Making and Mending

A busy weekend on the sewing machine for me, making and mending.

The smallest member of the household had a birthday party to go to at a local farm this weekend.  Stepney Hill Farm  Incidently, an awesome place for a kid's birthday party if you're local - they even got to feed 2 lambs!

As the oldest child was off on an adventure with the local Beaver group and the hubby was at work, the youngest and myself went shopping to see what goodies we could find for his little friend.  I was disappointed to say the least at what was on offer.  I'm sure that the birthday boy would have loved one of the toys or arts and crafts sets that we saw, but I felt that nothing was really saying 'buy me'.

So, after a brief discussion with my youngest, I decided to make a superhero cape.

Just what every self-respecting 5 year old boy needs, his very own, personalised hero cape!  Added bonus is that it's reversible too.  I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with it and I'm happy to say both Peter and his mum were chuffed with it too.  Of course, my youngest was very excited to tell them both that I'd made it ;)

So that's the making part of the weekend, along with a couple of things I made out of my scrap fabric stash ably assisted by my two little boys.  Nothing like trying to explain the magic of how to thread a sewing machine to a 7 year old who just wants to crack on and sew his 'Flash' pillow...

So the mending - I made a quilt for my bed as an extra layer for the winter months and to look pretty in the summer, but as it was my first attempt at something this size, it wasn't perfect and some of the material hasn't held as well as it should have (first and last attempt to save a few pennies, lesson well and truly learnt!).

Not the best photo in the world, but you get the idea. I think I took this late afternoon in winter just after I finished the top and before I created the quilt sandwich.  So today, after the fun of a bouncy castle party (and a jolly nice cheese, red onion and tomato chutney sandwich) I sat and made a start on mending the small issues that have occurred due to poor material choice.  I haven't finished by any stretch, but I know from now on I'll be more of as a 'quilt as you go' girl and will most certainly make sure I use better materials.  It's crazy, but whenever I make something for me I tend to just make do with what I can find, when it's for someone else, I go mad and splurge on top quality fabrics and materials.  

It's back to the day job in the morning and then I'll be planning the various products that I'm hoping to be able to sell at some point while the hubby is watching the footie tomorrow night. 

M x