Goodbye 2013 and good riddance!

So, it started with dreadful flu and it's ending in similar fashion with a chest infection, so I for one will not be sorry to see the back of this year. I started it thinking it couldn't be worse than 2012, but it had a real sting in the tail waiting for me, which I suspect will take most of 2014 to get over properly.
However, throughout the year, I used sewing as my distraction, and so have a reasonable number of makes to show off in this round up of the last 12 months....
I managed 8 quilts altogether, (there's more at the end) although half of these are still WIPs! My resolution for 2014 is to get them finished.

There were 4 mini quilts all of which I loved and 3 of which were gifts

This was the year I got back into dressmaking and I have a couple of projects lined up to start the year off.

There were a fair few bags too - I loved making these and again, there's plans for a couple more in 2014.

And lastly there were a few other bits and pieces that missed the mosaics above.

So, sewing wise, not a bad year, and I'm starting another quilt this evening - it's a scrappy tripalong for my neighbour. His wife very sadly passed away suddenly this summer, and, thanks to me, had just got into quilting. He has asked me to make a quilt with the fabric she had bought just before she died. It's an interesting mix of fabrics to say the least, but it will mean a lot to him, and seems a positive way to end this 'annus horribilis' and start 2014.

So, thanks to everyone for your warmth and friendship throughout the last 12 months and here's wishing you and yours health, wealth, but most importantly, happiness for 2014!

Posted with Blogsy

Update on progress

Ok, this is my first attempt with Blogsy, so let's hope it works....

Remember back in March I posted a list of things I wanted to do this year? And I promised monthly updates? Well, it's time for the first update, and as we're friends, hopefully you'll forgive the fact it's been a whole 5 months!

So, here we go with the list:

1) Cherry Christmas quilt - I've fixed the torn piece and unpicked the Himalyan quilting, and re done some of it, and unpicked sme more of it.... It still needs finishing but will be done for Christmas.

2) Melody Miller quilt - have been struggling with this and how best to do justice to the large designs, but this weekend I had a brainwave and I'm going to use mahoosive fussy cut hexagons.... So watch this space.

3) Macho quilt - Currently collecting denim.....

4) Welsh flag quilt - need to get cracking with this one - so am appealing for bags of red scraps and green scraps to swap for FQs so I can get started on this.

5) 3rd sister wants a wall hanging now - working on this one at the moment.

6) One of my work colleagues has commissioned me to make a quilt for her 4 year old son in blues and greens. I've got the fabrics for the top based on the Havana range and supplemented with lots of different Kona solids. - DONE!

Other things -boxy pouch for a friend's birthday which I adapted from an Annela Hoey tutorial - DONE!

Melody Miller Vintage flowers fabric messenger bag- this didn't happen but I did make a Melody Model Aeroplane and a Melody Super-Tote...oh and another full size Aeroplane shockingly NOT made from Melody...

There have also been lots of other things - some finished some still WIP:

HST quilt - this is still just a top, needs me to buy some batting so I can get it finished, but am saving it till the bedroom's been decorated.

Clothes - a new pleasure, as well as the Nani Iro Renfrew top, there's been a washi, schoolhouse shirt, Sorbetto top, and an a-line skirt.

Mini quilts - 'a Touch of Sparkle', which was for a work colleague's birthday, 'Home is where the Heart is' and 'Fairground Attraction' from Katy Jones' Triangle City pattern that I started at retreat and am currently finishing quilting.

So, all in all not a bad year so far.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Another productive weekend...

I have had a busy few days, sewing wise. On Monday, I realised the birthday I've had since Christmas to make a quilt for was less than a week away! Cue some slightly panicked piecing, some less panicked unpicking, and some late nights - 1.45am in particular on Thursday.  I understand the birthday boy was so pleased with it he has insisted on taking it to bed with him tonight - cos you need a quilt in 30' heat!!

So having got that delivered on Saturday morning, I decided I would have a go at a full size Aeroplane bag to carry my sewing machine to Retreat.  I had some Glimma canvas - well, after coveting it back here, it would have been rude not to buy it when it came into stock - and having done some measuring, decided a normal size would be perfect.

It didn't start well. Janome had complained bitterly when I asked her to sew the headliner foam for the model aeroplane, and she was not pleased to see it return. No matter how much I tried to placate her with promises it was all for her, she spat her dummy and the headliner and canvas came to a knotty tangled end.  When I tried to unpick it, the canvas just disintegrated. Swear words were exchanged but then I had a brainwave. I had some lightweight HeatnBond and so I used that to fix the canvas to the headliner - perfect.  

Next came the base, and as I once again had no Peltex, I used headliner foam and an extra layer of duck cotton. I decided this time to cut the headliner slightly smaller and hold it in place by basting the canvas to the duck cotton..... Nope, fraying again got in the way, and so I stitched vertical lines about two inches apart, effectively quilting the base. Have to say, it might have been a 'fix', but it actually looks good - I like the extra texture.

Other than completely losing the plot with the pocket, and so ending up with the lining upside down,

and being so peeved I decided to forego the other zip pocket, the only other hiccup was the zip. Now, I spent 5 hours altogether making his bag, including cutting out, but about half of that time was spent wrestling with the zip, and I have to say, the blinking zip installation is the reason why I won't tackle another one. It is an absolute beezum - and believe me, those are not the words I used yesterday - and I can't believe there isn't a better way to do it.

Anyway, it's done now, and after an initial heart-stopping, 'it doesn't fit' moment, all is fine.

So then, having nothing else to do... (That is so not true I can't begin to tell you) I decided my life would not be complete without a skirt made from Ruby Star Sparkle telephones. Had I known then what I found out later, I might not have been so quick to use so much of my treasure, but hey, too late now. This is an a-line skirt, and I'm not convinced it isn't a little TOO a-line, so I might alter it yet.

Today was spent getting my stuff ready for Retreat, and then this evening I had a little play at some paper piecing. I don't find foundation paper piecing easy to say the least, so the first one took me nearly an hour! Luckily the second was much quicker.

All in all a busy, hot, weekend. I suspect there will be little sleep being got tonight too as it's so warm again

A model Melody aeroplane....

I suppose it's the same the world over - every time someone designs something, we feel the need to try and amend it in some way - hopefully for the better. A few weeks ago I saw someone had tweeted a smaller version of the Aeroplane bag, and I was so impressed I started to hatch a plan...

I had intended to make a full size version to take my sewing machine to the Retreat, but while I was waiting for an LMQG sewing day for that one, the idea of a model aeroplane, as it were, started to develop.

I have some lovely Melody Miller Ruby Star Sparkle heavier weight fabric-you saw some of it for the Super Tote last weekend.  A small straw poll confirmed that the blue/green phones would go well with the aqua viewfinders, and so the pieces were cut and off we went.

I printed the pattern off two sheets to a page, and then adapted the follow on measurements to fit.  

This bag has a lot of interfacing, and as the fabric was heavier weight, and as it isn't payday till Monday and I didn't have exactly what I needed, I improvised!  I used headliner fabric in place of the Annie's Soft and Stable - which is when my beloved Janome started to let me know she wasn't a fan of the project!  I had no Peltex, so I used a very stiff fusible something or other - it's worked, it's very thin, so added no thickness to the seams, but I have no idea what it's called!  And I did away with the Shape Flex or any similar replacement altogether!

So, as you see from the photo above, I cheated again with the straps, this time with some jute webbing, which picks out the glittery gold stars on the phones quite nicely.

I picked a Zen Chic grey for the lining, because it had the same kind of creamy colour in the rings as the background of the phones, and I thought the rings echoed the viewfinders.  I put a small zipped pocket on one side and a divided patch pocket on the other side for my phone.

Now, I am guessing the small size didn't help my cause, nor did the fact that I chose to use a chunky zip.  And I love the chunky finish.  But it was an absolute sod to put in!!!  I got very, very cross.  And Janome really didn't help.... she had a right old strop, and in fact we are not friends at the moment - she might not get her nice new Aeroplane carrier at this rate!

But, after much swearing and tugging and re-stitching, and over-stitching, and unpicking and doing it all again, and working out how the heck to not sew the wrong bits to the other wrong bits......

Ta......daaaaah!

And here it is with a mug for scale...it's about 9.5" high and 13" wide. Cute, eh?!

Super (tote) sewing day

Over the last 15 months, since we first met, I've been lucky enough to have several get-togethers with Aneela Hoey, ostensibly for sewing and chat, but in reality far too much chat happens and we rarely, if ever, end up sewing!  Since I went back to the world of full time employment, and with Aneela's hubby working shifts, it's been harder to meet up, but we planned a sewing day for today, and last night in a flash of insanity inspiration, decided to each make a Super Tote.

This is one of those patterns by Anna 'Noodlehead' that much like the 241 tote has taken the quilting world by storm, and is up there with the Aeroplane in the 'must make' stakes. Yesterday Aneela blogged that was planning to make one, and I was dithering between that and the Aeroplane, so it seemed fate that we work on them together.

As usual, distractions got in the way at the beginning - there were quilt tops and yummy fabric to be admired and coo-ed over, and gossip to catch up on.  I don't think my sewing machine even made it out of the bag, let alone be plugged in, until at least an hour and a half had passed.  Luckily, I did quite a lot of prep last night, cutting out all the bits, and working out which fabrics to use for which part of the bag.  In fact, that would be my one criticism so far of the pattern - although the picture shows it being made with different fabrics for the various external parts, the cutting layout (although only a suggested layout) shows the front, back and external pocket being cut out of one fabric, and it took me a while to get my head around which bits to cut from what.

I had decided to go with Melody Miller fabric, much as that made me feel incredibly disloyal in Aneela's house! I used the rich coloured heavier weight fabrics from Ruby Star Sparkle, including the fab roller boots. I managed to cut one piece wrong - not realising there was only an external pocket on the front - and so I used the wrongly cut cameras to line the front pocket, instead of just facing it.  I have to say I'm a bugger for cheating on straps, and I do like to use webbing, so I used some grey heavyweight webbing I already had in my stash for something else (which I will now need to replace - MORE shopping.... *sigh*....)  and I also decided to forego the piping (too much faffing for me!).  Just look at all that wonderful fabric stacked up behind the ironing board - with stuff like that to look at, is it no wonder I got little sewing done??  

Once we'd stopped for a scrummy lunch (thanks, M&S!) we got back to the sewing, and tried to get the gussets done without sniggering every time we said the word 'gusset'!

I went for some of Melody's vintage flowers - one thing I love about that fabric is the colours in it go sooooo well with other Melody fabrics.  I have to confess I was a bit unsure at this stage that it might be a tad OTT.  But I was really happy once I'd wrestled the gusset (hrumph!) into place and worked out how to topstitch it once the back was added - it actually looks great.  Now, wouldn't it be fab if I had a picture of that stage to show you?  

Well, the thing is, By the time we'd done all that bit, we'd run out of time, and so we've planned to go back again tomorrow for a couple of hours and get the bag finished - I'm hoping the lining, recessed zip and internal pockets are quicker to put together than the outside, or I'll be back on Monday too, and work might not be greatly pleased by that!

So you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see that...

Those of you who read Aneela's blog will have seen yesterday that she said she'd been feeling a bit down in the dumps and to make herself feel better she'd decided to make a project pouch for a friend of hers, because making things for other people always made her feel better.  She'd used the puppy print from Sherbet Pips and I have a soft spot for that fabric as it reminds me of my titchy springer, Bella.  So imagine my squealy delight this morning to arrive at Annela's and find out the friend was me!  And here it is in all its puppy glory.  All ready to be stocked up for my EPP class at the Fat Quarterly retreat.  

And while we're on that subject, don't forget the lovely Annie is having a fantastic shopping event at the Village Haberdashery on Friday 19th July, with a special evening opening for retreat goers - there will be cupcakes and wine and evryfin'.  Oh and there's a 10% discount all day for in-store purchasers, so if you fancy on stopping off there en-route to South Kensington for retreat supplies, you'll get a great welcome.

Oh happy day......

It's been a somewhat exciting weekend, this one. After my day in the shop on Saturday, and a lovely Chinese meal out with the other half that night for his birthday, yesterday a few of my LMQG friends met up for a sewing day.

The lovely hostess

Nat is lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing space, so five of us happily sat around sewing and chatting, and eating lunch, and generally having a good time!  There was plenty of space for some cutting out, machine sewing, hand stitching of binding, and in my case, unpicking some dodgy quilting!

We had a lovely lunch provided by the gorgeous Kelly who was working on an Aeroplane bag - and very stunning it looked too, in the fabulously glittery latest Melody Miller range.  The weight of the fabric makes it perfect for bags and such like, and I can't wait to a) see Kelly's finished bag, and b) attempt one of my own.





isn't it gorgeous?

Kelly and her cleavage!

Check out that top-stitching

Of course, it wouldn't be Kelly without some tom-foolery, and she couldn't resist demonstrating other possible uses for the amply sized smaller bag - here she models the latest in over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders..... what more can I say! As you can tell, it wasn't a terribly serious day.

I'm quietly confident my little Janome would happily fit into this smaller bag, so I have some Melody Miller of my own that Charlotte very generously gave me for my birthday, and so I will be putting that to good use - watch this space.




binding away

Amanda was happily handsewing the binding onto her stunning diamond ring quilt, which looked lovely made from the Pearl bracelets range. She also had a play with Kelly's 11.5" inches, and we all spent a large part of the day planning what we could sell in order to justify the purchasing of new machines - needless to say there is no limit to the deviousness of female quilters when it come to inveigling a new machine into the house!
  

checking the fit

Amy was having a foray into dressmaking with her Schoolhouse tunic. it will be so summery once she's finished.

 

All in all, we had a wonderful day, and the next one is already in the calendar, when we plan to all attempt The Weekender together... apparently we have homework to do in preparation for that one!

Oh, and I just realised this is my 100th post!  Perhaps I ought to have a little giveaway...