Belfast here I come!

Tomorrow morning I am catching the 08.30hrs flight to Belfast….

The alarm is set for a 5.15hrs wake up call…

No not 1:50!!

The flying geese are all ready to fly…

Flying geese cushion

...They will be fed in NI to look all plump…

The shopping bags are made and now have fasteners…

Shopping bags

And of course I will need a bag for the aeroplane…

Aeroplane bag

All that is left to do is pack, get a meal ready for the men and be out of the house by 6.15pm to head over to Tanya's for Stitch it Together…

See you on the other side.

Di x

Frantic Sewing

It is nearly a week since I have blogged. The week has just flown by. Last week I 'road tested' my Super Tote (Anna - Noodlehead pattern) in London. It is the perfect city bag as it is large enough to carry everything and the kitchen sink, as well as being safe due to the zipper closure.

The perfect city tote!

Last Friday I went to a local, to me, quilting show in Spalding. I really enjoyed seeing the quilts that were displayed, meeting up with quilting friends for coffee and going on a fabric buying spree.

This is the fabric that I bought.

I am off on my annual trip to Northern Ireland later this week. I am going to meet up with friends, to go to Focusfest. However, this is also the perfect opportunity to see some of my  bloggy friends in person! I am therefore going to fly out a day earlier and stay with Sarah and see Judith too. How good is that? I am getting excited about my big trip abroad!!!

As I am seeing lots of friends I need to take a few little presents with me. Having seen on both Judith's and Sarah's blogs that there is now a bag tax in NI, I decided that I would make some fold up bags. The left hand fabrics in the top photo was bought to make these bags.

Shopping bags

Do you want to see how I managed to keep that cane up?

Tall boys were the answer!

Now that the bags are made, I need to find a way of keeping the bags rolled up. That is my job for this afternoon!

I also need to have a present for my friend, who I'm staying with over the weekend. I decided that due to the luxury of having a hold bag as well as hand luggage, I would make a cushion.

After seeing Catherine's post I decided to copy her idea and make the flying geese block. I like making flying geese so it was fun to do. Unfortunately this is as far as I have got…

Potential cushion!

As I am out for dinner with some school mums tonight, going to see a Shakespeare play performed outside at Tolethorpe tomorrow evening (please don't let it rain!) and then Stitching it Together at Tanya's on Wednesday evening, I think that late night sewing might be required if I'm to ever to get these projects finished. Wish me luck!!!

Right, I can't hang round as I need to get sewing!

Di x

Busy being Busy

Over the weekend I met up with the East Midland Modern Quilt Guild at a fantastic Village Hall near Ashbourne. It was so nice and sunny and we had our guest speaker give her talk to us on the patio in the sunshine. It felt as if summer had finally arrived. Later that evening I realised that the sun was stronger than I thought as I had a very red and sore neck!

On Sunday I pieced the backing for my lovely leaf bee quilt together. I used some ‘In My Room’ by Jenean Morrison to frame the bee signature blocks.Below you can see me trying to gauge whether I indeed had enough fabric. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the finished backing. This quilt is going to look wonderful once it has been quilted by this talented quilter.

Will it fit or not?

This week has also seen me make a Super Tote using this pattern by Anna-Noodlehead 

I had bought the fabric a while ago, specifically to make this bag. Gwen from Celtic Fusion was super helpful in matching some fabric for me. I really like this shop as it stocks some unusual and different fabrics and the service is second to none. The linen was from the local market stall.

I have to say, that it took ages to cut out the pattern pieces and then interface each of them. I also used, a new to me, interlining called Soft and Stable. It is just perfect for making a structured bag and it sewed well despite being quite bulky. The only drawback was that I did struggle to sew around the top of the bag once it was completed. The bonus is that the bag stands up on it's own.

It has taken me a full day and a bit to see this bag to completion. I pretty much stuck to the pattern, with the exception of making the handles ‘my way’ and adding a key fob and copying Hadley  with an little inner pocket for tickets etc. in the outer pocket (if you get what I mean). Fortunately for me, Hadley posted her thoughts on the bag making process just as I was getting to this stage. Thanks Hadley!

Me, my bag and husband are going to London tomorrow, so I will be able to road test this tote to see if it is really a Super Tote. I am sure it will be. It is a brilliant size - big without being too big, with lots of pockets to sub-divide my rubbish that I carry around ‘stuff’.

Di x

A Friday Sprout Finish

I have been working hard to get my Bee a Brit Stingy quilt top together. I found the perfect print for the background that isn’t a ‘flat’ colour but adds texture without taking over from the LV background around the sprouts. I managed to get most of the quilt top sewn together yesterday, but had to go back to my LQS today, to buy another piece of the background fabric to sash across the top and bottom. I really wanted the quilt to have ‘movement’ so I have off set each row. 

Rainbow sprouts

Rainbow sprouts

It was a really difficult quilt to photograph as it was so large. In the end, I managed to lay it outside on the grass in an effort to get all of the quilt into the photo.

Rainbow sprouts

It measures a whopping 83” x 70”. I just love this quilt and it has turned out far better than I had originally thought when I chose this pattern for my worker bees to do. The next job to tackle is piecing a back together that incorporates all the signature sprouts.

Di x

A Happy Day

Today has been a happy day. I have pulled out my beautiful bee blocks that the Bee a Brit Stingy have made for me and I have started to plan the layout of my bee quilt.

I love all the colours that the sprout blocks are made in. I appreciate the time that have gone into making them but above all, I cherish the friendships that I have made by being in this bee.

Sorting the sprouts into colours

This is the layout that I have eventually gone for.

There are a few gaps that I need to fill, so I have started to make a few extra sprouts to complete the quilt top.

I also received this pile of lovely fabric from Lynz today. 

hipBee challenge from Lynz

Lynz is Queen bee in the hipBees this month. Note that the handmade card is colour co-ordinated with the fabric and attached to the card is a sweet little bee pin that Lynz has made. Thank you Lynz for the pin and I will try my best to make a good block for you!

Di x

The Long Weekend

It has been a glorious long weekend here. The sun has shone and it has been warmer than of late. 

On Saturday I joined the Brit Bee for their get together. It was a brilliant day, full of laughter, fun and stitchy creations being shown off. I am sure that you have read reports here and here and here, so I won’t bore you with another report.

Some Brit Bees

Today I worked on my mini weekender bag. It was a bit of a struggle to get it together but finally it is finished. It isn’t perfect, but it is ‘good enough’. 

A mini Weekender bag

Mini Weekender bag

A mini weekender finished on a long weekend! My next project is to piece my Bee a Brit Stingy blocks together.

Di x

Weekender progress

Over last weekend I started making the panels for a mini Weekender Bag, using a scaled down Amy Butler pattern.

I bravely/foolishly decided that the QAYG method was going to take too long and so I decided to steel my nerves and do free motion quilting on each panel.

The results of my decision are below.

Mini weekender quilting progress

The stitching is all over the place. Some stitches are too small, some too big and a very few are just fine.  I started quilting on the part of the main panel that would be covered by the main pocket. It was a very wise decision as despite my unpicking that part of the panel is not very good. I am really enjoying having a go at the FMQ but I also know that I have a lot to practice and learn. 

I have run out of piping cord and herringbone tape so this project has come to a bit of a halt until I get new supplies. 

Yesterday I made a zippy pouch for a friend whose birthday it is today. We are going out to be 'ladies who lunch' tomorrow so I will give it to her then. She likes Liberty and especially the colour blue. I like Liberty and linen so I combined the two to make this pouch.

Liberty pouch

Emboldened by my recent FM writing I added her name on the back and did a little hand stitching with a perle embroidery cotton to emphase the dresden plate on the front and the little square on the reverse side. 

Liberty and linen pouch

Well, that is my sewing exploits up to date.

Di x