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.

November, already.....

Well, October was some month!  It started with a two-week holiday in Cornwall where I spent a good percentage of the time looking out of rainy windows while I stitched away at various projects, and it's ended with some major steps towards life changes for us. Phew, busy times!

Anyway, your positive thoughts and crossed fingers did a brilliant job earlier in the week, I am now less stressed and hopefully taking big strides to a happier life. So thank you for your lovely, friendly support.  But more on that another time...

So, in October, I got this lot done

Not quite as much off my 100 day hustle list as I'd have liked, but a few bits and pieces.  Seems like I'm going to have to roll my sewing sleeves up now and get stuck in before it's too late.  Christmas is galloping towards me and i'll have less free time now, so will have to make the most of every spare second.  

Linking up with Lily's quilts and 

The Double A Side has landed

OK, so it's all very well spending months sourcing just the right fabric for your 3-year old niece's birthday quilt, designing a double A sided pattern, piecing it all, finishing it with lovely borders, tying it with gorgeous variegated embroidery thread....  

but it's no flippin' good if you then miss the birthday!!  Imagine my horror yesterday when I realised Megan's big day was last Friday, not this week as thought!

Baaaaaad Auntie Pennie....

So, I just about managed to wrap it in more pinkness and get it into the post, special delivery, with a very grovelly card.  It took some doing, letting it go, and I think I might have to start again on the Heather Ross hunt to make another one!  

Anyway, I just got this......

I think she likes it!

Honey, I'm home!

Awww, quilting world, how I missed you..... The effort of trying to post via mobile proved just too traumatic, and my signal in not-sunny-at-all Cornwall was erratic at best so I have heaps to tell you and to catch up on!

I have finally figured out how all these amazing super-achievers get things done so quickly - they do absolutely nothing else..... I'm kidding of course, I know all you wonder-quilters have jobs and children to take care of really... or so you say!  With two weeks off, I got one quilt finished, another completely done and a significant amount of work done on a Christmas project.  I also initiated my friend Hilary into the joys of quilting, as we started work on Santa sacks and other Christmas goodies for her.  

In between sewing sessions I did a lot of dog walking - Hilary and I have 4 spaniels between us, so we did beach, woodland and sand dune walks to keep them all quiet enough for us to have the sewing sessions.  There were also quite a few afternoon teas, sticky cakes and yummy lunches consumed, so the diet starts now!

However it did rain, nearly every day, and on Thursday we got caught, whilst on a circular walk, by the worst rain storm I can remember.  I have never been so wet in clothes in my life - trust me, everything was soaked.  The irony was that it was sunny when we set off, so we left waterproof trousers in the car.  When we got back we ended up having to strip out of sodden jeans and wear the waterproofs instead so as not to soak the car.  Later that day, the area's website reported flash flooding...

Anyway, enough about my holiday, you want to see the work, right?

Well, I posted that I'd finished the raw edge applique circles quilt.  I finally decided to bind it with orange magic beans, as I found any solid binding just over-emphasised that colour within the quilt top.  The busier binding blended in really well, I think, and I'm really happy with this, it kind of disappears. I'm looking forward to being able to snuggle up under this on the sofa over the winter, with the bright colours really cheering me up on the dull days.  Alison's original tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew can be found here.





Mind you, it's already been claimed by a certain member of the household, who actually kicked bags off the top of it last night so he could curl up on it.  Think I might have a wrestling match on my hands!


I also got Megan's Double A-side finished, and I have to say I love it!  It's the first time I've ever felt slightly sad that I don't have a daughter to give it to! I hope she likes it, otherwise I'm reclaiming it.  I finished it slightly differently, as the quilt already had the borders around the edge, and I couldn't think of a binding that I liked that would go with both sides.  So it is not bound - I just sewed the edges together almost all the way round and then turned it right side out and hand stitched the opening, and then top stitched all the way round.   

 As doing it this way meant it wasn't going to possible to quilt both sides and as both sides were very different layouts anyway,  I decided to just tie it using variegated DMC embroidery thread.  As I'd used cotton / bamboo mix wadding, this is now a beautifully soft quilt, and I am really happy with my first attempt at a quilt without using a pattern.

I might not be making anything pink for a while though.....

Yesterday I had a great time helping Annie from The Village Haberdashery on her stall at the Knitting and Stitching show in Alexandra Palace.  I'm sure Annie's blog will tell more about this, but it was great to see other quilters there - I spotted a few faces from retreat 2012 - but my favourite part was the number of handmade bags being sported by visitors, along with some fantastic handmade coats and jackets.  Quilters are a colourful bunch!

WIP learning how to.....

So, I'm home alone today, the other half and the dogs have gone fishing for the day, and I decided I would get started on basting my raw circles quilt and working out how to quilt it.

As any regular readers will know I had surgery a week ago.... I'm supposed to be taking it easy.... I'm also a stubborn, independent and today unsupervised individual, who has just discovered the batting piece she had put aside for the raw circles is short in one corner by a 12 x 6" strip.....

Bother, I thought.... well actually it was another word beginning with B but am trying to keep this civil....

so today I am mostly learning a) how to be a good girl, ignore the screaming car keys and possibility of a short drive to my nearest LQS for a replacement piece of batting which will fit nicely and b) how to best join the batting - whether to add a small strip in the corner, or cut the piece down the middle and rejoin it with one piece turned through 90 degrees so it fits better.  

Anyone..... ??? 



Linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Learn to embroider with Aneela Hoey

At the Fat Quarterly Retreat in June, I was lucky enough to get a place on Aneela Hoey's embroidery class, and a great time was had by all there!  So, after much deliberation,  Aneela has decided to run another class, scheduled for 15th September.

The details are up on her blog, along with the opportunity to book one of the 10 spaces on a first come first served basis.

The class fee includes a signed copy of her fab new book (I've had a sneaky peak, and trust me, it is FANTASTIC) along with a proper lovely catered lunch and the best chocolate brownies in the universe.

Of course, the best bit is probably the 5 hours or so of one-to-one attention and guidance from an embroidery whizz, and the chance to learn new skills and stitches.

So, please hurry on over to Aneela's blog now and book your place.

Look forward to seeing you there......

and now for some Nina Simone...

'.... and I'm feeling gooooood!  Dummmm, de-dummmmm, de-dummm, de-dum, de-dum-di-de dummmmm.....'


On Wednesday, my machine and I went for a little trip, coffee, chat, sewing, and I was somewhat stunned to realise when I went to get my machine for this sojourn that it was still in it's carry bag where it had been since retreat!  A whole month without using my sewing machine.  I knew I'd been off my game, but that shocked me, even so.  


This weekend has seen me battling to finish a project I was doing for someone else, and then late last night, after singing along to 'Mamma Mia', in an effort to avoid the second half of the football, I decided it was time to get on with some fun sewing.

So out came this, a project I last worked on back in March on our Cornish holiday.  It's taken from this tutorial and I had completely forgotten how much I love it and the colours are so cheerful.  Last night I managed to get all the pieces laid out, and realised that I needed at least another 14 'blocks' made up, so I'm now going through all my fabrics trying to find about 20 more that I can make up into squares and circles, and then start rearranging the main part of the quilt I've already done to incorporate the new pieces so they're properly spread out.
Then I just have to keep them in the right order while I start sewing them altogether - think many photos will be necessary!  But hey, it feels great to be back!