Nothing finished in August!

Hi everyone,
Here we are at the end of August already.
I don't think I've finished so much as one thing this month but luckily I do have pictures of some things I made a while ago that have not yet been seen on the blog.
First up is a needlebook, zippered pouch and pincushion
The cross stitch design I used is LHN Wool Needlebook and Fob but I did my own thing with it. I couldn't face stitching the design a second time over one so I didn't do the fob.
This is the inside of the needlebook.



Now onto the bags............I made this bag last month for the July project on Chookyblue's SAL

the fabrics I used are Petite Ecole by French General for Moda

one of the fabrics was an alphabet sampler panel so I used that on the inside pocket

The stitchery design is Sing by Kathy Schmitz

When my friend Angela came to stay in July a mutual friend of ours sent us a charm pack to use and share in one of our crafting sessions. We meticulously shared out the charms and found we had just enough to be able to make this bag.

Actually, we were each two charms short to be able to make the bag so we hit upon the idea of stamping a design onto some linen and made that a feature in the centre.

Fabric is Dogwood Trail by Moda. Here's how the other side looks

The last bit of sewing is this zippered pouch.

I made the pouch for Stephanie, the designer behind Loft Creations, because she loves giraffes. I also cross stitched the logo from her business card and made a little pillow out of it as I thought she might get a kick out of it.

here's the back

The only other things I have to show you are of the woolly variety. I finished a crochet cushion using scraps of yarn from my ripple blanket finished last year.

I did an envelope style back using the tutorial on this blog

and finally a pair of socks. Yes, I really did take a pair of socks out into the park for a photo shoot and just thanked my lucky stars there was no-one around to see me :)

Anyone interested in pattern details for either the socks or pillow can find them here on my Ravelry page

So that's all for now. My husband was in hospital for nine days and with one thing and another I just seem to have lost my crafting mojo but hopefully I will find it again and be able to have something to show you next time.
As always a big thank you for your continued visits and your lovely comments.
Oh, and I almost forgot that a new reader, Jennifer, had asked me about the pattern used on the mermaid set in my previous post.
I couldn't reply to you Jennifer as you are noreply but I hope you are reading this. The pattern is by Patricks Woods.

Margaret

Angela's Visit

Hi everyone,
I have probably too many pictures for one blog post so am going to split it into two this month.
I mentioned in my last post that my friend Angela would be coming to stay for ten days. The time flew and now all that's left are the happy memories.
Angela told me her suitcase was over the limit on the way here and I can see just why that was as she spoiled me with some lovely gifts some of which I will show you here.

As a belated birthday gift I received this beautifully stitched set. My birthday was way back in December but as you can imagine a LOT of work, both stitching and finishing, went into it. I love mermaids and anything to do with the ocean so I am thrilled with this gift. Good things are worth waiting for!


A few more pictures of the inside of the needlecase and the back side of the stitched pieces. I think you should be able to click on any of the pictures for a better view if you wish.


I also received some Cath Kidston goodies. Love the Stanley fabric :)



this tiny little stitched pillow and a Kelmscott seahorse needle minder



We had a tea party of course with a Queens Coronation theme this time celebrating 60 years on the throne.
I don't know what happened to the pictures I took on that day but I only seem to have these three.
On the menu - Coronation chicken (of course) salad, blueberry and raspberry pavlova and a coffee and walnut cake. All very delicious!



When Angela came last year we both stitched this design
and as neither of us had done any finishing on the piece yet the plan was to make them into flat folds this year. However, I wasn't very patient fiddling about with pieces of cardboard so Angela made mine up for me. I love the way she did the ribbon trim on the top.



The perfect backing fabric.....



Friend Hazel (no blog) stitched this sweet little Christmas ornament for me and Angela brought it over with her.



The backing fabric is just perfect. My family is into ice skating in a big way so this is just the perfect design for me.
Thank you Hazel :)



and while we are still on the Christmas theme this is a free design on this blog
I did the stitching and Angela finished it into a tag for me



Back view



Just one final thing to show you is this little pin book that Angela made for me to fit in with our Coronation themed party



inside


How cute is the bobbin shaped card with the ribbon?

These little pin books come in a variety of designs. You can see more of them here

I think that's it for this post. I will hopefully be back with another post (of my own work this time) in a few days.
Thanks as always for visiting my blog and for your kind comments. Welcome to the new followers who have joined this past month.
I'm glad you found your way here :)

Margaret

End of June Round Up

Hi everyone,
I'm happy to say that quite a few finishes have rolled off the production line this month.

This is a bag that I've made a few times before. It is the Bow Tucks Tote by Quilts Illustrated.
The fabrics I used this time are an old line by Blackbird Designs for Moda called Rhubarb and Ginger.



Back view. The schoolgirl sampler print fabric is perfect for an enthusiastic stitcher.



No bag is complete without at least a couple of things to go inside so using my scraps I squeezed a zippered pouch and a pincushion out of the fabrics I had left.


See the cute little scissor charm on the zipper pull? It came from Nancy's Victorian Motto Shoppe. I love this charm and need to order more



A couple of cross stitch finishes ...... First is the May Word Play by Country Stitches



The fabrics I used in making the bag were a perfect match for the backing.



Another pillow - this one is Bloom Sampler by Threadwork Primitives. Stitched on 40ct linen using the recommended threads,

Both of these pillows are edged with the hand dyed chenille trim from Nancy's Victorian Motto Shoppe.

I didn't manage to keep up with my May project for Chooky Blue's Stitch-a Long blog but I'm happy to say I did manage the one for June.
This cute pincushion is in Natalie Bird's Red Home book



The fabrics I used (except the one with the big bird) are Rural Jardin by French General for Moda



I also forgot to show the April project which was this little wall hanging from Natalie Bird's book Tis the Season



I think that's it for this post. My friend Angela is arriving from UK tomorrow and we have plans for lots of crafting besides sitting by the pool or on the beach not to mention baking and eating!
How much crafting we actually manage to get done will be another story but you will have to wait til the end of July to find out :)

As always a big thank you for visiting my blog and for your lovely comments.

Margaret

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May (late)

Hi everyone,


It seems I've been absent from my blog for even longer than is normal for me. I didn't manage to get a blog post done at all in May. It was a busy month and we went to UK to visit family as well.

I haven't had much to blog about really but I've finally scraped a few pictures together for this post.
This is a zippered pouch, needlebook and pincushion that I made using Cath Kidston fabrics.








The needlebook is one I've done many times before from the Remembering Adelia book by Kathleen Tracy




I've been doing some crochet granny squares to be made into a pillow. The link for the pattern I used is here
I used Stylecraft Special DK which was thinner than the yearn used in the pattern so I did an extra row of squares to get the size I wanted. I plan on doing a buttoned back in double crochet using the cream yarn.




A little bit of stitching and finishing on this Prairie Schooler piece which I turned into a pinkeep. I used some blending filament along with the thread used for the raindrops to add a bit of sparkle. Hard to see in this picture but it is subtle and looks quite effective. The picture should be clickable if you want to see it closer up.



Backing fabric is Rural Jardin by French General for Moda. I used velvet ribbon for the trim around the side and bow on the top.



Friend Sheila was stitching Glad Tidings by Shepherd's Bush but she seems to have mostly given up cross stitch in favour of quilting. Sheila decided she didn't want to finish the piece so it has been adopted by me and will be finished one of these days although I have yet to put a stitch in it. The work you see here is Sheila's.



and still on the subject of Sheila and her stitching she stitched Cherished Workes by Ellen Chester way back in 2006 and it is still sitting patiently in her finishing pile.
So now I'm stitching it as well so that we can work on the finishing together at some stage. I have to say this is not a fast stitch for me as it has several areas of over one - not my favourite thing to do!
Picture shows my WIP at the front and Sheila's finish behind it.



I have a bit of a thing for tins and boxes so was delighted to received this one as a gift.
It is now housing my reproduction fabric hexagons.



I still haven't decided what to do with these hexagons so they just sit there looking pretty.

Friend Angela will be coming to stay again this year and will be here in less than three weeks. I'm very excited and we have a long list of things we want to work on while she is here so hopefully I will have more to show you next time.

Until then thanks as always for visiting my blog and welcome to new followers. Soon I have to decide what to do about this Google reader thing. For now my head is in the sand!

Margaret

Zippers. Mermaids, Gifts & PDF pattern giveaway winner

Hi everyone,

I've overdosed on making zippered pouches this past month. The craft club I'm a member of does a fundraiser each year in May.
We are raising money for a childrens orphanage here in Spain. We only make small things as they seem to sell better.
I decided on a production run of zippered pouches.
First up is one I made in Tilda fabrics from this tutorial




Back view using pretty Tilda birdcage fabric which was also used for the lining




I made one large and two small in this pink print by Lynette Anderson. Tutorial here



They have a cute little cat charm attached to the zipper pull

and this blue project pouch again in Lynette Anderson fabric



The next one was made using the tutorial from the Pink Penguin blog. I used a few orphan charm squares



One in Eiffel Tower fabric



and this one with bow detail



A boxy pouch from a tutorial on this blog

and finally this one which is from a Norwegian pattern. I became very good friends with Google Translate during the process of making this pouch! I used pale blue linen from Ikea and the print fabric is by Bunny Hill.



With the sewing machine going non stop I haven't had much time for stitching so only one small finish to show this time.
This is from The Sampler Girl and I had fun stitching this along with friend Angela.



I received some lovely mermaid-y gifts from friend Pat. The new Kelmscott needle minder, scissors and scissor fob.
They are SO beautiful and I'm just over the moon to have them. Thank you Pat :)



I must have been very, very good because I also received this beautiful mermaid bookmark from Roberta. Roberta says she made this from a kit. Isn't it gorgeous?



also in the package this bag pattern. I've actually made the full size version of this bag many times but this is a mini version. How fun is that? I'll be making a few of these for sure.



and yet another surprise in the mail from friend Caz

I'm looking forward to making something with these pretty fabric FQ's.

One last make to show you is this wall hanging I have made for my grand daughter Amy.



The border fabric has glittery stars which don't show up that well in the picture but I chose this fabric because Amy IS a star and is making us all very proud. The dress on the skater is decorated with Swarovski crystals. Again, not showing up well in the picture but they have plenty of sparkle when seen for real.
I quilted the borders using big stitches and #12 perle cotton. I think my pictures are clickable if you want a better view of anything.



Grandson Robbie is following in his big sisters footsteps and is starting to win the cups and medals. All outfits made by my clever daughter.



I think that's it for this time but I know that you are waiting to find out who is the winner of the Little Purse PDF pattern offered by Stephanie of Loft Creations.

I used the Random Generator thing and the winner is #10 Phyllis (no blog)
Congratulations Phyllis. Stephanie will be in touch with you re your PDF pattern.

I'm off to UK on 3rd May. It's raining here but I think they have some sunshine there at long last.
Thanks as always for your continued visits to my blog and for your lovely comments.
Happy weekend to all!

Margaret