What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Nothing better than a tight deadline to focus my attention! I bought a panel to make a birthday present for my friend a few months ago and of course it had sat there since. Well her birthday was on Sunday and she invited us for a meal so I knew I had to finish my gift by then. I was originally planning to make a pouch but the panel was rather large at 17''+ so I decided a tote bag would be more appropriate.

I made another batch of little pillow card holders, with a bit more colours this time and I remembered to take pictures!! 

Still using the same pattern: Pillow Card Holder pattern from Sewing Seeds of Love.

Once cut, they only need folding and they are finished with 2 snaps.

Task I delegated to my daughter since she was off sick from school. 

And then my husband was called to the rescue to hammer ...

 We all travelled back to England this week to see friends. Before we went, I made 2 more baskets as gift.

A Barbie pink one for my youngest to gift to her friend

and a blue one with horses for my eldest daughter to gift to her friend too

After my first basket following the tutorial for the binding, I didn't like the bulk at the junction so I decided to join the binding with a 45 angle and it is much neater.

I also serged the seam of the lining to have a neater finish there too ...

 It seems that somehow the end of the school year has crept on me even more than usual... I suddenly realised last Sunday that the kids were about to start their last week, i.e. that teachers' presents were needed to be completed by the end of the week but I hadn't even made a start... I needed 4 this year and one was needed by Wednesday morning not Friday + Wednesday evening was the annual fete de la musique (music festival for the summer solstice) which meant that that was one last evening to work on the presents.

I ...

School is now over and with that teachers'presents are also completed! And on time too. Granted, I made a lot less than last year with all the bags we gifted before or big move, not just to school teachers. But considering the very little time I  spent creating in the last year or so I had to be realistic. So for my youngest daughter's teacher, I also made 2 Open Wide Pouch from the pattern by Anna.

A big massive pouch and a tiny one

Both with a UK-themed lining

My sewing room is not yet fully set up but at least there was enough space to sew and just enough for cutting too.

On Sunday, I digged into my various stash (some still scattered in different place) to find some vinyl, some thicker cotton, some interfacing and quilting cotton, my plan was to make an old favourite ...

Back in April last year, I started to make a Persephone purse to gift to my friend for her birthday, similar to the one I made myself the previous fall. I picked the model with the frame this time instead of the 2 zipped pockets. I choose a lovely tweed fabric for the exterior. 

Sadly I didn't finish the purse on time to gift it ...

 Only 4 more... I kind of ran out of steam really but wanted to make 4 more to gift to some of the lovely people my children had interacted with in various clubs over the years. 

So with that, here are my last 4 bags. 

2 for the dance teachers

2 for the Scouts leaders (one with upside down birdies...)

And 4 additional finish for July and off my Q3 FAL list. 

Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday, Brag about your Beauties, Off the wall Friday, Peacock Party,  Whoop Whoop Friday, Patchwork and Quilts

Celine

 And that will be 3 more, including 2 rather last minute. I needed one for Brown Owl, to be gifted with the open wide pouches so I finished that one with about one hour to spare.

And I also needed one for school last Friday as the presents have to be quarantined before being handed to the teachers this week. So that was another one to finish off.

This one was with 2 colours as I messed up the cutting of the wave!

And some more OPAM for July. Ideally I need to make 4 more bags but I must ...

 It has been long time since I made an open wide pouch (pattern by Noodlehead) so I made 4!

I used faux leather for the outside and cotton for the inside, one with the sports print

Linking ...

 More end of year teachers' presents on my list but I took a break from the bags to make some pencil cases. I can't really make bags for men I think. 

I started with 10'' squares for those pencil cases and added a 1'' square of faux leather on either side of the zip.

First step is to sew the zip to the outside and lining so it is "sandwiched" between the 2 layers.

 I have taken some time to sew this week-end and although I had planned to do a lot more than I have, I have managed to make 6 more Zero-Waste Wave Bags. 

My first series was with this gorgeous raspberry faux leather. 

It was all going so well until I realised I forgot to sew one strap....

Thankfully after a little bit of unpicking, I could fix it and have 2 more bags

One for my daughter's form teacher and one for one music teacher

One for the French teacher and one for ...

 I saw so many of these gorgeous Guadalupe bags on Facebook over the Christmas holiday that I really wanted to try it too! 

Everyone was saying how beautiful and easy/fast it was to make. Plus that came as a free pattern from the designer Sammie Valencia, so I was sold.

As often, I was put off by picking/cutting and using the interfacing so I parked the exterior pieces while I was constructing the lining. 

The pattern doesn't have instructions to ...

 l had cut all the 11 pouches I was planning to make before Christmas together and finished 5 before the day, my hope/goal/dream had been to make all 11 of them at the same time.... 

 Since Sunday night, we have been placed in Tier 4 (out of 3? until Saturday) and full lockdown (what is the difference, apart from the name?) is looming for us but I think for the whole country too. Christmas plans have been smashed last minute for lots of people sadly. We knew that it would be very difficult/virtually impossible to go back to France so we had abandoned any plans to go a while ago. Nothing worse than a roller-coaster of emotions the week before Christmas with 3 children in the house. It felt it would be too much ...

 Every year I plan to make Christmas presents, and every year I run out of time! Well, this year I have managed some. I finally finished some Two in one pouches last night. I had cut them about 2 weeks ago and was tried to make them all in batches. Well I split my batches in two and I have managed to finish pouches so far. I first saw them on Instagram on Charlotte's feed and well, let's face it, masks are the new accessories of the season really.

So I made mine with a tick for clean ...

Especially when you get Great Presents!

It's no secret I have an addiction to fabric - so this is always a sure win when buying a present for me, but as a quilter I quite often get asked what 'good presents' to buy are. So I thought I'd put together a little list of things that have caught my eye recently or that I generally can't do with out in case anyone was struggling with what to buy for the quilter/sewer/crafter in their life.

This is not sponsored or affiliated in any way, simply my opinions ...

After my "quilting marathon", this week has been a lot less productive in a way... but I am happy to report that one of the 5 quilts is now completely finished and ready to be gifted.

Late last month I picked up my abandoned passport pieced horse from a pattern by Tartan Kiwi, with the hope to finish it for my daughter's birthday. Well I'm glad to say that having a deadline once more helped to keep me focused. The horse is finished and gifted! Yeah