The end of summer

It was the first day back at work for me today after what have been lovely summer holidays.  It's always a struggle to get out of bed after having six weeks off and I will miss being at my sewing machine during the day, but September always comes around and it is time for me to start earning my next summer holidays.

I have three small projects to show you, and in typical fashion they are all pouches/pencil cases.  I continue to love making this little gifts, and now I know how to use my zipper foot they look better than ever.

First up is a little ballerina pencil case for my niece, Ava.  She's four and attends ballet class.  She has to push the furniture to the sides of the living room "to practise".  She takes her ballet very seriously and I loved making this simple gift and filling it with colour pencils.

The next one is for my friend Di and it has lovely Liberty prints.  Di lives in Australia and a couple of years ago I made her a Liberty quilt.  She recently got a new teaching job and I thought this would be a nice best of luck gift.  She's a classy lady, so it always has to be Liberty for her.

I included a strawberry fabric on the inside to remind her of English strawberries.  I always try to put a memory of home in there somewhere.  I hope that it will encourage her to come back to the UK!

The final one I made last night.  At 9pm I was supposed to be getting ready for bed and having an early night before returning to work.  That didn't happen!  I decided that I needed a new pencil case.  I opted for the most part for purple fabrics.  I do love purple accessories!  But I just included a couple of other colours to personalise it.  The cats had to be in there, as well as the red ladybirds.  They really are my talisman.  I also included one of my favourite Liberty prints, Ros, for good measure.  I think the pencil case was worth the last minute effort.

When in doubt...

make a zippy pouch!

I'm starting to think I must have been a marsupial in a previous life.  All of these have been gifts and the recipients have loved them because they have all been made with them in mind.

Be warned - there are lots of photos to follow!

First up, a bag for a friend who is moving to Japan.  I got to use my Drunkard's Path die for this project to create the Japanese flag.

The other side is a mixture of Japanese and British.  Last year at the Festival of Quilts I bought this sushi and tempura fabric on a whim.  It turns out it would come in very useful.  All the other fabrics are redolent of Britain (weather, food, icons etc.)  My friend loved receiving this!

 Next up we have a leaving gift for someone who loves his cats.  I have made a created patchwork images of his cats as I did for my craft room.

The ginger boy has a black growth on his mouth, which I wanted to capture.  My friend sussed this straight away (phew!)  The black and white cat is like their girl cat as well with her white splodges and white chin.  He was thrilled with this, though I suspect I enjoyed making this project even more!

More purple and more cats in these next two pouches.

It's just so nice to put together random fabrics and to have a project very quickly.  Simple patchwork and straight quilted lines are always going to be popular with me.

Thanks for visiting!

You guessed it - zippy pouches!

Lo and behold this week I've made another couple of zippy pouches!  These are for two student teachers who have had fantastic school placements with us and who we are preparing for their "proper" teaching jobs in September with lovely stationery.

There are so many pluses for me when I make these pouches.  First, I get to raid my stash and reacquaint myself with fabrics I may have forgotten.  Then I really love finding a perfect zip colour and then there is also the joy of finding a beautiful thread.  Ah, happy times!

They are both receiving their gifts at a meal out on Sunday.  I'm glad that they look distinctive and they complement their personalities.

At least I have something to show off for a Friday finish!

Oops!...I did it again!

Another blog post and another couple of zipped pouches.  I just cannot help myself at the moment.  I just love making these quick and cute gifts for people.  And as people love to receive them, I'm sure I will be making more in the future.

First up we have eight year old Clara's rainbow pencil case.  I loved picking the rainbow colours for this pencil case and I am pleased with my choice of zip which matches the interior perfectly.

In return Clara made me a gorgeous thank you card and a rainbow loom band bracelet.  I was thrilled!  She'll definitely be receiving more stitch gifts in the future!

Next up we have Elena's Russian pencil case.  Elena is a Russian work colleague, who's had a tough week.  I was stitching this last night at about eleven o'clock because I was desperate to complete it.  She was really pleased with it this morning and it was nice to see her smile.

The interior is a fabric I purchased at the weekend.  It was bad of me to buy it when I am meant to be stash-busting, but I just had to buy two fat quarters (one in the white, one in the blue) of these Holly Hobbie fabrics.  I think I can already justify these purchases as I've already used them in two projects and have made a big dent into them both.

It's been a while since I worked on a quilt.  This week I decided that had to change and that I would work on a crazy quilt which uses lots of different fabrics.  Some of these fabrics I've had for a while, some are recent purchases.  I'm not being precious about what I use and how they are put together.  The aim is just to get a quilt made using lots of different fabrics and to see how it looks at the end!

My stash has plenty of "critter" fabrics and I am pleased to have included many of them here.  All the squares are 2½" and I've been working hard to get good piecing.  The piece is 21 squares across, but I haven't decided upon the final length yet.

It has been great to use up plenty of scraps in this quilt.  I always feel virtuous doing that.  I have a nice backing fabric in stash and enough wadding, so this does feel like a stash-busting project.  So many novelty fabrics make it a great quilt for playing "I spy".  I don't know who will receive this quilt in the end but I am certainly having fun stitching it together.

Have a lovely stitching weekend!

Sew much for that

By today Christmas already feels like a while ago, but just before the start of 2015 I would like to show off some of the Christmas gifts I made and received.  I've seen a lot of blogs recently with sewn pouches which have been given as gifts.  For the first time in my life I am part of a trend as I made plenty of these for gifts as well.

First up are three of the Liberty pouches I made.  This one is a Kindle case and I love all the Liberty blues with the gingham interior.  Classy and timeless, I think.

Next up are purple make up bags.  I used some of the same fabrics in them but the different zips and inner fabrics give the bags a different feel.  The top one with the deep purple is really vibrant.  The bottom one has a lilac zip and inner and it feels a lot calmer.

 I also made a glasses case for one of my uncles, who is notorious for losing his glasses.  He is also an allotmenter, so this gardening fabric is just perfect.  This could be my all time favourite fabric.  It's by Alexander Henry and is called "Little Green".  It came out in 2011 (before I had even been on a sewing machine) and I have sought it out on many occasions, only to be told you can't get hold of any more of it.  I love it so much!  I really wish they would bring it out again; I would buy metres a bolt and make so many lovely things with it.  The fabric also has ladybirds, and I love those little critters.

I received lots of lovely presents but the sewing ones are worth sharing here.  I got a couple of notebooks, which I love for writing down my ideas and inspiration.  (Thanks Amy and Lorraine.)  I also got some sewing chocolates from Nicola (thank you!) which not only looked great but tasted yummy, too.

 Lorraine also bought me some Liberty squares and a Liberty pouch.  I was thrilled with both.  I have a lot of Liberty fabric, but I am always happy to add to it and there were loads of fabrics in this pack that I don't have and (shock horror!) there are even some I don't know the name of!

 I hope you all had a nice Christmas and have an enjoyable 2015.  I'll see you next year!