The postman came...

And look what he brought... a yummy Blueberry Crumb Cake jelly roll! The colours are perfect for my lounge and at Christmas I have a frosty, shimmery, blue, silver and white theme for my decorations. Last year I ran out of time for sewing Christmas projects so I'm starting early this year!

I'm going to make the Tis The Season wallhanging by Natalie Bird but mine will be in blue, tan and cream. I also got some cream print yardage from the same range to work the stitcheries on... and I couldn't resist the lovely cross stitch print from the same range. I'm planning on using the scraps left over from the hanging for a couple of cushion fronts and I'll use the cross stitch print for the back. I still have to order the border fabrics for the wallhanging, but now I've seen the jellyroll fabrics, choosing that will be easy!

I've already traced all the designs, using my new Frixion pens. I'd heard so much about these that I just had to get some to try out. They are brilliant!!! A lovely smooth rollerball, great for tracing and marking quilting lines. After stitching, a quick swoosh over with a warm iron removes all the markings, it's like magic!!  I had to take extra care when ironing on the Vilene H630 which I use as a stabiliser, one false move and my traced designs would be gone! I just ironed very carefully around the outer edges of the stitchery designs and all was well.

I'm really looking forward to stitching these.... :)

I've been quiet this week... but

But I have been busy stitching!!!

I just finished this pretty embroidered tote and pincushion. Well... it's called a tote on the pattern, but to me it's more like a basket? Anyway, here it is....

And here it is opened, showing the internal embroidered pockets for storing threads, scissors etc. As I was taking the photo I noticed that I haven't stitched on the central button yet... oops!

The pattern is 'Embroidered Tote Bag' by Lenna Green and includes the pattern for the matching pincushion.  I bought it as a PDF download from Stitching Cow. There are some really lovely designs on the website, it was hard to choose which one to buy!

Lenna also offers some BOM quilts available as monthly PDF downloads... I am loving the Christmas In Italy quilt a combination of patchwork, stitchery and appliqué. I might probably will go back and have another look at that one as it reminds me so much of the lovely holiday we had at Lake Garda in Northern Italy.

I still had a few little fabric scraps left from my Spring Tote, so I used the lower band of the stitchery pattern and make this sweet little pincushion.

I've also been adding to my growing pile of stitcheries for my Gardener's Journal quilt. I've just finished the Vegetable Patch, so that makes 12 completed out of ... umm... I think it's 25? 

Pulling the Weeds will be going on the hoop this evening, so I'm about half way :) As a lot of the fabrics I'll be using for this quilt are scraps and smallish pieces, I want to wait until I've completed all the stitcheries before making up the blocks. Hopefully that way I can spread the scraps evenly over the quilt. Well, that's the theory anyway!!

Happy stitching :)

Zippered pouch, pincushion and thread catcher

As I've been wandering round the internet, I've found some lovely sewing tutorials on several blogs I've visited. I've had them bookmarked in a special folder... intending to try some of them one day. The folder is getting rather large, so I thought it was about time I actually tried a few out.

I made these to sit on the coffee table in the lounge, at the side of me where I stitch in the evenings. I don't know why I held off making them for so long, they are so easy and very practical too!

The triangular thread catcher is from a tutorial here. It's small and neat and as it has no wadding in it, it folds up if I want to pop it inside the pouch.

The pincushion is made from the scraps I had left over from the pouch and thread catcher. I filled it with crushed walnut shells and it has a nice weight to it. The shells are supposed to keep your pins and needles sharp so I was keen to try them. I bought a big bag very cheaply from a large pet store.. they were in the reptile and bird section.

The zippered pouch... this was the thing I most wanted to try. I've put zips in clothing before but never in anything like this... I think that's why I held of making a pouch for so long.  I used two different tutorials to make my pouch... the tutorial for the pouch itself is here. I combined it with this tutorial for the zipper part, a simple way of making those zipper ends look neat.

And simple it was, the result was a nice neat zip insertion... I will definitely be using this method again!

In case you are wondering, the fabrics I used are 'Little Gatherings' by Primitive Gatherings for Moda. 

Gorgeous :)

Spring tote finished

It's finished, and I am really pleased with it :) The stitchery pattern I used for the large front pocket is by Whimsy Dell and I used a selection of fabrics from fat quarter packs bought last year from The Tabbycat. I'd already  used some of these fabrics for appliqué cushions and now I've made this bag, I need to replace some of them... the colours are just so zingy and vibrant.

 Inside are  2 A4 project boxes, my quilting angel toolstore and there's an Anni Downs pattern book in the large internal pocket.... and there is still ample room for lunch and a bottle of water when it goes on it's travels with me :) Phone, cash and keys in the deep front pocket... it's very roomy!

 It will be perfect for taking to quilt shows too, imagine how much stash I can stuff into it!