Sunday 25 June 2017

2017 Wk 25 - More sewing with Jackie

Jackie and I normally trade a few goodies when we see each other:  I haven't had much time in the last few months, so Jackie didn't get much - but I was spoilt!  Thank you Jackie

(Yes, the pouch isn't finished . . . some traditions are good to keep!)

We made some blue whale pouches for a couple of my cousins and an Aunt - its a bit of a long story - I won't bore you but I think they will love the pouches!


Lining in red as there is a Norwegian link!

We made some magic zip pouches (two sections and each side has a zip into a separate pocket)



Yesterday's eco dying . . .  well lets say we wont bother with that again!


We tried silver spoon stamping . . . with a LOT of brute force (and probably a fair amount of ignorance!) we got one letter done.  Apparently I bought silver plated steel spoons, not silver spoons!!!

 We had a go at zippy key rings - and adding numerous zipper pulls for fun


We used some pretty lacy zips

 And we did some Christmas planning: triangles inside circles, stitched together into pyramids will make lovely little gift boxes!

(From these instructions)


Then finally, in the last two hours we made what are probably my favourite creations: a sewing holdall which rolls up






Saturday 24 June 2017

2017 Wk 25 - Corking good fun

Yippee!!!  Jackie is here for a weekend of fun!  We went to the National Quilt Championships at Sandown Park yesterday -which may have involved some shopping!

One of our goodies was a sheet of cork 'fabric' - which resulted in these two using Noodlehead's design.

 We've made these before so felt confident in adding slip pockets and zip pockets too

We also had a go at scissor pouches


And then we wrapped some cotton and leaves up together and boiled them in water with rusty nails for . . . well, the bucket didn't reach boiling point after being on the stove for an hour

This was as a result of having met Caroline Bell at Richmond and Kew - she creates amazing fabrics this way - I'm not so sure ours will be as successful - we'll find out tomorrow!

Whilst in the kitchen on a hot sweaty day watching a bucket full of water, nails and fabric - as if that wasn't hot enough, we decided to do some baking!

This means Jackie baking and me fetching and washing up!!!
Lemon drizzle cake . . . 

and the world's strangest shapes muffins (so it turns out you really do need a muffin tin - who knew!)


And finally: my favourites from Sandown Park yesterday







Saturday 10 June 2017

2017 Wk 23 - Crafty Church

I'm just back from a great afternoon at Crafty Church! As usual, lots of crafts happening, from band weaving (making pot holders or mug rugs) . . .

. . . to making fairy door, felt Jamie dodgers, and heart wall hanging, a rag doll and a wizard (with the church windows showing through!)

I did a bit of pot holder weaving, and a bit of loom weaving and lots of chatting!
Back home I finished tacking the edges of my latest La Passacaglia cog so I could take out the papers. One day I'm going to have to tackle joining them together, but I'm avoiding that for now, although I'm loving how they look

PS Happy Birthday Jackie xxxx

Sunday 4 June 2017

2017 Wk 22 - Mostly Friends

A group of 4 of s used to work together at a bank, and one has moved away so this weekend two of us went to stay with her. There was mostly chatting, eating, drinking, walking and shopping!!! We travelled by train so I managed to finish the latest "cog" in my La Passacaglia quilt
And plan (!) and start the next
We went to a great market in Tynemouth and I got some felt, some fab little folding snips and some silver spoons (I have some metal stamps and fancy trying stamping words into the spoons - I've seen it on Pinterest!!!)
Hope you had a good weekend! X

Friday 2 June 2017

2017 Wk 22 - Mostly Chertsey

The lovely ladies at Chertsey Museum made tote bags today. Well they started them but there isn't really much to show other then their fabric choices, so first let's look at their show and tell:
Three finished felted pictures (two shown with their inspiration) and some finished flowers

And tote bags ready to finish ...

They recently asked about lace making so I thought I'd have a practice.
My attempt looked like this
Which was just a mess so I pulled the pins out in disgust . . . And it transformed itself into this
Which I LOVE! I couldn't salvage this one so I've started again! At the moment it looks like the previous pic - but fingers crossed it works ok!
I'm off for a girly weekend with friends, and wanted to make them something - I'd seen notebook covers which were a bit more than note book covers . . . so I copied the idea and made these
Note book covers with built in pencil cases!
Now I'm off to pack - have a good weekend x