Let's Talk About Christmas Presents

Has it been nearly three months since Christmas already? Yes, it sure has. This beautiful 11 week old girl in her cot next to me - she is beating up her mobile whilst stretching her legs as far up into the air above her tiny tummy as possible whilst I'm typing this - makes sure I remember Christmas and the time since very well.

Baby E let us enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve and a delicious lunch with my family the following day but she certainly kept mum and dad very busy between the late hours of Christmas Day and her afternoon arrival on Boxing Day - her estimated due date. Best Christmas gift ever!

Obviously we've been kept busy since, not that we mind too much. We're grateful and overjoyed to see her grow and learn, we're basking in her smiles and laughter. As I said, best Christmas gift ever!

I haven't sewn a stitch but I did get some wonderful stitchy presents. Up first, Oakshott fabrics - a Freesia fat eights pack and half a metre in Thistle. Not exactly a gift but I'd been intrigued to give them a try for ages and the last days of my pregnancy did wear my nerves a bit thin so I treated myself. The colours are gorgeous and I fear the picture doesn't do them justice. I hope to turn them into a cushion or two.

Up next a proper Christmas present, a Cotton & Steele bundle of yard and half yard cuts. Preeetty. No set plan yet but it'll be something special, I'm sure.

Last but not least, several wonderful helpers to make my sewing life easier. Some snips, Wonder Clips and a new, bigger cutting mat. The old one is only 60 cm x 45 cm whilst this one nearly covers the whole table at 90 cm x 60 cm. So nice.

I've got a few projects lined up (old ones, too!) but don't have a fixed schedule or anything. I'll take it as it comes as my most important "project" is lying in her cot next to me. Gnawing her hands. I should better be off. *wink*

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #24

So much for last week's resolution...

I really shouldn't have gone checking out shops with my good friend Conny but these 4 metres of gorgeousness were basically a steal and are just perfect for the next project for my baby girl. Okay, so they sparked the idea in the first place but I won't let that rain on my parade. In 2015 I'll be making an I Spy/Solids quilt for the little one. And would you believe it, I picked my usual palette and added that dainty lilac without anybody physically forcing me! Me, of all persons, choosing a girly colour? Yep, Conny was surprised, too.

Conny also gave me these I-can't-believe-how-cute-they-are onesies and hat that she made herself. I absolutely adore them and wouldn't mind a pyjama with the print for myself... Can't wait to put them to use once the baby's big enough.

Btw, you should really check out Conny's pattern shop, Santa Lucia Patterns, if you're from Europe and in love with Indie clothes patterns but don't like ordering and waiting for them to arrive from overseas.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #23

Look at my pretty Black Friday hoardings from the Fat Quarter Shop (gee, I adore how they pack our parcels, always so yummy)! I decided that I needed graphic prints that would go with the selected Cotton and Steel bundle I've made my mum give me for Christmas (still so long til it's back in my arms!) but that would also work as fillers and background fabrics in general. Hence, lots of yellow-golden and blue hues, some Remix and ever so beautiful Art Gallery prints.

Sensible me also got yards of these beauties. Perfect for backgrounds, backings, binding - I know these will come in handy.

Of course I couldn't resist buying half a yard of utterly cute and kid-friendly. A girl's gotta some have fun when she's so sensible with the rest of her fabric money. Okay, I admit it, it was all fun, though sometimes tough to pick and choose, but don't tell anyone. The Cloud 9 snails won out against two Marine Too organic prints by Birch fabrics, Whale Love and Angel Fish, both of them still absolutely gorgeous but I've already got quite a few maritime prints for the Maritime Baby Girl Quilt.

And that's it for 2014. I'm set, no more pre-baby buyings - the yarn on it's way here doesn't count because it'll become a gift for the sis. Cognitive dissonance, you're saying? Lalala, I can't hear you, lalala.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #22

Uh-oh, going shopping with a fully-blown nesting instinct is no good idea, even worse when the shop you're visiting has a 25 per cent birthday discount. Then again, supporting the brick and mortar down your road and getting some exercise at nine months pregnant surely is a good thing. I mean, I also won't have the time or frame of mind for a while and it's always good to have a replenished stash, too, right? (Shhhh, I'm not even talking the Black Friday online order that sneaked in yesterday which totally fulfils the same purpose, just like the Cotton & Steel order I handed over to my mum to give me for Christmas.)

Anyway, if you're in Berlin - the Nähkontor is a lovely little shop that also offers classes. Go check it out.

I got some pretty dotty prints and a Cotton & Steel print I didn't order and that hasn't been handed over to my mum.

Beautiful, cutesy FQs and fabric scraps - just look at those mummy and baby animals. Not a chance that hormone-me could have left it behind in the cold world store. I'm also proud to have added some yellows and prints on white because I don't usually stack up on these colours.

Could you believe they had two spools of the perfect silk thread for the Eggplant Kona in my Grecian Waters HSTs? The thread I'd ordered online and showed you last week is a beautiful shade and would have worked fine but this is a match made in heaven! Kismet!

I also got some old snap-fasteners - they sell old notions, presumably from clearances, for a lot less than the new shiny ones and with the little one on the way they'll come in handy for makings - and some essential solids. They're not as drapey and soft as Kona but will work fine for the pillows they're meant for and the white was much needed for the big snowflake in my Winter Baby Girl Quilt.

It was quite a lot to carry home. Told you it was exercise!

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #21

I've acquired a few goodies to share on here over the past weeks and - shocker - most of them aren't going to be stashed and forgotten but are necessary for ongoing projects! Such as Gütermann silk thread for accent quilting on the Winter Baby Girl Quilt as well as yardage, quilting and silk thread for my Grecian Waters HST quilt. I set my mind on silk thread after stumbling upon this gorgeousness on Pieces of Contentment.

I'm so so excited to work on this project once the baby quilt is done!

Lastly, I also found this pretty print and bought two metres for some cushion-y goodness in the future, a cheap end of  bolt cut, and snap-fasteners to replenish my stash after making baby's first dresses.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #19

I spent a dull weekend in bed sleeping off a nasty cold but that's rather dull to talk about, isn't it? I'd rather look at the latest pretty additions to my stash and fantasise about the things I'm currently making as well as take a look at yours and fantasise some more. Come on and join the fun over at Molli's.

Alexander Henry - Heath in blue, Frau Tulpe Design - Circles in teal, Kokka - turquoise dots on brown

Happy Sunday and happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #17

So, Christmas is over once more. Are you all returning to normalcy or still feeling stuffed and like slumbering away the days? I know I'm doing the latter in an absolutely guilt-free manner. Yummy food, good wine and mulled wine, reading books, knitting, enjoying the lights of our tree, my nephew's laughter - Christmas was absolutely lovely and I'm trying to salvage the mood for as long as possible.

It was an extra nice Christmas as I got to spend it with my gran and her grand cooking again after not being able to do so last year. Even better, it was the first time that my husband, my sister's husband-to-be and my nephew joined our family on the 24th and 25th. The years before my wedding it was just us girls going back home until the 25th and then spending time with our guys and their families in Berlin on the 26th. Seeing my gran age isn't always easy (and difficult to accept) but seeing her being surrounded by all of us and loving every minute of it was fantastic.

But onto the eye candy you've come for. Christmas without fabric - these days I don't know how that has ever been possible. Here's my Christmas loot thanks to my mum who let me shop with her credit card a few short weeks ago.

Three yards of navy blue Simply Style zig zags which will surely become a skirt.

Yard cuts of Retro chevrons and Glimma kites.

Half yard and yard cuts of prints from the Enchant line. Those animal medallions are so so sweet.

A yard of Children at Play - this has been around long, hasn't it? I've finally succumbed and will keep this in my stash for one or two future baby quilts.

A  yard of cotton slub duck for new cushion covers.

Fearing that the fabric parcel wouldn't make it through customs quickly enough - a realistic one, it arrived just in time last Sunday - my mum got me some yarn and knitting needles for a loop and hat.

I'm glad she fell in love with the wool because I don't really feel it, neither colour nor texture (though I can always use more needles!). My mum's often spot on regarding my taste but when she's off she's off by a mile. Anyway, it's all good. This way I can make her something she'll enjoy and give back for the many things she's done and keeps doing. Now I only have to find the right pattern - and time. As I'm not going to stress about this - the weather is still very mild in these parts - it might just turn out to be a Christmas 2014 thing.

Well, I hope your celebrations were filled with as much love and coziness as mine.You've not only been following the good and shiny but also my tribulations, my nagging, my ups and downs, even my absence - thank you and thanks for continuously dropping by and sharing your thoughts and positivity with me. I'm hopeful that 2014 will bring many an adventure and also more time spent sewing, knitting, and blogging to share with you. I'll find a way to make it so.

All the very best and happy sewing!

Sunday Stash

Whoa, has it really been a week and a half since I last blogged? That was an unplanned absence on my part but here I am resurfacing just in time for Sunday Stash. My intern ended on Friday - so weird to say goodbye to the colleagues! - and whilst I wrapped up all my tasks in the daytime I spent most of my late afternoons and evenings meeting the sis and nephew as well as scouring job portals, writing cover letters and taking new photographs to be included in my job applications. Let's see where life takes me next.

Down project completion road is a serious short term goal and not incredibly unlikely, either. Need evidence? Yesterday a much anticipated parcel from the UK arrived.

My sister helped me to pick a colour for the solid stripes down the sides of my anniversary quilt. Thanks for everybody's input on my horizontal / vertical dilemma! I think I can officially let the cat out of the bag and announce that I decided to stick with horizontal layout. Back onto the solid - I had considered going down the light aqua or grey route which are both dominant in the quilt but my sister gave me the excellent piece of advice to go with the less prominent navy.

She had some really good reasons to sway me in an instant.

1) It'll look more interesting and dramatic to pick up the less prominent colour.

2) It'll add a masculine touch to the overall more subdued look which will appeal to my husband.

What a clever sis, eh? She should take up sewing or something. Well, a couple for days later I'm about to chop up 7 metres of dark navy Klona cotton.

During the ordering process this Jeni Baker print easily sneaked into my shopping basket and is the real stash acquisition. I don't have an immediate project for it but it'll make an excellent baby quilt back if I ever get to make one for a girl. It's 3:1 in my really close circle of friends from uni and family so far. I'm curious to know what the the next two expecting sets of friends are cooking and how it will impact this statistic.

Now, hop on over to Fiona and take a look at everyone else's pretties. I know I will.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash

Is it really Sunday again, already? Time flies when you're busy having fun. I spent a wonderful evening with a bunch of sewing gals yesterday. We chatted a ton, drank some wine, and decided to found a sewing/reading/cooking club to combine many of our interests and repeat the enjoyable get-together. I'm already looking forward to our tentative meeting at the end of June.

But you're here for the eye candy so let's have a last look at that scrummy parcel and the fashion fabric it brought. (Here's part one and two.)

Lining fabrics of varying quality at a yard each that I wanted to give a try - clockwise a cheap grey poly, white Bemberg, light blue cotton lawn.The Bemberg and cotton lawn feel great, the poly not so much but that was to be expected.

1.5 yards rayon challis in mustard. I'd ordered one yard and they sent me only about 0.5 -  a quick online chat with customer service and they sent me another yard at their own expense. Great service. It's very light, soft, drapey and a little slippery, I'd not expected it to be that light. I'm not sure yet what it'll become.

The grand prize - two yards of Valori Wells Novella Rain rayon challis. It's so pretty. Not my usual colour but I felt adventurous.

And with that, I'm off for some sewing and tea. I love that crockery, we got a set of two as a wedding present. I wish I had some yummy biscuits to put on the side but no such luck today. Biscuit stash has been depleted and not refilled yet. I'll get by, though, no worries.

Happy sewing!

Linking up with Fiona who's celebrating a year of Sunday Stash. Come on over and join the party!

Sunday Stash

Well well, it's Sunday again and time for another - quick - look at fabric from that recent large order.

You might have spotted these on Wednesday amongst my baby quilt squares. Love the woodpeckers in the birches though you can see only part of one in this picture.

I also ordered half a yard of this funky knit for a body or tee. My sister has decided on a monster theme for the nursery but I think dinosaurs are fair game, too.

Happy sewing!

Linking up Fiona's Sunday Stash, this time at Sew Happily Ever After. Let's see everybody's beauties!