Swedish folk pattern and some WIP

Hi, dear friends.

I have been really busy lately with my sewing machine and other stuff.
I am learning quilting. Here is my second attempt. (The first one was a simple piece sewn together from 10 x 10 cm squares, not very well - I am still thinking to do something with it.)

I was trying to do a log cabin quilt. I cut lots of 5 cm wide strips and started working. I don't have a real fabric stash, absolutely no quilting fabric, only some odds and ends that I bought in second hand shops or got as donation from colleagues. I tried to pick some light and dark fabrics, and started sewing them together. Here are some pictures of the process, but mostly I was too excited sewing, so I didn't take many photos.







As my blocks grew, I had to realise that my seams are not precise and my cutting was not ver exact either, so some of the lines on the blocks turned out to be a bit wonky. After some thinking I came up with a "brilliant" solution - I will make the blocks so that the log cabins are leaning a bit to the left and right, this way it won't be so visible that they are not perfect. Ha! As if this was a solution - for someone who is a beginner!
I saw some pictures and calculated for myself what size triangles I need for the edges. And I didn't have much fabric that was good with the other colours so had to be careful. Of course, I made mistakes when cutting and sewing again, so at the end it turned out even worse. There were even more seams to match.


In the close-up you can see the not-so-matching seams:




But there are some that are almost OK - purely by accident, though:





Anyway, here is the final result - and in spite of all the mistakes I am VERY happy with it. :D





This is only the quilt top, now I am going to learn how to quilt it. I don't have any batting, need to buy something for the back, too. Until I can do that, I will practice with smaller pieces. It will have to be straight lines quilting, because I also need to buy a free motion foot for the sewing machine and buying all that might take some time.


I have also been knitting a pullover for my daughter. It is almost ready now, I only need to sew in the sleeves. It was made, as most of my knitting, without patterns, just improvising. I knitted the body on the round, and the cowl neck, too. One of the problems with improvising is when you have made one sleeve, it is terribly hard to duplicate it - so I decided to make the second sleeve different. Purely for laziness - but I think it looks really cool. I hope Eszter will like it. It is absolutely soft and warm, it is an alpaca boucle yarn from Drops. Of course, since spring is here, she will need a really warm pullover - NOT. But I didn't manage to finish it in winter, so she will have to wait until next autumn to wear it. :=/







And I also crocheted a little cat for her, to go in the packet when I send the pullover:



This was also made without pattern. Perhaps I should try and write it down?


And here is a small Swedish folk cross stitch pattern for you all to enjoy, I think it is lovely. It was inspired by some old patternbooks I have.

Have fun :)

Pastel biscornu

I created another biscornu pattern with geometric motifs, in lavender and mauve colours. I just love how these colours look together.
I also made a repetitive pattern for covering bigger surfaces, using the same motifs as in the biscornu. Perhaps someone has a good use for it.

Enjoy :)

Butterflies - free cross stitch patterns

I have been stitching quite a few butterflies for the charity quilts lately. So much that I got bored with all what I had . I wanted to make my own pattern, and here it is.

I hope you like my butterflies and they can bring some spring to all of you. God knows we all need it now. :)

My new dress

I have been sewing again.

This time I chose a commercial pattern that, luckily, we have at school. It's an Onion pattern, 2032.
It is good because it goes up to size 48. I actually thought I need 50 so I drew my pattern a bit bigger - than had to reduce it when I sewed it together.
I had this nice knit fabric, which is not very stretchy, just a bit. It wasn't easy to sew though because the edges curled up, even though I ironed it. Anyway, I managed.
The pattern description is in Danish (!!!). I did understand (or guessed) some of it, based on the little Swedish I know. Those two languages are quite near each other. But I wasn't sure I understood how to sew the pleats in front, so I just did it as I thought and they didn't turn out perfect. But they are not too bad.

Here is the result. All in all, I think this is a really good dress, considering how much experience I have. I used an overlock stitch to sew most seams, then cut off the excess fabric, and a stretchy straight seam for the hemming. So it looks almost professional from the inside, too. I am VERY happy with it.




It was March 15th, Hungarian national holiday, that's why the Hungarian ribbon. In the background, on my pinboard you can see a photo of my Mom.


What do you think?

Easter biscornu cross stitch freebie

Sorry for the misleading title, but I realised that I need to put the cross stitch freebies in the title otherwise they get lost and nobody sees them. :D This happened to my Easter eggs - the blog statistics show that much fewer people saw those than the other patterns.


But now that you are here, I can admit that first you have to suffer through my sewing and stitching pictures before you see the freebie. (Unless you scroll down :D :D) .

Some of you might remember that I bought a new sewing machine not long ago. My regular visitors might even remember that I started to learn how to sew clothes last summer - using the sewing machines in school because my old one gave up. Now I can sew whenever I want, and my own machine is so much better than the ones in school. So here is my first blouse I made with it:



I used this peasant blouse tutorial to make the pattern, but had to adjust it a bit. Maybe it was me, but when I sewed together the parts, I didn't get a nice round edge at the neckline, but at each meeting point there was a pointed edge, or a triangle protruding - so I simply had to cut those off. Also, I measured myself and then added a bit because I wanted a loose fit - and the result has become more a tent than a blouse. :P It is OK, I can wear it, and it is actually a good feeling that I have at least one piece of clothing that is not too tight or too small, as everything seems to be lately. But I think I would like to redo it if one day I have the patience to take it apart, cut the pieces smaller and then sew together again.
The fabric comes from one of my second-hand shopping sprays, I think it might have been a curtain, but I thought "peasant blouse" right away when I saw it.

Then I finished a bag that I started sewing a month or so ago, in school, whenever I had a few minutes at the end of the day, but could never do really much. It is a bag from Cath Kidston's Sew! book, the cover kit that was given with the book. I didn't have to cut anything, just sew it together. Which, of course, would have been boring so I decided to add lining, and then also added a zippered pocket to the lining. I had to take out the zipper once and sew it again, and it is still not perfect, my top-stitching could also be better, but all in all I am happy with it. I am still learning my machine and this was a perfect little project for that.






I have also started making a dress, cut out the pieces but had to stop, my back doesn't want me to sew again. :( Have to rest it for a few days.

I have done quite a lot of cross stitch, I made squares for the charity I like to help. We are making quilts for sick children and also for an orphanage. If you want to join, stitch or perhaps donate some money for the quilts, here is the Facebook group.

Some of my stitched squares:




(I just noticed that the fairy on the right misses her magic wand, need to add it quickly.)



It warms my heart to know that a child will find some happiness in them - a child who very much needs every minute of happiness.


And finally, as a reward for those who managed to stay with me through this long post: my Ester biscornu.




Find the downloadable pdf pattern here.

You will notice that I have changed the colours of the letters. I wanted to sew a nice pink button in the middle but of course, couldn't find one. So I used one without colour and sewed it on with pink decorative stitches.

Happy stitching, my friends. Wishing you all a quickly approaching spring (OK, not for those in Australia, but the rest :D :D ).

Assissi Easter eggs freebie

Here is another Easter cross stitch pattern for you all to stitch: little eggs with assissi technique. Try using variegated thread for them.




Happy stitching

Magyar tavasz - Hungarian spring

Március van - közeledik a számomra legkedvesebb magyar ünnep. Ha jól sejtem, nem vagyok ezzel egyedül. Ünnepeljünk együtt! Készítettem egy kis nemzetiszínű mintát népművészeti mutívummal.
De aztán azt gondoltam, más színekben is jól mutatna, úgyhogy készült még egy változat. :)

It's March and that means that the most beautiful Hungarian holiday, 15th March is coming. Celebrate with us. Here is a little pattern in our national colours with a folk motif.
But then I thought it would look good in other colours, too, so I made another version. :)


Kattintsatok a képre a letölthető pdf-ért.
Click on the picture for the downloadable pdf.