Pasley pants in vivid orange

My friend the crafty mermaid put me on to these pants so after buying my first PDF pattern I made a brown pair in size 5. They had a pinstripe but no pockets and fitted perfectly. Which meant he outgrew them in a couple of months.

Original size 5 boys with pinstripe.

I've now made a second pair. This time size 7 which meant they are roomy round the waist but way to long.

Very close to the true orange brightness that they are

This is also my first trouser pocket. 

Check out the Rocket pocket linings

 Hopefully Mr F won't grow out of his love of orange anytime soon. 

Sewing retreat Fabric Hoarders 2015

I was lucky enough to attend another retreat with my 'Once a month sewing group'- the Fabric Hoarders. It was held near Otaki on the Kapiti Coast. 

View across the Otaki River

It is about 7km off the main road close to the Otaki river. I went for a morning walk and it was beautiful.  Riverslea Retreat is a vegetarian retreat with lots of local and organic food on offer. It was catered which, once we had all agreed the selections, meant no cooking- and even better no dishes! 

We had a smaller number than last time so we could have the fire on in the main lounge where we had the machines set up.  That left good space in the other areas for irons, and cutting tables and most importantly the drinks and nibbles area.  

I worked on my second quilt Bright Quilt and started a dress for a friends wedding.

Added in with the sewing was a some shopping at the local shops and lots of laughter with friends and its easy to see why this is one of my favorite things to do.

Green Knitted Pixie Hat

I've moved on from scarfs to hats. I love this hat and the pattern was easy to follow. Unfortunately Mr F has decided his head gets too hot with a hat and only wears it with bribery. Me saying "But you look sooo cute" doesn't motivate either! 

Blue and Green wool hat.

Who can resist that cheey grin!

Bright quilt part one

I started another quilt! I wanted to finish one first before I started another so that I didn't end up with too many (cough.. more) unfinished projects and the start of a quilting stash. 

I chose my favorite colours for this quilt. I'm planning on it being a T.V. lap quilt. I started making a 9 block quilt but it looked a bit boring as I laid it lumpily over my couch to check the arrangement. I ended up cutting those blocks in quarters. 

I took it to my sewing retreat and got lots of good suggestions as to the order. I did have to make an emergency shopping expedition as I needed one last fat quarter. Four shops and two hours of driving later I found the perfect piece. I can now see the benefits of planning and buying all your material before you start a quilt. 

Teaching boys to sew

Jeb has been very keen to sew for quite a while. He started  making tea towels which was great but he was a little over enthusiastic with my expensive sewing machine so we took a break for a while.

This weekend I saw that Spotlight had a sale in their beginner sewing machines so I purchased one. I will be a bit more comfortable taking this one out to classes as well as letting Jeb sew on it. Jeb did the marking and cutting, I ironed the edges and he did the sewing. It looks great and he's already making plans for his next item.

First apron

He even watched all of the instruction video. Which was useful as how many 10 year olds think their mother knows anything!

blue nightshirt

I finally finished my button holes and sewed on the buttons for my blue nightshirt. It fits much better than my previous pink one, but I still had the same issues with the inside of the collar not sitting quite right. Would have helped if I had taken some more photos of this stage. Isn't that the definition of insanity - doing the same thing but expecting a different result? Funnily enough it looks lust like the pink one, but bigger.

The blue version 

This is the closest you'll get to seeing me in my nightie!

emergency birthday presents

The benefit of sewing is that theoretically it is easy to whip up presents for people. I'm never that organised but after making pirate curtains for Mr J's bunks which have now dismantlement I had an excess of pirate material.

Pirate bag

I made a quick drawstring bag and tucked it away for emergencies - a quick addition of some chocolate made is a useful and well liked present.  Should probably make some more...