Preview

Unfinished, the fancy bits have not yet been added but this is a sneaky peek of my first foundation paper pieced pattern going on sale tomorrow...

back with more details soon...

Promise

Thankyou for all the get well wishes. I am back at work and feeling much better than last week.  I have an energetic job so when I get home I can't get much sewing done until I feel a bit more up to speed.  I did fancy a quick fix instant gratification make.  I bought this months Mollie Makes magazine, mainly for the tiny coin purse frame kit on the front.  At £4.99 an issue, it is at the pricier end of the magazine market. I blindly cut my fabrics out following the instructions and cutting round the templates , I then realised there would be no lining, the seams would be visible on the inside and the whole thing would be too flimsy for coins.  So I abandoned the sparse and slightly inadequate instructions and made it using previous purse making knowledge- see U-handbag for great purse tutorials.  

Suzuko Koseki fabric and a little stamping with versacraft ink.

The lining is Kei dots.  The coins give you an idea of scale, this is a tiny purse.

I am not a great craft magazine buyer. UK magazines are often aimed at beginner sewers and have great aspirational lifestyle pictures but projects with often rather limited usage or not the best instructions.  If I had been new to sewing and had made the purse how they suggested I would have been rather sad about the result.  The crafting tradition and maybe a larger market to see to in USA and Japan leads to more adventurous magazines with a variety of projects for a greater range of abilities.  Don't get me wrong, Mollie Makes is very pretty but there is the edge of whimsy that pushes me over the edge- I am a little irritable at the moment and "things that have been made with love last longer" as a caption was going too far for me. 

I have had a week of frustrating tech which has compounded my grumpiness.  My phone is a Blackberry- I just got it fixed and then the Blackberry crash has made it inoperable for most of this week.  I also working on my first paper pieced pattern for sale on Etsy and drawing the pieces has been fiendishly hard in Word!  I have now sussed it, publication is imminent and I promise Damian that I will be a loveable person to live with once more and not a raging, irritable old bag x

Whine and a moan

It is time for a little whine and a moan.  I lost my voice last Tuesday- mid  class it went from singing and talking to whispering in 10 minutes.  The strangest experience, I have lost my voice before but not without warning.  It was the last class of the morning and I thought I would rest up and it would return. Hmm, Sunday, running a temperature, a mountain of tissues and wondering about how next week will be.  Two very welcome parcels this week though.  I did a fabric swap with Charise- what lovelies she sent, vintage in there as well as modern.  I can only fantasise  about her great her fabric stash is.

I have got to know Charise via Flickr and admiring her creations...take a minute to look at this.  See what I mean!   Thankyou Charise!

I was also lucky enough to win a giveaway at Wynn's ZakkaArt blog.  She has recently posted a tutorial for a lovely patchwork bag- see the links here.  A beautiful stack of 4 fat quarters in pretty colours, gorgeous and soft.  Thankyou Wynn!

So I am sniffing, snuffling and croaking away.  Other crappy things this week: my phone broke- life without my Blackberry is sadly a bit hard, there is a magic man nearby who is fixing it for a small fee, hoepfully back by Thursday.  The mouse on my computer bust, and my laser printer packed up too.    My head has not been up to speed either- I tried to dial my own phone number today, and numerous pans have been burnt, water left on etc.  A costly week.

Normal service will be resumed soon.  I was meant to be seeing Ben Howard play tonight, too poorly to go, I've sold my tickets and made someone else and her daughter very happy, so I'll leave you with this and stop the whinge.  I'll be better soon and  I will try and feel 'gracious' too.

Mug Rug Winner!

The winner is...

and that was Quirky Granola girl aka Melinda!  I have already been in touch with Melinda so the Mug Rug will be winging its way to her very soon.  A big thank you for all the entries and the incredibly helpful ideas for paper piecing designs- I am working on Christmas paper piecing right now!

Christmas- not yet

Just finished, ready for Christmas in Hawaii, my Christmas Ringo Pie bee block-an advent tree for Amber.  I found this wooden tree on Flickr and that was my starting point.

The bordered squares are 1.5 inches.  I stamped the words- a line from White Christmas using Versacraft ink as it sets permanently onto the fabric.

The background fabric and stamped squares are Kona Snow.  I have very little Christmas fabric so I dived into the red and green in my vintage and new fabrics so it is an eclectic mix.

You can see the other Christmas blocks which have rolled in so far here as well as the first blocks from Amy's camera theme too here and here.

It might be a while till Christmas but it is the start of stitching time- I am hoping to get some paper pieced patterns ready for sale in the next 2 weeks with Christmas designs ready for stockings, cushions etc.  Keeps me busy x  

Birthday stuff ♥

Just in case you haven't entered yet, my birthday mug rug giveaway here

I thought I would share the crafty bits of my birthday with you.  Damian excelled himself- he made this card, the funny thing is I found a sewing machine image on my computer this week that I didn't remember using but wasn't sure, it was the source material for this!

You can't see but there is a heart cut in a third section, he is such a honey  x

He also got me these, Kei Kerchief ladies- so hard to find, I had to pounce on them on Etsy, and the linen blend paper fabrics, also Etsy.  My big gift was an overlocker which I have to spend some time with.  I have watched and eye popping DVD that accompanies it with the most annoying music but I can't wait to make jersey clothing for me and Lula.

Ayumi made me this incredible mini quilt and matching pincushion, I can't tell you how much I love it. Every fabric is calling out to me!

And this beautiful stationery set was from my lovely friend Kathy, beautiful hand printed cards- the salutations one cracks me up!

I am a lucky, lucky person.

September

Thankyou for the birthday wishes!  Giveaway is here and I am finding the comments incredibly helpful.  

September makes...

1. Courthouse Steps Pillow/cushion- started, 2. Cracker Scraps Block for Angela, 3. Mug Rug- how to paper piece tutorial, 4. Girl Bonjour block, 5. Back to school, 6. B for Bonjour!, 7. Quilts on a line for Corey, 8. Sewing Machine Block for Amisha, 9. Ringo Pie preview for Amber

Not so much this month, back to work, Lula starting high school and all the support that entails, a bit of a sore arms flare up situation- better now, it has been a month of blocks and it finished with me working on Amber's Christmas block for Ringo Pie so a little preview for her at the bottom of the mosaic.  There are a couple of Kumiko Fujita blocks from a Japanese magazine  that I hadn't got round to posting about, part of a mystery quilt-a-long in the magazine Patchwork Tsushin.  There is a wonderful piecing video showing Kumiko at work.

Check out the lovely makes of the others taking part at Lynne's Fresh Sewing first of the month meetup.  The weather is beautiful Autumn sun and temperatures that we should have had in August, and I am thinking Christmas sewing whilst wearing a summer voile tunic...