Keyka Lou Clutches

I had a bag making weekend this weekend. I have been looking at Keyka Lou patterns for some time and really wanted to try them out but the sensible part of me kept saying "you have enough bag patterns and bag books" but hey! when does sensible me ever win??? I'm far too impulsive when it comes to craft purchases so I tried out the keychain clutch and curvy clutch patterns. These are the results

Not really sure about the button, it reminds me of rudolph : ) I might change it. The pattern called for velcro but I can't stand the noise of velcro, it reminds me of school classrooms and bored children opening and closing the velcro fasteners on their school shoes...shudder!
But I LOVE the lining

This clutch is so teeney tiny and has a little swivel snap hook (yes that is what they are called apparently - I just googled it) on the end so I can attach it to things, ideal for taking some spare change, keys and my gym card to the gym or I might just carry it around to look at it 'cause it is so cute.

The second bag I made was the Curvy Clutch. This was a great pattern, really easy to follow and I quickly made this clutch with some Katie Jump Rope fabric I've had for ages but could never decide what to use it for. I lined it with some cute birdie fabric that I had also stashed away. Result! my pattern buying guilt was absolved by using two stash fabrics - yay!

I love making quilts but I really love the satisfaction I get from making bags. For me quilts are a long term project and I often have to take a break during the process of making them. I like having other little, short term projects to get on with even though it makes the craft room a little cluttered to say the least.

I also enjoy knitting but I never, ever knit in the Summer. I think it is a habit from growing up in Australia where it is far too hot to be working with wool in the Summer. There is no reason why shouldn't knit in London summers as they are never too hot but somehow I just can't get over my old habits. It is starting to feel cooler here now, Autum is on it's way and I've been looking around for knitting patterns. I was so excited to find  this class at Loop my favourite knitting shop in London. I love making wristlets and armwarmers so I am really looking forward to this class. My two little kittens have taken up residence on top of my knitting bag. Hopefully they will be too big to fit there by the time October comes around and I will have my knitting materials back to myself.

Kittens

I had a wonderful cat, Millie, for 11 years.

She died suddenly in February after a short illness, which was a huge shock and I decided not to get another cat. For a while I fostered Mum cats with kittens for a rescue organisation and, while I enjoyed it, it was not the same as having my own cat. So last week I decided to get two kittens.

Let me introduce you to Honey and Tess. They are delightful and making themselves right at home. I am glad I got two kittens as they have a whale of a time playing with each other. Luckily they also like fabric and quilting

 and knitting. I think we are going to get on well : )

All Heart Appeal

My Bee friend Caroline, over at Sew Bee Blissful, has launched an appeal for heart blocks for a charity quilt she is making to raise money for Cancer Research. I made a couple of blocks for her as it is such a good cause. I used up some red backing fabric from the quilt I made for my nephew, some red scraps and some trusty bondaweb and appliqued these hearts onto the fabric.

I really hope they help to raise much needed funds for Cancer Research.

4 x 5 Bee

This week I have been busily making blocks for the 4 x 5 Bee. In this Bee people in each hive request certain colours then we send out 5 blocks 4 times a year using our own fabrics. Yellow, Aqua and Orange were the most requested colours and my stash was sadly lacking which was an ideal opportunity to splash out on the new and fabulous Joel Dewberry Heirloom fabrics. These are the fabrics I pulled for the blocks.

I used this tutorial to make the blocks. It was a fun block to make and I was suprised at how different each block looked with the different colour schemes.

Scrappy Rainbow

Aqua, yellow and white

Snow, aqua and tangerine

Aqua, yellow and orange

Aqua, citron and white



I loved putting these blocks together and it really reminded me that I should make more use of my scraps rather than always buying new fabric.

Well now I have finished all my Bee commitments for August I am going to get started on a few of my own outstanding projects that have been cluttering up my craft room for way too long.

Bee Blocks

I am in a couple of virtual quilting bees over on flickr which are a lot of fun. In the Sew Modern quilt bee we use modern fabrics and make funky, modern blocks. This month it is Becky's turn to be Queen Bee and she designed and wrote a tutorial for us for to make these blocks.

She sent lots of fabrics in purple, green and blue. I put all the purples together to make the first block which was really easy and quick to make. However when I got to the second block I missed out a step in the instructions and ended up with a tiny block so I had to unpick it all and start again. Unfortunately I had cut some of the fabric and could not use it as it was too small so I had to pick new fabrics to use. In the end the block turned out pretty well and it was good to step out of my comfort zone and put fabrics together that I would not normally have used. I really hope Becky likes them.

Zac's Quilt

I have been working on this quilt for my nephew's fourth birthday for about a year. My lovely quilting friends over at Bee a Little Bit Japanese all made two blocks. One an Eight Point Star Block using japanese fabrics with a transport theme and the second an improvised transport theme block. They all came up with totally amazing blocks and I put them together into this quilt.

I backed it with some fun transport fabric from IKEA and some embroidered panels that I used in the centre of log cabin blocks.

Not really sure about this layout for the backing but I was really rushing to finish it all up and get it off to the longarm quilters so I could post it in time for his birthday.

I'm really hoping he will love it but fear he might just be a bit mystified by this present as it is not a toy or a book!

Sunday Cheer

I needed cheering up on Sunday so I made myself this Spring Violets pincushion using a tutorial from Heather Bailey

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out, it's so pretty I feel like I have a lovely present on my sewing table.

I love Heather Bailey's website, she also has a great pattern for a wrist pincushion with the same violets on it. I think I would be tempted to wear it out if I made it!