finally...

At long last I've got round to posting about my hug swap goodies. I received the beautiful mug wrap and mat from Renata. They are beautiful and the sewing is so neat!
I've decided not to use them for their proper prupose as I'd hate to spill tea over them so the mug wrap is being used round one of my pencil pots in my craft room and the mat is on display in my craft room.
So thankyou again Renata and I hope mine sent to you arrives soon!


Today I recieved my goodies from the Autumn swap so thankyou very much-they are lovely.
I recieved a lovely autumn mat, a coffee themed teatowel which will look great in the kitchen and lots of lovely autumnal ribbons.


And I know my Autumn swap partner has recieved her goodies. I only took a photo of the mat I made which I did machine appliqué around the leaves. It's the first time I've done that technique and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately I can't find the photo anywhere on my computer! I know it was on here because I was looking at it earlier but I can't find it in any folders now! So I have put the photo on which was on Paola's blog-i hope she doesn't mind!

I think I might make some similar place mats for the Christmas table like this. I'll add it to the long list of projects I want to get done by Christmas!!!

a new project

A new project project I've started is the a melly and me pattern called Lottie and little lady which is lovely. The big ladybird has a little bag to hang around her neck which holds a little baby ladybird (little lady).
I couldn't find any brighter red spotty material for her body but this does look a bit brighter in real life than in the photo so I think it'll look good when it's finished.
It took a while to get the arms and legs looking right but the pattern overall is very easy to follow and make. I'm sure she'll look a lot cuter when she's fully stuffed!

I have also made a start on my inchie christmas decorations for the swap. Unfortunately my sewing on the edges of the inchies isn't quite as neat as the sample so I've added plenty of beading to detract the eye from the edges!
I'll take photos tonight and post them tomorrow.

a crinkly toy

I finally found put how to make a toy crinkly sounding by using cereal packet bags.
I washed the bags that the cereal is in from inside the box and layered 2 pieces of it with some wadding.
I sewed eyes and a beak onto the front piece of material and sewed the wings which have 1 piece of crinkly bag in them.
I then layered a piece of wadding and 2 pieces of crinkly bag and then on the top the piece of patterned material with the eyes and beak sewn on, right side up and then the other piece of patterned material, right side down.
The wings were then pinned in the sides so they were inside the sandwich.
I then sewed all around the outside leaving a small part unsewn in the bottom to turn it the right side.
After turning the owl the right way, the bottom seam was sewn together on the machine.
Apologies for the blurry photo!
And for all those who have asked for a template of the owl I used on my clock- I haven't forgotten and will put it on here tomorrow.

tilda bunny

This bunny was made from a Tilda book 'Crafting Springtime Gifts' -there are so many lovely projects in there. The actual bunny wasn't too difficult to make but the clothing directions were a bit confusing and the dress turned out too wide at the top (although doesn't look too bad once on) but the hat isn't at all like it should be-I don't know what I did wrong but I couldn't work out the proper way to make it!

baby quilt

This is the first quilt I've made and whilst making it I was thinking it'd be my last! I didn't realise just how long it would take to make and how difficult it would be! Each stage took loads longer than i expected and I found it difficult to sew the squares together so that each strip of squares would fit toegther and have neat corners.

In the end i don't think it mattered too much as you don't really notice and I think it adds to the hand made charm of it. I love the end result-it was really snuggly and if it hadn't been in baby colours I think I would have been tempted to keep it myself!

The quilt was for my friends second and baby and my friends really loved it. Now to get started on a quilt for myself!

my first bag

This was a bag i made for my sisters birthday. I followed a free pattern on the internet and found this gorgeous thick fabric in the local quilt shop. I was expecting the bag to be quite difficult to make but the instructions and diagrams are so clear that it only took me a couple of hours to make and was pretty easy ( the only thing I did wrong, due to rushing, was taping the pattern together the wrong way so my bag turned out smaller than it should have done but it still looked good when finished!)