Himiko No Sekkai | handmade lovable goods

Literally down to business I went this morning. Time to sandwich and pin a rather large size quilt...

So large that I had to move a bit of furniture around downstairs to get enough open floor space to lay it out. Oh why do I always tend to make quilts in full and queen sizes?

Quilt sandwich

Anyhow, equipped with a jar filled with around 250 quilt pins I set to work. Having a finger that's still behaving super sensitive after the needle incident, and having a bruised and battered knee -a pushchair meets storm wind incident yesterday- didn't really help matters along. But as the furniture needed to be back in place by the end of school, there was no turning back. Me and my great 'early morning' ideas...

quilt pinned

But hey, we're quite a bit later and tadah, here we have a pinned quilt. The jar is about 200 pins lighter, the quilt is substantially heavier carrying all that metal.

quilt detail

The top of this quilt was actually finished before the summer. But the combination of kids to entertain in gloomy weather and the urge to spend those rare sunny days out in the open meant that it kind of sat on the unfinished-projects-side of my sewing table for all this time. But now it's moved sides and is on the get-a-grip-and-start-sewing-lady-pile. At last. Will this pile proof to be faster than the other one though?

Not so long ago when summer was being fickle and gloomy and rather wet, we stumbled onto a rare hot day , packed the kids in the car and went off for a day by the sea.

Today we seemed to be in the midst of autumn. Grey skies, buckets of rain and hardly 15°C. Ouch. But apparently summer shall return for a single day on Saturday ... 28°C they are promising us. Oh well, we'll see.

In the mean time, I'm strolling down memory lane back to that sweet day by the sea. Good thing I took home some tangible memories!

shell memory

shell memory with flag

take away beach

And as I was working on my small take away beach, the husband was stuffing a ship into a bottle. Yes, really!

ship in a bottle

You could easily be fooled into thinking we're a sea faring family! Magic it is.

Well, 149 one-inch hexagons later and things are starting to look as they should.

haxagons

And that's not a minute too soon as I punched the back of my sewing needle so deep into my finger that I won't be sewing by hand for a bit now.

I know, you're supposed to stick the sharp end of the needle in your finger. But I tend to be contrary that way and so I stick the blunt back end right down into my finger. Painful affair.

And you'd think that it would teach me to work with a thimble of sorts... but no, I hate those things, can't work with them. I need to feel the material in my hands.... up until the ridiculous.

But at least, the hand sewing part of this project is done and dusted. Good thing I love doing hexagons!

Oh my, don't you just love the mailman when he brings parcels that are glowing with loveliness?

I do.

Metaphorically that is. No need to worry husband. ;)

This morning I received a parcel from Amy. A couple of weeks ago we decided to do a swap. You can check out what I sent her over here.

And then today, this is what I received.... Isn't she the best?

swap

The most gorgeous of gorgeous things! Fabrics, a trivet, a needle book, ribbons and cards, buttons and tiny suitcases... my smile reaches all the way over the ocean. Such a wonderful selection of materials, such an amount of inspiration. Now a bit less time of doing household stuff and some more time to sew and all would be perfect!

fabrics

more fabrics

rabbits

trivet

There is nobody around who is more happy and spoilt than I am this morning!

label

I do love green tea.

But I also like a good placemat.

placemat

So faced with gorgeous inspiration from Amy at Nanacompany, I decided to have a rummage in my scrap box to see if I could pull off a placemat.

And so I did.

placemat full in detail

placemat

I left a border of about a quarter to a third of the total height even and flat so that it can be used to put a glass on safely without liquid accidents. The main part of the placemat, which ironically will be hidden by the plate, is made of a random yet quite geometrical pattern of scraps.

Some lace to sweeten it, a bit of embroidery on top ,"Bon Appétit" it reads, rounded corners, flowers on the back, some fancy binding that turned up on my shelf and I have a sweet new companion to help keep the dining table in tact.

embroidery detail

placemat binding

placemat back

And for those of you are into advice and recommendations: Fabric scraps are definitively worth holding onto.

In the mean time autumn is quietly creeping in. Twilight is filling the evenings, the apple tree sighs under the amount of apples hanging on its branches, leaves are slowly taking on rusty colors.

Time to start some winterly knitting.

knitting

This one is for me.

A shawl.

To keep.

As in forever.

As in close to me at all times.

Because this picture may not show it but the yarn I'm using, Madeline Tosh Pashmina, is heaven on earth for all those who treasure soft knits. Not a prickly fiber in sight. Not even when one is knitting this in sweaty summery temperatures.

Oh boy, I can't wait till it's finished.

Oh boy, I can't wait till it's cool enough to start living in it!

Do you wanna be my friend?

I can offer you some cake...

cupcake

Or a friendship bracelet...

friendship bracelet

This summer I've made us girls here a friendship bracelet. Because according to the little girls we are all friends and people should know this. They really know how to make a mum's heart melt...

So when I came across this tutorial I set up a sweatshop and started knotting embroidery floss for hours and hours until I started wondering if it wasn't a better idea to keep our friendship a secret to all. Fortunately for my little friends I was close to the finish line at this point in time and I managed to pull out three bracelets in a bid to keep the friendship alive.

For my bracelet, I went for 8 different colors in the pink and gray scheme which resulted in a broad chevron pattern.

For the smaller ones I used the same pattern but only used 4 different colors. One is all shades of pink, the other more of a soft rainbow palette.

But alas, submerged in so much friendship my wobbly mind forgot to take a picture of the other two bracelets. We'll mend that situation in the near futur.

Or at least that's the plan.

flags

During the summer we have quite a few festivities that come our way in the form of birthdays. Birthdays for grown ups and for little ones.

Just about every summer the little one who won't be little for much longer if she keeps up this rate up, is graced with sunshine and warm weather... allowing for an outdoor party.

I wish I was that lucky. But in my case spring showers more or less rule that event...

Anyway.

I made some presents. Have a look.

birthday bag

A tote bag for storing library books.

bag detail

Some patchwork -rather imperfect but let's not split hairs-, a cute button, some lace ,

embroidery detail

and some pink kittens embroidered on top.

Also wrapped up for the birthday girl, a cover for a small map in which she can keep all of her little notes, scribbles, drawings and art work. As requested by the girl herself, I incorporated bright colors and a little lamb. It's in full, daily use right now so I guess the client is a happy one in this case!

map

embroidered lamb

back map

And last but not least, a notebook with a soft fabric cover. In fact, the little sister also got one. That's in fact the reason why I embroidered the initials on the cover. Makes it easy to distinguish them as they are exactly the same in every other aspect.

book cover

book cover detail

Using 1 inch hexagons I made a flower that is the central focus of the cover. A grayish cotton as a neutral backdrop brightened up with a board of blue flower fabric works nicely with the bold colors of the hexagons. Each hexagon is machine quilted for sturdiness. I added a quilted border along the outline of the flower using the same embroidery floss as I did for the initial. This is a pure decorative border however.

And to finish the cover of I added a trim of delicate antique lace. It's an ivory color and adds interest without being too overbearing.

So that was one birthday in the bag. :)

Better start to contemplate what to do for the next one...

A good way to wrap up little presents is by putting them in a small bag and then wrapping some see-trough cellophane around the lot. So back in June when I needed to pack up some small bits and bobs for the teachers of my offspring, I made these little all purpose bags.

bag

The patchwork band goes all the way around,so does the ribbon. They measure in at about 15 cm wide, 10 cm high and another 10 cm deep. Without the handles that is. Our house is pretty much littered with bags like these in all kinds of colors and designs. Ideal for storing those little cluttery toys in.

For these ones I went for a soft lilac palette. Some crisp looking dots and flowery gingham for the border and some fun ribbon with a splash of bright red in it. The lining is a small lilac gingham.

bag detail

Out of the left overs I made a small bag for myself. It sits by my sewing machine and picks up loose threads.

Even though it's modeling here with some yarn... cause let's face it, yarn makes a prettier picture than loose threads and clippings.

thread bag

thread bag detail

It's a different size and sports a different ribbon but the fabrics and patchwork band are exactly the same. I ended up using a sturdier interfacing for this one as it needs to stand up firmly to really serve it's purpose.

But all in all, not bad for a leftover...

So the baby boom in these parts is in full swing. Little ones are popping up all around us. And no better reason to make a sweet little gift than for celebrating the birth of a new born baby.

This set is still waiting patiently on my shelf to be send to a cute, new baby girl.

presents

The big fabric bag made from a Japanese cotton-linen blend holds a smaller drawstring bag, a crocheted rattle shaped like a bear and some cups and spoons.

presents unwrapped

The patchwork drawstring bag holds a trio of felt circus balls...

felt balls

Fun to make, fun to send and hopefully fun to receive!

And for those of you who'd like a bag or drawstring bag like this to wrap up your own presents, I've got some extra available at my Etsy shop!

Down to business

A stroll down memory lane

Hexagon love

The wonders of mail

I do

In the mean time

Wanna be my friend?

Festivities

Not so deep purple

Sweet baby gifts