Make 'making' your New Year resolution

This Christmas I set out to make as many presents as possible myself. What surprised me was that I  received several handmade gifts myself - as well as the means for making more - materials, equipment or instructional books. So much so, that on Christmas morning we all started yelling "Craft!" in unison every time someone opened a present that was either hand made or related to making or creating.

If you visit Make it and Mend it often you may have seen some of the gifts I made - some when reviewing books such as this cute felt pincushion and lavender bag and some where I've shared instructions with you such as this tea cosy and these cushions.

But here are a couple I don't think I've shared on the website. First is this apron for my sister-in-law. She wanted a 1950s style pinny and her brief was "Surrendered Wife" (if you knew her you'd know she was being deeply ironic!). I already had a coupole of metres of retro fabric in my stash on the theme of "How to keep your Husband Happy", so with the addition of some contrasting fabric for the straps and pocket - also from my stash, plus a bit of frilling, I made her an apron that perfectly fitted the bill. She was thrilled and asked me where on earth I'd bought it!

 

I wanted to make something for my six year old god daughter that could be something she could keep forever, so I made her a quilt. I was pretty worried that she might be disappointed not to get something to play with, but half an hour after opening it she'd dragged it off to her room and was later found curled up under it fast asleep! 

And I didn't only make an apron, I also received one - made by my sister -  monogramned with my intials, Masterchef style. (You can find out how to make an apron on the website.) She'd been very busy, using transfers to add motifs to homemade aprons for almost the whole family.

She also gave little jars of her scrumptious Chilli jam.

My brother-in-law made a most fantastic gift for me. In fact I think it's my favourite present of all. It's a lamp made from an old tree trunk. I love the way he's used the place where a branch was to place the flex. Fabulous! He also made a beautiful wall plaque for my sister to hang her jewellery on, and a similar one for sister number 2 to hang her keys. All from beautifully turned wood.

The pleasure of hand made gifts can't be over estimated. Knowing that someone has spent time and effort making something personal is so much more touching than anything bought in a shop. But doing it requires planning and time. So if you want to make it your New Year resolution you need to start right now!

What hand made gifts did you make or receive this year?

Clare Flynn

First attempt at an ipad cover

I love my ipad - but I hated the red faux leather case I had for it. I've been meaning to make myself one and today had a go. I'm not entirely happy with the results as the fit's a little too snug - but it will do until I get around to making another. When I crack the design and get a better fit I'll post instructions on the main MIAMI website.


The other project on the go is a quilt for my little god daughter. It's another first attempt - this time at quilting by machine rather than by hand. I've done the top and once the batting arrives I'm going to have a go a quilting using a walking foot - scary!

The quilt design is from a book called Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts  by Pam & Nicky Lintott. I used a mix of fabrics in my stash plus some Amy Butler fabric - which cost £2.60 per quarter metre at time of writing this.

My latest quilt

I've completed my second quilt. This one was a much easier one than the first,  as instead of blocks,  I went for a simple patchwork.

Again it was all done by hand - apart from the attachment of one side of the binding. I like hand sewing - but have to admit that this one was a lot more boring than the traditional block quilt - especially the actual quilting. I've put a little tutorial on the website on binding a quilt.

The quilt is long  and narrow as I wanted it to use as a throw across the end of my bed. I was still nervous about undertaking a full size one - fearing I'd get bored before the end, but now that I have two under my belt and enjoyed making them both I think that's unlikely. If I were to do another simple patchwork one like this I think I might succumb to the sewing machine - at least for joining the long strips.

I'm not sure what my next project will be - I may try a jellyroll quilt and take advantage of the gorgeous fabrics I have accumulated in my stash.

Clare

Update on my quilting progress

I haven't posted anything recently about my efforts at making a sampler quilt - but I'm still at it and really enjoying it.

I've completed the sample blocks, sewn all these together and today started the slow process of doing the quilting of the three layer "sandwich". I've decided a thimble is definitely in order - I never usually use one but pushing the needle through the three layers can be painful work.

So far I've just quilted one block so I think it's going to take me a while to finish. I'm glad I'm only doing a small nine block quilt as I'd be at it for ever - I'm doing it all by hand.Rather than tacking the layers together before quilting i used curved safety pins - it makes it very quick and easy.

I'm going to put up some instructions for making the quilt sandwich on the website - and there's also instructions for the Rail Fence block and instructions and template for Maple Leaf. Hilary and I plan to publish instructions for all the quilt blocks featured in my quilt on our main website - but right now I'm too busy making it!

Ready for quilting

I've just  bought my first set of fat quarters!

If you'd asked me a few weeks ago I wouldn't have known a fat quarter from a thin cent! In fact it turns out it is a standard measure for a piece of material for quilting - based on cutting a yard of cloth into  quarters - which works out as approximately 18 by 22 inches.

I have bought ten of these pieces and here's my stash.

I'm planning to make a sampler quilt, which means incorporating a series of different square blocks of quilting each in a different pattern. Hilary is going to be my "quilting mummy" to get me started and mentor me through the process. As I progress, we'll share Hilary's templates for the blocks I'm making and will pass on Hilary's top tips on our main MIAMI website

If you want to join me please leave a message  on the forum -  to ask any queries and share advice as well as posting pictures of your own quilts.

See also: Quilts at the V&A
Making a journal quilt

Clare F

Making a journal quilt

We came upon a delightful photo blog by a woman from the USA, who decided to create a quilt to celebrate her sixtieth year. The idea is to do a square of the quilt during each of the 52 weeks, to record something particlar to each week.

As a result it is an amazing collection of memorabilia: marking family gatherings, holidays, her quilting experiments, retirement lunches,the passing seasons, anniversaries, birth of grandchildren and many other incidentals of this lady's life.

The results, an incredibly varied and fascinating commemoration of a landmark year, were revealed on her 60th birthdays. Check it out at Quiltingmom
We'd love to hear about other examples like this.