Merry Christmas....

....in July. Yes, it was that time of year again when my classes kick off with a workshop dedicated to making something Christmassy.

This year we indulged ourselves all day by making delightful Santas from Tone Finnanger's book, Crafting Christmas Gifts.

                                 Group photo call, if you like this, see more on the slideshow..........

As usual, the sun shone most of the day, the hours passed more quickly than on normal days, and the company was excellent. Thanks ladies.

A Salutory Tale

Yesterday, during an uncharacteristic flurry of housework, my Dyson made a heart rending wail and stopped. There was an unpleasant burning smell so I whipped out the plug quick smart.

 I reckoned it was time for some TLC........I took out the washable filter, and washed it........then I turned the vac upside down and was horrified to see how much thread was wrapped around the brush/roller......this is something my husband has often mentioned (oops)..........I had to CUT it all out and the resulting pile of thread was quickly binned in my haste to hide the evidence. Suffice to say it would have stuffed a large pincushion!!

The filter had to dry for 12hrs so I gave the matter no more thought until this morning when I casually mentioned it to my OH - together we plugged it in and got the same result.I had obviously succeeded in burning out the motor. 

Luckily for me there wasn't too much in the way of accusation being directed at me - we bought this Dyson a couple of years back when the last one was suffocated with building dust and debris.. 15 all.

When we purchased it, we had just moved house, didn't have a lot of spare cash for new vacuum cleaners so I sourced one from a company that sells refurbished Dysons.Great value for money, good product, it was like new. We have ordered another today. I thought some of you might like to check your vacuum cleaners.............

On a cheerier note -

I finished my bee blocks for Judith's Bee Blessed.

                                                      I knitted a hat for Ava for winter,

                    and I added the final borders to my Topsy quilt, it now measures 60" square.

and I have enough fabric left to piece a backing, always a bonus when you suddenly have unexpected necessities to buy...

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Zakka & more...........

Well, it's week 17 already in the Zakka sew a long.
I dipped out of last week's scrap "ribbon" and cut straight to the linen bag for this week. When I looked at the size of this little bag, I reckoned it might be just right for a Kindle........or two.

I didn't really stick to the instructions, I do that with recipes too.
First of all I decided I wanted to use wadding in the bag. Then I thought cutting the front in one piece made sense, also the lining.
I embellished the linen front and had great fun with it, adding all sorts of bits and bobs. I then laid the front on to some wadding and then very lightly added a couple of rows of quilting.

I cut the lining fabric half an inch longer than the outer, stitched the front & back together along the short sides. I then rearranged it so the right sides were still facing each other but now with the seams lying across the centre. I stitched the sides, leaving a gap in the lining for turning. When it is turned through, the little extra lining makes a mock binding. I had also stitched in a little "rattail" cord to make a loop.

                                                                  And the Kindle fits.

Other finished stuff this week - I made a quick, "cheater" quilt for my little 2 yr old nephew. Elmo was requested and had to be obtained from the US. The Fat Quarter shop came to my rescue.

Next Sunday is my first workshop of the new session, Christmas in July, and we are making this little fella.-

He is from Tone Finnanger's book, Crafting Christmas Gifts, and a requirement of the workshop is the purchase of the book, currently not much more than the cost of a magazine.If I run a workshop based on someone else's work, I usually approach them for permission. In this case, I contacted the publishers but never received a reply, so I reckon all the students buying the book is pretty fair

And still on class samples, I made progress with my NY Beauty variation on my "Topsy" project. It's measuring about 42" square at the moment and I intend increasing it a good bit yet. It's a long time since I actually did any curved piecing and I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together - I am making good use of my Joel Dewberry fabric that I got half price a few months back.............

Today I had a really thoughtful little gift turn up in the post from Helen. 

I think she might have been in secret discussions with my other half - it's his constant bugbear, the amount of thread that lies around the house - with this new thread catcher, I have high hopes that my messy tendencies will be a thing of the past!

So Charming

Has anyone else spotted this new member of the Moda Bakery? Here I am, browsing the Fat Quarter shop's "coming soon" selection and I was pausing over this range by Sandy Gervais, an old favourite of mine. This particular selection is a mini charm pack - 42 x 2.5" squares - how sweet! Whatever next?? Flirt Mini  Charm Pack Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics  Flirt Mini Charm Pack includes 42 2.5" squares. Mini Charm Pack includes duplicates of some prints. Price will be $4.50. Expected shipment date of November 2012.

Classes

My new session of classes start 4 weeks tonight Yes, time for the ladies of Ayrshire to leave the beaches early, pack away the picnic baskets and cover up the BBQs............time instead to purchase new blades for their rotary cutters and embrace a new year of P & Q!
This year, as well as my usual brand new Beginners' class, I am offering a choice of two projects - The first one is called Home is Where the Heart Is and is a gentle introduction into designing a quilted piece of work based on a location close to the heart - we will be covering the elements of design in a reasonably simple way, leading up to the creation of unique pieces of work.This course was inspired by this little quilt that I made last year

which in turn was inspired by this quilt that I made for a friend from a Gloria Loughman pattern.

My second project I have named Topsy, as it's a quilt project that keeps on growing. It started out life in 2006 as a Christmas in July project.

Following the instructions for this quilt, it is possible to make lots of items, from mug mats to cushions & table runners to the actual quilt.But not in Christmas colours.

and as a variation on a theme,

and for those who want more of a challenge,

So, for me, at the moment it's lots of prep. Today, I made the Kaleidoscope block which will be finished as a cushion.

I also got started on the Bee Blessed blocks for July/August  - I started but didn't finish as I had no suitable fabric for the centres. Sad, but true.

Just as well I am off on a day out tomorrow that will take in rather a nice quilt shop..................

Busy Bee

I have had quite a productive week following my Heffalump production line.......

I made a start on my BQS3 quilt - I am possibly going to make this in three sections or I might join the sections together.

I am not happy with the side sections - I think I will prefer the strips to lie straight, I feel the angles detract from the lines of the centre piece. Anyway, I have already unpicked all those strips................

Next, I made a couple of coin trays, for little gifts.

And then I got stuck in to some class preparation. I have two main projects next session and this will be the centre block for one of them, I'll explain more when I have made a bit more of this sample.

And finally, today, I finished up my Spring Carnival project.

This was my holiday project, I prepped much of it before going off on holiday and spent many happy evenings stitching. I have really taken to EPP after avoiding it for so many years. But how could I resist such a super project. When I saw Katy's version of Spring Carnival I was smitten.

But.........I have a bad habit of rushing into fabric choice. The above fabric was some of a large bundle that I won last year. I planned it out quite carefully, fussy cutting some of the flowers but now it is complete I can see I have lost some of the circular movement due to my colour placement. I still like it, even though it really doesn't fit into any location in my own house - I planned to turn it into a large floor cushion cover but it measures about 30" x 26" so is a little big for my floor cushion. I might just make it into a wall hanging as I do find it quite interesting to look at......and I have enjoyed the process.

Zakka Sew a Long - Week 15

Imagine - 15 weeks already! The Zakka sew a long has been fun, I haven't joined in with every single project but have made quite a few now.

This week it's the turn of the elephant bookmark and I did consider giving it a miss but then thought, "how long will it take?", I'll make one..............

and then two,

things go better in threes,

but I didn't make them as bookmarks, I lightly stuffed the ears and decided they could be strung together , like elephant bunting - but their ears got in the way, so I opted for this,.......

......................a wall decoration for a child's room. Now I wonder who I could give it to?

The wee bodies and ears were put together in about an hour, and all the embellishing completed whilst watching tv later on. Fun.