Little gifts

My New Zealand friend asked if I could make her a new bag for her to house plastic carrier bags.
Made it this afternoon using some Amy Butler fabric.  It's fully lined with a proper casing so it should be sturdy.  Based it on the Pink Penguin Drawstring bag tutorial.

Yesterday I made 2 x 10.5" square QAYG string blocks for Jan in Australia.
See her blog Sew Many quilts too little time
to find out what marvellous work she does making countless charity quilts, many of them from donated QAYG blocks.  She uses 2 sizes of blocks: 10.5" and 12.5".  I hope to make a few more in the next couple of weeks. Trying to use "man coloured strings" as I know she is always looking for blocks suitable for men's quilts.

Off to cut some small scraps up into 2.5" and 1.5" squares for my stash.

A little gift for a blog friend

I love how quilting brings together people from different parts of the world.
Over the past few years I have followed many quilting blogs and feel attached to many quilters whom I know I will very probably not meet in person.  We do, however, have "conversations" via email and their blogs so, in a weird way, I feel I "know" them, am interested in their projects and what is going on in their worlds.

So, as a little "Thank you" to a lady whose work and zany humour I very much admire, I sent a little gift:

and the other side.................

 

I added a little hand stitching and pretty buttons for embellishment.

 

Inside I popped a few of my 3" 9 patches.

Last quilting in NZ

Yesterday was my last Patchwork meeting in NZ for 2017.
I had a very productive day, using scraps to make 2 more drawstring bags for Jennie's stall:

Front

And back

Front

 

And back

 

I also made 3 more 10.5" QAYG String blocks for Jan at Sew many quilts too little time blog.

That makes a total of 9 blocks which I will mail to her when I go into town on Tuesday.

It's cheaper for me to send blocks to Jan in Australia from here in NZ than from the UK ( postage charge is quite prohibitive now).

Here they are, all 9 of them:

 

 

Hope Jan likes them.  I know she is busy using up QAYG blocks that have been gifted to her so perhaps these will mix in nicely with ones she is sewing up at present.

 

 

Drawstring bag

Yesterday was my last Motueka Quilting Connection meeting before we go back to the UK. 
I used the morning to make a little Drawstring bag, using 2.5" squares kindly gifted to me by my lovely Blog-land friend Jo ( her blog is butter z).

The pattern is from Pink Penguin blog, a Tutorial for a Reversible drawstring bag.
All the materials came from my rapidly diminishing NZ stash.

And the other side:

 

I am gifting this to my Patchwork friend Jennie for her stall which sends money to the Gambia which supports a school over there.

 

Another drawstring bag, another finish

I am gradually working through the To Do List I wrote about on my blog on 19th September.

Item 5 was: Make a little drawstring bag for my Christmas Shoe Box Appeal gift.

I love making these bags, using 2.5" squares from my Box of already cut squares.
As it's intended for a little girl, aged 2 - 4 years, I chose bright pretty squares.  A largish scrap of fabric was ideal for the lining and a bright yellow spotty 1.5"strip (also in my pre-cut stash) was used for the casing.  Pretty ribbon I had bought in New Zealand and 2 yellow buttons from my Button Stash completed the bag.

Here it is:

 

I used the same 16 fabrics on each side of the bag but rearranged them in a different order.  I like playing with colours and placements!

And a little view of the lining - I love this fabric but can't remember what it is called.
I cut the pieces left over from the lining into a few more 2.5" squares and one 2.5" strip which are already stashed away.

 

Another gift finished and added to my Shoe Box.

I also bought a couple more things yesterday; a bright orange castanet and a glittery silver star Christmas decoration.

 

Working on WIPs and making a list

I am working on two baby quilt WIPs.  Making good progress as I haven't had a lot of time for sewing this week. Visitors with two young children so we had to move a lot around in the house, get out the travel cot and folding bed etc. Now I am tackling the washing!

So, here are the quilts:

 

The one on the left is the Noah's Ark quilt, all trimmed and ready for the binding ( which is already made too)

 

The quilt on the right, with its bubble gum pink sashing is being hand quilted with Perle thread.

 

Here's one of the blocks I have quilted:

 

 

Noah's Ark is for a baby boy, expected any day now and A Star is Born is for a baby due in a month's time ( if it's a girl!).

 

I have been thinking of Craft Projects that need to be done:

 

1.  Finish both Baby Quilt WIPs

2.  Finish making the blocks for my String Quilt ( which means cutting a load more strings first)

3.  Make some QAYG String blocks I have promised for Jan (Sew Many Quilts Too Little Time)

4.  Make 2 Spider web Blocks for a Group Quilt

5.  Make a little drawstring bag for my Christmas Shoe Box appeal gift

6.  Knit a beanie and a little shoulder bag for the Christmas Shoe Box.

 

Hope to tick off the Noah's Ark quilt asap!

 

Off to do some more Perle hand quilting.  Leaving re-jigging the house until tomorrow!

 

.

 

Making gifts - such fun

I have been a follower of Rachael's Blue Mountain Daisy's blog for a long time. ( bluemountaindaisy.blogspot.co.uk)
Last month my husband and I visited Sydney to see friends and do some sightseeing and I had hoped to meet Rachael in person. We made arrangements to meet - all very exciting - but unfortunately they didn't work out as unexpectedly Rachael had some work offered her.  I had made a little gift for her but as I couldn't hand it over at the coffee shop I posted it instead.  I had a lovely "Thank you" email from Rachael which I very much appreciated but then then a few days ago I discovered that she had included my little present in her blog post.  I was thrilled!  Even more pleased as Rachael's photo of my drawstring bag and needle case was much better than the ones I had taken for my Flickr page!

Here's my gifts:

 

Check out Rachael's super blog if you haven't had the good fortune to read it yet.  You will love her quilts, photos, flower arrangements and quirky posts and stories.

I have been looking at binding clips for a while as they kept popping up in lots of blog posts.  The ones I saw all seemed rather expensive but then whilst I've been in NZ I found a real bargain at Spotlight.  I bought the last two packets in the shop - one for me and one for a quilting friend's birthday gift.  I have just used the clips for the first time, binding this String quilt:

 

 

What a fantastic idea they are.  Simple to use, no scratches and blood spots on the quilt from using straight pins. Definitely the way to go!

Coincidentally, Rachael said that she was going to use the drawstring bag for storing her clips and lo and behold, they are the same ones that I bought - Rachael's were from Spotlight too. So, if you live in NZ or Australia, check out your nearest Spotlight store.

If you haven't tried clips yet to hold your binding, I definitely recommend them.

Off to embroider the label for my quilt.

Keeping track of battery chargers

Like every household we have several battery chargers, looking similar but not exactly the same.  This can be irritating if my husband and I grab the wrong charger. Keeping track of 'His' and 'Hers' chargers is a nuisance so  at the weekend I decided to make 2 drawstring bags using Pink Penguin's excellent tutorial.

The tutorial is straightforward to follow, especially as she has lots of photographs showing each stage very clearly.  I made them in different colourways, a more girly one with pinks for me and a more masculine one ( black, green and blue) for my husband.

So now we should have no problem keeping our battery chargers safely. I think the bags will also be very useful when we go away as it should speed up the packing   Instead of hunting in drawers for various chargers, they will be together in their little bags ready to go!

 

 

They didn't take long to make especially as I used already cut 2.5" squares from my stash. I keep all my smaller pieces of fabric together so it only took a moment to find suitable fabric for the linings and casings. After I had cut the lining and casing pieces I had some scraps left over and I straightaway cut a few 2.5", 3" and 1.5" squares for my stash.

 

I keep pieces of ribbon too and I was able to find suitable lengths in my Ribbon Box and, of course buttons from my large Button stash!

 

Nothing is wasted in this house!  Bagged squares are much easier to store than irregular sized scraps which end up creased up and neglected.  I thoroughly recommend cutting up your scraps at the end of each project.  That way it's not a daunting task and your cut squares stash keeps growing.

Sewing down Memory Lane

Not sure where the summer has gone, I certainly haven't done much sewing although I have enjoyed the sunny weather and the garden.  I have also spent a lot of time with the family, especially my four year old granddaughter.

So, now it is September, the schools start again this week and our little girl starts school!  She will be attending the same one her Mummy went to and where I taught for the last 9 years of my career.  So lots of happy memories!

More memories as I have been sewing name tapes on her school uniform and I also made her a Patchwork PE bag.  When her Mummy started school I made her a drawstring bag too although it was very basic ( I didn't really sew then, had not discovered my obsession called "Patchwork and Quilting" and certainly didn't know how to create a proper fully lined drawstring bag with a casing!). I am very pleased with the resulting bag and hope the family is too when I pop round this afternoon with it.

Ta da!!!

 

And now, a photo of the undrawn one to show off the patchwork and appliqued name!

 

I had to include a square of Peter Rabbit fabric as Annalise adores him.  She spends many happy hours pretending to be him and inventing various escapades where Grandpa chases her round the garden as either Mr Fox or Mr McGregor!  I am wondering how many milliseconds it will be before she spots him on the bag!

She also likes butterflies and owls so they are included too.

Back in June I made a baby quilt as a commission for a neighbour to give as a gift to a baby girl who was born on 22nd June.  My neighbour wanted to hand the quilt over in person and the first opportunity was last week.  Apparently the parents were thrilled and didn't stop "oohing and aahing" for ages!  Just the sort of response one hopes for!  I have been promised a photo of baby lying on the quilt in clothes matching the quilt colours.  I chose the colours because I thought they were feminine and pretty but didn't realise the baby already owned clothes in the same colourway! Serendipity!


This the quilt:

I have almost completed another baby quilt top.  This time for a boy (in case one of the three expected babies I know about is a boy).  Just have the two borders to cut and sew on, then I shall be ready to sandwich and quilt it.  Now I have discovered machine quilting I think this may very well be a machine quilted one. There are a lot of small HSTs  which surround the blocks so I think quilting in the ditch may be the answer.  Stay tuned!

Happy September Sewing!

 

Thrilled with my FIRST EVER Drawstring bag

My last post featured the patchwork Book bag I had made for little Rosie.

This post features my FIRST EVER Drawstring Bag!  Can't tell you how pleased I am with myself. 

I was determined to use only 2.5" squares from my stash and had originally decided on a blue, green, orange  and yellow colourway.  But when I set them out on my "Design Floor" (aka the carpet in my sewing room!) the arrangement didn't thrill me.

 

It looked dull and boring and very "un-zingy".  So I left it, did something else and went back the next day when I decided to only keep the green squares and use pink and purple for the rest of the patchwork.  Much better!

 

After that I added another row across and jiggled around with the placement a bit.

I have never made a proper Drawstring bag before and my friend Sarah suggested I follow an excellent tutorial on the Pink Penguin blog.  It's actually for a Reversible Bag but I just used a piece of purple Moda marble fabric for the lining.

Then, as Sarah told me, I carefully followed the blog's instructions. 
I have a real problem with Spatial  Awareness so I couldn't see in my head how the instructions for joining the casing to the front of the bag and then to the lining would work out.  But they did!  I threaded 2 lengths of cord through the casing as instructed and - hey presto! - I had a bright, colourful Drawstring bag that worked!

The Back:

The Front:

 

 

And the drawn-up bag:

It measures 12" x 14" which I think should be the right size for a small pair of trainers, T shirt and shorts.

I have just popped round to Rosie's Granny's house with the two finished bags and she was equally delighted.  Hope Rosie likes them too.

Isn't it a great feeling when you try something new and it works out well?

Just realised that I used 154 x 2.5" squares from my Stash and I didn't have to cut one specially for these projects.  Proves that a few moments spent cutting scraps into squares when you finish a project does pay dividends.  Now I need to cut more squares, especially pink, purple and green as I am virtually out of those colours.