Pillow Talk- Final Quilt & Finished Bedroom

1) Patchwork quilt

It took me a year but I’ve finally finished my patchwork quilt. It was the first project I undertook to make over our bedroom and the last thing to be finished

I used this pattern, which was really easy to follow and nicely laid out with a ton of photos. I’d highly recommend it to others and I only went off the pattern twice. I didn’t buy all my fabric at once; instead I bought multiple fat quarters here and there which resulted in some patches not being repeated throughout the quilt. I don’t mind this too much though because I think it looks more like a vintage quilt like the kind women used to make with scraps and old clothes. 

I don’t think I really realized how much work I had to put in to this sucker. Cutting into squares, piecing them together, and resewing the pieces that I messed up. I cut some of the squares badly resulting in some of the squares not matching up. I finally got the top finished in November, but I had to wait ages to buy the wadding (£40), the walking foot (£30) and then the back fabric (£50 for white fabric!!). 

I really disliked the sandwiching process. All the flipping safety pins did my head in and I ran out half way through. I had to roll the whole thing back up and repeat the process with other pins. Note- I first bought fancy safety pins that were curved especially for quilting. When I ran out I bought super cheap normal pins for a fraction of the cost and they worked just as good as the expensive ones.

I CAN NOT sew straight lines to save my life. I quilted one side first and half way through I realized I was actually enjoying myself. I entertained myself with episodes of the Walking Dead and Molly Ringwald movies and got on with it. I originally planned on using extra fabric to bind the quilt but on second decided to go with a solid blue. I wanted a dark blue, but on the day I went the shop didn’t have any so I settled for a light blue.

Here is where I went off pattern the first time. I absolutely refuse to hand stitch the binding. I absolutely hate hand stitching! I find it annoying and boring and bleck. Instead I watched many you tube videos on machine binding and it was pretty easy. I don’t mind have a top stitch on the binding and I actually think it goes with the quilt just fine.

The second time I went off pattern came at the end. When every thing was done I was supposed to stick it in the washing machine and then the dryer. Well, I wasn’t in the mood to take my hard work and wash it immediately so I decided I’d do this step when the quilt gets dirty. And besides, in the UK our washing machines are tiny and have really bad dryers built in.

All in all I’m super chuffed with my quilt and I’m really proud of myself. My mom’s first quilt still sits undone from when I was small. I think my grandma would be pleased with me even though she’d probably think I’m a heathen. Its okay, you can still use quilts in hell! 

2) Curtains
 
I made these curtains myself without a pattern. I got the fabric on the sale table at the fabric shop and had it sitting under my bed for months. When I got my headboard and side table I decided it was time to get going on the curtains.

I laid the fabric next to the existing curtains that came with the flat and then I cut them out, did a basic hem and added the curtain stuff at top. I don’t know what it is called but it has a series of strings that you pull to give the nice pleated affect. All in all it took an hour to make then and they really cut out the light and since they were super thick they didn’t need to be lined.

3) Embroidery and cross stitch

These are blogged about here.

4) Side table
 
I am so kicking myself that I didn’t take a before picture of this side table. It was a hot mess when I found it at this charity shop in town. I bought it for £20 and spent about £5 fixing it up. Before it was an faded white with a really disgusting mauve velvet underneath the glass on top. I had been looking for a nightstand and this, despite its state at the time, totally fit the bill. I wanted a concealed area where I could put extra books, magazines and my earplugs, which I’ve slept with every night since living in Edinburgh where empty lorries would barrel down the road to the brewery at 5 am everyday.

I dismantled the glass on top and took off the fabric revealing an unfinished top and then I painted the whole thing in a Habitat paint called mustard. It took two of the little pots of paints to cover the wicker, as it was difficult to get through all the layers.

While at Homebase buying my paint I looked for contact paper that I was going to use for the top under the glass, but its not that big in the UK. I ended up in the wallpaper aisle and I tore a small amount of wallpaper from the sample (they let you do this for free so you can take it home and see if it is right for the wall). It was also from the Habitat line so the colours matched perfectly. I do not feel guilty about doing this because people take loads of samples they don’t end up buying and the man who worked there said I could take as much as I wanted.

I ended up using the wallpaper on the top and on the back wall so that you can see it through the opening. I kept the plastic rope trimming that originally covered where the nails secured the fabric. I almost tossed it out because it was spray painted a horrible gold colour but after giving it a wash and a coat of mustard paint it was good as new. I also kept the originally knob and coated it in the paint and let it hang upside down on a clothespin that had a suction cup attached. I was really happy with how this project came out and I honestly think it was one of my best diy projects to date.

5) Picture frames

While at Homebase I perused the sale rack and found some frames. They were an unfortunate burgundy colour and therefore super cheap. I took them home, sanded them and painted them in the same Mustard and threw some black and white prints I had in my huge print bin and viola- instant art.

The other frame holds a print from an English artist that Billy and I like and my darling husband surprised me on one of my weekends I worked. When I came home he bought two prints and painted the frames and they were hanging in our room.

6) Bed Frame

While at the charity shop buying my side table I spotted this vintage wicker headboard hanging on the wall covered in the shop’s jewelry. I had already purchased my table when I caught site of the headboard and my jaw dropped. I had been looking for something like this FOR-EVER! I had intended on making my own headboard from this amazing (seriously this woman is incredibly inspiring) blog but had failed to source peg board, which is non-existent in UK home improvement stores.

But when I saw this I had to have it. The bad thing is my husband was not going to let me get two pieces at once despite my juvenile pleading. I think it was £20 but I can’t remember for sure. I knew that I would of paid more for it even though it was missing some pieces of spirals.

I spent the rest of my weekend on my side table and when Monday rolled around, my husband was sick of me whining about the headboard and he told be to go and get it if it was still there. Obviously it was, but the staff was none too happy to clear off all the jewelry to get to the head board. It was a bit of a disaster really.

I didn’t get to work on it till a few weeks later but I did try it out and it fits our bed frame perfectly! Honestly it fits like a glove. When I examined the head board more closely I realized it was really in bad shape. I went into my tool box and got out my wood glue and masking tape and went to work fixing spirals that were hanging on by a thread, breaking off pieces that didn’t have matching counterparts and using those to replace other missing pieces. It took awhile but the glue was super sturdy and the head board looks almost perfect.

I used a midnight blue I picked using a scrap piece of curtain fabric and it matches quite nicely. I am so happy with my head board!

Sewing Project #13

I'm so excited this will be my third weekend off in a row! First it was because we were in Copenhagen, then last weekend I took off mainly because of the Queen's Jubilee. I am so sick of Union Jacks and everything to do with queenie.

Instead of working Billy and I went to a music festival in London called Field Day. It was an amazing line-up and I got to see Andrew Bird (swoon) and Beirut, and I found I really like The Savages, an all girl, intense quartet. Also the in-laws were in London so Sunday was spent entertaining.

Today is Billy's last day at his job at a law firm in London and next week he starts a job for the council so we are going into London tomorrow to do a celebratory wine tasting (Billy's birthday gift from December!), a good curry on Brick Lane and some record and vintage shopping. Yay.

With all that's been going on, I forgot to post a photo of a dress I made for Copenhagen. It's a simple pattern from Burda called Anda and some stripy fabric, but I used elastic at the waist instead of a drawstring. It was the first piece of clothing I've sewn in ages! I am being crafty now too. I'm crocheting a colourful rug and I am going to do my first quilt for our bedroom (more on that one later).

I'm really enjoying my quiet Friday night with some wine, Nina Simone and my crocheting until my husband gets home from his after work drinks!

Sewing Project #12

My husband stayed overnight in Manchester for business this week so I decided to fill my night with a sewing project. I used the same pattern as my first dress but I used version B and stashed Ikea fabric.

While sewing I channeled my all-time-favorite movie the Parent Trap. I know this movie by heart and ever since seeing it for the first time in elementary school its been special to me.
I was destined to love this movie. One character's name is Susan, hey that's my name. But to top it off the twins birthday is November 12th!! But my birthday is November 12th. It was a great moment when I knew this movie was made just for me.

The clothing is sublime. I went through a phase in fourth and fifth grade where my mom and I went to consignment shoppes to find long fifty-style skirts and I went on a mission to find black and white oxford shoes to complete my ensemble. I want to make every outfit from this movie, especially the yellow dress Susan/Sharon wears on her trip to California.

So this dress is my attempt to live out my fascination with the Parent Trap. Come on, even the camp clothing is amazing!! Whatever you do don't mention the remake. It hurts my eyes to see Lindsay Lohan act.

Billy's Birthday

My honey turned 30 yesterday. Thank god. I am so tired of him telling me how old I am (I'm a year and a month older) and how young he is being in his twenties and all. We went bowling and played some pool and air hockey. I finally beat him on the last game we played and I was quite obnoxious about it.

I made him chicken katsu curry (my specialty) with edamame and a cupcake for dessert and we watch episodes of the office (us version) that we downloaded. It was quite a nice day though I woke up with a c shape seared into my skin after burning my hand on dinner and the whole flat smells of curry.

I can finally reveal the secret of my Christmas bunting which changes to say "Happy Birthday." Its quite nice that Merry and Happy have the same amount of letters. I added an "!" to fill the space after birthday. Billy really hates when I decorate for birthdays and holidays (except Christmas) so I thought this would be a simple way to celebrate his day.

Sewing Project #11

I am actually quite proud of this bunting because I came up with the idea all by myself. I always save the spare buttons that come with store bought clothes and I've been wanting to do something with them for a while. I also did applique for the first time ever! I thought it came out quite well considering I was using super cheap felt.

We are renters, so we are very limited to what we are allowed to put on our walls I have to think of things that will leave the least amount of damage. I think if I were going to change anything about it, I would have used interfacing on the back but I had a different plan for it originally.

Sewing Project #10

I have to send out my momma's presents tomorrow so I photographed the gardening apron I sewed last week. My mom is the greatest person ever and she deserves much more, but I'm skint this year so instead I made something using leftover material.

She, being a mother and all, always loves home made gifts the most. Momma spends most of her time in her garden in Florida and since she started it she has stopped feel arthritic, lost weight and is happy. I made this apron using the basic dimensions from this tutorial, but I figured the rest out my self.

PS It is really hard to take a photo of yourself wearing an apron when you're too lazy to dig out your tripod. Its not the best photo, but you get the idea.

Knitting Project #5 & Sewing Project #9

This is the dress that I made in my sewing class with Lubi. I finished it about a month ago but I've been too busy (or lazy) to put up my studio lights and take a proper photo. Well tonight we had to set up the lights to take id photos for my visa so I thought I'd tick something off my long list of things to do.

This is based on a New Look pattern, but we really didn't keep to it that much. We changed the front and we just used some maths to figure out the skirt. I don't really like dresses with these sleeves, but I wanted to do the hardest ones in class so that other sleeves with be easy for me on my one. I want to make either one with three-quarter sleeves or sleeve-less with a boat neck. I really think it would look great in a tweed and quite fitting as I'm in Scotland.

This scarf is a quickie I whipped up when my husband needed to keep warm. It really is too short but I only had a little bit of man acceptable colors available to me. I tried to convince him to wear a cowl but that was a bit much for him. I really like the pattern for a guy and I think I will make it in gray when I can afford more wool.

I still have fingerless gloves and a gardening apron to photograph and put up. I really should keep up on these things better.

Oh and I found a shop in Edinburgh that sells my favorite winter tea! Yay.

Knitting Project #4 & Sewing Project #8

Billy and I trekked through the 2 feet deep snow today and happened upon a Christmas tree seller. We were going to go for a fake tree as we thought we couldn't afford a real one this year, but they were selling four feet tall trees which are really just the tops of bigger trees. So we bought one with a stump to put it on and they delivered it to us tonight. I love this tree. I think it is my favorite that I've ever had. I can't really explain it but all the ornaments on it were either made by us or had some significance.

I have been knitting little stockings since October. I think someone saw one and thought I might have been 'expecting' but the only thing I was expecting was a tree! I used super cheap yarn I bought my first Christmas here from Pound Stretcher, similar to a dollar store.

While waiting for our tree Billy and I made our ornaments from book pages. I sewed and he cut them out from an old book. He was quite pleased to cut up the Dan Brown book and I wasn't sorry to see it go. I saved the rest for future projects so books purists shouldn't worry.

Our star was made our first year we lived in Scotland together. We were super poor and couldn't afford a proper star. We made it out of tin foil and cardboard and we will probably keep it for the next forty years. We like it so much that we made one for my mom's tree last year when we were in Florida for Xmas. Though that one was spiced up with some amazing glitter glue!

Sewing Project #7

Saturday was the 30th birthday of my husband's best mate who is a drummer in Belfast. I decided to make him a roll-up case for his drumsticks using this tutorial.

It was pretty straight forward. The only thing is that I would add a handle to the top so that when its open it can be hung from a drum. I used two different fabrics from Ikea that were the manliest I could find (it really isn't easy to find cool fabric for guys!).

I think I'm going to make one for my knitting needles.

Sewing Project #6

I worked with oil cloth for the first time and it was a bit troublesome with my presser foot. Once I put on some masking tape it worked much better. I used the tutorial from Prudent Baby. It didn't seem to come out the same as in the tutorial pictures so I think I must have miscalculated somewhere, but I'm happy with the outcome as it is a birthday present for someone.

Sewing Projects #3,4,5

After several longs stints of staring at my clothes in the wardrobe I have found a serious lack of skirts amongst the lot. So I have been determined to fill in the blanks with skirts that I made myself! I have made skirts before when I was a teenager, but nothing more than a simple A-Line pattern.

My first skirt was a puffy skirt sew-along. I think this was a bit ambitious for my first attempt as it wasn't from a store-bought pattern and it had a shirred back!! I nearly broke my machine trying to do the shirring. I had to take it back to the shop and they severely 'tsk tsked' me. But in the end it took me four days to make the three day skirt. Its a bit too small around the waist as I have to put it on over my head.

My second skirt is my favorite thus far. I really wanted a denim skirt like one I had seen in the gap for 50 pounds (my computer doesn't have a pound sign as it is American). I used McCall's 5430. It wasn't exactly like the gap skirt but close enough, though it does not agree with the roaring Scottish wind.

My third skirt is New Look 6872. It was really easy to make and I love the fabric. I just bought some Liberty fabric so I think I will make another one from this pattern.

I think my wardrobe is going to be 80% skirts soon!

Sewing Projects #1 & 2

My first project with my brand new machine!! I made this tote bag from this tutorial. Its perfect for all my work stuff but not too big to use as a normal purse. It was my first time with gussets and I was surprised at how easy they were to work with. It was a great first project.

I also made a small bag for my IPod stuff using the steps from this tutorial, though the material I used wasn't really right for that kind of bag. I will be remaking it with stronger fabric. Yay to completing something 24 hours after buying my machine!