How I love slow, quiet weekends. We spent most of the weekend hanging around home, and I got a lot of small sewing projects done - almost all of them inspired by tutorials on the Internet.
I started out by making these birds, based on the bird tutorial by Spool:
This was very easy - a perfect first stuffed ornament project for a novice sewer like me. They're so sweet.
My son wanted his own bird to sleep with, all red, with wings and a tail like a phoenix, so I'm putting that together for him now. I'm feeling ready to tackle other stuffed softies too.
After that, I quickly whipped up a banner for us to use on the Fourth of July, which we celebrated together while thinking of all our loved ones back home.
This was easy to do because I finally got a rotary cutter last week! It's amazing how much it's improved my sewing. I am so excited to try some patchwork now. In fact I got a small taste of patchwork when I made these coasters as a wedding gift for the editor of the Japanese edition of my DIaper Free Baby book. The tutorial for these is online and free here.
And then, I got out my rotary cutter again to make myself a pincushion, which I've long been in need of - I'd just been sticking my pins into my ironing board!
This is, again, based on a free online tutorial - Heather Bailey's pincushion.
My version is simpler, as I had no ribbon and no time to put in the side panels, but it meets my craving for little pops of color around my sewing area.
I did a speedy felt sewing project too - these little fish with buttons so Mia can practice buttoning. Very simple to make - you could make them any shape, really - just a single layer of felt with a slit for the button. It gave me a chance to practice sewing curves on the sewing machine - still tricky for me as you can see!
In between satisfying bouts of sewing, I got my fill of some of the latest Japanese craft magazines, and took a look through a lovely little needlework book too - I'm longing to try some embroidery soon.
Hope your weekend was just as relaxing.
