needlepunch pouch

Before i start, I'd like to say thank you for the comments on my last post. I had some messages of support which were lovely to read. It real does help to know people understand and/or care.  So thank you.

I made a little needle punch / punch needle picture ages and ages ago... let me have a look.  Oh!  February 2013.  So three years ago.  My WIPs just get older by the day!  Anyway, I pulled it off one of my many WIP piles and made it into a little pouch.

I don't know what the fabric is that I used, but I wanted something that went with one of the threads used on the main piece.

That unsightly buldge on the back is one of my needle punches, see...

I lined it with an old Petit Ecole print that I thought matched the colour scheme.  

I've made loads of pouches in my time and I STILL can't get the zip ends neat.  I don't know how other sewers do it.

Wooooo weeeee woooo

That was the Dr Who theme tune... did you get it?  Mr CA had a birthday at the end of May.  He's very hard to buy for and his wishlist is very uninspiring.  I needed a plan.  5 minutes on t'internet and 2 tickets were booked for the Dr Who Experience along with a hotel in Cardiff.  Now I wanted to add some homemadeness to the mix.  The next day (after I bought the tickets, not the day after his birthday, that would have been pointless) was the Guild of Modern Quilters of the East Midlands meeting, conveniently held at Stitchcraft... a quilt shop.  

I took the free pattern for a Tardis very generously shared by Trillium, and off I went.  Fabric bought, sewing machine out, massive mess around me, a Tardis was born.

It's paper pieced, though I think that's obvious!  If I'd only thought about it earlier, I could have done some embroidery on it too.  Want to see the back?

No?  Ah well.  I made it up into a zipped pouch.  Quite a large one as the block is 10".

Some stash fabric for the back...

Some more stash fabric for the lining...

One fat quarter wasn't enough for the lining, so I used 2.

The birthday arrived. The pouch was handed over.  Know what he said?  "What is it?"  Well Mr CA, quite clearly it's a Tardis.  "Yes, I know, but what is it?"  

Birthday present FAIL.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, marks the last time I will ever make anything for him.  Ever. 

I'm sure I used to find sewing fun...

This is #49 lunch bag on the gargantuan list.  Just wanted to get that in before I forget!

I've been meaning to make myself a lunch bag for ages.  I've been using a shop-bought one that is fine, but has gone quite manky and has a persistent, lingering smell that I can't seem to get rid of - and yes, I do clean it out regularly!  I couldn't make just any old bag as I need to use ice blocks from the freezer with it.  It gets pretty warm in our office and there's not much worse than a warm yogurt for your mid-afternoon snack!

Then I came across this tutorial by Clover and Violet and I was away.  Now, this item was on my list under "projects I have supplies for".  I'm not entirely sure what I meant by this, unless it was because I had some of the heat-keeping-in wadding stuff.  I can't remember what it's called!  Supplies were needed and I found myself shopping... I needed some Lamifix (which I bought from e-bay) and somehow or other, I found myself at Hulu Crafts buying this charm pack of Noteworthy and two FQs from the same line!

This is where not having an LQS and not seeing fabrics in the flesh proves a problem.  Yes, the two FQs are from the same line so they do co-ordinate, but most of the fabrics have the orange or green in them...

I started with some simple patchwork - a high percentage of those points meet... though not all of them!  Then it was time to FMQ so out came the curved basting pins.  What a difference they make!  Why did I get by with ordinary safety pins before??  Having never really FMQ'd before, I dug out some scrap fabric and added some of the heat-keeping-in wadding (that's such a catchy name for it- if another supplier starts making it and wants to use that name, I'd be happy to sell it).

It wasn't until afterwards that I remembered I was saving that fabric to make Ange the pair of HK knickers she'd begged me for!  Sorry Ange...

The trial was successful, so I moved onto the real thing.  I LOVE it!  It was such good fun!  I do need to remember to stop for a pause with the needle down though - see that little stitch/line type thing above, in the middle?

I just did a random design - is this called meandering?  It's a lot tighter towards the end than the beginning, but I am SO chuffed with it.  (Speaking of being chuffed - my horse came in second on the Grand National.  I don't actually own the horse but I did pick him on the sweepstakes at work so he's earned me about a fiver!  Oh and yes, I'm actually writing this post "live".  The rest of the week's will be scheduled though, so don't hate me!).

Here it is from the back - no backing fabric as the bag will be lined.

Next came fusing the Lamifix to the lining fabric.  What a mess!  It looks dreadful!  I'd ironed the fabric, but the Lamifix had been folded for posting to me and obviously I couldn't iron the creases out.  I'd think twice before using this stuff again, but for a lunch bag lining, it doesn't seem to matter so much.

And here's the finished bag.  I completely forgot to put interfacing in the handles, so they're quite weak but I don't tend to have bricks or lumps of concrete for lunch, so they should hold up.

I also made the handles longer than the tutorial said so I can put it on my shoulder if necessary.

See the horrendous, creased lining??  Edited to add:  I do know that you sew a lining slightly smaller than the bag, and I have done. It's horrendous and creased due to the lamifix (see above).

Zip ends = disaster.  Absolute disaster.  There were just so many layers.

But, it's done.  So where does the title come in?  I hated every single minute of sewing this damn thing, after the FMQing.  I have no idea WHY, nothing in particular went wrong, I was just hating it.  I think that's part of the reason I'm staying away from my machine this weekend - though I may be tempted to FMQ my Skill Builder blocks... finally!

Edited to add: I do like the lunch bag, I like the finished product, I didn't enjoy sewing it.

This is my first time doing free motion quilting (other than on a coaster!) so I'm linking up to Fiona's New to Me challenge.

a pink girly post

You may be rather surprised to see the pink Hello Kitty fabric in the pictures below.  Let me assure you that I had to buy it specially for a request I had!

I had an email from a teacher at a local school who'd found my blog post on Wiggly Bags.  She told me that one of her pupils, a 5-year old girl, was in need of a Wiggly Bag and loved pink and Hello Kitty, she asked if I could help.  Of course I would.

I made three of the wiggly bags as I assume they will need washing.  I used some satin ribbon and some grossgrain ribbon from my sash.

I then made a matching zipper pouch to put them in, of course she can use it for whatever she likes.

I even did a reasonable job on the ends of the zipper!  I lined it with a cute strawberry print I'd picked up at Harrogate.

It broke my heart making these.  I really wish there was no need for me to make them but as long as there is a need, I'll carry on.  That reminds me, I must get in touch with the local hospital to see if they have a need for them.

In pressing need

Or rather in need of pressing.  Ladies, please forgive the unironed pouches in this post, I have sinced ironed them!

Once again it's a posts about things I made for the craft fair, hope you're not too bored of that yet!

Yes, you are right.  That is clearly not a pouch.  This was the initial inspiration behind the pouch.  The fabrics for these dummy holders came from the Knitting and Stitch show, I pretty much cut into them as soon as I got home - unheard of for me!

They have a ribbon on one end to tie through the dummy (pacifier) handle, and a clip the other end to attach to the buggy or their clothes.  I managed to sell one of these at the craft fair.  Yes, you read that right, just the one!

That's despite having made quite a few.

Mr CA even found me a dummy with a bunny on it for display purposes!  I think the woman that bought it thought she was getting the dummy... I don't think so love, not for £3!

So how do the pouches fit into this?  I thought they'd be a good idea for storing a spare dummy, so I made some to match.

The little girl fabric on the outside matches one of the holders, and the floral lining matches another.  I did sell this pouch, but not with the dummy keepers!

As you can see, they're quite small at just 4" tall.  I think the zips were 4 or 5".

Lined with a DS print that matches one of the colours on the outside.

I had to do one with the Union Flag fabric and thought it would be popular.  It wasn't.

The lining in this one is lush.  It's from the FQ bundle of La Femme that I won on the Zakka Style Sew Along.  This fabric feels like linen, I assume it's a linen/cotton blend but didn't think to read the label.  Anyway, it's gorgeous.

One for the girls, also lined with an FQ from the La Femme stack.

Having made diddy little pouches, I moved on to make larger pouches.  I didn't follow a pattern for any of these, I just winged it, or should that be wung it?

Again, lined with the same La Femme print.

I had 2 suitable 7" zips - one in red and one with blue so thought that 2 pouches would be in order.  That's until I did this:

See that little knob type thing on the square bit of the zip?  That's a hole made by my needle!   The needle did not break.  I was amazed.  I changed it anyway but scrapped the pouch.

Instead, the big Union Flag pouch was joined by a big Hefalump pouch.  I say big, but it's about 8" across so it's hardly massive.

It did look better when it was ironed, promise.  Speaking of ironing.  Now all the craft fair excitement is over, I decided I'd better do some housework (clearly Mr CA was not going to step in).  I started the ironing last night.  It's basically our entire wardrobes.  It's going to take a LONG time... 

wide open pouch

Morning ladies.  I'm not at work today as I feel like death warmed up, there's been a bit of a bug going round at work and I think it's my turn.  I always feel really guilty when I take a day off work sick so I'll probably end up going back before I'm better...

Last weekend I went to a wedding in Bristol.  My brother had ordered a new sofa and chair and wanted throws to protect them from the baby so I had a deadline of last weekend to get them made and take them down.  I ordered 8m of black cotton drill.  It was horrible, it felt like polyester even though it was labelled as 100% cotton...

I didn't take photos of them made as they're just great big squares with a double folded hem.  They were a nightmare to maneuver through the machine.  The fabric was so slippery and they were so heavy.  When I'd finished, I was so relieved I treated myself to some colour.

This is Noodle-Head's wide open zipper pouch.  Well actually, it's not Noodle-heads, it's mine, but it was her pattern.

I chose some cheerful pink fabric.  The lining is Amy Butler Soul Blossoms, I have no idea what the other two are, they were just in my stash.  Luckily I had a zip of the right size in pink!

I made the largest size as this is actually a prototype.  I need to make myself a new insulated lunch box for work.  I take a plastic tub or a can of soup, a can of Diet Coke, yogurt and some fruit so it needed to be reasonable large.  Oh, and it has to hold ice blocks.  This one wasn't made with insulating wadding as it was just a trial piece and will do as a Christmas present!  So did I make the lunch box... erm... no!

I hate this method of doing zipper ends as it always looks so untidy, but I can't find an alternative way of doing it.  Anyone got any ideas?

Right, I'm off to lie down before I fall down.  Oh, the self-pity is rife today!