Keep it Covered!

If you're not too bored hearing about my Gifts 'One in One' course starting in November, here is another instalment!

Ipad, mini Ipad and Kindle covers:

Ipad covers

Mini Ipad cover

Kindle Cover

Obviously during the course you will only have 1 night to spend on these, so you will choose one cover to make.  However the pattern provided will give you the measurements for all 3 covers.

I know I'm not alone when looking for any excuse to make a pretty quilted pouch to cover or house something!  So I'm hoping folks will enjoy making these for themselves and others!

Jxo

Deviating!

Okay!  So on my last post I said I would show you some more of the One in One gifts for an upcoming class.

Well, I'm going to stray from that plan a little and show you a few other bits I've been making in the meantime.

First up, a present for a lovely lady, turning 50, who loves all things vintagey!

I used a few tray cloth embroidery fussy cuts, teamed with my fav Irish Linen!

 

Next, some Bee Blessed blocks for last month (or was that the month before?)!

These are the wonky crosses blocks we were making in the summer for a man quilt.  We only have a few blocks left to go, and we will have enough to start piecing this one together.

Finally, a quickie journal cover - another class sample, using red and aqua squares from my 'scrap vomit' box!

More Irish Linen! Yum!

I've also been involved in some covert sewing, with another secret project about to start!  But of course, if I told you what it was, I would have to kill you!

So I guess you'll just have to wait until the big reveals!

Jxo

Peg it!

One of my 'One in One' gifts will be peg bags! 

You may remember I made these deco weight ones from Alice's yummy fabrics.

It took quite a few attempts to get the construction of these just right.

But once you know how to make them, then you can be as creative as you like!!

I think these would make cute gifts at any time of the year!

More on my 'One in One' gifts tomorrow!

Jxo

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny!

This lovely lady sent me some teeny purse frames after hearing about my upcoming Framed purses workshop. They are only 3" x 1"!!  I drafted a template and made 2 samples for the workshop.

If you don't DO fiddly, then these are not for you!  Cute?  Yes!  Tricky to make?  Most definitely! I'm a messy pup when it comes to the glue (perhaps I like the smell of it too much!!) so you can imagine the mess I got into with these ones!

But just look at what my ladies created yesterday at the workshop (& didn't get into half the mess I did)!

(For some reason Pic Monkey wouldn't let me make a collage with these pics, so I've created a Mosaic in Big Huge Labs, but unfortunately that means the pictures are cropped! I hope you can still get a sense of the beautiful purses that were made.)

These purses are all medium 3" x 6" ones. Well done ladies for managing the tricky and messy stages of these purses so elegantly! You did me proud!

And a big thank you to everyone who made suggestions on how to remove the excess glue from the frames.  Nail polish remover works a treat on the silver metal frames, and I used white spirit on the gun metal ones.  A bit smelly, but it did the job!

Jxo

Bottom Pinchers!

Sorry about the title!

I have a pair of silicon oven grippers (you know the ones that just cover your fingers, for lifting things out of the oven?). Well they also make wonderful bottom pinchers! 

So when it came to making the heart oven mitts for my Gifts class (November) I had to work hard at not seeing them as something else!

I first saw a picture of these here, but with no tutorial available I set to designing my own pattern.  It took 3 attempts before I got it just right (that would be the turquoise one!).

These can be made with deco weight or quilters' cotton, but have heat resistant wadding inside the body and finger sections.

My 5 week Gifts course starting in November is called 'One in One', which means you can get one project made per evening.

These oven mitts are super quick to make!  I'll tell you about the other gifts another day!

I hope the ladies who have signed up for the course know what they're in for!!

Jxo

In The Frame!

I've been experimenting a bit with different materials for my upcoming Framed Purses workshop.

I'm quite pleased with the Sew-in Vilene/cotton combo ....

... and the wadding/deco weight combo.

There are a few more variations I want to try, but need to order more supplies!!

But one question I want to ask:

Acetone (nail polish) is great for removing excess glue from silver metal frames, but stains the gun-metal finished ones!  Anyone know of an alternative substance I could try, that won't leave a mark?

Framed Purses Saturday Workshop:

21st September, 10am - 4pm (places available)

Salty Giant Finished!

Apologies for my absence this week.

It's been quite a week, and one I am looking forward to forgetting. So it is wonderful to finally be able to show you not only some quilting, but a finish!

70" x 70"

You may remember me posting about this quilt top (and back) several months ago.  This will be a class sample for an upcoming one day workshop, based on Jeni's pattern here.

I quilted my Salty Giant (so called because the fabrics used are called 'Salt Air' by Cosmo Cricket) the same way I quilted my Brit bee giant star.

As yet unwashed!

And of course, stripy binding to finish!  Oh how I love stripy binding!

I'm hoping that as this quilt hangs on display in my classroom it will inspire folks to want to spend a fun day making one for themselves.

Giant Star Saturday Workshop (10am - 4pm): 16th November

Man-Sized Thank You!

A friend's hubbie recently helped me out in a very generous way, and I wanted to make him something to say thank you!

Does anyone else find men really hard to make for?  I know this person's profession and at least one of his hobbies, but neither of this helped in guiding me to a specific project to make.

Front & back: 24" x 24"

So I decided to go with a man-sized floor cushion, made with recycled denim and a few splashes of red somethingorother!

Before you ask, those feet smell of roses (not Roquefort!)

I quilted in parallel lines, alternating blue and red  The red lines remind me of the double lines of contrast stitching you get on your jeans!!

The cushion was delivered today, and I'm hoping that this particular male will enjoy putting his feet up and enjoying his new cushion.

Jxo

The Bag Ladies!

On Saturday, we enjoyed a fun workshop making Eco bags, or 'Bags for Life'.

We were mainly making the type of bags that you fold up easily and pop into your handbag or glove compartment in the car.

Some of these are reversible, some have 'tongues' and pockets, but all of them look glam and stylish!

The ladies went home armed with more patterns to try out!  I think they'll be getting noticed the next time they go shopping!

Very well done ladies!  I hope you enjoy the many compliments you are about to get from envious shoppers!

Jxo

A New Term!

It's hard for me to believe that it is September, the end of summer, the start of Autumn (supposedly) and a return to early mornings and the school routine for my 3 girls.

I'm not going to reflect on the summer, except to show you here what I made in August.





Now I'm focussed on looking forward to the new term of classes, (for me and my girls!) and in many ways, a new beginning and hopefully a new 'normal'.

September also heralds the return of Bee Blessed, and the new block of the month.

Check out the tutorial here if you fancy having a go at this easy peasy Double 4 Patch block for us.

Thank you for all the donations of blocks over the summer. I'm looking forward to catching up with fellow Bee members and seeing the blocks all come together.  We will also be starting preparations for our Fund Raiser/Exhibition in November, but more on that nearer the time!

Have a great start to the new month!

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day.

Jxo