WOYWW 195

DAISY, DAISY, GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER DO,
I'M HALF CRAZY, OH FOR THE LOVE OF YOU.....!

One of our tuba players in my band has recently become a dad! So I've been 
making bunting....yay!
Pretty, girly colours and hot, pink, spotty letters make a luscious combination! I bonda-webbed the letters on and then went round the edge with a small zigzag stitch....

What else? Oh yes....Pinterest. Oh my giddy aunt, there's a source of lost hours.....so many beautiful items, too much time spent looking. But you do find some peachy tutorials and this one http://ayumills.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html
is no exception! Ooh, I thought, I'll have a go at making this, it's a variation on a tote-bag theme...





It takes very little fabric, a small piece of batting and Bob's your uncle!




I even discovered a new way of doing a handle with two fabrics that didn't involve 'turning the tube'. It is so easy and saves a lot of swearing! WHY didn't I know about it before? All is explained in the tutorial. Sigh! Anyway, it was quick and easy to make - here's the result:




Cute, huh? Made with my bargain £3 a metre fabric and some toning lining from my stash. Next time, I'll make the box construction of the bottom a bit wider so the bag/bucket/bin has a squarer base. Live and learn, LLJ.....




And the reason for making it? A little present to give to Fiona (Staring at the Sea/Angelfish) whom Julia and I met up with in Salisbury recently.
It's very blurred but I had just grabbed a random person to take the pic on my phone! We are in Franklin's, a fabric shop in Salisbury. We all bought a little something, had a lovely lunch and nattered away about Life, The Universe and Everything! That's what is so fab about meeting up in Real Life, you feel as if you've known the person forever. A fun morning indeed :)

Have a great week! xx

WOYWW 194

THEY UNFOLDED YOUR LIVES ONE BY ONE,
THEY LAID OUT YOUR PATCHWORK UNDER THE SUN,
AND PEOPLE GATHERED FOR MILES AROUND
TO WITNESS YOUR QUILT SPREAD OUT ON THE GROUND.

Hello dear bloggy friends...I'm back after a week off...I was in Wales, you see, visiting my dad and hadn't done any crafting whatsoever.

However, that situation has been rectified and over the weekend I started on my third quilt for Jozart's LillyBo group.  I'd started cutting out before my visit to The Land of my Fathers and had had a play with them seeing what order looked best...


Each square is 20cm and they took up quite a space on the floor! But after a bit of moving the odd square around, I settled on this configuration. Note I'm going for the easy option of large squares! I shall have to steel myself for anything smaller :)





This was the pile after the cutting out....tut tut......
Pinning on the border. I just had enough of the dark pink to make a sufficient length to go all the way around...talk about luck! By the way, I caught someone called Mandy Shaw on Create and Craft today..she's a patchwork expert and she only does bias binding on curved edges. She said that straight border pieces were fine. YAY!! And...she doesn't tack either...woohoo!

Anyway...the finished quilt:







There is a dark pink fleecy backing, but I forgot to take pics of that, doh....
I didn't have quite enough of the quilts fabrics to make a bag - they were all last pieces of those materials - so I dug out something else.




Similar-ish colours?? It has a lilac gingham lining, but I didn't take pics of that either! I'm rubbish this week, gotta get my act together for next time.....













We've had blue skies and sunshine for three days now..it doesn't half make me feel better! On a tramp around our village, I spotted these teasels. They were taller than me (5'7"!) and stood out really well against the azure sky...
Well, it pleased me anyway!!

Have a good week :)

WOYWW AND WOJ'sDT 192!!

IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD TIMES
I'LL BE ON YOUR SIDE FOR EVERMORE,
THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR..


The 2nd acronym is What's on Julia's Dining Table..and you know you've got a true mate when she answers your clarion call for help and a tutorial on inserting a zip!!!
it all started with this...a zip up bag that you keep rolls of wrapping paper in.
Inside said bag are velcro straps to keep the rolls in place and mesh pockets to keep tags, ribbons etc in.

Well, someone in band asked me if I could replicate her bag in fabric as the nylon was splitting...hmmmm....it has a zip that goes all the way around. The trouble was she'd already bought the fabric so how could I say no??? (I really do have M.U.G. tattooed on my forehead...)
The only trouble is, I haven't had any zip experience...in SEWING!!! Good grief, what are you lot like??  *grin*

So. who're you gonna call? Not Ghostbusters for sure.....Juuuuuullliaaaaaaaaa!
Now, herself is very modest about her sewing, but trust me, she is a very proficient seamstress. So I took myself and my sewing kit down for a morning's chat and instruction...








Setting up her machine - it has an angled needle, never seen that before!


She made me use pins!! Could have been worse, I suppose, she could have made me T.A.C.K...... *shivers* And the zip was inserted without too much ado and bloodshed! Between us we measured and worked out a rough order of construction....and then I took everything home to finish and procrastinated for a day :)
But I got to grips with it and a new bag was born....





My friend wanted me to reuse the webbing handles and zip..so I did!




Ta da! The internal straps and pockets are in there and the roll of paper was just to make sure it fitted before all the sewing commenced.... So there you go, not bad...now to do the second one my friend wanted. Aaaaaarrrrgggghhh. And after that, NEVER AGAIN....... :)

I had to go to Salisbury to get a long zip for t'second bag...it was a beautiful day. This is on the way up to Fisherton Street where there is a great sewing shop called Franklins.
It was a lovely day, DH, G3 and I wandered up the street and...the shop wasn't there...Oh No. But then I saw it had moved to the opposite side of the street and what a shop it is now...big, bright and breezy (no, that's just me, lol), masses of fabric with a new knitting/craft section upstairs which I didn't have time to explore with two men in tow. I feel a return trip coming on!! But these beauties were on the stairs....
Genius! I tell you, that penguin could have come home with me!

Have a great week.......

WOYWW 769

 WE'LL MEET AGAIN.... I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while - please don't worry, all is ok! - think I just need a...