Back to School Pouch!

Here in N.Ireland we have really loooooooong school summer holidays.  They start off slowly at the end of June, but seem to really speed up in August as we hurtle towards September!

We are already in the throws of school uniform buying in the Hollies' household!

So my 'Back to School' Pencil case in this month's issue of Quilt Now is quite timely!

I love these colours on the Essex Yarn Dyed Linen (denim). 

And on the other side ......

If you want to banish your fear of zippers, this is a lovely project to get in some practise. The pattern will talk you through how to insert the zipper, and how to make covered zip ends to get a lovely finish to your pouch.

This is a really roomy pouch, so no excuses for forgetting school supplies!!

And if you'd like to get some of this quality linen/cotton mix, you can find it here in my shop.

Happy sewing!

Jude xo

Little and Large!

This week I made 2 teeny pinwheel blocks (3" finished) for this pencil case present ...

And much larger 'disappearing 9 patch' units for a Siblings Together quilt....

A lady in Southern Ireland very kindly donated some fabrics to Siblings Together so with a little added Kona Silver and a few more scraps of my own, I've made this so far!

It's certainly bright and scrappy, but most definitely pink and girly!

It's been another gorgeous sunny day here today!

Hope you are enjoying some good weather wherever you are!

Jude xo

Spring Sunshine!

It was a cold but lovely sunny day here today!

I went out to my washing line to photograph a quilt top (can't show you yet, sorry!) and got a bit snap happy!

Oh how I love the sunshine! (Except when it shows up my dirty windows!!)

The little bit of sewing I can show you is pencil 1 of 2 for my youngest! She put in another order (or 2), chose her fabrics, and obedient mummy got to work!

An old necklace pendant came in handy for the zipper pull!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend and got to enjoy some spring sunshine!

Jude xo

Birthday Bags!

The little sewing I have managed this week has involved bags or pouches!

My sister's Bag for Life, to go with her birthday picture:



And for my step-MIL, a pouch to match the Modern Maud handbag I made her for Christmas.



Finally, a pencil case/pouch for my friend's daughter:

I just love that Wellie fabric!

Happy Friday!

Tis the Season!

My Autumn term of classes are up and running, with lots of new faces to teach (as well as a few 'old' ones too!).

The kids' 'back to school honeymoon period' is well and truly over, especially as I've taught them how to back their own books now!  What a mean mummy I am!

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons, but I'm horrified to learn that certain supermarkets are already stocking Christmas stuff! Nooooooo!

I will have a run on presents to make this season, as well as all of next term's class samples.

But before all that, I decided to put a label on my friend's vintage sheets birthday quilt before I pop it into the post for her.

Also going into this parcel is a pencil case for her son who turns 6 this month!

It will be filled up with goodies before being shipped out! I thought my daughter's 'Mickey Mouse Merlin hat' zipper pull looked perfect with it!

I hope you are enjoying this new season (Autumn that is, not Christmas!).

Sew With Mother!

Today there's a FQ Retreat linky party going on over at the Fat Quarterly Blog if you want to check out all the bloggers who'll be there next weekend.

And as I'll be there in the flesh, I'm linking up too!

If you are visiting my blog for the first time, hello and welcome! I'm looking forward to meeting so many of you next weekend!  I'll be one of the few speaking with a Northern Irish accent and I'll be tagging along with some of my fellow Brit Bee gals, among others.

I've got all my workshop requirements gathered up (Saturday: Framed Purses and Potholes), and there might be a pressie or 12 making their way into my case too! (More on that after the weekend!).

Only 6 more sleeps for me, and then I'll be high in the sky!
                          *******************************************************

Anyone want to admit being old enough to remember 'Watch With Mother'?

I'm waaaaaaaaaay too young of course, but my youngest and I had a wee 'Sew With Mother' session today.

Her friend turns 11 next week, so instead of me turning out another pencil case/pouch/suitable gift, I said she could do it!

She choose a green and aqua palette and did a crazy patched front, and striped back:

Finished size: 10.5" x 6.5"



Doesn't the Fimo 'lolly' zipper pull match the lining well?

I only did the boring bits i.e. the zip and lining!

All we need now are some goodies to fill up this monster case and we're done!


Hope you've been enjoying some spectacular sunshine today!

Here Come the Girls!

My girls have had a run on 'it's my friend's birthday soon mum (wink, wink!)'.  

That usually means one of two things for me - get down to the shops to buy something or get down and busy and make something!

As I come out in a nervous rash at the very thought of going shopping, it usually boils down to option no.2!

So here are the pressies I've managed to whip up this week:

1. Slouch Bag (for a 13 year old friend - posted about here.)

2. Pencil Case (for a 16 year old friend) with pvc lining and stuffed with sweets and nail polish!

3. Journal & Cover (for a 13 year old friend)

4. Make up Bag (for a 16 year old friend) also stuffed with sweets!

Made from my old jeans - I might just have to make another one of these for myself!

So let's hope that's the birthdays sorted out for another wee while.

And finally, just time to show you the gorgeous scraps I won from Reene:

Reene has amazing taste in delicious fabrics and I'm sooooo going to enjoy using these!  Thanks so much Reene.

Happy Friday everyone!

Little Things!

June is definitely a month of gifts and presents.

I have so many I want to make this month, and time is running out!  Eeeeeek!

My chilldren finish school for the summer holidays on 30th June, which means teachers' presents must be made by then (more on that another day!).

My daugher is going to a friend's birthday party soon, so I rustled up this cute pencil case, which will be filled with lots of goodies!

On Sunday, we have Father's Day!  Hubbie got some lovely plants for his hanging baskets, but I thought I'd run him up a fun wee mug rug for his office.

He's from the south coast of England, where beach huts abound!  Well, we can dream!

My friend's mum is also being a complete star and altering some of my clothes (I really must learn how to make & alter clothes!).

You may remember I recently made her a couple of little brooches, so I thought I'd make her a pin cushion & matching basket to put her bits and pieces in.  

Another little brooch for a very stylish lady!

The final 'little thing' today is my donation block to the Tokyo Quilt Festival Partnership Quilts. 

This is a foundation pieced, wonky log cabin block & finishes at 9.5" (perfect for the Partnership Quilts criteria).  

The fabrics are batiks, in strong orange & raspberry and reminded me of the flowers I received for Mother's Day which were called 'Tutti Fruit'.  

Don't you think a quilt made in these colours would be so tropical and fun!

I will post the pdf of this pattern on my blog for anyone else who is interested, just as soon as I figure out how to do that!!

Have a fab Thursday!

Baskets & Doorstops

I've been asked to take a few more classes at Oasis Caring in Action Centre this year.  I spent an amazing 12 months with these wonderful ladies last year, and got so much satisfaction from helping women from the local community learn new sewing skills and get excited about their very own makes.

This time around, we want to encourage some of the ladies to grow in confidence and become facilitators/tutors of future Quilting classes in Oasis.  We'll be getting the ladies inspired to have an Easter sale of the items they make to help raise further funds for the Quilting Project, and will be doing some old favourites - log cabin cushions & Amy Butler Swing Bags, as well as some new cutsie projects - check out the baskets and doorstop ideas below.

There are various tutorials available for the smallest sized basket.  Check out Pink Penguin and Vlijtig for fabric basket tutorials.

I sized up the measurements for a medium sized basket and a large basket (not shown), which was a bit tricky (not being a mathematical whizz!) but I got there in the end.

These little hostess boxes are a quick and easy make, although you do need to be spot on with your measuring and cutting for these.  Check out Sew Mama Sew for a great wee tut.

Door stops need to be sturdy, so I recycled my denim scraps to make this small pyramid shaped one.  The tut for this one is found on Bake and Sew.  It's another simple project, and as it doesn't involve zippers or fiddly velcro, I'm sure the ladies at Oasis will have fun making these.  It may be small, but it still took almost 1kg of dried peas to fill it!  Small but effective!

Esther's pressie!

My friend's daughter turns 9 at the end of this month.  She lives in England so when I make her presents they always have to be things that are easily posted.  This year I decided to make her a pencil case, after my success with making them for my own daughters. 

Teamed up with cutsie bunnies and characters (& a few secret sweeties hidden inside!) I hope she'll enjoy these 'little girl' treats.  Happy birthday Esther!

Christmas Presents 2010

During the summer I hatched a plan with my 3 daughters to make daddy a 'prayer' quilt.  Daddy gets up very early in the mornings to pray, but during the winter months it can be very cold at 5.30am!  So we thought a snuggly quilt with especially chosen bible verses sewn into it would inspire daddy while he prays, and keep him nice and warm!  I gave the children 3 calico squares each with a handful of fabric pens and off they went, writing and creating.  I pre-cut 2.5" strips from some of daddy's old shirts and other shirt fabric I've acquired over the years.  They chose their strips to border each of their blocks and they sewd them around their verses. 





Complete with spelling mistakes! So cute!!



I then quilted them, and made them up into the quilt with other simple 9 square and log cabin blocks.  The quilt was made in a raw-edge style - each block is quilted separately, then sewn wrong sides together.  After snipping all the raw seams and putting it through the washing machine and tumble dryer, you get lovely fluffy seams. 

I designed the quilt so that the blocks on the front and the back are readable, so technically, there is no back!  Both sides can be admired!  Needless to say, Daddy loved his 'prayer' quilt made by his girls and has enjoyed a few prayer times (& snoozes!) under it. 

My eldest daughter had announced before Christmas that she would like a new pencil case.  I had recently spied a tutorial on Bits and Pieces Blogspot for a pencil case so thought I'd have a go. 

I was so pleased with the result, I made pencil cases for my 2 other daughters also, and wrapped them up for Christmas day. 

They were delighted with them and were quickly filled with the new felt-tips and pens Santa had put in their sacks.

Happy Campers!