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 :)