Baby Woo's Quilt

I am not sure if I have posted the pictures that I took while putting Baby Woo's quilt together. I was nervous to do it, but like I said before I had to get over being a chicken! 

I had quite a collection of pretty vintage fabrics already that seemed to work perfectly together! I picked up a few other bits from Heidi at Becnicks .

And then I started!

Cutting out the square 4.5 x 4.5 

Laying out the squares! 

Strips done! Ready to be pressed. 

half of the strips put together! 

QUILTING! Go! little blue go! 

The very last row of quilting....I was a little sad it was about to be over I was enjoying the process so much. 

I ended up machine sewing the binding too, my hand stitching skills are horrid! 

The whole sha-bang! 

I was enjoying quilting so much I made a bib too! 

:)

Next I want to make some fabric blocks like these! I'm just waiting on the toy stuffing I ordered to arrive. 

after the blocks will probably be the crib dust ruffle! 

My little blue Jones sewing machine has been the busiest she's been in years! But she's a trooper and running well! My Great Aunt Jenny & Great Grandmother, who were extremely skilled seamstresses, must be looking over my shoulder, making sure everything is going well. 

Vinyl Project.

And nope I'm not talking records this time! I'm talking about a vinyl motorcycle seat! My bro-in-law bought himself a little vintage motorbike aka scooter to drive around Germany this summer!
It looks like this one.

For those in the know it's a 1982 Yamaha Townmate 79cc.
I don't know how he's going to get all the way to  Germany on that thing but I guess the seat does look comfy enough. My delicate posterior would hurt!
Anyway he's going to paint it up in metallic blue and wants a Union Jack Flag seat! Here's where I come in. His idea is a hand stitched flag like you see on leather jackets. OMG. I only have a little old Jones sewing machine....do you think it's up for the challenge?

sadly not my lovely studio, but it is just like my sweet machine! 

Dunno if any one out there knows much about sewing vinyl but I would appreciate any and all advice! Do I need to do it all by hand or find a professional machine? 

This is what I've got in mind for the finished seat:

It's a challenge as I've never done anything like it before! But I think I should be able to do it. Now just to find some marine grade vinyl in the UK wish me luck!

Cute Vintage Sewing Stuff!

I am always on the hunt for cute vintage sewing treasures! Lookie what I've seen today!

Vintage Wooden Shoe Pin Cushion

Vintage Promotional Needle Cases

1873 Red Needle Case

Vintage Wooden Spools of Sewing Thread

1940s Calico Fabric

 

Swooooooon!

The British Homefront

As you know, the women of the 1940s are a true inspiration to me. I am fascinated by the way British women ran their homes during the war, under extreme rationing and hardship.
I'm in awe of the incredible ingenuity and creativity from the WWII homefront.

First please allow me to share this from the home sweet homefront website.

With the scarcity of so many everyday items during World War Two, Britons were encouraged to become much more self-sufficient and make greater use of the materials they had.

The phrase most associated with this British wartime drive for self-sufficiency was 'MAKE DO and MEND'.

Some of the ingenious ways of how people got by included;

i.   making wartime JEWELLERY from old beer bottle tops, cup hooks and corks
ii.  supplementing a shortage of CLEANING MATERIALS by crushing egg shells for use as a scouring compound and cutting squares out of old stockings for use as dishcloths

iii. using the dregs of cold tea to clean WOODWORK

iv. varnishing the soles of CHILDREN'S SHOES to prolong the foot-wears life and

v.  cutting up old Mackintoshes to make BIBS for babies.

 Just look at this brooch! It was made from a button and electrical wire! Isn't it brilliant!?! 

Nothing wasted.

Kitchen scraps were all saved and recycled to feed pigs, goats and chickens which could be used for milk, meat and eggs. People created Pig Clubs to keep pigs which would later become meat and be shared by the members of the club.

Keeping rabbits was popular during the war...but not as pets! Eek!

Phil Bryne writes:

Households were asked to wash their recyclables before putting them out in tied bundles. Waste was segregated for the following uses:

- Tins and metal were collected for use in aircraft, tanks and weapons
- Boiled bones were used to make glue for aircraft, ground up to make fertiliser or made into glycerine for explosives.
- Kitchen waste provided feed for pigs, chickens and goats and people would bring their scraps to communal bins.
- Paper for munitions - newspapers were printed on low quality paper
- Rubber was collected to make tires

Man oh man, we've got it good. So good.
We're recycling for different reasons now, but I would love to be as committed to making do and reusing as people of the WWII homefront. I have a loooong way to go to change the way I view waste and what's still "good".

I'd love to hear some of your recycling and making do tricks. Or what you like or don't like about the home front during any of the wars.

Bye for now!

I've got a lot of jewellery to finish for this week!

Cheerful Needle Books Galore and I needs some cheer!

I feel I can be honest with you all. I am feeling really low. I have always struggled with depression {and have been on medication for it for ten years or so}. I've come through a really stressful time and now I'm in the trough. It only usually lasts a couple of days, but it's dragging out this time. So, I need to see color and pretty things and things I enjoy and lots of it! Bring on the needle books!

In case you haven't heard of a needle book, or maybe you call it something else, I'm talking about the little fabric folded "books" with felt "pages" that hold your sewing needles. They also come in paper and were even used as advertising at one time - I am personally partial to the fabric ones, especially vintage! My friend Jayne who is turning fabulously 50 in November said they used to make them in school out of fabric scraps. I've bought and been given a couple of examples that must have been made in school from scraps. We didn't do anything as cool as that! I made boxer shorts in my sewing class!

by Lazy May 

  by Felt Fancies 
{you can buy this one!}

complete with instructions from 1936!

circular needle case tutorial :)

I'd better stop for your sake! I could hunt for photos of needle books all night! I think I'll go have a nice warm bath, make a cuppa tea and drag out my scraps...I think I'll be making some needle books tonight :)