Happy Paddy's Day!

To all my friends, far and near, happy St. Patrick's Day!

Despite living in the land of '40 shades of green', today will be a usual Saturday - lie-in, chores, sewing!.

At the moment I'm having some fun with these ...

have designs on one of these ......

made another one of these ........

and plan to eat lots of this when my friend Sarah and her family come for tea!

Hope you have a great St. Paddy's day!

Stick Your Tongue Out!

Sunday is my 'no work sewing allowed' day, so I get to play and catch up with personal makes and pressies.

I recently saw this on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/galafem/4052963375/in/photostream

and thought they'd make cute kids presents.  My first attempt wasn't too bad, especially as I went for a lined version:

Tongue is too big, strap too long, eyes too slitty & strap on wrong side!

My kids and their friends seem to love quirky things, so I'll keeping working on these friendly 'monster' purses til I'm happy with the proportions and expressions.

My middle daughter spied this on flickr and thought it was soooooooo coooooool!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsibitsi/2995461234/     

Wouldn't it be fun if she found one of these in her stocking!

So playtime next Sunday might be spent on these bad boys!

I also got a wee bit of quilting done on one of the nephew cushions, and some chain piecing on the little girl cot quilt.

But now onto something much more mundane!

I had to finish the last traunch of makeup bags today, as they are going into the salon tomorrow.  I'm sure you're as sick of seeing these as I am, but here are the final 11 going for sale:

The 'pre tissue paper stuffed' look!

Sadly, these don't include the ones I was going to make as presents, so it looks like I'm not yet done making makeup bags!!!!

Hope you've had a great start to the new week (it's December this week!  Eeeeeeeeeek!)

Judith xo

Progress (just about!)

This is my 2nd attempt at this post, delayed due to needing a new cable to download the pics from my phone of what I've done today.

And why did I need a new cable?

Let me show you the next 2 pictures and you can draw your own conclusions (I already know what Hadley's going to say!).

Butter wouldn't melt!

Anyway, if you are reading this post then a certain cute doggy hasn't been banished to the outback forever and I managed to track down a computer shop which sold the right USB cable.

And so onto the progress that I achieved today.

Today the sun was out ALL DAY, which means I was motivated to sew despite feeling tired!

Firstly I cracked on with the quilting of my Value quilt which I need to finish & get photographed for my new program coming out at the end of the week.

I've ordered some Kona Azure from River Fabrics for the binding, which I'll get tomorrow.  Then I can get this baby finished and reveal it to the world (well, the few of you who unwaveringly put up with my ramblings!).

Next, I opened up The Sweat Shop and made a start on the unquantifyible make-up bags to re-stock my sister's salon. 

These things are selling like hot cakes & I can't keep up with demand.  Unfortunately my zips haven't arrived yet from RayStitch or Zipit so I've stalled a bit (plus I'm bored to death making endless make-up bags!!).

A bored (yet creative) mind is a dangerous thing, cos then I start thinking up new projects to start.  I have indeed decided on a new, fun project, but you'll have to wait til tomorrow to find out!!

Hope you've had a sunny and productive day!

Judith xo

Does Batman Wear Makeup?

I know it's a random title, but bear with me!!

In response to my sister's need for more makeup bags, and my need to make more Christmas presents for girly relatives, I've cut up fabric for what feels like another 600 makeup bags!

Ok, so that's a slight exaggeration!

But I do have a few birthdays and Christmas presents accounted for in that pile, as well as supplying my sister's salon with more stock and herself with teacher's presents!

My only difficulty was in getting orange zips!  I tried 2 UK based shops and nada!  So would you believe it, my orange zips are winging their way to me all the way from the wonderful US, courtesy of Zipit!

I hope they arrive soon!!

I've also ordered this as a Christmas present to myself!

I'm looking forward to trying out some blocks from bloggers I follow who have contributed to this book.

And last but not least, a Christmas present for my 6 year old nephew who is batty about .....

The yellow is a lot more 'canary' than you see here!

You guessed it!  Batman!

This is a toy pouch (approx. 13" x 9") for him to keep all his wee batman bits and pieces in (cos I happen to know he's getting a fab Bat cave from Santa!).

So that's another pressie ticked off the list!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Judith xo

There is hope!

Despite the horrific weather I battled with today, I came away from my sister's salon feeling positive!

Not only did I get a re-style (and of course those impetuous grey roots dyed into submission) but I also found out that 2 of my bags have sold!  Hooray!

And because all of the make-up pouches had previously sold I brought 5 more down with me plus 6 tissue pouches (see pics here).

Within 10 minutes of me setting them out, 4 tissue pouches sold and 1 of the new make-up pouches.  And so as not to completely deplete the stock before customers get a look in, my sister & one of her staff have also ordered about 6 more make-up pouches for teachers' Christmas presents!!  

Looks like I need to order more zips then!!

I can't bear to write a post without a photo (?!) so I'll show you the quilt back for the 'man' quilt we are making in Bee Blessed.  I just love that Kona Ash, one of my favourite Kona colours!

All materials from River Fabrics.

Hope you've had a less wet & windy day than me!  I'm off to class tonight to see more wonderful creativity in the form of Advent Calendars!

Judith xo

Pretty Maids All In A Row!

I'm heading down to my sister's salon tomorrow.  As far as I know none of my handbags have sold, but all the make-up pouches have sold, so I've made some more of those to take down with me.

I've also made some tissue pouches to take down, as folks seem to be buying smaller gifts at the moment.

I'll give you an update on sales when I return on Thursday.

Yesterday I got some wonderful post!

Thanks Elisa for your wonderful package of treats & Bee Blessed blocks.  Elisa is my lovely friend across the water in USA, and writes her blog with honesty, passion and creativity - pop on over and say hi!

I've always admired & desired one of Elisa's signature origami cranes.  And now I have one to keep my other crane company.  What should I call them?

Also in the post was the fabric I've ordered for my dad's 70th birthday Civil War quilt.  

Charlotte at The Homespun Loft was an absolute super-star in helping me choose the fabrics I needed, using her discerning eye to guide me on what worked together, and making up & photographing a bespoke bundle just for me.  Thanks Charlotte so much for your first-class service and attentiveness.

So now I need to add 'Start making Civil War blocks' to my ever growing To Do list!!

Have a great Wednesday!

Judith xo