Pants Bag and a new ... DRAGON?!

Dear niece's fiancé had his birthday on Sunday so the obligatory family barbecue was organised! He's going to learn to drive so we gave him an IOU for a couple of driving lessons but a birthday boy has to have something unexpected to open, right? So I decided to make him a Pants Bag. 

Chris's football (soccer) team is Newcastle United (so, he's not perfect!) - here is their kit for this season:

Which gave me all the inspiration I needed. I used this fabric for the lining:

And here is the finished Pants Bag:

And the back, kindly photo-bombed by Nell:

He loved it! Poor Chris had to do his ice-bucket challenge on his birthday. I bet he'd 'scream like a girl' (I did when I did mine!) but he took it like a man - bless him:

And DH and SIL went shopping last week for chimney pots and bought a dragon roof finial! Have you ever seen such a thing?

Quite fitting really now we're living in Wales - the dragon is the most important symbol for the Welsh. It appears on our national flag (also called Ddraig Goch = red dragon), supposedly dating back as far as King Arthur (5th/6th century) and the oldest recorded use as a symbol for Wales dates back to 829AD! 

The minute he starts talking about 'the old Welsh Dragon', and looking in my direction, it's going straight back to the reclamation yard!

Linking up with Lorna and Heather and looking forward to more sewing when I get home tomorrow :)

       

A little bit of what you fancy ...

... does you good! So in just a few hours sewing today, I made pencil cases for my niece and nephew (at their request, my little quilty converts!) They came to stay with us this weekend and we did have fun ... shopping, pétanque, barbecue, a walk in the woods, a boat ride on the river, visiting Chester - we managed to cram a lot in in a couple of days :)

They both love my new sewing room - especially all the fabric! It really was like watching kids in a sweet shop but they actually know what they like and chose quite quickly - Oliver (aged 11) gravitated towards the ginghams and Libby (who's a very girly 12 so I had to add this pink love heart ribbon) picked from my vintage USA fabrics and a modern batik:

I used this fusible Pellon to add some strength -  I bought it years ago in the USA and found it when unpacking - what clever stuff - simply cut, iron, quilt - voila:

I did a very simple design of 3" squares and strips which finished at around 12.5" x 5" so the case will easily take a ruler and plenty of pens. 

Here they are ready to be posted and finished in plenty of time before they go back to school:

And Mr Postie delivered my first batch of Christmas Fabrics yesterday. Bought online from Patchwork Dreamer, they're a truly festive Makower bundle:

Think I'll make a Christmas Quilt out of it for the Snug. Had to light the wood-burner in there today, it was a little bit wet and windy in North Wales - thanks to Bertha apparently, we had a month's rainfall today:

Night night from me and Nell - guess I won't be tidying up just now:

Stay safe and warm :) 

Linking up: 

Beyond generous! Thanks Carla :)

The wonderful Carla over at Creatin' in the Sticks is one of my oldest (and most special) blogging friends. Living in Kansas, we have an obvious affinity.  We began by leaving occasional comments - as you do - then became loyal followers - and have even exchanged a couple of gifts in the last two years. She really is lovely and very talented. I have seen both her blog and sewing skills grow and am so proud of her.

Just over a week ago, she posted this about making a Tammy Project Bag:

Perfect for keeping scissors, thread, and needles close by.

I made one with a friend in mind, Tea for Two.

Oh how I wish we could sit down and share a cup of tea.

It is now stuffed with goodies and on it's way

for a belated birthday...

I did not know she'd made it for meeeeee! It turned up today and I LOVE IT!!

But, if that wasn't gorgeous enough, look what was hidden inside:

I cannot wait to use these 4 Wizard of Oz fat quarters - you can't get the like of them in the UK. To think, I may have gone my whole life without knowing they even existed!

Belated or not ... these are such fabby gifts. From an even fabbier lady. Thank you, dear Carla. And one day, my friend, we shall sit down over a cup of tea, of that I'm sure :)

Showing off sharing your work: 

They made me cry!!

You will recall I am out of action having had a nasty fall in the street nearly two weeks ago. I dislocated my right shoulder and smashed the humerus in 3 places ... ouch!

The operation went well and, although I'm still in a bit of pain, I'm recovering on track - I saw the Consultant on Monday: x-ray showed everything was back in its place, he was pleased with my (limited) range of movement and the surgery wound is healing nicely. It was a serious injury and it'll take months and a lot of physio to get full movement back but I'll get there :)

On the day of the accident, I had been grocery shopping for the weekend quilting retreat I was hosting ... I still feel really bad that the weekend didn't go ahead - all the 'Strip Bee' ladies were wonderfully understanding for the last minute cancellation and sent me some beautiful messages - I do hope we can rearrange :)

And as if I needed any more convincing what a fabby bunch of ladies they are - they sent me the most delightful box of goodies. DH had to open it for me and when I saw what was inside, I burst into tears (yes, am on a lot of morphine!!) There was a a gorgeously pink and purple wall hanging, where they've each made a block and signed it and there were lots of great individual gifts as well. You ladies are just too wonderful :)

Here's me modelling the wall hanging in this morning's glorious sunshine:

The back and cute label:

And with the gifts:

Thank you sooooooooooooo very much, my friends, what a wonderful tonic you are (shame I can't have the gin with it!) I'm a lucky girl.

Linking up with the lovely Lorna:

And Heather and Megan:

What's on my table?

Lots of house viewings since last week and a good offer but no sale yet ... it has only been a week so we're not worried. I got a bit of sewing done over the weekend but certainly I'm feeling unproductive compared to my usual outputs :(

I have finally added a border to my soldier's quilt and made the back, so if DH and I can baste this this weekend, I may even get it quilted:

Next weekend I'm hosting a 'quilt retreat' for our Strip Bee quilters  - I have previously made Fran and Julie a Pants Bag so felt it was only right that the other three ladies had a Pants Bag too to transport their 'pants' in when they come to stay! Here's all three together:

For Maria (pinks and blues):

For Amy: (aqua and pale blue):

For Sarah: (pinks and purples):

They'll be in the post tomorrow, ladies! Very excited to host the weekend, promise to take lots of pictures of our weekend and the finished strip quilts.

And one more thing on my table - I participated in a low volume charm swap around Christmas. Here are the 56 x 5" squares I received:

But I just haven't been hit by the inspiration fairy to know what to do with them. So, yesterday, I laid them out with different fabric choices from my stash:

My thinking is to keep it simple, maybe  a 10 x 10 lap quilt using one extra colour ... or more than one? What would you do? All ideas gratefully received :)

Linking up with Lorna, Lee and Heather & Megan:

Everything but sewing!

That's how things are around here at the moment! We're busy selling our house - decluttering, organising and reorganising, cleaning and staging which leaves no very little time for sewing. But it's all done - had our first viewers today and have 5 more bookings between Thursday and Sunday so, with any luck, it'll be easy going from now on :)

What I have managed to get done is a couple of Pants Bags (love 'em!) - one for a girl and one for a boy. First up:

And the back:

And this one's for my brother in law whose having his fifty something birthday this week (and is one of the few family members not to own one):

He is a huge fan of Paisley fabric and 'proper hankies' so I made him one of them too!

And only fitting, as I'm linking up with the lovely Lorna, that I share with you the sweet gift I received from her in the post ... all the way from Canada to the UK (naughty Lorna!):

Isn't it just the cutest? Love the design, love the quilting, love the ruler ... Just LOVE it! Thank you, Lorna xx - now you're always in my quilting room (which is more than I am!!) 

Linking up with Lorna:

And Heather & Megan: