Pack Patch Mini QAL with Quarter Inch Mark

Last weekend I needed a little indulgence, a bit of selfish impromptu sewing. Then the lovely Chase from Quarter Inch Mark came up in my Instagram feed with her delightful Pack Patch Mini qal.

Image from Quarter Inch Mark

It was so sweet and charming I just had to join in. Of course I didn't really qal with Chase and the other ladies because I had come in right at the end. But I did still work through the directions for each week in order, interpreting the themes that Chase had set. I must say it made for the most interesting way of selecting fabrics, with different themes like Cheddar, Country Mouse and Town mouse and many more!

So I set to work with my scrap basket, making myself limited to just using these scraps made the challenge more fun!

In an afternoon I had all my mini blocks made! Fresh on Sunday morning I set to work sashing and had a finished mini quilt top by elevenses!




Sashing only needed 1/2 yard but I don't really keep any solids on hand over a fq. So I used an old cotton denim shirt, donated by my mother in law for my scrap/recycling basket. I think the soft denim colour gives it a lovely country feel. I arranged all my blocks in the order of weeks 1-10, just as chase did. I like how it looks, despite the fact that at no point did I give any thought to whether the mini would look cohesive overall, I just concentrated on each little block in isolation.

All that remains is quilting and binding. Very handily I am giving a class on machine quilting this Saturday at Social Fabric, so the Pack Patch Mini will be used for demonstrating some fmq to my class. Then it will come home to go up on my studio wall!

Indulgent sewing is certainly good for the soul! I hope you all enjoy a little selfish sewing time this weekend!

insert moving heartfelt title here...

sorry about the lack of blog title, as usual I can't find the words I need....I really intended to post this sooner but it is talking a while to sift through the mess that are the thoughts in my head.

I am so moved, so wonderfully lucky and incredibly grateful for all the supportive and caring comments on my last blog post. I was very overwhelmed by the warmth and concern I received, I really did not expect it. I feel very blessed to have met such amazing people. Please be assured that I am seeking help, I will get through this but at the moment it is hard and sometimes seems impossible. Your words have made a huge difference, I never thought I would say this but perhaps if all of you like me I should really start trying harder to like myself.

On a lighter note I am please I still have the ability to laugh, a lot, thanks to a wonderful spam comment on my 'blue' blog post. Me and my husband had a very long chuckle to this one:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I got the blues": 

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Posted by Anonymous to Strawberry Patch

Oh the irony! At least I still have a sense of humour!

And I also still have amazing things coming through my letter box, lucky me! Earlier this week my AMAZING mouthy stitches tote came from the very talented Nicolette.

 There is not one thing I don't like about this, she made it absolutely perfect for me! The Metro circles, the quilting, the epp, the Heather Ross and DS fabric, the text prints (all my fav prints by the way) and the colours, oh the colours! They just happen to be my favourite combination right now. Nicolette is so clever and I am going to cherish this tote. My girls were so impressed at the fact that a lady in Holland had made it (I think they have inherited my awe of all things that come from overseas!).

But wait, there is more! I think I possibly forgot to mention that I joined a new bee?! I am in Bee a Brit stingy with some of the best of British bloggers and we decided to kick things off with a pincushion swap. It wasn't secret, with each of us making for the person in the month after us, but we did keep what we'd made a secret. Now mine has  arrived I can show you my stingy pincushion!

I made this for Jan, using the tiny pieces cut off my HST when I was making blocks for the Aneela quilt. They were sat in a pile with the trimmings next to my machine and it seemed a shame to waste them, next thing I knew I was making a teeny tiny star block, I think it ended up about 3-4" across. And imagine my delight when a couple of weeks later Jan made herself a machine cover also using Sew Stitchy!

My pincushion was made by Lucy, lovely lovely bff Lucy and she knows me oh so well

 A pieced doll?! Wowzers, I love it and I have 2 little girlys who have their eyes on this one! And on the back, glittery text sigh. I 'may' have spent quite a bit of time in front of the window making this shimmer ;-)

I have also been sewing lots this week (my output seems to increase in proportion with my dropping mood!) but I'm saving that for another day, suffice to say Fractured qal is finished, my liberty mini is finished, I made some patchwork chair pads, two phone cases, a Christmas table runner and a bunch of + and x blocks!

Out with the old.....

......and in with the new!

I have been sat in my sewing room in a general state of shock for a few days because I brought myself an early birthday present!

Ever since my numerous problems with my Pfaff earlier this year I have been saving and saving and saving....like mad! Then the lovely Kerry mentioned she had cause to sell her 'old' machine last month I hoped and prayed I would have enough.

I was a little short but she is so kind as she waited for me whilst I sold most of our family possessions off at car boot sales and on ebay to make up the shortfall! I made it, although we may be having bread and water for the next month as I might have used a little of the grocery money, ahem.

Even though I have been working hard to buy this for months I still cannot believe that it is mine, it is so shiny and new, has a little computer screen and beeps and talks to me, it is amazing. I'll let you know what I think of it when I have mastered more than a straight stitch! And yes, I am hoping that some of it's previous owners skill may rub off on me ;-)

I did put it through its paces with something I've been waiting to do for ages, the templates have been printed off for weeks now!

Wheel of Liberty

Yes, using more of my Liberty stash! I have decided to make a little mini with 4 blocks, I need 3 more and I can't think of what to do.....I only have very small pieces of Liberty  and I'd like as much neutral space in the blocks as in the circle of geese...any suggestions?

Uncharacteristically for me I abandoned that little project because of my indecision and hopped straight onto another new one!

I finally started on my Aneela quilt blocks, yay! I had/have no real plan for this quilt other than to use all 4 of the lines already out. I decided not to include Cherry Christmas, as adorable as it is (and I have to get some, no question) I wanted this to be a year round quilt.

The top row of the quilt will be 4 blocks (3 pictured above) each with an embroidery in the centre, the bottom row of the quilt (all 4 pictured above) will be the same block design but with a feature fabric from each line as the centre panel.

I will make another 8 blocks (2 more rows) in random block designs, a bit of a sampler I think. I have used all the Sew Stitchy scraps up so I am debating whether to get a charm pack so I can do 2  blocks in each line for the final 8....I am worried it won't have the balance I am after if I don't......lets hope I get some birthday money tomorrow, I know what it'll be going on!

I didn't need any birthday money to get this little gem today....50pence in the charity shop!

I had seen it last week for £1.50 and wondered if it might be useful for storing my spools of thread on, the basket I was using was a nightmare, getting all tangled every time I rummaged through it. When I saw it was reduced to 50 pence I snapped it up! I think it will be getting a lick of paint soon, for now I am just pleased to gaze at my neat spools, when I am not staring dreamily at my new machine that is.......

Room refashion for £2.09!

I have a room in my house I hate....I know it could be lovely but it doesn't really have the chance. It is our back porch/utility room. Being at the back of the house this is really the 'service area' and ever since we have moved in that is what it has been, a muddy boot room, somewhere to house the washing machine and tumble dryer and the dogs VERY large cage. That is all normal but due to the odd layout of our driveway it also serves as the main entrance to the house, our beautiful imposing front door and stone steps never see any use, as seems to be often the case in country houses.

So this dirty, messy room is what everyone first see's when they come to visit, I KNOW that I am overly fussy about my home, but I really loathed it, this weekend something had to be done!

The dog cage was taken away and after 4 nights and 2 trips out without him and no damage on our return I am crossing my fingers that he has made the transition and we are going to be lucky! I am SO pleased to be rid of the horrible huge cage. Next step was to un-stack the tumble dryer from the top of the washing machine, which had to be done to accommodate the cage, meaning that on the walk up the drive all visitors could see was a tower of white appliances thanks to the all round windows.

Now those all round windows are my favourite bit of the room, mainly thanks to some clever (even if I do say so myself) dressing and the sun streaming in through them today. OK, so far just minor appliance shifting and no money spent, anyone bored yet?!

I have for a long time had an idea of using old embroidered tablecloths for curtains, I have quite a stash of them, both family heirlooms and charity shop finds and wanted to display them in a way they would be more appreciated, rather than the pile on my shelves. So, with a bit of curtain wire (29pence!) and a meter or so of pom-pom trim (£1.80), some much loved Liberty (last weeks  Zakka project must have made me brave at using it as I've been hoarding some of this for years!) and an odd end of lace, new curtains were made! Of course I completely forgot to take any before pictures, just believe me when I say it was nasty!

I was careful not to make any changes to the family tablecloths that could not be unpicked, the charity shop one I cut up to give me two small curtains. They only took an hour or so to run up, they are 'rustic' I guess to say the least, but I LOVE THEM!

I am so pleased I was brave enough to use the Liberty, I think it actually physically pained me when I was cutting into it, what if it didn't work? What if they looked awful? I told myself I could always unpick it and use it again in tiny patchwork. No need, I am thrilled, now I get to look at it every time I go through the door :-)

LOVE this one, I spy a chicken in the background!

I even covered an old shoe box to make a little seat and made a cushion with the left over tablecloth fabric

Someone can reguarly be found in his bed now, I think he is enjoying the new look room!

I really must try to use precious material more often, it is definitely worth it. Of course the room still houses appliances, a rather ugly plastic dog bed and a thousand or more coats and is in desperate need of a good paint but somehow the prettiness makes all that disappear, and all for less than a take away coffee!

Perhaps I should warn my husband that tablecloths might start cropping up in windows all over the house ;-)

I am a very bad blogger......

I just can't find the time at the moment, plenty of sewing happening but just not the inclination to post about it, as I've said before I am sure something happening in September could resolve this! Hopefully I will catch up soon with all the things I've made that I've yet to show you.

I went away for a few days this week with the girls to my in-laws. That meant no sewing machine and lots of mummy-daughter time. Not that I didn't have a lovely time, I did, but I was in desperate need of some me-time with my machine when we got back!

So yesterday I pulled out my hoarded liberty scraps and some old salvaged curtain lining and set to work on this weeks Zakka project.

I love this pillow so much, it makes me wish I was little again and could have one of my very own. I am not and I can't but the reaction it received from Juliette more than made up for that!

I used some salvaged cotton jersey for the ted, it made him so soft and cuddly. The liberty scraps were a mixture of lawn and silk, a bit fiddly to work with sewing all those diamonds up and my points are far from lined up in places!

I can see her big sister putting in a request for one of these and I know I will definitely be using this as a present go-to in future, although perhaps without the diamonds!

Whilst I was away I did get a little hand sewing done, infact I finished it so quickly I wished I had taken more!

The lovely Boris pattern from Jo at Bearpaw. Jo gave away this pattern a while back and I printed it off immediately. I am so glad I finally got around to doing it, I even learnt a new stitch. I am putting the other woodland portraits on my to-stitch list! Now I just need to find a home/purpose for Boris....at the moment I am thinking simple, in a wooden hoop.

Right, I am off to catch up on a weeks blog reading, wish me luck! If I don't manage to comment, please forgive me :-)

Scrumptious Scallops!

first of all I'd like to send a huge thank you to all you lovely people for your comments and kind thoughts. It really means a lot to me that you are thinking of me and my family during this unsettled time, even though I have likely never met you!

The great news is we have confirmed a contract on a new house! Its a lovely cob built farmhouse with a range in the kitchen, log-burner in the lounge, stables and use of the adjacent orchard. It sounds amazing and I hope it lives up to all my expectations. It will be hard work making it feel like ours but I am looking forward to the challenge. We move the first week in December and I'm hoping we will all be settled and unpacked in time for Christmas. Whether I will get to do any Christmas sewing is another matter!

The sewing room is slowly turning into a box and bag packing station, I cant get near the ironing board and sundries cupboard and there is only a sacred amount of clear space around the sewing machine. So before the whole lot gets taken over/packed up I treated myself to a little 'me' time today. Poor Jool's is cutting some teeth and is not sleeping, eating or smiling generally so I really needed the time to escape. I also found time to catch up on some blog reading and spotted the really cute Sweet Scallop Tote Sew-Along with See Kate Sew, so me time project decided! I'm afraid I didn't take any 'along the way photos' my camera is still out of action so I hope that the photos from my Blackberry will do it justice.

I lengthened my bag a little by adding a band at the top. I felt the top needed more weight to balance out the heaviness of the scallops. I simply love the look they create and used a few lovely fq's that some of the kind ladies taking part in the Modern Christmas Fabric swap sent me as a thank you. There is also an old tablecloth (that mum had a gravy stain on so gave to me to cut up) an old blouse and a tea-towel. Hurrah for re-purposing! I love making things for myself it seems so naughty but good, much like chocolate!!!

I also popped in a zippered pocket on the lining, my first time trying it and I made it up as I went, there are a few improvements I will do next time

Like trying not to catch my little handy 'key' clip thingy when I sew the top band down! Oh well, as least it is still usable and useful.

I love it anyways and cant wait to use it, I don't care that the colours are a little springtime, dreary November days need some colour.

Do you remember my brush with fame recently? Well the article about little ole moi and the Handmade Christmas Market was printed in today's local paper, page 34! For anyone who is interested you can see the article here. I'll treat you all to the photo of me pulling a very painful smile and trying not to look like a total tool! Of course I never sew whilst looking away from my machine, which is why I look so uncomfortable, did the photographer not realise that this pose was unnatural? He did seem a little exasperated when I swapped my thread to a white real for a semi-believable mock-up!

Only 1 month to the big day. In that time I have to move house, finalise stock making and confirm bookings with all the stallholders and hopefully do more promo and advertising. Wish me luck!

I have a ton of new makes to show you but no photos yet, hopefully I'll catch up soon, then it will be time to pack away and move, eeeeeekkk!

I did manage to snap a shot of these little cuties I picked up in the charity shop yesterday, only 50pence for the bigger one and 20 pence for the wee one. Bargain!

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!

Thrifty Thursday & more makes....

Happy sunny days are here, Eloise has broken up for the summer and although it likely means I will get less sewing done I'm looking forward to lots of childish fun!

Firstly I'm just itching to share with you my latest thrifty finds from the car boot sale this week, my top find is a simply stunning patchwork quilt.

Its perfect for the fresh summery look I was wanting for my bedroom. It was one of those finds that has you hopping from foot to foot with excitement, its absolutely perfect, its just what I wanted and I love it, best of all I wasn't even looking for it! Some thoughtless person appears to have used the reverse side as a dust sheet when painting but thankfully you don't see that side when it is on the bed.
I love the lace details, they perfectly match a table cloth made by Grahams Nan that I have on my bedside table.

I also picked up a battered old sewing box, I discarded the box as it really was in a terrible state but I did get a nice little pile of notions to add to my stash. On my way out I happened upon this great book, Crochet Adorned which is choc full of cute little patterns, perfect for adding to clothes, soft furnishings, bags, shoes, in fact anywhere you and attach them!

Its also been a week of trying to get jobs finished and off the WIP list. First I finished my Mollie Makes Issue 2 Embroidery project. I love hand embroidery but rarely get the time to practice so when I saw this fab 'Josies Garden' template by Charlotte Lyons I just had to give it a go.

I made it up into a cushion to sit on my bed, it just goes perfectly with the new quilt :) You can get the template here if you fancy giving it a go.

I also finally found time to finish off my 'Vintage Feedsack Dress' using the tutorial from the amazing Jess at Craftiness Is Not Optional

I think you can see that Jools is pleased with it ( I am too but lets not be big-headed about it!)

Then having gotten the bug I moved straight onto Jess's new 'sew-along' for the Junebug dress

I have since added the sleeves and skirt and it just needs hemming, finished photo soon hopefully!

Finally, I had to whizz up a couple of cards, a birthday card for Grahams Dad who is mad for golf

And a thank you card for Grahams Aunt who recently sent me a HUGE box bursting with fabric she no longer needed.

All in all, a very productive week, my favourite kind!