Sewing machine – Sunrays Creations and Yarns

Posted on April 24, 2014 by mindovermanasa — 4 Comments

My very First QUILT!

Its been some time since I blogged. And that’s definitely because I didn’t have anything to blog about… but because I didn’t have time with the amount of crafting that’s gotten done!!! 😀

I’ll start with the latest creation (as in completed last night). Its a QUILT! Yes, I can now proudly tom-tom the fact that I have made my own quilt. And NO, I refuse to make another… ok maybe if u twist my arm some more.. 😉

It started off on Watsapp with a couple of crafting friends, and so we thought, why not?! Google searches were started up, designs dug out.. and in my case, all with the additional word of “easy”. 😛 But we started off.

I though the fat quarters (18″ x 21″) seemed nice for a starter piece. Big pieces, not much of cutting. I still had to use my brand new rotary cutter and self-healing cutting mat. I hauled out my stash, and got to work.

First I pulled out all the fabric and got measuring. Having done that, I figured the best 4 for the blocks, the plain/neutral for the back, and got cutting.

Once I got all my pieces set, suddenly I decided it was all too boring. Huh?! you say? Yes, well, that’s what happened, and out came the searches for other “easy” patterns. Finally zeroed onto something that seemed easy, and called for “charms”. These turned out to be 5″ x 5″ pieces. Back to the cutting board.

It took me a couple of days and serious boredom, but I finally got the pieces cut. Next step was to join pieces into motifs, and then join the motifs to make the sheet. After about the 30th block, I realized that this didn’t seem to look nice at all! Work stalled for a week.

Finally, I got all my pieces together (large and small) and decided to just completed… however it was. Once that was decided, things moved a lot faster. The sewing of the top and back took a single day. A shopping trip for batting later, the combining of the various parts took a couple of days, and a lot of sit-ups. I now have a shapely backside from the sit-ups and a new set of biceps hauling the whole thing through my itty-bitty sewing machine. 😉 😀

The interest panel (?) on the sine — The interest panel (?) on the side

The whole thing, well, it now sizes to approximately 6ft x 7ft. 😀 So

Now the wait for the cool weather starts!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by mindovermanasa — Leave a comment

The Search for a Perfect Design – Kobo Cover

I have made 3 covers as yet. One was knit and the other 2 were sewing projects. While the knit project as well as the first sewing project were carry-covers, the 3rd cover was basically a stand to put my reader so that I’m not constantly holding the reader directly. But I wanted something that covered both these functions nicely.

So here’s the latest attempt:

I think I’m too enamoured with the written word fabric. I really need to stop putting it front and center… I think that’s what spoiling the effect! 🙁

But overall, the dimensions are a bit short. But hey! This is a learning attempt!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by mindovermanasa — Leave a comment

Basic Mobile Pouch

This is my first project on my new sewing machine. 🙂 YAY!!

Actually I have done other stuff with the machine. It’s only that most of them comprised of repairs of clothing and bed sheets, and new pair of pillow covers. So I finally mustered up some courage to get sewing projects.

I have some self-knit mobile pouches. But, like handbags and shoes, a girl just can’t have too many. So with the left over fabric from the pillow covers, came this lovely mobile pouch. 🙂

The pouch came out fast enough. The problem lay with the handle and the deco. For deco, i zeroed on some leftover flower sequins which could be pastes on. The handle was tougher. I decided to do a ragged-y braid with the same fabric. It’s not the neatest look, but I kinda liked it that way.

IMAG0742 — The inside (wotever can be seen)

Posted on September 6, 2012 by mindovermanasa — Leave a comment

UFOs :D

I had to write my thoughts down when i first saw this tag. I just didn’t understand the connection between extra-terrestrial entities and knitting. Only later did I understand this particular designation. So here goes for the uninitiated (like me) :

UFO: Un-finished Object

FO: Finished Object (not an expletive, think positive!!! )

WIP: work-in-progress (ok, this one I already knew)

I actually started out on this blog as a kind of show-case for my finished items. But, with time, I came to realize that there’s so much more to write about than just the few things I actually make. There’s so much more to learn, and not really related to knitting or regular crafting. Like, there is my attempt at sewing. I call it an attempt because i have bought a sewing machine, I bought the fabric, but am yet to sew a single stitch!!!

That of course is my resolution for this month. ! item a month. which also would mean that I will have to increase my tags to include sewing. Hmm.

So here I enter the world of UFOs and write about How I progress on each of them, and on my resolutions to get them to move into the FO category.