Packing And Printing.

***Don't forget the Book Challenge is still on, for your chance to win a copy of Stitch Savvy***

Despite a very trying (how dramatic am I!!) week of packing up the house, I have at least made some major progress with our stuff- the loft is all but packed up and organised, and there are about 30 boxes randomly placed around the house with our things all ready to go (and only about another 50 to go). The homeless or not homeless question hasn't actually been answered yet, as a small bone was thrown our way today that the 25th might be possible for our purchase- but who knows, yesterday it was definitively not happening until the 8th of April.

I did however find some time yesterday to start with some Hand Printing, as the date for the swap is fast approaching (it's the same as moving day, what kind of idiot would agree to that *cough*me*), so I got in a bit of practice with some white cotton, and random ideas that came into my head. This is only done using standard paper, I'll be using freezer paper for the real deal.  I haven't actually decided on any patterns so far, but at least the cogs are whirring now (as much as they ever do).

Don't forget to make sure you're here on Sunday for my Birthday giveaway, and the Meet My Machine Blog Hop, there is a list of the other people who will be hopping with me below, and some other giveaways on their relevant days.

Ange x

Meet my Machine Blog Hop

SUNDAY, MARCH 17

Erin @ Sew at Home Mummy 

Angela @ Heart of Charnwood

Shannon @ Crafty Turtle

Amy @ Stitchery Dickory Dock

MONDAY, MARCH 18

Ebony @ Love Bug Studios 

Jaclyn @ Jaclyn Quilts

Amy @ Diary of a Quilter

TUESDAY, MARCH 19

Kara@ Me and Elna

Beth @ Plum and June

Nerissa @ Nissa Made 

Elizabeth @ Don’t Call Me Betsy

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Carly @ Citric Sugar 

Celine @ Espritpatch 

Patti @ A Yankee in Queen Liz’s Court

THURSDAY, MARCH 21

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt 

The Jolly Jabber Staff (Chelsey, Kimberly, Debbie)

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After! 

FRIDAY, MARCH 22

Erika @ Sews it All 

Lisa @ Vintage Modern Quilts

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side

 

Have You Seen My Etchings?

 This is the EPP I started to prepare last week at Susan's, and the basic bit is all done after 4 hours in the car on Mothers Day to see my Mum.  The question is now, what am I going to do with it?  Cushion is the current top suggestion, and I may well go with that, but not straight away, as tomorrow I have a date with a big pile of these:

 Oh joy, I despise packing, it is one of the most boring jobs ever, I might find it a little more appealing if I wasn't thinking we might be (temporarily) homeless in less than 2 weeks.  Oh goody, the thought of living with my parents (even if it is only for a few weeks), is not filling me with enthusiasm, they're lovely, but I'm a grumpy cow who likes her own space!!

Well, it's bedtime, and tomorrow, I begin the job of taming the clutter monster, and throwing all of our crap possessions into boxes.

Ange x 

How To Judge Success.

There are lots of ways to judge to success in sewing, it might be a completed project, mastering a new technique, or maybe having the congratulations of your online friends for a job well done.  But for me, yesterday, this was success.

 You might think that it is a really small, and rather sad looking pile of EPP pieces, all of maybe 10 minutes effort, and that may well be true, but actually it was about 5 hours worth of work.  
Yep, I spent yesterday with the lovely Susan again, and that was all I managed in the time I was there, because we had such a good day, talking, and laughing, eating some amazing cupcakes with delicious frosting. So that pathetic little pile of EPP is the real sign of a successful day for me.

Ange x  

Zipped Up

 As promised I managed to have a play with these lovely fabrics yesterday, so after a bit of sewing, amending and re-sewing, we now have a pretty little scrappy QAYG (Quilt As You Go) Zippy Bag, all finished and ready to help in the control of my ever growing sewing "stuff" pile.

I was a little concerned at this stage

that is was going to be a bit of a dogs dinner, but I'm rather pleased with the end result.  

 I decided early on, that those beautiful Summers and Waterhouse prints would need a few contrasting fabrics for variation, so I snipped some pieces off of a couple of my Mimosa Sea Linen/Cotton fabrics that I got at the Festival Of Quilts last August from Backstitch, a Little Red Riding Hood print (from an Ebay shop up North (England) called Oriental Direct, they have some beautiful Linen/Cotton prints) and a print for the lining I picked up at Art and Stitch in Peterborough a while back (a drive by on the way to my parents).  By the sound of that I'm a terrible fabric shop tart, but I guess that's what happens when you have a blooming massive fabric addiction nice little stash developing.

So, what have I learned from this process then, well, a few things:

• For a Zippy Bag you don't need to use the heavier weight fabrics, but they do give a nice sturdy feel to the zippy.
• You do actually need to work round in a log cabin way for the fabrics, or you will have to unpick and fold the ends in, which is a right pain in the @rse!
• The thicker fabric, plus the wadding do make it a bit of a pain to wrestle to shape the corners, but not so much of a problem that it would put me off doing another.
• Poly wadding melts if you iron it! ( I knew this, but a reminder never hurts)
• If you get a little bit too into the process of sewing the log cabin patterns, and forget to Quilt over some of the squares, it's not the end of the world (oops), it's still pretty strong.
• Wide mouth zips are actually OK.
• Basting the zip in actually works quite well at holding everything together.
• The liner for a quilted Zippy could be be tapered at the bottom and sides as it wont fit quite so snugly (it may be a little looser like mine).

  So, the million dollar question, will I be making a QAYG Triple Zippy???  The answer is most definitely yes, but I will not be making it scrappy, as it is quite a time consuming process!

Thx to Di for sending me the link to the Elizabeth Hartmann QAYG tutorial, and for Helen's advice on making the Noodlehead, Wide Mouthed Zippy.

Ange x     

March Book Challenge- Stitch Savvy

Hello March! and here we go with a new book on offer for this month (I'm like the blogging book pimp, love books!), and can I say, it's a goodie!  Yep, for the lovely Mad March Hatters (Sewers, Quilters and Crafters of all things) we are offering a copy of the fabulous Stitch Savvy by Deborah Moebes.  

 I reviewed this book last month and it is absolutely fantastic, packed with must do projects, I don't know one person who has it that isn't delighted with it!  So, to be in with your chance to win, link up below with your project blog post, here are the basics for newcomers:

• A crafty project from a book or a magazine, if it's heavily inspired by the book fine, as long as it's obvious that's where the idea comes from etc.
•  Write a blog post about the project and link back to this blog.
• For 1 entry, link up to your blog post in the comments below.
• For 2nd entry be a follower
• And for 3rd entry, tell me your favourite online shop for fabric buying, and why.
•  For additional entries, you can do more than one project from a book.

 Feel free to comment below as usual, and I will just disregard a comment that isn't an entry, cos I'm nice like that! ;o).  But don't forget to link up *cough* Hadley* if you have got a project, because that would be a shame, right!

And make sure you're back here on the 17th of March (if not before!), when I will be involved in a little blog hop, and having a Birthday giveaway.
 
Ange x

After The Goat Has Floated...

A new plan is afoot (or should that be ahoof!?!).  I am thinking I need *ahem* to make some more triple zippy pouches, but as I want to use QAYG, a new (to me) technique, I decided I will have to start with a single zip pouch, so I can see how the seams will work.  I've chosen some fabrics, a whole set of hand printed fabric scraps from 2 fabulous ladies of British printing, on the left the lovely Lu Summers, and the right is Sarah Waterhouse.  

Now I just need to remove myself from the sofa, which is easier said than done, oh well, it's a hard life!

Ange x

By Popular Demand.....

 

I had thought that you were a discerning bunch (maybe not seeing as you come here to read my waffle!) but clearly that isn't the case, so by popular demand, the bloody curtains get their own post, happy now ladies? :o)

And yes I know the first picture is a goat (it's not one of my holiday snaps), these are the infamous curtains, not very exciting really, and no they're not mine!

Ange x