Lots and lots of lovely fabrics

I received some new fabrics this week (ordered from Quilt Home, which is like a goldmine of designer fabrics). Some fun prints and lots of dots in vibrant colors. Can't wait to use them in my upcoming projects. In fact, some of them are already being turned into flag banners, so they won't be shown in this blog post.

Kaffe Fassett , Heather Bailey (Nicey Jane), 

Michael Miller (Dots and Stripes) (Children at Play) (Tammis Keefe)

Michael Miller (Dots and Stripes) (Children at Play) (Tammis Keefe), Kathy Miller (Color Stories)

And last but not least: a cute pattern from Valori Wells - Prudence & Henry.

My first garment (almost)

I've made a skirt!! After a lot of ripping, some grouching and some not so nice words it's finally done. It's not perfect, but I'm so proud I managed to get it done :-) And I think this is something that I'm actually going to wear. (Unlike the bright orange anorak with a large floral print, that I made in school)

I had lots of trouble understanding the directions for sewing this thing. The pattern is from Burda Style (2/2010) and it might have been a bit too much for me and my sewing abilities so far. It didn't really say anything about how to finish the different steps, just "attach the zipper" or "make the waistband". Difficult for a novice. (The pattern was rated easy, but maybe they meant easy for an experienced sewer?)

Fabric from Stoff & Stil (don't know what kind of fabric, but it's kind of thick, and if you cut it diagonally it's a bit stretchy.

From the side

 Back

 Removable belt 

 Without belt

Button, zipper and pocket

Amy Butler's Style Stitches

I have discovered a new and fantastic book! (It might have been around for a year or so already, by I haven't found it until now.) It's Amy Butler's Style Stitches, with sewing patterns for 12 different bags. The pictures are very colorful and makes me want to sew them all. Which one should I choose? Hmmm...maybe I'll start with the cosmo bag (last picture), even though I've read on other blogs that it's not as easy to make as the book claims. Or perhaps the clutch; could be a great challenge.

I've seen that some people are having a kind of sew along, creating one project a month from this book. Sounds like a lot of fun; too bad they all started in january though. New round next year, maybe ;-)

Cow Play Mat

This turned out really cute! I made this for an expecting friend, using fabric I found in my closet. The turtle fabric is from Hart´s Fabric, the brown with white flowers and the red are from Stoff & Stil and the dark green corduroy was bought in the '80s, I think. Pattern from Stoff & Stil (Lektäcke)
The head is detachable and held in place by three strips of velcro, to make the mat easier to wash.

I like this mat not only because it's cute, but it also makes different sounds that are supposed to stimulate the baby: in one of the hooves there is a sound box that makes a clank, in the other one is a crumpled piece of a bag of chips and in yet another one is  plastic granulate. Underneath the brown fabric on "the body" (and in one of the ears) is also material from a bag of chips, making a faint creaking sound as the baby moves on the mat.