Anyone for Lunch?

So I was sitting at my sewing window yesterday, working on this ....

..... when this van pulled up outside my house!

Meals on Wheels for my elderly neighbours!

Talk about a coincidence!

The project in question was a lunch bag.  In fact, one of several lunchbags!

But I'm having major problems uploading my photos from Flickr at the mo that I'm going to see if I can upload them a different way.

Flickr seems to have limited the size of photo you can upload, and they are just too small for blogger! The 'Download all Sizes' option doesn't work, so if any of you techy brains out there can help me, I'm all ears!

And if you want to check out Shannon's first quilt (for Bee Blessed) have a look here! It's brilliant!
Have a great weekend!

Jude xo

Good News!

Well the good news is Mr Pfaff has been returned to me safe and sound.  With a fixed circuit board and foot pedal, he is purring again like a dream!  Phew!

Thank you 'Mr Sewing Machine Fix It Guy'!  You Rock!

And here are a few more smiling faces!

This is the 'remnant' of my Beginners Sewing Class who completed their cushions and tote bags this week!  6 others couldn't make it to the last evening, but they all deserve a huge pat on the back for overcoming their fears and getting started on their sewing machines!

Keeeeeeeeeeep Sewing!

Jude xo

Nooooooooooooooooo!

It's been a stressful week!

I'll spare you the details, but one of the worst things that happened was my beloved Pfaff sewing machine stopped working yesterday! 

In the 8 years I've had my machine I've never had any bother!  My Pfaff is not just my sewing machine.  It's my livelihood!  And of course, it decides to go on strike at the time of year when I'm neck deep in deadlines!!!

I've to ring my trusty 'Mr Sewing Machine Fix It Man' tomorrow and I'm holding my breath for a favourable and cheap outcome!

Before the worst happened, I managed to get my next round of Brit Bee Medallion sewing done.  As usual I can't show you much of it, but trimming teeny half square triangles with a teeny 2.5" square was actually quite fun!

And my beginner class have been doing some great sewing too!  But I'm having a few problems with flickr (of course!) so I'll show you their makes tomorrow!

I think I'll call it a day before something else goes wrong!

Jude xo

Cutting it Fine (again!)

My entry into this new month seems to have gotten away from me just as quickly as May did!

I'm just sneaking into Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day in time for my monthly round up for May.

There are a few more things I've made that I can't show you yet, and stuff still to blog about! But all in good time!

Wishing you all a brilliant June!

Jude xo

Quilt Top In A Day!

Today was a Quilt Top In A Day workshop at In Stitches!

Sarah very kindly let me teach her Brick Layer Cake quilt pattern, but to be honest I did very little teaching.  Sarah had everything under control and the well written pattern flowed beautifully!

The ladies did brilliantly today, chopping up their layer cake and reassembling them into beautiful quilt tops!  Our youngest sewer today was only 11 and that's hers in the middle of the mosaic! 

Well done everyone! You are all super-stars!

And if you would like to have a go at this brilliant pattern, you can find the free tutorial of it here on Sarah's blog.

Jude xo

More Bow Ties!

Well June is almost here (not that you would know by looking outside!).

The Bee Blessed Block of the month for June will be continuing the 'bow tie' theme with this scrappy bow tie!

These are 12.5" unfinished blocks and you can find the tutorial here.

It only took me 20 minutes this morning to make this fun block!  If you fancy having a go, we are asking for solid white background as shown here, and bright scrappy colours for the bow tie.

This will be the last BOM until September.  Thanking all you wonderful contributors in advance of your wonderful support.

Jude xo

The New Workroom!

Well a few of you have been itching to see pics of my new sewing room (my old bedroom)! 

I'm almost embarrassed to show you these pics, in case you think I'm bragging!  I'm not, but completely and utterly aware of how fortunate I am to have the available space to facilitate this size of workspace.

I've tried to take pictures working from left to right, from the door as you come in, clockwise around the room!

I spend at least 20 hours per week in here (often more!) supporting the 10-15 hours per week I spend teaching my classes. I'm loving my new 'office' space where I can sit at a proper desk and write patterns, answer emails, take registrations for classes etc. without having to balance the laptop on my knee!

The light from the huge bay window is brilliant to sew at!  Though I'm now looking directly into the front street and getting some strange looks back!

I keep my deco weight, linen, wadding offcuts and dressmaking stuff in these boxes.  I also have a box of ufo's (less said the better!) and the smaller boxes on the top shelf are projects currently being developed for future classes.

What's a little weird is that I have slightly less storage space for smaller items, but my ample window sills have come in handy!  I even have a place to hang my WIP quilts!

But my most favourist (?!) of all the items in the room is my new cutting table!



My dad converted my old work table into this huge cutting table, complete with castors so I can move it to one side, room to store & access my bulky bolts of fabric and tonnes of space on top for several large cutting mats!  I've still to stick down a couple of measuring tapes to the top edges to make it quick and easy to measure yardage. 

You know, it really doesn't matter how much space I get, I still manage to fill it!  This new spacious workroom means I'm no longer cramped and falling over stuff and there's room for Shannon and I to work side by side!

It's as a result of very unpleasant circumstances that this change of room use has been possible.  But I'm a great believer that good things can come out of bad situations.

A huge thank you to my 3 long suffering kids for helping me push and pull the furniture around, and to my dad for being so creative and handy with his hands!

Jude xo