Something Finished

I made these beautiful, cheerful, too busy for my husband curtains for our kitchen a few weeks ago. They were the first project that I started after little E's birth and the first one to be finished. I just didn't find the time to blog about it. What would usually be done on an afternoon took a couple of days but it was great way back into sewing.

This is the back which can be seen from the outside. I love them so hard. Years back* when I bought the half yard cut I'd planned to make an apron but this is an even more satisfying use. Such an improvement to the terribly dull makeshift that used to be in its place, don't you think?

My sister saw these and like a kid who sees somebody else with an icecream cone immediately demanded asked to get some, too. I'm happy to oblige her and it doesn't hurt that she's paying me in fabric on top of appreciating my makings. So we ordered another Michael Miller print and as soon as we've picked a coordinating solid I'll fit it into my schedule.

Happy sewing!

*Proof that everything does get used in the end!

Things I'm Working On

Yes, I might not be blogging or commenting on your posts a lot but I'm actually working on several sewing projects and somehow manage to fit a little bit of sewing or sewing prep into most days. These projects are new and there's still a few old ones to tackle but I'm following these creative outbursts as they come and know all will be wrapped up at some point.

This baby quilt top for my colleague (very excited for her!) is the latest project that I added to the list.

It started out with some fun layouting on the floor. My first equilateral triangles. Funny how it can still amaze me how much seams shrink a project.

And then there's these dotty hexagons and triangles. I splurged on the Hex N More ruler as well as the Super Sidekick as I want to work more with geometrical forms than previously and try out new blocks. Working out so far!

Last but not least, another quilt for the tiny one (totally the most gorgeous baby ever, yes, we're completely enthralled new parents). Her baby quilt is much too special to be used for outings in the park - though the handquilting possibly won't be done until her first birthday - which is why I'm working on a fun zig zag quilt. I'm using triangle paper to save time and it's a great project as it's easy to break up into increments. Rather than sewing all the HSTs, ironing them all open, sewing them up, etc., I'm working the processes in small parallel steps. Gives me the pleasure of "finishes" whenever I'm working on it. I even picked a more girly palette!

Happy sewing!

Nursery Curtains #2

The curtains are basically done and don't they look pretty with the sunlight shining through a little like this? I took this picture just now.

The second to last weekend before was spent crawling on the floor, measuring, cutting, pinning. It did go slowly with the bump but was well worth it.

That weekend I finished the inner seams and turned, pressed, and pinned one for topstitching.

Then, last weekend, I managed to finish them - all in all clocking in at roughly nine hours worth of work - but my husband only put them up for me to snap and appreciate during the week. The weather has been atrociously grey so these pictures aren't great. Anyway, the curtains are. They are up in the living room at the moment and really make me wish for new curtains there as well. Haha. My last curtain experience nearly put me off them and this one has me pining for more work. Well, maybe in a couple of months.

I'm just so in love. Success all along. Obviously they still need to be hemmed to the perfect length but that'll be done once the husband has put up the curtain rods.

Extra shot: they look pretty folded, too.

Happy sewing!

Nursery Curtains #1

The first step towards pretty nursery curtains has been taken as I've just finished these twelve hangers.

I'm keeping an eye on the clock this time around because even if it's a labour of love it's good to know just how much actual labour goes into things (and in case anyone asks me to make some for them I can point to that on top of material costs). 1.75 hours of ironing, cutting, ironing, chain-stitching, ironing-turning-ironing, top-stitching, ironing. Not too quick but not too slow either as I'm working very carefully.

Next up: ironing two lengths of fabric for the first curtain's body, cutting lengths to perfection, pinning. Washing two lengths of fabric for curtain number two. Not before a well-deserved break, though.

Happy sewing!

Show and Tell Tuesday - Return of the Sewing Machine

We got our new stove today. The one already in the flat was leaky and has been replaced by the landlord. Yay for being able to cook again, we've been relying on microwaved food for too long. Afterwards I finally broke out my darling sewing machine. Been missing this good friend!

First post-moving job was nothing fancy, I fear, just shortening some cheap white Ikea curtains. In our old Berlin flat we had slightly see-through magenta-coloured curtains in our living room and that was it. The flat was in the fourth storey and there were no buildings on the other side of the street. Our new flat, however, is on the ground floor at a large crossing with a broad pavement, so we need more privacy during the day but especially in the evenings. As spring is finally showing its beloved sunshine-y face we can also make do with the shade it provides for the telly and laptop screens.

Hmm, still a good couple of hours to while away. Time to get more creative than shortening curtains, methinks.


Not a lot to show but still linking up with Randi's Show and Tell Tuesday over at Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics and looking forward to what others have been up to.

Happy sewing!

The One In Which I've Survived the Curtains

I did it! The curtains are finally finished and ready to be delivered to my sister this afternoon. After hemming them, I treated them to a wash in the machine and hung them in my living room windows to dry over night. They looked seriously wrinkled. Nothing unusual, really, but as my sister does not have an iron (she despises ironing more than I do), I foresaw scenarios of me washing and ironing these pretties in the future. Ha! In the morning they did look fab, though, nearly wrinkle-free. Yay! I ironed them one last time and now they're a nice and heavy(!) parcel. Eight yards of curtains.

Hopefully she'll have curtain rods soon because I really want to see how they look in their new environment and take a couple of pictures, too. An unexpected bonus of all the stress with the curtains - it gave me incentive to clean my windows and wash my curtains. Spring, here I come. :)

On the knitting front, I finished the Owlie Sleep Sack and Hat by weaving in the ends on Friday night whilst watching some TV. They're soooo tiny, especially the hat, it's difficult to imagine an actual baby in them. ;)

Given that I still had some wool left and differently coloured remnants of the same in my stash, I tried to knit up a striped hat last evening. It was half finished when I realised that I'd made a mistake in my row count so I unravelled it to start all over again. The hat was three fourths done when I messed up a colour change in a decrease row. Whilst attempting to fix it, I lost a couple of stitches which couldn't be salvaged. So, once more, I unravelled the whole thing and went to bed. Annoying, sure, but in retrospect I'm glad. It was my first attempt at knitting with different colours and the bit with the changes didn't look particularly good despite my attempt to use the jogless jog method (or because of it?). The Pattern's short cut of not carrying the second yarn all the way with me didn't help the looks, either, I think. Therefore, I'll take it as a lesson to do a bit more research before my next attempt and not just jump into things. :)

As there's still some left of my weekend, I'll see what I can come up with to do post-lunch. How was yours?

Curtains, Curtains, Curtains

I still don't quite know how I did it, but I managed to sew not only two but three curtains! I was on a roll until I ran out of thread! Thread! *grumblegrumble* All four curtains are now hanging in my living room and bedroom instead of my regular ones. They still need to be hemmed and two are lacking the three rows of vertical topstitching that I added to give the curtains more body - but they will be done next weekend. So soon! After a wash and final ironing I'll give them to my sister and hope to get a nice picture of them for blogging purposes.

The knitted baby sleep sack is nearly finished, too. I didn't spend as much time on it as expected, due to my slaving away on the curtains, but I'm confident to finish both hat and sack in the evenings before Friday. With all these things out of the way I'll be able to fully concentrate on two matching quilts for a toddler and his baby brother. Very much looking forward to that.

I even managed to work a little on my Dresdens.

Such a busy busy sewing weekend. I felt exhausted at times, but the progress has been worth it. How about your weekend?

Forethought Friday

I spent the past 2.5 hours getting a head start on the weekend's sewing. Yay. First I ironed, cut, and pinned the panels of curtain no. 2. I'd washed the fabric in the morning and today's beautiful weather worked in my favour, so now panels five and six can be found on the balcony. After moving our big table, cutting mostly took place on the floor this time. I think less folding and fussing helped to get more exact results and pinning was less of a pain, which does not equal painlessness, though. At least I can start sewing straight away tomorrow!

I also cut 20 more wedges for Dresden Plates out of my beloved echo fabric to reward myself after sewing curtain no. 2 and prepping curtain no. 3 first thing tomorrow - I really really want to get them done and off my mind as quickly as possible and am bribing myself into it. Can you tell?

Now I'll enjoy the evening doing some easy-peasy stockinette knitting. I started this Owlie Sleep Sack earlier this week and all the cabling is done, so I merely have to keep track of my place markers. Pie. Easy. As. My future sister-in-law has asked me to knit something cute for an upcoming baby boy photo shoot of hers and as I'd been keen on trying owls I happily obliged. I'll also make the matching cutie of a hat. The pattern has been easy to follow so far with only some basic cabling to create the adorable owls.

I'm looking forward to a relaxed yet productive weekend. Maybe my muse will find me and whisper in my ear what to make with this, should some time be left over?

What are your plans for the weekend? Whatever they may be, have a good one!

The One Where I (Nearly) Swear Never to Sew Curtains Again

I've nearly finished a curtain today and it nearly finished me.. But first things first.

A couple of months ago my sister showed me a picture of a hotel's window treatment that she'd fallen in love with on her holiday. She asked me whether I'd come across fabric like that. I hadn't but several weeks later whilst windowshopping online I saw something similar.

French Dress Stripes Aqua/Teal/Brown by Laura Berringer for Marcus Fabrics

She liked it a lot better than the original window treatment's fabric because it had more brown and less blue. Together we decided to use Kona Cotton Espresso for the backing and ordered 8 1/2 yards each as my sister wanted four curtains. 17 yards of fabric - the horror. The mere sight of the masses of continuous fabric scared me. Knowing I had to cut and wash and iron all that did not entice me at all. Especially the ironing! I've grown used to the need of ironing in sewing but that doesn't mean I particularly love it. I let the fabric sit on my shelf for a couple of weeks before I decided to finally get a start and cut two half yards for the hangers and eight approximate panels for the bodies of the curtains. Those panels went straight back to the shelf but I pretreated the half yard cuts and turned them into 20 hangers.

 a set of hangers

Then life got in the way and I had no time to busy myself with curtains. I guiltily thought of them now and then, trying to come up with an attack plan because the amount of fabric and ironing still terrified me, until, having regained sewing time from the real world, I finally took action this weekend. I washed two panels on Saturday evening and dedicated most of today's afternoon to create this:

curtain no. 1, still unhemmed

The ironing didn't take up as much time as I'd dreaded but went pretty quickly and smoothly - much much quicker than my prolonged episode of kneeling on the floor trying to pin this mess after I'd cut exact 2 yard panels and trimmed off the selvages. Bleurgh. I was so glad to finally be able to sew after what felt like hours and hours. Then more ironing (of course), more pinning, topstitching, some more ironing (lovely!)... I think it took me 3.5 hours to get to this point. It could've been less if I hadn't been so eager on getting everything right and properly straight. I was determined not to have to use my seam ripper so I took my time.

I put the curtain up to revel in the result and to let it hang a while before hemming it. I think I won't actually hem it until the other three are done, too. That way I can be sure they're all the same length. Not sure when that will be, though. Ninety minutes and a dinner later I feel rather exhausted which doesn't leave me longing to return to this project. I had planned to wash two more panels this evening so I could iron and cut them tomorrow but I just don't feel like it. I really need to get other, non-sewing things done tomorrow and I mean, they're not even for me! *gasp* Given that I'll be working on two quilts soon, I should possibly dedicate the next weekend to finishing two more, though. Simply to have them off the radar. With spring and sunshine approaching my sister will also be thankful to finally have curtains for her bedroom. So I guess I'll bite the bullet of having a non-me-sewing weekend, then. I doubt I'll take on another curtain project any time soon, though.

Thankfully this weekend was not entirely lost to curtains. I discovered the joy of Dresden Plates on Friday. I'd resisted them for months but finally gave in and quickly made up three. I know loads more will follow. Here is one of them, no need to picture bomb anyone.

sunflowery Dresden Plate from Echo fabric by Lotta Jansdotter

They're not finished yet because I need to decide on what to use them for. Pillowcases? Or make plenty more and make an appliqued blanket? I might have to buy some more plain fabric to play with. Either way, I've fallen in love. They're much quicker to make up than I'd anticipated and are so darned cute! I followed Sew, Mama, Sew's tutorial which has a template and is really easy to follow. I ironed all my petals after turning them so I would have really neat points and edges. 

That was my weekend in sewing. Part exhausting, part addictive, certainly joyful. :)