Great tutorials :)

I have a few little finishes to share with you this week; a patchwork tote bag, a small table mat, a one-hour basket and a simple zipper bag. The first two I made are for a charity I have recently got involved with - Chernobyl Children's Lifeline (CCLL North Wales) - and I put together a tutorial for the bag here and the mat here.

A little reminder of the work CCLL North Wales do: they are part of a national charity that helps children living in Belarus and Northern Ukraine who still suffer the effects of low level radiation some 30 years after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl. They are bringing 17 children (12 girls and 5 boys) to North Wales this July to stay with Host Families - whilst here, the combination of uncontaminated food, fresh air and sunshine, exciting trips out and lots of exercise does the children a power of good. 

I met the local chair recently (Gerrie) at a talk she was giving  - she was incredibly inspiring and passionate about her work - this drew me to her and so I introduced myself. I told her I was a hobby quilter and asked what could I do to help. We agreed a tote bag and a small table mat would be perfect gifts for the children and their families. Knowing I couldn't possibly make all of this by myself (as fast as I am!), I put out a request on Instagram and got 16+ volunteers within hours - I was thrilled at the wonderful response. 

Please do search the tag #ccllnorthwalesquiltbee on Instagram to see what 'my gals' have been making. 

Then yesterday, I made my sister a one-hour basket using Kelly @ Kelby Sews' tutorial:

And I got swept up by all the recent #simplezipperbag posts on Instagram, and made this cute bag following (with just a little variation) the YouTube tutorial from Fat Quarter Shop:

All these projects are great to make (including mine!); even better to give away and also are wonderful form of therapy when you just want / need to sew little things quickly. Thank you to all the quilters who share their time and creativity in whatever way to make life just a little bit easier for someone else - someone they've never even met but share this passion with.

Linking up with Amanda Jean @crazymomquilts and Sarah @confessionsofafabricaddict.

Happy weekend :)

Scrap busting to make way for new fabric!!

I have had the best birthday weekend and I want to thank you all in Blogland and on my IG account for your birthday wishes. The winner of my birthday giveaway was Anu in Finland and she chose the pouch and tissue holder so my friend Kate gets the Pants Bag for her birthday tomorrow! (The log cabin pouch is an iPad case for me!) 

Giving really is as much fun as receiving:

Speaking of receiving, as well as some perfume and little bits and pieces, DH got me this wonderful stash of fabric from Craftsy:

The top 4 yards are Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis, the smaller two are Cotton and Steel and the 17 fat quarters are 'sweet petites' by Michael Miller. 

I feel very blessed not only to have all that new loveliness to play with but to have a husband who truly gets my obsession hobby and doesn't moan about all the time (and money!) I spend on quilting ... thanks Nick X  

As if that wasn't enough, I also received these gorgeous birthday gifts from my very kind and talented friends Fran and Maja. From Fran, a mini Pants Bag:

And from Maja, two delightful little pouches:

And on to my scrap busting because I need more space! I am continuing the theme of my scrappy Siblings Together quilt by using up more blue scraps for the backing. Not sure exactly how this will turn out yet! And I pulled some drawers and bins of other colours and have started on some log cabin duet blocks. Again, no idea where this is going!

I used to trim my scraps but find grouping them by colour now is more productive to me than by size - that way if I see two pieces of a similar colour, I pick the one closest to the size I want, thus saving the bigger piece for another project on another day. My scraps are kept in drawers, bins and a birdcage:

More scraps were used up in this 20.5" block for Nicky @mrssewandsew who is the queen of Siblings Together quilt making, bless her:

Linking up with Molli Sparkles showing off my new fabric and sharing my scrap-busting with Cynthia @quiltingismorefunthanhousework 

Can't help but play with fabric scraps :D

Since pulling all the blue and grey scraps out for my Siblings Together quilt, I cannot seem to stop touching my fabric scraps! What's strange is the more I use up, the more I seem to make! 

Today, I have made a few gifts all from scraps. Firstly, I look at the fabric colours and sizes and that helps me to decide on a design / object. Also I find great inspiration from the Internet and other quilters. This block was inspired by Cathy's quilt:

All made from pink scraps and white leftover binding strips. I needed a new iPad cover and now I have one:

It's my birthday tomorrow (and St George's Day) and also my friend Kate's on Monday so I decided to make some gifts for Kate and as a giveaway! I raided the red bucket and made an open wide zipped pouch (great tutorial by @Noodlehead):

The large glass of bubbles was for scale but did get drunk eventually! Then I made a Pants Bag (so called because when I travel, I don't like putting my drawers in other people's drawers so I can just keep my pants in a bag hanging up!):

And here they all are together with a tissue holder I made too:

Would you like the Pants Bag or the open wide zipped pouch and tissue holder? Leave me a comment saying which (giveaway open for 24 hours only) and I shall then pick a winner. I will also offer this on my Instagram account tomorrow and will announce the winner on Sunday. 

As I was tidying up, I just couldn't but help touch some more scraps and quickly made these two log cabin blocks in no time - not sure what to do with them yet:

Have a great weekend - I know I will!

Linking up to Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

February catch up ...

I think the same person who stole January is doing a very good job this month too! 

A busy few weeks and a visitor from Jersey ... I've been working on lots of different projects which I'd like to share with you. 

My friend Mandy was celebrating the big 50 and I'd bought her some perfume but wanted to add a couple of hand-made gifts too ... well, it was a special birthday! Mandy loves, really loves, bags and shoes so that made my fabric choice easy. DH has made me a small design board so I put it to excellent use:

I haven't made a Pants Bag (as I call them) for a while and this was a mini one - perfect for a mini break (not for mini pants, DH!) and a matching zipped cosmetics bag. She loved them:

I have also been working on blocks for a Bee I'm part of - this is for the quilt drive organised for the charity Siblings Together. I'm going to do a full post on that soon to publicise the great work this charity does. These are the January blocks I made for Maria @sewlovetosew ... I also make the Queen Bee a matching zipped bag:

Last weekend, my quilty friend, Sarah @quiltcandy came for a quilting weekend - all the way from Jersey to North Wales just to see me and sew! I had done my research and not far from the airport (Frodsham), I found us a lovely LQS called Sew Simple - very friendly and a great choice. This was my 'little purchase': 

Clever Sarah had made me this beautiful embroidered hoop, now proudly hung in my sewing room:

Amongst other things, we both made an open wide zippered pouch using Anna Graham's tutorial @noodlehead - you must make one; and it's a great tutorial. Mine:

Sarah's: 

We had the most delightful time, sewing and chatting, eating and drinking! After Sarah went home on Sunday, I started to make this little pram quilt: My 'own design' (as much as one can claim such a thing for a simple quilt) which came together so quickly that I'd finished it by supper and was able to hand it over on Monday: 

And fleecy hearts on the back:

So, there you go ... most (but not all!) of what I've been working on since my last blog post. Don't forget, I'm on Instagram too ... 

Hope you're all enjoying your quilting as much as I am! Linking up to Amandab Jean @crazymomquilts and Sarah @confessionsofafabricaddict