Double Bdays!

October 4, 2026 Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

It’s been a weekend full of celebrations!

My youngest turned 5 yesterday and it’s my partner’s birthday today.

We’ve had lots of delicious food all weekend, all made by my partner, and this included pancakes with strawberries and chocolate for breakfast!

Whenever it’s any of our birthdays, my partner lets whoever’s birthday it is choose whatever breakfast they want.

So my youngest chose the pancakes this year.

We also went bowling and I came in last place, twice! 😂

All in all, it’s been a lovely weekend spending everyone’s birthday together! And it’s great they both dates fell on a weekend! ♥️

Earlier in the week I went to college and it was so much fun!

We finished up our skirt blocks from the previous week by adding notches, grainlines and drill holes.

I had never used a drill hole tool, and it was nothing special, but nice to learn and try new things.

Then we transferred the block onto dot and cross paper to make a master draft.

This included drawing in style lines, adjusting darts, adding in cut lines for slashing and spreading, and labelling the pieces.

I really enjoyed doing this and I hope to have time at home soon to make another skirt block but with my measurements.

I think I want to recreate the exact same style of skirt we are drafting at college.

It’s got a v-yoke with a gathered skirt. A gingham version keeps playing in mind!

In terms of a Christmas meal together, I’m still trying to find a venue.

I’m taking into consideration some things that have already been mentioned, like for example, the restaurant being near a train/tram stop.

One thing that will play a big part in the planning is knowing numbers - roughly how many people would want to come so the place I organise can cater for however many people we end up being.

I’ve been looking at locations in Altrincham, Stretford and Chorlton, but if you would like me to take a look at other locations, please let me know.

The quicker I can get a place booked for us the better.

So let me know if you would like to join us for an afternoon or evening meal, where, when and anything else you think I need to know about. 😀

Stitches of the Week

BeeSilva - New Pattern

There has been progress on this!

I’m enjoying working out all the measurements, troubleshooting all the different parts and coming up with layouts for the pages.

So far. The pack of fat quarters is lasting for all elements, but I have included mesh and vinyl. If it was all fabric, I would have run out of fabric by now - just from the fat quarter pack I mean! I have enough fabric in my stash to make a million of these! 😂

Front and back cover is done.

Page 2 front and back is done.

I’m now working on page 1.

I’m including lots of different sized storage spaces, many with zip pockets to keep everything secure when transporting.

Now I’m working on adding storage pockets to place needle packs or small items like these.

I’ve been thinking about adding handles as well to make it easier to pick up and go, so I will see soon how I’m going to incorporate it.

I’m actually super excited to make another with fabrics that are more to my taste, but of course I need to finish this draft version first.

I’m writing the instructions as I go, so the second version I make, I will follow my instructions to see if everything matches up.

Materials: Cotton, vinyl, mesh, foam stabiliser, batting and zips.

Size: Big enough to fit an A4 booklet in.

Violette Field Threads - Katie Cat

This is one of the cutest toys I’ve ever made!🥰

It was such an easy sew until I got to the last bit.

I forgot how tricky it is to close the bottom of the bodice once it’s stuffed!

From my experience with the other stuffies I made, the stuffing went down a bit, so this time I added more than what I thought it needed.

So the body was FULL!

The instructions say to just turn the fabric in and machine stitch it closed, but I’ll do it a little differently next time.

I’ll press the allowance up first, before stuffing it, so I can have a guide and then pin them together.

But to get this part right, you have to push the stuffing as far away from the seam as possible and place some pins to hold it back.

This was tricky too because the pins just kept on popping off.🫠

Then the bulk on the sewing…let me just say it got me sweating!

But seeing my daughter’s reaction to opening her present was well worth the sweat! hahah

Materials: Cotton poplin, craft cotton, pom pom trim and bondaweb.

The Drama: Sewing the bottom closed!😮💨

The Win: My daughter loved her!

Summer Lee - Luna Socks from The Sock Project book

The speckled yarn I was working with came to an end!

I knit as far as I could with it which even meant knitting just half a row.

Then I added 2 extra rows of red, but as I’m writing this, I’ve not tried it on to see if it’s enough.😅

I took it to college this week, like usual, thinking I had quite a few rows to knit the toes closed, but no.

I only had 6 rows which I finished in the first 30 minutes of my one hour trip. And this also meant I had nothing to knit on my way back home.

All that was left was to use the kitchener stitch to close the toes but I thought it was best to do that at home when I could concentrate better.

They are now done and they are possibly the best fitting socks I have! So running low on yarn has just taught me that I don’t have to knit up to where the pattern suggests.

I’m going to stop a few rows before next time.

Yarn: Rosários 4 Meia

Size: Started with an L for the cuff and decreased to an M for the foot.

Needle Size: Cast on with 2.5mm, knit one row and transferred to 2.25mm for the rest.

The Win: I love the colour combo and how they turned out.