Mandala Madness

I have been making the Mandala Madness by Helen Shrimpton since October 15th 2017, though not continuously :) It is such a lovely pattern and I am learning so much.
I am a third of the way in and absolutely loving it and there is a Facebook page for Helen's Hookaholics showing all manner of lovely Mandalas

Back to blogging

It has been a while since I have blogged, but have decided to start up again, though in a slightly different format.
I will include details about the group get together's I run, show what people have made and generally keep people up to date with when the next one is on.

That next date is 4th March from 9am - til 6pm, there is a £20 fee for the day, which includes a fabulous lunch from the local Turkish restaurant, copious amounts of tea and coffee and some good company.
Then there is another booked on the 18th March.
If you need help with something, I'm hoping to be able to help, though I'm self taught, if I don't know, I can probably find out.

I do need to know if you plan on attending, so I can make sure I have enough tables for everyone.

This is what I'm working on at the moment - not sewing I know, but still crafting and I needed a sitting down not doing much project, so this was it.

#ukminiswap

Happy new year to everyone!

I've signed up to the #ukminiswap this year, first time and I'm quite excited about it.

I've made a couple of collages of what I like.

#ukminiswap

#ukminiswap

While perusing the web for ideas, I have come to the conclusion that my tastes are all over the place, what I used to love, I still do, but I've added so much more to my taste, I use colours I never thought and it's rubbing off in what I wear as well.

If any of the photo's above belong to you, my apologies for not making a note of who you are to give you credit, but just so you know, you're stuff is great and I hope you don't mind me showing it off on here.

Purse tutorial

Well I have finally written my first tutorial and I have a lot more respect for others that have done it, it takes time and effort.

Purse / Wallet

Cut as follows – all measurements in inches.

1 piece 14 ½ x 10”, this will be the outside piece

1 piece 13 ½ x 9, this will be the inside piece

1 piece of wadding 14 ½ x 10

Sandwich the pieces and quilt – any sort of quilting is fine, so long as it’s heavy and close together. I did a grid ¼” apart. If you chose to do a grid, make sure you alternate the ends that you sew from, unless you use a walking foot, which I understand stops the fabric from moving, but I’ve yet to work out how mine works!

Cut to the smaller piece, fold into three and iron.

Next are the card pockets, cut 8 pieces 4” x 5”, fold right sides together and with the raw edges at the top, sew along the left side. One of the eight you will need to sew along the long raw edge, this will be the bottom pouch. When you’ve done all eight, fold out and iron. Place these along the right hand side, evenly spaced, the sewn edge will be on the left and the raw edges on the right and bottom.

You will then need to sew the bottom of each of them, starting from the top one, keep checking the left edge to make sure they line up, once that is done, sew down the left edge, you then need to put a card in the top pocket to find your right hand sewing line, you want them snug so they don’t fall out.

Receipt pocket.

Cut a piece 8 ¾ x 9 fold right sides together along the 9” edge, sew along both sides and most of the top, leaving a gap to turn through, clip the corners and turn through, fold in the opening and iron, lay on to the middle section to check the measurements, if it fits to about a ½ inch to the edges it’s perfect. You then need to sew the Velcro fastenings on, when the pouch top is layed on, mark the middle of both pieces and sew the Velcro on both sides, I would have the Velcro opening on the left hand side, once both pieces sewn on, lay the top part on and sew along the three sides with no Velcro.

Zippered purse.

This is a bit of a fiddly bit.

Firstly put ends on your zip.

Having the extra bits seems to help at the end.

Next cut 2 pieces 8 ½ x 9”, with wrong sides together, fold in half along the 9” side and iron. Either end of the fold, fold in both pieces ½”

Now turn the pieces right sides together and sew down the edges not folded in, open out and press.
No you need to sew it to the back piece in between the receipt pocket and card holder part. Just secure with a straight line down the middle.
Now to insert the zip, tuck into one side and sew near to the edge. Now the tricky part, you need to put the other side of the zip into the other end, I ended up sewing the middle bit, then the ends. I think I ended up using all my fingers so hold it in place, as well as pins.

Then sew up either sides.

For the flap you can either shape it or leave it square, as I’ve done in this one. Then you need to bind it, I found doing a separate binding on the edge of the card holder allows you to do a large piece of binding to cover the raw edges of the card holder, I used an 1 ½” and then an 1 ¼” for the rest of the binding.

I sewed a button hole in the flap and then sewed a button on the outside of the credit card piece, it can be a bit tricky as you have to be opening the credit card bits and sewing through that.

I'd love to see any that are made, pleased do email me.

Hurrah!!! The quilt is finished

I cannot tell you how glad I am that this quilt is finished, it seems to have been with me for a long, long time - partly due to the fact my machine broke during the making of it, but still I'm glad it's going on Friday.

I am pleased with it, though I procrastinated massively on Saturday when it came time to quilt it - I even decided to clean my flat first (soooo not like me - it's normally the other way around sewing instead of cleaning), as I really wasn't looking forward to it - I've decided I don't like the quilting part - maybe if I basted I wouldn't mind it, but it's just the whole shoving of large quantities of fabric and wadding through the gap in the machine - I didn't actually start to quilt it until the Sunday - how's that for procrastination :o)

I did a bit of free hand letter quilting in the top of it, the little boys name and I stippled in all of the pale blue parts. It's not quilted as much as I would have liked, but I really had reached my fill of it, I think it is enough though, as I want it to be soft for him.

The flags are because his mum is Australian and his dad is English and the cupcake is because the mum has a company called the Cutest Cupcake. In the bunting above the cupcake I've embroidered his name as well.

The line next to the British flag I've take out, as it was making it look weird.

Below are a few of the quilted blocks.

A couple of Wips

I haven't really been into blogging as of late, though sewing is still very much on-going. I've had two quilts on the go for the last few weeks (well one the last couple of months).

I have been working my way through a foundation pieced quilt and it has been a big learning curve, I've done a few foundation blocks before, but nothing like this and I have become very acquainted with my stitch ripper and on a couple of occasions I have had to just put it down and do something else, but I now have a finished top. The back is ongoing and will have three blocks on it, a Union Jack, an Australian flag and a cupcake, which will be on the top of the back upside down, so it can be folded over and viewed with the other blocks on the front.

This is the finished front and I have to say I am very pleased with it (and glad it's finished)

The below is what I was working on when I had to walk away and it's abut 80" square and I really like it, very girly and pretty fabrics. It just needs sandwiching, quilting and binding.

This one is a finish and is now hanging in the church, it's been finished about a month, but I didn't get around to photographing it.

I'm now helping the other two women in the sewing group to make a quilt each (from my scraps stash), which we'll raffle off for the church and a children's home that we support in Romania.

My latest project

I'm currently working on a low volune, very girly quilt.