Sewing update

I have been sewing a lot and loving it.
I have a new block keeper with zips down both sides so it opens out flat but zips up to make a secure tote bag if you want to pop some sewing gear in.

I also made a little shell purse. I put a seagull on it in felt. I have been wanting to use this seagull for a  while. It is from a Bustle and Sew magazine.

I started a bag from a book I got from the quilting group library. I used 2 inch strips and the centre piece is 6 1/2 inches x 8  inches. All seams are 1/4 inch. I don't want to publish the pattern but if you are keen I can give better instructions. Just let me know.

Phone and lipstick pockets

I finished block three of the Who Knows BoM at Fat Cat Patterns. (See my side bar.)

I have been working on my Debbie Mumm sampler from 2012. I have been really enjoying making the cute pieced blocks. The fabrics are nearly all scraps so between this and the owls I am using quite a lot of scraps.

I made a cardboard curve ruler for doing curved corners. It will make do til I can buy the plastic one that I can use the rotary cutter with. I love gadgets.

I worked on Nanna's farm a bit doing the applique on the next column. I have already sewn the other columns ready for applique.

I bought two new books and have made friends with Shirley at Colours of a Butterfly  who wants to try making the quilt with the watering cans on it to match the pillow on the front cover of Country Cottage Quilting.

Shirley is great at cross stitch but hasn't done any patchwork so we are starting with the sewing set that has the drawstring bag from the same book. We are going to start the needle book in May and do the bag and scissor keep over a month or two. Then we will do the pillow then the quilt. If anyone wants to join in or post pictures of what you have already made I will have a go at setting up a flickr group. This is a first call. I will post about it again.

Happy Quilting,
Val

My Block Keeper

I finished my block keeper yesterday and I love it. It is on the kitchen table at present and I have to keep patting the pumpkin :D
It is not really quite finished. I want to buy some little pink heart buttons that I saw at BigW to sew in the center of the yellow squares.

I put two straps inside to separate two piles of blocks and it can be opened from each side.You have to flip it over. I used bag wadding (stiff more dense than quilt wadding). I almost left off the tie ribbons but I thought if I dropped it things might fly out. I had no bought-to-match ribbon but I found the ribbon I saved from the orange Aldi tea towels that I bought. It says Peppertree all along it but the brown fits in OK. I nearly made the whole thing too small. The raw edges of the blocks just stick out a bit top and bottom.

I had to stuff the front inside the back to get the straps attached properly. I had to leave the bottom edge open on both the front and the back so I could turn them and also fit the wadding in. I decided the wadding would be too hard to sew in and turn so I just slipped it in and sewed it up close to the bottom edge.  

This is the back cover. The cup and cupcake stitchery is from one of my many magazines.

To get in from this side you undo the ribbons on the right. No blocks on this side so you can see the straps. To get to the blocks you can see on the other side close it up and do up the ribbons. Flip it over to the pumpkin cover and undo the other ribbons and open it up. Sounds tricky :) Not going to even try to write a tutorial for this one!

We have a spar out back and the frogs think it is a tropical frog pond! We opened the cover the other day and there were six green frogs. These three were a bit slow to jump in.

I just have to show you these cute felt brooches. Bit too expensive for me to buy but it shows what is possible with felt. She has a couple of cute tutorials too.
http://www.lupinhandmade.com/index.htm

And lastly, I enjoyed visiting Bec's blog Chasing Cottons for the Quilt Class 101. The fabric give away looks awesome.

Happy Quilting.
Val