Catching Up

I really don't know how you bloggers out there manage to stay on top making regular posts to your blogs. I seem to be forever lagging behind but even when I'm quiet I'm still beavering away making something so here are a few updates on some of the things that have been keeping me busy.

I've done some sewing and no post would be complete without a bag. Two of the ladies at my quilting group wanted me to show them how to make one of the bags I've made recently so I worked alongside them putting this one together. Fabrics are Madeira by Blackbird Designs for Moda. It's a pattern you've seen before but it's a nice easy one to make and always turns out great.
Here's the front of the bag



and this is the back (you can click on any of the pictures for a close up)



I love to make things out of nothing so with the few scraps that were left I made the matching zippered pouch



I learned to knit when I was a child and have knitted for most of my life until cross stitching took over about twenty years ago. A couple of years ago I started a lace shawl in fine Alpaca yarn. I got bored with it and put it away until recently when I decided to finish it



It's not the best picture. It was difficult to photograph but I hope you get the idea. The pattern I used is the Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark.

Still in the mood to work with yarn I had seen a lot of lovely granny squares being crocheted and shown off on various blogs so I decided to have a go. I was never taught to crochet but have managed to pick it up with the help of some online tutorials, You Tube videos and Jan Eaton's book 200 Crochet Blocks from which I worked to make these squares.
I used acrylic yarn for my practice squares but now that I feel confident enough I'd like to crochet a granny square throw in cotton




I've also done a lot of cross stitching recently. I finished all of the stitching on the Flowers for Sarah needleroll that I showed in my last post. I've just received the fabric I had ordered for the finishing so will hopefully have that to share next time.
Meanwhile here are some scissor fobs that I stitched and finished a while ago.
The charts are a series of four seasonal Whimzies by Just Nan. I liked the idea of a fob for all seasons rather than framing.






I did take an individual picture of the Winter fob but it looks a bit unseasonal hanging off the Christmas tree so I've left that picture out :)



Hopefully I won't leave it so long before I make my next post. As always, thanks for visiting my blog and for your lovely comments.
Margaret

It's been a while since my last post so here, without further ado, is what has kept me busy since my last blog entry.

First up is a sewing bag and accessories.



I cobbled two patterns together to come up with this bag. The stitchery, and overall size of the bag is from Crabapple Hill Posy Pockets Handbags and the rest is made up from the Bow Tucks Tote bag by Quilts Illustrated.
The fabric is Moda Simplicity.

To go inside the bag I made a little zippered pouch with a tiny yo yo and button trim, a pincushion with a bigger yo yo and one of the cute needle cases from a tutorial that you can find here Khris has done a great job on this tutorial. It's so easy and only takes about a half hour to make






OK, I just couldn't resist taking this picture



It might have been a good idea if I'd given him a wash first as it seems like the birds have been using him for purposes we won't go into here :)

Staying with the pink theme............I wanted to do some crochet so here's a doily I made from Patricia Kristoffersen's Coffee n Cream Doily book using Coats #12crochet cotton.



Do you remember the mermaid bags from my last post? Well, Sheila and her sister Pamela have been busy making bling to go on our bags. I was blown away when I saw the gorgeous dangly things they have made to hang off the side of the bag and there is also a scissor fob and mermaid needle rest.
You can click on any of the pictures for a better view if you would like.



Every Thursday morning four of us meet up to make bobbin lace.
Now I'm told that children can make bobbin lace but, while I may be approaching my second childhood, this is one craft that does not come easy to me. It takes me forever to produce even the tiniest scrap of lace! Here are two bookmarks that have kept me busy for weeks. It takes Sue, the person who teaches us, just one evening to make one!




There's not a lot of progress in the quilting department either although I have managed to make another hexagon flower from some pre cut fabric hexagon shapes. These are from Keepsake Quilting 100 in a pack made from reproduction fabrics.
I'm not sure what they are going to be used for - I'll decide when I have them all made and laid out.



I don't usually show pictures of my cross stitch WIPS but since I have no stitching finishes to share here's my Blackbird Designs Flowers for Sarah needlecase WIP.
Sorry for the creased state of it. The linen is R & R and it is usually distressed even before I begin bunching it up as I stitch in hand.






Finally I know there are some of you that enjoy the pictures of Spain so here are some from when we went to the market at La Villa Joyhosa a couple of weeks ago.





These coloured houses are part of the old town. They are doing quite a bit of work in that area hence parts of it are cordoned off.




I think that has brought me up to date. I've enjoyed sharing my pictures with you. As always thanks for visiting and for your nice comments :)

Margaret

A long post!

It's a while since I've posted anything but I'm so excited to be showing you what has been keeping me busy over the past few weeks.
A couple of years ago Christine gifted me a piece of gorgeous Laurel Burch Ocean Song fabric. I'd looked at the fabric many times and wondered what I might do with it. I knew I wanted it to be something special but what............
When I made my first dilly bag last year it occurred to me that this would be the perfect pattern to showcase these gorgeous mermaids and so the idea was born.
Ocean Song is an old fabric line and the mermaids are like gold dust to find now but it's still possible to find some of the other fabrics in the range. I bought enough to be able to make two bags as I knew friend Sheila, another mermaid fan, would love one of these bags as much as I did.
I felt these mermaids deserved to be photographed where they would feel right at home so I took the bags to a beach where there are some nice rocks for the photo shoot :) Be sure to click on the pictures for a better view





When Sheila came over to see how her bag was coming along she blew me away when she presented me with this gorgeous Laurel Burch Ocean Song mug!





Now I know for a fact I'll never be able to bring myself to drink out of this mug for fear of dropping it on the hard tile floor we have throughout the house but it will be displayed somewhere safe that I can enjoy looking at it every day.

On to other things... a friend who loves owls had a birthday so I made a matching pincushion and fob for her. The design is one by the Prairie Schooler from the Autumn Leaves book. This is the front view



and here is the back



another small gift I've been working on is a sewing pocket, pincushion and fob.
The pocket and pincushion are from a pattern by Calico Farm and I added the fob by taking a small element of the stitchery design.
Fabrics used are Kona Cotton Natural and the print is Blackbird Designs Madeira



Here's a view of the inside of the sewing pocket



Since there is not a lot of cross stitch content in this post here's my finished Return to the Sea which is a lovely design by The Sampler Girl
I used the recommended threads and a piece of unknown linen from my stash



Another small finish is Stacy Nash Hanging Bluebird Pinkeep. Again this is the recommended threads and unknown linen. This was my first attempt at ageing fabric with walnut ink crystals and I was quite pleased at how it turned out.



Finally, just for fun, here is a picture of the local merceria where I am lucky enough to be able to go to buy trims, buttons etc. The man and wife team that run it know me well and are always delighted to see what I've been making with the things I buy from them. You definitely need to click on this picture! I can take orders LOL.



and since we've already done the nice beach pictures here's a sight you don't see every day in UK which is where I'm from. These goats live about a mile away from us and every day they go out for a walkies. I love to see them out and about even though they do hold up the traffic at times!




Wow! what a long post. Are you still with me? I hope you've enjoyed the pictures as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you. Thank you for visiting my blog and, as always, thank you for your lovely comments.

Margaret

Poppy's Sewing Set

As soon as I saw this sewing set by Gail Pan I fell in love with it. I think it was specially designed for a gathering of Australian Quilters/stitchers and at first only available to them. As soon as it was available I sent off to Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop for the pattern.

The set is a drawstring bag, pincushion, needlebook and scissor fob.
I was taken with the unusual square shape of the bag. It was a little tricky to get the base sewn in but otherwise straightforward to make.
I did take a picture of the inside of the needlebook but it seems to have disappeared in my PC somewhere!
If you would like to see a close up of the sewing set you can click on the pictures for a better view.



A couple of other small finishes are a Lizzie Kate design that I finished as a small hanging pillow




I bought this design on eBay years ago as just the chart from a kit and it has taken me this long to put the last few stitches in. It turned out cute so I don't know why I didn't finish it sooner.

Finally, one of Tanya's (The Sampler Girl) lovely designs Hope Perches.
I used Vikki Clayton's silk threads for the design area and silk duponi for the pillow.



Things I'm working on now are my long neglected Beatrix Potter Sampler and I will soon be starting a SAL with a few friends for Blackbird Designs Sarah Tobias Needleroll.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and for your nice comments. I enjoy hearing from you :)

Margaret

Tiny Treasures

Just a quick post to show off some of the stitched gifts I've received over the last few week.
I just love little things and all of these are so tiny.
First up is a pinkeep from Brigitte in Germany. Brigitte stitched a Prairie Schooler design with the letter M. Isn't it lovely?



I was blown away when I received this tiny little pinbox from Francoise (no blog)
Francoise has stitched Blackbird Designs Buttons and Blooms over one and fitted it into the lid of a box of pearl head pins. Everything about this is so dainty. I love it.




Finally, Sandra in UK stitched this gorgeous strawberry scissor fob for me. Click on the picture for a close up of the stitching and finishing. It's so beautifully done.
Sandra doesn't have a blog but she if you want to see some gorgeous stitching and finishing you can visit her Picasa albums.




I've just remembered a few things I stitched as Christmas gifts but forgot to show here. Some of you may already have seen them on Nancy's blog but for anyone that hasn't seen them here's a pinkeep I made using a chart from a German booklet I have called Kreuzstichmuster. This is the front of the pinkeep




and here's the back view. The initial comes from the same pattern book




This is a set of needlework smalls that I stitched using a chart from Theron Traditions - Stray Pins and Moms Scissors. I was getting a little tired of the design after stitching it three times (once over one for the fob) and the border yet a fourth time for the back of the needlebook!



Here's a view of the back of the pinkeep etc.



and a view of the inside



I have a few more finishes to show but will save those for next time.





Thanks so much for visiting me today :)

Margaret

Last exchange of 2008 and some birthday gifts

I took part in quite a few exchanges both stitched and quilted in 2008.
The last exchange being a Secret Santa with a Yahoo stitching group.
I had one fat quarter of Nells Flower Shop sampler print (Blackbird Designs for Moda) and one fat quarter of a plaid print from the Blackbird Designs Madeira range.
It was a bit of a squeeze but I managed to get this drawstring bag, a long pincushion and a little fob out of the fabric. The stitched motifs on the pincushion and fob are taken from The Blackbird Designs Sarah Tobias book.
Here's a view of the front......



and this is the back of the pincushion and fob





My exchange partner, Roberta, sent me two packages. One for the exchange and the other for my birthday a week later.

The focus piece is a sweet little sewing bag with a beautifully stitched snowman on the front and several matching accessories using the same fabrics to go with it.
A gorgeous round pinkeep, a little humbug shaped bourse, a collapsible ORT bag, tiny felt pincushion, stork scissors with a tape measure fob, a matching thread waxer and yet another thread waxer in the shape of an acorn.



Another birthday gift is this lovely blackwork pinkeep from Hazel (no blog) which she stitched in red, a lovely hand made card, some water colour gift tags and a dinky little spatula. It took me a little while to figure out what the spatula might be used for until I realised Hazel had intended it for use as a hornbook. All it needs is a hole drilled in the top, a tiny over one stitched design and voila! a mini hornbook :)



I still have more pictures to share but the digital camera seems to have fallen out with the PC so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and show them next time.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Margaret