Artisan peg bag

Hello again

Today I would like to share with you another make, pattern and material from the clever Sharon from WhoopsieDaisyDesigns.  This is a design for a peg bag which you can hang round your neck, leaving your hands free to hang up the clothes.

This is the front which has two pockets at the front.  The pink spotted contrast marks the two pockets, one in front and one behind.  

This is the back of the bag.  I do love the cats on the material.  

I made this for my friend's  birthday, who loves cats.  She was very pleased with it, even though I had to explain to her what it was for!

These two pictures show in more detail the two pockets of the bag.  You can see there's plenty of room for pegs.

It doesn't have to be used for pegs, of course.  I think it would be just as useful for gardening or even for crafting.  Everything in one place.

Thank you for looking.

Liz x

Yet another apron

Hello

Here are pictures of my third and last apron I made for Christmas presents.

This time I bought the material.  My daughter-in-law said that her sister loved 'vintage' style and I didn't have any appropriate material.  I bought the material from a shop in Horam, East Sussex (I'm afraid I don't know the name, we just call it the 'fabric shop in Horam').  

I used the same pattern from Sharon at Whoopsiedaisy but used one of the alternative options, using the heart shapes.  I added the frill around the heart bib as I wanted to make it more 'vintage'!!

She seemed tickled pink with the apron.  I do hope she like it!

I must say I probably won't be making any more aprons in the near future!!

Thank you for looking.

Liz x

Another apron

Hello

As promised in my blog after Christmas here is the second apron I made at Sharon's Whoopsiedaisy.

This time I used some Christmas material I bought from Dunhelm store last year.  It seemed perfect for the design.  I already had the burgundy material for the pockets and straps.

Again I used Crafters Companion A3 double sided card for the box.  This was for my son's mother-in-law.  She seemed absolutely delighted with it.  I hope she really was!

Thank you for looking.

Liz x

Beatrix Potter bunting

Hello

Thought I'd show you the latest present I made for my youngest grandson, Rory.

I bought the Beatrix Potter material at the Malvern Quilt show this Autumn and saw the material in pink, made up into a small cushion with piping round it.  So I bought a metre, planning on making the cushion for him.  I took it to Sharon at Whoopsiedaisy Designs for her to help me with the piping.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the cushion, which came out very well!!  I'll try and get one when I next see Rory.

However I had rather a lot of material left over and Sharon suggested I make some bunting and put Rory's name on it. As luck would have it, there were just enough letters left for me to cut out his name and some Beatrix Potter characters as well.

We decided to make the bunting in a semi curved flag - it gave more room to include the pictures.  I backed the bunting with pale blue flannelette and used pale blue cotton to make the string to hold the flags together.  

I made two flags on each end and put the initials in the middle.  

This flag mirrors the Peter Rabbit character Rory has painted on his nursery wall.

Because the two 'r's in Rory's name did not have any characters I could use as I have with the 'o' and the 'y' I backstitched by hand around the letter 'r'.  Then I machined the square onto the blue flannelette using a ziz-zag stitch.

I do love Jeremy Fisher so was very pleased to be able to include him  into the bunting.

I used the same Peter Rabbit character at the beginning and the end of the bunting as luckily there were two left in the material. 

I was very pleased with the result and everyone who saw it thought it was lovely too.

Thank you for looking.

Liz x

Christmas presents I have made

Hello

First of all may I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  Let's hope 2016 is a good one for us all.

Now that Christmas is over, one wonders what all the fuss was about.  How come it takes weeks in preparation and everything is over and done within one day?  At least I hope it was all worth while and you all had a brilliant time.

Every year my son's in-laws very kindly invite me over to spend Christmas with them all.  Although we do not give presents I feel I should make something as a thank you for their kindness. 

This year I decided to make aprons for the ladies, my son's mother-in-law, her mother and my daughter-in-law's sister.  You may remember I go to sewing classes with Whoopsiedaisy Designs on a Monday morning and Sharon had a super pattern for aprons.  Sharon has helped me with making them all and I was very pleased with them.

This is the first apron I made.  I already had the material and it seemed perfect for an older lady!  Lovely little teapots and cups and the pockets just matched up very well.

I also made the boxes to put the aprons in from Crafters Companion A3 card.

I think she was very pleased with it!  I hope so.

I'll post the other aprons in future blogs.

May I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.  I wonder what 2016 will bring us all.

Thank you for looking.

Liz x

Another Christmas make

Hello

In previous blogs I mentioned aprons I had made for Christmas for my son's in-law family.  I had already made an apron for my daughter-in-law for her birthday.  That's where I got the idea of making aprons for the rest of her family as they seemed to like hers very much.

Consequently I had to think of something else for her for Christmas.  Sharon from Whoopsiedaisy had just developed this make-up bag and so I thought this would be perfect for her.

I had bought the material from Create and Craft,it was one of six fat quarters.  This seemed perfect as my son and daughter-in-law got engaged at the Eiffel Tower.  The contrast material I used from leftovers from the vintage apron and the inside lining was also from one of the six fat quarters.

I also made the box from Crafters Companion A3 double sided card.

My daughter-in-law seemed delighted with the present and she recognised the significance of the Eiffel Tower.

I enjoyed making this bag and I think I shall be making a few more, thank you Sharon!

Thank you for looking

Liz x

More Whoopsiedaisy sewing

Hello, me again

I want to show you my cushion I made using Sharon's pattern.  Sharon gave us the appliqué patterns for all the flowers, birds and butterflies.  It did take me quite a while to do but I was very pleased with the result.  However it strengthened my belief I do not particularly enjoy appliqué nor blanket stitch!!  It has become quite a joke at class regarding my dislike of blanket stitch.

We started off with the appliqué and then went onto the border - this was made up with many small squares, using fabric to match.  We sewed each square into strips and then attached the strips using some wide ric rac to the appliqué square, adjusting where necessary.  

The little birds have some wadding under their wings to give some depth and texture and some of the flowers were made using little Suffolk puffs or curved petals.  Very effective.

The back was finished off using buttons and button holes.  Sharon showed us how to make button holes using the sewing machine and made it look so easy.  Which it is really once we knew how. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the back so I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine it!

Thank you for looking.

Liz x