeks ago before all this sickness. Liberty fabric is en route from London and I’m trying not to make crazy plans since there’s also the Christmas decorating and lots of holiday activities as well. I’d like to slow down a little and actually spend some time with the family. The city is wonderful at Christmas!

[Tamara]

Atta girl Meleliza, glad you are feeling more on top of things but going head long into plans may put you backwards so easy does it!

I still have mess and have been going very slow due to a bug I think I got the kids’ one from school. No obvious gastro action though but feeling really off! So am also taking it easy even though my house is being swallowed by mess. It can wait and just as long as I am totally on top of it before the holidays start I will be happy – our tiny space is a nightmare to clean with three other stationary bodies inside due to the heat!

I have decided to sort the scraps that have taken up two large tubs and a whole shelf in the cupboard. I found this fabulous pattern for a colour wheel quilt wall hanging that will be perfect for helping to diminish the quantity of scraps. Oh a perfect excuse to keep “more fabric” on my Christmas list.

And if I can get on to starting the quilting for the kids’ quilts this week it should allow a window of time to make a doctor’s costume and a few pairs of pj’s for my nephew who is 3.5 years old. Educational things only this year apparently so I may throw in a surprise puppet theatre as a bonus – time permitting that is.

So tomorrow hopefully I will be able to have enough space to sit and sew something from the tub of cut out things just while I am waiting on the extra fabric and the queen supreme slider thing that is meant to be great for moving the quilt around easily – gloves alone I found a bit difficult. I ordered it from another place in the end – it hadn’t even been posted 5 days after I placed the order! Where I ordered it the second time, they shipped the same day – by express and free postage! Now that is service for you!

[with love Heidi]

Cutting out 2 adult (2XL) bucket hats. I’m off sick today, I picked up a tummy bug, but want to sew. I’m not willing to try and draft my next HP robes when I’m not feeling great, but I think I can sew a bucket hat. And this will give me another Christmas present.

[Tamara]

I got my fabric package and my dinky little tools in the mail today. Can’t wait to try them out …. after I finish cleaning up this room – taking forever I know but if I do only half the job now it will take twice the power next time to give it a good going over. So do it now or live with the mess is now my motto for this room!

The Queen supreme slider looks really cool – comes in its own tube and everything! Tomorrow or bust!

[needlewoman]

What’s a slider, supreme or otherwise, please? Sympathy to all suffering from bugs; never any fun but extra annoying at this busy time of the year. Hope you all feel better soon

[DianaH158]

Wow – you are all working on wonderful things. I thought I was ahead of the game on Christmas sewing but then my 5 year old broke her arm and that put me off track a bit. She is doing much better – no pain but still in a sling. At any rate, I was able to start last night to continue on the School Photo dress in (red with white polka dots) corduroy for Christmas then onto a Sketchbook shirt for the 2 year old little man.

Hope everyone recovers from their respective illnesses soon!

Diana

[Lightning McStitch]

My nephew is coming to visit tomorrow, and since the Sailboat top that I made for him that only opened on one side wouldn’t go over his head, I thought I’d better make him another. So with a start time after my kids had gone to bed, I’ve knocked out a Saillboat top tonight. Now it’s late, but nothing’s finished ’til it’s in the Flickr pool….

[Tamara]

Needlewoman, the Queen Supreme slider is the larger version of a Teflon mat used to help get that quilt moving better when free motion quilting. I think it was invented by someone in the US as it has all these names of people endorsing it that I don’t know except a lady by the name of Leah Day who does heaps of you tube videos on how to free motion quilt and she’s just finished a project where she designs a different free motion design for every day of the year along with a few books on the subject. If you google her name she’ll pop up all over the place. I found gloves wasn’t enough and I was working on a little quilt so decided to try this.

Oh the School Photo dress sounds lovely and little shirts are always so cute!

Hope the shirt fits this time Heidi – big noggin lots of brains I say! I have to say that I’m up with the first call of the rooster lately, I could go an squeeze in an hour of cleaning up before hustling the kids out the door to school. That way I will be just a smidge closer to sewing again. I can’t wait to get back to the machines.

[with love Heidi]

Thanks for the good whishes, I’m back at work today, much better than yesterday.

[Nicole]

Portfolio pinned and ready to cut-hurrah!

Shiny silver vinyl arrived to make the shark-yippee(written in sarcasm font)!

[needlewoman]

Thank you for explanation of a Queen S Slider, justsewit; I never would have guessed!! I’ve never even heard of the Teflon mat to help with free motion quilting. Sounds like a plan though. Gloves get so hot, don’t they? Also, apologies for asking – if I had read your earlier post more carefully, I might have got it. But it’s not just sewing that goes “bung” late at night.

Finished my first Ice-Cream except for buttons. Unfortunately, forgot to top stitch pockets before attaching them to the dress so am going to add a couple of buttons to hold the facing down. It will take a little while to Flickr as I’m forcing this size 3 dress on a another friend’s child to try on so that I have a better idea what size to make her as I suspect she’s ready for a 4. Cannot wait to see the shark costume, mo5; good luck!!

[Mama_Knowles]

I finally finshed Sweet pea’s holiday outfit so onto baby boy’s! i am making him a vintage baby suit using the Sketckbook pattern with a hat and waist coat added to it. I can’t wait!

[Tamara]

That’s no worries at all Needlewoman. It helps to let others know who are interested in order to aid them further in a particular technique. I do have to say though that because our Aussie dollar is good for buying elsewhere and even though I am yet to use it, the amount I paid for it isrobably worth buying it in Australia – I got mine from Oz quilts. Being new to the free motion quilting thing, I thought I would take the advice of the more experience and get some tools other than just gloves and with the little bit I have done thus far, the gloves do get hot. They were a little too sticky also and the quilt didn’t move with as much ease as it apparently should without having the Fm foot on too loosely. So hopefully this will help a bit better except I have been informed that taping it to the table will lessen the chance of it being inadvertently appliquéd to the back of the quilt!

My eyes tend to go bung late at night also as does the mind but lately I have been early to bed and even earlier to rise which is really really unusual for me. I really detest insomnia!

Vintage baby suits – I’m going weak at the knees! Can’t wait to see this!

Have to stop chatting and get kids ready for school. Three weeks until the end of term and boy oh boy I cannot wait until holidays.