red white and blue

Check out these very patriotic fabrics by Makower, not only perfect for the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics but absolutely perfect for my grandson Stephens' quilt! The fabric is 100% cotton and I bought another half metre of plain red cotton, again by Makower to complement the others.

Stephen is only seven and probably doesn't care whether his Nan makes him a quilt or not but having made one for the three girls it seemed churlish not to make one for him!

Can you believe it I am on the last bit of the cable and bobbles jacket I am knitting and  have run out of wool! I only have the left hand border to do and sewing up and it's finished. I ordered the wool online and had hoped to have it by the weekend but no such luck.Oh well it will be sewing this weekend, just have to remember to take the sewing machine and bits and bobs to Suffolk with me, that will be a challenge!

pink summer roses

It didn't take me long to decide which  dress pattern to use for this gorgeous vintage style fabric. It is 100% cotton with a lovely soft sheen.  The dusky  deep pink roses sit on a pale pink background ....mmm.... love it!

Patted myself on the back because I managed to fit the lining to the bodice no problem....must be getting the hang of it!

The fabric is so lovely and soft and easy to work with, but not so my first attempts at putting the zip in!  Guess what! I am such a numpty, I bought a zip and stitched it in. The zip was supposed to be concealed  and it certainly wasn't that! Not to be downhearted I took the zip out and put it in again, rubbish! the blooming thing was still not right! I wearily took it out again and abandoned it feeling very fed up.
 Eventually the the penny dropped! I needed a concealed zip! If you don't know you don't know!! (each day I learn something new!!!!) Et voila perfect!!

Its so pretty and drapes beautifully, come on summer I want to wear summer roses!

hearts for Rosie

At last I have finished Rosie's quilt, once I got started it didn't take too long! I have had the fabrics for ages it was just a case of cutting them into squares.

Once cut, they were sorted into rows and when I was happy with the arrangement it was simply a case of stitching the rows and then stitching them together.

I wanted to be a bit more adventuress in my quilt making , so I made four little hearts out of some pretty scraps of fabric and appliquéd them to the quilt. I decided to hand stitch  them with embroidery thread which gave the running stitch a nice chunky effect. I am really pleased with the result and think they look kinda cute! Next I attached the wadding, I used a 2oz weight, and the sheeting. The last two quilts I made I stitched the layers together using buttons, but this time I stitched in the 'ditch' which was much easier! The binding for the sides was made out of pretty sateen sheeting that I had left over from a previous project.

et voila! Rosie's quilt...made with love....I hope she likes it.

I  find lots of inspiration following fellow like minded bloggers and  look forward to each of their new contributions. I also like their links and can now find lots of lovely online shops which I couldn't find before although I was looking hard..honestly I was! I just love this vintage style dress fabric I bought  from Sew La La fabric online shop,

Just need to decide which dress pattern to use! Watch this space!

handbags at dawn!

well not quite! I was inspired by another blog to make a handbag. I downloaded a pattern which looked quite straight forward but never having made one before I did have one or two issues. No surprise there hey! Checking my stash of fabric I found a Laura Ashley fabric I recently picked up, reduced, for the exterior of the bag, and some pretty quilting fabric I had left over for the lining. Once I had everything needed I was on my way.

Partly constructed with iron on interfacing to the exterior to stiffen it and fusible fleece attached to the lining to give a little bit of bulk. ( I originally tried normal fleece and attached it to the bag with spray adhesive, but that failed miserably as the spray stained the fabric fortunately I had enough material to cut another piece )

Now looking like a bag with the handles pinned in place. You can't see it but the zip is in place and a pocket  made from the outside fabric has been fitted to the inside.

et voila...this last pic is a better one for the colour. The only thing I am disappointed with is that once I pulled the exterior through the opening in the lining it became creased and I had great difficulty in getting the creases out. I don't know whether it is because of the stiffening or the fabric. Something to bear in mind if I make another one!

silk lampshade covers

Managed to pick up some gorgeous silk fabric in the Laura Ashley sale. It is a pretty eau de nil colour and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it - make an attractive cover for a very boring lampshade and this would be perfect. I remembered I had seen instructions in one of my many craft books. It was very simple to make, basically enough fabric to go round the shade twice plus allowances for the gathered top and the hem and voila!

Chucky didn't like it ( a bit too fussy for a six  foot Northerner me thinks!) but I love it! The lamp is standing on a wooden pot stand that I found in a charity shop which was a bit tatty. I rubbed it down and put on a couple of undercoats and then two layers of Farrow and Ball emulsion green blue paint I had left over from some paintwork I did in the bathroom, and it looks great.