Bliss Charm Quilt finished at last!

 Tonight I finally finished the quilt I started at Christmas. It's been a bit stop and start in terms of the time I got to work on it but it was definitely worth it!

I made this using a Moda Charm pack - "Bliss" by Bonnie and Camille. The sashing is a cream & white fabric I picked up some time ago, and the binding is from the Freebird range by Momo.

I used Kristie's McKinley quilt pattern and adjusted it slightly to make it a bit larger. I also decided not to do the flowers as I liked it without when I saw it coming together!



It's quilted in the sashing lines between the squares and on the edges of the squares. I used a natural coloured cotton thread for the quilting and was really happy with it.  I did the lines approx a quarter of an inch apart and they are slightly wonky but I love the effect.



This is the first time I have quilted lines so close together and I did find it a bit tricky but as its for myself and I like it, I'm pretty happy with it. It's not perfect but I learned lots making it and it gave me so many ideas for the 2 other quilts I'm working on at the moment.

I found this pattern really easy to follow and I love the way the charm squares are separated out. The sashing and the quilting technique help them to "pop" out of the quilt.

Its backed with some large pieces of "Bloom and Grow" fabric which are paired with a solid cream cotton and this compliments the colours nicely on the back.



I ended up machine sewing the binding although I had intended to handsew it to finish, purely because I couldn't wait to get it done and see it in my room!  I got a good even stitch on it and it looks very nice.The pattern in this piece of fabric is a geometric print and I was slightly concerned that it wouldn't look good as I cut it on the straight of the grain instead of on the bias but the way it flows from large to small print looks very natural and adds interest to the quilt.



I'm totally in love with it! Even Himself, who was a bit sceptical about the blue and green charms working in our living room (which is deep red and cream, with brown leather sofas) thinks it is fab - high praise indeed! Looking forward to wrapping myself up in tomorrow night on the sofa watching some tv!



I've posted up this link over at Fabric Tuesday on Quilt Story, on Sugar and Dots and Thrilling Thursday on www.paiselypassions.blogspot.com

Handbag heaven

Here's a little handbag that a friend asked me to make for her. I'm going to find it hard to let this one go!! I really love it I must say. Handbags are my thing, as anyone who knows me will attest and one of my favourite things about sewing and knitting is the ability to make my own for a fraction of the cost. I made one before Christmas last year that I got a tonne of compliments on, including probably my favourite one ever - "Is that an Orla Kiely bag?" (asked by 3 separate people no less!) So when S asked me to make one for her I was thrilled. I'm loving pleats at the moment and decided to try and work some into this bag. I took out my big box of fat quarters and spent a very enjoyable half an hour figuring out which ones to use. I had a lovely bundle of Freebird by Moda fabrics that I bought last month just because they were gorgeous. I adore the brown dotty one which reminds me of a dress worn by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and thought it would work great as a contrast lining. I had some difficulty deciding which coordinating one to put with it but finally settled with the floral because it was so fresh and to be honest, it just screamed "make me into a cute bag" to me.





The original fat quarter bag I made last year, I sewed using a great tutorial I found on Sew Mama, Sew. This time, I really wanted it to be my own. So I didn't look at any patterns purposely as I had a clear idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, with the dotty trim at the top, a pleated body and a medium length shoulder strap that would be comfortable to use.
First of all, I cut a long strip off both fat quarters for the handles and another strip for the trim at the top of the bag and then cut each remaining part of the fat quarters in half. I played around for quite a while trying different looks before finally pinning the box pleats on the floral, going for quite wide pleats. I sewed the trim strip to the top of all pieces and then did the side and bottom seams on the lining and the main fabric. I went for quite a wide handle, with the dotty fabric on the outside, and the floral on the inside for contrast.

I used fairly heavy iron-on interfacing on the fabric to give the bag some structure, and used a long strip of very stiff interfacing in the handle. Lastly I put in a magnetic snap button and, with right sides facing and taking care not to twist my handle, sewed the lining, outside and handles together, turned it right side out and finished the last couple of inches by hand. The main body of the bag measures about 9 inches high and 7 inches wide at the top / 9 inches wide at the bottom. Perfect for carrying wallet, keys and a few essentials. Voila!

Happy fabric day :-)

Most of my fabric arrived today from the wonderful FabricShoppe on Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/fabricshoppe . Less than a week to come from America, I was delighted! I got a combination of fabrics: fat quarter bundles from some ranges - Wheels by Riley Blake, Hedgehog by Michael Miller and Freebird by MoMo for Moda plus a few individual fat quaters. Lots in boys colours and patterns which I was running low on. They are even more gorgeous than they looked on screen. I already have the fabrics picked for the bunting I need to make!!