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I made another batch of little pillow card holders, with a bit more colours this time and I remembered to take pictures!! 

Still using the same pattern: Pillow Card Holder pattern from Sewing Seeds of Love.

Once cut, they only need folding and they are finished with 2 snaps.

Task I delegated to my daughter since she was off sick from school. 

And then my husband was called to the rescue to hammer ...

 10 years since I started this quilt and last night I finally added the last stitches!

I finally got the bag out in June 2021 and finished the quilt top just before our international move to get it quilted before we left the UK but I had an adventure with my parcel that got sent to ...

 I seem to concentrate on the easy and fast to sew at the moment. Maybe it is the satisfaction of achieving something even when I have limited time and energy... Anyway whatever the reason, about a week or so after I cut it all up, I finished a new PJ for my eldest daughter. She seems to be growing overnight so everything gets too short too quickly.

I heard this week that my daughter's school were planning to sell small objects during the parents-teachers meetings to fund raise for the final years' school trips abroad. I was trying to think about what I could contribute that would be fast and easy to make but would still sell. They hadn't asked for any contributions but I figure I could help maybe. Looking through my patterns stash I remembered the Pillow Card Holder pattern from Sewing Seeds of Love which actually doesn't require any sewing at all.

Weather is awful, life is difficult so I could easily hibernate... making PJ is almost hibernating I guess, but at least something come out of it. 

This week I picked up the pieces I had cut in October from my scrap box to make a new pair of PJ for my youngest, with leftovers from a PJ made to her sister a few years back.

 I had to move most of my dressmaking fabric stash recently as well as my boxes of leftover which I've discovered got wet during one of the cellar flooding... sadly some of the pieces now have stains but I've washed most of them now and went through them to work out what I should get rid off. 

I found leftover jersey pieces from PJs I made to my eldest daughter about 5 years ago, too childish for her now but I thought I'd try to make a PJ for her sister (who is older than she was ...

 After the girls' summer PJ, I have been meaning to move to the boys' ones. I started cutting one for hubby about 3 or 4 weeks ago but then disaster struck, we had a heavy thunderstorm with lots of rain and the basement where our office/sewing room is got flooded so we spent the rest of the evening mopping it up. By that time, I had cut all but the neckline and the sleeves.  

I used a lovely soft cotton jersey for the top that I had bought about a year before at a local fair. I use the ...

 We all travelled back to England this week to see friends. Before we went, I made 2 more baskets as gift.

A Barbie pink one for my youngest to gift to her friend

and a blue one with horses for my eldest daughter to gift to her friend too

After my first basket following the tutorial for the binding, I didn't like the bulk at the junction so I decided to join the binding with a 45 angle and it is much neater.

I also serged the seam of the lining to have a neater finish there too ...

Finished and worn already! I decided not to stop on my nightwear making adventure to make myself a new night dress with the leftover panda fabric.

Again I didn't hem the sleeves or the bottom of the dress but simply serged them.

Another finish for July and one that is already happily used. 

And last week, I am happy ...

 A quilting related little project, it had been a long time! I seem to be spending all my sewing time on dressmaking lately! Maybe the appeal of this particular project was that it is a fast and fun make? Anyway I joined more or less after the party, the rainbow scrappy basket quilt along organised by the Crafty Nomad last week-end.

I picked my green scrap box for my first basket 

The quilt as you go piece is quite fun to make and goes together quickly.

The trickiest part is sewing the base to the side piece. 

I had the ...

Happy to report that I have finished the 2 PJs I had cut out about a week ago. Those were made using the trusted and reliable 11th hour gear pattern, probably my list used pattern!

I cut a size 16 for my eldest, the t-shirt is a little long but that's OK. And I cut a size 10 for my youngest. 

No sewing at all the previous week but I caught up on Sunday by making the pandas PJs for my eldest.

 PJs have been on my to-do list for a long time. Not sure why it has taken me so long to pick up a simple and fast project, for which I have all I need in my stash. Anyway, I finally got some of my jersey fabric out a few weeks ago and asked the girls to take their pick. 

I first made a pair of shorts for my eldest daughter to wear with her nightdress. Great to make it all from my stash and a really quick make too...

Next I cut out 1 PJ set for each girl ...

 This was quite a last-minute make but thankfully it was a fast sew! I had seen the "Defi Declic" on IG organised by Atelier Scammit with their lovely free pattern and had planned to make one before the end of June, apart that again time crept up on me...

I finally cut the pattern and washed the fabric on Tuesday last week, cut the top and ironed on the interfacing on Wednesday night before assembling the top on Thursday.

It is quite an easy sew with just 4 pieces and the instructions are very clear, with lots of videos (which ...

 It seems that somehow the end of the school year has crept on me even more than usual... I suddenly realised last Sunday that the kids were about to start their last week, i.e. that teachers' presents were needed to be completed by the end of the week but I hadn't even made a start... I needed 4 this year and one was needed by Wednesday morning not Friday + Wednesday evening was the annual fete de la musique (music festival for the summer solstice) which meant that that was one last evening to work on the presents.

I ...

 With Spring finally back and a few Holy Communion to attend, I thought I needed a new dress. I had wanted to try some French Poetry patterns for a while and settled on the Pléiades 2 Dress for my first try. Before I left the UK, I had ordered a stash of Lady McElroy fabric from Sherwoods Fabrics that I hadn't yet put to good use. I picked the New York City - Night print, q lovely cotton poplin that has a beautiful drape.

 That wasn't necessarily in my plans for this month but then I came across this challenge on Instagram #SewAprilBlouse23.

Blouses/Shirts have been on my wish list for a while but I never really got around sewing one, so I guess this challenge was the perfect push.

There were a few patterns that I really liked and shortlisted. I am Hesat was the first one I went for, hoping I'll have time for others!

 For the fabric, I raided my stash and pulled out 2 fabrics that I washed. I eventually settled on this beautiful Cobra Corsage lawn ...

 These have been a long time coming! I thought it would be a quick and easy project but it didn't turn out how I had expected when I first tried month ago so I put it aside for later. 

Keeping with the quidditch theme, I offered to make the colours headbands for the local team quite a while ago. I initially envisaged making them out of stretch fabric but I didn't like how they looked once finished to make sure there were no raw edges. Plus kids and adults are playing in the same team so the head ...

It seems sewing has taken a back seat since the beginning of the month sadly... I had great intentions but time has been too short. First there was a birthday girl to honour and then there has been quite a lot of travelling, business travel first followed by holidays. Even though I had some hand sewing projects with me while on the move, I hardly touched them.

 I am not sure I ever been that fast to sew up a fabric after buying it or to sew a pattern for a second time but this week I made myself a second Socks Pullover. I made a slightly different version with a lower collar and the faux buttoning on the shoulder.

 A new IG challenge, how could I resist, especially knowing I had some fabric in my stash that would work and winter is not yet over rather it's come back recently! And this works for 2 IG challenges actually, since January #magamsewalong is #Jumpstart.