An order!! And I've been naughty...

I got a query through my Folksy shop last week.  A lovely customer had seen the peach coasters I have in there and asked if I did blue.  I have some aqua coasters, but she wanted a darker blue.  I took photos of my blue scraps and she chose the 8 prints she wanted.  I went straight upstairs and go sewing!

My sewing machine played up half way through the quilting, suddenly deciding I wasn't happy with the tension I'd chosen and making the stitches incredibly loose.  Choice words were said and the beast was manipulated back into submission.

I wanted to add a little extra, so I whipped up a lavendar heart using some of the same fabrics.

She's left me a message to say she got the coasters and is very happy with them.  I was so nervous waiting for her feedback!  I know it's crazy to be excited about my 3rd sale, some people have more than that in an hour, but I'm so chuffed!

I've also been doing some reverse-selling (that's buying by the way!).  I've been doing daily surveys about my television viewing.  Each time you do one, you get entered in a drawer and all of a sudden I won 3 which translated into Amazon vouchers.  Well, I was on Amazon immediately!  This is what I got:

         

About 3 minutes after I placed my order, I remembered I wanted a Hardanger book.  They are all quite expensive, so when I saw this book on an auction...

I decided to give it a go.  I've never auctioned before, I always go for the Buy It Now option as I'm very impatient and usually when I shop, I know what I want and I want it now!  This time my more relaxed attitude paid off.  I won the auction and only paid a couple of quid.  I'm now bidding on a Bliss FQ set... ooops, what have I started!

With the Amazon order, I also had to get the novel on the left below, The Help.  It's been all over Blogland, people saying it's amazing and you know what?  It is.  I love it.  I haven't finished it yet, but I find it hard to put down.

  

The book on the right was a giveaway win courtesy of the magazine Handmade Living, such a lovely surprise!

I'm writing this post on Thursday, it's 5:20 and I should be putting millions of boring numbers into a boring spreadsheet but I clearly can't be arsed.  Instead, I'm having a quick blog trawl, then I'm off home to read the latest issue of Cross Stitcher which I've been holding off on buying as I didn't know which issue my subscription started with and it only occured to me to check yesterday!

Oh, in other news.  Some cheeky bugger has stolen our compost bin.  It's a council one and we put it out weekly with the wheelie bin - it's for food waste only.  Our wheelie bins are always being stolen.  I emailed the council and asked for a replacement and they told me I had to pay £10 unless I'm on benefits (which I'm not)!  Cheeky sods!  How can they charge me for something someone has stolen?  And if I pay to replace it, who says they wont steal it again.  And no, I'm not keeping my dustbins in the house out of the way of thieves!  Damn council, profiting from my misery.  Sorry environment, from now on, my food scraps will be landfill.

Craft Book Challenge - Quilt Block

First of all, I was very pleased to hear that Australians and New Zealanders all say bloody hell!  Excellent.  OK, so my dad's second favourite method of cursing is "sodding hell".  Do you all say that too?  Anyway, on with the blog post...

 

I realised I hadn't made something from one of my craft books for the Craft Book Challenge last month, and July is running out so I thought I'd better get on it!  I decided I wanted to make a little coaster for my computer desk so chose a quilt block from 501 Quilt blocks - Better Homes and Gardens.  Is it cheating to just do a quilt block for the CBC?

As the computer desk is in the dining room, the fabric had to be Lily and Will, it's actually blue, I don't know why it looks pink in the photo below.

I had to lay all the pieces out as I went along to make sure I cut the right fabrics.  The book doesn't have instructions at all so this was a bit of a challenge, especially as it involved HSTs, quarter block triangles (which I'd never done!) and a bit of maths as the blocks in the book are bigger than I wanted. 

I have no idea if this is the right way to do a quarter square triangle, but it had the desired effect!  I made a HST, then put my acrylic ruler on the 1/4 inch mark from corner to corner and cut it.  This meant I could sew a 1/4 inch seam and it would be in the right place.  It seemed to work.

And here's the final block!  I can't remember what it's called... I'm really chuffed with it despite a couple of not-quite-meeting points.

See, they don't quite match but I think it looks pretty good anyway.

I sewed it right sides together with a piece of the spotty fabric.  I didn't use wadding this time, I used fusible fleece on each piece so there was no shifting when I turned it right sides out.  I sewed around the edge with invisible thread, then attempted to stitch in the ditch.  The thread kept snapping so I gave up.  Shouldn't I have used invisible thread in my machine?  Is there another way to achieve "invisible" quilting?

And here's the back.  You can see where I did the quilting!  It will always be this side down though so I don't suppose it matters.

I'd love to use this pattern for my placemats, but I think I'd have to use 6 blocks laid out in 2 rows and that might be a bit much for four placemats!

Coasters and placemats

Good morning.

I'm afraid this is likely to be a bit of a boring post as it's basically about 5 sets of coasters and a set of placemats.  Feel free to doze a bit as you scroll through at high speed.

I recently tried to make some coasters from Quick and Easy Patchwork Gifts.  I blogged about how I'd had trouble with the pattern and didn't think it was done in the best way.  Lots of you agreed.  I decided to make more coasters, but to do them my own way.

 

I cut 40 5inch squares of fabric from some layer cakes I had, then I cut 20 4.75 inch squares of wadding.  I put the fabrics right sides together, put the wadding on the back and sewed them up leaving a turning gap on one side.  after clipping the corners, they turned beautiful, no messy seam like before. 

I then quilted them using my wonderful walking foot.  I really do enjoy this process, despite having to unpick 3 of them as I hadn't noticed it was messy on the back from skipped stitches - time for a new needle apparently!

I didn't do matching fabrics, all four the same on each side, I mixed and matched for a more interesting effect.

I love these blue ones, I love those birds.  I think it's Moda Freebird?

And these pink ones are Moda Boutique. 

One thing I noticed was that the coasters were very wrinkled after I'd turned them right side out.  I think I might have left too small of a gap.  On some of them, you couldn't tell they were wrinkled after I'd quilted them, but on others I think you can see the wrinkles but I can't iron them, can I?  Will it flatted the wadding?

Picture of a wrinkly coaster under my walking foot above, and the whole stack below.

Check me out being all artistic!!

Mum had requested more placemats. She likes them large (12 x 18 inches) and plain, just one fabric on the front, one on the back and a double row of top stitching.

I had made a note of the fabrics she chose, but can't find it.  I think the brown one is Moda whimsy.  Can't remember what the other one is at all!

This time I did contrasting top stitching instead of matching.  I really should get some top stitching thread for this, but I didn't know it existed until Nancy told me about it!

I think I'm going to take a break from placemats and coasters for a while, though I do need to do some placemats for a friend who's requested them - they'll be pieced though and I might even experiment with FMQ.  Does anyone know if I should use my darning/free motion foot or my walking foot for FMQ?

Countdown to Christmas - April

This is my roundup post to show what I've achieved in Allie's Christmas Through The Year Challenge.  Not that much.  Certainly not one of my better months.

First, there was the playmat for my cousin:

Then the coasters:

And, oh, that's it.  Oh dear, only 2 this month.  That brings my total to 19 but so many of them are little presents.  I've got to get on this but not sure May will be much better as I have loads to do in May!

Success, and failure... (and a dirty little secret)

What do you want to start with?  Failure?  Failure it is!

So, I had some projects cut out and ready to sew.  The first was a fleece baby hat from Scandinavian Stitches.  I was very excited about this project.  I'd bought a fleece blanket from Ikea for the princely sum of £1 a while ago and I'd hacked it up according to the pattern.  I did the little embroideries for the labels and stitched them on.  Then I sewed it up.  Yuck.  It was horrible to sew.  Then I had to sew the zig zag across the seams.  Nightmare.  The fleece wouldn't feed regularly and getting into the top bit was hard. 

I really could have done with using my walking foot but I don't think I can zig zag with it.  I then turned the big hem and botched that too. 

I'm going to unpick the embroidered patches and start again.  Just not now!

Oh no!  My dirty secret is out - should have moved that ashtray!  Just a note of warning - I don't take kindly to people telling me I shouldn't smoke and that it's bad for me etc.  I do know. 
Failure number two comes courtesy of Tone Finnegar's Sew Pretty Homestyle.  I decided to make the slippers from the only piece of wool felt I have and to use some Tanya Wheelan spotty fabric which went perfectly with the felt.  So I cut and I pinned and I sewed.  Three problems.  First I'd missed half of the sole when I sewed so it was flapping open (forgot to take a picture), second, at no point does she indicate a seam allowance - not helpful when you've got ready made pattern pieces.  Thirdly, it was supposed to go up to a European foot size of 41.  I'm a 38.  I could barely squeeze it on!  So, I've unpicked.  Another one for the WIP pile...

So a success?  Well there have been 2 but I only have photos of one. 

I made some coasters from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.  OK, so coasters are easy but this is the first time I've quilted.  I made four coasters using bits of layercakes.  I didn't follow the instructions in that I used a different front and back.  I used four different patterns and each pairing is different.

I don't think the instructions told me the best way to do it and I'll be doing it differently in future.  I had to sew up 3 sides, then put the wadding in and try to catch the whole 5 inch seam in my first round of quilting.  Not easy.

The quilting went well and this is my LANT for the month.  It's a simple spiral quilting.  I haven't yet worked in the ends of the threads as I wanted to get photos before I lost the light so I'll do that tonight.  I've got plans to try out other quilting patterns on these little babies!

The second success was the dress I altered for my friend.  She'd picked it up at a charity shop and it definitely wasn't a size 12 as stated so I sewed a new seam either side for her.  It was a simple straight sided dress so I sewed in a few curves and she looks knockout in it!  I really should have taken photos...

Cathy's Christmas Countdown - October results

Good Monday everyone,

This weekend wasn't as productive as I would have liked it to have been, however I have completed a new project - more at the bottom of the post.  Today is the day to post my month's results for Cathy's Christmas Countdown.  I had been aiming for 15 presents this month, but I've not quite made it - I've made 12.  Some are birthday presents but with my family having birthdays in November/December, I lump them all into the same bucket!

I've posted about all but one of these gifts before so if you want to know more, see previous posts, but here they are in all their "glory":

1-5. 5 sets of 2 appliquéd lavender hearts

There are 6 sets shown on the picture (wow, check out those maths skills!) but 2 of them were my one measly gift completed in September.

6-7. Two embroidered bookmarks:

(the one on the left is actually green and that carpet is blue - I didn't change any of the settings after taking the picture above...?  I don't think I'll ever be a photographer!)

8. Patchwork pig:

(This is the first item from my Craft Book Challenge)

9. Shoulder bag:

(This is the second item from my Craft Book Challenge)

10: Set of 4 coasters:

11: Sewing machine cover

12: Drawstring bag:

I made this yesterday - I'd been working on the Peter Rabbit Cross Stitch (Item 3 of my Craft Book Challenge) and decided to mount it on a little bag (it's about 30cm x 30cm / 12inch x 12inch).  It's the first time I've attempted anything like this and I am really happy with it.  I cut an aperture in the pink gingham fabric and used a fancy top stitch (the choice is limited on my mum's machine, but I do like this one).  It's also lined in pink cotton:

Which kind of shows through the white cotton and makes a very pale pink effect.

So there we have it!  Go over to Cathy's blog and see what everyone else has been up to.

Tonight is my first Sew Something class at the Husqvarna shop, I'm really excited.  We work on our own projects, but there is a teacher to help us out - I want to attempt a zip!

How can you mess up a simple coaster?? Read on and I'll show you!

My birthday is coming up and my mum and dad have promised me a sewing machine.  I'd decided (after reading the comments my lovely readers sent me) to get a Husqvarna.  Ten minutes walk down the road from my house is a Husqvarna shop.  I'd never been in as I'd never wanted to buy a sewing machine.  Well!  I had been missing out, it was packed full of gorgeous fabrics including those from the likes of Tilda!  I chose the machine I wanted (an Emerald 116, or, if it's too much with me going half price, then an E20), then I set myself loose on the fabrics!!  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of my stash, but I bought a handful of fat quarters, then a metre of the most beautiful, double-width linen with "Coffee" on it (see below) and another with little animals printed on it. 

As soon as I saw the coffee fabric, I knew I'd make coasters and placemats for my brother for Christmas as this fabric is right up his street, and, after all, how hard can it be to make a coaster?  Well, I overestimated myself!!

Attempt number one:

And a close up of the awful stitching on the wonky binding:

Clearly I can't do bias binding!!  Ladies, any tips on where I went wrong??  Other than picking it up and thinking I could sew it I mean!

Attempt number two:

Hum, also somewhat wonky!  I'd used a layer of batting/wadding inside to make it thicker, but I had to iron it as the fabric was all creased after I'd finished poking and prodding it, and it flattened the wadding completely!  In the end I chose interfacing and got it right... not perfect by any means, but OK for a first third attempt.

Ta da:

A close up of one of the designs and (hang on though, I have to press publish after each photo then come back into it, what's happened to Blogger??)...

A view of all four coasters and...

A view of the set showing the back.  Comments and suggestions would be very very welcome before I try the placemats ladies!

I didn't actually do much at the weekend but I did get some more of the basket weave scarf knitted:

It's now 54cm (21 inches approx) long!  I've set myself a challenge to knit at least 20 rows per night in order to get it done soon so I can knit something a bit lot more interesting.  The colour of the photo still isn't right, it's now orange!

And finally in today's little show and tell, I started embroidering bookmarks last night.  I'm going to make a couple for each reader in my life (shockingly few people!), with a personalised embroidery on the front and back it with a lovely piece of Moda fabric from the layer cakes I splashed out on and have done nothing with but sat and admired them ever since!

This one is for my dad, he likes his real ale, the design is from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching, The Motif Collection, and would have been straightforward had the bulb on my lightbox not blown...  I should point out that only the beer glass is Aimee's design, the random little mess between the glasses is all my own work.  It's still to be stitched to it's backing of course!  That's probably be a disaster much like the coaster disaster...

Sorry, once again the photo is rubbish, I'm crap at taking pictures and I don't have the patience for it. 

I don't know when I'll next have something to show you as I have to get to work with a piece of pink Lycra and an hourglass shaped stool for one of the shops the company my husband owns is fitting out... don't ask!