Christmas Holidays

I'm back. Back in Berlin, back online and back to better health. Thanks so much for your comments and concern. I did take things slow and have recovered nicely.

After my last post I spent a wonderful, relaxing weekend with my husband, my sister, and her partner. Amongst other things we took a leisurely stroll around a handmade Christmas market where we bought delicious marmalade and my sister espied cutesy Christmas tree ornaments. She especially liked the owls, however, didn't really dig the fabrics. Obviously I hatched a plan immediately and rummaged through my stash as soon as they left on Sunday. I came across my Sew Stitchy layer cake which I won in Fiona's giveaway in June. June! Seriously?! Time has hurried along like mad.

I hadn't touched these pretties since making my hexie pouch and a few proved perfect for wintry, not too Christmassy ornaments! I brainstormed with this on my table...

... to finally turn out these.

They're blue and white respectively in back and front. However, I made a third one combining both fabrics.

And it's smaller than the other two... Yep, I'm going to be an aunt come summer. I'm so excited and happy! Can't wait to gift them these little darlings. Here they are all together.

As you might recall most of my time this Monday to Friday was dedicated to the Yoshi quilt project. I'll be posting about my progress in chronological order over the next couple of days - my Christmas present to you.

Have a wonderful Christmas, friends!

Sew Stitchy Hexie Pouch

After a spectacularly productive week, this past week has seen way less sewing. Nevertheless it's been very productive, only borderline stressful, with lots of important things checked off the wedding to-do list. You know the drill: find a hairdresser, find something to put in my hair, decide on flowers for the wedding bouquet, get more serious about the seating plan, find a dress for my sister/witness, buy earrings... So yay! There's only very little left to do and I'm hopeful to have everything done by the end of next week and therefore five weeks in advance. Fingers crossed.

This afternoon I finally had some proper me-time and I spent it in one of the best ways known to us - plotting, cutting, sewing. First, I manipulated the pattern pieces of my hen night dress and cut the second mock-up which will be assembled next Saturday.

Second, I wanted to make something quick and fun and very useful. My hexies are overflowing so I made a zippered pouch to keep them in check. And what better fabric to use than some of the Sew Stitchy layer cake that I won the other week? It arrived on Tuesday and I'd been trying to come up with an instant gratification project ever since. I chose the grey pins and hexies for the outside. So apt! And much prettier than a plastic ziplock bag. Right size to take outside, too.

It's sized 23cm by 19cm. Here's a shot with eleven finished hexie flowers for reference. Hexies are 5cm in diameter.

I'm making much more progress on them now I'm taking pre-assembled sets (the petals attached to the centre, but not each other) with me on the train. That way I can finish one flower on my way to and another on my way from work. Pre-assembling takes place whilst watching a movie, for instance tonight.

To celebrate having more space for my hexies I decided to cut fabric for even more hexies. Hehe, slightly addicted.

The pouch used only four pieces of the layer cake, so I've got another 38 left to make awesome things with. Maybe a sewing machine cover? More pouches? It's already proved a real treat. Thanks again, Fiona!


So what did you get done?

Linking up with Manic Monday over at SewHappyGeek.