Another sewing project

Despite the busy weekend: a house full of excitable young teenage boys pumped up to see Iron man 3 and overdosed on sugar, you get my drift!
I did manage to assemble my prototype from another fellow blogger, a very talented seamstress, Ayumi's tutorial which is here, http://ayumills.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/tutorial-lunch-bag.html
As always I made some mistakes and misread the instructions but my scrap bag didn't turn out too bad. In fact I will be using this one which I call my scrap bag because I made it out do some off cuts from the baby quilt, until I make the real one. I would like to use some oilcloth for the lining in case of spills. I tried to insert some panels with a zip rather than the drawstring bag in the pattern, but this will need some tinkering with! Overall, I am a happy lady!
Thanks to Ayumi's for a fabulous tutorial!

Finished! A baby quilt!

My little baby quilt project has been a real delight to work on! I have practised so many quilting skills and I finally feel a little more confident with my quilting. It is far from perfect but to be honest how boring to have everything even, neat and mistake free! Nah, I really wish I could be mistake free but like I keep telling my children, "Practise makes perfect!" So I will keep on practising, as my binding definitely needs it!

I really enjoyed the free motion quilting and want to do some more intricate patterns but I will have to practise like mad before I would feel happy to share! Overall, I am happy with the finished article, and I hope my friend likes it too! Maybe I will get back to the real world as the washing won't wash itself and the kitchen doesn't cook food all by itself either!

Till the next time and the next project...

Progress made today

I did feel a little bereft that my big project came to an end and by being completely inspired by the fabulous BBC Program, The Great British Sewing Bee, I decided to try my hand at free motion quilting. I have a work colleague that is currently on maternity leave and I wanted to make her a little something for her baby. So, whilst out galavanting buying books etc, I also bought a tiny charm pack which I was delighted to discover was by a very inspirational blogger I have been following for a couple of years now. Aneela from Comfortstitching is a very talented lady and I thought her posy charm pack would go delightfully with some of my stash fabric. I have spent very little time planning, instead I just dived in and started stitching the squares together before adding in some of my fabric. I initially wanted to have the whole quilt with little squares but soon discovered that the Posy squares wouldn't stretch as far as I wanted. So the design became a Nine patch style, which I really like. So tomorrow I am planning to sew the borders and am thinking about putting in a little bit of piping but who knows what I will decide tomorrow.... I am also hoping to successfully manage to free motion quilt the whole thing, ah fingers crossed for me please. Till the next time,

VOILA! Time to reveal my new sofa!

Not that it will be much of a surprise but hey ho! Here it is in all it's finished glory! I am pleased as it turned out much better that I expected, but more over budget than I wanted! I think all in all this big project cost me about £60, but that includes quite a bit of fabric that I have left over to make other things perhaps! Not bad when we were looking at a grand plus for a new one!

So, now I have my sofa, off I go to get my book, no distractions thank-you very much!

See you again, I hope!

Book shopping and a big project update!

Eeeeeeeee, I am quite excited today as I have bought a new book and a used one for my collection!
I try to curb my book collecting addiction but when it comes to my favourite author, a Mr Patrick Ness, I just can't resist! I read the first chapter of his new adult book a couple of weeks ago and have watched his various TV interviews and decided on a whim, to purchase it.

The Crane Wife looks like an intriguing read and I can't wait to dive into the story written for adults. I also picked up a copy of Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare' in a charity shop (less guilt there!) as I have been really enjoying his book, Home!

Unfortunately, I wish I had the time to lounge on the sofa, (mmmmm,) to read! I have two more cushion covers to make before I can do that! They are coming along, albeit slowly. I can't wait for it to be finished, but I do have another little quilting project in the pipeline. Today was a good day, even if it was a bit of an unexpected spend day!

Off to do some sewing,

Half way there!

I have finally finished the three back cushion covers! Only three more to do! I am getting the hang of it I think! I am particularly pleased with my pipping and zips which I haven't really done before! I can't wait to have it all finished now! I may pull in some extra help this weekend! I have the hard job of cutting foam to fit the cushions.

WIP Wednesday

Finally the spring sunshine has arrived in my little patch of the world! I really hope we don't slip back into winter again! I have had enough of grey days with icy winds and sub zero temperatures, thank-you very much!

I have re-started a blanket for our bed but I am not 100% sure about it! The pattern is a lovely bobble blanket and it works up so well. But I am having some trouble keeping it straight, not sure if it will still be in a rainbow shape when I am finished! And, I am not sure if I have enough yarn to finish it as long as I want it! I am still on the look out for an alternative, just in case!

I have also re-started my Big Project! I have cut out my second back cushion and hopefully today I will finish it!

Till the next time