Wednesday 25 April 2012

Sew Smart Zakka style

I am ahead of myself this week with the Zakka style sew along.. I can cope with the nice small projects that are easing us along at the moment.. This weeks project is the Sewing Kit and our 'leader' is Katy over at I'm a Ginger Monkey - I'm pretty sure this girl never sleeps, not only is she prolific in her output but she is also one of the team behind Fat Quarterly - a great 'ezine' with fab patterns for Modern Quilting fans.
The sewing kit is super easy...and the instructions were easy to follow... I adjusted the binding strips by an extra 1/8" as it was a bit of a squeeze to bind (unless you use a really skinny seam allowance unlike me!!)  I also made modification to the ties as I didn't have a leather thong (found one in my jewellery box afterwards...)
I had a bit of fun with the printing but didn't have any ink... They had dried up. These were done by colouring the stamp with a Pigma pen & stamping quickly..



So now I am making another to send off with my Fat Quarterly Retreat name tag to my secret swap partner.. Did I say that I was going.... woop! Looking forward to it, should be fun. In London for the Jubilee weekend, it should be buzzing. There is still time to sign up..!

Sunday 22 April 2012

Zakka progress

I must confess to a bit of cheating... I have skipped a week (shock horror ..) I decided that if I was to keep up with the sew along I needed to drop a week - I will do the house pouch but thought that this weeks simple pin cushion was the ideal time to catch up.. So here it is.. Very sweet and simple, I have used one of the fabrics from Lily & Will by Bunny Hill - a spare piece of lace and a covered button.. Ta da..!
Not sure about my stuffing tho' I used some kapok and it is not very receptive to my long pins... The short ones are fine, so maybe I will use it for my Appliqué pins.

Monday 16 April 2012

Sew a Long




I am so easily distracted and spend a lot of time surfing my ever growing collection of blogs to read.. but one of the reasons for starting my blog was to get myself to focus..  I bought the  book Zakka Style by Rashida Colman-Hale in January and I loved the mix of prints and linen but set it aside while I completed other projects - thats a never ending list by the way... but WIP's sounds a lot better than UFO's.. not quite so final!!

So along came the Zakka Style Sew Along organised by Lindsey and and Amy - I have so many books that just end up as shelf decoration so I decided to get involved and get sewing......  I am a little behind as Easter and house guests cut into my sewing time but I did sit down last week and make the first project which was a Tote bag... I loved the way it went together really easily and the handle construction particularly was simple and effective without the need for fancy stiffeners - just the fabric and light interfacing.
Ta dah..!!!
I love the size of this bag... its a great Grab n Go bag for basics when I don't want to take a full handbag, it is nice and deep to keep everything safe.


And in the style of One thing leads to Another.......
Amy at Made During Quiet Time was leading Week 2 with the cute House Pouch, and has posted hints and tips on how she got on and she had a giveaway of some Aurifil threads.. so I posted a comment and was a winner.... yey!!  How lucky am I.. Thank you Amy - now I will be stalking my postman... I have used some Aurifil for piecing but want to try the thicker threads for detail and quilting... I don't know what the pack contains but it will be very welcome.

Off to pick out fabrics for my House Pouch... Got to link my Tote to the flicker group too.... blimey- get me.. Mrs Techie..



Wednesday 4 April 2012

Sewing Chum

We don't have any pets at the moment.. it is a cause of sadness to me as I love the companionship they give a home.. But I'm working on it - in the meantime here is my sewing chum... he lives next door but visits often.. particularly in the school holidays when our neighbours are away, I think he gets lonely too. His name is Tigger and he is such a beauty, very affectionate too but has needle sharp claws and can't understand why I don't like him 'pawing' to settle on my lap.
In the background is my quilt for baby Ruby.. I am just putting the binding on and plan to sit and watch some golf tonight as I handsew it down. As it is The Masters this weekend I may well be sitting in front of the tv for quite a bit, good for my handsewing projects... will post progress.