Secrets

I have used these secret projects as excuses not to blog for such a long time now!! To be fair, there were a fair few of them and I really didn't want to spoil the surprises for the recipients!

The secrets were in 2 parts. Firstly there were birthday gifts, and then there were quilts. All heading off to the other side of the world to my very dear friend Heidi and her gorgeous family. They moved to Australia almost a year ago now, and I miss them all so very much.

I posted the first parcels at the end of July, and then the quilts followed 9 days later. Strangely, 2 of the quilts arrived first and then the other parcels all came in the next post!! So now there are no more secrets - Hooray!

So, the birthdays. First was the lovely Heidi herself, and then one of her daughters turned 6. For Heidi I used Jeni Baker's library tote pattern to make this bag. I found choosing fabric really hard (much more so than I normally do!) so in the end Molly picked, and did a great job too! I was going to make a pretty pencil case for Miss A, but then I remembered some pencil rolls I had seen and started planning. I had soooo much fun picking fabric scraps to match each pencil! I'm so pleased with how they both turned out!

And then the quilts. Heidi's youngest was born shortly after they made the move to Australia and I had always planned to make him a baby quilt, it was just a bit late! But then while I was finishing it up I decided that the girls needed quilts too! I chose quilt patterns that were quick and easy, and that meant I could use fabric I already had in the cupboard. I'm pretty pleased with the results :)

I woke up this morning to messages and photos from Heidi, all parcels received and loved! 

It was so lovely. I might have had a little cry. Heidi, if you're reading this, I love you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Another ripple baby blanket

Ah, I do love a ripple! And I barely need any excuse to crochet them, a lovely lady at work is expecting a baby boy in the Autumn so I picked up my hook, picked some boyish colours from my stylecraft stash and away I went!

I really enjoyed making this blanket.

I left the edges, I prefer my ripples that way.

And there it is. All ready to gift.

Now, what will be next on my hook?

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FoQ bag

Last year at the Festival of Quilts I bought a teeny-tiny Moda charm pack, just because it was small and cute! It sat in my sewing box for almost a year before I decided what to do with it! I made a tote bag - especially to carry all my FoQ goodies this year!

 I didn't really want to chop up the charms and lose the cuteness of the prints so I just sewed them as they were with some grey solid. Ooh, so pretty! Just look at all those lovely little squares!

 I used a few of the charms on the back too.

 And this amazing green to line the bag!

 And there it is! 

All ready for the Festival of Quilts on Thursday. 

And Friday!!!

I wonder how much fabric I can fit in there.....

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A finished quilt top

My Molly loves a bit of vintage fabric, just like me! We've been putting together a little collection, mostly from cherry-red-vintage. My part of the stash is pink and purple and blue, whereas Molly's is yellow, orange and brown. Not really what I expected for a 14 year old - but she loves them!

She had seen a vintage star quilt in a magazine and fell totally in love with it - fine by me, nice and easy!! We found a plain flat sheet that worked well for the background and cutting began. I cut my squares as big as I could from FQs, and once they had been made into HSTs they measured 18" - oops! Wasn't planning a quilt that big! That's what happens when you just go for it!

But never mind, it is beautiful, and Molly loves it. 

I have to admit I'm a little nervous about quilting this beast of a quilt, I haven't decided how to quilt it yet, maybe straight lines, maybe diagonal? Any ideas?

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Blooming Flower cushion

I have a finished project to share with you today! This was a total accident, I never meant to make this cushion at all! I had my small stash of cotton yarns out to make a brooch for a friend, (didn't take photos of that before I gifted it though!) and before I knew what was happening Lucy's blooming-flower-cushion tutorial was on my iPad and I was crocheting!! I quickly realised what a relaxing and addictive project it was though! It was perfect for evenings after school, when my brain was totally fried.

I loved every minute of this project - right up until about 3 days after it was finished. My yarn seems to have a bit of 'give' in it, and as soon as the cushion was being used it went a bit stretchy, a little saggy :( It doesn't fit snugly around the cushion pad like it did when I put it together, and I'm a bit sad about that. You can see in the picture below that it is a bit out of shape. 

But... I do still love it! The colours go well on the chair and it was just SO lovely to make I can forgive a little sagging!!

I'm off to sew now, be back soon!

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Checking in

Well hello there!!

I really have been truly awful at this blogging malarkey lately. Going back to work full time has meant that I just don't have the time that I used to. I've been really good at keeping on going with sewing and knitting and crochet and anything else I fancy, I find that I am an all round happier person if I give myself crafting time. But blogging... well, blogging has been the thing that suffered, especially in the last, crazy, part of the summer term. But now it is the holidays! I have had a week just catching up with myself, recovering, and now it's definitely time to get some of my projects on the blog!

There are still some secrets, hopefully they will all get in the post this week, and when they reach their destinations I will be able to share them.

So, here are a couple of things that I am working on at the moment...

Ripples!! I knew it wouldn't be long before I found a reason to make another of these blankets. A friend at work gave me the perfect excuse - she is expecting a baby boy! Oooh, I do love working on this blanket, I think it will be finished pretty soon!

And hexies! You may remember these, I've been working on them for a while - my little furniture make-over! I finished making flowers with the big pile of scraps I had sorted out and now I'm joining them all together. Still using that darned invisible thread - pretty sure I won't use it after this project, but it does make beautiful invisible stitches!

Quite a bit more joining to be done!

There are lots of other projects in various stages of creation round about the place, so expect to see more of me here over the next few weeks!!

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