Draught excluder snake - with a buttonhole fastening

Al's sister Liv asked for a draft excluder with a removable cover for Christmas, so I had a go at making one with a big piece of blue corduroy from Our Patterned Hand. I got the inners from Lancashire Textiles online.

His stuffed felt forked tail appears to be slightly folded under here. Oops.

As well as buttons for eyes, I used a button to fasten him together at the bottom end. This is the first time I have used the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine. It's very clever, you put the button into the foot and it creates a hole to fit it.

Button hole foot in action.

Here's the finished button hole and button.

And here is Liv enjoying her snake :)

A new toy - Super Galaxie 2000

I got a sewing machine for Christmas. Slightly intimidating at first as I've never used one before. It's a Brother Super Galaxie 2000 - bought by Alex from a lovely lady on ebay. Luckily, because it's electric and has a touch screen in the corner, it tells me when I'm doing basic things wrong - like trying to sew without the foot down. I had a number of sewing for beginners books, but to be honest, the operation manual for the machine was most helpful for getting started.

Looking a little nervous

My first creation - a thank you cushion.

I made a buttonhole - although it's only recently I worked out how to make it the right size for buttons.

First go at patchwork