Bribery and corruption

So my first proper project on my new sewing machine involved a little bribery. I promised our son some curtains for underneath his bed but have been too busy to make them if I am honest. However with a return to swimming lessons for him, these curtains became part of a long list of bribes to get him into the water, having refused point blank the last time I tried. It was a bit of a risk, curtains are not that exciting and I do find him rather hard to bribe.

Still, it was a bit of simple hemming and a chance to get stuck into figuring out this baby. See how she has a heavenly glow about her?

I normally shy away from user manuals, but I felt I owed it to myself to read this one, and it was surprisingly straight forward and simple. The machine is not that complicated, even though compared to my old one it looks like something from the future.

I had been telling myself for years that my basic machine was all I needed, thinking that a more complex one would be wasted on me. But it's the simple functions on the machine that have been a revelation; a button to cut the threads, a see-through bobbin cover so that I know when I am going to run out. Seam allowance guide lines that are metric and imperial and are even marked on the bobbin cover.

And it's so quiet, you can hold a conversation whilst sewing and not have to shout. I spend most of the day shouting at the kids, so this is a nice break for me. I also love that it has a sliding speed control which means that however hard you press the pedal, there is one maximum speed, but you can ease off to sew slowly. It's a bit like cruise control. My old machine used to go fast or even faster meaning that it could suddenly fly off at high speed if I pressed the pedal too hard. For example during a lapse of concentration while trying to shoo off a dog who was chewing on the power lead. I think the slow speed will be great when sewing with the kids - this used to be a bit of a white knuckle ride.

I love this Cityscape fabric by Echino, note how jarring it is that the pattern does not match at the join. That minor detail didn't even cross my mind. It is held on by tabs secured by velcro. This linen mix is the perfect weight and hangs really well. It has lead to a number of discussions about when I will take him to see Big Ben.

The best thing about these curtains is that they hide all manner of clutter behind them.

And even though when I picked him up from school before the lesson, he mouthed the words 'I don't like swimming' through the window at me. My beautiful boy did enter the water and swam with a smile on his face. He never fails to surprise me. And he loved the curtains, which I put up while he was at school in anticipation of that surprise. He didn't even comment on that badly matched join.

My machine comes with several different clever feet and all manner of different stitches and patterns. I need to try something a little more complex next, it really should be something to wear. Anyone else sewing for Spring?

Gently...

So with half term over and some spare time on my hands again, I am gently easing myself back into sewing.

Starting with what should be one of the simplest sewing projects, a recorder bag for my daughter. She loves the Sarah Jane Children at Play fabric, and chose the balloons print. I think it is my favourite too.

The recorder is a new torture device source of joy in our lives. The book of music that came with the recorder has 'songs' which are basically the same note blown at top volume till you get the trademark recorder-shriek. Even when sent to her room to practice, there is no escaping that sound.

these are advanced songs with more than one note

So I find myself saying 'blow it gently, it's not meant to make that noise' A LOT. Maybe I should have embroidered those words on the bag. Maybe she'll learn, although I wonder if it is ever possible for a recorder to sound that good.

I am mid-way through making a skirt from this Melody Miller fabric, this recorder case being my warm up, I will hopefully make some progress there this week too.

Clay, pixel blocks and bandages

 cool bandage huh? I did egg the nurse on a bit...

Whilst I wouldn't say that we had grand plans for this bank holiday weekend, there is so much going on in Brighton this weekend, I felt sure we could find something fun to do. But one ill-fated trip to the park, a foot vs slide mishap and a couple of hours in the wonderful Brighton A&E  finds me house bound with my beloved and bandaged girl.

a master craftsman at work

So, this would seem like and excellent excuse to get a bit of crafting done. I saw somewhere on the interweb a tutorial involving clay, cookie cutters and shells. And seeing as we have a lot of shells from our holiday and clay is brilliant fun I made a mental note to try it out. I picked up some no fire clay today and got out the cookie cutters which have definitely been used more for craft than cookies. Anyway, I don't need cookie cutters now that I have the best ever cookie recipe.

a doorbell maybe, she is a very creative crafter

This activity didn't pass as much time as I would have hoped. Maybe I should have tied one hand behind their backs to slow them down a bit. That seems a bit cruel for a child already bandaged though. I'm sure they looked rather more spectacular on that lost tutorial, but it was fun, and when they have air dried in 4 years time, we'll paint them.

somewhere under those shells is a star

Another thing I have been meaning to blog about for ages is Pixel Blocks. My husband brought some back from a trip to the US, I've struggled to find a link for the UK but they did have them on Firebox at one point. They are amazing, like 3D Lego blocks that you can connect in all directions, have a look at the link for an explanation. The kids love them as do I. They come with a book of ideas, but my daughter is old enough to make up her own stuff now.

This is not modelled on me, 
I have short hair and 4 fingers on each hand

Apparently they are popular amongst geeky designer types, and you can create amazing stuff out of them, 2D or 3D. Take a look at the Flickr group.

a dog, obviously

I'd recommend them for 4 years + my (4 year old) son loves them, great for fine motor skills and general concentration. When it rained last week we made zoo animals. (Don't get me wrong, we also watched telly and bickered).

 a panda, and next, a honey badger (this is a joke)

Here's a close up...

you want them don't you?

So, my bank holiday weekend so far, I'm hoping the remainder is less eventful.

Under a stormy sky

It seems like this black cloud has anchored itself over Brighton at the moment. But after a weekend of spending a little too much time inside, on Sunday, we decided it was time to venture out.

With a end of year school reports and 5 metre swimming badges to celebrate, we headed to Scoop and Crumb, for hot dogs and ice cream. The basis of any balanced diet.

You almost don't have space for the ice cream after a hot dog, but in the tradition of having a stomach for main and another for pudding, we managed to squeeze in a sundae.

If you find yourself in Brighton, it's a great place for kids or grown ups and it's right next to the beach and pier.

We walked off our considerable lunch through town, stopping to enjoy the South London Jazz Orchestra who happened to be playing in the Pavillion Gardens. Our son was unable to stop himself dancing to the jazz. It was was of those moments you want to take a snap shot of and remember forever. Fortunately I had my camera, so I filmed it AND took a photo. I have a rubbish memory anyway.

I must have taken a hundred photos of Brighton Pavillion, but I still couldn't help myself from taking another, the silhouette is amazing against the sky.

Is there anything more dangerous than a young child with an umbrella? The only consolation was that pranging unsuspecting pedestrians took their minds off the long walk back.

We always stop off at the scrambling wall. As usual the kids were in their crocs, probably the least practical shoes ever for climbing in. How I wish I had invented crocs.

And wherever you are in Brighton, you will always find a massive seagull somewhere with it's beady eye on you. It's worth watching out for them, and if you are eating something or walking with a small dog or child, hang on tight.

Wish list

I finally succumbed to my Amazon wishlist this week and got some books for me and the kids. I got this Papertoy Monsters book after making some from my mum's copy of the book with the kids.

 Squidbeak: coincidentally, my nickname

this is a joke: do not call me squidbeak

It's brilliant, probably suitable for kids 7 or 8 years + due to all the sticking required.

You press the monsters out from the page and then follow the very well laid out instructions to stick the monsters together. You need double sided tape.

 This takes me back to the Walking Dead, 

or maybe earlier this morning just after I woke up

In truth, the kids chose them and I made them, but I enjoyed it, and they liked playing with them after.

Anyway, I bought a copy as I thought it would make a great boy's birthday present (or girl's). I find boys particularly hard to buy for when my daughter gets invited to the occasional boy party. As far as I can tell they mostly like fighting and running around and what can you buy for that?

Me at meal time

I eat with a trowel

Next up, with my daughter's 7th birthday looming, I read a review of this book in the paper and it looked brilliant, so here it is.

I loved bubble-writing when I was little and so this really appealed - How to be the best bubble writer ever.

cup cake bubble writing

shooting stars bubble writing

ribbon bubble writing - could this book be any more girly?

next up kitten writing and cuddly toy bubble writing

grrr monster writing, that's better

and robot bubble writing

And finally for me, I bought the book with the worst title ever - Hand Job. Basically it's the adult version of the bubble writing book, with hand drawn fonts and other very cool illustrations. It's full of so much inspiration of things to draw and design, a feast for your eyes.

Last photo is my studio*

Ideally I'd like to have the young' un doing some bubble writing while I flick through this book, but no. It's half term, it's a glorious day and the although the wind has droppped considerably since I made the promise earlier, we are off to fly a kite. Or drag it along the grass for half an hour, i'll see how things pan out.



*This is a lie.

Lazy Mother Skirt

Even though I love sewing, sometimes I find it hard to get the motivation together to start making something. So when the mood finds me then I make the most of it and sew as fast as I can.

After gaining yet more inspiration from Pinterest, the mere sight of these pleats was enough to set me off on a mission to make a skirt for my daughter. First stop fabric, and faced with the whole inventory of M is for make, my daughter chose this lovely Firefly print.

Win for me because it is cheap (I was expecting her to go for some of this) but also a surprise because it is red (with pink of course) and she never goes for red. Bring on the revolution I say.

I was limited by the fact I decided to make this skirt from 2 fat quarters so giving me a fixed width. I measured her waist added an inch for ease and got started. I decided to line the pleats up carefully with the pattern, because (a) I am a perfectionist and (b) it looked nice. So it meant a fair bit of pleating, measuring, realising it was too small, and then re-pleating. I got there in the end. I'd love to give you a tutorial on it, but it was just a case of hit and miss.

I then thought about lining with this, and putting a zip in, but being a lazy mother I decided I couldn't be bothered and went for an elasticated waistband instead. They are much easier to put on after all. This meant adding in a bit more ease so that the skirt would go over the hips. Of course I added in far too much and when the skirt was all put together it was about 2 inches too big around the waist. I have no idea how that happened. So I had to take a couple of pleats out, and re-do the side seam making the skirt feel rather less like a lazy-mother-skirt and more like a spend-hours-at-your-sewing-machine-mother kind of skirt.

Add to this the decision I had made to finish the skirt first thing in the morning so that she could wear it that day when her friend was due in less than an hour and we were both in our pj's with unbrushed teeth and bird's nest hair.

I got there in the end and am pleased with the result.

The pleats run into the waist band which I like, I think maybe next time I would prefer a bit more fullness and got the whole hog and use 3 fat quarters and 2 side seams instead of 1. I would like to make her a gathered skirt next time as these are especially popular due to their whirling qualities. They are however more fabric hungry.

My daughter likes it though, it's nice to see her in bolder colours. She obligingly did some ballet in the garden for me.

So perhaps not such a lazy mother after all. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see someone wearing something you have made, and for kids, summer is a great time to knock up a few dresses and skirts, I hope I have inspired you to get sewing too.