No Animals Were Harmed .....

.... in the making of this hot water bottle cover!

This is for my nephew ........ to match his bedroom!  What can I say, he's a guy with style!

And in keeping with the present theme, I got this mini Ipad cover made for youngest daughter's bestie....

... my final 2 in 1 pouch of the year (bringing the total to 6!)......

...and a tablet case!

Still a few more makes to go, but now that the retail shopping is all done (bar the food) I'm feeling a lot calmer than in my last post!!

Hope your week is going to plan!

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

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

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It's been deliciously warm here recently!

I even got the bare legs out today!

But what I've been working on recently hasn't exactly been summery!

These are hot water bottle covers for part of a Gifts course I'll be running in the Autumn!

Shannon very kindly made me some grey and yellow QAYG panels and I constructed the cover.

This one is an Irish linen and Heather Ross mix - always a winning combo IMO!

Using up leftover fleece from a quilt backing

And finally, a fleecy number!  So snuggly!

All of these covers have Insul Bright wadding inside to make sure they retain the heat for those cold winter evenings!

So it was hot inside and out after working on these!

Some of you on IG have very kindly expressed an interest in the pattern for these.  Thank you, I'm tickled pink!  But I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the Autumn, but I will post about here when it's ready!

Hope you are getting some sunshine in your neck of the woods!

Jude xo