Dilly Bags and More Mermaid Treasures.

I had no idea what a dilly bag was until a couple of months ago when a friend brought one of the Australian patchwork and applique magazines in to my quilting group. I saw this bag in the magazine and just fell in love with it. I'd never done applique before and my machine is very basic so I decided to go with hand blanket stitch around the flower shapes.



I really like the way it turned out and it's BIG. You wouldn't believe how much this bag can hold. I think it makes a great sewing bag the way the pockets go around the side.


By a strange co-incidence my friend Char had been working on a dilly bag at the same time and imagine my surprise and delight when she sent me this bag as a surprise gift.
I absolutely love the bag that Char made. Everything she makes has a special something about it that makes me smile. I love the fabrics she chose and the cute teddy bear applique which makes up one of the three blocks.



This block has yo yo flowers



this is a crazy patch block. There's also a log cabin block and see the special swing tag Char made


It's a slightly smaller bag than the one I made but it still holds such a lot. I can definitely see more dilly bags in my sewing future!

Well, thanks to my lovely friends my mermaid collection is growing all the time.
Angela treated me to Ellen Chesters Maidens of the Sea cross stitch chart just because. I had had my eye on this design ever since it was released and am thrilled to finally have it. I love the two fish thread winders that come with the chart. Also in the picture are the Rue Green linen I'm planning to use, a scissor fob made by me (with an ocean theme of course)and a gorgeous mother of pearl thread winder in the shape of a mermaid that came from friend Sheila who also lives in Spain.
(Click on the picture if you want a close up)



and from Yuko in Japan came this gorgeous mermaid pinkeep. The design is from Carriage House Samplings alphabet series but see how Yuko personalized it especially for me?



Instead of M for Mermaid Yuko stitched M for Margaret! What a great idea. I just love it Yuko and can't thank you enough for this beautiful keepsake.

Finally I just wanted to share the latest additions to my pattern library.



I bought the book Rotary Magic because it is such a good teaching aid for a novice quilter like me. I bought Quilts from Grandmother's Garden sight unseen only to discover that it's a miniature quilt that uses 1/4" hexagons!!! I thought I was crazy enough wanting to do hand piecing in the first place but 1/4" hexagons has to be insanity.
Finally, a new cross stitch book by Blackbird Designs. Thank you Sarah Tobias is a book of designs based on an antique sampler. I love this book and am looking forward to stitching from it.




I'm sorry for the long gap between posts. Sometimes life gets in the way - I'll try to do better.
In the works I have stitchery, cross stitch and a quilted bag made from charm packs.
Hopefully I'll be sharing those with you soon.