May The Force Be With You.......

I made a Millennium Falcon for my grandson using the free pattern from Wild Olive.

I didn't have the same shade of grey tan felt that was suggested and since Michael's was not open I had to use what I had. I took a look at some pics online of the MF and it's all shades as is my version so I think I'm okay :)

I actually have a lot of grey felt from my mouse making days but the pieces are scraps basically. I did manage to squeak out the shape short of 1/8 of an inch on the length which was so lucky.  Whew!!

Mollie at Wild Olive used Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy for the embroidery template. I have none so plan B.

I used a piece of printer paper and taped on some tissue paper. I pulled one edge of the tissue over the edge and taped it down as this is the leading edge. I didn't want to jam the printer.

 

Then I got an inspiration. I ironed a piece of tissue paper to some freezer paper. It worked too.

I started the embroidery from the center and worked out from there. I used 3 strands of embroidery floss but I would rather have used perle cotton but I had none in grey. Since added to my future to buy list.

Here is my pattern pinned to the felt shape. 

However when I went to put the pieces together I soon discovered that the felt I was using was a bit too soft. It's 100% wool felt. I think what would be best is the acrylic felt that you can buy for kids crafts. Much firmer and the edge will stay and not "fray" for want of a better description. I decided the best thing to do was line the felt using some cotton I had. I zig zagged the edge in grey thread. I rationalized that it looks like riveting...wink wink :)

I originally trimmed the fabric to a 1/4 seam allowance all around. Then I decided..... after my first attempt to sew the bits together...to trim off the fabric right to the edge of the felt. 

Done!!

I think my version looks a bit clunky compared to the one made by Mollie at Wild Olive because I used a blanket stitch instead of a whip stitch. I can guarantee it will not come apart when played with. It's one of those squishy type of things that's just made to be thrown around.

I glued on the gun turrets and the cockpit at first then decided to sew them on as well. The camera certainly shows up all it's faults...oh well.  I really enjoyed making it as it was something different.

Now I've been asked to make another Millennium Falcon and to make a TIE Fighter.....hmm.

Take care and keep safe :)

Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade !!

My Sister Made Me Do It....is hosting the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade !! 

LINK

You can find the details at the above link. I hope you join in :)

I know one pincushion that I'll definetly show but I think I should make a new one just because. 

Take care and keep safe :)
  

Can it get any worse..........?

We haven't been able to sell our house because of Covid so it sits empty. Someone must have noticed that we only go over on certain days and took the opportunity to break into it.

There is very little in the house at the moment. Just some odd furniture and boxes of books and dishes to go into storage eventually. They did break into a small safe which is now toast and will have to be dumped. No worries as there was nothing in it. It seems that they took nothing and were extremely tidy thieves.

Then......

My brother lives in a building that is an apartment block for seniors and they all have their own suites but have communal areas for meals and such. They have just tested everyone for Covid and they have one case. The building has been in lock down since mid February. Very scary and worrying.

I'm really really tired of the year 2020. 

Take care and stay safe!!!!

Blogger Issue re email notification.......

A few people recently have mentioned to me that they are not getting emails when someone leaves a comment on their blog. There is one way to fix this although to be honest it does not always work the first couple of times.

This email problem started about 4 or 5 years ago when Blogger did some sort of upgrade or change. It is not an unknown issue and I think it has stopped a lot of people from blogging.

Also, there are some commenters that you will never receive email notification from ever. I have about four followers like this. For this reason I check my blog comments so I don't miss them. This shouldn't happen and I don't know why. Sorry.

This explanation below is simplistic and I am making the assumption that the reader is not familiar with Blogger. I hope no one will take offence. I did it this way as I have written many how to guides for various systems and you cannot make the assumption that your audience knows what you know.

Here goes........

At the top left of your blog's front page you will see a link called "Design". Click on this. It will take you to the back end of Blogger.

On the left hand side there is an option called "Settings". Click on this.

You are now in the settings option area. You will see one called "Email".

Click on that and it will take you to a new area where you can make changes. It asks "Comment Notification email?" You will see a box and in it should be the email that you want your comment notification to go to.

All is good ....maybe....but maybe not.

Remove the email and click "Save settings".

Now reenter the email you wish to use for comment notification. Save settings again.

Repeat the above step again......remove your email......save settings.....input your email....save settings.

I know it doesn't make sense doing it twice or even three times but it is a necessary step.

You should then get an email from noreply+subscribe@blogger.com asking if you wish to subscribe to comment notification.

Click subscribe and you'll be taken to a new screen.....

So in the perfect world the problem should be fixed :)

There is one other step to take just in case.

On the settings sidebar there is an option "Posts, comments and sharing".

Click on this and take a look to see what you have set up. The question is "Who can Comment?.

What you wish to choose is of course up to you but I personally think the best choice is to select "Anyone".  If you restrict it to only users with Google Accounts then there will be some people who will not be able to leave comments ever.

So that's it. Hope this helps.

Take care :)

Sounding like a neverending thinghybob......

However I have yet another free pattern for you. I like to post about them on my blog so that they are parked some where so I can find them in the future.

This one is very cute for a Star Wars fan of any age I guess but really for the junior set.

It is from Wild Olive and is a felt Millenium Falcon. 

...................................................

As you know, we moved into a two bedroom apartment from a house in February. It's been interesting trying to fit in all our stuff.

I thought you might like to see my current sewing area.

I posted pics of my old sewing room a few years ago. I had a front bedroom with a door that I could shut and leave the mess behind. Now it's a bit different. I have to be very very neat :)


My new space is a corner in the main bedroom which is a very large room. It looks a bit iffy I know but I have all my stuff and the light comes in from a huge south facing window. This is wonderful as before my sewing room faced the north and the light at certain times of year wasn't that great.

It looks sorta tidy right? I have been very good about putting everything away in it's place.

I still have bins under the table that I'm slowly going through and seeing what I can make with the fabric. I have already donated quite a bit to a local charity. It really is amazing how much you hoard when you have a house. Some of the fabric belonged to my mum who passed away in 2003!!!!!!

Like do I really need all this stuff? Why am I keeping it? Just in case I guess....LOL

I must admit that culling is a very satisfying exercise. 

Take care and keep safe :)

Another free pattern from Jill Maas......

This one is very funny and if you gave it a red nose it would look really cute at Christmas. It's called "Fabric Taxidermy".

Source: Jill Maas at Dollmaker's Journey

Here is the link...........Jill Maas

Take care :)