An Italian Diva!

The sun has been shining for 2 whole days now!  Hooray!

The toes have been painted (no pics you'll be pleased to hear) and no.1 daughter working on her tan in the garden!  It is exam season afterall!

My daughter had requested a 'makeup bag style' pouch for her (super artistic) friend's birthday. After much deliberation over fabrics and design, we came up with this:

I don't do minimalist, so keeping this one to the 'simple and modern' brief was a challenge.

The Italian wool I was using was also a challenge, quite the diva in fact!  So there was nothing for it but to quilt it to within an inch of its life!

I did veer slightly from the original brief, but I'm really pleased with how this roomy pouch turned out and so was my big girl!

And some of you will be pleased to hear that I am now on Instagram: #justjudebelfast

Please be patient as I haven't quite figured out how to use IG with a new phone I haven't quite figured out how to use!!

Jude xo

Buttons & Blessings!

I wanted to make my secret Brit Quilt Swap partner a wee handmade something, to go with her mini quilt and charm squares.

This particular person loves buttons & linen (a girl after my own heart) so I made her this:

This pouch gave me another opportunity to use the vintage lace I've aquired and a recycled Pilgrim necklace made the perfect zipper pull!



So now I've got something to put the charm squares and ribbon into for my secret partner!

And today my daughter got some long sought after sewing time with mum, and made an Antique Tile block for Bee Blessed.

Would you just look at that sneaky Martha trying to photo bomb!

Another one of my very talented students has started her own blog!  I'd love it if you would pop over to The Flax Mill and say hi to Ainslee!  She is about to have her first baby in a few weeks time - I see lots of baby quilts in her future!

The sun is shining, it's a glorious day!

I hope you are enjoying this day, whatever you are doing, wherever you are doing it!

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!

Hexie-licious!

Look what I got!!!

You may remember I was participating in the Mouthy Stitches Pouch Swap, and today I got a parcel of goodies!

Unbeknown to me, Jennifer from The Knotted Thread was assigned me as her secret partner.  And boy did she do her homework!

She has not only produced a beautifully handmade pouch, but it includes some of my favourite elements - hexies, green, linen, wonderful flowery (hippy!) lining!  And not forgetting some truly yummy scraps!

Thank you so much Jen, I will be putting this pouch to good use for transporting my bobbins box around.

The perfect fit!

I've also received all of my Brit Bee blocks and siggys now.

Looks like there's one more space left for me!

I was Miss January and I asked the girls to make me some log cabin blocks.

I've started sewing them all together now and I can't wait to show you, what will be to me, a very special quilt.

Have a wonderful weekend!