Another baby! and new sewing space

I have been hanging on to write this post until our second expected grandchild arrived, which she did last Friday, just a few days late. She is our elder daughter's first, and is called Emmie, and weighed 7lbs 2 1/2oz , and was born in a birthing pool. So we now have two granddaughters, 13 months apart. I made more cot pockets - my daughter chose the fabric, and as they live by the sea it's very appropriate.

With a small piece of leftover fabric I also made a little quilted picture (one of the boats) and I also made a large drawstring toy bag out of different fabric, but stupidly neglected to take a pic of either! I think my brain was in baby's-coming-soon mode and even though I usually take pics of everything I make I just forgot. I will do so if I remember when I go and visit in a week or so.

Our now 13 month old granddaughter, Lily, got to the stage a little while ago of pulling her toys out of her cot pockets and taking great delight in throwing them onto the floor. Her daddy sent us a pic of her standing up in her cot, having done this, with a look on her face that said "It wasn't me, Daddy - honest!"

While we're on the subject of babies - I have now moved my sewing stuff to the smallest bedroom. What's that got to do with babies I hear you ask........ Well, when we lived in this house over 32 years ago, the room I am now sewing in was our eldest's bedroom (we didn't use the word nursery - is it just me or are more parents these days using that word? In my day only the upper classes had nurseries!). This is a much younger me drying him after a bath; in the corner where this blue table was my black Singer 201 now resides, in its table.

Note the Stork margarine pots used for top and tailing.....

And by the way I hadn't realized how incredibly useful it is to have your machine set into a table (if you're not using a free arm that is) which gives you that extra flat space. Still not enough to start making big quilts, but big enough for what I do.

I found that having my sewing machine etc downstairs in the sitting room didn't really work very well after all. I had thought before we came to this house that I just couldn't stand the thought of working upstairs, because in our old house I used to feel very cut off upstairs. However, I have found that here I can see what's going on in the neighbourhood even better than from the sitting room downstairs. This may be a small hamlet but even here stuff happens - occasionally!

Also, one of the problems of working in the main thoroughfare, as it were, is of having one's other half going in and out and asking me things and generally disturbing me!!!! Having my own little room out of the way upstairs is much better. And I don't have to clear up, tidy up, or whatever in order to keep up with Husband's standards........

I worked out that the table on the right would fit in nicely, with my Bernina on it, and that I could have the Singer to the left.

I did have a problem with storage though. Nothing that I had used in our old house had been suitable so I haunted our newest charity shop in Wantage which has lots of cheap furniture, and also another secondhand furniture place locally, for weeks to try and get something. In the end I got so frustrated that I couldn't organise all my sewing stuff properly that I decided that I'd have to buy something new, which I don't really like doing, partly due to expense and partly because I just don't like buying new when there is so much good secondhand stuff to be had. But in the end I just had to bite the bullet, and I went for these Ikea Kallax units. I wouldn't normally even consider flat packed furniture, as it's often so shoddy, but I'd had a look at some of these units that a friend across the road had, so I knew they were pretty sturdy and would suit my needs. You can choose whether to have drawers, doors, baskets or boxes in the gaps, or just leave them open. Husband had fun putting it together (at least I think he did....) with a little help from me. 

The blue spined Reader's Digest "Sewing and Knitting" book is one of the best sewing books I have come across - get it if you see it! Guess how much I paid? 20p. Yes, you read that right - 20p! that was once again in my local favourite charity shop, where all books are 20p, or, wait for it, £1 for 5! Excuse me a minute while I do some arithmetic...... hang on, 5 x 20p = £1. Must have a word with the staff.

So, this tiny room works well as my sewing room, but I still needed some extra table space for cutting out. Thinks - "There's some space in our bedroom at the end of the bed, and if I were to have a gateleg table there, I could have it against the wall and have one flap out when I need it". So, charity shop came up trumps again - quickly this time -  with this for £15 (the sun was shining well and truly in when I took the photo) so that's my cutting out space. Maybe not as big as I'd like ideally, but you can't have everything. 

I am always interested to see other people's workspaces so I hope this has been an interesting tour for you, dear reader. 

The next post will be about my winter biking. And on the reading front, I have just got to read this book, Knit 1 Bike 1, written by Janet Renouf-Miller, about her "woolly cycle journey around Scotland" on her Brompton bike. I hope to get some hints on how I might combine sewing with cycling!!

Till then

Lizzie

More cot pockets

These cot pockets, with knitted bunnies and Peter Rabbit, are awaiting the occupant-to-be of this cot, due about a week before Christmas. However I suspect they will have a longer wait......I was late with all 4 of mine, the mummy-to-be in question (our number 3 offspring) being the tardiest arrival at 15 days late. 

I remember the midwife at our local hospital where she was born washing off the placenta under the tap, examining it, and telling us that there were white spots on it, which apparently is a sign of its deterioration. Daughter was fine though. The other 3 were 11 days late (no.1, boy, 8 lb 12 oz), 6 days late (no.2, girl), and 10 days late (no. 4, boy, 8 lb 15 1/2 oz) ). Number 2 would probably have been later, but they said I was "small for dates" and so wouldn't let me go any longer, and broke my waters to start me off. The doctor apologised for all the worry they had given us when she weighed in at 7 lb 4 1/4 oz. One different doctor had been correct when he said "this baby's deceptive, it's just low down".  You don't forget this sort of stuff!

Anyway, enough of that...

Daughter chose this lovely grey fabric. I actually did yellow stitching round the outside and outlined one of the stars on each pocket in the same colour. The lighting in the picture isn't very good so you can't really see the fabric at its best. I've got a bit left over and am wondering what to make with that. 

Sanderson wallpaper in the background just in case you were wondering! 

Another baby - Alice Margaret, was born to my nephew and his wife in California (don't they get about nowadays. My eldest is in Germany, another nephew is in Singapore) in September. I started off thinking that maybe I'd make more of a drawstring bag, which could be hung on the cot now and could be used as a bag by Alice when she is a bit older, but it turned out as a single cot pocket in the end.

The initial idea I had was to stitch together pieces of white and cream cotton from my collection, and then embroider the name on it in red. The picture below was taken after I had stitched together several pieces in a long line, and then cut them, turned them round, and re-stitched them together to form a square.

I think I cut and re-stitched again before I finally ended up with this piece. I then ironed woven cotton interfacing onto the back.  Incidentally the white pieces with the embroidered strip were left over from making my wedding dress in 1981. It was Swiss cotton, bought from Liberty's at about £8 a yard. I seem to remember the total cost, including buttons and zip, came to £64. I think I've still got the till receipt somewhere!

I embroidered the name onto a piece of calico. I love the combination of red on cream. I was at the Festival of Quilts a few years ago (my sister Kate Dowty is a quilter) and remember seeing some beautiful red on cream embroidery done by an Indian lady. There was a name for the style but I can't remember it.

I then did running stitch round the edge of each rectangle. The fabric where I did the red stitching was osnaburg, a favourite fabric of mine. It's a rough cotton, quite loosely woven. I got it at that same Festival of Quilts from The Cotton Patch.

For the back of the pocket I used a thickish cotton, and interlined it with some sheeting to give a bit more body, and for the lining and the binding at the sides I used calico. The pocket has a pleat at each side so there's lots of room for toys and books. The ties are made from cotton twill tape.

It is now winging its way to California.

I really enjoyed doing this patchwork quilting of sorts - this random joining up of scraps and then chopping and joining and chopping and joining again  to make something bigger, and then the hand stitching on top. I'd love to make a whole garment in this way. But for now I think I will definitely be making more of these cot pockets, and have got one or two more baby ideas up my sleeve.

[BTW, I wanted the text aligned to the left, but despite it doing so as I write and save, when I preview the post the text is centred. Annoying!]

That's all for now.

Lizzie