Bags and the bad blogger.

I am a bad blogger. It's official I just can't keep up with working, sewing, swapping and blogging! Hey ho!

I have been in some awesome swaps over the past few weeks. In the usual suspects we swapped totes. I made this tote for Natalie 

And got this most totally awesome best amazingest swap bag ever from Pam

Can you tell I love it? I am so thrilled with it, it's just perfect and there are so many gorgeous fabrics it is just wonderful.

I made this studio cherie duffel for a sew sew modern 2 swap. I had the best time making it!

And finally I managed to make myself a Supertote. I downloaded this pattern the day it came out but I didn't have time to make it until now. I'm so happy with how it came out. The bag is the perfect size for me and I'm sure I'll be using it all summer, when I'm not using Pam's great bag that is. 

Well that's all the bags, off to finish some quilts now. Have a great Sunday! 

Lots of projects

I am working on far too many different projects. It stops me getting bored. It also stops me finishing anything! A random selection of WIP pics below. Happy weekend!

The first bag of 2013

I had not made a bag this year, until today. I think I am well on my way to overcoming my bag-making addiction but I couldn't resist the Locked and Loaded bag pattern from Sara at Sew Sweetness. She has designed a number of great bag patterns over the past couple of months but the locked and loaded was my favourite, partly because it was made up in my favourite Anna Maria-Horner Loulouthi velveteen but mostly because it featured a metal twist lock. I had three of these in my bag hardware drawer but I had never used them, mostly because I wasn't sure how to! Turns out they are really easy to use and look really professional once installed. I am so pleased with how the bag turned out but I think next time I would use a different interfacing. I wanted the bag to be structured and look satchel-like and although I am pleased with the look of the bag I think I prefer my bags to feel squishier.

 

 

Close up of twist lock. Actually the eagle eyed among you will have noticed this isn't a twist lock, it just flips up and down but it still looks shiny and professional and is inserted in the same way.

 

I love how the metal hardware makes the finished bag look so professional.

I would really recommend this pattern and think I might make another one soon - maybe the bag-making addiction isn't quite conquered.

 

One another note I need some swap advice. I'm doing a swap and my partner (hope she is not reading this) mentioned she would like a Studio Cherie duffel. I bought the pattern and spent ages stalking her on flickr before deciding to make a quilt as you go duffel. I have spent a long time reading blogs of people who have made QAYG duffels and worked out exactly what I was going to do but today I saw on flickr that she has made herself a Studio Cherie duffle!!! It is not QAYG but it is the same pattern. Now I am in a quandry, do I go ahead with the plan and hope she will be happy to have two duffles (I would be but then I am a person with 30+ handmade bags) or should I pick something else to make, keep the pattern and make myself a QAYG duffel at some point in the future (again I feel compelled to state I am a person with 30+ handmade bags). I would appreciate any advice as my own feelings about bags are probably not entirely normal : - )

 

Thanks!

Modern Machine Applique Class

On Saturday I joined Annie's first ever class over at the Village Haberdashery. The Class was Modern Machine Applique with Julie from Kip and Fig Julie sells the most amazing applique patterns, they are fun, funky and modern and I had such a hard time choosing what design to use on my tea towel. In the end I settled for the apple but I also wished I could make a tea towel with the pear or the strawberry or the butterfly or the cats, basically all of them!

One of the great things about the class was using the fabulous new janome machines in the shop. Trudging across London with a sewing machine on public transport is no fun so it was great to be able to use one of the brand spanking new machines in the shop, they were so easy to use and ran like a dream, it reminded me that I need to get my machine serviced more often (or ever!).

Julie was a great teacher and not only gave us lots of hints and tips but also provided us with detailed booklets full of applique information to take away. I loved doing the applique, even though I had trouble remembering to put the heat and bond on the back of the fabric rather than the front - seriously I did it wrong THREE times in a row, there is something in my brain that cannot work out back to front or mirror image things I just get so confused! Anyhow I managed to get it all stuck on right in the end and then the sewing fun began. This is my finished tea towel

 

And here it is on the cute stripey ironing board, I do love a craft activity that involves ironing!

 



I really loved learning applique and I can see many uses for it in crafting; quilts, bags, children's clothes and pillows. It could be a really fun way of making personalised gifts for friends and family, I see lots of applique in my future.

If you are interested in taking some craft classes check out the classes over at The Village Haberdashery there are lots of great classes coming up, including a modern quilting sampler class with Katy from imagingermonkey.

Have a great week.

Bloglovin'

Just catching up with blog admin, you can now follow me over at Bloglovin' which I am liking a lot better than google reader :)

Swoon 2

I love the Laurie Wisbrun Brrr! Fabric and, after much deliberation, decided to make a second swoon quilt with it. I struggled with my first swoon so I decided to aim to have this done by christmas. I think the snowflakes and bears look festive so I added some little deers from Momo's oh deer line and some pearl bracelets because I love them. I thought I would do one block a month and I wasn't really looking forward to it but I knew I would love the end result. Once I started though something strange happened it was like a massive penny dropped and the blocks all made sense, I made them without thinking too much and didn't have to rip anything out! It was a totally different experience to swoon 1 where I sewed everything the wrong way and made mistakes in every block. I loved making the blocks this time and got into a bit of a routine. Before I knew it the quilt was done. I can't wait to send it off to Debbie to get it quilted. The only problem is that the quilt is so big I can't get a decent picture, here it is (with cat for scale).

Happy easter sewing

Hello again so this is what I have been up to ...... And not blogging ooops

Hope you had a happy easter

Hello

So I have been neglecting my little blog lately. I always struggle to manage the work / craft / blog situation and the blog gets neglected, sorry blog!

Anyhow so most of January was taken up with my sew sew modern swap. I made these cushions for my partner who asked for texty rainbow

And got this amazing package in return, I might just need to make a quilt to go with it, I love it so much!

I made this journal cover for my usual suspects partner

I finished my retro flowers quilt (sorry about the terrible phone pic!

Started swoon number two

Stitched up my rainbow lone star quilt, just waiting on the last couple of blocks to add the last row

and finished my bee Europa block

After all that I swore not to join another bee or swap and then went and signed right up for the second round of sew sew modern. Partners out tomorrow, can't wait to start stalking!

Fabric Love

Hello and thank you to everyone who commented on my last post it has really helped to motivate me, I have managed to complete another four blocks this week and this is how the quilt is looking so far (in mosaic maker anyhow)

I am really happy with how it is looking so far but I think I am going to use some larger scale prints and also introduce some more yellow and orange in the next few blocks. Luckily these absolutely luscious Joel Dewberry Fabrics arrived this week ( I ordered them in November but they got delayed in the christmas post). I can't tell you how much I LOVE these fabrics, they are so wonderful and vibrant and they make me so happy I just cant wait to cut into them.

This one is my favourite I just love the square flowers.

Only eight more blocks to go, I hope I can keep it up and get the top completed by the end of the month.

Aside from the retro flowers quilt I stitched up block number 7 for the Fat Quarter Shop designer mystery block of the month, another pretty block, I am so looking forward to the next one.

I also made this pincushion for the LMQG swap tomorrow. I kind of want to keep it!

Hope your first week of 2013 has been full of crafty goodness. Have a great weekend!



Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all, hope you had a good one and that 2013 will bring wonderful things for you all.

I have just signed up for the Lovely Year of Finishes over with Melissa and Shanna (flickr group here). I had decided not to sign up for anything new this year since I am so overcommitted anyhow but then this came along and it is just what I need so I had no choice but to sign up.

Obviously the goal is to get stuff finished. I made a list of all the projects I have going on and was slightly horrified to realise I am currently working on six quilts and have fabric for another three waiting to go - GULP! Clearly I need to get this under control.

This month my goal is to finish my retro flowers quilt top. I have four blocks done and I need to do another twelve to finish it. I don't know why I am taking so long with this since I love the quilt and love making the blocks now that I have got the hang of it. These are the blocks so far

I am really going to make an effort to get this quilt top finished by the end of the month. I do feel like I finished a lot of quilts last year but my problem is that I keep starting projects so my second resolution is that I will not start another quilt until I have finished the list below

1. Retro Flowers Quilt
2. Lone Star Quilt
3. Quilt for Molly's second birthday
4. Swoon quilt 2
5. Fat Quarter Shop BOM quilt
6. Grey and Yellow quilt #2
7. Tula Pink Beanstalks quilt
8. Star quilt (that has been hanging around for over a year waiting to be quilted)
9. Birds and the Bees quilt
10. Urban Life quilt in Notting Hill fabric

uuummmmm yes that is 10 not 9 - oooops! Wish me luck!