2019 Wk 45 - yet another post this week!

I'm a bit behind with posting fabriccy stuff!

I've joined a FB group that does hexi swaps - my first theme was Pudsey bear!

This is my first inward flower - isn't it great!

I was a bit stumped for ideas then I saw this fabric Jackie was using for her version of the baby clutch, and the dots screamed Pudsey at me

So I've been fussy cutting the circles and  tacking them and and working on getting them stitched into flowers asap

You know you sometimes think you have just the right pouch for a project?  I thought I did but it' s a bit small

I've been asked to make some stuff for church.  This is a trial collection bag.

 And I didn't blog about last week's Chertsey Museum Fun With Fabric!  These were my samples

 and these were the versions that were being worked on

I'm look forward to seeing them finished next month

2019 Wk 44 - Irish Retreat

I managed to spend the weekend at my very favourite place - Jackie's!!!  The saga of the flights showed the carrier as so utterly incompetent you wouldn't believe me if I told you! Suffice to say they eventually issued the tickets that I had paid for three weeks earlier, refunded the monies they shouldn't have taken (5 debits totaling > 3 x flight costs), gave me two apologetic chunks of compensation, and I managed to get to Dublin at the planned time!

So what did we do???

We spent a lot of the weekend in this awesome room!!!

We made two nappy clutch bags (we finished the hand sewing on the other one first as it had to be gifted, and it never made the photo session!)

A quilted pocket on the outside (phone?) and a clipped strap so it can be clipped to a buggy or pram

and two zipped mesh pockets on the inside for nappies and wipes.  All machine washable

We also made these sewing tool cases: two big zipped pockets outside, and I think I counted 29 pockets inside - some zipped, some slip, some vinyl, some mesh and some quilted.  We used Annie soft and stable, and in places there are at least three layers plus fabric, vinyl and zip - and now we have to add bias binding.  I really love the design, but we've made a sheet of notes as to how to do it differently next time (it doesn't need quite so many pockets (5 of them are zipped!) or quite so much padding!

We also made some more boxy zip-on-top pouches, trialing different types of stabiliser.  I think my old favourite of fusible fleece was best

Based on the nappy clutch and the tool case, and the Sewing Folio we made from Aneela's book we then designed our own caddy.  ("Design" might imply thinking about it in advance but don't be fooled!)

We used Aneela's rough size, and used another design from the book as inspiration to make one vinyl pocket with zips at both ends, then stitch through the middle to make it two pockets

Two vinyl pockets got added to the other side (one zipped, one not), and a zipped mesh pocket

And it folds into a clutch great for holiday / travel projects.  Mine will be for hexies, and Jackie switched the slip in vinyl pocket to a padded pocket with stitching to create small sections and will use hers for her knitting needle set that has interchangeable needles and circles of different lengths

What else?  While Jackie and her sewing machine were battling the layers in the tool case, I cut a whole load of 6x10" squares from a pack of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  She's going to make the shadow box quilt ... and I tidied up the remains and cut myself a whole load on 3 inch squares to make something like this 

We did get some fresh air over the weekend.  Jackie's youngest, Paul, plays hurling for the local team.  They were playing against the "two-time All-Ireland club champions" in the quarter finals and beat them!!!!!

It was a very exciting match (and traumatic for other reasons), and I've got a bit closer to understanding the game!  After my first match six years ago I described the rules here

Finally though I had to leave.  On the two flights and some occasional chatting-and-hand-sewing sessions I attached all the hexies I had brought, so I'm now ready to join these to the hexi round

2019 Wk 44 - what I've been doing (and should have been doing)

I'm teaching a class today at Chertsey Museum - and planned to teach a sewing caddy in a glass jar with a pincushion lid.  As I started to prep for the class I realised this would take no more that ten minutes so was NOT a good idea.  Instead I made this (just for fun, we wont be making these at the museum until December 2020!!!)

Then I had to get back on track: I have a couple of dozen polystyrene balls planned for the sewing caddies so I had to find something that I could do with them.  Thank you Pinterest: two ideas!

I treated myself to a new storage organising thingy so spent the best part of a day sorting lots of little bits and pieces into this - I think everything little is now easy to find except a box of bells that are still hiding somewhere

I did some machine embroidery for a customer

And I love it when I get pics of things I've made being used

And that pic wasn't the only one this week: I got this from the Windsor Homeless Project showing Chris with his hat

And this from Lily's granny - what a cutie!

The hexi rounds flimsy has grown, and hopefully the dark rings and the light rings are obvious.  I can go two more light and half a dark with prepared hexies, and then oh dear what a pity never mind I'll have to do some more!

I'm almost up to date on the temperature project

And I am up-to-date on the European-trips-with-friends patches.  Do I sew them onto a bag as originally planned or would a zippy or a scarf be better?

2019 Wk 43 - with cake

Last week was Sharon's last session with the crafty church ladies: the lovely Tara made chocolate  cake, with buttons - is there anything more perfect???

We had 19 visitors (they must have heard about the cake!)  Crochet corner was busy, but three ladies came to learn how to use their sewing machines, there was patchworking, Christmas card stamping, lavender bags being stitched and a whole load of other things, plus of course the chatting the drinking, and did I mention cake????

Hayley and I finally managed to meet up and continue our silk screen printing (blogged about here) and finished the flowers

  -
rather chuffed with these - now we need to plan the next stage!

We also had a go at some fabric 'business cards' but these need work, so we added stamping as there was still paint left!!

My other crafting this week was to make a few of these for a guest at the Windsor Homeless Project who is deaf.  Could he please have a patch to sew onto his hat so people would know!

Yes of course!!!

In Norse mythology, Thor is the hammer-wielding god of thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, hallowing, fertility, the protection of mankind and of the fortress of Asgard. He is the son of Odin All-Father and he is physically the strongest of the Norse Gods.  In my house he has an additional responsibility - he is the guardian of the clean quilts!!!!

And finally not my crafting at all but the lovely Amo sent me this - perfect for under a coat as it starts to get cold!  Thank you lovely lady xxx

2019 Wk 42 - Happy Hexies

I last showed a random collection of little hexies in early September.  They looked lovely in a box, but I didn't have a plan for them.  Since then the number has just about doubled, and I have started sewing them together.

There is only a vague semblance of a plan but I hope it is visible?

If not maybe this mono photo shows it better?

A light central flower with a ring of dark and two rings of medium and light hexies, and then repeat dark, medium and light (twice)

I've also been embroidering the holiday patches for the last three European city trips I did with girlfriends.  I do a patch every year, but have clearly been tardy!

So here we have Bologne (2017),

Sunny Athens (2018) and

Sicily 2019

These are designed to go on drawstring backpacks - but I've managed to lose mine!  So I am in the process of re stitching the badges going back to 2004 for myself!!!

2019 Wk 41 - Working with Jackie

Working (ie sewing) with Jackie . . . and shopping with Jackie at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching show makes for a pretty fab weekend!

We made a couple of 'Fold Up Sewing Folio's from Aneela Hoey's Stitched Sewing Organisers book (we had to put an elastic strap on as we didn't have enough fabric for the fastening strap)

And these Stash and Go drawstring bags

(the mint zippie was a repair for oldest daughter)

The lovely Kathy sent us instructions on how to make her Japanese Eco market tote bag and we made these

These pouches came from this blog and although they took more than the promised ten minutes, they were really quick to make

These Handy Fold-up pouches also came from Aneela's book

and prompted this larger i-pad sized version

And finally we made Emmaline's retreat bag (just one got photographed!)

Not bag for really just a day and a half of sewing as we also spent a day at the Knitting and Stitching show!

I bought some great iron on plastic from Happy Fabric (this is my first test piece)

and some felted sheets to line some tube mittens

Some additional shades of pearle quilting threads, and some Advent calendar ribbons, together with some felt that is a bit more 'gingerbread man' coloured

And a skein of sari scraps with should allow me to make a scarf like this one