A little patch of sewing

The other day I did a quick bit of sewing, made some squares for Miss A to chew on. We'd been trying to find something she was happy chewing to help her teething. A lot of the teething toys she isn't yet able to hold in her mouth cos she's so young, but we found he quite happily sucking and chewing on her quilt. So I thought I'd make some more portable alternatives.

They were so easy to sew, just two squares of scrap sweatshirting, sewn together with a wide seam allowance so that when I turned then through I could just top-stitch around them and the opening was caught in too without me needing to handstitch (which I did later when I had time, but it meant they were usable right away). I made one a straight square with a colour on each side. The other one I sewing the sides of the squares together, then off-set them so each side was half of one fabric, half the other, and then sewed the other sides before turning through.

Miss A loves them. They can get quite soggy, but they can just be thrown in the washing machine, easy peasy.

I'm very happy with them. They were such a quick and easy project (10-15mins for two?), and so rewarding. And a good way to use up some small bits of leftover fabric. I'm almost all out of this pink printed sweatshirting, only scraps for things like this left.

cardmaking

I did some card making yesterday, it's not something I've ever done much of, but this year I want to try to be a bit more creative with my gifting (having no money to spare on these things helps, but I also just want to be able to give people something made especially for them if I'm going to give anything). So when I was told that my sister had handed in her PhD thesis and gently reminded that my cousin was turning 21 this week (thanks Mum!) I decided that I just had to make some cards. So here's what I came up with, all made with things I already had... gotta use up some of that stash!

Some flowers for my cousin.

And some fireworks for my sister.

Photos are clickable for bigger versions so you can see detail.

Cards are made from ribbon, sequins, beads, button, fabric glitter paint, embroidery thread, and gold thread stitched on heavy denim, then sewn onto card with a really long stitch.

I also made envelopes for them out of scented floral drawer-liners, because they weren't standard-sized, and if I'm going handmade, why not go all the way? But I forgot to photograph them and they're already in the mail.

So after a whole lot of creativity, I'm feeling a bit better, though very much looking forward to starting study for the year in 3 weeks.

What different things have you tried doing lately?