March Calendar

This is my work on the March Calendar for BQL challenge.

We had to include a photo and I chose one of the family on holidays last year, to remind us of a good time, yes that's me at the back. My 2 oldest daughters are now nearly as tall as me, how time flies.

It took me a long time to get started on this project, but once I got going it was done pretty quickly. The squares are all colours from the photo, and coming from my basket of scraps. There is still quite a lot in there, not much difference from before.

I had already tried printing on fabric, to make some labels for the back of quilts; but I had never used a photo. I think it works really well, and I didn't lose too much definition.

Now back to the projects that need to be finished for Easter. Deadline coming.

Work in progress

I am sorry I have nothing finished to show you today, but I am working on 2 things at the same time. This is all for my niece to be, due at the end of June, but we will see her parents at Easter.

I started some knitting.

And I started a small quilt, agonised yesterday over a choice of colour for the border. I spent an hour looking at all the possibilities. Here is a little preview of a block, it is called kaleidoscope, because of the effect produced when all the blocks are put together.

Obviously I won't show you the end products before the parents receive them officially, especially as the future mum has a peek here from time to time.

The deadline helps me to work fast on these 2.

Blue bags

On my last visit to the shop Dunelm I bought 1.50m of 2 blue fabrics, to make some bags. I went in because I wanted to make a present for a friend's birthday, I ended up making 4 bags, one was the present and I am hoping to sell the others on Etsy, once I have sorted a problem I have with the name chosen quickly over a year ago.

The 2 fabrics are blue, there is an inside pocket, and long handles to put the bag on the shoulder.

Case for my sat nav

Like a lot of you, we bought a satellite navigation system for the car. DH then mentioned that I could make a bag or case for it, instead of buying one. So off I go, with one of my japanese fabric remnants again, a bit of wadding, quilt along the lines of the design. Then I found some blue fabric, and some stick on velcro.

Everything went fine, except the velcro. Why did I bother to buy that stuff, it's horrible, and I wonder if I should bin the bit left straight away. You think the sticky part is going to make things easier, and it's the opposite. It sticks but not enough to do what it's supposed to do, like hold a bag closed. And you can't sew through it : I tried first with the sewing machine, glue everywhere, and then again with hand sewing. So I used fabric glue to attach 2 parts firmly, and then gave up, and DH bought some normal velcro...that was so easy to use.

Anyway I am quite pleased with the result, which is unique, nobody has the same.

I hope it might inspire you to give it a go, you could make a little pocket for your phone (I hope to try that soon), MP3 or ipod, or even your laptop (maybe another project).

Japanese little bag

Last year on holidays we found a shop that was selling end of rolls of japanese fabrics. They were making and selling duvet covers. We bought a few pieces, and I have finally made that little bag that was all planned in my head.

You need 2 long pieces of fabric, one for the outside and the other for the lining, same size wadding, one coordinating zip, and a long piece of string or upholstery accessory (1metre 50).

DD1 accepted to be the model for this photo.

I found this new method for piecing it all together, where you leave a gap in a horizontal seam for turning (mine was on the lining for the zip), and then you do your vertical seams that include the outside and the lining of the bag at the same time, all turned on the wrong side of course. I am not sure if this is clear but it is shown on this blog Ptitsy Moloko, in french but the photos help.

Previously I was sewing the bag part, right sides together, and then the lining parts, right sides together. Now I can just sew them at the same time, provided that there is an opening to turn everything the right way around. It also means that the lining is stitched to the bag, and it won't move separately.

Little bear

But where did this week go...

I made a few little things, that I will show you later, I present them in a kind of order of realisation.

So here is DD3's little bear. She chose the design from the book (the same one from the Tilda series), agreed on the fabric, let me do the sewing on the machine, turned and stuffed the pieces... and she loves her dearly (it is a girl of course).

Ok now you are going to wonder why she is naked. Well she is at the moment but the clothes for the Groovy Girls dolls fit her, and they are very fashionable.