Chocolate bag finished...

It took me a while to be brave enough to cut into this lovely fabric but I am very pleased with the finished project. The bag is a great size, not too big or too small. I think I will be making more of these in different colour ways.

Cute little bag.

I got busy with my sewing machine yesterday and a pattern I bought at a quilt show recently. I have always had a penchant for bags so its no surprise I came away with 3 different bag patterns, and this pattern has 3 different sizes to it. I reckon I may just try and tweak the pattern to make the bottom of the bag a bit more square to fit my lunch box in.

A bit of quilting

I haven't managed much craft time lately as my daughter has recently bought a house so have spent some time round there helping her clean and decorate. We also managed to escape for a couple of days last week to Somerset and made a quick stop off at a quilt show in Exeter on Friday.

This is a quilt I started a few weeks back, I just hope my piecing is accurate otherwise this is going to be a nightmare to put together. I used an Island Batik jelly roll and some white dotty yardage, the pattern is from 'Jelly Roll Quilts' by Pam & Nicky Lintott. Wish me luck!!

Introduction to Machine Quilting with Dawn Cameron-Dick

I had a lovely day yesterday at a machine quilting class organised by The Jolly Stitcher. I have been quilting for a couple of years now but been vey apprehensive about free motion quilting so when I heard about this course I knew I had to sign up.

I learnt so much about my machine, thread, needles and wadding not forgetting the quilting! I have to say I understand how the children in school feel now as by 3 o'clock I was wilting and ready for home.

Today I have sewn the ends in so I am happy to show a few photos. There are another couple of blocks for me to practice on over the next few days. I reckon it's gonna be one of those techniques that continue to improve the more you do it.

Fabric freebie

Whilst watching a quilting programme and Create and Craft last Sunday, I sent an email in which was read out and was the lucky one to be picked out of the pot. My prize was a lovely fabric bundle shown below, love the way it is presented, too nice to undo - at the moment.

UFO Sunday

I had hoped to have got a bit further along with my project today :( I have had terrible trouble with some thread I bought, resulting in more unpicking than I care for! Anyway after a change of thread I am making progress albeit slower than I would have liked so its a WIP Sunday for me today. I'm on half term holiday this week so hoping to get lots of crafting done :)

Quilted mat for my sewing machine

While tidying up my fabric stash recently I found some offcuts that had been flung aside as I had cut them the wrong size - note to self, double check measuring before cutting! Never mind all was not lost as I made a mat for my sewing machine to sit on, so now it's much easier when I want to shove my sewing machine aside, usually when I wasn't to lay the table for dinner......

Loving these raggy cushions

Here's another raggy cushion, loving this style, they go together fairly quickly. When I saw this fabric, I just had to have it, which quite surprised me as I'm not normally a pink girl. The only problem I have now is where to put it, may have to redecorate a room for it to go in!!

UFO Sunday

Here's my UFO for this week, the other cushion that started my patchwork and quilting addiction. Why not take a look at
http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ufo-sunday-catching-up.html?m=1
to see what other people are finishing off.

I have started another raggy cushion today and hope to be able to post a photo later - depends now late I decide to stay up!

Raggy cushion

I was inspired to make this cushion by a window display in a local shop, although that one was valentine themed! I do have some heart fabric and will make a valentine themed one but made this one out of some odd bits of material I bought the other day as a trial. After watching a few tutorials on You Tube here is my take on the raggy cushion. A great way to use up the offcuts of wadding too!

I took a photo prewash just in case it all went horribly wrong - thankfully it turned out well after a quick wash and tumble dry.

Am off out for a walk along the beach now, gotta make the most of the sun while its out. Will be back later hopefully with a UFO.

My Favourite Block Quilt Along - Block 2

I stumbled across a quilt along while blog hopping and thought why not give it a go, it's the first time I have taken part. If you fancy taking part why not take a look over at persimondreams.com/quilt-alongs/lapaceks-orchard/my-favorite-block-quilt-along
I have started with block 2 as I still have to choose fabrics for block 1. I really enjoyed making this and am looking forward to the rest of the blocks.

UFO Sunday

I am trying to finish my UFO's in the different crafts I do! Here is a quilting one I started a while back to tidy up a pile of squares and also to be another item on my table at a 'ladies night' I attended last month! Whilst blog hopping I discovered The Free Motion Quilting Project who is also working on UFOs and asks what we are all working on, why not take a look. I know it's not FMQ, I'm not brave enough to try that yet being a fairly new quilter!

Irish double chain lap quilt

Here's a lap quilt I started at a class back in the summer at the fabulous New Threads quilt shop in Andover. I struggled with choosing fabrics as I was determined that I was not going to use colours from my usual palette of autumnal shades! It has seen quite a bit of use over the last few days as its been a bit on the cold side, although the snow is pretty much gone I still can't get warm!

A class with Jenny Mayes and a cute lil' tote bag

Where does the time go.... I just never seem to get round to blogging much these days. I did manage to fit in a class at The Glitter Pot on Saturday with Jenny Mayes. I was inspired by Jenny demoeing? at Newbury last July and have been hoping to get to a class ever since.

This is totally different from my usual style of card but I really enjoyed playing with the stamps, so much so I had to buy the set.



We used the Scene It Window set with some stamps from the Tuscan set on this card with coloured with a mixture of tombow pens and aquamarkers, finished off with distress inks around the edges.




We used the Scene It Window set again on this one, coloured with the same medium. I am looking forward to experimenting more with this set as it is so versatile.
I can see a few more purchases coming on, particularly the Coastal and Harbour sets as they will make great cards for those awkward male cards.

Finally we have a little tote bag I just had to make. I discovered the pattern on the web recently so when I had a couple of spare hours on Sunday I delved through my material stash and made this.



The material was from scraps left from a quilt I made for my daughter last year so she thinks she has to have the bag - how wrong can a girl get? I can see me making a lot more of these in different colours, they will make great presents with some smellies, sweets or craft stash in - what do you think?