sausage dogs

$&#^@ cushion.

Still pottering about and enjoying my time off. Made some serious headway into "the list" last week - did my tax, worked on the baby's room, got the carseat fitted, amongst many other mundane tasks.

One thing I'd been putting off was making this cushion cover for the bebe's room. The very cute fabric is by Melbourne's Ink & Spindle, and wasn't super cheap so I was nervous about stuffing it up. Plus I've never dealt with a zip before and find them intimidating. I was right - they are crap, and the whole affair very nearly killed me. But I got there eventually, and now I love it! So there you go - if at first you don't succeed, swear a whole lot and keep going even if you want to stab someone.

for my stunt little pilot.

I made this little hat for the baby - it's called the Aviatrix hat, which is from a free pattern (here) that a friend found on Ravelry. 

I'm no great knitter - I've only ever made a couple of scarves and a super simple beanie. I can't even hold the needles properly - I kind of jam one into my leg and knit around it with the other.

So this pattern was easily the hardest thing I'd attempted, but with a bit of YouTube for the new techniques, and after a couple of false starts, I got there eventually. And I'm glad I persisted, it's so sweet! And quite a fun pattern to knit as it doesn't take long and there's no boring joining things at the end. 

(ooh that photo is a bit unforgiving of my "wrap and turns", it looks better in real life, promise!)

baby swaddler.

Here is the finished aforementioned baby swaddler I made from Lotta Jansdotter's book Simple Sewing for Baby. I'm demonstrating it on my old ted. I used a really nice-feeling organic bamboo terry toweling I found online here, as we'll have a summer baby so I figure that will be a bit more breathable than the fleece specified in the pattern.

Pretty cute to think of a little baby all wrapped up in it.

(If you don't have the book you can get the free pattern here.) 

i made it myself.

I decided my Christmas stocking was far too small, and would not accommodate all the presents that Santa (Tim) is going to give me. And my old one was an ugly Ikea one. So I whipped this one up out of linen and wool felt (when I say whipped it took me a whole day). 

i made it myself.

I actually started this quilt about 2 years ago. It's the second quilt I've ever made, but has taken me this long to finish hand-sewing the binding (which I finished in only a couple of hours on Saturday night - yes that's how I spent my Saturday night, rock.)

I'm not massively into this one, I think it's a bit too sweet and pretty (even for a quilt). But my mum loves and has convinced me to keep it for my daughter, if I should ever have one.

i made it myself.

Well actually I'm still making it, this is just the patch-worked top of my quilt. Next I either pay someone to quilt it (which is sewing a pattern through the top, batting and backing fabric) or quilt it myself with much cursing. Then add the binding which involves painstaking hand sewing. So realistically it will sit folded up in my study as it is for the foreseeable future.

This one is pretty geometric and simple compared to my other quilts, Tim approves.

i made it myself.

I started this project about a year ago, and I finally finished it the other weekend. I got the pattern from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter, which is a very nice book of Scandinavian-styled sewing projects for the home. 

This project was necessary as more often than not, I have some kind of food stain on my clothing (thwarting my attempts to look like a professional grown-up). I didn't make two aprons as it may appear above, just one reversible one. I added the pockets with some contrasting trim as I was feeling fancy. I think it's pretty cute as far as aprons go.