A new patchwork project

Keeping up the tradition of doing a million things at once I have started work on a patchwork bag.

My mum bought the kit for me as a Christmas present at the Knitting & Stitching Show and I was itching to get started as soon as I got back to Leeds and had my sewing machine set up.

Good job I bought a rotary cutter and ruler as there was a lot of cutting and I had to be quite precise!

This is the front all pieced together ...





And here is the back ...





I'm quite pleased so far, despite it being a little wonky. It was quite tricky to put together but there were no major incidents and I still have all my digits attached even after extensive use of the rotary cutter!

Next up I have to start quilting it and making the flap, which involves some machine applique.

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Bright birthday card

Winter can become rather dull, so when Hayley asked for a card for a boy who was turning one earlier this month I decided to got for bright and bold.



I combined some Celebrations DSP with card stock from the Brights family, a big star and some coordinating brads.



If you ever need cheering up I can highly recommend playing with some bight coloured card!

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The Quilt

I managed to find quite a bit of time while I was home over Christmas to work on my quilt and I'm pleased to say I am making good progress.

If my calculations are correct, I just need to make another four hexagons and then I will have enough. That would bring the total to 294, although it might need to be more in the end. At the moment I'm too scared to lay it out on my bed and see!



This was it a couple of days ago with six whole rows sewn together.





I'm now up to nine rows, so that could be half way done, if all goes to plan!



Pippa liked to help me work on the quilt too!

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A final Christmas present

One final Christmas present to show you now I know it arrived safely.



My lovely friend Kat has a company called Flamingo, so when I found this cross stitch pattern in my stash I knew it wuld be just the ticket.



I only just got it finished in time for Christmas - it was trickier than it looks because of all the fractional stitches.

And I very nearly had an incident with Hayley's staple gun while mounting it on the canvas. I'm not allowed to use it anymore ...

Anyway, it was great to get back into a bit of cross stitching as I've not done it for a while. Maybe I should dig out all those unfinished projects ...

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If that was Christmas, we've had it!

I've become a bit slow on the blogging front again, but with all the excitemen I haven't a clue what day it is!

This year I've had several Christmases with different friends and parts of my family. I'm pleased to report that Santa is not on Facebook or Twitter and is therefore still under the impression that I have been a good girl! So I got several fantastic presents, and some money which I have spent on underwear and craft goodies!

Am also loving my hire car - so much fun being able to drive myself around wherever and whenever I want.

Anyway, on to a gift I gave. You have seen this before, but it was finished off and given to my mum.



It's the peacock art piece I did at a workshop with the Embroiderers' Guild.



Hayley mounted it on to a canvas for me so it is now a work of art for my mum's wall.



She was rather impressed!

In other news, the Japanese hexagon quilt is coming along nicely and I am pleased to report that I have very nearly finished all the pieces. Then to sew all 298 of them together ...

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Happy birthday Hayley!

Today is my good friend Hayley's birthday and in the spirit of crafting and needlework here is the card I made for her.



Paper patchwork is just as much fun as fabric pathcwork, but much quicker! I still go a bit wonky though!



So simple to do - squares fo different DSP (retired Springtime Vintage and Newsprint in this case), stuck on to a plain piece of card then cut out in the Big Shot with the Top Note Die.

Then finished off with a couple of buttons and a ribbon made from the Victoria Crochet Ribbon.

We're celebrating Hayley's ageing this evening with food and booze.

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The Owl Punch - not just for owls!

Owls are too cute, but did you know the Stampin' Up! Owl Punch is also great for making other creatures?

Like penguins!



Heather, who is Helen's sister, had asked me to make a card for a friend who was moving to a new job. "She likes penguins and music" was the brief, so out came the Owl Punch et voila, penguins!



So easy and so much fun to make.

I am reliably informed that she loved the card and I'm a bit gutted I was so well prepared with my Christmas cards this year, otherwise I'd have done penguin ones!

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A 70th birthday card

This week, Helena, the Chairman of the West Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institutes, celebrated her 70th birthday.

I was tasked with making the card so I decided to do one similar to my nanna and grandad's 60th wedding anniversary one.



This design just works for me and it's nice and easy to achieve.



I decorated with Pearls to add some glamour.

Here's to many happy returns for Helena!

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Japanese quilted wall hanging - Finished!

I got restless the other day and finished off my Japanese quilted wall hanging.



It is finished off with the sashiko quilting to make the clouds and add some detail on the waves.





In my tradition of not bothering to measure and cut things properly it is a little wonky and not quite square, but I still love it.

My mum bought me a similar kit with a lucky cat (maneki neko) so I have that to do over Christmas.

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Christmas gift bags

I've been super organised this year and have all except one of my gifts bought/made and wrapped.

Once again I have kept the packaging simple with brown paper for those that are wrapped and brown paper bags for more awkward things to go in.



Here are the sacks, using the gift labels I made for Buns & Roses WI the other week.



Simple but effective!

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Christmas stocking

As well as teaching at our Buns & Roses WI Christmas Crafts workshop last week I also managed to get started on one of the other projects - a Christmas stocking.



The sewing machine came out over the weekend to finish i off and it's now ready to hang on my dad's fireplace when I get home for Christmas.



Lots of hand applique here, and it has my usual level of wonkiness as nothing was properly pinned or measured.

Hope Santa comes and leaves a few gifts in it for me!

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Christmas Crafts workshop for Buns & Roses WI

Last night was our Christmas Crafts workshop at Buns & Roses WI and I was helping the girls make a Christmas card and gift tag.

I focused on the new Stampin' Up! DSP Holly Berry, which is just yummy. I don't normally go crazy about Christmas things but I really love the designs in this range.



Here's the card everyone made. I CASE'd the design from my talented friend Vicky.



And this is the tag, utilising more of the DSP and the Notably Ornate stamp set.



Quick, simple but effective - the way Christmas should be!

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