2019 Wk 5 - Off to Ireland

Chertsey Museum class was on last Friday and we made triangular purses.  Mostly these were made from leather, pleather / faux leather and fleece so no sewing although some ladies did use fabric.  We used Kam poppers which are really sturdy, and we had fun!

The next day I was up at 3:30am!!!  And off to the airport for the first flight to Ireland.  By the time I would normally be waking up I had been driven to Heathrow, flown to Dublin, been picked up and delivered to Jackie's and we were in the sewing room deciding what to make first!!!

These were the winners - pink penguin's cover lunch bag aka a very useful bag

We then made the first of 4 pay-it-forward gifts I have committed to on facebook.  This is for a niece who had sent a link to an infinity scarf with a zipped pocket for phone or keys.  I took the sent link to be a subtle hint so we made one and it will go in the post tomorrow

 We then made a pair of hobo / project bags fussy cutting some bold Ikea flowers (thank you Sharon)

Jackie has made a few Sew Together pouches, and this time we thought we'd have a go at the mini one.  It was a bit fiddly as were had to use the original instructions with the 'mini' adjustments but we got there in the end

 We made (started!) some storage pods

 and some larger-than-we-expected bowls

And then we went to have cuddles with little Miss Gorgeous

And the slightly boisterous big brothers (I am sooo jealous - isn't Jackie greedy having 3 grandchildren while I have none!  I am lucky that she shares though!!!)

we did our usual gift exchange but most of the goodies I brought home have been put into use (love the mug!) or put away before being photographed, but this has stayed on my wrist - so far it's decorative but who knows when I will need to measure something and will be able to!!!

2018 Wk 43 - alone in my sewing room

Jackie has gone home now, just emails and Whatsapps until next year.  I should be tidying up in here but I thought I'd do another post instead!

Today's makings  . . .

Two 'pink penguin' bags

A book bag for a neighbour

 A plan for our joint postage stamp / tiny blocks quilt

(this was a close runner up, but we probably don't have enough patterned squares for this)

And a rough plan for the solid postage stamps but they will have to wait their turn

I meant to show this - a first stitch out of the village church door - the painting won't be repeated (I need to find another method of showing the stone colours), and the design needs tweaking but I'm pleased with it for a first attempt

 

 And I said goodbye to Warm Diamonds as she sold, and has gone off to a new home!

A finish from me, and a finish from him

 I've been plodding through my to-do-list again, and yesterday I finished mum's birthday present - another Pink Penguin's lunch bag's big brother

Brian has stopped working on the kitchen floor, but I do have a new door on the downstairs loo:

And thanks to Pinterest inspiration - how fab is this handle?  And there is a spoon on the other side of the door :-)

Time for bed

I'm off at 5am tomorrow, for a girly trip to Austria (Vienna!) so this is just a very quick post to show you . . .

. . . this (Nephew's car track quilt, ready for hand quilting on the plane)

and this little bag for a secret Santa swap

and these goodies for another partner in the swap

and here they are ready to be posted

The Bag Lady

I have finally started on S-i-L's bag, and nephew's car track.

The bag is this awesome heavy weight Echino fabric: black with sights of London on it in bright colours.  There will be an instruction post, as I lost my piece of paper with scribbled notes, but it an adaptation of Ayumi's lunch bag over at Pink Penguin

Marley's Car Track Mat has been created and basted, and I can now quilt it pretty much as much or as little as I want to on the plane.  Photo will follow, but it's in the car at the moment as I was working on it during Fun With fabric.

We have moved the day for the Broom Farm FWF, and I'm not around for the last 3 weeks of term, so we havn't promoted it, and there are just two mums at the moment.  M is working on a Christmassy table runner, and C has been working on Christmas stockings, but has today started a dragon applique [click here for the Fun With Fabric blog and more details]

A Great Day!

So today mum and I popped along to Eternal Maker.  It's just about 15 minutes from Mum's, and I have to say that if it hadn't been for other inhabitants of Blogland I never would have known it existed.  Even if I had driven past it several times I still probably wouldn't know what it was.  So thanks to Sarah for mentioning it (several times) and Hadley for the great directions . . .

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Fabrics (about a gazillion rolls), buttons in every colour and size and shape imaginable, and assorted 'stuff' piled high in a labyrinth of delight!  We will definitely be going again, as it was too much to take in during one visit.  Mum just bought one key ring.  I did get everything on my list, and just a teeny bit more besides!

Do you want some photos?

This fab London themed canvas will become a Pink Penguin bag for my Sister In Law for when mum and I go to visit her and my brother in Australia in December.  The plain pink (I LOVE the Kona selection) will be the cover.  The pink is also for sashing between the pink and green blocks which will become pin wheels.

The scraps of fabrics here are from other fabrics destined to be Pink Penguin bags - I took them with me to colour match: the bright blue will be the cover for the Barbados Shells and the bright zebra fabrics, and the dark red is for the postage stamp fabric.

The red flowers here will be the border for the Aunt Grace 9 patch quilt, and the black with scissors will be for Heather's black and white with pink quilt.  I have bought lots of blacks with white now, but I'm thinking of using the left overs in a blanks and batik bright courthouse steps, so of course I needed more

 

This fabric was totally unnecessary: it was not on my list; I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but there was no way I could leave the shop without it, so there you go!

Finally a bit of alteration: I found a fab top in M&S yesterday:
     Fortunately it was in the sale,
          Unfortunately  it was far shorter than I like to wear my tops,
               Fortunately I found another top that was the same cotton
                     Unfortunately it meant I had to spend more money

                          Fortunately, It was a charity shop, and I didn't

mind at all!

(does anyone else have conversations like this with themselves?)

 Anyways . . .  to the right is an original as seen in M&S today, and to the left is a Benta original (4" longer) as seen on Benta today :-)