My first blog win!

Wow I feel so lucky! I have won my first giveaway :)

The lovely Sarah at Pings and Needles has teamed up with The Eternal Maker to giveaway 10 Japanese Scrap Bags. You had to suggest what you would make with your scraps, the winners of these bag then go onto round two, where you have to make your creation and when the votes are counted the overall winner gets a years subscription to the Japanese Scrap Club at The Eternal Maker!

I cant wait for the scraps to come, I'm making a laminated sandwich bag for Baby J going off to preschool soon. I'll post a picture when they arrive.

But that's not all Sarah is doing, she's also running a Blogiversary fq bundle giveaway, head over for your chance to enter!

Mmmm yummy, thank you postie ;)

Yay what a wonderful morning I had, not one but 2 packets of fabricy goodness!

Some bargain half meters from the Simply Soilds Sale, above is Moda's 3 Sisters Oasis - Floral Turquoise and Dainty Mud Mask. Below is 3 Sisters Ditsy Mud Mask and Moda's Basic Grey Max & Whiskers - Patches. All a bargain at only £2.50 per half meter! Hop on over there whilst there's some going.

 Also in my Simply Solids parcel were 2 Moda Farmyard charm packs, destined to be used for the Across the Sea quilt along with Fairyface Designs

My other packet was from the lovely Handmade By Mary, a little pile of grey fabrics for my rainbow scrap quilt, I'm not going to show you these as I want to wait until the quilt is finished. Huge thanks to Mary for stepping in where my scrap supply ran out (well in grey anyway!)

Here is a little update on the quilt top so far

I have some more log cabins to do, the border and then onto quilting and binding, I'm off fabric shopping soon hopefully to get the rest of the supplies (which obviously means its not really a scrap quilt as I am buying for it but we wont tell anyone will we!)

I also have a new Maxi Dress made with MORE bargain Simply Solids sale fabric (thank you Mandy!) from a pattern I drafted to show you but I only have horrendous photos taken by me in the mirror (far to embarrassing to share). So lets hope we have some lovely weather at the weekend and my husband can take awesome pictures of me in it skipping around in the corn field out back, well maybe we'll forget the skipping part!

Cant stop staring

I just cant stop sneaking in the studio and staring at my progress on the rainbow quilt top, I have to join the rows (I'm sure I will stare at it even more after this) and then decide what to border it with, I think I want a solid border, then blocks around the edge and then another small solid border. Just cant decide which colour, I love it so much I don't want to spoil it! Any suggestions?

Just one Sorbetto.....

Sorry, just couldn't resist the Pavarotti Cornetto gag!

This is my first Sorbetto that I made a while ago, you can get the pattern here, but didn't get around to photographing. I found the sizing too big (silly me forgot that American sizing is larger, but you will benefit from my dimness!) so I decided it was the perfect excuse to try some smocking on the back.

As you can see it needs an introduction to the iron but it had just come out of the wash and I knew if I didn't photograph it now I never would. Its fantastic how little material it uses, these were leftover scraps from making a dress for J.

I am really pleased with the smocking, something I've wanted to try for an age and I don't know why I didn't do it earlier - its easy peasey lemon squeezey! I did a narrow band and it pulls the top in enough the flatter my figure but still has enough give for getting over my head. I'll be smocking anything I can get my hands on now, smocked tea towels anyone? No? Well I suppose that is taking it a bit far.....perhaps a pair of smocked knickers then?!

Hoping to show you some pictures of the rainbow quilt top soon, its coming together quickly!

Festival of Quilts and Jap Swap Happiness!

Wow!

what a week :) Towards the end of last week, feeling fired up by the prospect of heading to FoQ I delved into my Japanese Fabric Swap Charm stash. Huge thanks to Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting for organising the swap. You can see the Jap fabric in more detail in the Flikr group. I made these little beauties

This adorable little bag is for J and I'm hoping she will enjoy playing eye-spy with the little characters on the charms, I used Pink Penguins Reversible Patchwork Bag Tutorial. I did add a little band along to bottom of the bag to give it more depth and room for dolly to travel in!

Then another Pink Penguins Tute - the Fabric Basket, this time I followed it to the letter and I love this darling little basket. As the squares on this one are only 2" I was left with some 1" strips from my swap square's. What to do with them...???

Well I just couldn't bear to waste any of the scraps and knew if I put them into my scrap basket they would disappear forever, so, I made my first mug rug! It was a bit of an experiment, randomly piecing it and I'm not sure I am happy with the border (an old Topshop top) but I don't care, I LOVE my mug rug! I think they may become an addiction :)

Now, a quick pic of my haul from the FoQ

Not the best photo but the drive to Birmingham and back in a day, coupled with about 6 hours of walking around the NEC, the mind blowing quality of quilts and shopping has all left me a little weary!

In the top of the picture is my new ruler and rotary cutter that Ive been waiting to get for a while and will make my life so much easier. There is a value bundle of batting, destined to become cosy sleeping bags for E & J's dollies using Flossie Teacakes pattern Three Bears Sleeping Bag

Then there is a meter of a lovely sunny Makower floral print, which will likely be a clothing make for J. There is a half meter of both red polka dot and a natural star print cotton both for Christmas makes. Then a bargain Boden cotton flannel check which was only £4 a meter,  I am going to make myself a little jacket from this, also a lovely fresh pink floral, Boden too at £4 a meter!

I thought I'd had some good bargains until we wondered back past Simply Solids and nearly fell over ourselves for the amazing Swoon collection by Melissa Averinos, pictured on the bottom row, which Mandy was practically giving away for £2/meter! I snatched up a 6 FQ bundle of the green colourway for only £3! Then a half meter of the blue colourways (plus some extra not shown for some clothing makes for me) I tell you I was super super excited and still cant believe my luck! Its not a fabric line I would usually go for but I am so glad I did, the more I look, the more I love :)

Finally, I couldn't resist starting ANOTHER new project! Feeling inspired by the beauties at the FoQ I have started a rainbow scrappy quilt, here's a peek at the squares I have cut so far (again apologies for the poor picture quality!) Hope you are all feeling as inspired as me :)

Recycled Goodness!

This week I have been really enjoying turning unwanted things into new treasures!

I picked up this East blouse from the charity shop because I loved the print but knew I would never wear that style of top, I was sure though that there would be enough fabric to make something.....

And there was! Ive been dying to try out the Gathered Clutch Tutorial from Noodlehead and as soon as I saw this on the rail in the shop I knew what I was doing with it. The fabric was quite thin so I added a heavy weight  interfacing and some cotton batting as I wanted my clutch to be quite robust. I had a little trouble with the tabs on the end of the zip but to be honest I think that was because I ended up working with quite a thickness of fabric. I will definitely make another as it sewed (is that even a word?!) up really quickly.

I also made myself a top from some charity shop finds

I adore this material, I think it is vintage? It was £1 for about a yard and a half uncut, a bargain I say! The lovely broderie lace edging also came from the charity shop for 40pence, the buttons were from a lovely big tin my Mother In Law handed onto me and are also vintage and the cotton thread was in a bag I brought from the charity shop a while back. So I think I can definitely and absolutely say this was indeed a top made entirely from re-loved items!

I used the Sorbetto Top Pattern from Colette, this is a brilliant free pattern you can print from your home pc onto A4 paper, perfect for when you need an instant dressmaking fix and don't have time to go out for a pattern (I'm not the only one who gets these? Right?)

I did find that the pattern needed some adjustment for my body shape but nothing too taxing, and I added sleeves. The pattern is great to work with, its simple, sews up quickly and uses such a minimal amount of fabric.

I have started working on a skirt to match my top but its lacking a zip and needs hemming but hopefully a photo soon, I may wear my new thrifty ensemble to the Festival of Quilts this Sunday (I am very  insanely excited about going to the NEC for a whole day of fabric buying and quilt Ooo-ing and Aaah-ing)

I also have another Sorbetto, this time a sleeveless version that sticks to the original pattern, although this time I had a go at smocking to give it some shape. Photos soon!

I also found a little time to run up some recent orders this week

Firstly my favourite kind of work, baby bunting! I love picking out the fabrics and matching them, my brief from Baby Julia's Mummy was bright vintage...hope this fits the bill for her and that Baby Julia has many happy hours looking at it.

And also a marathon sewing session was had making these 10, yes 10! slip covered notebooks for Vintage Green in Sidmouth.

I have LOTS of UFOs to be getting on with, in fact I have a sneaky suspicion they may be breeding whilst I'm asleep as I am sure I cannot be responsible for so many uncompleted projects! I am the woman who had a rule never to start something new until I finished the current project. I currently have the Birdie Stitches BOM, a vintage tea cosy that has a pattern printed on it to embroider, a crochet cushion cover, stitched pictures for the gallery as they are almost sold out, cake stands to drill and assemble, mittens to knit..................I'm off to dream up more projects to start and add to that list!

Better Late than Never!

Finally I have found time to sit down and do a quick write-up on July's Meet and Make evening. Again we had a busy month with our lovely regulars and some nice new faces, its always great to meet people who love making like me!

This month we were making yoyo's or Suffolk puffs, I love them, they are so versatile and can be put on anything.

Here's a round-up in photos of our crafty night (apologies for the quality of the photos this month, I forgot my camera and had to make do with the phone, I would have forgotten my head if it hadn't been attached that night, the school break is defiantly taking its toll with me!)

This is my sample necklace

And my sample top that I wore on the night to inspire everyone

 

Here is a lovely pink puff necklace, doesn't that pink ribbon just pop!

Some of our very talented regulars took the yoyo's to a festive level and made these amazing Christmas trees! (and is that an applique bag from last month meet I spot in the background?!)

I simply love the combination of colours and the layered effect in this necklace

One of our newer ladies decided to add her yoyo's onto her applique bag she did with us last month, a lovely way to show off her handiwork.

I'm loving the vintage feel of these florals

And the buttons make the detail on this lovely statement necklace.

For me this sums up at Meet and Make evening, wine, chatter and lots of crafty mess!

And finally my own make of the evening, its very rare I get time to sit down and join in but I picked up a fresh white and blue stripe shirt at the car boot for 50pence and knew immediately I had to make a yo yo necklace with it. It perfectly fills a gap in my accessories box and I'm super pleased with it!

Looking forward to next month already :)