Monday 24 February 2014

Sewing & Knitting for Our Preschool Benefit


We had our Preschool Benefit on Saturday night, it was such a great night and I donated some handmade bibs, burps cloths and hand knitted cardigans for the silent auction.

It all started when a lovely friend of mine Anna, suggested I should donate something to the Auction, the seed was sown and I thought it was a great idea. But what could I make and donate,  after some thought and not having that long to make the items I settled on making a set of bibs and burp cloths one for a boy and one set for a girl and then a hand knitted baby cardigan each too.

I've got to say I powered ahead with the burp cloths and the bibs, and really enjoyed making these.


The hand knitted cardigans took me a lot longer than planned, the first cardigan I made was the Debbie Bliss Ribbon Edged Cardigan (without the ribbon) in a beautiful dusky purple color so pretty for a girl and I found some lovely rose buttons to match too. Here's my Ravelry link


I had more trouble deciding what to do for a boy, suddenly the weekend before the Benefit was upon me and I knew I had to get started, so all last week I slogged it out, I ignored the housework, the kids, everything, I spent hours sat knitting - but did managed to watch the whole season 2 of House Of Cards whilst I knitted bonus - such a great series I loved it

I knitted the Debbie Bliss Argyle Cardigan (without the Argyle bit) - here's my link to my cardigan on on Ravelry

And talk about cutting it fine, on the day of the Benefit, the cardigan was dry from blocking overnight, but I still had the buttons to sew on, but I did it and by lunchtime everything was made, ironed and ready to go, phew I did it.


And the great news is they got sold that night at the Benefit, I was so pleased as the money goes towards our fantastic Preschool and I was glad I was able to contribute to a fabulous night too.




Saturday 22 February 2014

From The Travelling Chaplins to Billy Bobbin

I've been umping and arghing for awhile now about changing my blog name to something that reflects more of what I do (being the crafty diva I am) and to compliment/run along side my little Etsy store.

It was such a task to come up with the name for my Etsy store, I just couldn't decide until my dad blurted out how about Billy Bobbin and I loved it, I loved it so much I ran to the computer and I finally signed up for Etsy.

With that in mind, and after a lot of procrastination and playing around with my blog, I thought why not, just do it and be done.

So it's official The Travelling Chaplins is now Billy Bobbin.

This will be my crafty little blog with a few family moments in between and of course the odd road trip, after all we aren't really travelling anymore and we will be here another couple of years for sure, due to Mr C scoring a promotion here - well done Mr C it is very well deserved.

So without further ado let me introduce you to Billy Bobbin

And please follow me if you wish

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Sunday 16 February 2014

Pinterest Challenge

I love Pinterest, do you? I have so many boards and pins I thought it was about time to give myself a weekly challenge and make/bake/sew/knit/complete/do at least one pin a week starting last week, so on Wednesday, with both kids at school, I picked this pin to start off my weekly challenge

I'm making some burp cloths, I usually make this style when I make burp cloths but I love the simplicity of this style and decided to give this one a go, I also wanted a quick and easy project too.

I had the perfect fabric in my stash, backing sorted, I went with a fleece backing as my local fabric shop did not have chenille.....and before I knew it I had these little beauties made.


I cut out all the rectangles and fleece backings in one go, then proceeded to sew them and topstitch them, it took me about 2 hours all together to make 9 burp cloths.

It was a very productive afternoon.

These burp cloths will be going in a little baby package for a silent auction at Tilly's pre-school on Saturday complete with matching bibs and some will be making their way into my Etsy shop.


And now to start thinking about this weeks challenge....




Monday 3 February 2014

Kids Clothes Week - A Week in Review

Day 1
Picture this it's -2f outside, the wind chill makes it feel more like -24f, school and pre school are closed, hubby is home, we're tucked up inside staying warm and to me it's the perfect sewing day so I manage a little more than a couple of hours hiding away in my sewing room I'm so pleased.

I got quite a bit achieved on both skirts and finished off after I made 8 buttonholes - 4 on each skirt.

Day 2 
I have to admit nothing was accomplished today, instead, as the kids were still off school due to the very cold temperatures, we camped out at a friends house all day and had lots of kiddie fun and adult conversions.

Day 3
I decided to get cracking and make up for no sewing yesterday, Tilly is at lunch bunch on a Wednesday so I get an extra 2 hours of play time, so after a few household jobs, and Radio 2 on the Sonos (listening to Simon Mayo Drive time after all it is 5pm in the UK when Simon is on) off I go, before I know it I've got one skirt very nearly finished (minus the buttons) hooray, but I did lose track of time and had too quickly text a friend to pick up Tilly from Pre-school -oooppps


Day 4 
I managed to get another hour in and I am well on my way to finishing the second skirt.


Day 5
So sad I did try but I didn't quite make it into my sewing room today

Day 6
What a day I managed to get several hours of playtime in my sewing room, the snow outside was steadily falling so I took that as my cue to go and hibernate in my there and finish off both skirts completely.


I made 8 buttons to go on the skirts, out of the fabrics I used for the skirts as I just couldn't find any I was really happy with, these though I love, but not the sewing on part boo to that.

Once the buttons were on and the skirts ironed I was very very pleased with the results, as two were the girls.


I love the style of the skirt and the added kick pleat at the back - perfect.
The pattern was super easy to follow and once I mastered the first skirt, the second, I whipped up much quicker.

Oh and an adult size in the this pattern would go down a treat as I want one too.

Tilly's skirt is the red/blue one and Ruby's is the other one - both fabrics are Prints Charming - my favorite Australian Fabric Designers.

Ps no Day 7 = after all it was the Superbowl final