Dress a girl around the world

Did I share this picture?

Have just had a look back through my blog and I can't see it. Anyway, apologies if I've already shared, but can you spot this dress?

Yep, I made it! I was so chuffed when I saw this, I cried! I have just bought some fabric to make more dresses. I would love it if I could persuade more people to take part. Check out the campaign at Dress a girl around the world.

5 dresses done!

Following on from Friday's success, I have now finished 5 dresses for:

I am thrilled with them too, here they are:

My major 'trying new things' with this one was the zig-zag stitch to neaten up the raw edges. I couldn't understand why my zigzag stitch would work on the main body of the fabric, but when I tried to use it on the edges, it would all pull in on itself. So my new thing that I tried? Reading the instructions (I know, like duh!) Apparently there is an actual special foot for this - who knew? (Yes yes, all the rest of you, whatevs, yeah?!)

Also, new - making my own binding! I had read a warning that with these little dresses being sent off, and being in a climate so different than ours, there was a risk of shop-bought binding shrinking disproportianately to the rest of the dress, so I thought I'd best bite the bullet and make my own. It really worked out well too, as it meant I could pick the fabric, rather than having to just choose a vague colour match.

Oh and a little side note, I am the queen of mending rather than redoing, restarting or the dreaded (and a swearword in this house) *whisper it* unpicking (ahhhhhhh!). Notice the cute little flower on one of the purple dresses? That was to cover a mark that came of the iron from all the spray starch I have been using recently. Just a little tipe for you there. If you're really good, I'll show you how I use seed beads and sequins to cover botched patchwork points ;)

And finally, a fluff piece (ba-bum-tsh!), the boy has been frightening the life out of us this week with 'the dead-bunny flop':

Those 'in the know' will be aware that this is a happy flop that bunnies do when they are really relaxed and, well, happy, but it can really scare you! Every time we have to check he's breathing!

Hope you've all had a relaxing weekend!

I'm linking up with:

Dress a girl around the world finish!

I am so pleased, I have finally made a start on making dresses for 'Dress a girl around the world'. I am so excited to take part in this, as we don't have a lot of money, so we tend to restrict our donations of money (My friend Caroline's rabbit rescue and another bunny lover Liz's rabbit sanctuary being the main beneficiaries, please check them out!). So to be able to make a difference to children on the other side of the world, AND get to make stuff! What could be better!

Plus I love this pattern! I'm not going to lie, I found the instructions a bit tricky, no offence at all to Vanessa at {lbg studio}, I am PANTS at following instructions! I usually don't even try, I make it up as I am going along!

Anyway, enough waffling! Here's my creation:

I am pretty pleased with it! I made a few notes on the pattern as I went along, and there's a few things I would do different next time, but I am on a roll now, and intend to do a few more over the weekend!

This is my official TGIFF as I actually finished it today, so I am linking up with:

WIP Wednesday #1

Well this is my first 'WIP Wednesday'.

Completed projects
Since last Wednesday I have completed:
My 'quilt show' bag:

My bead bags for Beads of Courage (see linky on the right):

A pouch for my partner's portable hard drive, with accompanying tutorial:

Some travel tissue pouches:

Ongoing projects:
I am attampting to make a 'quilt as you go' quilt out of the remaining half of my Nicey Jane jelly roll. I thought 'quilt as you go' may be the solution to all my problems, as I *hate* machine quilting, largely because my machine is prehistoric...no really...it's this one:

but I digress.... anyway, I officially *hate* 'quilt as you go'!! The pieces keep warping, the ending squares aren't big enough...it's all gone horribly wrong :( I shall persevere, and just trim each square to 10in square instead of the 10.5in they are meant to be. But I shall state here for the record, I am not happy. NOT HAPPY. Anyway, here is my progress so far. Two squares. Too measly squares. And about an hour of unpicking. And they're not even the right size. Grrrrr

No progress:
My second ongoing project is this:

My mum bought me a 'Bali Pops' pack by Hoffman, to say well done for completing my first year on my return to teaching (bless her, she really is too good for me!). I believe this set is the sherbert colourway. We played with them for ages, and I decided that because the fabrics each had colours in common with other fabrics, they would work sort of like a colourwheel. So I looked for a pattern that would show this off and decided on a peace medallion. I think this will be really beautiful when finished, but I put it away last year at what must have been a critical stage, and now I am met with this and can't quite get my head round where to start:

I am also working on this:

I am slowly working my way through hand stitching the appliqued flowers. This lives in my handbag so I can get on with it whenever I get the chance! (gives self pat on back!)

'At the design stage':

(yes, this is a thinly veilled euphemism for 'not started yet', shush!)

Wandering around blogland is just *so* inspiring! So as a result of this I have various projects in mind to start this week:
1. A mini quilt for the modern mini challenge:

2. A loo-roll cover for 'Dress up your roll' challenge (see linky to the right)
3. A heart garland to decorate my workspace, using this tutorial:
http://www.quiltstory.blogspot.com/2012/02/simply-charmed-blog-hop-valentines-tour.html
4. Dresses for 'Dress a girl around the world'
http://littlebiggirlstudio.blogspot.com/2009/02/pillowcase-dress-tutorial-dress-girl.html

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 4
Progress made - 1
No progress - 6

Also achieved today:
I have been a good girl and done housework before doing any sewing, yay me! This is a particular achievement as my partner has started his new job today, so a) I have no one to tell me to do the housework and b) I am going to have to start doing housework again, having eschewed it since my partner became unemployed (boooooo!!). So I have sorted out the spare room (which was a tip!), sorted out the piles of stuff that had accumulated in our bedroom, sorted out the pile of clothes in my wardrobe, packaged and addressed the various things that need posting later, rung the bank and claimed back some unfair charges, rung the council and claimed back an overpayment on my council tax and run a bath which I will go in once I've finished this post! Oooh, and worked out how to put buttons in my blog posts, yay! Quite a lot achieved, if I do say so myself!