Change of season!?

Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer ... if anyone can tell me what season we are meant to be in here in the UK I would be grateful because the weather at the moment doesn't seem to know what it is doing!!!
This must be the reason why I've only just got round to swapping my seasonal printables!

These awesome printables are available from simple crafter. A wonderful site with lots more amazing free printables. You must check it out!
Forecast tomorrow - rain!!

Remember this ....

I made this bag at the beginning of June to take to the Fat Quarterly Retreat and I love it! Even whilst I was registering at the retreat John aka Quilt Dad spoke to me to say he liked the bag - at this point I was a little awe struck with all that was going on and remember saying something like "umm thanks" and running in the opposite direction!
I've had the gorgeous Style Stitches book since 2010 when I meet Amy Butler herself at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham and it is more wonderful as Amy also signed it!

 There are some 26 beautiful bags to make and I love me a big bag so the Cosmo bag seemed the best starting point. All pattern pieces are provided and after prepping all the fabric it was time to sew. The instructions are fairly easy to follow and I was surprised how quickly the bag came together.

It's been a long time since I made a bag but I love the shape, the side pockets, the deep inner pockets, long handles and the cover button fastening!
The outer fabric is heirloom by Joel Dewberry for FreeSpirit and the blue lining and contrasting grey fabric is plain quilters cotton from John Lewis. I would definitely recommend this book!

I love it even today more because of this!!

Freezer paper piecing

Remember the Fat Quarterly Retreat? Yep not mentioned it around here for a few posts but it is still fresh in my mind!
There were a few classes at the retreat where I started a project but didn't have time to finish (too busy chatting!) and I really didn't want to leave them in my unfinished projects box to be forgotten about for years to come!
So I finished a couple of spools blocks from the Freezer Paper piecing class with Kerry. I started sewing these by hand at the retreat and finished them off on machine at home. Now they have become a cute pincushion! I think the spools blocks are fab!
Front ~

 

Back ~

~ Message for Angela who left a comment on the Frame Purse post: Sorry I couldn't contact you direct as you are a no-reply blogger but the frame I used is from U-Handbag. Great supplies and quick delivery!

Linking up with Canoe Ridge Creations: {sew} modern monday!

Frame purse love!

Late last night I was in the middle of gluing fabric ready to finish my first ever frame purse and woke up this morning to this little lovely!!!
Front view ~

Back view ~

 Side view ~

 Side view open ~

 Lining ~

 

Bottom view ~

Making these could become somewhat of an addiction - I am in love with it!
Although the gluing part was the most scary, knowing whether or not I had put too much on or not enough and after pushing the fabric in the frame channel and waiting for it to take hold I seemed to get this mad urgency to want to pull at the fabric just to see if it had stuck yet!! The last part of making was to add the cord to the frame channel and after completing a little section I didn't think the finish looked that nice so I took it out. All seems to be secure without it!
Would be interested to know if you have made a frame purse do you use cord?

Saturday sewing

Last weekends sewing did not go to plan this weekend has been much more productive!
Bee Europa June block completed for Miriam. This was another new design to me - Box Quilt block and lovely fabrics to use!

 

Followed by preparing for my first ever frame purse in practise for taking part in "In The Frame Purse" swap!! Fabric all cut and prepared ~

Main part of the purse made!

 

Waiting for the glue to dry whilst writing this post so hopefully will have a fairly successful purse to show tomorrow!!

Sewing will commence shortly....

It's been one of those weekends.
I had plans to get the sewing machine out but it just didn't happen!
Instead I've been tidying my sewing/office room, catching up on far too much TV(!!), reading this lovely new book that arrived in the post ~

and planning on giving this a go as I've signed up for the "In the Frame purse swap" having never made a frame purse!! The words "easy peasy" are making me feel a bit better!!

Sample swaps!!

Yep, sorry another FQly Retreat related post! Maybe only one or two more to go - I promise!!
Having purchased my weekend pass rather late and then reading on Flickr all the exciting preparations that had been going on for months I was glad that I was not too late to miss out on the amazing sample swap organised by Trashalou!
The plan "you make four samples of the same thing and swap them in a group randomly assigned on the day. In return you get back four lovely new things of handmade wonderfulness from your four new best friends"
And boy were they lovely things!!
Lucy made this gorgeous hexie tea towel, just check out the embroidery! It is too cute to use but is being displayed lovingly in my kitchen!

From Fiona I received this amazing armchair sewing organiser. Just love the colours and fabrics!

I felt very privileged that the next items came all the way over from the US! Dolores made these cute London tube humbug bags and cute little extra goodies!! Last but not least was Rachel and her adorable felt birdie brooches!!

It was lovely to meet all these people and discover new blogs as well. Thanks for the wonderful swaps!!

FQly retreat - I could go on forever!

Yep another post about the retreat! You'll probably see a few more before the months end!
I wanted to post the "goodies" photos to show the generosity of the Retreat sponsors and what fab goody bags they were!
The sponsors of the Retreat were Moda (love me a bit of Moda!), Aurifil (heard about them never tried the threads, now I can!), Oakshott (big fan and have purchased lovely fabric from them before!), Sizzix (had a go on the die cutting machine and now want one!), Pfaff (used one of their machines both days and really enjoyed using them), Robert Kaufmann (just look at the fat quarter selection we were given!), Korbond and Abakhan fabrics (some great little extras provided!).

Mandy from Simply Solids was also at the retreat and if there is fabric to buy well enough said! So I also came home with this ~

Hoping to make a few zippered pouches out of some of these!
Thank you also to Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting who bought this lovely order all the way to the Retreat!

 I'll leave the amazing sample swap goodies until another day! See told you I could go on forever!
On a different note - finally got with the times and joined Twitter! Don't really have a clue what I'm doing but it is fun! (I've added the follow me button right at the top)

Fat Quarterly Retreat 2012

So it has only taken me a week to write this post!! And I only just unpacked everything this afternoon!!
Last Saturday and Sunday I spent an amazing weekend in the company of wonderful people, meeting friends in person that I have got to know through Flickr and {Pink Stitches}, taking fab classes being taught by talented people and all of this was put together for the first time by the wonderful Tacha, Katy, John, Brioni and Lynne. Thanks also to Claudia for making me addicted to zippered pouches, Kerry for making those Y seams seem not so scary and Lucie for hand delivering a gorgeous charm pack of her Summersville fabric!!
I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking. All I can say is when is the next retreat and can you make it a week long!?

Lots of lovely ladies (and a couple of men!) in a sewing frenzy all weekend ~

First class was Freezer Paper Piecing with Kerry (top of the yellow spool still needs stitching!) ~

Zippered pouches with Claudia, this was so much fun!

Sunday morning Machine Pieced placemat with Brioni (who introduced me to the amazing world of spray starch!) This is the top of the placemat ~

A fab class to finish the retreat was Wonky Log Cabins with John aka Quilt Dad! I used an old jelly roll and the colours are a bit more subtle than I usually go for but I am really pleased with the block. John in action ~

A lovely new charm pack ~

I'll be back tomorrow to share the amazing goodies we each received from the sponsors and the wonderful goodies I received from the sample swap!!

FQly retreat Day one!!

An amazing day!! Meeting lovely people and having a wonderful time!
Exhausted but can not wait for tomorrow!!
Wanted to post these photos before today but never got a chance due to last minute sewing into the wee hours!!
Amy Butler Cosmo bag with Heirloom by Joel Dewberry fabric started Monday finished Friday!! (I'll post more about making it another day) This went with me to the retreat today ~

My sample swaps that I took the retreat and have now found new homes!! Needle books or circles!