Ready for posting

With a bit of a back log of swaps and bee blocks to make it was all a bit chop chop busy busy here today. But I am glad to report that the bag I have made for the Modern She Made swap is all complete  now and ready to go off in the post tomorrow.

After a bit of brain wracking I figured out  a way to section the middle as this has a specific purpose for my swap partner . The pattern ( from Amy Butler) as mentioned in my previous post did have instructions but I never did figure them out so I have done my own thing but I think it has worked. The bag has an elasticated split pocket inside to keep things safe and easy to find, again for its specific purpose. I wonder if anyone can guess what my partner wants to use it for?

As a little extra I made a small draw string bag with 1 inch sawtooth squares on the front to match, which I hope comes in handy too.

Now its time to move on to a bit of paper piecing and my April blocks for the Modern Stash Bee. As I am not really a fan of paper piecing this might prove a little bit more difficult, but I will let you know.

 

Oh and nearly forgot to say, I was the lucky winner in the lovely Sheila's give away this weekend on her blog at Bluepatch Quilter. She blogged about her "significant birthday" and it took me back to a couple of years ago to my perfect gift of a pair of red patent crocodile Dr Martin's. I am not sure if I won on merit or in sympathy for my dodgy dress sense. Anyway thanks Sheila and I can't wait to see my lovely little win in real life.

see you all again soon. JB is off back to work this week so more sewing will ensue.

Swap Sunday

 

Lots achieved today ( and a bit last night) as I have been beavering away at my make for the Modern She Made Swap Round 3. This swap needs to be finished by 24th of this month and as we are away next week to see a gig ( Jb's Christmas present from Emily), I really needed to crack on. I had a good plan but as the day has gone it has changed and evolved but I think it will work really well. I cannot share too many details for fear of giving away my partner but I think you can get the general gist from the photos. It is probably not giving too much away to say its a bag!

 

 It is based on an Amy Butler pattern, although I am not saying which one ( again it needs to be a secret for now) but I have had to improvise a wee bit as to be really honest I didn't quite "get" the instructions. Either I have got my dingbat hat on today or they were written for people that are regulars of her patterns. I adore her fabrics but this it the first of her  patterns I have used. I think I will get  a very similar effect but by a different means. One of the issues was how the bottom went on (as well as a very important detail to be disclosed at the end), but I have just squared mine off by stitching and pivoting at each corner.

 

Once I am done and its been received by my partner I will share which pattern it is and you can all tell me where I went wrong. I was reading Hadley's post a couple of days ago about the fab bag she had made and she said she didn't struggle too much with layers, even though her bag had piping. I am the contrary. I had no piping or zip, but the thousands of layers in the bag floored my lovely machine somewhat so I may have to park my plans to make a weekender, unless I get some sneaky tuition or make a more relaxed bag. As a pretty relaxed little bod I think that will suit me down to the ground!

Turning down the volume

First of all, apologies for these rather ropey photos. Whilst it is April, the sun seems to have left the country and my every effort to get a decent picture of this quilt has failed due to sleet, fog and/or a near on blizzard. Anyhow, as you can see I have finally finished my low volume quilt, which I have named "Spot on". It is more than a nod to cushion I saw in Issue 12 of  Fat Quarterly and which I fell in love with. It was called "Bulls Eye " and designed by Brioni Greenberg who  blogs at FlossyBlossy, so thank you Brioni for your amazing inspiration, and of course all the gang at Fat Quarterly for bringing it to us.

 

As I explained back in my post in February, the low volume background was some fabric which I have had a while and which, to be honest, I had gone off and couldn't understand why I had bought. But I have to say, now I have funked it up a bit with these chocolate brown Kona targets, I am quite pleased. It has a bit of a 60's feel about it ( all Mods and Rockers and the Who and all that).

I will try and get some better pictures of this and probably post them on flickr if your interested, as these really are too dark and not doing it much justice. Thing is, given the present clime, that might take till about August.

 

I am off to watch Victoria Wood and her show about the elixir of life- the good ol' cup of tea.

Enjoy.

 

It's been a while

Life sadly has over taken us here, as we have had to say the final good bye to my Pa-in-law. He was a strong and proud Scot to the end and he lived a good and long life. My poor old JB lost his Mum many years ago, so he believes his Dad is happy now at last, back with his beloved Bessie. These sad events have a weird way of bringing some unexpected  joys though and this sad occasion meant that we finally got the whole gang together at once which is a very rare thing. Pinning down the movements of 5 twenty/thirty years olds is  no mean feat, I can tell you.

Sadness brings joy...

As a genius tribute to his Grandpa, one of the chaps came up with a great plan, as the old chap had been a life long supporter of East Stirlingshire FC, the lowliest football team in the Scotland League. Famed for their ability to have the recorded the worst number of points ever  in a season, the team is remarkably well known but I have to say they are not renowned for drawing a large crowd nor for the quality of their football. But on a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon in March the eight of us (a couple of the girls wimped out) headed off to " the park" as they say in these parts, to swell the crowd and  take our place in the stand to cheer on The Shire in memory of JB Senior.

thanks to pieandmushypeas.blogspot.co.uk

 

And do you know, we had a hoot. The pies were fine and the Bovril warmed me from the tips of my toes to the very end of my frozen nose. As for the footie itself, well, let's just gloss over that. I will only say one thing. You can see why they are consistently in the final position in the league each year!

 

Life has moved on and Easter came and went with a trip south to see Number One Son, and my dearest Mrs P. I am now trying to catch up with all that should have been done in both February and March but hopefully we have got all the rubbish out of the way for 2013, and we can push on to enjoy the rest of the year.

 

Keep safe and see you soon

x

PS For those interested - Match report Final score 2-1 to Montrose, 1 Red card. Attendance - 261