Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of the Fabric Yard Bookbag Kit is ...............

Congratulations Amy!

I have emailed you and your bookbag kit will soon be on its way to you!

Thank you everyone for entering. Sadly lots of you were still 'no reply comment' bloggers & didn't leave email addresses.  

Wishing you all a safe evening!

Jude xo

Playing with Rainbows!

A long while ago I took part in the Fluffy Sheep Rainbow Charm Swap, and received a yummy pack of rainbow coloured charm squares.

Today I finally got around to playing with them.

Here they are up on my design board!  Isn't that just rainbow-licious!

I may not be in a hurry to sew this 'thank-you' quilt together because they are brightening up my sewing room no end!  It's like having a real rainbow right there in the room!  I love it!

And I forgot to tell you about 2 new patterns up in my Etsy shop now:

Hot Water Bottle covers:

and Tissue Box covers:

Perfect gifts for Christmas!

Jude xo

No Chance of a Lie In!

It is half term week here in N.Ireland, but there's no chance of a lie in!  Oh no!

The Roads Service have taken up camp outside my house, with their pneumatic drills and diggers, hammering right into my brain from 7.45am each morning!!  I can even feel their vibrations right through my house!!   Aagghh!

There's nothing else for it but to get up and get sewing!

I've been pattern testing for a friend using these ....

... all will be revealed in good time!

Some Brit Bee Medallion sewing ....

.... again, can't show you the full picture, all top secret!

And a few hot water bottle covers, for New Year class samples (sorry, forgot to take a picture of the other one before it went into the shop where I'm teaching!).

This is made with cosy flannel and I'm pleased to finally get to use one of my recycled duffle buttons!

I also got my Bee Blessed block for November made (go me!) but more of that at the end of the week!

So I guess I have the annoying workmen outside to thank for my productivity!

Jude xo

Giveaway!

The lovely Alice at Fabric Yard has put together a kit of the book bag tutorial I wrote for her blog, here.

The kit contains:

0.5m Essex cotton (natural)
Contrast feature fabric
Makower Jolly Heads fabric (for buttons)
pack of 20 self covered buttons

If you would like a chance to win this fun kit, please leave me a comment below (as always, 'no reply comment bloggers' will not qualify unless you include your email address in your comment). International entries welcome.

I will draw the winning entry on Friday 31st October!

And don't forget to check out the fab novelty fabrics over at Fabric Yard, with £1 flat rate P&P for UK customers, and a healthy clearance section too (for all you bargain hunters!).

Best of luck!

Jude xo

I Won! I Won!

I am unashamedly delighted to tell you that I am one of 3 winners of the Dilly-bag-a-long, hosted by Gnome Angel.

Thank you so much everyone for voting for me!  You are the best!

And my winnings?

I've been eyeing this book for a while and have it on my Christmas list!  How exciting that Santa will be coming early!!

And a big thank you to Angie for hosting and organising this lovely blog hop!

Wishing you all a fruitful day!

Jude xo

A Bailey's Kind of Day!

Last week I got the lunchbags finished for my sister's shop ...

... and yesterday I got a few more peg bags finished for the shop.

Today marked the last day of making stock.

Sadly, the day did not go well!

Firstly, I made a couple of hot water bottle covers, just to see how they would sell and to use up some snuggly leftover fleece.

What you can't see here is the perfect 'iron' print on the front of one of them!!!!!

I've no idea what I was thinking! I know you don't iron fleece! It was already finished and just needed placed in the bag along with the rest of the stock!  Why oh why did I think to iron it!!!  Talk about a numpty moment!  I've no more fleece to redo that section, so that's one less item being sold!

My mind has been having a lot of these 'outer body' experiences lately! My IG friends got to see the sticky state of my newly fleeced iron, and promptly prescribed Bailey's as the cure!  My kind of thinking!

Next up were a few more washbags.  

I had some heat 'n bond to try laminating some of my own fabric. While it was easy enough to use, overall I'm not impressed for projects where you have to squish and pull the the fabric through gaps in linings and such. 

It crinkles terribly, as does oil cloth, and ironing this stuff is tricky. The finished results aren't as good as I was hoping (there were 2 oilcloth lunchbag casualties last week I didn't show you!).  

I'm going to do a bit more research on other self laminating products and see if I can improve on these.

The jury is out on whether I sell these or not.  I will consult big sis!

So despite the frustrating end, I'm glad I've finished making stock for my sister's shop! Over my Bailey's and ice tonight I'm celebrating the fact that 132 items will soon be on their way to big sis! 

And remember my Dilly Bag?  Well you can now vote for your favourite bag here! I'd love it if you could have a wee look at the gorgeous bags and then vote for mine!!! Hee hee!

Jude xo

Pinwheels & Prairie Points!

Last week my Pinwheels & Prairies Quilt class finished! Wanna see?

Single Bed size

Cot Quilt size

Aren't they just the cutest!  I love how different they all look!  Well done ladies on your fabulous quilts!

You can find the pattern for both quilt sizes here.

Jude xo

Linen Book Bag!

I remember with fondness taking my girls to the local library each week, talking too loudly as we browsed the different shelves, filling up our book bags with more bedtime stories!

Sadly they are too old for that now!  But I'm pleased to say they haven't lost their love of reading!

If you are looking for an easy Christmas make for your young 'book loving' person, how about this fun bag, made with Essex Linen!

I had lots of fun with these self covered buttons from Fabric Yard!

And if you'd like to know how to make up this bag, you can find the tutorial (and all materials) here on the Fabric Yard blog.

(Stay tuned for news of a giveaway soon!)

Jude xo

Dilly Bag Complete!

You may remember I was involved in a wee blog hop a few weeks bag, hosted by Gnome Angel and using Judy Newman's Dilly Bag pattern.

Well I actually got the bag finished a few weeks ago too, but haven't been able to show you until now!

You can read about how I made the bag & the fabrics I chose here.

I love seeing this cute bag hanging up in my sewing room, but alas, it is destined to be given away!  I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do.

Thank you Angie for hosting this blog hop.  You can check out all the other gorgeous Dilly bags here and you, the lovely public, get to vote your favourite from Monday 20th.

Jude xo

Aaachoooooo!

In keeping with the change of weather here and the rife seasonal colds, I made some handy tissue pouches to sell!

I was also sent some vinyl covered fabrics from a lovely friend, and I turned these into simple wash bags, with wipeable linings.

I've had a wee go at making my own 'vinyl' covered fabric (using heat 'n bond) so I may have a few more washbags made before all the shop stock gets handed over!

Hope you are having a great week, despite the stormy weather!

Jude xo

Scraptastic Tuesday!

I'm a bit of a 'scraps' nut!  I keep even tiny pieces, which come in handy for sketch applique projects:

So when Nicky and Leanne kickstarted Scraptastic Tuesday (a monthly linky party) I thought 'that's right up my street!'

Now I could write a thousand blog posts on the scrappy projects I've been working on recently!! 

But I'll show you just a few samples instead (I can hear you sigh with relief from here!).

I had some tiny leftovers from a layer cake quilt, which I made into this QAYG zippy pouch.

And more tiny leftovers made the prettiest bunting on these linen pencil cases.

A sizzix cutting machine is great for turning odd sized scraps into useable shapes, which is how I made the circles on these (repurposed trousers) pouches.

And finally, our Bee Blessed block of the month is a tribute to all things scrappy!

So that's my (conservative!) link up to Scraptastic Tuesday!  

If scraps are your 'thing' too, then hop on over to Nicky's or Leanne's and check out the other inspiring projects!

Jude xo

Hexie-licious!

My Hexie Quilts class finished this evening!

Just look at all this hexie goodness:

Half Hexie Quilts - Beginner

Hexie Stars Quilt - Advanced Beginner

Aren't they fabulous!

There are a couple more that I didn't get pictures of, but trust me, they are every bit a beautiful as these!

The pattern for both Hexie designs is available here in my Etsy shop!

Jude xo

A productive day!

More beautiful sunshine today!  Yay!

Yesterday's batch sewing was all about Ipad covers!

A while ago I had fun using these self covered buttons from Fabric Yard! I find them so much easier to use than the metal ones with teeth!!

I think they add just the right final touches to these simple covers.

And we were productive in Bee Blessed today too!

We love getting all your blocks each month, and so enjoy laying them out and putting them together into gorgeous quilts!  I know it takes a while to see your blocks made up into quilts, so thank you for your patience.

Have a brilliant weekend!

Jude xo 

Fab Friday!

The sun was shining today, and it's the end of the week!  Ah, what could be better!

Today's batch sewing is all about Kindle & Kindle Fire covers:

Kindle covers

Kindle Fire covers

These wee pouches are simply and quickly made, but my favourite part was getting to play with these!

Oh what fun punching in these cute fasteners!

The stock is building up nicely!  

And with only 1 daughter at home today, and Bee Blessed in the afternoon, Saturday is shaping up to be another day of sewing (after I clean the house that is - boo!)

Jude xo

A Flurry of Finishes!

Despite an hour in the dentist's chair this morning, (and a frozen eyebrow for the first time ever!!) I managed to get these peg bags finished off today!

Yes, you've guessed it! More shop stock (hope you aren't bored yet!).

And tonight saw the end of my Sewing machine cover class.

Aren't they brilliant!  All made to measure with lots of personal touches!  There's even an overlocker hidden in there!

Well done ladies on your beautiful covers!

Hope you are having a creative week!

Jude xo