Sew Together Bag (the first)

I am super lucky to already have a Sew Together Bag, made for me by my friend Anne (featuring cats, of course).  Anne has made lots of these bags, and has become sort of a guru.  A couple of weeks ago, I watched her walk another friend, Wendy, through the process for making one, and realised that it didn't seem so hard after all (you can see Wendy's bag here).

I went to Craftsy to buy the pattern, and found that I had already bought it!  So I definitely had to try my hand at making one myself. When I went to buy zips, I found myself immediately drawn to the peach zips, and knew I had to use some of my peachy fabrics in this bag.

The good thing about the Sew Together Bag is that lots have been made already, so you can do a lot of google or instagram stalking to see which ones you like, and the different things that people have done that work for you.

I didn't use the maximum possible number of different fabrics for this bag, because I like the slightly more controlled look that fewer fabrics give. The interior fabrics are a mix of Lizzy House, Carolyn Friedlander, Heather Ross, Umbrella Prints and Sarah Watts prints, and the exterior is Carolyn Friedlander (binding and side panel) and Jay McCarroll (the main fabric).

I worked from both the pattern instructions (which are rather lacking in pictures), and the excellent Quilt Barn sew-along.  My tips for this pattern are to go slow, step by step, be prepared to change your thread colour lots (and have different colours in the top thread and the bobbin as required), and cut a second bag at the same time you cut your first (because it's that addictive).  It's definitely fiddly, but satisfyingly so!

Happy Valentine's Day

This cartoon from the wonderful xkcd continues to reflect my thoughts about Valentine's Day in the context of romantic relationships.

However, this year I'm feeling a bit less grinchy and am taking part in a little swap with my local sewing friends.  This is my contribution - a very simple hand stitched stuffed heart.  I thought about making a jar of little stuffed hammers but I didn't think anyone else would get it...

Enjoy the day!

Hexy Quilted Ottoman

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a class, organised through the Capital Quilters Guild, with Penny and Fenella from Stitch Playroom in Christchurch.  We were making this very cool hexagon ottoman, which is designed by Penny and which they sell as a pattern in their shop.

The first step was learning to machine piece hexagons - I've watched the videos and understood conceptually how to do this, but had never mustered up the guts to actually give it a go.  Omg - it's really not difficult, and now I really want to make a hexagon quilt.  I was also very pleased to be able to use some of the heavier weight fabrics that have been hanging around in my stash for a while.

By the way, please excuse the slightly scrunched seams where the top attaches to the sides of the ottoman.  This is not a design flaw, but simply that I didn't follow the instructions to press these seams after sewing because I was TOO EXCITED and had to fill the ottoman IMMEDIATELY!

This is the bottom of the ottoman, made using some upholstery weight fabric offcuts (kindly donated by my friend Anne's mother from her interior decorating business).  It was great to learn how to put in a proper covered zip from someone who really knew what they were doing.  Even though the fabric is super thick and a bit tricky to work with, I think my zip looks pretty good!  By the way, I have used both the right side and the wrong side of the upholstery fabric (partly, to be honest, because I couldn't really figure out which was which, but mostly because I think they both look good), and I love the effect. [EDIT - I've been informed that side with white background and beige leaves is technically the right side of this fabric.]

The sides are made using an Anna Maria Horner linen that I absolutely love.  Have I mentioned before that I love yellow?  This mustardy hue is a particular favourite.  I think this shot also gives a good idea of the scale of the ottoman - it definitely makes a comfy foot rest.  It's stuffed with polystyrene beads (like you'd fill a bean bag with) so it's sturdy enough to sit on, but still light.  Yes, getting them into the lining bag did involve much shrieking and hilarity.  I'm going to share Penny's advice on this - it is a two person job, and if you put the ottoman in the bath to fill it, (most of) the spilled beans will be contained and easily vacuumed up.

Have you made any home dec items lately?

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

Also, this is the first of my third quarter goals that I've finished - yay!  I'll be linking up with Leanne at she can quilt at the end of September as part of the 2013 Finish Along.



The biggest needle book in the world

A while ago, I participated in the Scrappy Swap, run by Kat (Diary of a Flutter.Kat), with able assistance from Karen (Sew Peachey).  It was my first swap, and a really great one to start with.  The idea was to swap a FQ of scraps, a small handmade item and a small local item. 

My swap partner said her favourite colour was orange, so this was my initial fabric pull for the small handmade item:

I decided that the third print from the left had a bit much white in it to give the kind of rainbow effect that I wanted, so I used it as the lining of the needle book I made.

Umm, I'm not sure if you can tell from the scale of my embroidery scissors on the needle book, but it is the biggest needle book in the world.  Like 6 inches square.  That's what happens when you make things up as you go along, people.  Its also pretty floppy, because I only interfaced the exterior and not the lining.  On the plus side, you can fit a lot of stuff in the middle of it.  I know, I stuffed all my scraps and another FQ of fabric (my local item) into it before sending!

But, also this happens.  Improv piecing.  Sort of - the lines were all straight and ruled and I had an idea of where I was going with it.  Comments from my swap partner lead me to orange scraps and Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in black - it wasn't what I initially intended, but it worked so well!  I put another border of the same background fabric around this before it was finished, so the proportions worked a bit better.

I'm sorry this is such a crummy picture.  It was taken at night, with my phone, and then instagrammed.  I did take pictures of the exterior in daylight at the same time as I took the photo of the lining inside, but I don't have them any more.  I'm quite gutted, because I was pretty pleased with how this turned out (even with its enormousness and other imperfections), and wanted to show it off.

And what did I get in return?  Well, the person I made for also made for me.  Bree (My Crafty Crap) made me this super lovely needle book with teeny tiny EPP hexagons, and yellow, and hand stitching, and gnomes!  I love it, and I'm also looking forward to not losing all my needles anymore.

Bree also sent me some super lovely scraps, a cute little card case and a keyring from her home state (which was snapped up by an American-sports-mad guy).

All in all, this was a great experience, and I look forward to my next swap.  Have you had any swapping experiences lately, and how did they go?

Blogtoberfest - the last day

Phew!  We have reached the end of October, and I am very happy that I managed to meet my goal of posting every day for the month of October.  In fact, this post will be #36 for October - more than double the number of posts I had done previously!

I'm glad I decided to participate in this exercise - I found having a set goal (and an end in sight) really helpful.  I don't plan to continue posting every day.  I have, however, decided to set myself a few goals for the blog for the next few months:

• I would like to blog three times a week - I am thinking Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  If I have more to say, I will certainly blog more often, but otherwise, I think three days a week is manageable.

• I want to write a couple of tutorials.  One, a skills tutorial, for something I have done a lot of times and think maybe I have some tips that would be useful to others.  I know that seeing other bloggers' methods for doing things has helped me get started on projects I was otherwise intimidated by.  The other, a tutorial on how to make something I have designed myself, that doesn't require any special tools (other than the usual rotary cutter, mat, and straight ruler), and that uses fabric efficiently.  Yeah, gotta design that thing first...

• I have enjoyed getting to know more people out there in the quilt blogging world.  Thanks so much to everyone who has left me a comment - some of you feel like friends already (I think you know who you are).  I want to keep up with that, so will be looking to participate in more swaps, quilt-alongs, etc.  I am currently participating in the Scrappy Swap and am enjoying how active and positive the group is.

This is my selection of fabric for the handmade item for the Scrappy Swap.  I have started sewing, but I can't show what I have made yet, as it would totally give my partner away at this point.

Does anyone else set goals for their blog?  If you are happy to share, I would love to hear them.